A Song of Ascents. By David.
1 If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, let Israel now say, 2 if it had not been the LORD who was on our side, when men rose up against us; 3 then they would have swallowed us up alive, when their wrath was kindled against us; 4 then the waters would have overwhelmed us, the stream would have gone over our soul; 5 then the proud waters would have gone over our soul. 6 Blessed be the LORD, who has not given us as a prey to their teeth. 7 Our soul has escaped like a bird out of the fowler’s snare. The snare is broken, and we have escaped. 8 Our help is in the LORD’s name, who made heaven and earth.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary, 1706
Verses 1–5
God suffers the enemies of his people sometimes to prevail very far against them, that his power may be seen the more in their deliverance. Happy the people whose God is Jehovah, a God all-sufficient. Besides applying this to any particular deliverance wrought in our days and the ancient times, we should have in our thoughts the great work of redemption by Jesus Christ, by which believers were rescued from Satan.
Verses 6–8
God is the Author of all our deliverances, and he must have the glory. The enemies lay snares for God’s people, to bring them into sin and trouble, and to hold them there. Sometimes they seem to prevail; but in the Lord let us put our trust, and we shall not be put to confusion. The believer will ascribe all the honour of his salvation, to the power, mercy, and truth of God, and look back with wonder and thanksgiving on the way in which the Lord has led him. Let us rejoice that our help for the time to come is in him who made heaven and earth.