Psalm 124 "The Snare is Broken"

Psalm for Today = 124: 6-7

Blessed be the Lord,

    who has not given us

    as prey to their teeth!

We have escaped like a bird

    from the snare of the fowlers;

the snare is broken,

    and we have escaped!

Comments:

In looking back on my comments of this psalm, I have never focused on these two verses. Ironically, I am captured by these verses of deliverance and liberty. Who is the hero of the psalmist’s deliverance? He makes it very clear throughout this psalm that his hero is the Lord… and he uses graphic terminology to do so.

By Diamond Glacier Adventures -
Female lion versus buffalo at Serengeti National Park,
 CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=73011796

The wicked are seeking to consume the faithful “as prey to their teeth” the way wild animals eat what they can run down, but the Lord did not allow them to be consumed.

• Psalm 22:13 refers to those who crucify the Messiah as “like a ravening a roaring lion”
• Proverbs 28:15 adds, “Like a roaring lion or a charging bear is a wicked ruler over a poor people.”
• Ezekiel 22:25 refers to false religious leaders as “like a roaring lion tearing prey.”
• 1 Peter 5:8 says that this is also characteristic of the devil, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

The Lord delivers his people from such “wild animals” as these.

By unknown master - book scan, Public Domain,
https://commons.wikimedia.org

The second image in these verses is that of an animal being set free from a snare trap. One commentator notes that the repetition of the phrase “we have escaped”  indicates the presence of a note of triumph. It is almost as if the psalmist is becoming giddy at having been delivered from certain death and like the classic cartoon dog, Snoopy, is celebrating with his “happy feet dance.” He invites us to join him in praising the Lord.

My dad was a wildlife biologist for many years and I remember him making us watch a tragic movie about a coyote caught in a steel trap. The coyote eventually chewed his leg off to escape. Horrible! Yet we don’t often realize that we are in the same situation, caught in the deadly snare of sin but the Lord has now broken the snare and given his life to us! 

How can we not share such good news with others who are still in the snare? Though they may snap and chew those who come near, in 2 Timothy 2:24-26 the Apostle Paul wrote,

^"And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will."