Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that are at ease, and with the contempt of the proud.
It belongs to the Psalms of Degrees, chanted by worshipers as they climbed the fifteen steps leading to the inner court of the temple. It was composed by Asaph, Ethan and others during the latter part of the Babylonian captivity under Belshazzar, when the persecution and distress of the Jews were greatest. It describes Judah in Babylonian captivity after losing God's protection. Here soul means the mind, the rational soul as the seat of the passions, emotions and affections belonging to a rational being, such as love, joy, fear, sorrow, hope, hatred, revenge and contempt.
It voices the sorrows and afflictions of the Hebrew captives who are filled with the scorning and contempt of their persecutors, mingled with exhortation and encouragement and assurance of divine help and final deliverance from them. The scorning of those at ease and the contempt of the proud are the scorn and derision of the Babylonian captors, who mocked the captives by demanding they sing one of their former joyful songs of praise, until the captives were satiated with that contempt. That contempt is the same as the defiled bread spoken of for that same time. It expresses how deeply the faithful are burdened by the scorn of those who live at ease and the contempt of the proud.
It belongs to the Psalms of Degrees, chanted by worshipers as they climbed the fifteen steps leading to the inner court of the temple. It was composed by Asaph, Ethan and others during the latter part of the Babylonian captivity under Belshazzar, when the persecution and distress of the Jews were greatest. It describes Judah in Babylonian captivity after losing God's protection. Here soul means the mind, the rational soul as the seat of the passions, emotions and affections belonging to a rational being, such as love, joy, fear, sorrow, hope, hatred, revenge and contempt.
It voices the sorrows and afflictions of the Hebrew captives who are filled with the scorning and contempt of their persecutors, mingled with exhortation and encouragement and assurance of divine help and final deliverance from them. The scorning of those at ease and the contempt of the proud are the scorn and derision of the Babylonian captors, who mocked the captives by demanding they sing one of their former joyful songs of praise, until the captives were satiated with that contempt. That contempt is the same as the defiled bread spoken of for that same time. It expresses how deeply the faithful are burdened by the scorn of those who live at ease and the contempt of the proud.