Psalm 126

Psalm 126 may be read as a familiar Psalter poem that reflects the human spirit, while at the same time referencing its specific post-exilic prophetic message of deliverance from oppression. Many often think of the book of Psalms as beautiful personal poetry that is imbedded with experiences and feelings that can be transferred to that of a nation and all of humanity.

Psalm 126 fulfills this expectation of personal and universal feelings as it speaks of joy, surprise, sadness and thankfulness. Psalm 126 is also an acknowledgement of the role that the righteous God has played in delivering the Hebrew people from slavery with the promise of a greater future. This chapter acknowledges that God has delivered the people of Israel from their oppressors and because of this the people are comforted. The delivered community of exile has been restored to health—to a life free of oppression—and therefore is full of joy.

The fourth verse, which requests full deliverance of God’s people, as streams overflowing in the desert, transitions the psalm from celebration to a hope only known to those who have lived through oppression. “The opposite of joy is not sadness, but suffering.  It is not the superficial kind of rejoicing that springs from unawareness or resignation, but the joy born of the conviction that unjust mistreatment and suffering will be overcome.”1

In the last two verses, we are reminded that, as in agriculture, the deliverance from oppression will not be easy or come quickly, but is promised. These verses remind one of the Beatitudes, which also promise justice to the poor in spirit, mourners, meek, hungry, merciful, pure, peacemakers and those who are persecuted. As Evelyn Mattern stated in Blessed are You.

“The hungry, the homeless, the impoverished, refugees, abused children, prisoners, addicts, elderly people discarded in nursing homes, victims of war: add them all together and you have a majority of the world’s population. This marginalized majority reflects many of the characteristics of the multitudes Jesus addressed [in the Sermon on the Mount]. Jesus does not promise an immediate, or eventual, paradise…those who have experienced the bliss of the beatitudes can affirm that it comes in the present, even in the midst of hardship and conflict.”2

This bittersweet celebration present in the Beatitudes and in Psalm 126 seems to be speaking of the joy that comes through political conflict and the struggle for social and economic justice in a way that harkens the voice of the prophets. While there is some relief from oppression, there is also work to be done and more hardships to suffer. But because the people who are “sowing seeds” of justice have been oppressed, their journey will be full of advent.

By Melinda Wiggins, Executive Director, Student Action with Farmworkers