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英文原文
David penned this psalm (we suppose) upon occasion of some great deliverance which God wrought for him and his people from some very threatening danger, which was likely to have involved them all in ruin, whether by foreign invasion, or intestine insurrection, is not certain; whatever it was he seems to have been himself much affected, and very desirous to affect others, with the goodness of God, in making a way for them to escape. To him he is careful to give all the glory, and takes none to himself as conquerors usually do. I. He here magnifies the greatness of the danger they were in, and of the ruin they were at the brink of, Ps 124:1-5. II. He gives God the glory of their escape, Ps 124:6,7,124:1,2. III. He takes encouragement thence to trust in God, Ps 124:8. In singing this psalm, besides the application of it to any particular deliverance wrought for us and our people, in our days and the days of our fathers, we may have in our thoughts the great work of our redemption by Jesus Christ, by which we were rescued from the powers of darkness.
1-5
The Security of God's People
繁體中文
神百姓的穩妥
大衛的上行之詩。
¹ 以色列當說：若不是耶和華在我們那邊——
² 若不是耶和華在我們那邊，當人起來攻擊我們，
³ 那時他們的怒氣向我們發作，就把我們活活地吞了。
⁴ 那時大水必漫過我們，急流必淹沒我們的性命；
⁵ 狂傲的水必淹沒我們的性命。
神的百姓在此被召去為自己的拯救讚美神，當留意：
一、人的惡意——他們因此被推到毀滅的邊緣。願以色列說：他們與死亡之間不過一步。病勢顯得越絕望，醫生醫治的醫術就越發顯明。請注意：1. 那威脅的危險從何而來：人起來攻擊我們——與我們同類的受造之物，卻定意要毀滅我們。人對人如狼。紅龍、吼叫的獅子要吞滅我們，不足為奇；但人竟渴想人的血——押沙龍竟渴想自己父親的血、一個婦人竟喝醉了聖徒的血——這才正如約翰那樣，使我們大為驚奇地希奇。從人身上我們本可指望人性，卻有人的「憐憫也是殘忍」。但這些人到底為了甚麼？他們的怒氣向我們發作（詩124:3）；他們為某事發怒，於是除了毀滅他們所惱怒的人之外，別的都不能滿足。怒氣是殘忍的，憤恨是狂暴的。他們的怒氣如火上騰，要吞噬我們。他們狂傲；「惡人在驕傲中逼迫困苦人」。他們在嘗試上膽大妄為；他們起來攻擊我們——起來背叛，決意要把我們活活吞滅。2. 危險到了何等地步，若再進一步便何等致命：「我們必如羊羔被獅子吞噬——不僅被殺，更被吞滅，以致連殘骸也不留；被吞滅得如此迅速，在我們未覺察之前便已活活地下到坑中。我們必如低地被山洪淹沒，或如沙地被大潮淹沒。」這個比方他反覆使用，並層層遞進——這正是上行之詩的特色，如同其餘各篇一樣有升騰之勢。大水必漫過我們。漫過我們甚麼？急流必淹沒我們的性命——我們的生命、我們的安慰、一切我們所寶貴的。甚麼水？狂傲的水。神有時容讓祂百姓的仇敵大大得勢，好叫祂自己的大能在他們的解救中更加輝煌地彰顯。
二、神的良善——他們因此從毀滅的邊緣被救拔出來：「耶和華在我們那邊；祂若不在我們那邊，我們便滅亡了。」1. 「神在我們那邊；祂站在我們一邊，抱我們的事業，為我們顯現。祂是我們的幫助，是隨時的幫助——在我們這邊、近在咫尺的幫助。祂與我們同在，不僅為我們，更在我們中間，作我們軍隊的元帥。」2. 這位神是耶和華；重點正是在此。「若不是耶和華自己——那位有無限權能和完全的神——承擔了我們的拯救，我們的仇敵早就勝過我們了。」所以那以耶和華——全豐全足的神——為神的百姓，是有福的。願以色列如此說，歸榮耀給祂，並決心永不離棄祂。
英文原文
The Security of God's People
A song of degrees of David.
¹ If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, now may Israel say;
² If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, when men rose up against us:
³ Then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us:
⁴ Then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul:
⁵ Then the proud waters had gone over our soul.
The people of God, being here called upon to praise God for their deliverance, are to take notice,
I. Of the malice of men, by which they were reduced to the very brink of ruin. Let Israel say that there was but a step between them and death: the more desperate the disease appears to have been the more does the skill of the Physician appear in the cure. Observe, 1. Whence the threatening danger came: Men rose up against us, creatures of our own kind, and yet bent upon our ruin. Homo homini lupus—Man is a wolf to man. No marvel that the red dragon, the roaring lion, should seek to swallow us up; but that men should thirst after the blood of men, Absalom after the blood of his own father, that a woman should be drunk with the blood of saints, is what, with St. John, we may wonder at with great admiration. From men we may expect humanity, yet there are those whose tender mercies are cruel. But what was the matter with these men? Why their wrath was kindled against us (Ps 124:3); something or other they were angry at, and then no less would serve than the destruction of those they had conceived a displeasure against. Wrath is cruel and anger is outrageous. Their wrath was kindled as fire ready to consume us. They were proud; and the wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor. They were daring in their attempt; they rose up against us, rose in rebellion, with a resolution to swallow us up alive. 2. How far it went, and how fatal it would have been if it had gone a little further: "We should have been devoured as a lamb by a lion, not only slain, but swallowed up, so that there would have been no relics of us remaining, swallowed up with so much haste, ere we were aware, that we should have gone down alive to the pit. We should have been deluged as the low grounds by a land-flood or the sands by a high spring-tide." This similitude he dwells upon, with the ascents which bespeak this a song of degrees, or risings, like the rest. The waters had overwhelmed us. What of us? Why the stream had gone over our souls, our lives, our comforts, all that is dear to us. What waters? Why the proud waters. God suffers the enemies of his people sometimes to prevail very far against them, that his own power may appear the more illustrious in their deliverance.
II. Of the goodness of God, by which they were rescued from the very brink of ruin: "The Lord was on our side; and, if he had not been so, we should have been undone." 1. "God was on our side; he took our part, espoused our cause, and appeared for us. He was our helper, and a very present help, a help on our side, nigh at hand. He was with us, not only for us, but among us, and commander-in-chief of our forces." 2. That God was Jehovah; there the emphasis lies. "If it had not been Jehovah himself, a God of infinite power and perfection, that had undertaken our deliverance, our enemies would have overpowered us." Happy the people, therefore, whose God is Jehovah, a God all-sufficient. Let Israel say this, to his honour, and resolve never to forsake him.
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The Security of God's People
繁體中文
神百姓的穩妥
⁶ 耶和華是應當稱頌的；祂沒有把我們當作掠物交給他們的牙齒。 ⁷ 我們好像雀鳥從捕鳥人的網羅裏逃脫；網羅破裂，我們逃脫了。 ⁸ 我們得幫助，是在乎倚靠造天地之耶和華的名。
詩人在此進一步高舉神近期為他們所成就的大拯救。
一、好叫他們的心更因感恩而寬廣（詩 124:6）：「耶和華是應當稱頌的。」神是我們一切拯救的創始者，所以祂必須在其中得榮耀。我們若不向祂獻上感謝，就是奪了祂當得的。而我們更當讚美祂，因為我們的逃脫如此驚險。我們得了拯救，1. 像一隻羊羔從猛獸的牙齒中被救出來：神「沒有把我們當作掠物交給他們的牙齒」——這暗示他們對神百姓沒有任何權能，除了從上頭賜給他們的。他們不能作掠物在牠們的牙齒之下，除非神把他們交出來；所以他們得了拯救，因為神不容他們被毀滅。2. 像一隻鳥——一隻小鳥（這字指一隻麻雀）——從捕鳥人的網羅中逃脫。仇敵極其詭詐惡毒；他們為神的百姓設下網羅，要使他們陷入罪中和患難中，並把他們拘留在那裏。有時他們似乎已得逞到達成了目的。神的百姓被網羅捉住，又像任何軟弱愚拙的鳥那樣不能自救；而那時就是神為他們解救顯現的時候，當一切別的朋友都失效之時；那時神打破網羅，把仇敵的計謀變為愚妄：*「網羅破裂，我們逃脫了。」*以撒在躺臥預備被獻為祭之時得了拯救。耶和華以勒——在耶和華的山上必有預備（創 22:14）。
二、好叫他們的心、和別人的心，在類似的危險中更受鼓勵來信靠神（詩 124:8）：「我們得幫助，是在乎倚靠造天地之耶和華的名。」大衛曾指導我們（詩 121:2）為個人的事倚靠神得幫助——「我的幫助從造天地的耶和華而來」；這裏是為公眾的事——我們的幫助也是如此。對於一切把神之以色列的權益放在心上的人，這是安慰——以色列的神就是那創造世界的同一位，所以要在世上有一個教會，並能在最大的危險和苦難中保護那教會。所以教會的朋友當把信靠寄託在祂身上，他們必不至蒙羞。
英文原文
The Security of God's People
⁶ Blessed be the LORD, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth.
⁷ Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped.
⁸ Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
Here the psalmist further magnifies the great deliverance God had lately wrought for them.
I. That their hearts might be the more enlarged in thankfulness to him (Ps 124:6): Blessed be the Lord. God is the author of all our deliverances, and therefore he must have the glory of them. We rob him of his due if we do not return thanks to him. And we are the more obliged to praise him because we had such a narrow escape. We were delivered, 1. Like a lamb out of the very jaws of a beast of prey: God has not given us as a prey to their teeth, intimating that they had no power over God's people but what was given them from above. They could not be a prey to their teeth unless God gave them up, and therefore they were rescued, because God would not suffer them to be ruined. 2. Like a bird, a little bird (the word signifies a sparrow), out of the snare of the fowler. The enemies are very subtle and spiteful; they lay snares for God's people, to bring them into sin and trouble, and to hold them there. Sometimes they seem to have prevailed so far as to gain their point. God's people are taken in the snare, and are as unable to help themselves out as any weak and silly bird is; and then is God's time to appear for their relief, when all other friends fail; then God breaks the snare, and turns the counsel of the enemies into foolishness: The snare is broken and so we are delivered. Isaac was saved when he lay ready to be sacrificed. Jehovah-jireh—in the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.
II. That their hearts, and the hearts of others, might be the more encouraged to trust in God in the like dangers (Ps 124:8): Our help is in the name of the Lord. David had directed us (Ps 121:2) to depend upon God for help as to our personal concerns—My help is in the name of the Lord; here as to the concerns of the public—Our help is so. It is a comfort to all that lay the interests of God's Israel near their hearts that Israel's God is the same that made the world, and therefore will have a church in the world, and can secure that church in times of the greatest danger and distress. In him therefore let the church's friends put their confidence, and they shall not be put to confusion.
據我們推測，大衛是在神為他和他的百姓從某個極具威脅的危險中施行大拯救之後寫下本篇；那危險本可能使他們全體陷入毀滅——究竟是外族入侵還是內部叛亂，則未能確定；無論那是什麼，他本人似乎深受感動，並極願以神使他們得以逃脫的良善感動他人。他謹慎地將一切榮耀歸給祂，毫不歸給自己——這與得勝者通常的作法不同。一、他在此頌揚他們所處危險之重大，以及他們瀕臨之毀滅的可怕（詩 124:1-5）。二、他將他們得逃脫的榮耀歸給神（詩 124:6-7、1-2）。三、他從中得著激勵去信靠神（詩 124:8）。我們歌唱本篇時，除了將其應用於神在我們和我們百姓的日子，以及我們先祖的日子裡，為我們所行的任何特定拯救之外，還可思想我們藉耶穌基督所得救贖的大工——我們藉此從黑暗的權勢中被救拔出來。