Psalm 129:1 Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say:… Many a time have they afflicted me; so many times that it seemed useless to try and count them up. It is enough to represent them by one number, and that the representative of completeness, seven times. Israel may be said, as a nation, to have had an all-round experience of affliction and discipline. Eliphaz the Temanite speaks rightly to Job for God when he says, "He shall deliver thee in six troubles; yea, in seven there shall be no evil touch thee" (Job 5:19). I. A FACT OF THE NATIONAL HISTORY. So far as the record reveals that history, it appears to be a series of calamities and distresses; some brought about by characteristic national frailties, some by individuals forcing their willfulnesses, some by untoward circumstances, and some by the active schemes of enemies. It would even seem that national sorrows are so well represented in this history that we may speak of its "seven sorrows;" and we may find the mission of all forms of human trial illustrated in the moral influence of these calamities and woes of Israel. But we need not assume that its experiences were unique. Every nation is born of, and molded by, similar troubles. The peculiarity of Israel does not lie in its experiences, but in the reading of its experiences. The Bible reads them in the light of Jehovah's relation to them. This is the only true reading of human history, and all history needs to be read in this light. God is in the sorrows of a nation. II. A FACT OF THE INDIVIDUAL HISTORY. It does not matter where, or under what circumstances, or in what relations, a man's life is lived. A man is "born to trouble as the sparks fly upward." No man can escape it. It would be his curse if he could. A man can, as a moral being, become righteous; but there is no school in which he can be trained for righteousness save the school of affliction. It is no ground of boasting to any man that his life has been free from trials. If a man may boast at all, he should boast over his "seven sorrows," because he may indulge the hope that God's grace has been mighty in him, and he has come into much sanctifying discipline. - R.T. Parallel Verses KJV: {A Song of degrees.} Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say:WEB: Many times they have afflicted me from my youth up. Let Israel now say, |
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