Psalm 126

Psalms 120-134 are all “Pilgrimage Songs” and were written to be sung by the Jews on their way up to Jerusalem for the three feasts held there each year [the feasts: Passover, Pentecost, Booths]. Ten of the Psalms are anonymous, four are attributed to David (122, 124,131,133), and one to Solomon (127)].

I have written these chapter devotionals as Jesus would have sung them and heard them as He was going to Jerusalem to celebrate feasts as a Boy, as a Man, and then ultimately in His final ascent to Jerusalem as the Passover culminated at Calvary. I will especially let these Psalms flow from Jesus’ own lips as we imagine a bit of what might have been going through His mind as He walked His disciples to that city 3,800 feet above sea level—the city in these Psalms referred to as Jerusalem and Zion.

Some imagine these Psalms were written for Solomon's Temple, each Psalm written for the fifteen steps leading up to the inner court—one Psalm at a time sung by the Levitical choirs accompanied by musicians as the priest made his way up each step. 

Others imagine the Psalms were written for the exiles returning from Babylon to Jerusalem. Still others place them at 445 B.C. during Nehemiah's time, after the walls were built, when the Jews ascended to the temple for the Feast of Tabernacles. 

The Psalm of Sowing and Reaping

Some understand this Psalm to be written when Cyrus issued the decree liberating Israel to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. 

Jeremiah had prophesied that Judah, the southern kingdom of Israel, having been taken from their land for seventy years, would return home (Jeremiah 29:11-12). The first deportation of the Jews would have included Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. That seventy-year period was from the time of the exiles’ removal from Jerusalem until the first exiles returned with Zerubbabel. 

Ezra records the proclamation of Cyrus:

“In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken through Jeremiah, the LORD roused the spirit of King Cyrus to issue a proclamation throughout his entire kingdom and to put it in writing: This is what King Cyrus of Persia says: ‘The LORD, the God of the heavens, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and has appointed me to build him a house at Jerusalem in Judah.’” (Ezra 1:1-2 CSB)

Psalm 126, written in honor of Cyrus' decree, was added to the Psalms of Ascent and was sung in hope and anticipation of restored fortunes. 

Outline 

The Psalm is divided into two by the present tense of verse three: “The LORD has done great things for us; we are glad” (Psalm 126:3 ESV).

1. Past Grace (1-2)

2. Present Praise (3)

3. Future Grace (4-6)

Past Grace (1-2)

In a moment, everything changed—the fortunes of God's people reversed. Persia had a new king, and the first year of his reign was the last year of the prophet Daniel's service. Before Cyrus became king, Darius reigned. In the first year of Darius' reign, Daniel began to understand Jeremiah's word concerning the seventy-year captivity. He went to prayer, realizing those years were close to being fulfilled. He sought Yahweh in prayer and fasting for the exiles and the fulfillment of the prophecy of Jeremiah (Daniel 9:1-2).

Yahweh kept Daniel alive and in influence until Cyrus became King of Persia. Cyrus's rise to Persian preeminence had been predicted prophetically by Isaiah the prophet decades before. Daniel stayed in service, growing into an ancient man and awaiting Cyrus' arrival (Isaiah 44:28).

There is some evidence that Daniel went to Cyrus, showing him the prophecies of Jeremiah and Isaiah, leading the king to issue the decree. 

Once the amazing, didn’t-see-it-coming decree was announced, likely Ezra or some priest wrote this psalm. 

Yahweh had restored the fortunes of Zion, the place where His presence dwells with His people. The Hebrew word “fortune” bears the thought of returning to a previous condition, to provide a sense of restored fortune. Job had his fortunes restored (Job 42:10) and received back double.

The decree releasing Israel to go home, to have their dignity restored, seemed too good to be true (1).

The exiles were startled with suddenness; their hopes sprang into living color reality. They were unable to get words around their thoughts, so they just laughed and shouted, filling the air with sounds of joy.

The nations of the world could not deny it, other subjugated people could not deny it, and other ethnic groups made to live as exiles could not deny it. Without a war, without a shred of conflict, Yahweh freed the captivated people. The nations declared, “Yahweh had done great things for them” (2).

Present Praise (3)

The psalm divides into two parts around a short phrase in verse three—the line in the psalm in present tense. “Yahweh has done great things for us.” Once the nations started affirming Yahweh's “GREAT THINGS,” what seemed like a dream turned into a firm reality. “Oh yes, this is more than a daydream or a wishful fantasy—Yahweh has done great things for us, and WE ARE GLAD.” The psalm's present moment happened to the exiles of Babylon with the words, “WE ARE GLAD” (3).

Future Grace (4-6)

The exiles' minds cleared, and their hearts turned to the homeland. The farms had not been worked for seventy years but had lain fallow and uncultivated by the word of Yahweh. The weight of returning and beginning to reseed the land immediately hit them. The exiles were leaving established fields and the safe privilege of living in an empire, fed first, so to speak, by the tribute of vassal states. They would need to go into a land where the water canals and irrigation technology of their day had been overgrown and were no longer operational. They would need the rains to fall on their farms just like in the arid south. In the Negeb, the summer brooks would lie parched dry until late summer and autumn. Then the abundance of rain would fall and cause those gullies to gush with water—in the good years, causing the desert to sprout its dormant flowers and grasses. Israel would require this kind of gracious rainfall on their farms if they were to survive (4).

They would haul seed from Babylon to sow in fields that had not seen the plow for decades. They would be putting the last of their food in the ground, planting in a time of famine. They would weep to expend the last of their hope of seed sown on the wings of prayer: “Oh Yahweh, send seed-germinating rain in our time of famine.” During this period, the apparent famine may have been an added motivation for Cyrus to release the captives seeking more provision via more tribute (5).

Then the psalmist does something beautiful: the verbs “go out” and “come home” are written twice for emphasis. The psalmist is expressing certainty in Yahweh. Without a doubt, Yahweh will turn the sorrow of sowing the last bit of seed in famine into a harvest lavish enough to create joy. The phrase “shall doubtless come again” is exactly the phrase the psalmist had in mind when writing. Yahweh would not only bring the exiles back home; Yahweh would also bring the harvest of the land back home, providing the rain (6).