Ver. 1. O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good] He is good, and doeth good, Psalms 119:68, not to his Israel only, as is set forth in the two foregoing psalms, but to all mankind, which is Divini ingenii cura, as one saith, whatever atheists and epicures say to the contrary, denying a Divine providence: witness that profane distich of theirs: Nempe nihil positum est, et sors incerta vagatur, Fertque refertque vices, et habent mortalia casum. For his mercy endureth for ever] Notwithstanding men’s many and mighty provocations.
Ver. 2. Let the redeemed of the Lord] Four sorts of whom are afterwards instanced: 1. exiles; 2. prisoners; 3. sick persons; 4. seamen. These and the like must praise him in a special manner for their deliverance. From the hand of the enemy] Or, of distress.
Ver. 3. And gathered them out of the lands] He beginneth with wayfaring men and exiles, because, according to Tyrtaeus, Non exul curae dicitur esse Deo. And from the south] Heb. from the sea, that is, as the Chaldee expoundeth it, from the southern sea, called the Red Sea.
Ver. 4. They wandered in the wilderness, &c.] This is a sad case, Mendicum patria amissa laribusque vagari. Πλαγχθοσυνης ουκ εστι κακωτερον αλλο βροτοισι. And yet this is the case of all God’s redeemed ones while they are here, Hebrews 11:38 1Pe 2:12. Per varios casus per tot discrlmina rerum Tendimus in patriam veram vitamque perennem.
Ver. 5. Hungry and thirsty, &c.] The Lord’s exiles meet many times with the like exigents in the wilderness of this wicked world; but let them be content, and say, We are well for the present, and it will be better with us hereafter (Melancthon). Exul erat Christus; comites nos exulis huius Esse decet, cuius nos quoque membra sumus.
Ver. 6. Then they cried unto the Lord] Though under a wrong name, it may be, as of Jupiter, Mercury, &c.; and, in an uncertain way, as Hecuba did with her, O Iupiter quicquid es sive caelum hoc, sive mens, quae vehitur in coelo, &c.; and as those mariners in Jonah 1:5, who cried every man to his god, and, lest they might all mistake the true God, they awaken Jonah, to call upon his God. And he delivered them out of their distresses] Out of his general goodness and compassion to the poor creature; like as he heareth the young ravens that cry unto him, no otherwise than by implication only, and out of mere necessity. God is the Saviour of all men, but especially of those that believe.
Ver. 7. And he led them forth by the right way] Better than that Dea Vibilia among the Romans, of whom they fancied that she set them right when out of the way at any time; or Minerva among the Athenians, who, they said, turned all their evil counsels to the best unto them. That they might go to a city of habitation] Grow to a state of settlement, to Jerusalem, saith the Chaldee; to that city which hath a foundation, may we say, whose maker and founder is God, Hebrews 11:10.
Ver. 8. Oh that men would praise the Lord, &c.] Heb. 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. Words seem to be a poor and slight recompense; but Christ, saith Nazianzen, calleth himself the Word.
Ver. 9. For he satisfieth the longing soul, &c.] This as a recapitulation of the first part, Psalms 107:5-7, and setteth forth the reason why the redeemed should praise God out of the sweet experience they have had of his wonderful providence and goodness toward them. And filleth the hungry soul with goodness] This flower the blessed Virgin picketh out of David’s garden (among many others out of other parts of Holy Scripture, wherein it appeareth she was singularly well versed), and puts it into her posy, Luke 1:53.
Ver. 10. Such as sit in darkness, &c.] Here come in the second sort of God’s redeemed or rescued ones, viz. captives and prisoners, whose dark and doleful condition is in this verse described. And in the shadow of death] In dark caves and horrid prisons, where there is Luctus ubique payor, et plurima morris imago. Such was Joseph’s first prison, Jeremiah’s miry dungeon, Lollards’ tower, the bishop of London’s coalhouse, &c. Being bound in affliction and iron] Or, in poverty and iron, as Manasseh was. Many are the miseries that poor prisoners undergo. Good Savonarola had the experience of it, and Zegedine, and the martyrs, and various of God’s dear servants in the recent wars here. A certain pious prince, discoursing about the dangers that were to be then expected for the profession of religion, said, Nihil so magis metuere quam diuturnos carceres, that he feared nothing so much as perpetual imprisonment.