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When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion. Psalm 126 A political fact that is emblematic Homilist. : — I. A POLITICAL FACT, EMBLEMATIC OF MORAL RESTORATION. The political fact here celebrated is the return of the Jews from Babylonian thraldom, through the interposition of Cyrus. 1. The political restoration was great. It was a restoration from exile, bondage, and destitution of religious privileges. And are not souls in their unregenerate state exiles alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, slaves "carnally sold under sin," destitute of true religion, without God and without hope in the world? 2. It was Divine. Who else can effect the salvation of the soul? II. A HUMAN EXPERIENCE COMMON TO MOST MEN. 1. A great difficulty to realize at once a great and unexpected event (ver. 1). There is mercy in this. Could we fully realize such events as they occur, our nervous systems would be shattered, our mental powers would be paralyzed. Thank God for this dreaming faculty, a faculty which weakens the force of terrible events. 2. The irrepressibility of strong emotions (ver. 2). There are emotions to which souls are susceptible that cannot always be suppressed; they are electric, and must break in thunder and flash in lightning. These emotions are useful, they clarify the atmosphere and bring in the sunny and serene. 3. The inspiring force of success (ver. 2). 4. Love for others increasing with increased blessings (ver. 4). He who practically appreciates the blessings he receives from Heaven will desire that others may participate in the same. He who is good will do good, he who is truly pious will be philanthropic. 5. True happiness comes out of suffering (ver. 5).(1) It comes out of the sufferings of others. How much of the enjoyments of the men of this age have come out of the sorrows and tears of the men of past generations!(2) It comes out of the sufferings of ourselves. Godly repentance is the essential condition of spiritual enjoyment. "Through much tribulation," etc. 6. Genuine work for others, however painful, will be prosperous (ver. 6).(1) Philanthropic acts are seeds. There is a germinic life in every noble act, a life capable of indefinite multiplication.(2) The sowing of these seeds is often very painful. "Sow in tears." Parents, ministers, missionaries, all will attest this.(3) However painful, their harvest will reward the sower amply. They will yield "sheaves." They fall into the soil of human souls, and this soil is fecundant and imperishable. ( Homilist. ) Captivity and deliverance: John Gaskin, M. A. I. OUR STATE BY NATURE. 1. Captivity to sin. 2. Captivity to the law. II. OUR DELIVERANCE. The regenerating Spirit does not create in us new faculties. He rather purifies the old. He gives a right tendency and direction to those which already exist, and causing the wandering affections to flow in their proper channel. One immediate result of this Divine work is that of our being "turned again" unto God. III. THE EMOTIONS BY WHICH THIS DELIVERANCE IS ACCOMPANIED. 1. The emotions which are produced in the bosom of those whose "captivity is turned again."(1) Surprise. To feel that sin which had hitherto exercised so powerful a sway over our hearts, and found us at all times so easy a prey, has now "no more dominion over us"; is not this matter of surprise? To find that Satan, that cruel taskmaster, who had so long led us captive at will, has lost his tyrant-power, and is now beaten down beneath our feet; is not this matter of surprise?(2) Joy. Because Satan is foiled. Because the soul is saved. Because the glory of God is secured.(3) Praise. 2. The emotion which is produced in the mind of those who merely observe this deliverance. ( John Gaskin, M. A. ) Captivity turned R. Davies, M. A. : — I. THE CAPTIVITY OF ZION. 1. A degraded state. 2. A wretched state. 3. A guilty state. 4. A helpless state. II. DELIVERANCE FROM CAPTIVITY. 1. Cyrus was a type of Christ, the great spiritual Deliverer; and if we are ever brought out of our spiritual bondage we must be content to owe our liberty to Him alone. 2. This deliverance is openly proclaimed and freely offered. 3. None are excluded. III. THE FEELINGS WITH WHICH THEY RECEIVED THE TIDINGS OF THIS DELIVERANCE. 1. Joy. 2. Manifested in praise. 3. Prayer. ( R. Davies, M. A. ) A psalm of deliverance A. Whyfe, D. D. : — Luther refers to the great and universal captivity of men under hell and the devil, and says it was a small matter for the Jews to be delivered from their bondage compared to our deliverance from these enemies. Sure I am that when the Lord so suddenly and wonderfully, and beyond their expectation, turned their captivity and took them home, our friends were, on that morning,. "like men that dreamed," even those who had good understanding of the promises. To be delivered in the awful moment of death from sin, and sorrow, and pain, to enter in at the gates of the city with the sound of trumpets in their ears, must have seemed to them a too blessed dream. We know the men and women of whom we speak, and we know something of how happy they must be now. Loyal as they were to us and home, we know their roots were struck deep in another homo than ours. While they sat with silent harps by the rivers of Babylon, they thought of the sweetness, the beauty and blessedness of that far-off city. We saw them as if they were in a dream, and we could not hide from ourselves how ripe they were to have their captivity turned. Neither can all the sorceries and incantations of the great Babylon so intoxicate and seduce us, but that we shall take our places with them. Can it be that they have forgotten us? Are they so full of joy and so happy that this world and those they loved before never come into their minds? No, we cannot believe it. They have not forgotten us. They are now priests to God, and sometimes we can almost read our own names on their breastplates. As often as the High Priest says, "Father, I wish that they may be with Me where I am," we may hear them cry, Amen. While they were yet on this earth, when they saw a new sight, or read a new book, or heard a good sermon, have we not their letters at home where they write, "I thought all the time of you. I did not half enjoy them because you were not there. I must stand on that hill-top, see that gallery, read that new book again with you"? And as they walk the streets of the New Jerusalem this night thinking of us, they ask, How long shall it be? When shall it be? They think how our hearts will swell at the sound of the trumpets; and as they walk by the living waters, they cry, O that they were hero to share my cup! Too literal critics find an enigmatical contradiction between the beginning and, the end of this psalm; but there is no enigma here. The hands of the redeemed trembled on the harp-strings when they thought of those they had left behind. It was not for those who pined in their captivity for whom they feared, but for those who prospered. John Calvin says that Daniel raised his banner in Babylon that believers might hold themselves in readiness to return. Paul has given us a banner with words inscribed in blood and gold, "for our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory," and as it waves in the wind, we see on the reverse scroll ( 2 Corinthians 5:1 ). ( A. Whyfe, D. D. ) Then was our mouth filled with laughter. Psalm 126:2 The rapture of deliverance F. Tucker, B. A. : — I. THE JOY OF THE RETURNING JEW. 1. Bewildering. (1) The suddenness of it. (2) The instrument of it. Cyrus — a heathen. 2. Rapturous. (1) Babylon left behind. (2) The exiles nearing home. 3. Reasonable. II. THE JOY OF A RETURNING SINNER. 1. Look at him before return. (1) A wanderer from his home. (2) In bondage. 2. Look at his Deliverer. 3. Look at the deliverance. III. TO THE EXPERIENCED CHRISTIAN. 1. Is your piety joyful? 2. Ought it not to be so? ( F. Tucker, B. A. ) The laughter of the ransomed T. H. Darlow. : — God's glorious deliverance always seems too wonderful to be real. Even the apostle who finds his fetters dropped off and his dungeon door swung open, is like unto them that dream: "he wist not that it was true, but thought he saw a vision." So in modern times, when Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, the abolitionist, heard that the long fight was at last finished and every slave on British soil was a free man, he broke out instinctively into the joyful verse: "Then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing." ( T. H. Darlow. ) Then said Heathen and Christian witnesses for God T. McCullagh. I. GOD HAD DONE MANY THINGS FOR HIS ANCIENT PEOPLE. Their exile was a punishment for their great national sin, and their return meant a revocation of that punishment. But greater blessings are possessed by God's Church in these days. In place of mere ceremonialism we have truth itself — naked, transparent truth. Nor should we lose sight of our individuality. The Church is a congregation of individuals, and it may be said of these not only in their corporate condition as a Church, but separately and individually, "The Lord hath done great things for us." II. THESE GREAT THINGS ARE OBSERVED AND ACKNOWLEDGED BY OTHERS. The heathen recognized the blessings bestowed on the chosen people, while to the released captives their return to their old and beloved city seemed too good to be true. Our spiritual blessings are not so easily recognized by others as the return of God's people was by the heathen. But in looking at Christian countries the heathen could not but be struck with the benefits that civilization, liberty and Christianity afforded. It ought also to appear to the ungodly neighbours of Church members, that even in a temporal sense God had done great things for His Church, and that conversion had been followed with blessed consequences of a temporal kind, though they could not see the gift bestowed upon the inner life. But whether outsiders recognized these facts or not, it is your duty to be God's witnesses, and to tell relatives and friends and fellow-townsmen what great things God had done for us. III. THESE GREAT THINGS DEMANDED A SPECIAL RECOGNITION, BOTH FROM OBSERVERS AND RECIPIENTS OF BLESSINGS. There was danger lest the blessings were recognized and the Giver forgotten. Perhaps one of the tendencies of modern times is the exclusion of God from almost every. thing outside the Church — from education, from legislation, from civil and political and national affairs, from commerce, and from many other things besides. There ought to be a recognition of God not only within, but outside the Church. I am thankful that there is a recognition of God in this country. The motto on the Royal arms — "Dieu et mon droit" — shows a recognition of God in the highest place in the State. I am thankful that the Imperial Parliament does not sit on Sundays. What is that but a recognition of the Divine law and of Him who said, "Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy." Every time I pass the Royal Exchange in London I cannot help noticing the inscription, "The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof." What a reminder is that place to the merchants, to the Bank of England, and to the Mansion House, the seat of the greatest of municipalities just opposite, that there is a Diviner God than Mammon. One of the most startling statements I ever heard of was that made by a learned scientist, that an examination of nature did not lead him up to God. Just think of some one shying that St. Paul's Cathedral, with its architecture and traditions, did not lead to a recognition of the great architect, Sir Christopher Wren. What are your acknowledgments to God? ( T. McCullagh. ) The Lord hath done great things for us. Psalm 126:3 Great things for us J. J. S. Bird, B. A. I. THE FACT PROPOUNDED. Note the personality of the statement. "For us." 1. As regards our country. Where is there country so fair or land so fertile as ours? Where is such freedom and peace enjoyed? 2. As regards our religious privileges. We have a pure faith, an open Bible, and freedom to worship God as we think best. 3. As regards our individual wants. Homes, friends, food, sustenance, health, etc. 4. As regards our spiritual welfare. We were vile — we are made pure. We were far away — but are now brought nigh. God has done His part in all this, and if our eternal happiness is not assured the fault is ours, not His. II. THE FEELING. "Whereof we are glad." These Jews had been deprived of their privileges for some considerable period, and then, in the desolation of their spirits and in the misery of their servitude, they began to realize the mercies they had so thanklessly enjoyed. Do we not often tempt God to take away our privileges and to deprive us of our mercies? ( J. J. S. Bird, B. A. ) Grateful acknowledgment of Divine goodness Helps for the Pulpit. : — I. A PLEASING STATEMENT. What "great things" God hath done for His people — 1. In redemption. 2. In conversion. 3. In the bestowal of Divine freedom. 4. The enjoyment of Church fellowship. 5. By providential interpositions and deliverances. 6. By spiritual advancement. II. A JOYFUL STATEMENT. This gladness implies — 1. Sensibility. 2. Real enjoyment. 3. Heartfelt gladness. 4. Social gladness. "For us." III. APPLICATION. 1. Mourn your ingratitude and forgetfulness. 2. Pray for quickening grace. 3. Anticipate the time when you shall be made eternally glad. ( Helps for the Pulpit. ) Great things The Study. : — I. THE LORD'S WORK ACKNOWLEDGED. God is at the head of all our affairs. Many will not give God the glory. Nebuchadnezzar ( Daniel 4:30 ); Herod ( Acts 12:21, 23 ). II. ITS GREATNESS RECOGNIZED. 1. Greater things than we deserved. 2. Greater things than we knew. Greater things than we expected. III. AN INTEREST THEREIN CLAIMED. What advantage is there if we cannot say "for us"? The Jews knew what God had done by the edict of Cyrus. They must take advantage of it. God only opened the way, and constrained them to walk in it. IV. JOYFUL GLADNESS EXPRESSED. 1. Why are we glad? (1) The work is so great. (2) The work is done. (3) The work is done well. 2. How should we show our gladness? (1) By a cheerful countenance. (2) By willing labour. (3) By generous gifts. V. APPLICATION. 1. Has the Lord done aught for you? 2. Have you acknowledged His hand? 3. Has it made you glad? 4. What are you expecting in the future? ( The Study. ) Christian gratitude for the goodness of God: T. Dale, M. A. I. WHAT THINGS HAVE BEEN DONE FOR US? 1. National. 2. Domestic. 3. Personal. II. WHO HATH DONE THEM? III. HOW CAN WE, FOR WHOM THE LORD HAS DONE GREAT THINGS, MOST PROPERLY EXPRESS OUR JOY, AND MOST PROFITABLY EVINCE OUR GRATITUDE? Those, certainly, may rejoice in benefits received whose consciences only testify to them of judgments deserved. Every one whom God has spared may warrantably believe that he has been spared for purposes of mercy. ( T. Dale, M. A. ) Personal experience forceful H. O. Mackey. : — In most of the reviews of Mr. Morley's "Life of Gladstone" attention has been called to the fact that whilst the whole work is a literary masterpiece, the third volume is far above the two previous ones in picturesque and stirring power. The events it records took place under the writer's own eye, and in them he took a prominent part, and this has given an ease, a freedom, and a force of description that no secondhand reports or most reliable documents can give. That which we have for ourselves seen, tasted, and handled is the part of our testimony that tells and brings conviction to others. ( H. O. Mackey. ) Turn again our captivity, O Lord. Psalm 126:4 The thankful pray E. J. Robinson. For they have proved the use of prayer. As prayer found cause for praise, gratitude sees reason for renewed supplication. "The Lord turned Himself to the turning of Zion." God returns to His people when they return to Him ( Deuteronomy 4:30, 31 ; Deuteronomy 30:1-3, 9, 10 ; Nehemiah 1:9 ; Job 42:10 ; Psalm 145:18, 19 ; Isaiah 10:21, 22 ; Isaiah 55:7 ; Isaiah 59:20 ; Jeremiah 31:8, 9 ; James 4:8 ). He liberated the exiles when they repented and offered supplication. If they have reached Mount Zion, there is still need for them to pray. Jehovah's gracious hand has so lifted them a degree higher on the footsteps of His throne, that they may be nearer His inclined ear with their petitions. Let them say to Him, in the language of humble dependence, "Turn again our captivity, O Lord, as the streams in the south." Thou art to the soul like rain and fountains to the fields. Drought disappears before Thy breath; and the touch of Thy merciful feet clothes earth with beauty and plenty. And, from their past experience, from the constancy with which God has kept His word, from His demonstrated and eternal unchangeableness, they expect that for which they pray. Faith pleads the promises of Him who cannot lie ( Genesis 8:22 ; Psalm 85:1 .). "Thou art the same Lord, whose property is always to have mercy." Thy sure mercy we look for. A praying and praising heart is ready for showers of blessing ( Joel 2:21 ). ( E. J. Robinson. ) As The streams in the south W. Brown. : — In the East the rivers in the dry seasons are little more than fleeting streams, and sometimes they are entirely evaporated by the powerful action of the sun's rays. The rainy season comes, and the beds, forsaken of the ancient river, begin to receive their annual tribute from the fruitful clouds, and the mountain-torrent, rolling in its accustomed channel, causes the streams to return again, changing the sandy waste into the majestic river, raising the sewer's hopes, replenishing this parched land with the long-desired verdure, and man and beast again rejoice in the earth's abundance. Thus prayed the pious psalmist: — "Turn again our captivity, O Lord, as the streams in the south": that as the inhabitants of these sultry regions rejoice in the return of the reviving streams, so we, restored to our beloved country and temple, may rejoice in the long-expected deliverance. ( W. Brown. ) They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. Psalm 126:5 Sowing and reaping J. Cross, D. D. : — Painful work often finds pleasant reward. The way through the Red Sea and the howling wilderness leads to a fair and fruitful land flowing with milk and honey. Such is God's law of compensation, always and everywhere working out its infallible result in the experience of His chosen people. Trace this principle — I. IN THOSE WHOM GOD ORDINARILY EMPLOYS IN EFFECTING THE GREATEST GOOD OF OTHERS. Those who gain liberty for a nation, who achieve great things in art or literature, who are the leaders of great movements. They did none of these things, nor are such things ever done, without great personal self-sacrifice. They have had to sew in tears ere they, or any whom they sought to help, could reap in joy. Did Moses, or Joshua, or Gideon, or any of the old prophets sow without tears? or, having sowed in tears, did they fail in due time to realize the joy of harvest? Did not Athens poison her greatest philosopher and expatriate her grandest orator? Was not the most eloquent advocate of the Roman cause that ever raised his voice in the Roman Forum banished by the authority of a Roman senate, and beheaded by the perfidy of a Roman triumvirate? Did not the Copernican system of the universe long hang trembling on the lips of hated and persecuted men before it dared to stand forth and speak boldly to the world? and was it not afterward in the person of Galileo imprisoned, and in his books made to pass through the fire to Ignorance? Did the great discovery of Harvey cost him no pain or weariness? or were the works of Bacon, Newton and Shakspeare fully appreciated while they lived? And the artists who live for ever in their productions — the painters, sculptors, architects, musicians, who have filled the world with the triumphs of their genius — did they not toil, for the most part, in disappointment, and poverty, and sorrow, little esteemed during life, to be almost deified after death? The pioneer settlers of this new continent sowed the wilderness with their tears, and the heroes of American independence fattened her soil with their blood. II. IN THE SPHERE OF RELIGION AND MORALS. Whenever any great evil has been averted, or any signal triumph of truth and righteousness achieved, it has ever been at vast personal cost. See the Bible histories of all the heroes of the faith. Read St. Paul's account of his sufferings. And thus it was that Christianity, whose throne was a manger, whose diadem a thorn-wreath, whose victory the crucifixion of its Author, whoso triumphal pageant a funeral procession to a borrowed tomb, whose earliest champions a little band of despised and persecuted fishermen, is now filling the earth with its voices of jubilee, and peopling paradise with the subjects of its redemption. What painful sowing was there in the dark and dismal catacombs of Rome, in the gardens of Nero, and the Flavian amphitheatre. But the blood of the martyrs has ever been the seed of the Church. In the days of the great Reformation the life of Martin Luther was a perpetual conflict with error, but it filled all Continental Europe with God's blessed evangel, and on the same ground Dollinger and his noble compeers have lately renewed the good fight of faith. But look we higher. Who are these arrayed in white robes, with palms, and lutes, and starry diadems, and whence came they? "These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne," etc. They are all witnesses that the seed which your fathers scattered fell not all upon the rooks, among the thorns, and by the desert wayside. And this is your consolation — that however hard the toil, and however unpromising the seed-time, and however tardy the advent of the genial spring, an unweeping eye shall wash the field, and a celestial dew shall water the soil, and a creative power shall quicken the germ, and in due time the whitening grain shall summon the reaper's sickle, and the harvest of joy shall have come. ( J. Cross, D. D. ) The connection between present duties and future reward W. Yate. : — I. SOME OF THE OCCASIONS ON WHICH WE ARE CALLED TO GO FORTH WEEPING. 1. Over our religious profession. There are many struggles between light and darkness; many battles between sin and holiness: nature and grace are at enmity one with another, and must be so till "this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality." 2. In the discharge of our duty. 3. When under the marked displeasure of God. II. THE PRECIOUS SEED WHICH WE ARE EXPECTED TO BEAR. 1. The seed of cheerful self-denial. 2. The seed of patient perseverance. 3. The seed of perfect submission to the will of God. 4. The seed of genuine holiness. III. THE HAPPY RESULTS EXPERIENCED. Even here we taste the fruits of the Spirit, the fruits of Divine love, and we become partakers of that happiness which the world cannot give, and which it is not in the power of the world to take away. But however much we may gather here, and whatever be the satisfaction which we experience from the blessedness of the harvest of Christianity in this world, the day of judgment will be the great harvest when we shall reap the labours of all our sowing. ( W. Yate. ) Spiritual husbandry W. Carter, B. A. : — Consider the text in its application to — I. THE JEWS AS A NATION ( Deuteronomy 32:3 ; Jeremiah 21:9 ; Leviticus 26:41, 42 ). When they are thus brought to "sow in tears," they shall undoubtedly "reap in joy." This seems to be the favourite theme of the prophets, especially of Isaiah ( Isaiah 60:1 ; Isaiah 35:10 ). This is the event which the Jews themselves ardently long for; it is that for which they earnestly pray on the day of atonement; "O our Father and our King, discover Thy glorious majesty to us speedily; arise, and be exalted to the eyes of all living, and gather our dispersions from among the heathen, and assemble us that are scattered from the extreme parts of the earth, and conduct us to Zion Thy city with songs, and unto Jerusalem, the city of Thy sanctuary, with everlasting joy." II. OURSELVES INDIVIDUALLY. Sorrow and suffering are the result of sin; and sin is interwoven with our very nature. But the Christian has not done with sorrow and tears, although through faith, which is of the operation of the Spirit of God, he has been led to trust in that Saviour who died for him, and the burden of transgression has been rolled from his oppressed spirit. Could the veil which now separates us from futurity be drawn aside, and those regions of everlasting happiness and sorrow which strike so faintly on the imagination be presented fully to our eyes, it would occasion, I doubt not, a sudden and strange revolution in our estimation of things. Many are the distresses, for which we now weep in suffering or in sympathy, that would awaken us to songs of thanksgiving; many the dispensations which now seem dreary and inexplicable, that would fill our adoring hearts with thanksgiving and joy. III. THE MISSIONARY'S LABOUR AND REWARD. As the poor missionary stands on the boundary of the vast wilderness, or goes forth to its culture "bearing the precious seed," he must needs "weep" to think how little of the territory he can occupy. But though he weeps, yet shall he "rejoice." As surely as the grain sown in the earth shall vegetate and bring forth fruit in its proper season, so surely may we expect the principles of the Gospel to spring forth in rich luxuriance, proving incorruptible seed, and yielding fruit, some thirty, some sixty, and some a hundred fold. ( W. Carter, B. A. ) Sorrowful labour A. Mackennal, D. D. : — I. WE ARE OFTEN CALLED TO LABOUR IN WHICH WE HAVE LITTLE JOY. 1. The call to labour, for instance, may continue when those whom we hoped to gladden with our diligence and fidelity are gone. 2. All earnest labourers are liable to fits of despondency; Christian labourers certainly not less than others. Overwork, perhaps, is followed by reaction, or the too eager hope is disappointed because we see not any results for all our doing. We think that our fellow-labourers are not as earnest as we, that we alone are bearing the burden and heat of the day. Then there comes up the question, what is the use of all our toil? 3. We may be called to work in which we feel but little special interest; work which is to us perpetual self-denial. Our hopes may all tend to one sphere of effort; duty may sternly compel us to another. 4. We have often to work amidst ungracious men, with no hope at all that our labour shall be successful. There are other and happier labourers in other and more promising fields; why should we be hero toiling to no avail? II. GOD REWARDS US ACCORDING TO OUR FIDELITY, AND NOT ACCORDING TO OUR GLADNESS. 1. Christ has never said, according to your gladness be it unto you; not even according to your hopefulness be it unto you; but according to your faith. And faith's triumph is seen in that it can live and labour when the light of joy is quenched; that it can call off the hopes that hover round an earthly brightness, and bear them up through darkness to the throne of the Invisible. 2. Our confusion of the reality of faith with the eagerness of feeling, our making so much of the cheerfulness of work instead of the work itself, shows that we are expecting the increase of ourselves rather than from God. The work is done; it leaves our hands, henceforth it is in His. The seed is sown; His seed is under His own care. He gives the dew of His benediction, the fruitful force is that of the ever-working Spirit. Not for nothing is it that God's great ceaseless call to us is to do the work which He has given us; for, indeed, this is all we can do. We can be faithful to His call of duty, He is faithful to His promise. III. OUR TEXT SPEAKS NOT ONLY OF SHEAVES FOR THE SOWING, BUT ALSO OF REJOICING FOR THE TEARS. The very tears are a seed that shall have a joyful springing; the sorrow shall return again in joy. The sorrowful sowing is a testimony for God, and this shall bear its fruit in icy. There is a striking contrast between the taunt of those who carried the Jews away captive, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion"; and this saying among the heathen, "The Lord hath done great things for them." The patient labour of the exiles, the quiet toil of those who could not sing, won the heart of their oppressors. They were glad when the captives were restored, and sent them away with kindly gifts. Israel's patience was the patience of faith; and Israel's faith was a witness to the fidelity of Israel's God. The patience and faithful effort of sad but trusting souls, Christian faith abiding unshaken though joy has gone out of the life; here is a lesson which cannot fail of impressiveness. It reaches to the unbelieving, and constrains them to thought concerning the Gospel; it cheers the heart and strengthens the faith of all believers. Each new revelation of God's grace that comes on us as a surprise reproves us that we did not always rejoice as those who might be sure that all God's ways are love. But it is blessed to feel ourselves reproved that our God may be exalted; we welcome the humbling lesson about ourselves which makes us more fully know how good He is. The joyful reaping that follows a tearful sowing prepares us for new trials of our faith. There may come again to you a time of tears, a time of sorrowing toil; but you know whose hand will at length wipe away all tears; you know that there is no seed-time but will at length yield its rejoicing sheaves. ( A. Mackennal, D. D. ) Weeping and reaping: T. Spurgeon. I. AN INSPIRED PROVERS. A proverb is often helpful; an inspired proverb ought to be to us an inspiration. Write it down at the head of all your difficulties and in the midst of all your struggles; it is one of God's own pithy sayings, a maxim He Himself has made — "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy." II. A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. It is as though one shouted of his success, and announced Jehovah's triumph. By this he would record his gratitude, and encourage his hearers. If the moss in the desert could stimulate the fainting traveller, if a flower outside the prison wall could speak comfortably to the prisoner in his dreary dungeon, if a solitary star shining through the blackness of the night could bring hope and guidance to the storm-tossed mariner, may I not believe that this experience of David, or whosoever the psalmist may have been, long years ago, will be as a ministering angel to such as are tempted to think that the seed is wasted, that the harvest can never be, that their hopes are dashed to the ground to rise no more for ever? III. A PREVAILING PRINCIPLE. 1. In everyday life. Scientists and inventors have toiled, and moiled, and thought, and struggled for many a long year. They have, for the most part, received little help from others. One or two perhaps espoused their cause and helped them through, but the rest either jeered and sneered, or else looked on complacently as if to say, "We shall see what we shall see, but we do not think it will come to very much." It was a sowing season; aye, and if we had been behind the scenes we should have seen that it was a weeping-time as well. Some of these sowers died in obscurity. Many of them did not live to see their talent and their skill appreciated, but there was a harvest-time for all that, or if it has not yet arrived it is yet to be. On the other hand many of them did reap the reward of their talents; the proverb held good in most instances. So with philanthropists, and merchants, and discoverers; so indeed with all of every class. There are exceptions, of course, to this rule, but the exceptions proved the rule. Sometimes another reaps where one has sown, but for the most part the maxim holds good. Those who are honest, and earnest, and self-denying in their toil, those who wait awhile shall live to see success, and to reap reward, 2. In spiritual matters.(1) Was it not just so in the matter of our conversion? Oh, for more sorrow of a godly sort! Oh, for more of the repentance that needs not to be repented of! May the tears flow till Jesus dries our eyes!(2) The same is true of the matter of backsliding and restoration. If you have wandered, come back, but come with streaming eyes and wounded spirit, come with firm resolve that, God helping you, you will never do the like again.(3) Apply the same truth to Christian service. 4. And to suffering. IV. The proverb, the experience, the principle is also A PRECIOUS PROMISE. We have here — t

Benson Commentary Psalm 126:1 A Song of degrees. When the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. Psalm 126:1 . When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion — Brought the captive Israelites out of Babylon into their own land; we were like them that dream — We were so surprised and astonished at the report of such a favour, and especially when the proclamation went forth, to give us liberty to return to our own country, after so long a captivity, we could scarcely believe our own eyes or ears, but were ready to think it to be but a dream, or illusion of our own fancies. “A restoration so complete, so strange and unlooked for, brought about at once, without any endeavours used on the side of Israel, seemed, in all these respects, as a dream; and the parties concerned, when they saw and heard such things, could scarcely believe themselves to be awake.” The Hebrew, ?????? , here rendered, as them that dream, is, by Dr. Hammond, and many other expositors, translated, them that are recovered to health; a sense which the word will bear, and may be very proper, as signifying that this wonderful change was like unexpected ease after exquisite pain; or the recovery of health after a very long and tedious sickness; or, as life from the dead. It is with great propriety said, that the Lord turned again their captivity, for that Cyrus should dismiss such a number of captives without money and without price, should issue a decree for them to return to their own country, and to rebuild their city and temple, and especially that he should send them home laden with presents, Ezra 1:1-4 ; this was evidently the work of Jehovah, who only could thus turn the captivity of Zion. Psalm 126:2 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. Psalm 126:2 . Then was our mouth filled with laughter — We thought ourselves in a new world, and the surprise of it put us into such an ecstasy and transport of joy, that we could scarcely contain ourselves within the bounds of decency in the expressions of it; and our mouth with singing — We gave vent to our joy, by singing hymns and songs of praise to God, and thus gave notice to all about us, what wonders God had wrought for us. Then said they among the heathen — Who had observed our calamity and triumphed in it, Jeremiah 22:8-9 ; Psalm 137:7 . The Lord Jehovah, the God of Israel, hath done great things for them — This truly is Jehovah’s work, who hath magnified his power in the strange deliverance of this nation. Well might they wonder, that a heathen emperor should, of his own mere motion, show so much kindness to a people so hated and despised as the Jews were. Psalm 126:3 The LORD hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad. Psalm 126:3 . The Lord hath done great things for us — And we should be very ungrateful if we did not thankfully acknowledge it, and praise him for the singular benefits, which excite even the wonder of strangers; for the Lord hath not only restored our liberty, but manifested the greatness of his power in affecting this our deliverance; whereof we are glad — Which justly fills us with joy and triumph. Psalm 126:4 Turn again our captivity, O LORD, as the streams in the south. Psalm 126:4 . Turn again our captivity, O Lord — Perfect what thou hast begun, and as thou hast brought us home, bring home also the rest of our brethren, who still remain captives in Babylon, or are dispersed in that country, or in any other parts of the world; as the streams in the south — Which would be as welcome to this desolate country as streams of water to the dry and thirsty grounds. Or, that we may refresh and cultivate thy holy land, as the rivers of the south gladden, fructify, and replenish their dry and thirsty soil. The Hebrew word ??? , negeb, here rendered, the south, signifies, says Dr. Hammond, “a dry and parched soil; and, by a figure, is very well used to signify the south, as the soil of the southern countries is very hot, dry, and burned up with the sun. This particularly is the case in Egypt, where they would never have any crops at all, were it not for the annual overflowing of their rivers; so that the psalmist here prays that he would turn their captivity, as he doth the rivers of the south, or of Egypt, to gladden and replenish the otherwise parched and barren earth.” Bishop Lowth, however, and some others, think the image is taken from the torrents in the deserts to the south of Judea; in Idumea, Arabia Petræa, &c., a mountainous country; which torrents were constantly dried up in the summer, and as constantly returned after the rainy season, and filled again their deserted channels: see Job 6:17-18 . Thus the Jews had left their country desolate, but now flowed into it again. Psalm 126:5 They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. Psalm 126:5-6 . They that sow in tears shall reap in joy — This seems to refer to the foregoing prayer; as if he had said, And this thou wilt do in thy good time: thou wilt give them, as thou hast given us, a joyful return after so sad a time of captivity. The argument is taken from the common course of God’s providence toward men of all nations, to whom he affords vicissitudes of sorrow and comfort, and particularly toward husbandmen, who till their land, and sow their seed, not only with toil, and the sweat of their brows, but, it may be, also with care, fear, and sorrow, doubtful about the success of their labours, and, perhaps, wanting the corn they sow to make bread for their families. They commit it, however, to the ground, where for a time it lies dead and buried. “A dark and dreary winter succeeds, and all seems to be lost. But, at the return of spring, universal nature revives, and the once desolate fields are covered with corn, which, when matured by the sun’s heat, the cheerful reapers cut down, and it is brought home with triumphant shouts.” Thus the released Jewish captives had sorrow, and cause of mourning, on account of “the fatigue of travelling from Babylon into Judea; the melancholy prospect of a long depopulated country and ruined city; the toil necessary to be undergone before the former could be again brought into order, and the latter rebuilt; these considerations could not but allay their joy, and even draw many tears from their eyes:” but “they are here comforted with a gracious promise, that God would give a blessing to the labours of their hands, and crown them with success, so that they should once more see Jerusalem in prosperity, and behold in Zion the beauty of holiness.” “Here, O disciple of Jesus, behold an emblem of thy present labour, and thy future reward. Thou sowest, perhaps, in tears; thou dost thy duty amid persecution and affliction, sickness, pain, and sorrow; thou labourest in the church, and no account is made of thy labours; no profit seems likely to arise from them. Nay, thou must thyself drop into the dust of death, and all the storms of that winter must pass over thee, until thy form shall be perished, and thou shalt see corruption. Yet the day is coming when thou shalt reap in joy; and plentiful shall be thy harvest.” — Horne. Psalm 126:6 He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him . Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Expositor's Bible Commentary Psalm 126:1 A Song of degrees. When the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. Psalm 126:1-6 As in Psalm 85:1-13 , the poet’s point of view here is in the midst of a partial restoration of Israel. In Psalm 126:1-3 he rejoices over its happy beginning, while in Psalm 126:4-6 he prays for and confidently expects its triumphant completion. Manifestly the circumstances fit the period to which most of these pilgrim psalms are to be referred-namely, the dawn of the restoration from Babylon. Here the pressure of the difficulties and hostility which the returning exiles met is but slightly expressed. The throb of wondering gratitude is still felt; and though tears mingle with laughter, and hard work which bears no immediate result has to be done, the singer’s confidence is unfaltering. His words set a noble example of the spirit in which inchoate deliverances should be welcomed, and toil for their completion encountered with the lightheartedness which is folly if it springs from self-trust, but wisdom and strength if its ground is the great things which Jehovah has begun to do. The word in Psalm 126:1 rendered captives is capable of other meanings. It is an unusual form, and is probably an error for the more common word which occurs in Psalm 126:4 . It is most probable that the expressions should be identical in both instances, though small changes in a refrain are not infrequent. But if this correction is adopted, there is room for difference of opinion as to the meaning of the phrase. Cheyne, with the support of several other commentators, takes the phrase to mean "turn the fortunes" (lit., a turning), but allows that the "debate is not absolutely closed." {Critical Note Psalm 14:7 } The ordinary rendering is, however, more natural "captivity" being the mass of captives. Others would regard the two words in Psalm 126:1 and Psalm 126:4 as different, and render the former "those who return" (Delitzsch) or "the returned" (Perowne). Sudden and great revolutions for the better have for their first effect bewilderment and a sense of unreality. Most men have some supreme moment of blessedness in their memories with which they were stunned; but, alas! it is oftener the rush of unexpected miseries that makes them wonder whether they are awake or dreaming. It is not lack of faith, but slowness in accommodating oneself to surprising new conditions, which makes these seem unreal at first. "The sober certainty of waking bliss" is sweeter than the first raptures. It is good to have had such experience of walking, as it were, on air: but it is better to plant firm feet on firm ground. The mood of the first part of this little psalm is momentary; but the steadfast toil amid discouragements, not uncheered by happy confidence, which is pictured in the second part, should be the permanent temper of those who have once tasted the brief emotion. The jubilant laughter and ringing cries with which the exiles streamed forth from bondage, and made the desert echo as they marched, witnessed to the nations that Jehovah had magnified His dealings with them. Their extorted acknowledgment is caught up triumphantly by the singer. He, as it were, thanks the Gentiles for teaching him that word. There is a world of restrained feeling, all the more impressive for the simplicity of the expression, in that quiet "We became glad." When the heathen attested the reality of the deliverance, Israel became calmly conscious of it. These exclamations of envious onlookers sufficed to convince the returning exiles that it was no dream befooling them. Tumultuous feeling steadied itself into conscious joy. There is no need to say more. The night of weeping was past, and Joy was their companion in the fresh morning light. But the work was but partly done. Difficulties and hardships were not abolished from the world, as Israel had half expected in the first flush of joy. We all are apt to think so, when some long wished and faintly hoped for good is ours at last. But not such is the Divine purpose for any life here. He gives moments of untroubled joy, when no cloud stains the blue and all the winds are still, in order to prepare us for toil amid tempests and gloomy skies. So the second half of the psalm breathes petitions for the completion of the Restoration, and animates the returned exiles with assurances that, whatever may be their toils, and however rough the weather in which they have to sow the seed, and however heavy the hearts with which they do it, "the slow result of winter showers" is sure. Lessons of persevering toil, of contented doing of preparatory work, of confidence that no such labour can fail to be profitable to the doer and to the world, have been drawn for centuries from the sweet words of this psalm. Who can tell how many hearts they have braced, how much patient toil they have inspired? The psalmist was sowing seed, the fruit of which he little dreamed of, when he wrote them, and his sheaves will be an exceeding weight indeed. The metaphor in Psalm 126:4 brings before the imagination the dried torrent beds in the arid Negeb, or Southland, which runs out into the Arabian desert. Dreary and desolate as these dried wadies lie bleaching in the sunshine, so disconsolate and lonely had the land been without inhabitants. The psalmist would fain see, not the thin trickle of a streamlet, to which the returned captives might be compared, but a full, great rush of rejoicing fellow countrymen coming back, like the torrents that fill the silent watercourses with flashing life. He prays, and he also prophesies "They who sow with tears" are the pioneers of the return, to whom he belonged. Psalm 126:6-6 merely expand the figure of Psalm 126:5 with the substitution of the image of a single husbandman for the less vivid, clear cut plural. The expression rendered "handful of seed" means literally a "draught of seed" -i.e., the quantity taken out of the basket or cloth at one grasp, in order to be sown. It is difficult to convey the force of the infinitives in combination with participles and the finite verb in Psalm 126:6 . But the first half of the verse seems to express repeated actions on the part of the husbandman, who often goes forth to sow, and weeps as he goes; while the second half expresses the certainty of his glad coming in with his arms full of sheaves. The meaning of the figure needs no illustration. It gives assurances fitted to animate to toil in the face of dangers without, and in spite of a heavy heart-namely, that no seed sown and watered with tears is lost; and further, that, though it often seems to be the law for earth that one soweth and another reapeth, in deepest truth "every man shall receive his own reward, according to his own labour," inasmuch as, hereafter, if not now, whatsoever of faith and toil and holy endeavour a man soweth, trusting to God to bless the springing thereof, that shall he also reap, In the highest sense and in the last result the prophet’s great words are ever true: "They shall not plant, and another eat, for My chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands". { Isaiah 65:22 } The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.