Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 112:5

A good man showeth favor, and lendeth: he will guide his affairs with discretion.

5. A good man sheweth favour ] Well is it with the man that dealeth graciously. The A.V. is ungrammatical, and misses the connexion with the preceding verse. Cp. Psa 37:21; Psa 37:26.

he will guide his affairs with discretion ] Or, who manages his affairs with rectitude (Heb. judgement). So Symm., . He takes care to injure no one in the conduct of his business. Cp. Psa 111:7. R.V. and most commentators render, he shall maintain his cause in judgement. But the thought thus introduced is incongruous. Why should the just and liberal man be brought into court at all?

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

A good man showeth favor – He has the means to show favor to others, or to promote their welfare, and he is disposed to do this. It is the characteristic of a good man – of a heart that is truly pious – to do good to others; to promote their welfare here, and to assist them in their endeavor to secure happiness in the world to come.

And lendeth – The original word here – lavah – means to join oneself to anyone; to cleave to him; then, to form the union which is constituted between debtor and creditor, borrower and lender. Here it is used in the latter sense, and it means that a good man will accommodate another – a neighbor – with money, or with articles to be used temporarily and returned again. A man who always borrows is not a desirable neighbor; but a man who never lends – who is never willing to accommodate – is a neighbor that no one would wish to live near – a crooked, perverse, bad man. True religion will always dispose a man to do acts of kindness in any and every way possible.

He will guide his affairs – The word used here means literally to hold, contain; to hold up, or sustain; to nourish, to furnish the means of living. Gen 45:11; Gen 47:12; Gen 50:21. Here it means that he would uphold or manage his business.

With discretion – Margin, judgment; so the Hebrew. He would do it prudently, sensibly, economically, wisely. This is, or should be, one of the characteristics of a good man. Religion prompts to this; religion will aid a man in doing this; religion will tend to check everything of a contrary nature. A man who neglects his affairs, who pays no attention to his business, who is indifferent whether he is successful or fails, is a man who gives just so evidence that he is a stranger to true religion.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Showeth favour, and lendeth; giveth freely to some, and kindly lendeth to others, according to the variety of their conditions.

Guide his affairs; maintain and manage his estate or domestic affairs.

With discretion, Heb. with judgment; so as is fit and meet, and as God requires, not getting his estate unjustly, nor casting it away prodigally or wickedly, nor yet withholding it uncharitably from such as need it.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

5-9. Generosity, sound judgmentin business, and confidence in God, form a character which preservesfrom fear of evil and ensures success against enemies. While a manthus truly pious is liberal, he increases in substance.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

A good man showeth favour, and lendeth,…. Without usury, hoping for nothing again: he pities those that labour under difficulties, for want of a little money; and he generously lends it till they are able to pay him again; which oftentimes is of as much service as if it was given; see Ps 37:21. A good man is not only a man that has the good work of grace in him, and is ready to every good work; but one that is munificent, bountiful, and liberal; in which sense the word is used in Ro 5:7 and so in Latin writers n.

He will guide his affairs with discretion; his civil and domestic affairs: he will act the part of a good economist; so that he may be able to support his family with credit and reputation, and have something to give to the relief of those in want. Some restrain this to his acts of charity. He lends to some, and gives to others: he takes care that they to whom he gives are proper objects of charity; he gives to persons seasonably, and in proportion to his own ability and their wants. It may be rendered, “he shall guide his words with judgment” o; take care of what he says, and before whom; and that it be at a proper time and place; and especially when speaking of spiritual and religious things.

n “Bonus est hic homo”, Plauti Poenulus, Act. 5. Sc. 4. v. 42. “Vellet bonus atque benignus”, Horat. Satyr. I. 1. Sat. 2. v. 51. “Piso bonus”, Juvenal. Sat. 5. v. 109. o “verba sua in, vel cum, judicio”, Pagninus, Montanus, Musculus, Cocceius, Gejerus.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

5 A good man This is the commonly received interpretation of the passage. I am disposed, however, to prefer another, That it shall be well with those who are gracious and communicative; because this is more in accordance with the purport of the prophet’s language. It is his intention to show how greatly the ungodly are deceived, when they aspire after happiness by nefarious and unlawful practices; seeing that the favor of God is the source and cause of all good things. Hence it becomes necessary to supply the relative who. He proceeds, therefore, to put us on our guard as to the deception which those practice upon themselves, who hasten to enrich themselves by sordid parsimony and oppressive extortion; inasmuch as the faithful, by their clemency and kindness, open up a channel, through which the favor of God flows to them: for the term טוב, tob, though in the masculine gender, signifying good, is often taken as if it were neuter, to denote that which is good. He puts lending as if it were the fruit of mercy; for the usurer also lends, but it is that, under the false pretense of assisting the distressed, he may plunder them. It is, then, the truly liberal, who, from compassion, and not with the design of ensnaring the poor, grant relief to them, that God makes prosperous. The term דבים , debarim, in the end of the verse, signifies words; but, along with David Kimchi, the most correct expositor among the Rabbins, I take it to mean affairs. Words is a very tame translation, (347) not to say, that, if this had been the prophet’s intention, he would have expressed himself in more simple terms. The translation which I have given is the proper one, that the righteous will manage their affairs with prudence and discernment; so that, in their domestic affairs, they will neither be too lavish nor sordidly parsimonious; but, in every thing, they will study to combine frugality with economy, without giving way to luxury. And, in all their mercantile transactions; they will always be guided by the principles of equity and morality.

(347) It is so translated in some of the ancient versions, and by several critics. In the Syriac it is, “will support his words in judgment;” i.e. , will never utter any thing but what is strictly true. In like manner, Cocceius. In the Arabic, which is followed by Castalio, it is, “will moderate his words in judgment;” i.e. , will speak as favourably of delinquents as he can consistently with truth, contrary to the practice of the wicked. — Psa 94:21.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(5) A good man.Rather, happy is the man who gives and lends, good being here not used in a moral sense, but meaning prosperous.

He will guide . . .Rather, he will gain his cause: in (the) judgment. So apparently the LXX. and Vulg. Others, he will sustain his affairs by justice. The verb primarily means to measure, but in the conjugation here used has the sense of sustains. (See Gen. 45:11; Gen. 47:12; Gen. 1:21, where the Authorised Version has nourish.) The meaning is confirmed by the parallelism of the next verse.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

5. He will guide his affairs with discretion He will sustain his matters in judgment. The word “discretion,” here, is commonly taken for judgment, in the judicial sense, and seems to denote that the plans and purposes of the good man, if called up for legal investigation, shall be sustained. They not only pass the ordeal of public opinion but of legal scrutiny. Hence neither law nor moral sentiment shall overthrow them. The thought is continued in the first line of the next verse. See on Pro 10:9; Dan 6:4-5

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Psa 112:5. A good man sheweth favour, &c. A man that sheweth favour and lendeth, shall do well. He shall support his matters in judgment, Psa 112:6. For he shall never be shaken, &c. Mudge: who observes, that it seems agreeable to the language to make tob, good, the predicate in the first clause; “a generous man shall look cheerful, and enjoy himself;” and in the second, it is natural to say that he shall support his matters in judgment. Absalom used the same expression; thy matters are right: It is a common sentiment, that the righteous shall stand in judgment; shall carry his cause, because by his goodness he has made God and man his friends. Fenwick, agreeably to his idea of the psalm, renders the clause thus:

This kind communicative man’s our joy; He in the judgment will his cause maintain,

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Psa 112:5 A good man sheweth favour, and lendeth: he will guide his affairs with discretion.

Ver. 5. A good man showeth favour, and lendeth ] A public spirited man, Rom 5:7 , maketh his moderation to be known to all men, Phi 4:5 , and lendeth, looking for nothing again, Luk 6:35 . Thence it is that to him light ariseth in darkness; the merciful shall have mercy, Mat 5:7 . Some render it, Bene viro qui miseratur, Well is the man, or, Well will it be with the man, that pitieth and lendeth. The Hebrew hath it, that is pitying and lending, ever in such actions.

He will guide his affairs with discretion ] Heb. with judgment; neither illiberal nor prodigal; not withered handed when he should give, nor yet stretching beyond the staple; for that were to spoil all. Tremellius rendereth it, Moderatur res suas, ex officio.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)