서론
無標題
英文原文
This psalm was penned at a time when the church of God was brought low and trampled upon; some think it was when the Jews were captives in Babylon, though that was not the only time that they were insulted over by the proud. The psalmist begins as if he spoke for himself only (Ps 123:1), but presently speaks in the name of the church. Here is, I. Their expectation of mercy from God, Ps 123:1,2. II. Their plea for mercy with God, Ps 123:3,4. In singing it we must have our eye up to God's favour with a holy concern, and then an eye down to men's reproach with a holy contempt.
1-4
Grateful Acknowledgments
感恩的承認
上行之詩。
¹ 坐在天上的主啊，我向你舉目。 ² 看哪，僕人的眼睛怎樣望主人的手，使女的眼睛怎樣望主母的手，我們的眼睛也照樣望耶和華——我們的神，直到他憐憫我們。 ³ 耶和華啊，求你憐憫我們，憐憫我們！因為我們被藐視，已到極處。 ⁴ 我們被那些安逸人的譏誚和驕傲人的藐視，已到極處。
我們在此可以看到，
一、神的百姓對神所作的信與盼望的莊嚴宣告（詩 123:1-2）。請留意：1. 在此歸給神的稱號：「坐在天上的主啊。」我們的主耶穌曾教導我們在禱告中注目神為「我們在天上的父」；這不是說他被局限在那裏，而是他特別在那裏彰顯他的榮耀，如同君王在他的宮廷中。天是俯瞰之處，也是掌權之處；那坐在天上的，從那裏俯察他百姓的一切災苦，也能從那裏差遣拯救。有時神似乎丟棄了大地，神的百姓的仇敵便問：「你們的神在哪裏呢？」那時他們便能安慰地說：「我們的神在天上。」有人譯作「坐在天上的」——在那裏坐著審判；因為*「耶和華的寶座在天上」，受屈的無辜可以向他那寶座上訴。2. 在此對神的仰望。詩人自己向他「舉目」。好人的眼睛「時常仰望耶和華」（詩 25:15）。我們每次禱告都向神舉起我們的心——我們心靈的眼——尤其是在患難中，此處正是如此。百姓的眼睛仰望耶和華（詩 123:2）。我們發現，「人的眼睛，正如以色列各支派的眼睛，都仰望耶和華」之時，憐憫便臨到百姓（亞 9:1）。身體的眼睛望天。「神賜人昂首之姿」——為要教導我們將心靈的眼睛引向何方。「我們的眼睛仰望耶和華」——渴望和祈求的眼、乞求的眼、倚靠和盼望期待的眼、切慕的眼。我們的眼睛必須仰望神為「主」、為「我們的神」，「直到他憐憫我們」。我們渴望從他得憐憫，我們盼望他必向我們施憐憫，我們也要繼續等候他，直到憐憫來到。這以一個比方來說明（詩 123:2）：我們的眼睛向著神，如同僕人和使女的眼睛望著主人與主母的手一般。僕人的眼睛望著：1. 主人指揮的手——指望他派定工作，為他安排，並指示他當怎樣作。「主啊，你要我作甚麼？」2. 主人供應的手。僕人指望主人或主母按時分糧（箴 31:15）。我們也當向神仰望日用的飲食、充足的恩典；並從他手中感恩地領受。3. 主人扶助的手。僕人若不能獨自作成他的工，除了向他的主人之外，他還能向誰求助呢？我們也當在主耶和華的力量裏出去並前行。4. 主人保護的手。僕人若在工作中遭遇反對、若因所作的受盤問、若受冤屈損害，誰當為他撐腰、為他申冤呢？豈不是那派他作工的主人嗎？神的百姓受逼迫之時，可以向他的主人懇求：「我們是你的；求你拯救我們。」5. 主人管教的手。僕人若惹動主人責打他，他並不呼求人來對抗主人，而是注視那擊打他的手，直到它說：「夠了；我必不永遠爭辯。」神的百姓如今在他的責罰之下；他們當轉向何處，豈不是轉向那擊打他們的主呢？（賽 9:13）。他們當向誰懇求，豈不是向他們的審判官嗎？他們不可像夏甲所作的——當主母加諸難處之時便逃離主母（創 16:6）——他們反倒要順服神大能的手、在他手下謙卑。6. 主人賞賜的手。僕人指望從主人得著工價、得著「好」的稱讚。假冒為善的人把眼睛望向世界的手；他們「已經得了他們的賞賜」（太 6:2）；*但真基督徒的眼睛卻望向神為那賞賜人的。
二、神的百姓在他們困苦的境況中向他獻上謙卑的懇求（詩 123:3-4），其中：1. 他們懇求憐憫，並不指示神當為他們作甚麼，也不以自己的功勞作為他當為他們行事的理由，隻是說：「耶和華啊，求你憐憫我們！求你憐憫我們！」我們在人那裏得著的憐憫甚少；他們的「憐憫也是殘忍」；「忍受嚴刑」也是有的。但我們的安慰乃是：「耶和華有憐憫」；我們不需要再有所求來解救我們、使我們安舒，超過神的憐憫。無論教會遭遇何種患難，神的憐憫乃是至高的良藥。2. 他們陳明自己的苦情：「我們被藐視，已到極處。」羞辱是他們所訴苦的創傷、重擔。請留意：1. 誰受羞辱：「我們——我們的眼睛向你舉目的人。」那些為神所承認的人，往往被世人所藐視、踐踏。我們所譯為「安逸人」和「驕傲人」的字眼，有人譯作被譏誚、被藐視的人。「我們心裏愁煩，因為見那些享平安的人、那些尊貴人被譏誚、被輕看。」聖徒原是和平的百姓，卻受虐待（詩 35:20）；他們是地上的尊貴人，卻被低估（哀 4:1-2）。2. 誰羞辱他們。按我們所讀的，他們是那些享安逸的縱欲者、屬肉體屬血氣的人（伯 12:5）。譏誚者就是那些隨從自己情慾而行、服事自己肚腹的人；驕傲人就是那些公然藐視神、對自己評價甚高的人；他們踐踏神的百姓，以為藉著貶低他們便可抬高自己。3. 受辱到了何種程度：「我們被充滿」——我們飽受了它。「我們的心被充滿，已到極處。」仇敵以為譏誚他們總不夠多，總說不夠使他們顯得可鄙；他們也不能不放在心上；這如骨中的刺（詩 42:10）。請注意：〔1〕譏誚和藐視向來是、如今也是、並將要繼續是神的百姓在世上所遭受的份。以實瑪利譏笑以撒，這被稱為「逼迫」他；如今也是如此（加 4:29）。〔2〕關於人的譏誚和藐視，我們的安慰乃是：神有憐憫——當我們的好名聲被野蠻對待之時，他有憐憫顧念。「我們的神啊，求你垂聽，因為我們被藐視。」
英文原文
Grateful Acknowledgments
A song of degrees.
¹ Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens.
² Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the LORD our God, until that he have mercy upon us.
³ Have mercy upon us, O LORD, have mercy upon us: for we are exceedingly filled with contempt.
⁴ Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that are at ease, and with the contempt of the proud.
We have here,
I. The solemn profession which God's people make of faith and hope in God, Ps 123:1,2. Observe, 1. The title here given to God: O thou that dwellest in the heavens. Our Lord Jesus has taught us, in prayer, to have an eye to God as our Father in heaven; not that he is confined there, but there especially he manifests his glory, as the King in his court. Heaven is a place of prospect and a place of power; he that dwells there beholds thence all the calamities of his people and thence can send to save them. Sometimes God seems to have forsaken the earth, and the enemies of God's people ask, Where is now your God? But then they can say with comfort, Our God is in the heavens. O thou that sittest in the heavens (so some), sittest as Judge there; for the Lord has prepared his throne in the heavens, and to that throne injured innocency may appeal. 2. The regard here had to God. The psalmist himself lifted up his eyes to him. The eyes of a good man are ever towards the Lord, Ps 25:15. In every prayer we lift up our soul, the eye of our soul, to God, especially in trouble, which was the case here. The eyes of the people waited on the Lord, Ps 123:2. We find mercy coming towards a people when the eyes of man, as of all the tribes of Israel, are towards the Lord, Zec 9:1. The eyes of the body are heaven-ward. Os homini sublime dedit—To man he gave an erect mien, to teach us which way to direct the eyes of the mind. Our eyes wait on the Lord, the eye of desire and prayer, the begging eye, and the eye of dependence, hope, and expectation, the longing eye. Our eyes must wait upon God as the Lord, and our God, until that he have mercy upon us. We desire mercy from him, we hope he will show us mercy, and we will continue our attendance on him till the mercy come. This is illustrated (Ps 123:2) by a similitude: Our eyes are to God as the eyes of a servant, and handmaid, to the hand of their master and mistress. The eyes of a servant are, (1.) To his master's directing hand, expecting that he will appoint him his work, and cut it out for him, and show him how he must do it. Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? (2.) To his supplying hand. Servants look to their master, or their mistress, for their portion of meat in due season, Pr 31:15. And to God must we look for daily bread, for grace sufficient; from him we must receive it thankfully. (3.) To his assisting hand. If the servant cannot do his work himself, where must he look for help but to his master? And in the strength of the Lord God we must go forth and go on. (4.) To his protecting hand. If the servant meet with opposition in his work, if he be questioned for what he does, if he be wronged and injured, who should bear him out and right him, but his master that set him on work? The people of God, when they are persecuted, may appeal to their Master, We are thine; save us. (5.) To his correcting hand. If the servant has provoked his master to beat him, he does not call for help against his master, but looks at the hand that strikes him, till it shall say, "It is enough; I will not contend for ever." The people of God were now under his rebukes; and whither should they turn but to him that smote them? Isa 9:13. To whom should they make supplication but to their Judge? They will not do as Hagar did, who ran away from her mistress when she put some hardships upon her (Ge 16:6), but they submit themselves to and humble themselves under God's mighty hand. (6.) To his rewarding hand. The servant expects his wages, his well-done, from his master. Hypocrites have their eye to the world's hand; thence they have their reward (Mt 6:2); but true Christians have their eye to God as their rewarder.
II. The humble address which God's people present to him in their calamitous condition (Ps 123:3,4), wherein, 1. They sue for mercy, not prescribing to God what he shall do for them, nor pleading any merit of their own why he should do it for them, but, Have mercy upon us, O Lord! have mercy upon us. We find little mercy with men; their tender mercies are cruel; there are cruel mockings. But this is our comfort, that with the Lord there is mercy and we need desire no more to relieve us, and make us easy, than the mercy of God. Whatever the troubles of the church are, God's mercy is a sovereign remedy. 2. They set forth their grievances: We are exceedingly filled with contempt. Reproach is the wound, the burden, they complain of. Observe, (1.) Who were reproached: "We, who have our eyes up to thee." Those who are owned of God are often despised and trampled on by the world. Some translate the words which we render, those that are at ease, and the proud, so as to signify the persons that are scorned and contemned. "Our soul is troubled to see how those that are at peace, and the excellent ones, are scorned and despised." The saints are a peaceable people and yet are abused (Ps 35:20), the excellent ones of the earth and yet undervalued, La 4:1,2. (2.) Who did reproach them. Taking the words as we read them, they were the epicures who lived at ease, carnal sensual people, Job 12:5. The scoffers are such as walk after their own lusts and serve their own bellies, and the proud such as set God himself at defiance and had a high opinion of themselves; they trampled on God's people, thinking they magnified themselves by vilifying them. (3.) To what degree they were reproached: "We are filled, we are surfeited with it. Our soul is exceedingly filled with it." The enemies thought they could never jeer them enough, nor say enough to make them despicable; and they could not but lay it to heart; it was a sword in their bones, Ps 42:10. Note, [1.] Scorning and contempt have been, and are, and are likely to be, the lot of God's people in this world. Ishmael mocked Isaac, which is called persecuting him; and so it is now, Ga 4:29. [2.] In reference to the scorn and contempt of men it is matter of comfort that there is mercy with God, mercy to our good names when they are barbarously used. Hear, O our God! for we are despised.
本詩寫於神的教會被貶低、遭踐踏之時；有人認為是猶太人被擄於巴比倫的時候，不過他們被驕傲人凌辱並非僅在那個時候。詩人開頭彷彿只為自己發言（詩一二三1），但隨即以教會的名義說話。
此處有：一、他們對神施憐憫的期盼（詩一二三1,2）。二、他們向神求憐憫的憑據（詩一二三3,4）。
唱這詩時，我們當以聖潔的關切舉目仰望神的恩惠，又以聖潔的輕看垂目藐視人的辱罵。