Sad songs are not necessarily bad songs. Remembering the sufferings and sorrows of the past can often give us a sense of hope for the future. Recalling bad times helps us appreciate what we have now and makes us more optimistic regarding the future. There may have been times when the psalmist was young and experienced affliction and hatred from others. There certainly were those times in the history of the nation of Israel. As a young, developing nation, they suffered the bondage of slavery. Perhaps they didn’t understand that the Lord was forming them into a unique entity at first, but as the centuries in Egypt passed, they took on an identity that set them apart. This psalm would remind the singers of that.
In this song of sorrow and suffering, in which they remember past troubles, some words of confidence and trust are interspersed that look forward. There is evidence of some relief expected in the future and confidence in the Lord, who gave them a measure of hope and comfort in the present. Israel’s years of slavery in Egypt were the beginning of their national affliction. It would have been at that time they felt the pain of the whip on their backs as “The plowers plowed upon my back: they made long their furrows.”
There are two illustrations of past affliction that Israelis have never forgotten. One is the floggings their forefathers endured when their labor made Egypt an ancient world power. Much of what they built under bondage still remains in Egypt. The second is the ropes tied to cattle to harness their power for use by others, as tasks were imposed on them during their slavery. They were used like animals.
By grace and by power, the Lord righteously delivered them by cutting those cords of bondage and dealt in His way with those who had abused His people. Vengeance belongs to the Lord, and He will do what is just. When the pilgrim was in his youth, he was afflicted, and like his forebearers, the Lord righteously delivered him. Anti-Semitism has been shown against the Jews by many nations throughout the centuries. It is hard to be sure why it is so deeply seated in so many people, apart from the fact that satanic opposition against God is shown by antagonism against God’s chosen people. But for whatever reason, the principle remains that people reap what they have sown. The unjust treatment of the Jews foreshadowed the unjust treatment of our Lord by the Jews and Gentiles when He was here in the flesh. Just before He died on the cross, the scripture, “The plowers plowed upon my back: they made long their furrows,” was fulfilled when He was flogged [Mat.27:26; Jn. 19:1] by Roman soldiers.
After looking back at past afflictions, the psalmist looks ahead to future hope. There seemed to be a bitterness of spirit in people of Old Testament times, even those who were people of faith, that is not to be in believers today. The Holy Spirit indwells us, and He is constantly “bearing witness with our spirit,” which gives us a different perspective on divine things. We can see things through the eyes of God that those in the past could not do to the same extent. Because of the grace of God that has been bestowed on us, we can “forgive, even as God, for Christ’s sake, has forgiven [us].”
The ancient pilgrim’s desire was for the Lord to defeat those who had afflicted him, shame them, stop their plans against God’s people, and be as withered grass on a roof that can’t even be gathered up but forgotten as if they had even existed. In the early days of the Israelites, they were afflicted, but the Lord preserved them, and their identity is still intact. An ancient greeting was, “The blessing of the Lord be upon you,” but the pilgrim didn’t want the antagonists to hear that blessing. Today, such a greeting is usually reserved as a parting comment when people say, “God bless you.”
PSALM 129 SUFFERING ISRAEL v.1-4. Past Afflictions. “Many times they have afflicted me.” v.5-8. Future Hope. “Let them all be confounded.”