Psalms 113:7

7 Raising a needy man from the earth; and enhancing a poor man from drit. (Raising up the needy from the dust; and lifting up the poor out of the dirt.)

Psalms 113:7 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 113:7

He raiseth up the poor out of the dust
Persons of mean extraction and in low life are sometimes raised by him to great honour and dignity, as Saul, David, and others; and is true of many who are spiritually poor and needy, as all men are, but all are not sensible of it; some are, and these are called poor "in spirit", and are pronounced "blessed", for "theirs is the kingdom of heaven": they are raised out of a low and mean estate, out of the dust of sin, and self-abhorrence for it, in which they lie when convicted of it.

And lifteth the needy out of the dunghill;
which denotes a mean condition; so one born in a mean place, and brought up in a mean manner, is sometimes represented as taken out of a dunghill ^F20: and also it is expressive of a filthy one; men by sin are not only brought into a low estate, but into a loathsome one, and are justly abominable in the sight of God, and yet he lifts them out of it: the phrases of "raising up" and "lifting out" suppose them to be fallen, as men are in Adam, fallen from a state of honour and glory, in which he was created, into a state of sin and misery, and out of which they cannot deliver themselves; it is Christ's work, and his only, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to help or lift up his servant Israel, ( Isaiah 49:6 ) ( Luke 1:54 ) ( 1 Samuel 2:8 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F20 "Ex sterquilinio effosse", Plauti Casina, Act. 1. Sc. 1. v. 26.

Psalms 113:7 In-Context

5 Who is as our Lord God, that dwelleth in high things; (Who is like the Lord our God, who liveth in high places/who liveth on high;)

6 and beholdeth meek things in heaven and in earth? (and yet who deigneth himself to look upon the things in the heavens, and the things on earth!)

7 Raising a needy man from the earth; and enhancing a poor man from drit. (Raising up the needy from the dust; and lifting up the poor out of the dirt.)

8 That he set him with princes; with the princes of his people. (So that they may sit with princes; yea, with the leaders of the people.)

9 Which maketh a barren woman dwell in the house; a glad mother of sons. (Who maketh a barren woman, who liveth in her home, into a happy mother of sons.)