“Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped.”
The psalmist's celebration of deliverance from the snare of the fowler establishes God as active deliverer who breaks the instruments through which enemies attempt to capture and destroy the covenant people. This verse employs the image of a snare set by hunters to depict the schemes of enemies designed to entrap and destroy, suggesting that the threats facing God's people involve deliberate designs to eliminate them through cunning and deception rather than open force. The affirmation that the snare has been broken establishes that God's intervention has rendered enemy schemes ineffective and has secured the escape of the intended victims from certain destruction. By depicting deliverance in terms of escape from a snare, the psalmist establishes that salvation involves liberation from the designs of those who would destroy the faithful, making God the guarantor of escape and safety.
Church Fathers on Psalms 124:7
1. You already well know, dearest brethren, that a “Song of Degrees,” is a song of our ascent: and that this ascent is not effected by the feet of the body, but by the affections of the heart. This we have repeatedly reminded you of: and we need not repeat it too often, that there may be room for saying what has not yet been said. This Psalm, therefore, which you have now heard sung for you, is inscribed, “A Song of Degrees.” This is its title. They sing therefore while…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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