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“They have greatly oppressed me from my youth,” let Israel say; “they have greatly oppressed me from my youth, but they have not gained the victory over me. Plowmen have plowed my back and made their furrows long. But the Lord is righteous; he has cut me free from the cords of the wicked.” May all who hate Zion be turned back in shame. May they be like grass on the roof, which withers before it can grow; a reaper cannot fill his hands with it, nor one who gathers fill his arms. May those who pass by not say to them, “The blessing of the Lord be on you; we bless you in the name of the Lord.” (Psalm 129)

The Bible reports that the Egyptians treated the Israelites ruthlessly: beating them, abusing them, running them ragged in forced labour until they cried out to the Lord.  It’s here, in Israel’s youth that they experienced the plowmen that plowed long furrows—back and forth like the strips from a whip—along Israel’s back. They were a nation raised in oppression, and they knew what it was to bear the brunt of insult, violence, and abuse as their humanity was ripped away furrow, by long furrow.  Israel also knew, therefore, what it was to hunger for justice and righteousness, to live with fists clenched, teeth gritted, and anger smoldering under the surface—to live with a curse on their lips. 

It’s not what we would think to call a Christian sentiment, but until the day when the Lord comes, it certainly is an honest one.  The Psalms are pretty honest about the hard stuff of life—and this is one of those things.  Righteous or not, there were times when Israel actively longed for the downfall and disgrace of her enemies. 

And yet, it’s precisely these people—these honest, grumbling, wrestling people—that the Lord comes out in righteousness to save.  Israel knew just what that meant too.  It was the Lord that first blessed them and gave their ancestor Jacob the name “Israel”—"the one who wrestles with God.”  It was the Lord that acted out in righteousness to uphold their cause against the wicked oppression of the Egyptians, too, cutting them free from the cords of the wicked and ending the tyranny of the slave-driving plowmen. 

After Egypt and throughout the Old Testament the Lord delivers Israel from the hand of their enemies again, and again, and again.  The same basic truth rings out in a thousand places on Israel’s lips in the Old Testament: “The Lord is Righteous, and he has cut me free.” 

Troubles and forms of oppression still face us today—in small ways and large.  All sorts of untidy emotions bubble to the surface with it—fear, sadness, rage, and bitterness—any of which can leave us cursing or close to it.  That’s honest.  It happened to the Israelites too.  But lo and behold, it finds its place right here in the prayer book of God’s people: the Psalms.  Those ancient Israelites didn’t bother to hide such untidy feeling from God.  He sees it anyway, and so they simply brought it into the conversation with Him.  Might as well be honest.  How else can you be healed?

Because it is God who heals the long gouges of the furrows plowed into our hearts.  It is God who cuts us free from the cords of oppression.  Through another dramatic action of God—not the Red Sea, but the waters of baptism—we too have come to know salvation.  The death and resurrection of Christ has broken the oppressive cords to sin and its effects so that we might become His righteousness—his saved people: a people that belong to God.

It’s a basic truth of the Christian faith that rings true in a thousand places: Salvation and preservation belong to the Lord.  It was the Lord who made us into His people through the work of Christ, and it is the Lord who will sustain us as His people in the strength of Christ, no matter the oppression we face along the way.   

As we journey on together, no matter how easy or hard the road we face, it’s important that we continue to remind and encourage one another of who we are because of who God is, as the Israelites did each year on their journey when they sang: “Let Israel say: they have greatly oppressed me from my youth—but the Lord is righteous, he has cut me free.”