Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 92:13
Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God.
13. Planted in the house of Jehovah
They shall flourish in the courts of our God.
It is possible that trees had grown in the Temple courts, as they grow at the present day in the Haram area, and that the prosperity and security of the righteous are compared to the luxuriant growth of the carefully tended trees in the sacred precincts. But the expression may be merely figurative. The land was ‘Jehovah’s house.’ Replanted there, Israel will evermore flourish under the care and guardianship of Jehovah. Cp. Psa 52:8; Isa 61:3; Jer 32:41.
The addition in the P.B.V. ‘in the courts of the house of our God’ is from the Vulg.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Those that be planted in the house of the Lord – As if plants were reared up in the house of God. The same image, under the idea of the olive tree, occurs in Psa 52:8. See the notes at that verse. The passage here may refer particularly to those who have been trained up in connection with the church; young plants set out in the sanctuary, and cultivated until they have reached their growth.
Shall flourish in the courts of our God – That is, Having been planted there, they will grow there; they will send out their boughs there; they will produce fruit there. The courts of the house of God were properly the areas or open spaces around the tabernacle or the temple (see the notes at Mat 21:12); but the word came also to denote the tabernacle or the temple itself, or to designate a place where God was worshipped. It has this meaning here. The passage affords an encouragement to parents to train up their children in attendance on the ordinances of public worship; and it shows the advantage of having been born in the church, and of having been trained up in it – an advantage which no one can fully appreciate. The passage may also be regarded as furnishing a proof of what will be the result of being thus planted and nurtured in connection with the church, inasmuch as trees carefully planted and cultivated are expected to produce more and better fruit than those which grow wild.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 92:13-15
Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God.
The trees in Gods courts
I. The planting. It sounds odd to hear of planting a tree in a house, and of its flourishing in courts; but remember an oriental house is a sort of quadrangle. It is a four-square building, with the middle open to the sky, and generally there is a small garden, in which a palm-tree, or an olive, or some other evergreen tree will be found planted: so that what seems strange to us–a tree planted in a house–was not at all strange to David or to anybody else who lived in the city of Jerusalem. And it is a very beautiful figure–this being planted within the four courts of Gods house, that we might grow right in the middle of the place where God with His family deigns to dwell. Well, we are planted in Gods house in two respects. First, in regeneration, when we are born into the house; and secondly, at our profession of faith, which should be by baptism, when we are publicly brought into the house and planted in the likeness of Christs death by being buried, after His commandment, in the water.
1. Planting implies, first, that there has been something done for us that we could not do for ourselves. A tree cannot plant itself. And you know, there is a necessity that there should be a work of grace upon our souls, which shall come, not from ourselves, but distinctly from God.
2. It implies, too, that there must be a great change in our position, for a tree that is planted has been growing somewhere else. Do we know ourselves to be new creatures in Christ Jesus?
3. It implies also that there is life in us. God does not intend to have dead stumps standing in His court. If we do not know the life of God, we know not God at all.
4. And it implies that we ourselves have taken hold of the soil wherein we have been planted. Are you seeking for vital truth to sustain your souls vitality? Do you in the ordinances send out the rootlets of your desire, to seek after what God has prepared for you? Is there in you a living sap flowing, which sap is being fed by what you draw in from the soil in which God has placed you?
II. The promise. Those that be planted shall flourish.
1. Because God has said that they shall. His promises are sure to be fulfilled. If He plants a tree He will cause it to flourish. Therefore, be very hopeful. As your needs arise, they shall be supplied.
2. Because of the goodness of the soil. They are planted where the means of grace abound, and where the Holy Spirit has promised to abide.
3. Because they are planted in a sheltered position are you not like a vineyard on a very fruitful hill, which He has hedged about and walled, and in which He has put a wine-press, and which He has watered every morning, and, lest any should hurt it, has kept night and day?
4. Because they are so near the husbandman (Joh 15:1). Now, if any of you are not flourishing, though you are planted in the house of the Lord, I am sure it is not through any faultiness on Gods part. Let such ask Him, and ask themselves, the reason why, and go to Him in prayer, and say–Good Lord, I am planted in Thy house; make me to flourish according to Thy word.
III. The continuance of this flourishing. They shall bring forth fruit, etc. There are some that begin with a spurt, and it is soon over; and there are some trees that promise exceedingly well for fruit, but the blossoms did not knit, hence they fail to yield fruit in due season. But those whom God plants, and whom He makes to flourish, bring forth fruit, and continue to bring it forth till old age.
1. What fruit, then, you will ask, do they bring forth?
(1) There is the fruit of testimony. I distinctly recollect hearing a blind old minister talk of the lovingkindness of the Lord when I was sixteen or seventeen, and the encouragement that he gave me has never departed from me. A young man could not have done that, because he had not attained so much experience; but the weight of years, and even of infirmities, made that venerable blind mans testimony very, very weighty to my soul.
(2) Saints bring forth fruit in the way of savour when they grow old. Many young ministers can rattle out some of the truths of the Gospel very readily; but if you want to taste the sweetness, to feel the unction, to enjoy the savour, you must hear one that has had long and deep experience. It must be so. There is an inimitable mellowness about the Christian who has grown old in his Masters service.
(3) The aged Christian ought to have the fruit of patience. You remember Dr. Hamiltons story of poor old Betty, who could not do anything but lie in bed and cough, but she said, Well, bless the Lord, whatever the Lord has told me to do I have tried to do it; and when He said, Betty, bring up your family, I tried to bring them up in the fear of God. When He said, Betty, go to the house of God and sing My praises, I was delighted to do it. And when He said, Betty, go upstairs and lie in bed and cough; well, I will do it, she said, and bless the name of the Lord for letting me do it, so long as there is anything to be done for Him.
(4) One of the most delicious fruits that Christians produce in their old age is calm, quiet confidence in God.
2. The text does not speak of old age merely bringing forth fruit, but it says–They shall be fat and flourishing, which means that Christians, in their advanced years, shall have a fulness of savour and life in them.
IV. The manifestation that affords conclusive proof of the Divine faithfulness. To show that the Lord is upright. These good folks are to bring forth fruit, and to be fat and flourishing, on purpose to manifest before the eyes of all men. That the Lord is upright: He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him. That the Lord is upright. Well, how does the fruit-bearing of an aged Christian show that? Why, it shows that God has kept His promise. He has promised that He will never leave them nor forsake them. There you see it. He has promised that when they are weak they shall be strong. There you see it. He has promised that if they seek Him they shall not lack any good thing. There you see it. He has promised them, Thy bread shall be given thee; thy water shall be sure. Hear what they have to say, and you will see it. He has said, Even to hoar hairs I am He. I have made and I will bear, and I will carry you as in the days of old. There you have it. Ask them. There you see it. We put Q. E. D. at the end of a proposition when it is proved. So you may put that down at the end of the problem of life. God is good to His people. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fruitfulness of piety
I. The fruitfulness of piety. Its abundance. It is like the palm-tree. The righteous surpass the wicked, as the palm-tree the grass that is cast into the fire. Much fruit glorifies God. The palm, the noblest tree of the plain, and the cedar, the noblest tree of the mountain, both stand as symbols of the righteous. Both are superior to the caprices of seasons. The palm looks from a lofty eminence down on the desert, and the cedar defies the storm. Both are enduring. Fruits are better than seeds. Deeds than profession.
II. The immediate and ultimate source of this piety. They are planted in the courts of the Lord. Piety must find its nutrition in holy exercises. Worship, meditation with the lights of Christian truth should lead on to far higher spirituality than the broken lights of the Old Temple services. There is never a doctrine in the Word or nature that is not intended for enrichment and elevation of the true and temper of life.
III. The fruitfulness of piety gives direct and honourable testimony to God. The Lord is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him. Dependence on God essential to fruitfulness. (G. B. Johnson.)
Plants that grow in the Church
I. The place where these righteous people shall develop is said to be the house of Jehovah. This is the temple of Gods ancient people.
1. The psalmist uses this figure to describe the character of the righteous. The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree. This is the kind of plant that grow in the house of Jehovah, quite in contrast with the wicked described as springing as the grass. The grass springs up quickly and withers as quickly. The palm-tree grows tall and straight. So with the righteous. The palm-tree also is strong. The righteous, those who have been made righteous with Gods own righteousness, can stand against the fiercest tempests of sin and temptation.
2. The palm-tree is the most graceful and beautiful of trees. In the Song of Solomon, the most beautiful of women is likened to it. We learn to esteem a most beautiful one whose features were at first repulsive, because of the character of righteousness that has enveloped his person.
3. The palm-tree, too, is endogenous. While many trees grow by additions of rings to the outsider this tree grows by adding cell within cell, thus developing from within outward. The man you have known as a boy, now developed into a truly righteous character, has done it by no change that you can detect without. You recognize his features distinctly enough as those of the boy. Character makes the difference. It is an expansion that has come from within.
4. The palm-tree is useful for its food products.
II. God is in His house. God dwells in His church to-day, in the assemblages of His people, as nowhere else, to make central power-stations for the production of righteous lives. The area for the growth of the date palm is limited. There is no fruit at an altitude of more than one thousand feet above the sea-level. So God has given us a place where He can successfully grow the righteous. It is His Church.
III. They shall flourish. No one cares to start a business that is going to fail, or to live a life that is not going to be life indeed. A sixteenth-century man who owned a lot in London instructed his architect that the lot was small, but he would have him remember that he owned all the way up. That is the advantage the righteous man has. The possibilities of his development are limited only by infinite space upward. The immeasurable altitudes belong to him. (D. T. Wyman.)
Soul planting
I. The soil which it requires. The house of the Lord. The courts of our God. This means the redemptive religion of God; or, in other words, the Gospel. Nothing but the Gospel has the power to quicken, nurture, and fully develop the human soul as it is found in its corrupt state. Science, philosophy, poetry, social ethics, and all the arts and influences of civilization have tried and failed. You may as well expect that an acorn would grow to a perfect oak planted in the sand, as to expect that the soul will grow to its proper proportions if planted in any soil but the Gospel.
II. The prosperity which it will realize. Shall flourish.
1. Flourish in size, multiplying their branches of power, and towering higher and higher.
2. Flourish in strength. Ever receiving more vitality and vigour.
3. Flourish in beauty. More majestic in figure, more exquisite in hue, more charming in flower.
4. Flourish in fruitfulness. Clusters increasing with every age. They shall flourish. How glorious the soul may become! (Homilist.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 13. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord] I believe the Chaldee has the true meaning here: “His children shall be planted in the house of the sanctuary of the Lord, and shall flourish in the courts of our God.” As these trees flourish in their respective soils and climates, so shall the righteous in the ordinances of God. I do not think there is any allusion to either palm-trees or cedars, planted near the tabernacle or temple.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Those that be planted; whom God by his gracious providence and Holy Spirit hath planted or fixed there.
In the house of the Lord, i.e. in its courts, which are a part of the house, and oft come under that name in Scripture. And by this house he means the church of God, whereof all just persons are real and living members.
The courts; which he mentions rather than the house, because he speaks not here of the priests, but of all just men, who were permitted to come no further than into the courts.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Those that be planted in the house of the Lord,…. Or being planted e, that is, everyone of the righteous before mentioned; such are they that are planted out of the wilderness of the world, and into Christ, and are rooted in him, and are planted together in the likeness of his death and resurrection; have the graces of the Spirit of God implanted in them, have received the ingrafted word; and, in consequence of all this, are grafted into the olive tree, the church; or have a place and name there, better than that of sons and daughters, where they are as plants grown up in their youth; and which is here meant by “the house of the Lord”, in allusion to the tabernacle, or temple, which had the figure of palm trees on the walls of it: so the Targum interprets it the temple, rendering it,
“his children shall be planted in the sanctuary of the Lord:”
and though it may seem strange that trees should be planted in an house, it should be remembered that the house of the Lord, or the church, is a garden, whose plants are an orchard of pomegranates, So 4:12, and such are not mere education plants, or such as are merely by outward profession, or only ministerially, planted, but are planted by the Lord himself; and so are choice and pleasant ones, by which God is glorified, and which shall never be plucked up: and these
shall flourish in the courts of our God; like trees in courtyards before houses; alluding to the courts in the tabernacle or temple, where the people worshipped: here the righteous flourish like palm trees, as in the preceding verse, being rooted in Christ, who is the righteous man’s root, that yieldeth fruit, and from whom all his fruit is found; but this flourishing is not merely in the leaves of profession, but in the fruits of grace and righteousness, being watered with the dews of divine grace, and having the benefit of the word and ordinances; which are the waters of the sanctuary, that refresh and quicken the trees of righteousness that grow by it; see
Eze 47:1. This is referred to the times of the Messiah, and the resurrection, by the ancient Jews f.
e “plantati”, Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, &c. f Zohar in Lev. 7. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The soil in which the righteous are planted or (if it is not rendered with the lxx , but with the other Greek versions ) into which they are transplanted, and where they take root, a planting of the Lord, for His praise, is His holy Temple, the centre of a family fellowship with God that is brought about from that point as its starting-point and is unlimited by time and space. There they stand as in sacred ground and air, which impart to them ever new powers of life; they put forth buds ( as in Job 14:9) and preserve a verdant freshness and marrowy vitality (like the olive, 52:10, Jdg 9:9) even into their old age ( of a productive force for putting out shoots; vid., with reference to the root , Genesis, S. 635f.), cf. Isa 65:22: like the duration of the trees is the duration of my people; they live long in unbroken strength, in order, in looking back upon a life rich in experiences of divine acts of righteousness and loving-kindness, to confirm the confession which Moses, in Deu 32:4, places at the head of his great song. There the expression is , here it is . This olatha , softened from awlatha – So the Ker – with a transition from the aw , au into o , is also found in Job 5:16 (cf. = Psa 58:3; Psa 64:7; Isa 61:8), and is certainly original in this Psalm, which also has many other points of coincidence with the Book of Job (like Ps 107, which, however, in Psa 107:42 transposes into ).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(13) (See Note, Psa. 52:8, and Stanleys Jewish Church, ii. 207.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
13. Planted in the house of the Lord The metaphor is carried through this and the following verses. The right planting is first essential to growth and fertility. See note on Psa 52:8; and compare Jer 17:8; Eze 19:10; Eze 19:13; Mat 15:13.
Shall flourish Grow vigorously, and with unfading leaf. See Psa 92:12 and Psa 1:3. True church life, in its doctrines, ordinances, and fellowships, is God’s soil for spiritual growth.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
After what the preceding verse said of Jesus, the characters of his people are here beautifully introduced. They are called trees of righteousness, of the Lord’s right-hand planting. And from being branches of their living Head, they bring forth fruit unto God. Isa 61:3 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 92:13 Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God.
Ver. 13. Those that be planted ] Having taken deep root there. Hypocrites are only thrust in, as a stake, into the earth. Mnason was an old disciple, Andronicus and Junia were in Christ before Paul, and therefore of note among the apostles for well-rooted and fruited, Rom 16:7 .
In the courts of our God
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
God. Hebrew. Elohim. App-4.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 92:13-15
Psa 92:13-15
FURTHER DESCRIPTION OF THE RIGHTEOUS
“They are planted in the house of Jehovah;
They shall flourish in the courts of our God.
They shall still bring forth fruit in old age;
They shall be full of sap and green:
To show that Jehovah is upright;
He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.”
“They are planted in the house of Jehovah” (Psa 92:13). “The psalmist thinks of the righteous as trees planted in the temple courts where they flourish in the presence of God. It is unknown whether trees were actually grown on the grounds of the Jewish tabernacle or temple; but the metaphor is not teaching us about trees, but about the righteous. It is an eternal fact that “the righteous” are always “planted,” that is, established, in the service of God and in his consistent and continual worship.
Leupold commented that, “Regarding this verse (Psa 92:13) as figurative language yields a good meaning.
“Fruit in old age … to show that Jehovah is upright” (Psa 92:14-15). The longevity and fruitfulness of God’s true worshippers is promised here, and there is a special quality of such fruitfulness in that it does not cease with the decease of the righteous. “Their works follow with them” (Rev 14:13); and one reason why the “crown of righteousness” cannot be awarded to saints immediately when they die, but must wait, as Paul said, until “That Day,” is that the eternal achievement of any faithful soul cannot be fully known until it is concluded; and that conclusion occurs not at death, but at the Judgment.
And how about this present life? Is it really true that prosperity and longevity are provided for the people of God, as distinguished from the rest of mankind? The answer is a bold and unequivocal affirmative. Where is the world’s greatest prosperity? Where are the longest life-spans? Are such things to be found where the gospel of Christ is unknown? The answer is NO! Nothing any more clearly illustrates this than the example of Russia, once a nominally “Christian nation.” They renounced God and his holy religion in 1917; and after 73 years, the whole nation was starving to death, and who was feeding them? The United States of America was selling them 200 million metric tons of wheat every year for the last dozen years of that godless regime.
“To show that Jehovah is upright” (Psa 92:15). The facts just cited not merely show that Jehovah is upright, but that he is truthful. He blesses those who serve him and lays a heavy hand of judgment upon those who do not serve him.
“The happy and flourishing old age of the righteous are a strong indication of God’s faithfulness and truth, showing, as it does, that God keeps his promises, and never forsakes those who put their trust in him. In cases of individuals, this great truth may not always be visible; but when the larger view, as evidenced in the nations of the world mentioned above, the astounding truth of what is written here shines like a beacon in the night.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 92:13. The comparison to trees is continued in this verse. House of God is a phrase referring to the service to Him in general. Those who are planted or established in that service will flourish as do the trees described above.
Psa 92:14. In the service of God there is no such thing as “old age” in the sense of infirmity. The older (in literal years) one becomes in that service the stronger he becomes and the more able he will be in producing fruit unto the Lord.
Psa 92:15. To show is a phrase that means the Psalmist had made the foregoing statements for the purpose of showing the uprightness of the Lord. Because of that great quality the Lord would become the rock or foundation of all of David’s hopes.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Those: Isa 60:21, Rom 6:5, Rom 11:17, Eph 3:17
shall flourish: Isa 61:3, 2Pe 3:18
in the: Psa 100:4, Psa 135:2, 2Ch 4:9
Reciprocal: Exo 27:9 – the court Exo 38:9 – the court 1Ch 17:9 – plant Psa 15:1 – Lord Psa 37:28 – forsaketh Psa 61:4 – abide Psa 71:9 – Cast Pro 8:34 – watching Isa 27:6 – General Isa 40:31 – they that Isa 41:19 – plant Isa 44:4 – spring Isa 51:16 – plant Eze 17:23 – and it Eze 40:26 – palm trees Mat 3:10 – therefore Mat 7:17 – every Mat 7:25 – for Mat 13:23 – beareth Mat 15:13 – Every Mar 4:6 – no root Mar 4:28 – first Luk 2:37 – which Luk 13:21 – till 1Co 3:6 – God Col 1:23 – ye continue Col 2:7 – Rooted 2Th 1:3 – your
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 92:13-14. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord In his church, of which all righteous persons are real and living members: those whom God, by his gracious providence and Holy Spirit, hath planted and fixed there, and incorporated with his people; shall flourish in the courts of our God Like the trees just mentioned, they shall retain their pleasant verdure, extend their cooling shade, refresh many by their sweet and nourishing fruit, or support and adorn them by their useful qualities, and increase continually in grace and goodness. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age When their natural strength decays it shall be renewed: their last days shall be their best days, wherein, as they shall grow in grace, so they shall increase in comfort and blessedness. He seems to allude to the palm-trees above mentioned, which produce, indeed, little fruit till they be about thirty years of age, but after that time, while their juice continues, the older they become, are the more fruitful, and will bear each three or four hundred pounds of dates every year. Happy the man whose goodness is always progressive, and whose virtues increase with his years; who loseth not, in multiplying of worldly cares, the holy fervours of his first love, but goeth on, burning and shining more and more, to the end of his days! Horne.