Seventh-day Adventist Bible CommentaryPsalms 129

Many. Or, “in abundant measure,” that is, “often.” From my youth. See Jer. 2:2; Hosea 2:3, 15; 11:1. Israel had spent her “youth” in cruel bondage in Egypt and now looks back to the Lord’s deliverance from that dark land.

Not prevailed. He who puts his trust in the Lord, though often in distress, need never be defeated (see 2 Cor. 4:8–10). In Christ he is always victorious.

Plowed upon my back. A picture of the backs of the Israelites being lacerated by the cruel lashes of their oppressors. The scourges turned the flesh as the plow turns the furrows of the field.

As the grass. The wind, or perchance some bird, carries a seed, and as it falls upon the flat roof of the Oriental house it springs up very quickly, but having no depth of earth, it soon withers, and thus yields no harvest (Matt. 13:5). So it is with those who scheme against Israel. Their plans at first give the appearance of success, but they do not fructify.

Filleth not. There will be no sheaves and thus no grain.

Upon you. Compare Ruth 2:4. There was nothing comparable to this kind of greeting with reference to the enemies of Zion.