Verse 6
Then they cried unto the Lord - When the Israelites began to pray heartily, and the eyes of all the tribes were as the eyes of one man turned unto the Lord, then he delivered them out of their distresses.
Verse 7
That they might go to a city of habitation - God stirred up the heart of Cyrus to give them liberty to return to their own land: and Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah, at different times, brought many of them back to Judea.
Verse 8
O that men would praise the Lord - This is what is called the intercalary verse, or burden of each part of this responsive song: see the introduction. God should be praised because he is good. We naturally speak highly of those who are eminent. God is infinitely excellent, and should be celebrated for his perfections. But he does wonders for the children of men; and, therefore, men should praise the Lord. And he is the more to be praised, because these wonders, נפלאות niphlaoth, miracles of mercy and grace, are done for the undeserving. They are done לבני אדם libney adam, for the children of Adam, the corrupt descendants of a rebel father.
Verse 9
For he satisfieth the longing soul - This is the reason which the psalmist gives for the duty of thankfulness which he prescribes. The longing soul, נפש שוקקה nephesh shokekah, the soul that pushes forward in eager desire after salvation.
Verse 10
Such as sit in darkness - Here begins the Second similitude, which he uses to illustrate the state of the captives in Babylon viz., that of a prisoner in a dreary dungeon.
1. They sit in or inhabit darkness. They have no light, no peace, no prosperity.
2. "In the shadow of death." The place where death reigns, over which he has projected his shadow; those against whom the sentence of death has been pronounced.
3. They are bound in this darkness, have no liberty to revisit the light, and cannot escape from their executioners.
4. They are afflicted, not only by want and privation in general, but they are tortured in the prison, עני oni, afflicted, humbled, distressed.
5. Their fetters are such as they cannot break; they are iron. The reason of their being in this wretched state is given.
Verse 11
Because they rebelled against the words of God -
1. God showed them their duty and their interest, and commanded them to obey his word; but they cast off all subjection to his authority, acted as if they were independent of heaven and earth, and broke out into open rebellion against him.
2. He counsealed and exhorted them to return to him: but they contemned his advice, and turned his counsel into ridicule.
3. As lenient means were ineffectual, he visited them in judgment: hence it is added,
Verse 12
He brought down their heart with labor - He delivered them into the hands of their enemies. and, as they would not be under subjection to God, he delivered them into slavery to wicked men: "So they fell down, and there was none to help;" God had forsaken them because they had forsaken him.
Verse 13
Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble - This was the salutary effect which their afflictions produced: they began to cry to God for mercy and help; and God mercifully heard their prayer, and reversed their state; for,
Verse 14
He brought then out of darkness -
1. Gave them again peace and prosperity.
2. Repealed the sentence of death.
3. "Unbound the poor prisoners."
4. Broke their iron bonds in sunder.
Verse 15
O that men, etc. - This is the intercalary verse, or burden, of the second part, as it was of the first. See [Psa 107:8].
Verse 16
For he hath broken - This is the reason given for thanks to God for his deliverance of the captives. It was not a simple deliverance; it was done so as to manifest the irresistible power of God. He tore the prison in pieces, and cut the bars of iron asunder.
Verse 17
Fools because of their transgression - This is the Third comparison; the captivity being compared to a person in a dangerous malady. Our Version does not express this clause well: Fools מדרך פשעם midderech pisham, because of the way of their transgressions, are afflicted. Most human maladies are the fruits of sin; misery and sin are married together in bonds that can never be broken.
Verse 18
Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat - A natural description of a sick man: appetite is gone, and all desire for food fails; nutriment is no longer necessary, for death has seized upon the whole frame. See a similar image, [Job 33:20] (note).
Verse 19
Then they cry - The effect produced by affliction as before.
Verse 20
He sent his word, and healed them - He spoke: "Be thou clean, be thou whole;" and immediately the disease departed; and thus they were delivered from the destructions that awaited them.
Verse 21
O that men, etc. - The intercalary verse, or burden, as before.