What historical events might Psalm 129:3 be referencing regarding Israel's oppression? The Verse “ ‘The plowmen plowed over my back; they made their furrows long.’ ” (Psalm 129:3) The psalmist pictures Israel’s back as a field scored by plow blades—an image of repeated, painful oppression. Probable Historical Episodes Behind the Image • Slavery in Egypt (Exodus 1:11-14; 5:6-14) – Israel was forced into brick-making under the lash. – Whips that cut flesh parallel the “furrows” dug by plowmen. • Canaanite & Philistine Domination during the Judges (Judges 4:1-3; 6:1-6; 13:1) – Cycles of oppression left the nation “severely impoverished” (Judges 6:6). – Each new enemy felt like another set of furrows gouged in the nation’s back. • Assyrian Subjugation of the Northern Kingdom (2 Kings 17:5-6; Isaiah 10:5-6) – Deportation and heavy tribute were a literal yoke on Israel. – Assyria “trodden down” Samaria (Isaiah 10:6), echoing plowmen treading fields. • Babylonian Siege and Exile (2 Kings 25:1-12; Lamentations 1:3, 13) – Jerusalem’s destruction and forced labor for the empire drove deep, fresh “furrows.” – Lamentations describes fiery affliction “sent from on high into my bones.” • Post-exilic Hostilities under Persia (Ezra 4:4-5) and Later Foreign Powers (Daniel 8:23-25) – Adversaries “discouraged the people of Judah and frightened them from building” (Ezra 4:4). – Successive powers—Persian officials, Hellenistic tyrants, and Roman overlords—kept slicing new lines of suffering across Israel’s history. Why the Psalm Uses a Composite Image • The Song of Ascents collects corporate memory: “Many times they have persecuted me from my youth” (Psalm 129:1). • Each oppression layers upon the previous, just as multiple plow passes deepen the furrows. • By verse 4 the psalmist declares, “The LORD is righteous; He has cut me free from the cords of the wicked”—a testimony that every historical yoke, from Pharaoh to Babylon, was ultimately broken by God. Takeaway Psalm 129:3 most immediately recalls the slave-driver’s whip in Egypt, yet its wording gathers every season of national affliction—Judge-era invaders, Assyrian and Babylonian captors, and even post-exilic foes—into one vivid metaphor of a back plowed raw, only to be healed by the LORD’s faithful deliverance. |
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