Psalm 125

Three kinds of people are mentioned in this psalm: those who trust in the Lord (v. 1), who are also called righteous and good (vv. 3-4); those who compromise with the enemy (v. 3); and those who deliberately go on the wrong path (v. 5). We could probably call them the faithful, the backslidden, and the apostate. This psalm was probably composed during the postexilic period of Ezra and Nehemiah. Nehemiah mentions all sorts of people who made his work difficult for him, beginning with Shemiah, the “secret informer,” and Noadiah, the hireling prophetess (Neh. 6:10-14). Eliashib was a compromising high priest (Neh. 13:4-9), and one of his grandsons married into the family of an enemy of the Jews (Neh. 13:28). There were also many unnamed Jewish men who entered into mixed marriages that were contrary to God’s law (Neh. 13:1-9, 23-31; Ezra 9–10). Thank God for the faithful who believe God and obey His Word! The psalm names the benefits that faith and faithfulness bring to God’s people.