1 Many times they have afflicted me from my youth up. Let Israel now say, 2 many times they have afflicted me from my youth up, yet they have not prevailed against me. 3 The plowers plowed on my back. They made their furrows long. 4 Yahweh is righteous. He has cut apart the cords of the wicked. 5 Let them be disappointed and turned backward, all those who hate Zion. 6 Let them be as the grass on the housetops, which withers before it grows up; 7 with which the reaper doesn't fill his hand, nor he who binds sheaves, his bosom. 8 Neither do those who go by say, "The blessing of Yahweh be on you. We bless you in the name of Yahweh." A Song of Ascents.
This psalm is entitled merely "A Song of Degrees." Its author is unknown; and the occasion on which it was written cannot now be ascertained. It is a psalm which would be applicable to many periods of the Jewish history, and it is not of such a nature that it can with certainty be referred to any one of them. There is nothing in it which would forbid us to suppose that it was composed on the return from the Babylonian exile, but there is nothing to fix it definitely to that event. Why it was made one of the "Songs of Degrees" is equally unknown. It merely refers to the fact that Israel had often been roughly and severely treated; and it contains a prayer that those who were the enemies of Zion might be punished in a proper manner. It would seem probable that it was composed during a time of trouble, of war, or of persecution, and that the main purpose of the writer was to refer to the fact that the same thing had often occurred before, and to find consolation and support in that fact. The principle on which it is founded is, that there is nothing to be dreaded as the result of trial, if we have passed through the same form of trial before, and if we have not sunk but have been sustained under it. This furnishes an assurance that the same thing may occur again.
The Jews give an account of the afflicions which they have passed through, Psalm 129:1-3. And thank God for their deliverance, Psalm 129:4. The judgments that shall fall on the workers of iniquity, Psalm 129:5-8.
This Psalm was written after the captivity; and contains a reference to the many tribulations which the Jews passed through from their youth, i.e., the earliest part of their history, their bondage in Egypt. It has no title in any of the Versions, nor in the Hebrew text, except the general one of A Psalm of Degrees. The author is uncertain.
INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 129
A Song of degrees. This psalm was written in later times, after many of the distresses of Israel; very probably upon the Jews return from the Babylonish captivity, by Ezra, or some other godly person. Aben Ezra says the psalmist speaks in the language of Israel in captivity; and the same is the sense of Kimchi and Arama. The Syriac inscription is,
"a psalm without a name, concerning the distress of the people; but as to us, it intimates to us the victory and triumph of the worshippers.''.
(Psalm 129:1-4) Thankfulness for former deliverances.
(Psalm 129:5-8) A believing prospect of the destruction of the enemies of Zion.
The End of the Oppressors of Zion
Just as Psalm 124:1-8 with the words "let Israel say" was followed by Psalm 125:1-5 with "peace be upon Israel," so Psalm 128:1-6 with "peace be upon Israel" is followed by Psalm 129:1-8 with "let Israel say." This Psalm 129:1-8 has not only the call "let Israel say," but also the situation of a deliverance that has been experienced (cf. Psalm 129:4 with Psalm 124:6.), from which point it looks gratefully back and confidently forward into the future, and an Aramaic tinge that is noticeable here and there by the side of all other classical character of form, in common with Psalm 124:1-8.
*More commentary available by clicking individual verses.