Psalms 123

¹A Song of degrees. Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens.

Psa 123:1-4. An earnest and expecting prayer for divine aid in distress. 1. (Compare Psa 121:1). thou that dwellest--literally, “sittest as enthroned” (compare Psa 2:4; 113:4, 5).

²Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the LORD our God, until that he have mercy upon us.

2. Deference, submission, and trust, are all expressed by the figure. In the East, servants in attending on their masters are almost wholly directed by signs, which require the closest observance of the hands of the latter. The servants of God should look (1) to His directing hand, to appoint them their work; (2) to His supplying hand (Psa 104:28), to give them their portion in due season; (3) to His protecting hand, to right them when wronged; (4) to His correcting hand (Is 9:13; 1Pe 5:6; compare Ge 16:6); (5) to His rewarding hand.

³Have mercy upon us, O LORD, have mercy upon us: for we are exceedingly filled with contempt.

3. contempt--was that of the heathen, and, perhaps, Samaritans (Ne 1:3; 2:19).

⁴Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that are at ease, and with the contempt of the proud.

4. of those that are at ease--self-complacently, disregarding God’s law, and despising His people.