This psalm could well be seen as the second half to Psalm 123, with a concentric structure as follows:
Recognition of the God of heaven (123:1-2)
Call for help (123:3)
Description of danger (123:4)
If the danger were allowed to strike (124:1-5)
Help received (124:6-7)
Praise to the helper/redeemer/creator, (124:8)
This reading within a larger structure adds context which is missing from the second psalm, while also providing resolution which is absent from the first. Nonetheless, Psalm 124 as we have it is separate, with a separate heading, and can well be read on its own.
This is one of five named psalms among this collection; along with Psalm 122, 131 and 135 this is for David, while 127 is for Solomon. That said, Psalm 132 is probably the most davidic psalm in terms of explicit content, although it is not given "for David" as a superscription. While I think there is much to be made of the Solomon psalm in the collection, it's not obvious how those entitled for David are meant to be read.
As is typical in this collection, there is lots of repetition. The psalm divides fairly evenly into two halves, with 1-5 describing the predicament and 6-8 the rescue. The repetition remains within the halves, and is clearest within the first half.
1-5 Predicament
The word לולי (except/unless; cf εἰ μὴ) occurs only 14 times in the OT, half of those are in the Psalms, and our psalm is the only one in which it occurs twice in succession, in v1 and 2, interspersed with "let Israel say". This pattern of a statement, "let Israel say," and then the statement again, we will see again in Ps 129:1-2, and as such it acts as a call to the congregation to join in, to make this prayer their own. "Sing it with me" we might say today.
The use of לולי then sets up a negative hypothetical - what would have happened, except that Yhwh was for us - are the things which follow in 3-5. Each verse begins אזי (then) this would have happened. The three verses describe the different ways in which "our souls" would have been destroyed by the enemy, and it's with especial reference to the exodus through water that this psalm makes its point.
Then they would've swallowed our lives/when their anger flared against us.
Then the waters would've engulfed us/the torrent passing over our souls.
Then, passing over our souls/the raging waters.
v4-5 form a chiasm within the triplet, in the order water-soul-soul-water, which, when reading recursively, explains how v3 is also to be read, that is, as the same event as v4-5, of almost certain death through water - except, of course, that Yhwh was for us.
Eight times in these five verses the suffix נו (us/our) is used. Yhwh was for us, "adam" was against us, our lives, their anger against us, our souls. Again, with "Israel" in the first verse, this attack, whether against one or many of Israel, is an attack against all God's people, and they all should feel the nearness of their escape.
Their adversary is "adam", which is an example of a singular standing as a collective: in the created order of things, Yhwh created adam - humanity - but now humanity have turned against their creator by attacking his chosen people. And of course, there is a great sadness, where Yhwh made adam (humanity) from adamah (the ground) but they think they are better than him, as Qohelet reminds us:
"This only have I found: God created mankind (adam) upright, but they have gone in search of many schemes.” (Ecclesiastes 7:29)
But although the creation has been upended, if "Yhwh is for us", then who can be against us?! Another psalm says exactly this:
"Yhwh is for me; I will not fear. What can people (adam) do to me?" (Ps 118:6)
Indeed, because Yhwh is for his people, though the enemy seems as powerful and insurmountable as the mighty ocean, as the raging flood waters, they can never compare to Yhwh.
“When Israel came out of Egypt, Jacob from a people of foreign tongue,
Judah became God’s sanctuary, Israel his dominion.
The sea looked and fled, the Jordan turned back;
Why was it, sea, that you fled? Why, Jordan, did you turn back?
Tremble, earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob,” (Ps 114.1–3,5,7)
6-8 Rescue
In response to their rescue, to the near-miss as it were, the rescue and praise is described. The section begins with the saying "Baruch Adonai" (ברוך יהוה; blessed be Yhwh), which is a common blessing, with that form of the verb occurring 88 times. And why is Yhwh blessed? Because he "has not given us as prey for their teeth."
The description of what it feels like is described in an ABC-CAB chiasm in v7, where Israel is the bird who has been sprung from its trap.
A Our soul, like a bird
B escaped
C from the ensnarer's trap.
C` The trap is broken
A` so that we
B` have escaped.
This chiasm comes at the centre of a larger ABA structure, where in v6 the name of Yhwh is invoked, in v7 the rescue is described, and in v8 Yhwh's name is again invoked. In the first instance, in his sovereign goodness he has "not given us as prey for their teeth," while in the second "our help is in the name of Yhwh, creator of heavens and earth."
This description of Yhwh in cosmic terms as παντακρατων is in direct competition to whichever creatures have control of the watery depths, which, without Yhwh's intervention, would have destroyed Israel. But because the one who created the heavens and earth is the God of Israel, it is he whom they fear and not the waters.
Psalm 124 as a pilgrim song
One could imagine this psalm being sung in relief upon seeing Jerusalem appear between the mountains. The difficulties of the journey, the many times the pilgrim could have been overwhelmed en route, make their safe arrival much more wonderful. In many ways this psalm answers the question, "by what means did you safely arrive here, despite the dangers on the road?"
And it is this trust in the creator of all things, who has chosen to choose Israel despite their size or strength that the name of Yhwh might be known and praised among the nations, which drove them onwards and upwards towards Jerusalem.
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