Jehovah's effective resistance.
Perowne thinks that the figures of these verses remind of the earlier deliverance from Egypt. "The Egyptians did ' rise up' against them. Pharaoh and his chariots and his horsemen followed hard after them, and did seem as if about to swallow them up, when they were entangled in the wilderness. The waves of the Red Sea overwhelming their enemies might have suggested naturally the figure by which the might of those enemies was itself compared to swelling waters." An estimate of the tone of the psalm, however, leads us to recognize suddenness as the characteristic of the calamity indicated. The waters suggested are rather those of a sudden mountain flood raging down one of the dried wadies, carrying all before it, but passing as swiftly as it came—the "spate" or "scaith" of mountain districts. If the sea is to be thought of, it is as suddenly swept up by high tide and strong wind, and lunging furiously against the rocks, so long as the strength of the tide continues. We may therefore more hopefully look at the experiences of the returned exiles, and find that the calamity in the mind of the psalmist was the sudden, fanatical, and desperate outburst of enmity on the part of Sanballat and his associates. That was a temporary trouble, but it was very intense, and almost overbearing and overwhelming while it lasted.
I. JEHOVAH'S RESISTANCE MAY BE A PERMISSION. It need not be confounded with a prevention. God does not always save men by taking their enemies, or the schemes of their enemies, away. He does not turn back the floods. He lets them flow on just the same. He may not even remove the feeling and the fear which the floods produce. We should never lose the confidence that, if our enemies are in the floods, God is much more in the floods. They may seem to work our enemy's purpose; they really do work out God's purpose. Divine permissions are the signs of Divine wisdom and love. And this St. Paul had to learn.
II. JEHOVAH'S RESISTANCE MAY BE A PRESERVATION. Only the shakable, ill-founded things are swept down by the mountain spate. The house founded on the rock makes effective resistance. And that is what God did for the returned exiles—held them safe through that time of strain and storm. God in our circumstances we often find it very difficult to trace; God for us we may always see clearly; and that guarantees preservation.—R.T.
God's delivering ways.
"Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowler." The enmity of Sanballat and his party found expression in secret schemes, which may well be likened to the "snare of the fowler." The account of the peril is given in Nehemiah 6:1-19. The violence of the wild beast is illustrated by the threatenings of Nehemiah 4:1-23.; the scheming of the hunter by Nehemiah 6:1-19. Speaking of Tobiah, Stanley says, "He it was who had constant intrigues with the disaffected party within the walls." Possibly Sanballat may represent the more open and violent ways of the wild beast, and Tobiah the more secretly scheming ways of the hunter. The "bird" here is a "little bird," such as a sparrow. McMichael vividly presents this figure. "The fowler has prepared his net in a skilful manner. The bird enters it, unconscious of danger; the net is thrown over it, and in an instant its liberty is lost. There it lies, the poor bird, its little heart throbbing wildly, and its little wings beating vainly against the net. It is completely at the mercy of the fowler, and escape is impossible. But again the Lord appears, and his presence is safety. He goes up to the net, lifts it from the ground; the bird flies out, lights on a neighboring tree, and sings among the branches. 'Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler.' God rescues his people from the craft and subtlety of their enemies, as he does from their open violence." The point which is set forth prominently by the figure of the snare is, that God often delivers his people by removing obstacles out of their way, and giving them the opportunity of delivering themselves.
I. GOD DELIVERING BY PROVIDING OPPORTUNITIES. The figure does not show s hand taking the bird from under the net, but breaking the net, making a hole in it, of which the bird can take advantage. The rescue from Egypt is the type of God's deliverances. God removed the obstacle of the sea; but Israel had to take advantage of this, and show promptitude and energy in crossing. It may sometimes be best for God to do the whole redemptive work, but usually he does so much only as sets us free to do. In our deliverances we have to be "co-workers together with God." God saves man without humiliating or enfeebling him.
II. OUR WORK IS RESPONDING TO THE OPPORTUNITIES PROVIDED. As the ensnared bird does. The great deliverance from sin is no rescue without our wills. It is the lifting off us our bonds, and so leaving us free to live the life of righteousness. We must respond to the freedom that we have in Christ Jesus.—R.T.