1 Yahweh, you have been favorable to your land. You have restored the fortunes of Jacob.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
O Jehovah! thou hast been favorable to thy land. Those who translate these words in the future tense, in my opinion, mar their meaning. This psalm, it is probable, was endited to be sung by the people when they were persecuted by the cruel tyranny of Antiochus; and from the deliverance wrought for them in the past, they were encouraged to expect in the future, fresh and continued tokens of the divine favor, -- God having thereby testified, that their sins, however numerous and aggravated, could not efface from his memory the remembrance of his covenant, so as to render him inexorable towards the children of Abraham, and deaf to their prayers. Had they not previously experienced such remarkable proofs of the divine goodness, they must necessarily have been overwhelmed with the load of their present afflictions, especially when so long protracted. The cause of their deliverance from captivity they attribute to the free love with which God had embraced the land which he had chosen for himself. Whence it follows, that the course of his favor was unintermitted; and the faithful also were inspired with confidence in prayer, by the reflection that, mindful of his choice, he had shown himself merciful to his own land. We have elsewhere had occasion to remark, that nothing contributes more effectually to encourage us to come to the throne of grace, than the remembrance of God's former benefits. Our faith would immediately succumb under adversity, and sorrow would choke our hearts, were we not taught to believe from the experience of the past, that he is inclined compassionately to hear the prayers of his servants, and always affords them succor when the exigencies of their circumstances require it; especially as there remains at all times the same reason for continuing his goodness. Thus the prophet happily applies to believers of his own day, the benefits which God in old time bestowed upon their fathers, because both they and their fathers were called to the hope of the same inheritance.
Lord, thou hast been favorable unto thy land - Margin, "well pleased with." The idea is that he had been kind or propitious to the nation; to wit, on some former occasion. So Luther, (vormals) "formerly." The reference is to some previous period in their history, when he had exercised his power in their behalf.
Thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob - That is, at the time referred to. It is not necessary to suppose that the allusion is to the period immediately preceding the time when the psalm was composed, but it may have been any period in their history. Nor is it necessary to suppose that the people had been removed from their land at the time, for all that would be necessary to suppose in interpreting the language would be that the land had been invaded, even though the inhabitants still remained in it.
Lord, thou hast been favorable - Literally, Thou hast been well pleased with thy land.
Thou hast brought back the captivity - This seems to fix the time of the Psalm to be after the return of the Jews from Babylon.
"To the chief Musician, A Psalm for the sons of Korah." LORD, thou hast been (a) favourable unto thy land: thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob.
(a) They confess that God's free mercy was the cause of their deliverance because he loved the land which he had chosen.
Lord, thou hast been favourable unto thy land,.... The land of Canaan, which the Lord chose for the people of Israel, and put them into the possession of it; and where he himself chose to dwell, and had a sanctuary built for him; and therefore though the whole earth is his, yet this was his land and inheritance in a peculiar manner, as it is called, Jeremiah 16:18, the inhabitants of it are meant, to whom the Lord was favourable, or whom he graciously accepted, and was well pleased with and delighted in, as appears by his choosing them above all people to be his people; by bringing them out of Egyptian bondage, by leading them through the Red sea and wilderness, by feeding and protecting them there; and by bringing them into the land of Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey, and settling them in it; and by many temporal blessings, and also spiritual ones, as his word and ordinances; but especially by sending his own Son, the Messiah and Saviour, unto them; and which perhaps is what is here principally intended:
thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob; or, "the captives" (m) of Jacob; in a temporal sense, both out of Egypt, and out of Babylon; and in a spiritual sense from sin, Satan, and the law; the special people of God often go by the name of Jacob, and these are captives to the above mentioned; and redemption by Christ is a deliverance of them from their captivity, or a bringing of it back, for he has led captivity captive; and in consequence of this they are put into a state of freedom, liberty is proclaimed to these captives, and they are delivered, and all as the fruit and effect of divine favour.
(m) "captivam turbam", Junius & Tremellius; i. e. "captivos", Gejerus, Michaelis.
The sense of present afflictions should not do away the remembrance of former mercies. The favour of God is the fountain of happiness to nations, as well as to particular persons. When God forgives sin, he covers it; and when he covers the sin of his people, he covers it all. See what the pardon of sin is. In compassion to us, when Christ our Intercessor has stood before thee, thou hast turned away thine anger. When we are reconciled to God, then, and not till then, we may expect the comfort of his being reconciled to us. He shows mercy to those to whom he grants salvation; for salvation is of mere mercy. The Lord's people may expect sharp and tedious afflictions when they commit sin; but when they return to him with humble prayer, he will make them again to rejoice in him.
On the ground of former mercies, the Psalmist prays for renewed blessings, and, confidently expecting them, rejoices. (Psalm 85:1-13)
captivity--not necessarily the Babylonian, but any great evil (Psalm 14:7).
The poet first of all looks back into the past, so rich in tokens of favour. The six perfects are a remembrance of former events, since nothing precedes to modify them. Certainly that which has just been experienced might also be intended; but then, as Hitzig supposes, Psalm 85:5-8 would be the petition that preceded it, and Psalm 85:9 would go back to the turning-point of the answering of the request - a retrograde movement which is less probable than that in shuwbeenuw, Psalm 85:5, we have a transition to the petition for a renewal of previously manifested favour. (שׁבית) שבּ שׁבוּת, here said of a cessation of a national judgment, seems to be meant literally, not figuratively (vid., Psalm 14:7). רצה, with the accusative, to have and to show pleasure in any one, as in the likewise Korahitic lamentation- Psalm 44:4, cf. Psalm 147:11. In Psalm 85:3 sin is conceived of as a burden of the conscience; in Psalm 85:3 as a blood-stain. The music strikes up in the middle of the strophe in the sense of the "blessed" in Psalm 32:1. In Psalm 85:4 God's עברה (i.e., unrestrained wrath) appears as an emanation; He draws it back to Himself (אסף as in Joel 3:15, Psalm 104:29; 1-Samuel 14:19) when He ceases to be angry; in Psalm 85:4, on the other hand, the fierce anger is conceived of as an active manifestation on the part of God which ceases when He turns round (השׁיב, Hiph. as inwardly transitive as in Ezekiel 14:6; Ezekiel 39:25; cf. the Kal in Exodus 32:12), i.e., gives the opposite turn to His manifestation.
Captivity - The captives.
*More commentary available at chapter level.