Psalm 126 A Song of Ascents.

 ¹When the Lord brought back the captivity of Zion,

We were like those who dream.

²Then our mouth was filled with laughter,

And our tongue with singing.

Then they said among the nations,

“The Lord has done great things for them.”

³The Lord has done great things for us,

And we are glad.

⁴Bring back our captivity, O Lord,

As the streams in the South.

⁵Those who sow in tears

Shall reap in joy.

⁶He who continually goes forth weeping,

Bearing seed for sowing,

Shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, Bringing his sheaves with him.

Preamble: Like all the Songs of Ascent that celebrate not only the then, but also foresee our future, so does Psalm 126, which is a celebration song of our redemption, both then, and now forever. The great musician, singer, song writer, Steve Bell captures this essence in is his song, “The Lord Has Done Great Things” on His C.D. “Comfort My People.”

Commentary

Vs. 1 “When the Lord brought back the captivity of Zion,

We were like those who dream.”

The psalm opens by celebrating Zions deliverance from captivity, of God’s people’s deliverance from Babylonian captivity and their being returned to Jerusalem by the Persian king Cyrus to rebuild the Temple. An act that God foretold He would do and so He raised Cyrus up to do this, see Isaiah 44:24-45:13).  And so, it is when His Word came to pass it was like a dream, like awakening to find that all that they hoped and long for during their long seventy-year exile from their God and land had now come to pass. The parallel then of our now being delivered from our own captivity, from all our sins and transgression because of the Lord Jesus Christ’s Crucifixion Death and Resurrection from the dead should not be lost on anyone (John 8:34-36). Which brings us to Steve Bell's song which captures this in such an organic and genuine manner, that I believe the song (indeed the whole C.D.) is a must to be heard and sung by all who believe. And anyone who doubts God’s faithfulness to save Israel (or us) should read the surrounding passages in Isaiah about how He will save them and keep them forever! And so, even though they have been brought to very grave lows for their sins against them, He will never cast them (nor us) away.

Vs. 2-3 ²Then our mouth was filled with laughter,

And our tongue with singing.

Then they said among the nations,

“The Lord has done great things for them.”

³The Lord has done great things for us,

And we are glad.

 With God's peoples deliverance and restoration there was a great communal rejoicing, For not only does our God save and restore us to Himself, but He often does it in such wonderful ways so as to cause joyful laughing and rejoicing to to spring up amongst us all , so much so that we inevitable bear witness to all those around us.  And so, in this Psalm all of God’s redeemed people are heard everywhere, so much so that even the peoples around them take notice and start to say, "the Lord has done great things for them!"   And so, as they journeyed home those who remained and those who made the initial trip began to boldly declare among the nations, 

"The Lord has done great things for us,

And we are glad."

Vs. 4 “Bring back our captivity, O Lord,

As the streams in the South.”

With their deliverance, the returning exiles prayer is that the Lord would now bring back all His captive exiles to their own land, as the streams in the south. Thus from the small trickle of brave people that began the initial journey (with only the few supplies they could carry), that He would now make it a flood of people returning to their land, and ultimately to Himself. This then is every evangelist’s prayer that God would make massive droves of peoples flow to Himself, and thus they themselves would turn from the powers of darkness to the power of light, to God’s Salvation and Power only found in Christ!

Vs. 5-6 ⁵Those who sow in tears

Shall reap in joy.

⁶He who continually goes forth weeping,

Bearing seed for sowing,

Shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, Bringing his sheaves with him.

These verses then describe the journey of returning to the Lord, of repentance and faith. Of initially sowing in tears (that is the deep remorse and regret which comes with honestly facing one’s own lives mistakes) and then the other side of that, the salvation side, where remission of all of one’s sins is received by humbly asking the Lord Jesus Christ to forgive and come into one’s life.

And so it is that a spiritually fruitful and now very productive and useful life in doing good towards all is the fruit of being born-again by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Scripture Quotations

New King James (1982): Thomas Nelson.