For he hath broken the gates of brass - The immediate "reason" here given for praising the Lord is that he had "broken the gates of brass," continuing the thought from Psalm 107:10-14. In the previous part of the psalm, in giving a reason for praising the Lord, the fact that he feeds the hungry was selected Psalm 107:9 because in the preceding part the allusion was to the sufferings of hunger and thirst Psalm 107:4-5; here the fact that he had broken the gates of brass is selected, because the allusion in the immediately preceding verses Psalm 107:12-14 was to their imprisonment. In the construction of the psalm there is great regularity. The "gates of brass" refer probably to Babylon; and the idea is, that their deliverance had been as if the brass gates of that great city had been broken down to give them free egress from their captivity. Thus the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus is announced in similar language: "I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron," Isaiah 45:2. See the notes at that passage.

For he hath broken - This is the reason given for thanks to God for his deliverance of the captives. It was not a simple deliverance; it was done so as to manifest the irresistible power of God. He tore the prison in pieces, and cut the bars of iron asunder.

For he hath broken the (f) gates of brass, and cut the bars of iron in sunder.
(f) When there seems to man's judgment no recovery, but all things are brought to despair, then God chiefly shows his mighty power.

For he hath broken the gates of brass,.... The prison doors made of brass, as sometimes of iron, for the security of the prisoners; see Acts 12:10. And cut the bars of iron in sunder; with which they were barred and secured. Hyperbolical phrases these, as Kimchi, expressing how exceeding strong the prison doors were, and the impossibility of an escape out of them, unless the Lord had delivered them; but when he works, none can let; all obstructions are easily removed by him; which is the sense of the words, see Isaiah 45:2. Vitringa, on Revelation 12:2, interprets this of the subjection of the Roman emperors to the faith and obedience of Christ.

broken--literally, "shivered" (Isaiah 45:2).