Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 36:8
They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.
8. God is more than a protector. He is a bountiful host, who provides royal entertainment for His guests. Cp. Psa 23:5-6; Psa 27:4; Psa 65:4. The metaphor is derived from the sacrificial meal, in which God receives the worshipper at His table [12] (Lev 7:15; Jer 31:14). That welcome is the sacramental expression of His relation to man.
[12] See Bp. Westcott’s Hebrews, p. 292.
the river of thy pleasures ] Or, the stream (Amo 5:24) of thy delights: a different word from that in Psa 16:11, and derived from the same root as Eden.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
They shall be abundantly satisfied – Margin, watered. That is, all who thus put their trust in the mercy of God. The Hebrew word – ravah – means to drink to the full; to be satisfied, or sated with drink; or to be satisfied or filled with water, as the earth or fields after an abundant rain: Isa 34:7; Psa 65:10. The state referred to by the word is that of one who was thirsty, but who has drunk to the full; who feels that his desire is satisfied:
(a) He has found that which is adapted to his wants, or which meets his needs, as water does the wants of one who is a thirst;
(b) He has found this in abundance.
There is no lack, and he partakes of it in as large measure as he chooses. So the weary and thirsty traveler, when he finds in the desert a new and untasted spring, finds that which he needs, and drinks freely; and so the sinner – the dying man – the man who feels that there is nothing in the world that can satisfy him:
(1) finds in the provisions of the gospel that which exactly meets the needs of his nature, and
(2) he finds it in abundance.
With the fatness – The word used here means properly fatness or fat: Jdg 9:9. Then it means fat food, or sumptuous food, Job 36:16; Isa 55:2; Jer 31:14. It is connected here with the word drink, or drink in, because this kind of food was sucked in at the mouth, and the mode of partaking of it resembled the act of drinking. Gesenius. The allusion is the same as that which so often occurs in the Scriptures, where the provisions of salvation are represented as a feast, or where the illustration is drawn from the act of eating or drinking.
Of thy house – Furnished by thy house, or in the place of public worship. God is represented as the Head or Father of a family, and as providing for the wants of his children. Compare Psa 23:6; Psa 27:4.
And thou shalt make them drink – In allusion to the provisions of salvation considered as adapted to satisfy the needs of the thirsty soul.
Of the river – The abundance. Not a running fountain; not a gentle bubbling rivulet; not a stream that would soon dry up; but a river, large; full; overflowing; inexhaustible.
Of thy pleasures – Furnishing happiness or pleasure such as thine is. The pious man has happiness of the same kind or nature as that of God. It is happiness in holiness or purity; happiness in doing good; happiness in the happiness of others. It is in this sense that the friend of God partakes of His pleasure or happiness. Compare 2Pe 1:4. The following things, therefore, are taught by this verse:
(1) that God is happy;
(2) that religion makes man happy;
(3) that his happiness is of the same kind or nature as that of God;
(4) that this happiness is satisfying in its nature, or that it meets the real needs of the soul;
(5) that it is abundant, and leaves no want of the soul unsupplied; and
(6) that this happiness is to be found in an eminent degree in the house of God, or is closely connected with the public worship of God.
It is there that God has made provision for the wants of His people; and advancement in religion, and in the comforts of religion, will always be closely connected with the fidelity with which we attend on public worship.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 36:8-9
They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Thy house, and Thou shalt make them drink of the river of Thy pleasures.
What men find beneath the wings of God
I. Satisfaction. Allusion is made, no doubt, to the festal meal of priests and worshippers in the temple, on occasion of the peace-offering. And there is also the simpler metaphor of God as the host at His table, at which we are guests. In either case the plain teaching of the text is, that by the might of a calm trust in God the whole mass of a mans desires are filled and satisfied. Heart, mind, will, appetites, tastes, inclinations, weaknesses, bodily wants–the whole crowd of these are crying for their meat. Now, where shall be found supply for all these? The one answer is, God; God alone is the food of the heart. Jesus said, I am the Bread of Life, he that cometh unto Me shall never hunger.
II. Joy. Thou makest them drink, etc. Perhaps the rivers point back to the rivers of the Garden of Eden, for Eden is the singular of the word here rendered pleasures. Paradise is restored for them who trust in the Lord. The whole conception of religion in the Bible is gladsome. There is no puritanical gloom about it. True, a Christian man has sources of sadness which other men have not. Life will seem to be graver and sadder than the lives that ring with idiot laughter solely, and have no music because they have no melancholy in them. That cannot be helped. But what does it matter though two or three surface streams be stopped up, if the pure river of the water of life is turned into your hearts? We hear a great deal about other Christian duties. We do not hear so much as we ought about the Christian duty of gladness. It takes a very robust faith to say, Though the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit he in the vine, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. What a blessing it is for us to have, as we may have, a source of joy, frozen by no winter, dried up by no summer. We have but to lap a hasty mouthful of earthly joys as we run, but we cannot drink too full draughts of this pure river of water which makes glad the city of God.
III. Life. With Thee is the fountain of life. The words are true in regard of the lowest meaning of life–physical existence,–and they give a wonderful idea of the connection between God and all living creatures. Wherever there is life there is God. But it is of higher than the physical life that our text tells–the life of the spirit in communion with God. There is such a thing as death in life: living men may be dead in trespasses and sins.
IV. Light. In Thy light shall we see light. God is the Father of lights. The sun and all the stars are only lights kindled by Him. It is the very crown of revelation that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. All joyous things come with it. It brings warmth and fruit, fulness and life. Purity, and gladness, and knowledge have been symbolized by it in all tongues. This great word here seems to point chiefly to light as knowledge. This saying is true, as the former clause was, in relation to all the light which men have. The inspiration of the Almighty giveth him understanding. Now the sum of the whole matter is, that all this four-fold blessing of satisfaction, joy, life, light, is given to you, if you will take Christ. And if you will not have Him, you will starve, and your lips will be cracked with thirst; and you will live a life which is death, and you will sink at last into outer darkness. Is that the fate which you are going to choose? (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The fatness of Gods house
I. The child of God is provided with what is necessary.
1. The food is strengthening; he is fed with the grace of God. What Satan gives enfeebles; what God gives strengthens.
2. It is rich–rich as befits the house of a monarch, the table of a king. It is the love of God. Life without love is death. Greater love hath no man than this, that, etc. And this is the assurance of Gods love to us.
3. And it is plentiful. A dole would be more than our right, but God gives us all. Open then your hearts to receive His mercy. So shall we be content and at rest.
II. With what is pleasant. The rivers of Gods pleasures. There shall be the sense of safety: elevation of thought and high communion with God and with the saints: foretastes of heaven. (P. B. Power, M. A.)
True human happiness divine
I. Divinity supplies the source of our happiness. It is the river of thy pleasure. God is happy, the ever blessed God. His happiness is a river–pure, boundless, overflowing. What is this river? It involves–
1. An approving conscience.
2. A consciousness of security.
3. A loving nature.
4. A beneficent activity.
God Himself could not be happy without them. Man is happy as he participates in the happiness of God.
II. Divinity leads to its source. Thou shalt make them drink, etc. The human soul has gone so far away from this river that none but God can bring it back. This He has done, is doing, and will continue to do, through Christ. He, every one that thirsteth, come, etc. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
The fatness of Gods house
A hydrant has no water in its composition. It is made of wood, iron and brass. But when it is finished, and the proper authorities have put it in its place, it is then that water may come from it. A burning-glass has no fire in it. It has only the silex and alkali, with its metal band and handle. But when it is properly made and holden, it will kindle a fire, because it brings the heat-rays of the great sun to a focus. But you would not expect to find any one so foolish as to keep away from the hydrant and die from thirst, because it has no water in its composition. You would expect people to go to the hydrant whenever they needed water, and to prize it because it is one of the constituted outlets for the waters of the lake. And you would expect them to use the burning-glass, and prize it, as the means of getting fire from the sun, to comfort them and supply their wants. Now, this house of God has nothing of grace, or righteousness, or glory in these beams, and boards, and nails. There are none of the waters of healing in these pews, and aisles, and this pulpit. None of the fires of heaven in their paint, and wall, and ceiling. But God has ordained this house to be the place out of which the waters of His salvation shall flow; to be the point in which the melting beams of His love shall gather as time rolls by.
I. Admire the fatness of Gods house. This includes all the blessings God bestows through His house.
1. Life (Psa 36:9). It is the life bought for us by the death of Christ, and brought to us by the ministrations of the Holy Spirit; the life which will go unscathed through the death that guards the close of this world, and pass on untouched by the blasting fires of the second death; the life which will grow on and glow on amid the beauties and glories of the New Jerusalem as long as God Himself shall last.
2. Love (Psa 36:7). The love of God Himself–infinite, undeserved.
3. Protection (Psa 36:7). Against world, flesh, devil.
4. Refreshing (Psa 36:8). This refreshing will remove discomfort, weariness, pain, weakness, sorrow and distress from the hearts of all who wait on God. It will make the soul joyful, singing through life, singing in death, and singing through the joys of eternity.
5. Cleansing (Psa 36:8).
6. Light (Psa 36:9.) This is the light that shineth in darkness, of which John came to bear witness. It is the true light. It shines on the darkness of our ignorance, and rolls away the deep shadows of error and prejudice, lighting up the pathway of truth so plainly that he may run that readeth.
7. Warmth (verse 9). Light brings warmth.
II. Be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Gods house.
1. Life is the necessity of your soul. Not the life of the body, for that you have; nor the immortality of the soul, for that you cannot lose. But you need something within you that will live when the light of this life has gone out. This life God can give you in His sanctuary. Put your soul in connection with Jesus Christ the God-man now, by a penitent and believing application for His favour, and you will feel the start, and thrill, and glow of this new life stirring in your soul.
2. Love is desired by your soul. The tendrils of your affection go out to find something to which they may cling, and on which they may climb. But you have learned that many of the objects of your trust prove unworthy; more of them insufficient, and all that are earthly, liable to wither and die. When you are tired of the disappointments, deceitfulness and failures of earthly love, you can come to the house of God, and here find the offers of Divine tenderness and infinite affection ready to encircle you in their blessed embrace.
3. Protection is needed by your soul. And here in this house of God you may experience the blessedness of possessing it. How weak you are to resist evil, your own experience has thoroughly taught you. You need protection against the swelling waves of this worlds troubles, the mighty billows of the judgment day.
4. Refreshing is sought by your soul. Here you may have blessed foretastes of the glorious companionship and blissful employments of heaven.
5. Your soul needs cleansing, and you can obtain it here. The filthy covering of your soul will be replaced by the spotless robe of Christs righteousness.
6. Your soul needs light. And coming to this house of God it will shine on you. It is a certain remedy for all darkness and blindness. It shines on the future, showing you how to avoid the pit of despair, and how to reach the glories of the celestial world.
7. Your soul needs warmth. And you can get it in this house of God. This warmth is the kindling of the spirit; the glow that comes from the pulsations of life, from the embrace of love, from the consciousness of protection, from the cup of refreshing, from the waters of cleansing, and from the beamings of light. (H. D. Williamson)
The river of Thy pleasures
How much we can learn from a mans pleasures! I think it would be almost true to say that a mans pleasures constitute his measures. We may surely sample a mans character by analyzing the ministry in which he takes his delight. And how greatly our enjoyments vary. One mans meat is another mans poison. That which gratifies one man is resented by another. One man seeks and finds enjoyment in the channels of the senses, in the outer halls and passages of the life, and never retires to the interior living-rooms of the soul. Another man feasts upon the spiritual essences of all things, and finds that the way of life is provided with rare delights. My text lifts our minds to the superlative plain of pleasure, even the pleasures of our God. And we are told that there are men and women who have been brought to the same refined appreciation, and who are able to enter into the joy of the Lord. Their kinship is so intimate that their delights are one. What God loves they love. He delighteth in mercy. Here is one of the pleasures of our God. He does not turn to mercy reluctantly, as it were with a resentful palate; He turns to it eagerly, as a hungry man would turn to welcome food. Mercy is pleasant unto the Lord, and He rejoices in its exercise. How different are many of the palates of Gods children! We cannot drink of that river with deep and delightful satisfaction. Our diseased palate craves sensations of quite another kind. To many of us revenge is sweet, and so foul an enjoyment testifies to the depravity of our souls. But we can have our natures changed, and in the renewal of our being our palates will be transformed. We shall delight in mercy. It is needless to analyze the ingredients of a merciful disposition. It is perhaps sufficient to say that the behaviour of a merciful man has always two characteristics. First of all, he is ever seeking for favourable explanations of apparently unfavourable deeds. He does not jump at the first obtrusive explanation of things, and sit upon a throne of summary judgment. He is slow to anger, and of great mercy. He exhausts all possible alternatives before accepting the worst. And, secondly, even when all alternatives have been tried, and the worst is still obtrusive, the merciful disposition is ready to forgive that which cannot be favourably explained. The merciful man finds his delight in mercy, and in being merciful he leans to his own inclinations. Rejoice with Me, for I have found My sheep which was lost. Here is another of the Lords pleasures. Do I share it with Him? Do I drink of this river, and find delight and satisfaction in the draught? Ah! but there is a preparatory condition before such joy can be oars. No man can really take part in a victory unless he has borne some share in the fight. We can never really sing the song of the harvest-home until we have borne something of the labours of the field, The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear Him. He not only finds delight in the homecoming of the prodigal; the delight is continued in the intimate fellowship of the subsequent life. The Lord loves to be near such people, loves to see them, and hear them, and to accompany them in their goings. Do we drink of the river of this pleasure? Do we find any delight in such people? I am further told, in the words that immediately precede my text, that the satisfactions of these pleasures are not to be partial and transient, but complete and abiding. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Thy house. We cannot say that of many of our enjoyments. We drink of the pleasures of the world, and they neither leave a sweet taste nor a contented rest. It is as when a hungry man sleepeth, and behold! he eateth; he waketh, and findeth himself hungry. God has set the eternal longing in our spirits, and nothing that is merely temporal can appease the craving. But the pleasures of God bring abundant satisfaction. Satisfy is a great biblical word. The Bible uses it very plentifully, because everywhere it proclaims its abiding secret. How can we acquire the Divine appreciation, in order that we may thus drink of the Lords pleasures, and find our delight in them? Shall we say that the taste is acquired? Let us better say that the taste is communicated. Thou shalt make them drink of the river of Thy pleasures. He will so re-make our lives that the palate shall be renewed. (J. H. Jowett, M. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 8. They shall be abundantly satisfied] yirveyun, they shall be saturated, as a thirsty field is by showers from heaven. Inebriaduntur, they shall be inebriated.-Vulgate. That sal be drunken of the plenteuoste of thi house. – Old Psalter. This refers to the joyous expectation they had of being restored to their own land, and to the ordinances of the temple.
Of the river of thy pleasures.] nachal adaneycha, (or edencha, as in four MSS.,) the river of thy Eden. They shall be restored to their paradisaical estate; for here is a reference to the river that ran through the garden of Eden, and watered it; Ge 2:10. Or the temple, and under it the Christian Church, may be compared to this Eden; and the gracious influences of God to be had in his ordinances, to the streams by which that garden was watered, and its fertility promoted.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
They, i. e. those children of men who trust in thee, as he now said,
shall be abundantly satisfied; though now they are straitened, oppressed, and persecuted, yet they shall not only be protected and supported for the present, but in due time shall have all their wants and desires fully satisfied. Heb.
shall be made drunk, i.e. shall be as it were overwhelmed with the plenty of it, which they shall no more be able to comprehend than a drunken man is able perfectly to understand and judge of things; and shall be free, as drunken men also are, from all cares and fears, either of not obtaining it, or of losing it.
With the fatness of thy house; with those rich and delightful provisions which thou hast prepared for them in thy habitation, i.e. either,
1. In the tabernacle, where they used to feast upon the remainders of the sacrifices; to which also he seems here to allude. Or rather,
2. In heaven; which is called Gods house, both in Scripture, as Joh 14:2, and in divers ancient heathen authors. For the expressions here used are too magnificent to be bestowed upon those feasts, or indeed upon any of the enjoyments of this life, and do ill become him, who professedly disowns the having of his portion in this life, and declares his expectation of happiness in the next life, Psa 17:14,15. And seeing it is apparent from Heb 11, and from many other scriptures, both of the Old and New Testament, that both David, and Job, and Abraham, and the rest of the holy patriarchs and prophets, had a firm belief and hope of the future life, and their felicity therein; it seems most reasonable to understand all those passages of David and the other prophets of it, which naturally, and without any force, may be so understood; of which number certainly this verse and the following is one.
Drink: before they had fatness, i.e. fat meats; and now drink, to note the completeness of their feast.
Of the river; which notes both their plenty, and their constancy and perpetuity.
Of thy pleasures; which thou preparest, and which thou enjoyest; whence it is called the joy of the Lord, Mat 25:21. Or this notes their great eminency; for things most excellent in their kinds are entitled to God, as the goodliest cedars, mountains, &c., are called cedars of God, mountains of God, &c.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
8. fatnessrichness.
thy houseresidenceforthe privileges and blessings of communion with God (Psa 23:6;Psa 27:4).
river of thypleasuresplenteous supply; may allude to Eden.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
They shall be abundantly sallied with the fatness of thy house,…. By his “house” is meant the church of God, of his building, and where he dwells; by the fatness of it the provisions there, the word and ordinances, and the blessings of grace which they hold forth; and especially Christ, the fatted calf, the bread of life, whose flesh is meat indeed, and whose blood is drink indeed, and which make a feast of fat things; and these they that trust in the Lord are welcome to eat and drink of abundantly, and to abundant satisfaction; see Mt 5:6
Ps 22:26;
and thou shall make them drink of the river of thy pleasure; the love of God, whose streams make glad the city of God; or the fulness of grace, which is in Christ, out of which believers draw with joy, and drink with pleasure; or eternal glory and happiness, enjoyed in the presence of God, in which is fulness of joy, and at whose right hand are pleasures for evermore; a never ceasing torrent of them.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
8. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of that house. I have no doubt that by the fatness of God’s house the prophet means the abundance of good things which is not designed for all men indiscriminately, but is laid up in store for the children of God who commit themselves wholly to his protection. Some restrict the expression to spiritual graces; but to me it seems more likely, that under it are comprehended all the blessings that are necessary to the happiness and comfort of the present life, as well as those which pertain to eternal and heavenly blessedness. It ought, however, to be observed, that in the style of speaking which the prophet here employs, the use of earthly blessings is connected with the gracious experience of faith, in the exercise of which we can alone enjoy them rightfully and lawfully to our own welfare. When the ungodly glut themselves with the abundance of God’s benefits, their bodies indeed grow fat like the flesh of cattle or swine, but their souls are always empty and famished. It is the faithful alone, as I have said, who are satisfied with the goodness of God towards them, because it is to them a pledge of his fatherly love. The expression meat and drink denotes a complete and perfect fullness, and the term river, (10) denotes an overflowing abundance.
(10) The words in the original are, נחל עתיך, nachal adanecha, the river of thy Eden, in which there is probably an allusion to the garden of ערן Eden, and to the river which flowed through and watered it.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(8) They shall be abundantly satisfied.Better, in order to preserve the parallelism, literally, They shall drink to the full. LXX. and Vulg., They shall be intoxicated with, &c
Fatness, therefore, is not here the fat of the sacrificial offerings, but the stream of grace flowing from above, to enrich men as the rain enriches the earth. (Comp. Psa. 65:11, where fatness means fertilising showers)
The house of God may either be the whole earth (Gesenius), or, more probably, heaven, just as the temple is used (Psa. 11:4; Psa. 18:6; Psa. 29:9). Gods loving-kindness is regarded as
An endless fountain of immortal drink,
Pouring unto us from the heavens brink.
KEATS: Endymion.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
8. Fatness of thy house The Church, with her doctrines, ordinances, spiritual communions, is here compared to a house furnished with every luxury for the household. The word satisfied means to satiate the thirst, as being the strongest appetite of the body.
River of thy pleasures Denoting abundance and liberality. “The outward rites are here treated according to their spiritual significance, receiving the depth of meaning which radically belongs to them.” Delitzsch.
Reader! observe the richness, and, greatness, and extensiveness of these promises. And observe how sure and certain they are, being all founded in Jehovah, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. God the Father is a river, full, plenteous, unceasing, eternal; Psa 46:4 ; Jer 2:13 . God the Son is a river; Son 4:15 . God the Holy Ghost is a river; Isa 44:3-4 ; Joh 7:39 ; Rev 22:1 .
Psa 36:8 They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.
Ver. 8. They shall be abundantly satisfied ] Heb. watered, inebriated. They shall be plentifully provided for, as the domestics; they shall have a confluence of all comforts and contentments for this life and a better; for godliness hath the promises of both. Hic locus est consolationis plenissimus, saith one.
And thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasure Clitorio quicunque sitim de fonte levarit,
Vina fugit.
Psalms
WHAT MEN FIND BENEATH THE WINGS OF GOD
Psa 36:8 – Psa 36:9 In the preceding verses we saw a wonderful picture of the boundless perfections of God; His lovingkindness, faithfulness, righteousness, and of His twofold act, the depths of His judgments and the plainness of His merciful preservation of man and beast. In these verses we have an equally wonderful picture of the blessedness of the godly, the elements of which consist in four things: satisfaction, represented under the emblem of a feast; joy, represented under the imagery of full draughts from a flowing river of delight; life, pouring from God as a fountain; light, streaming from Him as source.
And this picture is connected with the previous one by a very simple link. Who are they who ‘shall be abundantly satisfied’? The men ‘who put their trust beneath the shadow of Thy wings.’ That is to say, the simple exercise of confidence in God is the channel through which all the fulness of divinity passes into and fills our emptiness.
Observe, too, that the whole of the blessings here promised are to be regarded as present and not future. ‘They shall be abundantly satisfied’ would be far more truly rendered in consonance with the Hebrew: ‘They are satisfied’; and so also we should read ‘Thou dost make them drink of the river of Thy pleasures; in Thy light do we see light.’ The Psalmist is not speaking of any future blessedness, to be realised in some far-off, indefinite day to come, but of what is possible even in this cloudy and sorrowful life. My text was true on the hills of Palestine, on the day when it was spoken; it may be true amongst the alleys of Manchester to-day. My purpose at this time is simply to deal with the four elements in which this blessedness consists-satisfaction, joy, life, light.
I. Satisfaction: ‘They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Thy house.’
In either case the plain teaching of the text is, that by the might of a calm trust in God the whole mass of a man’s desires are filled and satisfied. What do we want to satisfy us? It is something almost awful to think of the multiplicity, and the variety, and the imperativeness of the raging desires which every human soul carries about within it. The heart is like a nest of callow fledglings, every one of them a great, wide open, gaping beak, that ever needs to have food put into it. Heart, mind, will, appetites, tastes, inclinations, weaknesses, bodily wants-the whole crowd of these are crying for their meat. The Book of Proverbs says there are three things that are never satisfied: the grave, the earth that is not filled with water, and the fire that never says, ‘It is enough.’ And we may add a fourth, the human heart, insatiable as the grave; thirsty as the sands, on which you may pour Niagara, and it will drink it all up and be ready for more; fierce as the fire that licks up everything within reach and still hungers.
So, though we be poor and weak creatures, we want much to make us restful. We want no less than that every appetite, desire, need, inclination shall be filled to the full; that all shall be filled to the full at once, and that by one thing; that all shall be filled to the full at once, by one thing that shall last for ever. Else we shall be like men whose store of provision gives out before they are half-way across the desert. And we need that all our desires shall be filled at once by one thing that is so much greater than ourselves that we shall grow up towards it, and towards it, and towards it, and yet never be able to exhaust or surpass it.
Where are you going to get that? There is only one answer, dear brethren! to the question, and that is-God, and God alone is the food of the heart; God, and God alone, will satisfy your need. Let us bring the full Christian truth to bear upon the illustration of these words. Who was it that said, ‘I am the Bread of Life. He that cometh unto Me shall never hunger’? Christ will feed my mind with truth if I will accept His revelation of Himself, of God, and of all things. Christ will feed my heart with love if I will open my heart for the entrance of His love. Christ will feed my will with blessed commands if I will submit myself to His sweet and gentle, and yet imperative, authority. Christ will satisfy all my longings and desires with His own great fulness. Other food palls upon man’s appetite, and we wish for change; and physiologists tell us that a less wholesome and nutritious diet, if varied, is better for a man’s health than a more nutritious one if uniform and monotonous. But in Christ there are all constituents that are needed for the building up of the human spirit, and so we never weary of Him if we only know His sweetness. After a world of hungry men have fed upon Him, He remains inexhaustible as at the beginning; like the bread in His own miracles, of which the pieces that were broken and ready to be given to the eaters were more than the original stock, as it appeared when the meal began, or like the fabled feast in the Norse Walhalla, to which the gods sit down to-day, and to-morrow it is all there on the board, as abundant and full as ever. So if we have Christ to live upon, we shall know no hunger; and ‘in the days of famine we shall be satisfied.’
O brethren! have you ever known what it is to feel that your hungry heart is at rest? Did you ever know what it is to say, ‘It is enough’? Have you anything that satisfies your appetite and makes you blessed? Surely, men’s eager haste to get more of the world’s dainties shows that there is no satisfaction at its table. Why will you ‘spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which satisfieth not,’ as Indians in famine eat clay which fills their stomachs, but neither stays hunger, nor ministers strength? Eat and your soul shall live.
II. Now, turn to the next of the elements of blessedness here-Joy. ‘Thou makest them drink of the river of Thy pleasures.’
But, at all events, the plain teaching of the text is that the simple act of trusting beneath the shadow of God’s wings brings to us an ever fresh and flowing river of gladness, of which we may drink. The whole conception of religion in the Bible is gladsome. There is no puritanical gloom about it. True, a Christian man has sources of sadness which other men have not. There is the consciousness of his own sin, and the contest that he has daily to wage; and all things take a soberer colouring to the eye that has been accustomed to look, however dimly, upon God. Many of the sources of earthly felicity are dammed up and shut off from us if we are living beneath the shadow of God’s wings. Life will seem to be sterner, and graver, and sadder than the lives ‘that ring with idiot laughter solely,’ and have no music because they have no melancholy in them. That cannot be helped. But what does it matter though two or three surface streams, which are little better than drains for sewage, be stopped up, if the ‘pure river of the water of life’ is turned into your hearts? Surely it will be a gain if the sadness which has joy for its very foundation is yours, instead of the laughter which is only a mocking mask for a death’s head, and of which it is true that even ‘in laughter the heart is sorrowful, and the end of that mirth is heaviness.’ Better to be ‘sorrowful, yet always rejoicing,’ than to be glad on the surface, with a perpetual sorrow and unrest gnawing at the root of your life.
And if it be true that the whole Biblical conception of religion is of a glad thing, then, my brother! it is your duty, if you are a Christian man, to be glad, whatever temptations there may be in your way to be sorrowful. It is a hard lesson, and one which is not always insisted upon. We hear a great deal about other Christian duties. We do not hear so much as we ought about the Christian duty of gladness. It takes a very robust faith to say, ‘Though the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vine, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation,’ but unless we can say it, there is an attainment of Christian life yet unreached, to which we have to aspire.
But be that as it may, my point is simply this-that all real and profound possession of, and communion with, God in Christ will make us glad; glad with a gladness altogether unlike that of the world round about us, far deeper, far quieter, far nobler, the sister and the ally of all great things, of all pure life, of all generous and lofty thought. And where is it to be found? Only in fellowship with Him. ‘The river of Thy pleasures’ may mean something yet more solemn and wonderful than pleasures of which He is the Author. It may mean pleasures which He shares , the very delights of the divine nature itself. The more we come into fellowship with Him, the more shall we share in the very joy of God Himself. And what is His joy? He delights in mercy; He delights in self-communication: He is the blessed, the happy God, because He is the giving God. He delights in His love. He ‘rejoices over’ His penitent child ‘with singing,’ In that blessedness we may share; or if that be too high and mystical a thought, may we not remember who it was that said: ‘These things speak I unto you that My joy may remain in you’; and who it is that will one day say to the faithful servant: ‘Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord’? Christ makes us drink of the river of His pleasures. The Shepherd and the sheep drink from the same stream, and the gladness which filled the heart of the Man of Sorrows, and lay deeper than all His sorrows, He imparts to all them that put their trust in Him.
So, dear brethren! what a blessing it is for us to have, as we may have, a source of joy, frozen by no winter, dried up by no summer, muddied and corrupted by no iridescent scum of putrefaction which ever mantles over the stagnant ponds of earthly joys! Like some citadel that has an unfailing well in its courtyard, we may have a fountain of gladness within ourselves which nothing that touches the outside can cut off. We have but to lap a hasty mouthful of earthly joys as we run, but we cannot drink too full draughts of this pure river of water which makes glad the city of God.
III. We have the third element of the blessedness of the godly represented under the metaphor of Life, pouring from the fountain, which is God. ‘With Thee is the fountain of life.’
But my text speaks about a blessing belonging to the men who put their trust under the shadow of God’s wing, and therefore it does not refer merely to physical existence, but to something higher than that, namely, to that life of the spirit in communion with God, which is the true and the proper sense of ‘life’; the one, namely, in which the word is almost always used in the Bible.
There is such a thing as death in life; living men may be ‘dead in trespasses and sins,’ ‘dead in pleasure,’ dead in selfishness. The awful vision of Coleridge in the Ancient Mariner , of dead men standing up and pulling at the ropes, is only a picture of the realities of life; where, as on some Witches’ Sabbath, corpses move about and take part in the activities of this dead world. There are people full of energy in regard of worldly things, who yet are all dead to that higher region, the realities of which they have never seen, the actions of which they have never done, the emotions of which they have never felt. Am I speaking to such living corpses now? There are some of my audience alive to the world, alive to animalism, alive to lust, alive to passion, alive to earth, alive perhaps to thought, alive to duty, alive to conduct of a high and noble kind, but yet dead to God, and, therefore, dead to the highest and noblest of all realities. Answer for yourselves the question-do you belong to this class?
There is life for you in Jesus Christ, who ‘ is the Life.’ Like the great aqueducts that stretch from the hills across the Roman Campagna, His Incarnation brings the waters of the fountain from the mountains of God into the lower levels of our nature, and the fetid alleys of our sins. The cool, sparkling treasure is carried near to every lip. If we drink, we live. If we will not, we die in our sins, and are dead whilst we live. Stop the fountain, and what becomes of the stream? It fades there between its banks, and is no more. You cannot even live the animal life except that life were joined to Him. If it could be broken away from God it would disappear as the clouds melt in the sky, and there would be nobody, and you would be nowhere. You cannot break yourself away from God physically so completely as to annihilate yourself. You can do so spiritually , and some of you do it, and the consequence is that you are dead, dead , DEAD! You can be made ‘alive from the dead,’ if you will lay hold on Jesus Christ, and get His life-giving Spirit into your hearts.
IV. Light. ‘In Thy light shall we see light.’
This saying is true, as the former clause was, in relation to all the light which men have. ‘The inspiration of the Almighty giveth him understanding.’ The faculties by which men know, and all the exercise of those faculties, are His gift. It is in the measure in which God’s light comes to the eye that the eye beholds. ‘Light’ may mean not only the faculty, but the medium of vision. It is in the measure in which God’s light comes, and because His light comes, that all light of reason in human nature sees the truth which is its light. God is the Author of all true thoughts in all mankind. The spirit of man is a candle kindled by the Lord.
But as I said about life, so I say about light. The material or intellectual aspects of the word are not the main ones here. The reference is to the spiritual gift which belongs to the men ‘who put their trust beneath the shadow of Thy wings.’ In communion with Him who is the Light as well as the Life of men, we see a whole universe of glories, realities, and brightnesses. Where other eyes see only darkness, we behold ‘the King in His beauty, and the land that is very far off.’ Where other men see only cloudland and mists, our vision will pierce into the unseen, and there behold ‘the things which are,’ the only real things, of which all that the eye of sense sees are only the fleeting shadows, seen as in a dream, while these are the true, and the sight of them is sight indeed. They who see by the light of God, and see light therein, have a vision which is more than imagination, more than opinion, more than belief. It is certitude. Communication with God does not bring with it superior intellectual perspicuity, but it does bring a perception of spiritual realities and relations, which, in respect of clearness and certainty, may be called sight. Many of us walk in darkness, who, if we were but in communion with God, would see the lone hillside blazing with chariots and horses of fire. Many of us grope in perplexity, who, if we were but hiding under the shadow of God’s wings, would see the truth and walk at liberty in the light, which is knowledge and purity and joy.
In communication with God, we see light upon all the paths of duty. It is wonderful how, when a man lives near God, he gets to know what he ought to do. That great Light, which is Christ, is like the star that hung over the Magi, blazing in the heavens, and yet stooping to the lowly task of guiding three wayfaring men along a muddy road upon earth. So the highest Light of God comes down to be ‘a lantern for our paths and a light for our feet.’
And in the same communion with God, we get light in all seasons of darkness and of sorrow. ‘To the upright there ariseth light in the darkness’; and the darkest hours of earthly fortune will be like a Greenland summer night, when the sun scarcely dips below the horizon, and even when it is absent, all the heaven is aglow with a calm twilight.
All these great blessings belong to-day to those who take refuge under the shadow of His wings. But blessed as the present experience is, we have to look for the perfecting of it when we pass from the forecourt to the inner sanctuary, and in that higher house sit with Christ at His table and feast at ‘the marriage supper of the Lamb.’ Here we drink from the river, but there we shall be carried up to the source. The life of God in the soul is here often feeble in its flow, ‘a fountain sealed’ and all but shut up in our hearts, but there it will pour through all our being, a fountain springing up into everlasting life. The darkness is scattered even here by beams of the true light, but here we are only in the morning twilight, and many clouds still fill the sky, and many a deep gorge lies in sunless shadow, but there the light shall be a broad universal blaze, and there shall be ‘nothing hid from the heat thereof.’
Now, dear brethren! the sum of the whole matter is, that all this fourfold blessing of satisfaction, joy, life, light, is given to you, if you will take Christ. He will feed you with the bread of God; He will give you His own joy to drink; He will be in you the life of your lives, and ‘the master-light of all your seeing.’ And if you will not have Him, you will starve, and your lips will be cracked with thirst; and you will live a life which is death, and you will sink at last into outer darkness.
Is that the fate which you are going to choose? Choose Christ, and He will give you satisfaction, and joy, and life, and light.
river = full stream. Hebrew. nahal. Refers to Paradise.
abundantly: Psa 16:11, Psa 17:15, Psa 63:5, Psa 65:4, Son 5:1, Isa 25:6, Isa 55:1, Isa 55:2, Jer 31:12-14, Zec 9:17, Mat 5:6, Joh 7:37
satisfied: Heb. watered, Yirweyun, “they shall be saturated,” as a thirsty field by showers from heaven. Isa 58:11
and thou: Psa 16:11, Psa 46:4, Job 20:17, Isa 43:20, Isa 48:21, Rev 22:1-17
thy pleasures: Or, adanacha, “thy pleasure,” as four manuscripts, read; in which there is probably a reference to the garden of Eden, and the river that ran through, and watered it.
Reciprocal: Gen 27:28 – the fatness Deu 33:23 – O Job 36:16 – full Psa 25:13 – dwell at ease Psa 37:11 – delight Psa 42:2 – thirsteth Psa 65:11 – fatness Psa 84:1 – How Psa 90:14 – satisfy Psa 132:15 – I will satisfy Psa 145:19 – fulfil Son 4:15 – a well Isa 30:23 – it shall Isa 48:18 – then had Isa 58:14 – delight Isa 66:11 – ye may suck Jer 17:13 – forsaken Jer 31:14 – my people Mar 10:18 – that is Joh 4:10 – living Eph 3:20 – exceeding Phi 4:19 – according Heb 2:13 – I will Heb 6:17 – more 2Pe 1:11 – abundantly Rev 2:17 – to eat Rev 7:17 – feed
36:8 They shall be abundantly {g} satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.
(g) Only God’s children have enough of all things both concerning this life and the life to come.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes