Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Psalms 126:2

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Psalms 126:2. Then was our mouth filled with laughter — The same effect as was produced on the poor liberated Grecians mentioned above.

Then said they among the heathen — The liberty now granted was brought about in so extraordinary a way, that the very heathens saw that the hand of the great Jehovah must have been in it.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Psalms 125-128 Lessons from Jerusalem

As the worshippers journey towards Jerusalem, they recall some of the varied experiences that the city has passed through. They see these as typical of the experiences of God’s people as a whole. Believers are like Jerusalem in that they are completely secure and fully protected (125:1-2). Although Jerusalem sometimes came under the rule of its enemies, God never allowed these enemies to control it for long, in case God’s people lost their devotion to him (3). In the same way God cares for the righteous and punishes their enemies (4-5).
On another occasion God saved Jerusalem from some who plundered the land and threatened to destroy the capital. Israel rejoiced in God’s loving deliverance (126:1-3). But their problems were not over. Hard work lay ahead of them if they were to restore the land. They relied on God to provide water in the dry Negeb region, but they realized that they would have to work hard and long before they could enjoy the fruits of the land again. The lesson for the travellers is that they must persevere if they are to enjoy God’s blessing (4-6).
Whether in governing Jerusalem or in building a family, people must acknowledge the sovereign rule of God. If they become nervous wrecks because of worry-filled days and sleepless nights, their faith in God is shown to be weak (127:1-2). The travellers receive a further encouragement to trust in God by the reminder that a large and healthy family is a blessing from God. It also gives a person stability, strength and honour in society (3-5)
If people’s lives are characterized by trust, obedience and perseverance, they will enjoy the blessings of personal security and a happy home (128:1-4). Wherever God dwells, whether in the sense of dwelling in the family or in the sense of dwelling in Jerusalem, his people there will enjoy his fullest blessing (5-6).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

THE NARRATIVE

“When Jehovah brought back those that returned to Zion, We were like unto them that dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, And our tongue with singing: Then said they among the nations, Jehovah hath done great things for them.”

It is obvious here that the ASV, which we are following, renders these opening lines as a reference to the return of the Babylonian exiles; and, as we noted above, there is nothing in the psalm that denies this possibility.

“We were like unto them that dream” This must indeed have been an understatement. After two or three generations (some 70 years) of captivity in Babylon, they are suddenly on the way back to Jerusalem, just as God had promised. Not only are they on the .way back home, but the all-powerful Medo-Persian monarch Cyrus is financing their return, sponsoring and encouraging it in every way possible. No wonder they laughed and sang for joy. Never before, in the whole history of the human race, had there ever been anything like this; and, we might add, there’s never been anything like it since then! Surely the hand of Almighty God is visible in those events.

“Then said they… Jehovah hath done great things for them” This refers to the testimony of the Gentile nations to the effect that they recognized the hand of God in what happened in Israel’s resettlement in Canaan. But, why did they not give the honor to Cyrus? Was he not the one who really engineered the whole business? Cyrus himself led the way in proclaiming, not himself, but God as the author of Israel’s return to Jerusalem. Josephus gives this account of the edict of Cyrus.

“Thus said Cyrus the King: Since God Almighty hath appointed me to be the king of the habitable earth, I believe that he is the God which the nation of the Israelites worship; for indeed he foretold my name by the prophets, and that I should build him a house at Jerusalem, in the country of Judea.”Flavius Josephus, Antiquities, p. 321.

Some question Josephus’ writings; but the pertinent question is, “If Cyrus did not indeed give God the honor of ordering the return of Israel, how can we account for the fact that the Gentile nations of the world of that period ascribed the honor to God instead of to Cyrus?

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Then was our mouth filled with laughter - Then were we happy; completely happy. See Job 8:21.

And our tongue with singing - We expressed our joy in songs - the natural expression of joy. Young converts - those “turned” from sin to God - sing. Their feelings find expression in the songs of Zion. This is natural; this is proper; this will occur when sinners are converted. An assemblage of young converts is always a happy assemblage; a place where there is a “revival” of religion is always a happy place - full of songs and singing.

Then said they among the heathen - The nations; the people among whom they dwelt.

The Lord hath done great things for them - In causing their return to their own land; in ordering the arrangements for it; in bringing their captivity to an end; in securing such interposition from the civil rulers as to facilitate their return. This would indicate that the surrounding people had not an unfriendly feeling toward them, but that they pitied them in exile, and were disposed to acknowledge the hand of God in what was done. Their deliverance, in the circumstances, was such as evidently to have been the work of God. This will agree well with the account of the return of the exiles from Babylon, and with all that had been done for them by Cyrus. Compare Ezra 1:1-4.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

2.Now shall our mouth be filled with laughter. The adverb of time, אז, az, is commonly translated then; but as the verbs are in the future tense, I have thought that it might not be improper to translate tires — grow shall our mouth be filled, and now shall they say. If, however, we admit what some Hebrew Doctors affirm, that the force of this particle is to change the future tense into the past, the adverb then will be the appropriate word. The design of the Prophet is not at all obscure. He would have the people so to rejoice on account of their return, as not to bury in forgetfulness the grace of God. He therefore describes no ordinary rejoicing, but such as so fills their minds as to constrain them to break forth into extravagance of gesture and of voice. At the same time he intimates that there was good ground for this joy, in which it became the children of God to indulge, on account of their return to their own land. As there was at that period nothing more wretched than for them to live in captivity, in which they were in a manner dispossessed of the inheritance God had promised them; so there was nothing which ought to have been more desirable to them than to be restored. Their restoration to their own country having been therefore a proof of their renewed adoption by God, it is not surprising to find the Prophet asserting that their mouth was filled with laughter, and their tongue with exultation. With a similar joy does it become us at the present day to exult when God gathers together his Church and it is an undoubted evidence that we are steel-hearted, if her miserable dispersion does not produce in our minds grief and lamentation. The Prophet proceeds farther, declaring that this miracle was seen even by the blind; for in that age of the world, as is well known, the heathen were wandering in darkness like blind men, no knowledge of God having shone upon them; and yet God’s power and operation were so conspicuous in that event, that they burst forth into the open acknowledgment that God had done great things for his people. So much the more shame-fill then was the indifference of the Jews to be accounted, if they did not freely and loudly celebrate God’s grace, which had acquired so much renown among the unbelieving. The form of speech employed is also to be marked, which forcibly expresses the idea intended to be conveyed, that the mighty power of God in this deliverance was known by the Gentiles. In the following verse the Prophet repeats in his own person, and in that of the Church, the words uttered by the heathen in the last member of the preceding verse. Let us at least, as if he had said, put forth a confession corresponding to that which God has extorted from the unbelieving Gentiles. When he adds that they were glad, there is an implied antithesis between this fresh joy and the long continued sorrow with which they were afflicted in their captivity, he expressly declares that joy was restored to them, to enable them the better to estimate the dismal condition from which they had been extricated.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Psalms 126:1-6 :

When the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion ( Psalms 126:1 ),

Or when the Lord actually freed Zion from her captivity,

we were like those who dream ( Psalms 126:1 ).

How many times when we see the glorious work of God, it's just like being... it's just like a dream. It's just hard to comprehend. As the children were singing tonight, I was like one who was dreaming. I pastored little churches for so many years, when you dreamed of having a children's choir. And all of the efforts and time and all that we've put in in trying to develop something, and then to just see God do it. You're just sitting there; you're like one who's dreaming. I look at what God has done here, and it's like a dream. There's something that the reality has not yet sunk in. It's funny how that so often in my dreams I dream that I'm back pastoring one of the churches that I've pastored in years gone by and still struggling, and that whole struggle. And I dream that I'm... Man, when I wake up, I think, "Oh no, this is the dream, you know. This can't be real." God's glorious work that we see.

And so the psalmist, "When God worked, delivered Zion, we were just like those that dream." So excited in what God was doing. It just... the reality of it just hardly seem to register.

Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The LORD has done great things for them ( Psalms 126:2 ).

Oh, how neat it is to just have that kind of joy and freedom to just be able to laugh over the good things that God does.

The LORD has done great things for us; whereof we are glad ( Psalms 126:3 ).

Then the prayer.

Turn again our captivity, O LORD, as the streams in the south. For they that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him ( Psalms 126:4-6 ).

I think that herein is speaking of really the ministry in a sense. Jesus when He spoke of the sower going forth planting the seed, some fell on the wayside, some among the rocks and some among the thorns, others on good ground. Jesus likened the field that was being sown as the world; the seed is the Word of God. And I think that the reference here is much the same as similitude, as we see being the Word of God, and "they that go forth weeping, bearing the precious seed, shall doubtless come again. Those that sow in tears shall reap in joy." I think that the attitude with which we go forth is so important.

Paul the apostle said, "For we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the glory may be to God, and not of us" ( 2 Corinthians 4:7 ). The glorious treasure of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the glorious treasure of the Word of God, it's in this earthen vessel. Jesus Christ dwelling in me, the most valuable thing in the universe in this cheap, common clay pot. Earthen vessel is a clay pot. It's a pot made out of earth, out of clay. So God has taken the glorious treasure and He has put it in this common old clay pot. Now anytime I think that this pot is important, then I'm a crackpot. God did the ridiculous. In order that we would not glory in the pot, in the vessel, but that we would glory in the contents.

Now God wants me to pour forth His love to the needy world around me in such a way that they are captivated by Him, not by me. That they're drawn to Him, not to me. So my attitude in going forth is so important. For if I go forth in a haughty attitude, "Well, here I am, you lucky people, you know." And you go forth with this haughty air, God will put you down. "He that humbleth himself shall be exalted; and he that exalteth himself shall be abased" ( Luke 14:11 ). And God has interesting ways of abasing a person. Just really letting you fall right on your face in front of everybody. You know, just when you're trying to show how graceful and how marvelous you are, zoom... right on your nose.

In going forth it should always be with that sense of awe. "Oh God, I am nothing. But what a glorious treasure I have to share with the world. What a privilege to be a servant of God and to be the instrument through which God works." Never, "Oh God, I understand why You chose me. You've made a good deal when You got me, Lord."

I heard of this church that had just called a new minister fresh out of seminary and he had graduated magna cum laude and he really thought that he had it all together. And so his first Sunday morning, he came in dressed impeccably, cuff at the right length and his sermon was just homiletically perfect, and you know, just everything was just, I mean, he was the epitome of perfection. Came in with that, "Folks, I've got it together" kind of an attitude, you know. And, "How fortunate you are that you called me to be the pastor of your church."

But as he tried to deliver his message, he got confused. He got mixed up. He lost his place. He couldn't get it together. The thing just fell apart and was in shambles. And finally he just stood there, and he was just so confused he couldn't say anything. And he just broke down and he started to weep. And he turned and left just broken, when a dear little saint down towards the front turned to her friend and said, "If he had come in like he went out, he would have gone out like he came in." That's pretty much what this psalm says. "He who sows in tears will reap in joy." Going forth weeping, bearing the precious fruit, you'll doubtless come again bringing the harvest, the sheaves with you. Our attitudes--so important. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

1. Praise for the return 126:1-3

The psalmist recalled initial impressions following return to the land, which God had effected. The returned captives felt as though they were only dreaming that they were back in their homeland. They evidently did not expect to see it. They were happy and praised God for His goodness to them as they spoke with non-Israelites.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Psalms 126

This community lament psalm of ascent appears to date from the time of Ezra and Nehemiah when the Israelites returned from Babylonian captivity. The writer rejoiced in the Israelites’ return to the land (sometime after 538 B.C.) but prayed for a complete restoration.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Then was our mouth filled with laughter,.... Who before mourned, and hung their harps on the willows, and could not sing the Lord's song in a strange land; but now, as their hearts were filled, with joy, this was externally and visibly seen in their countenances, and expressed with their mouths and by outward gestures; it was so great, they could not contain it, to which respect is had, Isaiah 35:10. It may be rendered, "then shall our mouth be filled with laughter" q; that is, when we awake, says Arama; or rather when the captivity is returned, either in a literal or in a spiritual sense, both being matter of great joy: the Midrash says, this will be in the world to come, and not in this;

and our tongue with singing; the praises of God, and the songs of Zion;

then said they among the Heathen, the Lord hath done great things for them; it was taken notice of by the Chaldeans, among whom they had been captives, and by all the nations round about: and it was wonderful to them, that Cyrus, an Heathen prince, of his own motion and will, should at once, and without any price or reward, let them go, and send them into their own country to rebuild their temple; and with them the vessels of the Lord's house, that had been taken away by the king of Babylon; and order men to help them, with gold and silver, and goods and cattle, Ezra 1:1. Likewise the conversion of the Jews, and the restoration of them to their own ]and in the latter day, will be observed by the Gentiles with wonder, and as the work of God,

Ezekiel 36:35.

q ימלא "replebitur", Musculus, Gejerus; "implebitur", Schmidt; so the Targum, Syr. Arab.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

A song of degrees.

      1 When the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream.   2 Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The LORD hath done great things for them.   3 The LORD hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad.

      While the people of Israel were captives in Babylon their harps were hung upon the willow-trees, for then God called to weeping and mourning, then he mourned unto them and they lamented; but now that their captivity is turned they resume their harps; Providence pipes to them, and they dance. Thus must we accommodate ourselves to all the dispensations of Providence and be suitably affected with them. And the harps are never more melodiously tunable than after such a melancholy disuse. The long want of mercies greatly sweetens their return. Here is, 1. The deliverance God has wrought for them: He turned again the captivity of Zion. It is possible that Zion may be in captivity for the punishment of her degeneracy, but her captivity shall be turned again when the end is answered and the work designed by it is effected. Cyrus, for reasons of state, proclaimed liberty to God's captives, and yet it was the Lord's doing, according to his word many years before. God sent them into captivity, not as dross is put into the fire to be consumed, but as gold to be refined. Observe, The release of Israel is called the turning again of the captivity of Zion, the holy hill, where God's tabernacle and dwelling-place were; for the restoring of their sacred interests, and the reviving of the public exercise of their religion, were the most valuable advantages of their return out of captivity. 2. The pleasing surprise that this was to them. They were amazed at it; it came so suddenly that at first they were in confusion, not knowing what to make of it, nor what it was tending to: "We thought ourselves like men that dream; we thought it too good news to be true, and began to question whether we were well awake or no, and whether it was not still" (as sometimes it had been to the prophets) "only a representation of it in vision," as St. Peter for a while thought his deliverance was, Acts 12:9. Sometimes the people of God are thus prevented with the blessings of his goodness before they are aware. We were like those that are recovered to health (so Dr. Hammond reads it); "such a comfortable happy change it was to us, as life from the dead or sudden ease from exquisite pain; we thought ourselves in a new world." And the surprise of it put them into such an ecstasy and transport of joy that they could scarcely contain themselves within the bounds of decency in the expressions of it: Our mouth was filled with laughter and our tongue with singing. Thus they gave vent to their joy, gave glory to their God, and gave notice to all about them what wonders God had wrought for them. Those that were laughed at now laugh and a new song is put into their mouths. It was a laughter of joy in God, not scorn of their enemies. 3. The notice which their neighbours took of it: They said among the heathen, Jehovah, the God of Israel, has done great things for that people, such as our gods cannot do for us. The heathen had observed their calamity and had triumphed in it, Jeremiah 22:8; Jeremiah 22:9; Psalms 137:7. Now they could not but observe their deliverance and admire that. It put a reputation upon those that had been scorned and despised, and made them look considerable; besides, it turned greatly to the honour of God, and extorted from those that set up other gods in competition with him an acknowledgment of his wisdom, power, and providence. 4. The acknowledgments which they themselves made of it, Psalms 126:3; Psalms 126:3. The heathen were but spectators, and spoke of it only as matter of news; they had no part nor lot in the matter; but the people of God spoke of it as sharers in it, (1.) With application: "He has done great things for us, things that we are interested in and have advantage by." Thus it is comfortable speaking of the redemption Christ has wrought out as wrought out for us. Who loved me, and gave himself for me. (2.) With affection: "Whereof we are glad. The heathen are amazed at it, and some of them angry, but we are glad." While Israel went a whoring from their God joy was forbidden them (Hosea 9:1); but now that the iniquity of Jacob was purged by the captivity, and their sin taken away, now God makes them to rejoice. It is the repenting reforming people that are, and shall be, the rejoicing people. Observe here, [1.] God's appearances for his people are to be looked upon as great things. [2.] God is to be eyed as the author of all the great things done for the church. [3.] It is good to observe how the church's deliverances are for us, that we may rejoice in them.