Commentary - Psalm 107:33-43

Bird's-eye view

This final section of Psalm 107 serves as the grand theological conclusion to the whole psalm. The preceding verses gave us four case studies of God's deliverance: the lost in the wilderness, prisoners in darkness, fools in affliction, and sailors in a storm. In each case, they cried out to Yahweh and He rescued them from their distress. Now, the psalmist pulls back the camera to show us the universal principle behind all these particular rescues. The principle is this: God is absolutely sovereign over the fortunes of men, and He exercises this sovereignty in dramatic reversals. He can take a flourishing land and turn it into a barren wasteland because of sin, and He can take a desolate wilderness and make it a fruitful garden for His hungry people. This is not arbitrary; it is covenantal. Blessing and cursing, fruitfulness and desolation, are directly tied to the moral condition of the inhabitants. The psalm concludes by calling the wise to pay attention to these patterns, because in them, the steadfast love, the hesed, of Yahweh is clearly displayed.

The entire created order is not a neutral stage on which human history plays out; it is an active participant in God's covenant dealings. The land itself vomits out the wicked and embraces the righteous. This passage is a potent summary of the doctrine of divine providence, showing that God's hand is not hidden but is manifestly active in turning the world upside down and right side up again, humbling the proud and exalting the needy. For the wise, history is theology taught by example, and creation is the chalkboard.

Outline

Context In Psalms

Psalm 107 begins Book V of the Psalter (Psalms 107-150). This final book has a strong post-exilic flavor, focusing on God's faithfulness in gathering His people and the centrality of His Word (e.g., Psalm 119) and His praise. Psalm 107 functions as a magnificent introduction to this final collection. Its refrain, "Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!" (vv. 8, 15, 21, 31), sets the tone for the entire section. The psalm celebrates God's covenant loyalty (hesed) in redeeming His people from every kind of trouble. The final section (vv. 33-43) provides the theological lens through which to view not only the preceding examples of deliverance but also the history of Israel, particularly their exile and restoration. It echoes the covenantal blessings and curses of Deuteronomy, showing that the God of the Exodus is still the God who governs all of history with perfect, moral intentionality.

Key Issues

God Plays for Keeps

We moderns, particularly we Westerners, have a bad habit of thinking of the physical world as a neutral, scientific, clockwork mechanism. It's just "nature," operating according to fixed laws. But the Bible knows nothing of this. For the biblical authors, creation is a deeply moral theater. The ground you walk on is not neutral; it is either blessed or cursed. The rain is not neutral; it is either a gift of grace or it is withheld in judgment. This psalm brings that worldview into sharp focus. God is not a distant landlord; He is an intensely active farmer, cultivating, watering, and sometimes salting the very ground beneath our feet.

The reversals described here are not random acts of fate. They are the direct, personal, and intentional acts of a holy God. And the pivot point for these reversals is always the same: the moral state of the people. Wickedness invites desolation. Repentance and faith invite fruitfulness. This is covenant theology in its most earthy and tangible form. God's dealings with us are not confined to the "spiritual" realm of our hearts. They manifest in our crop yields, our water tables, our birth rates, and our political stability. God governs the whole world, and He does so according to the terms of His covenant. This is terrifying news for the wicked and the best possible news for the righteous.

Verse by Verse Commentary

33 He makes rivers into a wilderness And springs of water into a thirsty ground;

The psalmist begins with the reversal of judgment. He describes a land that is abundantly blessed with water, the very source of life and prosperity in the ancient Near East. Rivers and springs of water are signs of immense favor. But God, by His mere will, can turn it all off. He can make the rivers run dry and the springs vanish, transforming a garden into a desert. This is a direct exercise of His sovereign power over the created order. Think of Elijah praying for a drought upon apostate Israel (1 Kings 17:1). This is not a natural disaster; it is a supernatural judgment.

34 A fruitful land into a salt waste, Because of the evil of those who inhabited it.

Here we are given the explicit reason for the judgment. It is not arbitrary. A fruitful land, a place of agricultural bounty, is turned into a "salt waste," a place of permanent barrenness. This image immediately brings to mind the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, where the well-watered plain was turned into a desolate region of salt (Gen 19:24-25). And the reason is stated plainly: "Because of the evil of those who inhabited it." The land itself is covenantally connected to its inhabitants. When the people become morally toxic, the land becomes physically toxic. The creation groans under the weight of human sin (Rom 8:22), and sometimes God makes that groaning audible and visible.

35 He makes a wilderness into a pool of water And a dry land into springs of water;

Now the psalmist flips the coin. This is the reversal of grace. The same God who can turn a garden into a desert can, with equal ease, turn a desert into a garden. A wilderness, a dry and thirsty land, He transforms into a place of abundant water. This is the language of redemption and restoration. Isaiah is full of this imagery, promising that in the day of salvation, waters will break forth in the wilderness (Isa 35:6-7; 41:18). This is what God did for Israel in the exodus, bringing water from the rock, and it is what He does for us spiritually when He brings the living water of His Spirit into the desert of our souls.

36-37 And there He causes the hungry to inhabit, So that they may establish an inhabited city, And sow fields and plant vineyards, And produce a fruitful harvest.

God's restoration is not just for the land; it is for His people. He takes the hungry, the dispossessed, the needy, and settles them in this newly fertile land. And what do they do? They build civilization. They establish a city, a place of community and order. They engage in agriculture, sowing and planting. And God blesses their work. They "produce a fruitful harvest." This is a picture of the covenant blessings of Deuteronomy in action. God gives His people a place, He gives them purpose, and He gives them prosperity. This is the pattern of godly settlement, of building a Christian civilization from the ground up, starting with God's gracious provision for the hungry.

38 Also He blesses them and they multiply greatly, And He does not let their cattle decrease.

The blessing continues and expands. Not only are their crops fruitful, but the people themselves are fruitful. "They multiply greatly," which is a direct echo of the creation mandate and the Abrahamic covenant (Gen 1:28; 12:2). Their livestock, a primary measure of wealth, are also blessed and protected. God's blessing is comprehensive. It touches their agriculture, their families, and their economy. When a people are right with God, His favor overflows into every area of their lives.

39 But when they decrease and are bowed down Through oppression, evil, and sorrow,

The psalmist introduces another reversal. The "but" is crucial. The blessings are not automatic or permanent, irrespective of the people's faithfulness. The cycle can turn again. The same people who were multiplying greatly can "decrease and are bowed down." The causes are listed: oppression, evil, and sorrow. This can be external oppression from enemies, or it can be the internal evil and corruption that rots a society from within. This is the story of Israel in the book of Judges, a repeating cycle of blessing, sin, oppression, repentance, and deliverance.

40 He pours contempt upon nobles And makes them wander in a pathless void.

When a people turns from God, their leadership is often the first to be judged. The "nobles," the princes and rulers who should be leading in righteousness, are brought low. God "pours contempt" upon them, stripping them of their honor and authority. This is a direct quote from Job 12:21. He makes them wander in a "pathless void," a wilderness of confusion and futility. Their grand political strategies and economic plans come to nothing. They lose their way because they have abandoned the God who is the Way.

41 But He sets the needy securely on high away from affliction, And makes his families like a flock.

And here is the final, gracious reversal. While the proud nobles are brought to nothing, God acts on behalf of the "needy." He lifts them up out of their affliction and sets them in a place of security. This is the theme of Hannah's song and the Magnificat of Mary: God brings down the mighty from their thrones and exalts the humble (1 Sam 2:7-8; Luke 1:52). And notice the result: He "makes his families like a flock." This is an image of pastoral care, protection, and immense fruitfulness. The humble man who trusts in God will see his family, his household, blessed and multiplied like a great flock of sheep.

42 The upright see it and are glad; But all unrighteousness shuts its mouth.

How do people respond to these great works of God? It depends entirely on their moral condition. The "upright," the righteous, see these divine reversals and they rejoice. They are glad because they see God's justice, His power, and His faithfulness on display. It confirms everything they believe about the world. But the wicked have the opposite reaction. "All unrighteousness shuts its mouth." When God acts so decisively, the arguments of the wicked are silenced. Their mouths are stopped because the evidence of God's sovereign rule is undeniable. They have nothing left to say.

43 Who is wise? Let him keep these things, And carefully consider the lovingkindnesses of Yahweh.

The psalm ends with a call to wisdom. True wisdom is not about abstract philosophical speculation. True wisdom is the ability to see God's hand in history. The wise man is the one who pays attention to these patterns of judgment and grace. He observes these things, he keeps them in his heart, and he meditates on them. And what is the ultimate conclusion of this meditation? It is to "carefully consider the lovingkindnesses of Yahweh." Even in the judgments, God's hesed, His covenant loyalty, is at work. He humbles in order to exalt. He brings low in order to save. The entire rollercoaster of human history, with all its ups and downs, is ultimately a display of the steadfast, unrelenting, covenant-keeping love of God.

Application

This psalm is a manual for how to read the newspaper, how to interpret history, and how to understand your own life. We are called to be wise, and wisdom means seeing the world as God sees it: a covenantal arena where He is constantly at work, blessing obedience and cursing rebellion. We must reject the secular lie that our prosperity or our troubles are the result of blind chance, economic forces, or political maneuvering alone. At the root of it all is the hand of a sovereign God who gives and who takes away.

This means we should look at our own lives, our families, our churches, and our nations through this grid. If we see fruitfulness, we must give thanks to God and recognize it as an unmerited gift of His grace. We must not become proud, like the nobles who are brought to contempt. If we see barrenness and affliction, we must not despair, but rather examine ourselves. We must ask if there is evil among us that has invited this judgment. The path to restoration is not first and foremost a new political program, but rather repentance and a crying out to the Lord.

And ultimately, we see the greatest reversal of all in the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Son of God was poured out with contempt upon the cross. He was made to wander in the pathless void of separation from the Father. Why? So that we, the hungry and needy, could be set securely on high. He became a salt waste for our sin, so that the wilderness of our hearts could be made into a pool of living water. The wise man looks at the cross and sees there the ultimate display of the lovingkindness of the Lord. And seeing it, he is glad, and all his own self-righteousness shuts its mouth.