Psalm 130:7

Let Israel hope in the LORD: for with the LORD there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(7) Let Israel.—Rather (as in Prayer-Book), Hope Israel in Jehovah. It is the watchword of faith addressed to the nation. (Comp. Psalm 131:3 for a rarer form of it.)

Benson Commentary

Psalm 130:7-8. Let Israel hope in the Lord — Every true Israelite, every one that devotes himself to God, being encouraged by my example. For with the Lord there is mercy — Not only inherent in his nature, but ready to be exercised in pardoning and saving every penitent sinner. And with him is plenteous redemption — Abundantly sufficient for all persons who will accept it upon God’s terms, and for the remission of, and deliverance from, all sins; and therefore here is good ground of hope for all contrite and returning sinners. And he — The Lord, either God the Father, by his Son, or the Son of God, by his blood; shall redeem Israel — Israel, according to the spirit; all those that turn to God in repentance and faith, and become Israelites indeed, in whom there is no guile; from all his iniquities — From the guilt, and power, and defilement of sin, and from all its consequences. “See here,” says Henry, “1st, The nature of this redemption; it is redemption from sin, from all sin; and therefore can be no other but that eternal redemption, of which Jesus Christ became the author; for it is he that saves his people from their sins, Matthew 1:21; that redeems them from all iniquity, Titus 2:14; and turns away ungodliness from Jacob, Romans 11:26. 2d, The riches of this redemption; it is plenteous; there is an all-sufficient fulness of merit and grace in the Redeemer, enough for all, enough for each; enough for me, says the believer. Redemption from sin includes redemption from all other evils, and therefore is a plenteous redemption.” Reader, see thou do not rest short of this redemption; seek it with all thy heart, by faith and prayer, and thou wilt assuredly find it.”

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

130:5-8 It is for the Lord that my soul waits, for the gifts of his grace, and the working of his power. We must hope for that only which he has promised in his word. Like those who wish to see the dawn, being very desirous that light would come long before day; but still more earnestly does a good man long for the tokens of God's favour, and the visits of his grace. Let all that devote themselves to the Lord, cheerfully stay themselves on him. This redemption is redemption from all sin. Jesus Christ saves his people from their sins, both from the condemning and from the commanding power of sin. It is plenteous redemption; there is an all-sufficient fulness in the Redeemer, enough for all, enough for each; therefore enough for me, says the believer. Redemption from sin includes redemption from all other evils, therefore it is a plenteous redemption, through the atoning blood of Jesus, who shall redeem his people from all their sins. All that wait on God for mercy and grace, are sure to have peace.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Let Israel hope in the Lord - In such circumstances of affliction and distress, let not the people of God despair. In the darkest night, in calamities deep and prolonged, let not those who love God despair. The morning will dawn; the light will break in the east; deliverance and joy will come. The Hebrew here is, "Trust, O Israel, in the Lord." The design of the Psalmist seems to be, from his own experience, to persuade others - the afflicted people of God - to put their trust in Him in whom he had himself hoped. From the very depths of affliction, guilt, and almost despair, he had looked to the Lord: encouraged and persuaded by his example, he would now entreat the people of God everywhere and always, in like manner, to trust him.

For with the Lord there is mercy - He is merciful, and in his mercy we may trust.

And with him is plenteous redemption - It is ample; it is full; it abounds. It is not limited; it is not exhausted; it cannot be exhausted. So we may always feel when we come before God, that his mercy is ample for all the needs of all the sinful and the suffering; that the provisions of his grace are unexhausted and inexhaustible. Applying this, as we may, to the work of the Saviour, we may feel that the redemption which is in him is adequate to the needs of a world, and that although numberless million have been saved by it, yet that it is still as rich, as full, and as free as it was in the beginning; as the ocean, though from the beginning of the world it has supplied the materials for rain and dew to water the hills, the vales, the continents, and the islands, is still full; as the light of the sun, though for thousands of ages it has poured its light on the planets, and on all the vast space between itself and those orbs, and has sent out its light into the vast regions beyond, still shines with undiminished splendor, and pours its floods of day and of glory on all those worlds.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

7, 8. Let Israel, &c.—that is, All are invited to seek and share divine forgiveness.

from all his iniquities—or, "punishments of them" (Ps 40:12, &c.).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Let Israel; every true Israelite, by the encouragement of mine example.

Plenteous redemption; abundantly sufficient for all persons who shall accept it upon God’s terms, and for the remission of all sins; and therefore here is good ground of hope for all contrite and returning sinners.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Let Israel hope in the Lord,.... The psalmist having himself hope in the Lord and in his word, through a view of forgiveness with him, exhorts and encourages others to do so likewise, even every Israelite indeed; and such may comfortably hope in him for salvation, which was designed, contrived, promised, and now wrought out for sinners, the chief of sinners, and to be had freely; and the Gospel declaration is, that whosoever believes in Christ shall be saved; as well as for the remission of sin, which God has promised in covenant; proclaimed in Christ, whom he has sent to obtain it, and exalted to give it; and has declared in the Gospel that whoever believes in him shall have it; and also for eternal life and happiness, which is the gift of God through Christ; is in the hands of Christ, and of which the Spirit of God is the earnest and pledge. Arguments encouraging hope follow:

for with the Lord there is mercy; which is natural and essential to him; as displayed, is either general, and over all his works, and towards all his creatures; or special, only shown to whom he will: this flows through Christ, and is very large and abundant; and appears in various instances, in the covenant, in the mission of Christ, and redemption by him; in regeneration, the forgiveness of sins, and in salvation; as well as it is bestowed on innumerable objects: and this nerves much to encourage hope, since there is plenty of it, and God is plenteous in it; and it is kept for many, for thousands, and even the vilest of sinners, share in it; God has set up a throne of grace and mercy for men to apply to, and he delights in showing mercy, and in those that hope in it: or, there is "grace" (k) with him; an abundance of it in his heart; a fulness of it in his son; and large aboundings of it through Christ, in conversion, pardon, and other things;

and with him is plenteous redemption; the purpose of it was in him; the scheme of it was drawn by him; the covenant of it was made with Christ; the promise of it was published, and now the thing itself is done, and is with Christ the author of it: and this is "plenteous", if we consider the number of persons redeemed from among men, being such as no man can number; what of them is redeemed, even all of them, their souls and bodies; what they are redeemed from, from all sin, the law, its curse and condemnation, from death and hell, from Satan and all enemies; the several blessings included in it, or connected with it, pardon of sin, justification of persons, adoption, sanctification, and eternal life; the great price paid for it, the blood, the life of Christ, yea, himself: and the large display of love, grace, and mercy, wisdom, power, justice, and holiness, made in it. Kimchi interprets this of redemption from Egypt, Babylon, &c.

(k) "gratia", Cocceius, Michaelis.

Geneva Study Bible

Let Israel hope in the LORD: for with the LORD there is {d} mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption.

(d) He shows to whom the mercy of God belongs, that is, Israel, to the Church and not the reprobate.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

7. Hope, Israel, in Jehovah,

For with Jehovah Is lovingklndness.

The Psalmist exhorts the people, or if the preceding verses are taken as the words of the congregation, Israel exhorts itself, to wait in hope. Cp. Psalm 131:3.

plenteous redemption] Or, redemption in abundance, manifold ways and means of effecting Israel’s deliverance, according to the abundance of His lovingkindness and compassion. Observe how the thought that God’s manifold mercy and patience have not been exhausted by Israel’s persistent rebellion runs through the confession in Nehemiah 9; Nehemiah 9:17; Nehemiah 9:19; Nehemiah 9:27-28; Nehemiah 9:30-31; Nehemiah 9:35. Cp. Isaiah 43:25; Isaiah 55:7.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 7. - Let Israel hope in the Lord; or, "O Israel, hope in the Lord;" i.e. continue to hope, even though in the "depths" of calamity (see ver. 1). For with the Lord there is mercy (see above, ver. 4, and the comment ad loc). And with him is plenteous redemption (comp. Psalm 111:9). Enough and to spare for all (see Isaiah 55:1). Psalm 130:7

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Therefore the sinner need not, therefore too the poet will not, despair. He hopes in Jahve (acc. obj. as in Psalm 25:5, Psalm 25:21; Psalm 40:2), his soul hopes; hoping in and waiting upon God is the mood of his inmost and of his whole being. He waits upon God's word, the word of His salvation (Psalm 119:81), which, if it penetrates into the soul and cleaves there, calms all unrest, and by the appropriated consolation of forgiveness transforms and enlightens for it everything in it and outside of it. His soul is לאדני, i.e., stedfastly and continually directed towards Him; as Chr. A. Crusius when on his death-bed, with hands and eyes uplifted to heaven, joyfully exclaimed: "My soul is full of the mercy of Jesus Christ. My whole soul is towards God." The meaning of לאדני becomes at once clear in itself from Psalm 143:6, and is defined moreover, without supplying שׁמרת (Hitzig), according to the following לבּקר. Towards the Lord he is expectantly turned, like those who in the night-time wait for the morning. The repetition of the expression "those who watch for the morning" (cf. Isaiah 21:11) gives the impression of protracted, painful waiting. The wrath, in the sphere of which the poet now finds himself, is a nightly darkness, out of which he wishes to be removed into the sunny realm of love (Malachi 4:2); not he alone, however, but at the same time all Israel, whose need is the same, and for whom therefore believing waiting is likewise the way to salvation. With Jahve, and with Him exclusively, with Him, however, also in all its fulness, is החסד (contrary to Psalm 62:13, without any pausal change in accordance with the varying of the segolates), the mercy, which removes the guilt of sin and its consequences, and puts freedom, peace, and joy into the heart. And plenteous (הרבּה, an adverbial infin. absol., used here, as in Ezekiel 21:20, as an adjective) is with Him redemption; i.e., He possesses in the richest measure the willingness, the power, and the wisdom, which are needed to procure redemption, which rises up as a wall of partition (Exodus 8:19) between destruction and those imperilled. To Him, therefore, must the individual, if he will obtain mercy, to Him must His people, look up hopingly; and this hope directed to Him shall not be put to shame: He, in the fulness of the might of His free grace (Isaiah 43:25), will redeem Israel from all its iniquities, by forgiving them and removing their unhappy inward and outward consequences. With this promise (cf. Psalm 25:22) the poet comforts himself. He means complete and final redemption, above all, in the genuinely New Testament manner, spiritual redemption.