(vs. 1) “In my distress I cried unto the LORD, and He heard me.” If the Word of God has been let slip in our lives, we find ourselves in circumstances not in accordance with it; the realization of this would cause distress and exercise similar to that we have in this verse.
(vs. 5) “Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech.” His feet are in the wrong place, and he is surrounded by those whom he thought were his friends, but finds deceit on every hand. Such, no doubt, will be the case of the remnant in the day of apostasy that is to come when the Spirit of God first begins to work in their hearts. But could it not be true of everyone in all dispensations in similar circumstances?
No doubt this refers to their being in captivity to the Gentiles. “That I dwell in the tents of Kedar,” that is, among those who would take that which God has set up as an approach to Himself and make it a mere thing of nature. All those who do this would come under this heading.
The term “Kedar” is applied to the Ishmaelites and to the Arabs generally. It was with the Arabs that Nehemiah had to contend; they sought in every way to gain an entrance among the Jews and did in Nehemiah’s absence-into the very house of God! (The Arabs are now contending with the Jews for the land of Palestine.)
(vs. 2) “Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue.”
(vs. 4) “Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper.”
(vs. 6) “My soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace.”
(vs. 7) “I am for peace: but when I speak, they are for war.”
In Babylon there were Jews who had no exercise as to the return of the remnant in Ezra and Nehemiah’s time; they were satisfied to remain where they were. It was a mere handful that came back, and verses 2-4 and 6-7 could well be applied to those who had given up the true hope of Israel in that day, as it will be of those in the future who have allied themselves with the beast and the false prophet. It is also the attitude of those of all times, since the Church has been established, whose hope is in this world only; they see no reason for the deep exercise the Spirit of God has laid upon the hearts of the remnant.
From their earliest history there had always been some among the children of Israel who had never gotten beyond looking at their place in this world as that which was by the way of nature, or a national relationship. They had not considered the longing of the Lord for them when in Deuteronomy 5 they had told Moses, “Go thou near, and hear all that the LORD our God shall say;... and we will hear it, and do it” (Deut. 5:27). The response of the Lord was, “Oh that there were such a heart in them, that they would fear Me, and keep all My commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children forever!” (Deut. 5:29). There is a longing over them also in Deut. 32:28-29. Trace this similar sighing after them as voiced in Psalm 81:11-16, about five hundred years afterward. Then at a later period, in Isa. 48:16-19, but especially verse 18: “O that thou hadst hearkened to My commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea.” But it was too late; captivity was at hand. This prophecy was about three hundred years later than Psalm 81.
In Isaiah 48 they were given instructions to flee from Babylon with a voice of singing. In Psalm 126, the time had come; and their mouth was indeed filled with laughter, and their tongue with singing.
In the past they were never able to rise up to the fact that being a child of Abraham called for a life of faith; but in the future, “Thy people shall be willing in the day of Thy power” (Psalm 110:3). “I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be My people” (Jer. 31:33).
In our Psalm, after being aroused, they learn that those with whom they had formerly been content to dwell, were really not true friends, but just the opposite. They can only count upon the Lord for deliverance from among them.
Would not the application of “I dwell in the tents of Kedar” be analogous with Eph. 5:14? “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light” (or, “Christ shall shine upon thee” (JND Trans). The shining upon him discovers to him where he is-sunken down to the level of the world-and the result is, such a one is in deep distress!