Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbours: and our enemies laugh among themselves.
The verse belongs to a prayer addressed to the Shepherd of Israel who dwells between the cherubim, asking Him to shine forth, stir up His strength, and save His people. It acknowledges a condition in which God is angry against the prayer of His people, feeding them with the bread of tears and giving them tears to drink in great measure. It voices distress over tears, reproach, and broken protection. Its meaning is that God's people have become a strife among neighboring peoples and a laughingstock whom enemies mock among themselves.
In its historical setting it describes Judah made a strife to neighboring nations and mocked by laughing enemies under the Assyrian threat from Sennacherib. It is the prayer Hezekiah prayed in the temple when he spread the taunting letter before the Lord and pleaded with strong faith for help from heaven, because He alone could bring deliverance. The complaint is a plea for God to turn His people again and cause His face to shine so they shall be saved.
It is prayed on behalf of Judah and for the honor of their Supreme Ruler, which is at stake, so that all kingdoms of the earth may know that the Lord alone is God, that there is none else, and that the God of the Hebrews still lives and reigns. It applies especially in times of war and oppression by an enemy, when the chief men enter the house of prayer to plead for deliverance.
The verse belongs to a prayer addressed to the Shepherd of Israel who dwells between the cherubim, asking Him to shine forth, stir up His strength, and save His people. It acknowledges a condition in which God is angry against the prayer of His people, feeding them with the bread of tears and giving them tears to drink in great measure. It voices distress over tears, reproach, and broken protection. Its meaning is that God's people have become a strife among neighboring peoples and a laughingstock whom enemies mock among themselves.
In its historical setting it describes Judah made a strife to neighboring nations and mocked by laughing enemies under the Assyrian threat from Sennacherib. It is the prayer Hezekiah prayed in the temple when he spread the taunting letter before the Lord and pleaded with strong faith for help from heaven, because He alone could bring deliverance. The complaint is a plea for God to turn His people again and cause His face to shine so they shall be saved.
It is prayed on behalf of Judah and for the honor of their Supreme Ruler, which is at stake, so that all kingdoms of the earth may know that the Lord alone is God, that there is none else, and that the God of the Hebrews still lives and reigns. It applies especially in times of war and oppression by an enemy, when the chief men enter the house of prayer to plead for deliverance.