What is the meaning of Psalm 107:5? They were hungry Psalm 107 recalls real people wandering “in desert wastelands” (v.4). Their hunger was not imaginary; it was a bodily ache that reminded them of absolute dependence on God. • God had allowed Israel to experience physical lack before—“The whole congregation…said, ‘You have brought us into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger’ ” (Exodus 16:3). He then sent manna, proving that He “humbles you…to make you know that man does not live on bread alone” (Deuteronomy 8:3). • The lesson stretches beyond Israel. Jesus later says, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me will never hunger” (John 6:35), echoing the truth that every empty stomach ultimately points to Him. So, when the psalmist writes, “They were hungry,” he records both a literal desert experience and a spiritual signpost: earthly cravings expose our deeper need for God’s provision. and thirsty Desert travel meant relentless dehydration. The situation mirrors Exodus 17:3—“The people thirsted there for water and grumbled against Moses.” Again, God answered with water from the rock, revealing His character as “the living water” (Jeremiah 2:13) and prefiguring Jesus’ promise, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to Me and drink” (John 7:37). • Physical thirst pushed the wanderers to cry out; spiritual thirst pushes us to Christ. • In both testaments, God alone satisfies: “He split the rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink as abundant as the seas” (Psalm 78:15). Their thirst underlines that our resources run dry, but His supply never does. their soul fainted within them The outward lack produced an inward collapse. “Soul” (nephesh) speaks of the whole person—emotions, will, life itself. • The psalmist elsewhere admits, “My strength fails…my bones waste away” (Psalm 31:10). Such fainting is what happens when human endurance meets its limit. • Yet the collapse becomes the turning point: “Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He delivered them from their distress” (Psalm 107:6). Isaiah echoes the pattern: “Even youths grow weary… but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength” (Isaiah 40:30–31). • God’s faithfulness shines brightest when our strength is gone (2 Corinthians 12:9–10). The verse therefore prepares us for the miracle of rescue that follows in Psalm 107. summary Psalm 107:5 records literal hunger, literal thirst, and literal exhaustion to spotlight the bigger truth that only God sustains life. He lets needs surface so we will cry to Him, taste His provision, and declare, “Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good” (v.1). |
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