Providing Escape from the Malevolent

This psalm of ascent is a testimony of thanksgiving, perhaps in response to the preceding prayer psalm. It begins with a liturgist’s call to the congregation to join in affirming this testimony (v. 1). A choir, perhaps, then recalls the distress in terms of what would have happened had not “the LORD . . . been on our side” (vv. 2–5). Praise for the deliverance is expressed in the form of “blessing” Yahweh (vv. 6–7). The psalm closes with a hymnic confession that echoes the psalm’s opening lines: the source of “our help” (cf. 121:1–2) is “the name of the LORD.” The mention of human attack and of the people’s escape fits well with their Babylonian captivity and their restoration to the homeland.

124:1–5  The phrase, let Israel say (cf. 118:2–4; 129:1), indi…