This psalm, one of the "Songs of Degrees," is, like Psalm 122:1-9, ascribed to David. See the Introductory Notes to that psalm. There is nothing in the one before us to render it improbable that it was composed by him, but it is now impossible to ascertain on what occasion it was written. It would be appropriate to be sung on the return from Babylon, and there is no improbability in the supposition that it may have been used on that occasion. But there is nothing in it to prove that it was composed then, or to make it applicable to that occasion alone. Very many were the occasions in the Jewish history when such a psalm was applicable; very many have been the occasions in the history of the Christian church; very many, also, in the lives of individual believers.
The idea in the psalm is, that deliverance from trouble and danger is to be ascribed wholly to God; that the people of God are often in such circumstances that there is no human help for them, and that the praise of theft deliverance is due to God alone.

A thanksgiving of the godly for extraordinary deliverances, Psalm 124:1-4. The great danger they were in, Psalm 124:7. Their confidence in God, Psalm 124:8.
In our present Hebrew copies this Psalm is attributed to David, לדוד ledavid; but this inscription is wanting in three of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS., as also in the Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate, Ethiopic, and Arabic; and in most of the ancient fathers, Greek and Latin, who found no other inscription in their copies of the text than A Psalm of degrees. It was composed long after David's days; and appears to be either a thanksgiving for their deliverance from the Babylonish captivity, or for a remarkable deliverance from some potent and insidious enemy after their return to Judea. Or, what appears to be more likely, it is a thanksgiving of the Jews for their escape from the general massacre intended by Haman, prime minister of Ahasuerus, king of Persia. See the whole Book of Esther.

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 124
A Song of degrees of David. Some think this psalm was written by David, after the conquest of the Philistines and Ammonites, and other nations that rose up against him and Israel, like the proud waves of the sea, and spread themselves like a flood; and whose destruction was like the breach of many waters, 2-Samuel 5:18. Others, after his deliverance from the persecution of Saul, or from the conspiracy of Absalom. Theodoret is of opinion that David wrote this by a prophetic spirit, concerning the enemies of the Jews, upon their return to their own land, from the Babylonish captivity; who envied them, and rose up against them, but the Lord delivered them. And others apply it to the times of Antiochus, when the Jewish church and state were threatened with ruin; but the Lord appeared for them, in raising up the Maccabees. Kimchi interprets it of the Jews in captivity; and drama of the deliverance of the children of Israel at the Red sea. It may be applied to any time of distress the church and people of God have been in, and he has wrought salvation for them.

(Psalm 124:1-5) The deliverance of the church.
(Psalm 124:6-8) Thankfulness for the deliverance.

The Deliverer from Death in Waters and in a Snare
The statement "the stream had gone over our soul" of this fifth Son of degrees, coincides with the statement "our soul is full enough" of the fourth; the two Psalm also meet in the synonymous new formations גּאיונים and זידונים, which also look very much as though they were formed in allusion to contemporary history. The לדוד is wanting in the lxx, Codd. Alex. and Vat., here as in Psalm 122:1-9, and with the exception of the Targum is wanting in general in the ancient versions, and therefore is not so much as established as a point of textual criticism. It is a Psalm in the manner of the Davidic Psalm, to which it is closely allied in the metaphors of the overwhelming waters, Psalm 18:5, Psalm 18:17 (cf. Psalm 144:7), Psalm 69:2., and of the little bird; cf. also on לוּלי Psalm 27:13, on אדם used of hostile men Psalm 56:12, on בּלע חיּים Psalm 55:16, on בּרוּך ה Psalm 28:6; Psalm 31:22. This beautiful song makes its modern origin known by its Aramaizing character, and by the delight, after the manner of the later poetry, in all kinds of embellishments of language. The art of the form consists less in strophic symmetry than in this, that in order to take one step forward it always goes back half a step. Luther's imitation (1524), "Were God not with us at this time" (Wהre Gott nicht mit uns diese Zeit), bears the inscription "The true believers' safeguard."