Psalm 129- Song of Ascents.
1 “Many a time they have afflicted me from my youth,” Let Israel now say— 2 “Many a time they have afflicted me from my youth; yet they have not prevailed against me. 3 The plowers plowed on my back; they made their furrows long.” 4 Yahweh is righteous; He has cut in pieces the cords of the wicked. 5 Let all those who hate Zion be put to shame and turned back. 6 Let them be as the grass on the housetops, which withers before it grows up, 7 with which the reaper does not fill his hand, nor he who binds sheaves, his arms. 8 Neither let those who pass by them say, “The blessing of Yahweh be upon you; we bless you in the name of Yahweh!”
"'Many a time they,’ who deserve not a name, ‘have afflicted me from my youth,’ etc. —The rich man is not named (as Lazarus is), because not worthy, Luke 16:19. They shall be written in the earth, Jeremiah 17:13.“ (John Trapp) “They were molested not only by external foes, but also by those of an internal kind, by such as professed to belong to the Church.” (John Calvin) — “‘And yet… no assailant had so prevailed against them, as to destroy them from being a people; nor indeed have they to this day… Many a time have the righteous been under persecution, from the hour when Cain rose up against his brother Abel to this day.” (Thomas Scott) They may die a temporal death- but their blood speaks from the ground, calling to the Lord for vengeance on their assailants.
“Let Israel say, “‘Many a time they have afflicted me from my youth,’ when they first went down into Egypt they were a new and a small people.” (Joseph Sutcliffe) “‘The plowers plowed on my back’ in Egypt and Israel and Assyria or Babylon. “This was a vivid figure of speech in an agricultural economy.” (Dr. Thomas B. Constable) “As the plough urged by much strength deeply penetrates the ground, so scourges and vindictive blows have mangled suffering saints.” (Henry Law)— “’They made their furrows long, [on our backs]’ (3) which was never without some cross upon it, yea, some plough passing over it.” (John Trapp) “This may be applied to mystical Israel, which, in its infancy, and from its youth upwards, has been afflicted, many a time, and by many enemies; first, by the unbelieving Jews, who killed the Lord Jesus, and persecuted His apostles and members; then by Rome Pagan, under the ten persecutions of so many emperors; and afterwards by Rome Papal, the whore of Babylon, who many a time been drunk with the blood of the saints and martyrs of Jesus. Yea, this may be applied to the Messiah, one of whose names is Israel, Isaiah 49:3; who was a man of sorrows, and acquainted with griefs all His days, even from His youth, Isaiah 53:3; He was the ‘Aijeleth Shahar’, the hind of the morning, Psalm 22:1, title; hunted by Herod in His infancy, Matthew 2:13; and obliged to be carried into Egypt for safety when a child, from whence He was called, Hosea 11:1; and ever after was more or less afflicted by His enemies, men or devils, in mind or body; and at last endured great sufferings, and death itself.” (John Gill)
“’Yahweh is righteous; He has cut in pieces the cords of the wicked.’ (4) that is, their harness and their plough traces. “As when the cords, the traces that fasten the oxen to the plough, are cut, the plough comes to a standstill, so the dread plough of suffering, which ploughed such agonizing furrows in their souls, was brought to a standstill (in respective captivities); for the Lord cut asunder the cords.” (The Pulpit Commentary)— “so that the plough is loose and the horses at liberty; all their forces and designs are broken.” (John Trapp) “As in Psalms 124:7, the net was broken and the bird escaped, so here the cord binding the slave (comp. Psalms 2:3) is severed and he goes free.”( C. J. Ellicott)
“He who has delivered Israel, and confounded his foes, will continue to do so, till all who persist in enmity to His people shall be destroyed.” (Thomas Scott) Firstly, “‘Let all those who hate Zion be put to shame and turned back.’— All such must be dealt with as enemies, and be utterly confounded.” (John Trapp) Secondly— and finally destroyed. “’Let them be as the grass on the housetops, which withers before it grows up, with which the reaper does not fill his hand, nor he who binds sheaves, his arms.’— “A graphic image shows the worthless and ignominious state of the wicked. Grass on the dry house-top has no root. It appears only to wither. No mower gathers it. No reaper adds it to his sheaves.” (Henry Law) “The enemies who lift themselves high, and as it were approach the sun [rooftop], will be consumed with the heat of God's wrath, because they are not grounded in godly humility.” (Geneva Study Bible) “Yea, though all things be in quietness, yet as grass upon the housetops, by little and little, withereth away through the heat of the sun, so tyrannies upon small occasions will perish and soon vanish away.” (Martin Luther)
“Neither let those who pass by them say, ‘The blessing of Yahweh be upon you; we bless you in the name of Yahweh!’ There is a reference here to the salutations which were given and returned by the reapers in the time of the harvest. We find that it was customary, when the master came to them into the field, to say unto the reapers, ‘Yahweh be with you!’ and for them to answer, ‘Yahweh bless thee!’ (Ruth 2:4). Let their land become desolate, so that no harvest shall ever more appear in it. No interchange of benedictions between owners and reapers. This has literally taken place: Babylon is utterly destroyed; no harvests grow near the place where it stood.” (Clarke) Thus the end of mystery Babylon. “The ill-rooted roof grass, which withers before it grows up and procures for those gathering it no harvest blessing, sets forth the utter uselessness and the rejection of the wicked.” (Jamieson, Faussett, Brown)
Another parable Jesus put forth to them, saying: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, 'First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.'" (Matthew 13:24-30)