Psalm 107–
The final section of the Psalms, "the fifth, is just like Deuteronomy. It shows God’s ways with Israel, the end of these ways in deliverance not only for His people, but for their land, for the nations of the earth, for all creation. The book ends with the Hallelujah Chorus of redemption." (Gaebelien) “Now, just as at the beginning of the Book of Deuteronomy Israel stands on the threshold of the Land of Promise, after the two tribes and a half have already established themselves on the other side of the Jordan, so at the beginning of this Fifth Book of the Psalter we see Israel restored to the soil of its fatherland.” (Keil & Delitzsch)
This is likely a psalm of David. “’O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth forever.’ (1) In the heading of this Psalm we are reminded that the psalmist here exhorts the redeemed, in praising God, to observe his manifold providence over travelers, prisoners, sick men, seamen, ‘and in divers varieties of life.’ But, inasmuch as the exhortation is specially addressed to the redeemed of the Lord, I shall endeavor to cast the red ray of redemption over it, and to explain these various circumstances as relating to the spiritual experience of God’s people, and to their deliverance out of divers perils to which their souls are exposed.” (C. H. Spurgeon) Today the church supplies “the place of the apostate Jews, whose forefathers experienced, in type and shadow, the good things prepared for them and for us, in truth and substance.’” (Joseph Benson) We are one with the patriarchs, even David.
2 Let the redeemed of Yahweh say so, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy, 3 and gathered out of the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south. 4 They wandered in the wilderness in a desolate way; they found no city to dwell in. 5 Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. 6 Then they cried out to Yahweh in their trouble, and He delivered them out of their distresses. 7 And He led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city for a dwelling place. 8 Oh, that men would give thanks to Yahweh for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! 9 For He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness.
“’Let the redeemed of Yahweh say so,’ etc. That they would confess it to the Lord, both in secret, and in society. This is all the rent that God requireth; He is content that we have the comfort of His blessings, so He may have the honour of them. This was all the fee Christ looked for for his cures: go and tell what God hath done for thee.” (John Trapp) “‘Redeemed of Yahweh.’—Moses has given us in the law a clear and full idea of what we are to understand by the word gal, here rendered ‘redeemed.’ If any person was either sold for a slave or carried away for a captive, then his kinsman, who was nearest to him in blood, had the right and equity of redemption. But no other person was suffered to redeem. And such a kinsman was called ‘the redeemer’, when he paid down the price for which his relation was sold to be a slave, or paid the ransom for which he was led captive. And there is another remarkable instance in the law, wherein it was provided, that in any case any person was found murdered, then the nearest to him in blood was to prosecute the murderer, and to bring him to justice, and this nearest relation thus avenging the murder is called by the same name, a redeemer. And how beautifully is the office of our great Redeemer represented under these three instances; He was to us such a Redeemer in spirituals, as these were in temporals: for sin had brought all mankind into slavery and captivity, and had murdered us ...This most high God, who was also man, united in one Christ, came into the world to redeem us, and the same person being both God and man, must merit for us as God in what He did for us as man. Accordingly, by the merits of His obedience and sufferings, He paid the price our redemption, and we were no longer the servants of sin; and by his most precious blood shed upon the cross, by his death and resurrection, he overcame both death, and him who had the power of death, and by delivering us in this manner from slavery and captivity, he fulfilled the third part of the Redeemer's office: for Satan was the murderer from the beginning, who had given both body and soul a mortal wound of sin, which was certain death and eternal misery, and the Redeemer came to avenge the murder. He took our cause in hand, as being our nearest kinsman, and it cost him his own life to avenge ours.” (William Romaine)
“‘Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy, and gathered out of the lands,’ “There seems in these verses some reference to the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt, their wanderings in the desert, and their settlement in Canaan; yet they do not exactly or exclusively apply to these events. The Israelites were not gathered out of the lands, ‘from the east, west, north, and south’: But they were redeemed from the power of Pharaoh.” (Scott) Yet in the future, we will be gathered at last from the four corners of the earth.
“They wandered in the wilderness in a desolate way; they found no city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them.’ They returned as dust to the earth, but shall revive. "The same God that has led us has fed us all our life long unto this day, has fed us with food convenient, has provided food for the soul, and filled the hungry soul with goodness. Those that hunger and thirst after righteousness, after God, the living God, and communion with Him, shall be abundantly replenished with the goodness of his house, both in grace and glory.” (Matthew Henry) These were in danger of eternal death. But they cried to the Lord in their trouble. "Not before, nor after, but in it. When they were in the midst of it; when trouble was wrapped round their head, as the weeds were wrapped round the head of Jonah; when they were surrounded by it, and could see no way out of it; when, like a person in a mist, they saw no way of escape before or behind; when nothing but a dark cloud of trouble surrounded their souls, and they did not know that ever that cloud would be dispersed; then it was that they cried unto Jesus.” (J.C. Philpot)
“‘And He,” that is Jesus, “delivered them out of their distresses.” “And the Angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud went from before them and stood behind them. So it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. Thus it was a cloud and darkness to the one, and it gave light by night to the other, so that the one did not come near the other all that night.” (Exodus 14:19-20) “The Jews say this was Michael, the great prince, who became a wall of fire between Israel and the Egyptians; and if they understood by Him the uncreated Angel, the eternal Word, the Son of God, who is always in Scripture meant by Michael, they are right.” ( John Gill) “’And He led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city for a dwelling place.’ As Abraham, they "waited for the city which has foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God." (Hebrews 11:10)
"They ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ." (1 Cor 10:3-4) What a glorious Shepherd is He “Who thus collects the blood bought flock from the remotest regions, guides them through countless perils, and at last makes them to lie down in the green pastures of Paradise. Some have wandered one way and some another they have all left Immanuel's land and strayed as far as they could, and great are the grace and power by which they are all collected into one flock by the Lord Jesus.” (C. H. Spurgeon) “‘Let them praise Yahweh for His goodness… His mercy, in providing for the spiritual wants of perishing sinners.” (Thomas Scott) “Well then [when on Heaven's shore] may I shout aloud this hymn of praise to Him who hath satiated my weary soul, and replenished my sorrowful soul. Luke 15:13-14; Hebrews 11:9-10; Jeremiah 31:25; Isaiah 28:12; Matthew 11:28.” (Robert Hawker)
10 Those who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, bound in affliction and irons—11 because they rebelled against the words of God, and despised the counsel of the Most High,12 therefore He brought down their heart with labor; they fell down, and there was none to help.13 Then they cried out to Yahweh in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses.14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and broke their chains in pieces. 15 Oh, that men would give thanks to Yahweh for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! 16 For He has broken the gates of bronze, and cut the bars of iron in two.
“We are led to conceive of persons shut up in a dark and unwholesome dungeon [the grave], barricaded on every side by gates of brass (symbol of judgment) and bars of iron (symbol of strength), and loaded with galling fetters; condemned to die, and hourly expecting to be led to execution. This they are supposed to have merited by their crimes; having both violated the laws of man, and rebelled against the Word of God. In this deplorable condition [condemned to death or perishing], bowed down with pain and anguish of spirit, they are represented as praying to the Lord, and, by His power over the hearts and affairs of men, marvellously set at liberty. Multitudes, through successive generations, have doubtless experienced such an unmerited and unexpected escape: and the deliverance of the Jews from their abject slavery in Egypt, and their captivity in Babylon, must occur to the mind of the attentive reader, with many particular instances recorded in scripture. (Marg. Ref. Notes, 2 Kings 25:27-30. 2 Chronicles 33:11-19.)... By rebellion against God, men are brought under the condemnation of His holy law; and Satan, by means of their lusts, has obtained dominion over them, and holds them fast in the most miserable bondage.” (Thomas Scott)
17 Fools, because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, were afflicted. 18 Their soul abhorred all manner of food, and they drew near to the gates of death. 19 Then they cried out to Yahweh in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses. 20 He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions. 21 Oh, that men would give thanks to Yahweh for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! 22 Let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare His works with rejoicing.
All Christ’s miracle while on earth “were emblematic of his Healing the far worst- diseases of our souls. We are, as fools— fallen creatures, prone to pride, ambition, envy, malice, covetousness, and sensual lusts: but most men exceedingly increase these fatal distempers by habits of indulgence. The convinced sinner knows that these maladies must terminate in hopeless misery, unless cured; and he finds by experience, that he can increase, but cannot remedy them: he even feels his carnal mind and heart recoil at those things, which should be the nourishment of his soul, and he often apprehends that his destruction is inevitable. But he fervently and importunately cries unto the Lord in this distressing emergency, and by His Word and Spirit his soul is gradually restored to health and holiness. The original is future, ‘He will save,’ etc.” (Thomas Scott)- implying a future Day, when He comes again in glory. In that Day, let us sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare His works with rejoicing.
23 Those who go down to the sea in ships, who do business on great waters, 24 They see the works of Yahweh, and His wonders in the deep.25 For He commands and raises the stormy wind, which lifts up the waves of the sea. 26 They mount up to the heavens, they go down again to the depths; their soul melts because of trouble. 27 They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end. 28 Then they cry out to the Lord in their trouble, and He brings them out of their distresses. 29 He calms the storm, so that its waves are still. 30 Then they are glad because they are quiet; so He guides them to their desired haven.31 Oh, that men would give thanks to Yahweh for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! 32 Let them exalt Him also in the assembly of the people, and praise Him in the company of the elders.
These call upon the Lord and are rescued, “as from the very jaws of destruction, by the ceasing of the storm, or by some unexpected way of escape; and their terror is succeeded by proportionable gladness, when they arrive safe at their destined and much desired harbour. (...Jonah 1:4-16. Matthew 8:23-27. Acts 27:14-44.) This too may be a picture or emblem of those terrors and that distress of conscience, which many experience, when they first apply their minds to religion: and of those deep scenes of trouble and temptation, which some, far more than others, pass through, in their subsequent course; when, like Job , they seem to be set up as marks, at which Satan is permitted to shoot all his fiery darts; and by every suggestion to fill them with hard thoughts of God, and desperate conclusions concerning themselves. These are, like the mariner, exposed to tempests unknown to others, and are sometimes almost at their wits end; their wisdom is swallowed up, and their hearts and hope seem entirely to fail them: yet in answer to their humble and earnest cries, the Lord turns their storms into a calm...” (Thomas Scott)
33 He turns rivers into a wilderness, and the watersprings into dry ground; 34 a fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of those who dwell in it. 35 He turns a wilderness into pools of water, and dry land into watersprings. 36 There He makes the hungry dwell, that they may establish a city for a dwelling place,37 And sow fields and plant vineyards, that they may yield a fruitful harvest. 38 He also blesses them, and they multiply greatly; and He does not let their cattle decrease. 39 When they are diminished and brought low through oppression, affliction, and sorrow,40 He pours contempt on princes, and causes them to wander in the wilderness where there is no way;41 Yet He sets the poor on high, far from affliction, and makes their families like a flock.42 The righteous see it and rejoice, and all iniquity stops its mouth. 43 Whoever is wise will observe these things, and they will understand the lovingkindness of Yahweh.
“In the closing verses the judgment of God on the rebellious, and the mercies of God to his own afflicted people are made the burden of the song, Psalms 107:33-42.” (C. H. Spurgeon) “The casting of the Jews out of the church, and the preaching of the gospel to the Gentiles, answer to this picture. The well-watered and fruitful soil is become dry and barren; while the wilderness is filled with pools of water and wells of salvation. (Notes, Isaiah 24: 13 -16; 30: 23- 25; 32: 15- 20; 35: 1 , 25- 7; 41: 17-20; 43: 14-21; 44: 3-5; 5512, 13.) The gospel flourished for a time exceedingly among the Gentiles: but it has been brought low and diminished, in different places, through oppression and persecution, and internal corruptions or divisions. Yet contempt has repeatedly been poured upon persecuting princes; and even upon such as, professing friendship, have attempted to lord it over God’s heritage; so that they have been bewildered and infatuated in their counsels, like men who have lost their way: (Notes, 2 Kings 3:7-14. Isaiah 23: 8, 9) while the poor and persecuted church of God has been revived from the dust, and again increased and prospered.
This will be more eminently the case in future times… etc.” (Thomas Scott) "And then the psalm closes with a sort of summing up, in Psalms 107:43, which declares that those who study the works and ways of the Lord (Jesus) shall be sure to see and praise His goodness." (C. H. Spurgeon)