A song of ascents, by David.
Psalms 120-134 are called “the psalms of ascents.” A better name would be “the songs of the pilgrim caravans”. These pilgrimage songs were sung when Israel traveled upwards to Jerusalem (usually in caravans) during the Jewish feasts of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. Four of these songs were attributed to David. Solomon wrote one of these songs. The other ten songs are anonymous. The author of Psalm 124 is David.
124:1 “If the Lord had not been on our side”— let Israel say this!
The promises of the Abrahamic Covenant kept Israel from extinction.
124:2 if the Lord had not been on our side, when men attacked us, 124:3 they would have swallowed us alive, when their anger raged against us.
The Gentile nations are often described as beasts who wish to devour Israel.
124:4 The water would have overpowered us; the current would have overwhelmed us.
The rushing water is used as a metaphor for Gentile nations who desire to drown Israel. These wicked Gentile nations have always existed in history. They are still in existence today.
124:5 The raging water would have overwhelmed us.
The raging water is a metaphor for the armies of the Gentile nations. God kept the raging waters away from Israel. God drowned the Egyptians at the Red Sea, but He did not allow the raging waters to destroy Israel.
124:6 The Lord deserves praise, for he did not hand us over as prey to their teeth.
Jehovah deserves praise for protecting Israel from the teeth of these Gentile beasts.
124:7 We escaped with our lives, like a bird from a hunter’s snare. The snare broke, and we escaped.
The Gentile nations attempted to trap Israel like a bird in a snare, but God broke the snare and allowed Israel to escape.
124:8 Our deliverer is the Lord, the Creator of heaven and earth.
The One who has saved Israel from the Gentile beasts is the same One who created the heavens and the earth.