Annotations upon the five books immediately following the historicall part of the Old Testament (commonly called the five doctrinall or poeticall books) to wit, the book of Iob, the Psalms, the Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon ... / by Arthur Jackson ...

PSALM CXXVI.

Vers. 1. WHen the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, &c.] That is, When the Lord brought the Jews back from Babylon into their own countrey: we were like them that dream; the mercy seemed so in∣credible, so far above all hope and expectation, that at first we could scarce tell whether it were so indeed, or whether we were not all the while in a dream; as it is said of Peter, when the Angel had carried him out of prison, Act. 12.9. that he wist not that it was true which was done by the Angel, but thought he saw a vision. And indeed that a heathen king should of his own accord send home Gods captived people into their own land, & that with a charge to build again the city Jerusalem and the Temple therein, & a command to his subjects, to afford them all requisite accommodations thereunto, giving them likewise all the vessels of the Temple, with great riches besides, it was a matter of great wonder; & the people here do observe it, to shew what great cause they had to blesse God for it.

Vers. 2. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, & our tongue with singing.] See the Note Job 8.21. The time was when they hung up their harps upon the willows, & could not sing for bitternesse of spirit, How shall we sing, say they, the Lords song in a strange land? see Psal. 137.2, 4: but now they had taken them down again, and could sing Psalm upon Psalm, and were never weary of singing. Then said they among the heathen, The Lord hath done great things for them; that is, even the Chal∣deans & Persians, together with other nations, amongst whom the Jews had lived as the most despised nation under heaven, and who had wont to insult over them for their confidence in God, and to flout at them and their religion, Psal. 137.3. Sing us, say they, one of the songs of Zion, were by the wonder of our deliverance forced to acknowledge, that our God had shewed great love to us in the great things he had done for us.

Vers. 3. The Lord hath done great things for us, &c.] As if the Jews should have said, (for in their name the Psalmist here speaks) If you that are our enemies say so, who speak it haply with repining spirits, well may we say so with glad hearts, for whom God hath done it.

Vers. 4. Turn again our captivity, O Lord, &c.] That is, Bring home the rest of our brethren, that are still captives in Babylon, as thou hast brought us home. For we must know, that though part of the Jews were returned, when this Psalm was penned, upon liberty granted them by the Proclamation of Cyrus, as is no∣ted before vers. 1; yet the greatest number by far stayed still in Babylon, accor∣ding to that Isa. 10.22. though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return: apprehending the tediousnesse of the journey, how great the perils were they were like to meet with in their way homeward, & how impos∣sible it seemed that they should recover their land again, from which they had been carried away captives so many years ago, and withall being grown, some of them at least, well enough contented with their present condition; either for fear or sloth, they preferred certain rest, though under bondage, & that amongst

idolaters, before hope of liberty, & of recovering their ancient inheritance, ac∣companied with so many dangers and troubles. And therefore no wonder it is, though that remnant of the Jews that were returned to their own countrey do still pray thus for their brethren that were behind, Turn again our captivity, O Lord, &c. Yea some conceive that in these words they do also pray that God would perfect the mercy of their deliverance out of Babylon to those that were returned, by settling them quietly in their land, & freeing them from that mighty opposition they met with in their rebuilding of their city & Temple, by means of the envy & malice of their neighbours round about them. As for that clause, as the streams in the South, we must take notice, first, that by the South here is meant barren and dry desarts; for because on the South of Canaan there lay great desarts, dry and sandy, yea the South parts of Canaan it self were dryer then other parts of the land were, whence was that of Calebs daughter to her father, Thou hast given me a South land, give me also springs of water, (see the Note Josh. 15.19.) therefore by the South in the Scripture is usually meant the desart or wildernesse, as in Psal. 75.6. promotion cometh neither from the East nor from the West, nor from the South, which is in the Hebrew, nor from the desart: and 2. that in those dry desarts God did sometimes send mighty land-flouds, either by sudden violent showers of rain, or by the melting of the snow upon the mountains. Accordingly therefore when the Church here prayes, Turn again our captivity, O Lord, as the streams in the South, either 1. they mean thereby, that God would bring home their captivated bre∣thren in great multitudes, so that they might cover the waies as they went, as those mighty streams in the South were wont to overflow & cover the earth, and that speedily & suddenly too, as those land-flouds used to come suddenly, when there was a little before no appearance of water: or 2. they would imply hereby, that though it would be a work of great wonder, like that of bringing streams of water into the dry desarts, yet God was able to doe it: or 3. they would hereby intimate how great a refreshing this would be to them; that the turning again of their captivity would be as welcome a mercy to them, as it would be to the tra∣veller, that is to goe through dry desarts, to meet there with some sweet streams of water for the refreshing of himself.

Vers. 5. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.] That is, as the poor husband∣man that sows in tears, either for the toil of his work, or the unseasonablenesse of the weather, or especially when in times of dearth & scarcity he casts the corn, that should nourish himself & his family, into the ground, and that too but upon uncertain hopes, as knowing that often when men carry out much, they bring in little, as is threatned Deut. 28.38. yet when a plentifull harvest comes, he then reaps with joy; & haply hath the richer harvest, when his seed-time was saddest, according to that usuall proverb, that corn sowen in a flood, comes up like a wood: so they that do what God requires, in hope of a retribution from God, accord∣ing to his will revealed in his word, though they may meet with much affliction & sorrow therein, yet shall doubtlesse at last reap what they expected with ex∣ceeding great joy; yea their foregoing sorrow shall be in part a cause or occasion of their greater joy. And with this generall sentence the Psalmist concludes this

Psalm: partly with respect to the experience which some of the Jews had alrea∣dy had of the truth hereof in their deliverance out of Babylon, when they went into captivity, in hope that God would make good what he had promised them by the prophet Jeremy, that after a certain time he would bring them back again with joy into their own land, their faith & patience & prayers was precious seed, sown not without many tears because of their misery; but when God brought them back with so much riches & glory, then they reaped with joy, according to that Isa. 51.11. the redeemed of the Lord shall return, & come with singing unto Zion, & everlasting joy shall be upon their head: & partly by way of encouragement for the time to come, both to those that were behind in Babylon, & those likewise that were imployed in repairing Jerusalem, &c. but were many waies in a very sad con∣dition, by reason of the great opposition, & manifold discouragements they met with in that service; even to put them in hope, that after this sad seed-time they should have a joyfull harvest; which is again repeated in the following verse.

Vers. 6. He that goeth forth; &c.] That is, that goeth out of doors to sow his seed; or, that in the field goeth on still forward, casting his seed into the ground: & weepeth, bearing precious seed; that is, good & choice corn, that is fit for seed; or corn when it is scarce & dear, & so it grieveth him the more to part with it: shall doubtlesse come again with rejoycing, bringing his sheaves with him; to wit, when at harvest he comes home out of the field with his carts laden with sheaves.