Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 127:1

A Song of degrees for Solomon. Except the LORD build the house, they labor in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh [but] in vain.

1. The industry of the builder, the vigilance of the watchman, are in vain without Jehovah’s cooperation. A man may build a house and never live in it (Deu 28:30; Zep 1:13); the watchman may patrol the city, or keep his watch on the wall, but he cannot secure it from dangers such as fire or the assault of enemies. The house is not the Temple, nor is the city specifically Jerusalem: house-building and city-guarding are examples of ordinary human undertakings. But as the examples may have been suggested (see above) by the circumstances of the time, they may well have a further figurative application to those circumstances. Without the blessing of Him Who has promised to build the house of Israel (Amo 9:11; Jer 31:28) and Who is the Watchman of His people (Psa 121:4), the most strenuous efforts of the leaders of the community can avail nothing.

the watchman ] Lit. the keeper, as in Psa 121:4-5.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

1, 2. The futility of human effort without the Divine blessing.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Except the Lord build the house – Or rather, a house. The word house may refer either to an ordinary dwelling; to the temple, as a place of worship; or to a family, with reference to its success and prosperity, as the word house is often used now. The statement is universal, and is designed to indicate a universal dependence on God in human undertakings, though it is not improbable that there may have been an allusion, when the psalm was composed, to some building which was contemplated or commenced. If the psalm was a composition of David or Solomon, the allusion way have been to the temple about to be erected. The language, however, is so general as to be applicable to any enterprise of that kind.

They labor in vain that build it – literally, In vain toil its builders in it. The idea is, that they are entirely dependent on God. No matter what their skill, their strength, their industry may be – all will be in vain unless God shall assist them. They are dependent on Him for life, for health, for strength, for practical wisdom, for a disposition to continue their work, and for success in it. Their work might be destroyed by fire, by a tempest, by an earthquake, or by an irruption of enemies; and for the result, therefore, they are entirely dependent on God.

Except the Lord keep the city – The same idea of dependence is here repeated in another form. The preservation of a city depends wholly on God, whatever care or precaution may be used.

The watchman waketh but in vain – literally, In vain waketh the keeper. The word rendered waketh means to be sleepless; and then, to watch. The allusion is to the watch or guard appointed to keep a city, and the idea is, that, whatever may be the diligence, the care, the fidelity of one thus appointed to guard a city, its safe-keeping must depend on God alone. Fires may break out in spite of the watchmen; a tempest may sweep over it; bands of armed people may assail it; or the pestilence may suddenly come into it, and spread desolation through its dwellings. There may have been an allusion in this to some immediate arrangement for guarding Jerusalem when the psalm was composed; but the remark is so general that it is not necessary to confine it to that. It is universally true that, after all the care for their own preservation which people can employ, their safety depends wholly on God.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Psa 127:1-5

Except the Lord build the house.

Authorship of this psalm

Various considerations taken together require the opinion that this middle Song of Degrees was composed by Solomon. It suits the time of peaceful house-building and civil settlement and progress during which he reigned. It uses a word answering to his name, Jedidiah, meaning beloved of the Lord, and seems in connection with it to refer to the promise of a wise and an understanding heart, unasked riches and honour, and, if he should prove faithful, length of days, made to him in a dream by night. So He giveth His beloved sleep, or to His beloved in sleep (2Sa 12:25; 1Ki 3:5-15). It appears to suggest that the claims of the temple to the efforts of builders are superior to those of any other intended erection. And it agrees with Solomons sententious style in his Proverbs, one of which exactly expresses its substance and teaching: The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and He addeth no sorrow with it, or, and labour adds nothing thereto (Pro 10:22). (E. J. Robinson.)

Blessedness in labour, in rest, and in fatherhood

I. Human labour without God.

1. Its possibility.

2. Its fruitlessness.

(1) It does not secure the approbation of the great Master.

(2) It does not yield moral satisfaction.

II. Human repose (verse 2).

1. A generally recognized blessing.

(1) Bodily. The labouring world hails the hour when its exhausted frame can lie down to sleep.

(2) Mental. To have the mind free from the harassing cares and painful annoyances of life. All desire this.

2. The repose of a true worker is a special blessing. The bodily repose He gives to His beloved in the stillness of the night has a special value–the pillow so soft, and the bed so guarded. The mental repose He gives is also of a far higher kind. It is the repose of conscience, the repose of a soul centring all its loves and hopes in Him.

III. Human offspring (Psa 127:3-5). The tutor of Alexander the Great once proposed the question, whether a large family be a good or an evil? And he answered his own question thus, Everything depends on the character of the children. If of an excellent disposition, blessed is the father that hath many of them, if of a bad disposition, the fewer the better, and, still better, none! (Homilist.)

The true source of success

I. No house stands that God does not build, whether the house signify the home, the business, the character, or the church; for human sufficiency is a foundation of sand (Pro 14:11).

II. No city is safe that God does not keep, whether interpreted politically as belonging to the State, or religiously as being that of the heart: for the arm of flesh is a bulwark of mud (Pro 11:11; Pro 29:8).

III. NO labour is profitable that He does not bless, whether it be manual or mental: for without grace it increases sorrow or multiplies wickedness (Pro 10:16).

IV. No sleep is peaceful that He does not give, being broken by searing dreams or prevented by devising schemes (Pro 4:16).

V. No family is blessed that is not a heritage of Him (Pro 3:33). (J. O. Keen, D. D.)

All things are of God

1. Nothing is here said against labour. The Bible has no sympathy with indolence. We are commanded to be diligent in business as well as fervent in spirit; to work with our own hands, that we may have lack of nothing ourselves, and have something to give to him that needeth.

(1) Labour is a necessity.

(2) Labour is honourable.

(3) Labour is pleasant.

It promotes cheerfulness, preserves our faculties in healthy exercise, and gives elasticity to both mind and body.

2. Nor is there any censure of watching. A city contains property that is valuable and lives that are dear; and, should there be external enemies, it is surely an act of common prudence to station sentinels on the walls, lest an unexpected attack be made.

3. What, then, is the evil hero condemned? It is placing an undue confidence in our working and in our watching. The spirit rebuked is the presumption which ascribes success to our own exertions, and which carefully excludes Jehovah from all consideration. A house is built; but the Lord is never thought of. Watchmen are appointed to protect the city; but no reference is made to the Keeper of Israel, who neither slumbers nor sleeps. An enterprise is entered upon, involving important issues; but in all the calculations there is no more place left for God than if He were asleep in the depths of the heavens, and took no cognizance of human affairs. What is this but atheism? (N. McMichael.)

The Divine Builder

The Lord builds the house. This is our first great consideration: we are very apt to forget it; we think it is our work, but He that built all things is God. The Lord builds the State. Civil society is a house not made with hands: its component parts show the finger of God; language, sympathy, law, are of God. But how true is it that the Church is a house built by God! Men may persecute or aid it, but except the Lord build, etc. The Church of God is like a house for security and strength. As you have never heard of men living anywhere without houses of some kind, so we have never heard or read of Christians living anywhere without forming communities, families, or churches. Dissolve the family, and society would perish; dissolve the Church, and Christianity would perish! Then let us consider how the Lord builds the house. Upon this rock I will build my Church, etc. Other foundation can no man lay, etc. Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. (B. Kent, M. A.)

The Lord, the Builder

The old Latin maxim Ex nihilo nihil fit, From nothing, nothing comes, is the starting-point in all our reasonings concerning Gods work on earth. It cannot have sprung from nothing, it must therefore be due to some positive force acting first upon, and then through it. That force must have intelligence in order to impart intelligence to the work of its hand; and all the wise, and curious, and intricate phenomena of the universe testify that nothing short of an infinite intelligence could have poured such streams of power and wisdom along the channels of creation. That infinite intelligence we call God. The methods by which God brings about the accomplishment of His purposes on earth–since those purposes include and shape matter and mind–are simply the methods by which He shapes matter and mind, so as to elaborate from them separately, and from their interworking, whatever result it is His pleasure to secure.

1. When God wishes to accomplish any purpose, lie shapes toward the result which He desires, all those blind forces of nature which have in them any co-operation with it. When He wishes to give the peace of plenty to any land, He sendeth forth His commandment into the air, and up to the sun, and forth to the winds, and out upon the seas, and along the furrows of the soil; and His word runneth very swiftly to nil genial and fertilizing influences, and they obey His behest with their marrow and fatness, and so He fills its borders with the finest of the wheat. And when the rigours of winter are a needful preliminary to any work of His, He giveth snow like wool, and scattereth the hoar-frost like ashes, and casteth forth His ice like morsels, until no man can stand before His cold. And when that work is done, and milder airs are more salubrious for His designs, then He sendeth out His word and melteth them; He causeth His wind to blow, and the waters flow. And so fire, and hail, and snow, and vapour, and stormy wind fulfil His word; and mountains and all hills, fruitful trees and all cedars, beasts and all cattle, creeping things and flying fowl praise the Lord by performing His decree which they cannot pass.

2. When God wishes to accomplish any purpose on earth, He sways that intelligence which needs to be brought into co-operation with His design by motives. This influence is exerted in innumerable forms. Sometimes it is by direct pressure, and by the presence of the immediate and most obvious motive of which the subject will admit; as when He secures, the choice, by the sinner, of that good part which cannot be taken away, by urging upon his soul the guilt of disobedience, the beauty of holiness, the joy of forgiveness, the danger of delay, or the awfulness of death in sin. Sometimes it is by a circuitous and indirect approach that the work is accomplished. Some meteor, in the eventide, flashes its sudden and vanishing brilliance across the arch of heaven; or some white-winged cloud trails its evanescent shade along some sunlit slope, and the mind–so often dull to all teachings–is opened to snatch the moral of the scene, and goes away, sadly reflecting on the dangers that accompany a life that is fitly emblemed by the falling star, and the fleeing shadow. Or the sight of a coffin, or a hearse, or a cemetery–it may be, in some moods, of a church, or even a Bible–will start the mind upon a train of meditation which the gentle and gracious Spirit may cherish into a motive strong enough to overturn and overturn within the soul until He is enthroned there whose right it is to reign.

3. This being so–the empire of matter and the empire of mind being alike in subjection to His pleasure–it follows, since lie who can absolutely and entirely control all matter and all mind must be invincible–that God can do anything which He pleases to do, whatever it may be. He can make a Word, or make an unwilling man willing, just as easily as a carpenter can drive a nail–because He knows how to do it, and has the means with which to do it, and the power by which to do it. So it follows, also–since Gods control covers all things, and His volitions are the cause of all things–that nothing can be done in this world which God is not pleased to aid, or, at least, to permit. (H. M. Dexter.)

The Master-Builder

Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it.

1. That is true even about a house of stone and lime. To build a house is the most interesting thing almost that any mortal man undertakes to do for himself. When a man does set about building a house, he is usually settled in life as far as it falls to him to make a settlement. The house he builds is very likely the house in which he means to live and to die. If he does not literally rise up early and sit up late, and eat the bread of sorrows, nevertheless he is sure to have an extraordinary amount of interest in his house, and most men who do build a house for themselves worry the architect and obstruct the workmen with their anxiety to have everything in it just according to their mind. But, for that very reason, because building a house is such an interesting and serious thing in any mans life, surely he ought to feel then, most of all, that his life is in Gods hand, and that it depends on God whether this great undertaking in which he is engaged is going to turn out well for him.

2. It is true, also, if we take the house in the sense in which it is so often used in the Bible, of a family. To build a house, in the Bible, often means to found or bring up a family; and further down in the psalm we have a reference to that sense (verse 3). Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it, and the most anxious fatherly and motherly care can come to nothing, indeed, is likely to come to nothing, just in proportion as it forgets God, and in forgetting God becomes nervous, and fretful, and repellent, where it ought to be able to attract.

3. Then, again, this text is true if we take the house in the sense that it is often used in the Bible, of a nation. Except the Lord build that house, they labour in vain that build it. There is a place, and there are duties for statesmen and for town councillors, for all persons who take the responsibilities of the public upon them; but it is not the anxiety of statesmen, it is not their own wisdom and their own intelligence, it is not their own plans for enlarging territory, or opening up new markets, or anything of that kind on which the security and strength of the people are built. There is just one thing on which a nation can be built up, and that is the goodwill of God which is given to the righteous. Righteousness exalts a nation.

4. But this text is true especially when we think of the house of the Church. We often speak of the Church as the house of God. In the New Testament we read of Christ as its foundation, of the Church being built upon Him. One of the great picture-words of the New Testament is the word edification, and edification means the act of building, or of being built. It is truer of the Church than of anything else in the world, that except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it.

(1) For instance, we want to build the Church up in numbers. We want to see the Church grow. We want to see those who are outside coming in. Now, we might wish that in quite a selfish sense. We might be members of a very small congregation where half the pews were not let; or we might be members of an ecclesiastical party that was in a very small minority in the country, and might want new recruits. If these were our objects, then, of course, we would have to achieve them out of our own resources. It would not be a thing in which God had any interest. But if we want to build up the Church in numbers in a real sense; if we want to bring those who are far away from Christ near; if we want the love of Christ made known to those who do not know it; if we want those who are lonely and solitary, and, perhaps, selfish, to be brought into the home and family of love, and to give and receive all kinds of loving services and to find a home for their lonely souls in the house of God and the family of God–if that is what we are striving for, surely we feel at once that we cannot do that ourselves, that the only power that can reach people for that end and bring them into the Church is the power that God Himself bestows.

(2) We want to build the Church up not only in numbers, but in security. We want the Church to be a safe place. The Church ought to be a house so secure, so defended, so vigilantly guarded that it would be impossible for any assault to prevail against it and impossible for any of its members to be lost. Now the only way in which we can get the right spirit of watchfulness, the spirit that will enable us so to watch that we will not lose any, is to get it from the Lord Jesus Himself. He that keepeth Israel slumbereth not, nor sleepeth. It is only when we come to God, and get the Spirit of God put into us by God Himself, it is only then He uses us to build up His house into a safe, secure dwelling for the children, out of which they cannot be lost, that the house will be built up as it needs to be.

(3) We want to build up the Church, not only in numbers and in security, but, above all things, in character, in holiness, and in love. I have no doubt that in every Church there are many people deeply dissatisfied with their own characters, knowing very well that judged by any standard of holiness and love they are very far from what they should be. I have no doubt there are plenty here who are striving against their sins, sometimes rude, gross sins, evil lusts and passions, falsehood, slothfulness, selfishness, greed, envy, pride, self-will, and sins like that, and not only striving against them but failing, and being disappointed and defeated in their struggle. And even people who have not got any harsh, rude offences like that to strive against at the beginning, may be striving for finer and more beautiful parts of the Christian character, and just with the same sense of being defeated and disappointed. And the reason of it in almost every case is this, they are doing it alone, and it cannot be done alone. Except the Lord build that house, they labour in vain that build it. Work out your own salvation, not because God leaves that for you to do, but because it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do, in furtherance of His good pleasure. (J. Denney, D. D.)

Co-workers with God

I. What we may not expect, namely, that God will build the house without our labouring, that God will keep the city without the watchmans waking, or that He will give us bread without our toiling for it. This principle may be applied to–

1. Our ordinary life. One of the things which Christianity cannot bear is laziness. If in business I am not diligent I cannot expect to prosper. If I wish to be a man of learning, I cannot get it simply by praying for it; I must study, even to the weariness of the flesh. If a man be sick, he may trust in God as much as he wills; that should be his first thing, but let him also use such remedies as God has given if he can find them out, or learn of them from others.

2. The great matter of our salvation.

3. Our spiritual growth. If a man will not feed himself upon the bread of heaven, can he expect that he shall grow strong?

4. Our Christian work, in trying to bring souls to Christ. We cannot expect to see men converted if we are not earnest in telling them that truth which will save the soul. It is the work of the Spirit to convert sinners; to regenerate must be ever the sole work of God; yet the Lord uses us as His instruments.

II. What we may expect; We may expect failure if we attempt the work without God. We may expect it, and we shall not be disappointed.

III. What we should not do.

1. In our ordinary affairs we should not fret, and worry, and grieve.

2. In the matter of the souls salvation a man should be anxious, yet his salvation wilt never come by his working, and running from this one to that and the other. It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows, for to those who are in Christ, to those who simply believe on Him, He giveth His beloved sleep.

3. Now, with regard to growing in grace, I believe that it is much the same. It is foolish to be always fretting and worrying, and saying, I am not humble enough, I am not believing enough, I am not this or that; go to Christ, and rest yourself on Him, and believe that what He has begun to do for you and in you He will certainly perform and perfect.

4. Here comes in again our working for the Lord. It is a sweet way of working for Christ to do the next thing, the next that needs to be done to-day,–not always forecasting all that we are going to do to-morrow and the next day, but calmly and quietly believing that there are so many days in which a man shall be able to walk and to work, and while we have them we will both walk and work in the strength of God. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The building of the house of life

Mans history upon earth is mainly, alas! the history of a struggle to establish lives, homes, and States on a basis which is not Gods foundation, and by a rule which is not Gods law. This is the enterprise of mans self-will, his perverted and prostituted freedom, through all the ages; and God from on high has never ceased to confound it, to write on it Babel, and to lay it by the shattering shocks of His providence in the dust. The concord of mans thought and activity with Gods is the secret upon earth of all true, real and abiding work. The human builder and workman may be masters of their art and zealous in their craft, but the fundamental question is, are they building by the rule that God has made known to them, and on the lines which He has laid down? And it is equally the test of all lofty and noble art. The poet is a maker, it is the exact meaning of the word; it matters not whether he works in word, in colour, in clay, the principle is the same. Is it a dream of his own vain fancy, or is it a vision of God; is it what the Lord hath said or shown to him that he is interpreting to his fellow-men? Man, of all beings, is made for this lofty fellowship, this high co-operation of thought and will with his Maker. Man, made in Gods image, can understand Gods plans, meanings, and ends. A Newton can think out after Him the thought by which He made the creation; a Paul can grasp and expound the plan by which tie redeemed and will renew the world. Man is so constituted that God can work in him without marring his freedom; nay, thought, word, and work in the human only rise to their full completeness when they are the fruit of inspiration; that is the effectual in-working of that living Spirit who quickens all that lives in all the worlds. First, let us look at the bearing of this principle on the building of the house of life. By this I mean those principles and habits of moral judgment and action which are the true house of the soul, wherein it dwells, and from which it comes forth to work benignly or malignly for itself and mankind. Of that house man is the architect, not God; that house he is daily building, and that building will abide and be the home or the prison of the soul through eternity. Nature and the world furnish the materials; the form and the substance of the structure you create for yourselves, it is yours, your own, your work, the product of your being, your shame or your crown while that being endures. A nature with certain temperaments and tendencies comes to you, how you know not, whence you know not, save that it is Gods gift to you, your endowment, your talent, your capital in life, by wise trading with which your wealth will grow. I speak of this as Gods gift; by His various endowment of men, the rich diversity of original gift and faculty, He maintains that splendid variety, that action and reaction of widely diverse agencies and influences which it is His aim to secure both in the physical and human worlds. And thus He keeps the constant pressure of His hand on both. From God, too, comes the will and the power to work upon the original endowment, and to give it the shape and the form in which the inner heart delights. Character grows like a picture or a statue by innumerable light touches on the rough substance of the nature. Moral habits of action are beaten out like a path by the multitude of light footsteps which pass to and fro. There must be the will and the moral judgment to determine the direction, and then it is the daily footsteps which form the habit of the life. And it is a terrible power, this power of framing fixed judgments and habits of action, vast and awful are the issues to which it tends. You may make holy, beautiful, blessed activity as easy and natural as the outflow of light from the sun; you may make them as hard, as impossible as courtesy in a churl, or a generous impulse to a base misers heart. Daily the house is being built, daily the soul is becoming clothed or cased in its habit, and is settling the form and possibility of its future. And first, if you would build wisely, look to the foundations. And build daily in conscious, blessed dependence on the co-operation of a higher hand. Remember that in this matter you are the fellow-worker, the fellow-helper with God, whose interest in your building transcends your own. Daily, hourly, let there be a guiding of your choice, a strengthening of your hand, a blessing of your work from on high. Let the Divine Spirit dwell in your spirit as in His temple; let Him fill your life with the light of His wisdom, let Him touch your heart with the glow of His love. (J. B. Brown, B. A.)

Except the Lord keep the city.—

God keeping the city

I. Except.–God may not keep the city. Can anything be more false than to attribute human wretchedness in our towns and cities to causes outside men themselves? Without self-restraint, without the high virtues of temperance, purity, and providence, gold, if it could be picked up in the streets, would only feed disease instead of bettering life! That man is a mere charlatan who hides the great truth that the drinking saloons, the music halls, and the gay Alhambras of our great towns are ruining the moral excellencies and energies of our people!

II. Except the Lord.–Moral life is the strength of a city. Can anything so demand our sympathy in this age as the movements which have to do with moral life? And we must remember all elevating movements have to do with moral life. Christianity works in detail, and Christian life is itself preserved by care for detail. Given impression at the house of God, given conviction of sin and coming to Christ, then come the after years, the idle hours, the temptations, the innumerable besetments, and if you can thus provide for the healthy development of character, you are doing much to save the England of the future, to bless your country, and to hold up the pillars of the State. And where all our aesthetic and intellectual pursuits have the shield of Christianity east over them, when the genius of the Gospel pervades our institutions and inspires our efforts, we may look for that keeping of which our text speaks.

III. except the Lord keep.–All cities need keeping. Can anything be more secure than a city kept by God? Whether it is applied to a kingdom, or to a people, or to the wonderful heart of man, the word is suggestive. A city, a place where wealth is, where treasure is, where active, energetic power is. We seem to see the watchmen on Jerusalems gates! Men able to sweep the horizon and to note the advancing cavalcades. We are taught in the text that all watching is vain without God.

IV. except the Lord keep the city–the watchman. Can anything be so mistaken as to suppose that Gods keeping excludes human care? We must watch, although God keeps. This truth is familiar to us all. We act upon it in the world, though we are mystified by it in the Church. God keeps the rain in the great reservoir of the clouds, and the winds in the hollow of His hand, and regulates them with a view to the preservation and productiveness of the land. He keeps the seasonal He keeps watch over all the processes of nature, and He says to us, break up the fallow ground, plough, harrow, and sow. So God would not have us watchless because He is watchful. No! this fact is to be an incentive to us to activity, not an excuse for negligence. We are reminded by our Saviour to watch and pray, lest we enter into temptation! and when we have done all, we are to rest on Christ as our only sure protection.

V. except the Lord keep the city, the watchman–waketh but in vain. We can never do without God! We may be what the world calls awake, wide-awake, but our own skill, or cunning, or craft will not save us. I was wise, says the man; I secured the best, the ablest physicians for my children. I was wise, says the voyager in the Cunard line, they never had a shipwreck yet. Stay, stay, Except the Lord, oh! do we think enough of that; we have been kept in going out and in coming in, but who has kept us? (W. M. Statham.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

PSALM CXXVII

The necessity of God’s blessing on every undertaking, without

which no prosperity can be expected, 1, 2.

Children are a heritage from the Lord, 3, 4.

A fruitful wife is a blessing to her husband, 5.

NOTES ON PSALM CXXVII

The Hebrew, Chaldee, and Vulgate attribute this Psalm to Solomon. The Syriac says it is “A Psalm of David concerning Solomon; and that it was spoken also concerning Haggai and Zechariah, who forwarded the building of the temple.” The Septuagint, AEthiopic, Arabic, and Anglo-Saxon have no title, but simply “A Psalm of Degrees.” It was most likely composed for the building of the second temple, under Nehemiah, and by some prophet of that time.

Verse 1. Except the Lord build the house] To build a house is taken in three different senses in the sacred writings.

1. To build the temple of the Lord, which was called habbeith, the house, by way of eminence.

2. To build any ordinary house, or place of dwelling.

3. To have a numerous offspring.

In this sense it is supposed to be spoken concerning the Egyptian midwives; that because they feared the Lord, therefore he built them houses. See the note on Ex 1:21. But, however, the above passage may be interpreted, it is a fact that ben, a son, and bath, a daughter, and beith, a house, come from the same root banah, to build; because sons and daughters build up a household, or constitute a family, as much and as really as stones and timber constitute a building. Now it is true that unless the good hand of God be upon us we cannot prosperously build a place of worship for his name. Unless we have his blessing, a dwelling-house cannot be comfortably erected. And if his blessing be not on our children, the house (the family) may be built up, but instead of its being the house of God, it will be the synagogue of Satan. All marriages that are not under God’s blessing will be a private and public curse. This we see every day.

Except the Lord keep the city] When the returned Jews began to restore the walls of Jerusalem, and rebuild the city, Sanballat, Tobiah, and others formed plots to prevent it. Nehemiah, being informed of this, set up proper watches and guards. The enemy, finding this, gathered themselves together, and determined to fall upon them at once, and cut them all off. Nehemiah, having gained intelligence of this also, armed his people, and placed them behind the wall. Sanballat and his company, finding that the Jews were prepared for resistance, abandoned their project; and Nehemiah, to prevent surprises of this kind, kept one-half of the people always under arms, while the other half was employed in the work. To this the psalmist alludes; and in effect says, Though you should watch constantly, guard every place, and keep on your armour ready to repel every attack, yet remember the success of all depends upon the presence and blessing of God. While, therefore, ye are not slothful in business, be fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; for there is no success either in spiritual or secular undertakings but in consequence of the benediction of the Almighty.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Build the house, i.e. assist and bless those that build the house; either an artificial house, the temple, or the royal palace, or any of those numerous structures which Solomon raised; or a natural or civil home, a family, or a state, or kingdom.

They labour in vain that build it; they will never bring it to perfection, nor have any comfort in it.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

1, 2. suggest the view of thetheme given.

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

Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it,…. Whether it be understood literally of an artificial house, as Solomon’s own house; or the house of the Lord, or any other: let a man be ever so bent upon building one, or have ever so much skill in drawing the plan of it, or be ever so well provided to go through the expense of it, or have ever so many hands employed in it, yet, if the Lord does not give success, it will all be in vain; the building will fall down, or be consumed by fire before it is finished; or by one providence or another he will be obliged to desist from it, as in the case of the builders of the tower and city of Babel. Or whether it be understood of a family, which is built up by an increase and multiplication of children; so Leah and Rachel built up the house of Israel, Ru 4:11; this depends upon the providence of God; for, as it is after said, “children are an heritage of the Lord”, Ps 127:3. Or whether it be understood, figuratively and mystically, of the church God, the house of the living God; the house of Christ, a spiritual one; a Gospel church, whose materials are lively stones, or true believers. Now there are builders in this house, some indeed very bad ones; and it is no wonder that they labour in vain, who reject and lay aside the foundation and corner stone, Christ; who deny his deity, despise his righteousness; or mix grace and works, law and Gospel, together, and pluck down with one hand what they build with another: and though there are others that are good ones, and lay the foundation, Christ; and build on this foundation precious truths, comparable to gold, silver, and precious stones; minister the word, and administer the ordinances, truly and faithfully; and in all direct to Christ for grace, strength, peace, comfort, and eternal life; speak to edification, and are the means of reviving the graces of God’s people, and of establishing their souls; as well as of the conversion of sinners, whereby the house of God is built up; yet if the Lord does not prosper their work, all is in vain. For the principal builder is God, Father, Son, and Spirit; this is mostly applied to the second Person, the Word and Wisdom of God, Pr 9:1; but not to the exclusion of the Father, who has laid in Zion a foundation, a precious corner stone, and builds souls on it; nor of the Spirit, through whom saints are built up an habitation for God, Isa 28:16. The Targum here is,

“if the Word of the Lord does not build the city.”

It follows,

except the Lord keep the city; the city Jerusalem, as the Targum; who also here makes mention of the Word of the Lord: or any other city: God, with the Heathens t was called , the keeper of cities; this title is given to Minerva by Pindar u, and is one of Jupiter’s titles w;

the watchman waketh [but] in vain; to preserve it from riots, robberies, fires, c. This may be applied to the church of God, the city of the living God, of which saints are fellow citizens: now in this city there are watchmen, some indeed that are blind and asleep, and so quite unfit for this office but there are others who are awake and diligent, and watch in all things; and for the souls of men, and the good of the city, the church, to prevent heresies, errors, and immoralities; and yet all their watchfulness is in vain, unless the Lord keep it, who watches over his people for good, and that none hurt them; he wakeful, never slumbers nor sleeps, and constant night and day; and keeps his people by his power, and as tenderly as the apple of his eye.

t Aristotel. de Mundo, c. 7. Apuleius de Mundo, prope finem. Phurnutus de Natura Deor. c. 9. u Olympiad. Ode 5. w Pausaniae Attica, sive l. 1. p. 43, 53. Vid Theoph. ad Autolye. l. 1. p. 76.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

The poet proves that everything depends upon the blessing of God from examples taken from the God-ordained life of the family and of the state. The rearing of the house which affords us protection, and the stability of the city in which we securely and peaceably dwell, the acquisition of possessions that maintain and adorn life, the begetting and rearing of sons that may contribute substantial support to the father as he grows old – all these are things which depend upon the blessing of God without natural preliminary conditions being able to guarantee them, well-devised arrangements to ensure them, unwearied labours to obtain them by force, or impatient care and murmuring to get them by defiance. Many a man builds himself a house, but he is not able to carry out the building of it, or he dies before he is able to take possession of it, or the building fails through unforeseen misfortunes, or, if it succeeds, becomes a prey to violent destruction: if God Himself do not build it, they labour thereon ( , Jon 4:10; Ecc 2:21) in vain who build it. Many a city is well-ordered, and seems to be secured by wise precautions against every misfortune, against fire and sudden attack; but if God Himself do not guard it, it is in vain that those to whom its protection is entrusted give themselves no sleep and perform ( , a word that has only come into frequent use since the literature of the Salomonic age) the duties of their office with the utmost devotion. The perfect in the apodosis affirms what has been done on the part of man to be ineffectual if the former is not done on God’s part; cf. Num 32:23. Many rise up early in order to get to their work, and delay the sitting down as along as possible; i.e., not: the lying down (Hupfeld), for that is , not ; but to take a seat in order to rest a little, and, as what follows shows, to eat (Hitzig). and stand opposed to one another: the latter cannot therefore mean to remain sitting at one’s work, in favour of which Isa 5:11 (where and form an antithesis) cannot be properly compared. 1Sa 20:24 shows that prior to the incursion of the Grecian custom they did not take their meals lying or reclining ( – or ), but sitting. It is vain for you – the poet exclaims to them – it will not after all bring hat you think to be able to acquire; in so doing you eat only the bread of sorrow, i.e., bread that is procured with toil and trouble (cf. Gen 3:17, ): , in like manner, i.e., the same as you are able to procure only by toilsome and anxious efforts, God gives to His beloved (Psa 60:7; Deu 33:12) (= ), in sleep (an adverbial accusative like , ), i.e., without restless self-activity, in a state of self-forgetful renunciation, and modest, calm surrender to Him: “God bestows His gifts during the night,” says a German proverb, and a Greek proverb even says: . Bttcher takes in the sense of “so = without anything further;” and certainly has this meaning sometimes (vid., introduction to Psa 110:1-7), but not in this passage, where, as referring back, it stands at the head of the clause, and where what this mimic would import lies in the word .

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

Dependence on Providence; God the Giver of Prosperity.

A song of degrees for Solomon.

      1 Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.   2 It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.   3 Lo, children are a heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.   4 As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.   5 Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

      We are here taught to have a continual regard to the divine Providence in all the concerns of this life. Solomon was cried up for a wise man, and would be apt to lean to his own understanding and forecast, and therefore his father teaches him to look higher, and to take God along with him in his undertakings. He was to be a man of business, and therefore David instructed him how to manage his business under the direction of his religion. Parents, in teaching their children, should suit their exhortations to their condition and occasions. We must have an eye to God,

      I. In all the affairs and business of the family, even of the royal family, for kings’ houses are no longer safe than while God protects them. We must depend upon God’s blessing and not our own contrivance, 1. For the raising of a family: Except the Lord build the house, by his providence and blessing, those labour in vain, though ever so ingenious, that build it. We may understand it of the material house: except the Lord bless the building it is to no purpose for men to build, any more than for the builders of Babel, who attempted in defiance of heaven, or Hiel, who built Jericho under a curse. If the model and design be laid in pride and vanity, or if the foundations be laid in oppression and injustice (Hab 2:11; Hab 2:12), God certainly does not build there; nay, if God be not acknowledged, we have no reason to expect his blessing, and without his blessing all is nothing. Or, rather, it is to be understood of the making of a family considerable that was mean; men labour to do this by advantageous matches, offices, employments, purchases; but all in vain, unless God build up the family, and raise the poor out of the dust. The best-laid project fails unless God crown it with success. See Mal. i. 4. 2. For the securing of a family or a city (for this is what the psalmist particularly mentions): if the guards of the city cannot secure it without God, much less can the good man of the house save his house from being broken up. Except the Lord keep the city from fire, from enemies, the watchmen, who go about the city, or patrol upon the walls of it, though they neither slumber nor sleep, wake but in vain, for a raging fire may break out, the mischief of which the timeliest discoveries may not be able to prevent. The guards may be slain, or the city betrayed and lost, by a thousand accidents, which the most watchful sentinel or most cautious governor could not obviate. 3. For the enriching of a family; this is a work of time and thought, but cannot be effected without the favour of Providence any more than that which is the product of one happy turn: “It is vain for you to rise up early and sit up late, and so to deny yourselves your bodily refreshments, in the eager pursuit of the wealth of the world.” Usually, those that rise early do not care for sitting up late, nor can those that sit up late easily persuade themselves to rise early; but there are some so hot upon the world that they will do both, will rob their sleep to pay their cares. And they have as little comfort in their meals as in their rest; they eat the bread of sorrows. It is part of our sentence that we eat our bread in the sweat of our face; but those go further: all their days they eat in darkness, Eccl. v. 17. They are continually fell of care, which embitters their comforts, and makes their lives a burden to them. All this is to get money, and all in vain except God prosper them, for riches are not always to men of understanding, Eccl. ix. 11. Those that love God, and are beloved of him, have their minds easy and live very comfortably without this ado. Solomon was called Jedidiah–Beloved of the Lord (2 Sam. xii. 25); to him the kingdom was promised, and then it was in vain for Absalom to rise up early, to wheedle the people, and for Adonijah to make such a stir, and to say, I will be king. Solomon sits still, and, being beloved of the Lord, to him he gives sleep and the kingdom too. Note, (1.) Inordinate excessive care about the things of this world is a vain a d fruitless thing. We weary ourselves for vanity if we have it, and often weary ourselves in vain for it, Hag 1:6; Hag 1:9. (2.) Bodily sleep is God’s gift to his beloved. We owe it to his goodness that our sleep is safe (Ps. iv. 8), that it is sweet, Jer 31:25; Jer 31:26. God gives us sleep as he gives it to his beloved when with it he gives us grace to lie down in his fear (our souls returning to him and reposing in him as our rest), and when we awake to be still with him and to use the refreshment we have by sleep in his service. He gives his beloved sleep, that is, quietness and contentment of mind, and comfortable enjoyment of what is present and a comfortable expectation of what is to come. Our care must be to keep ourselves in the love of God, and then we may be easy whether we have little or much of this world.

      II. In the increase of the family. He shows, 1. That children are God’s gift, v. 3. If children are withheld it is God that withholds them (Gen. xxx. 2); if they are given, it is God that gives them (Gen. xxxiii. 5); and they are to us what he makes them, comforts or crosses. Solomon multiplied wives, contrary to the law, but we never read of more than one son that he had; for those that desire children as a heritage from the Lord must receive them in the way that he is pleased to give them, by lawful marriage to one wife. Mal. ii. 15, therefore one, that he might seek a seed of God. But they shall commit whoredom and shall not increase. Children are a heritage, and a reward, and are so to be accounted, blessings and not burdens; for he that sends mouths will send meat if we trust in him. Obed-edom had eight sons, for the Lord blessed him because he had entertained the ark, 1 Chron. xxvi. 5. Children are a heritage for the Lord, as well as from him; they are my children (says God) which thou hast borne unto me (Ezek. xvi. 20); and they are most our honour and comfort when they are accounted to him for a generation. 2. That they are a good gift, and a great support and defence to a family: As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man, who knows how to use them for his own safety and advantage, so are children of the youth, that is, children born to their parents when they are young, which are the strongest and most healthful children, and are grown up to serve them by the time they need their service; or, rather, children who are themselves young; they are instruments of much good to their parents and families, which may fortify themselves with them against their enemies. The family that has a large stock of children is like a quiver full of arrows, of different sizes we may suppose, but all of use one time or other; children of different capacities and inclinations may be several ways serviceable to the family. He that has a numerous issue may boldly speak with his enemy in the gate in judgment; in battle he needs not fear, having so many good seconds, so zealous, so faithful, and in the vigour of youth, 1Sa 2:4; 1Sa 2:5. Observe here, Children of the youth are arrows in the hand, which, with prudence, may be directed aright to the mark, God’s glory and the service of their generation; but afterwards, when they have gone abroad into the world, they are arrows out of the hand; it is too late to bend them then. But these arrows in the hand too often prove arrows in the heart, a constant grief to their godly parents, whose gray hairs they bring with sorrow to the grave.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

Psalms 127

Security In the Lord

Scripture v. 1-5:

Verse 1 warns that unless the Lord builds the house they who build it labor in vain. A house built without a place for God is built in vain. It is added, as a parallel principle, that, “except the Lord keep (guard) the city, the watchman waketh but in vain,” falls to sleep on his watch, without the Lord to keep him awake, as a watchman, See? Both the building and its occupants are in a vain state without God, is the idea, Psa 121:1; Psa 3:5; Pro 8:34.

Verse 2 certifies that it is a vain (empty) thing for men to rise up early, sit up later, (work and watch), “to eat the bread of shame,” of disappointment of failure without God, Gen 3:17; Gen 3:19. “For so he giveth (continually) his beloved sleep,” Job 9:35; Mat 6:25; Mat 6:34; Psa 60:5. The sleep of the sluggard is never commended, but of faithful laborers, Pro 6:9-10; Pro 31:15-27.

Verse 3 asserts “children are (exist as) an heritage of the Lord,” as set forth. “And the fruit of the womb is his reward;” Each soul belongs to Him, as His offspring, Eze 18:4-5; Gen 30:2; Deu 7:13; Act 17:29; Gen 48:4; Jos 24:3-4.

Verse 4 declares that as arrows are in the hand of a mighty man, a man of war-power, so are children of the youth. They are brought to strength of years, to protect and care for their parents in old age, Deu 28:4; Gen 49:3; Isa 54:6.

Verse 5 concludes that happy (spiritually prosperous) is the man that has filled his quiver with them, these protective children-arrows for his old age. “They shall not be ashamed (of their father) but shall speak with the enemies in the gate,” the court of justice, and prevail, Through dependence on the Lord,” Psa 69:12; Psa 18:47; Deu 28:4-8.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

1. Except Jehovah build the house. There is no reason why the Jews should deny that this Psalm was composed by Solomon. They think that the letter ל, lamed, which we translate of, is equivalent to, in behalf of Solomon; which is at variance with common usage, for such a title in all cases designates the author. Accordingly, they absurdly devise a new sense, for which there is no necessity, it being very suitable for Solomon, who was endued with the spirit of wisdom in the affairs of government, to discourse of things which he knew and had experience about. In affirming that God governs the world and the life of man, he does so for two reasons: First, whatever prosperous event may fall out to men, their ingratitude is instantly manifested by their ascribing it wholly to themselves; and thus God is defrauded of the honor which is his due. Solomon, to correct such a perverse error, declares, that nothing happens prosperously to us except in so far as God blesses our proceedings. Secondly, his purpose was to beat down the foolish presumption of men, who, setting God aside, are not afraid to undertake to do anything, whatever it may be, in exclusive reliance upon their own wisdom and strength. Stripping them, therefore, of that which they groundlessly arrogate to themselves, he exhorts them to modesty and the invocation of God. He does not, however, reject either the labor, the enterprises, or the counsels of men; for it is a praiseworthy virtue diligently to discharge the duties of our office. It is not the will of the Lord that we should be like blocks of wood, or that we should keep our arms folded without doing anything; (99) but that we should apply to use all the talents and advantages which he has conferred upon us. It is indeed true that the greatest part of our labors proceeds from the curse of God; and yet although men had still retained the integrity of their primitive state, God would have had us to be employed, even as we see how Adam was placed in the garden of Eden to dress it. (Gen 2:15.) Solomon, therefore, does not condemn watchfulness, a thing which God approves; nor yet men’s labor, by which when they undertake it willingly, according to the commandment of God, they offer to him all acceptable sacrifice; but lest, blinded by presumption, they should forcibly appropriate to themselves that which belongs to God, he admonishes them that their being busily occupied will profit them nothing, except in so far as God blesses their exertions. By the word house he means not only a building of wood or stone, but he comprehends the whole domestic order and government of a family, even as a little after by the word city he denotes not only the buildings or enclosure of the walls, but also the general state of the whole commonwealth. There is likewise a synecdoche in the words builder and keeper; for he intends to say in general that whatever labor, foresight, and skill men may employ in maintaining a family, or in preserving a city, will be to no purpose unless God grant from heaven a prosperous issue to the whole.

It behoves us to remember what I have just now touched upon, that since the minds of men are commonly possessed with such headstrong arrogance as leads them to despise God, and to magnify beyond measure their own means and advantages, nothing is of more importance than to humble them, in order to their being made to perceive that whatever they undertake it shall dissolve into smoke, unless God in the exercise of pure grace cause it to prosper. When philosophers argue concerning the political affairs of a state they ingeniously gather together whatever seems to them to answer their purpose — they acutely point out the means of erecting a commonwealth, and on the other hand the vices by which a well-regulated state is commonly corrupted; in short, they discourse with consummate skill upon everything that is necessary to be known on this subject, except that they omit the principal point — which is, that men, however much they may excel in wisdom and virtue, and whatever may be the undertakings in which they may engage, can effect nothing, unless in so far as God stretches forth his hand to them, or rather makes use of them as his instruments. Which of the philosophers ever acknowledged that a politician is nothing else but an instrument guided by the hand of God? Yea, rather they held that good management on the part of man constituted the chief cause of the happiness of the social body. Now, since mortal men thus rise up with profane boldness to build cities, and to order the state of the whole world, the Holy Spirit justly reproves such madness. Let us then so occupy ourselves, each according to the measure of his ability and the nature of his office, as that at the same time the praise of the success attending our exertions may remain exclusively with God. The partition which many devise — that he who has behaved himself valiantly, while he leaves the half of the praise to God, may take the other half to himself, is deserving of all condemnation. The blessing of God should have the whole share and exclusively hold the throne.

Now, if our terrestrial condition depends entirely upon the good pleasure of God, with what wings shall we fly up into heaven? When a house is planned, or a certain manner of life is chosen — yea, even when laws are enacted and justice administered, all this is nothing else than to creep upon the earth; and yet the Holy Spirit declares, that all our endeavors in this way are fruitless and of no value. So much the less to be borne with, then, is the folly of those who strive to penetrate even into heaven by their own power. Farther, we may gather from this doctrine, that it is not wonderful to find in the present day the state of the world so troubled and confused as it actually is — justice put to flight in cities, the husband and the wife mutually accusing each other, fathers and mothers complaining of their children — in short, all bewailing their own condition. For how few are to be found who, in their vocation, turn to God, and who, being rather inflated with arrogance, do not wickedly exalt themselves? God then justly renders this sad reward to ungrateful men when he is defrauded of his honor. But were all men humbly to submit themselves to the providence of God, there is no doubt that this blessing which Solomon here commends would shed its lustre on all parts of our life, both public and private.

The verb עמל, amal, which we have translated to labor, signifies not only to employ one’s self in something or other, but also to busy one’s self even to lassitude and distress. I have said that by the word keepers is to be understood not only those who are appointed to keep watch, but all magistrates and judges. If they are characterized by vigilance, it is the gift of God. There is, however, need of another vigilance — that of God; for unless he keep watch out of heaven no perspicacity of men will be sufficient to guard against dangers.

(99) “ Ou que nous demeurions les bras eroisez sans rien faire.” — Fr.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

THE TRAGEDIES OF THE CITYS CENTER

(Delivered following the loss of several firemen).

Psa 127:1

IT is positively enheartening to find that the spirit which animated Jesus when He wept over the awful moral condition of Jerusalem is still regnant in the breasts of many metropolitans. In the average city one has not far to seek to find men and women ready to make any reasonable sacrifice for the moral improvement of the metropolis; and the same good citizens hang their heads in sorrow over gross immorality whether it be published to the discredit of the individual, the social, or the municipal life. Recent months in Minneapolis have given abundant illustration to this text, Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.

The downtown of our city, like that of many another, has presented a series of tragedies, some of which revealed too great indifference to the value of human life; and others lay bare immoralities which have sickened the heart; and all of which illustrate our scripture.

Think, will you, of the Tragedies of Accident, the Tragedies of Intemperance, the Tragedies of Infidelity, the Tragedies of Murder and Suicide.

THE TRAGEDIES OF ACCIDENT

Their suddenness has shocked the entire municipality. For a very excellent reason the public peculiarly mourns when a fireman, in the discharge of duty, loses his life. The office itself is so hazardous, the whole work requires such unusual heroism, that firemen are public favorites. This is always evident when they parade the streets. Greater crowds will gather to witness their procession than can be called by any other department of the citys service. The policeman may be dressed in better uniform, and present a more attractive appearance, but they can never excite the same popular response. Once in a long while a policeman does a daring deed; but almost daily firemen face danger and death. Two brave men carried down in the Boutell building, though familiarly known to but few in Minneapolis, were mourned by all. The toppling of the south wall of this doomed building, and the sudden taking of the many lives in the Crocker hotel added shock to shock, and the very mien of the men and women upon the streets told the story of the citys sorrow. And yet, be it known unto us that such is the end of the average man, the death of the average woman. The public impression is that life will fail after a lingering illness; the fact is that life is quite as often lost in a second; for, except the Lord keep you, the watchman who patrols the streets waketh in vain. He may help you in the hour when you have been held up by the highway man; or run to your assistance after the robber has entered your home, but he has no eyes to see the dark form of death; no ears with which he can hear his stealthy step, and no warrant for his arrest.

The subjects of these tragedies perished unexpectedly. It is doubtless possible that the firemen going into the burning building realized their imminent danger, and yet remembering repeated escapes from difficult situations, expected to come forth again. It is certain that, with a solitary exception, the inmates of the Crocker hotel dreamed not their danger until death was just upon them. When they lay down that night they went with the same lack of concern which will characterize you as to-night you pillow your head for sleep. Cyclones had swept over cities and left death behind them; robbers had entered other mens houses and wreaked vengeance against those who had resisted their plans; sudden sickness had overtaken other men and women; in an hour when one thought himself in health the heart had ceased to beat; but the inmates of this house supposed, as you think, as I think, none of these things will come to us. As we have laid ourselves down night after night for years, to be wakened in the morning by the beauty of a new day, so shall we slumber again; and, after sweet rest, rise again. The fireman slept with open ears, the policeman patroled his beat, and even the overhanging wall had been pronounced by the city inspector safe. They cast all care and committed themselves to slumber. Doubtless there were those in that place who did not even think to bend the knee to God, confess the sins of the day and ask to be forgiven; nor yet to utter the petition lisped by their baby lips:

Now I lay me down to sleep,I pray the Lord my soul to keep,If I should die before I wake,I pray the Lord my soul to take.

Yet, like Belshazzar of old, that night they were slain. Is it possible men and women that we will pass this tragedy without learning a lesson? Is it conceivable that we will continue in the same unconcern about life, and about that mysterious thing called death? A few years since at Niagara Falls the mid-winter had piled ice to ice until a great bridge was formed by the gorge and the people walked over it. Suddenly, on a Sunday afternoon, a strange crackling was heard. Instantly all realized that the great mass was beginning to move; then a great rush for life began. Those nearest the shore reached it with ease. Three people were upon it when it struck the bridge, and yet by a dexterous leap upon the part of one, the great steel arch was caught and he pulled himself up out of danger; and, by unusual calmness, the other man saved both himself and the woman by waiting until it came near enough the Canadian shore to clear the distance by a leap. But the average man is not permitted to race with death, or, if he does, this last enemy will overtake him and he will find himself helpless in his awful hands. Woe to him who in that hour has not the help of God!

These accidents sealed the fate of souls. The greatest authorities of all ages have agreed that this world is the place, and time is the season of human probation. The Scriptures assert, As a tree falleth so it lieth. Though you search all Revelation you will discover no promise of pardon after death. The second probation of Andover has not a single Scripture upon which to rest. The story of Dives and Lazarus is the statement of the all-wise Son of God concerning the fixedness of character and condition for both the righteous and unrighteous in the worlds to come.

When one of the greatest preachers of the past century was questioned after this manner, If you knew that you had to die to-morrow night, how would you spend your time? he answered by reciting his list of engagements and adding, When I had finished the last I should go to my friends home, kneel at my bedside in prayer, commit my spirit to the God of all grace and lie down to sleep in his house and wake in Heaven.

If only to-night we knew that every man and woman, recently removed from our midst by the terrible tragedy of accident, were thus prepared, our tears might be wiped and our sighing changed to song; and yet, the obligation would remain upon every preacher of the Gospel to appeal to his every auditor to make the same preparation.

THE TRAGEDIES OP INTEMPERANCE

In speaking to this subject we present no new theme. There has not been a night in many years in which intemperance has not wrought havoc in the city, turning rational men into demons, and sending the living to the place of the dead. We speak, of course, of the intemperance of drink; and yet we are not unmindful of the fact that such be intemperate in the use of good things, as food, is not the only form of intemperance. A man may It is doubtful if a man can use evil things temperately, as for instance alcoholic beverages. So of lesser evils: The tobacco habit is an intemperance in many instances a severe one. It is declared that if you put two or three drops of tobacco oil on the tongue of a cat, it will kill it. Arthur Pierson is authority for the statement that the College of Physicians attribute 20,000 deaths annually in America to the use of this narcotic. But the greater number of the tragedies of intemperance, and the most terrible in character, are associated with strong drink.

Its approach is insidious. The devil is described as a roaring lion going about seeking whom he may devour. But, let no one forget that the lion does not roar until the prey is within his power. On the contrary, he approaches it with the stealthy tread of the cat; not a sound is heard until the spring is accomplished. The demon of intemperance does his work much after the same manner. The youth who drinks a little bit from his companions bottle looks upon the whole process as a practical joke; and if, after a few such experiences, he takes too much and becomes intoxicated, once sober, he will jest about that. And, when, at last, repeated experience becomes his practice, he still hopes to reform at will, and imagines that these seasons of intoxication are only questionable indulgences in pleasure. It is reported that there was a man in a western city who, after a debauch, would suffer terribly with the gout, but between his groans he would ejaculate, Had a good time, anyway.

It seems after somewhat earnest study of this subject, through dealing with scores of men addicted to the cup, that while the devil is tearing down ones manhood through drink, he is introducing into the mans heart a growing conceit which beclouds the intellect, and blindfolds the victim, so that he walks with no fear towards the terrible precipice which will end it all. A man in Chicago testified that he began drinking by spending five cents a week, taking a single glass of beer a week. When he began he was earning a salary of $1,500. After five years he had grown such an appetite for liquor as to lose every position which had opened to him; and though a man of good education, natural refinement, he walked the streets of that great city begging bread. The Prophet Haggai graphically described the consequences of strong drink when to the people of his time, ruined by their own vineyards, he said, Consider your ways. Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes (Hag 1:5-6).

Intemperance degrades its every victim. There is no sin which can more truly bloat the body, deaden the sensibilities, dethrone the intellect, render insensible the soul, than intemperance. It not only tears down all that is best in men, but at the same time it builds up every baser passion. The most of us know something of the great Christian work Fred Charrington is doing in East London. While he was yet in the brewing business, he walked past a bar room where his beer was being sold and the firm name, Charrington, Head and Co., was over the door of the infamous place. Just as He went by a woman pushed the door open and begged money of her husband who was within, to buy bread for their starving children. The man, who, at the altar, had promised to love and cherish her, with one brutal stroke felled her to the ground. As Charrington looked upon the awful scene he said, This is the product of my business. From that hour he sacrificed an income of $100,000 a year, and went out of the liquor business, giving his heart to God, being unwilling to longer do that which degraded and imbruted men.

Do you not remember how Hawthorn, in Ethan Brand, tells the story of the village doctor! A man of some fifty years, who in the earlier period of his life was a successful practitioner, but now had become a purple-visaged, rude and brutal, yet half-gentlemanly figure. Hawthorn says, Brandy possessed this man like an evil spirit, and made him as surly and savage as a wild beast, and as miserable as a lost soul. When you walk the streets of a city you are constantly passing the duplicate of Hawthorns picture. Satan loves a shining mark. It is his custom to drag down, by drink, men who by nature were fitted for the highest stations, and we believe it is his delight to take their better abilities and finer feelings and bestialize both. The form of yonder reeling man tells the tragedies of intemperance. The joshing crowd about the saloon counter emphasizes it yet more; the homes out of which happiness long since went, tell its more terrible pain; while the despair of the drunkard, the wail of the drunkards wife, and the cry of the drunkards children is sufficient to content the black heart of the prince of demons.

The tragedy of intemperance ends in destruction. It is an awful thing to degrade a man; it is a fearful thing to dethrone his reason, overthrow his family and bring an utter end to home and happiness. But intemperance is not content with even this. Only when the bloated body is buried, the once boasted intellect is destroyed, and the soul itself doomed, does this demon count his work well done. You remember that Hawthorn, in that same story Ethan Brand, speaks of Lawyer Gilesas the people still called him in courtesydescribing him as an elderly ragamuffin, in his soiled shirtsleeves and tow-cloth trousers. This poor fellow had been an attorney; in what he called, his better days, a sharp practitioner, and in great vogue among the village litigants; but flip, and sling, and toddy, and cocktails, imbibed at all hours, morning, noon, and night, had caused him to slide from intellectual to various kinds and degrees of bodily labor, till at last, to use his own words, he slid into a soap-vat. For Giles was now a soap-boiler, and Hawthorn continues, He had come to be but a fragment of a human being, a part of one foot having been chopped off by an axe, and an entire hand torn away by the devilish grip of a steam-engine. All this had happened incidental to his custom of the cups. But the end was not yet, for when the tragedy of intemperance is over, you will not find even a fragment of the man. The speech of the wise man of the Old Testament is appropriate here, There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. The words of Jesus are particularly applicable to the drink demon, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear Him, which after He hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear Him.

THE TRAGEDIES OF INFIDELITY

This word is used in a double sense. There is an infidelity of morals, and there is an infidelity of mind. The infidelity of morals makes a more ready and more effective appeal to our minds and hearts. We mourn over the men who lead lustful lives; who forget the eye of God and trample under foot sacred vows, and treat with indifference the human ties of heavenly appointment. We mourn yet more over women who walk in forbidden paths, forsaking the Guide of youth, and forgetting the covenant of God, converting their houses into the way to hell. Yet the city mourns not as it should! The great down-town district is more and more becoming a moral sink in which the souls of our daughters are being drowned daily. If all that occurs in this center, which more and more becomes sufficiently crowded to provide cover for sin, were known, the wails of fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, in the homes upon our avenues and boulevards, as certainly as in those upon more humble streets, would remind one of Egypts cry on the night when the death angel slew the firstborn in her every house.

Think of what W. T. Stead once spoke to the people in Newcastle-on-the-Tyne. After reciting the legend of the past, in which one country, after conquering another, compelled it to pay the annual tribute of seven of its most beautiful daughters to be consumed by the great dragon, Stead remarked, Suppose that the town council were to declare that there had been established four pagan deities as the gods of Newcastle, to whom temples should be opened and sacrifices offered. And that once, at each quarter of the year, human sacrifices, selected by lot, should be burned alive. One victim to Bacchus, a young man, January 1st; then, on April 1st, a beautiful girl taken by lot, and offered by the same burning, to the great goddess Venus; do you not think it would nerve young men to any extremity in order to prevent that sacrifice taking place? And walk through town any night and you will see many girls who had better been burned alive on the Sandhill than do what they are doing! Ah, men, let us make an appeal to you. There may be those who look upon these lines to whom an appeal ought to be made. Would you not lay down your life if such were necessary to save one young woman being burned at the stake, an offering to the unclean goddessVenus? Yes; and would you not even lay down your life to save one young man, though he was a stranger, from being burned alive in offering to Bacchus? What then do you mean by tempting young men to a course infinitely worse than death by flame? What then do you mean by joining with that pack of human wolves who seek the lives of women and laugh at the wreck, as wolves howl when they have finished with the carcass?

Years ago, there visited some of our great cities a man who for years has been a missionary to central Africa. While here he recited the awful atrocities of the Belgian government against the defenseless blacks. He told great audiences, assembled in the churches, how they sent those poor enslaved men to gather rubber and ivory, and if they returned with less than the Belgian soldiers demanded, they took them, in the presence of their assembled kith, and chopped off their hands and otherwise mangled them.

It was a horrid history! The righteous-loving of the civilized world appealed to the powers to bring it to an end, even though it had to be done by battle with the Belgians and at the cost of much blood.

But a plain truth is this, better stand before God in judgment for joining with the Belgians in making the poor blacks suffer, than face Him after having deliberately effected the downfall of those for whom Christ died, and who by birth and breeding were suited to noble and virtuous stations in life; who, by reason of their immortal souls are set either for the happiness of an eternal Heaven or the horrors of an everlasting hell.

But the heart sickens when one speaks to this subject, and again as he turns from it to the fourth and last tragedy of the citys center, namely:

THE TRAGEDY OF MURDER AND SELF-DESTRUCTION

Daily the newsboys in the streets announce both. The friends of those who so fall are yet in mourning, and some of them will so remain for many months. It is an art to impart happiness to human kind; it requires the exercise of head and heart to accomplish it; but how easy to superinduce sorrow. Any man can accomplish murder, and self-destruction is a more common custom than we had ever imagined possible. We will not take the time here to discuss the sixth commandment, Thou shalt not kill. The awful consequences of its transgression are written into the last statement of Divine revelationThe fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and the murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. Think on that if ever you are tempted to take a human life. Remember that to cut off the existence of another, here, is to doom yourself forever, there.

But while we say no more concerning murder, we are not content to pass self-destruction without some adequate discussion. There is a disposition on the part of society to pity the suicide, and that very spirit often leads men and women who contemplate it, to condone their own offense. Let it never be forgotten that one has no more right to take away his own life than to take the life of another: no right to take away that which he cannot give. He is not his own! Christ has already stood in his stead, and whether he will have it or no, the Son of God, by the sacrifice of Himself, has purchased ones existence! We rob Him, therefore; we despise His claim and defeat His will, if we end existence before His time. This step is so awful to contemplate that the circumstance of its ever being taken requires explanation. Why do men suicide? Fifty in Minneapolis in the last year! Of course some of them are insane and not morally responsible. But these I am persuaded are comparatively few.

The decline of faith accounts for the increase in self-destruction. In Europe, while the population accomplished an increase of nineteen per cent, self-destruction increased sixty-three per cent. The ratio of self-destruction in Paris is proportionately four times as large as self-destruction in London. Why? Because a hundred years ago Paris gave up God and adopted infidelity. When once God is denied, the sense of personal responsibility ends, and the doctrine of immortality, with all that it involves; and one who grows weary in the flesh, who must face bitter disappointment, or even struggle with poverty, looks upon suicide as a way of escape out of all trouble. Aye, to such depths of infidelity have we come that when men lose a few thousands, they adopt the false philosophy of Seneca and with knife, or pistol, or deep well, or rope, seek to be rid of responsibility.

Some days since we saw what was so absurd as to be almost ludicrousa young girl having desired some high heeled shoes and being denied them by her mother, attempted an almost successful effort at self-destruction. In the face of an instance like this, one is almost ready to say that there was not sense enough to compensate the physician, who saved her, for his service.

And yet when one looks into the blackness of darkness of the eternity which Christ unveiled, and hears the weeping and gnashing of teeth which is the eternal portion of them that choose the pit, he is stirred to the uttermost endeavor to show that God is, that man is immortal, and that to shipwreck the life here is to superinduce eternal sorrow there.

A few days since a church was shocked and sorrowed by the sudden and accidental death of one if its best young men; one whose character invited emulation, and his conduct imitation. His sorrow-stricken mother said, Awful as it is, it might have been infinitely worse. I had rather have my boy go this way, a thousand-fold, and strive to live on with the consciousness that his life had been acceptable to God, and his spirit went to dwell with Him who had redeemed it, than to have seen him live and descend into flagrant sin. Ah, that would be real self-destruction, for that is the souls destruction.

Think of Voltaires last hours! They were full of fear. Dr. Talmage, speaking of the same, quotes this appropriate verse:

The Scripture was his jest-book, whence he drewBon mots to gall the Christian and the Jew;An infidel when well, but what when sick?Oh, then a text would touch him to the quick!

and adds, Seized with hemorrhage of the lungs in Paris, where he had gone to be crowned in the theater as the idol of all France, he sends a messenger to get a priest, that he may be reconciled to the Church before he dies. A great terror falls upon him. He makes the place all round him so dismal that the nurse declares that she would not, for all the wealth of Europe, see another infidel die.

It is within the power of each to choose whether by indifference, neglect and sin he will send down his soul, becoming a moral suicide, or whether by a surrender to the Spirit and will of God he will save it, redeeming not only the first of all the days of the year, but determining also, by the grace of God, that life here shall be blessed, and life yonder, one unending joy.

Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley

INTRODUCTION

Various considerations taken together require the opinion that this middle Song of Degrees was composed by Solomon. It suits the time of peaceful house-building and civil settlement and progress during which he reigned. It uses a word answering to his name Jedidiah, meaning beloved of the Lord, and seems in connection with it to refer to the promise made to him of wisdom, riches, honour, and length of days. So He giveth His beloved sleep, or to His beloved in sleep (2Sa. 12:25; 1Ki. 3:5-15). It appears to suggest that the claims of the Temple to the efforts of builders are superior to those of any other intended erection. And it agrees with Solomons sententious style in his proverbs. The ambitions may not boast of their own wisdom and might; and the prosperous may not suppose they are self-sufficient. It is God who gives skill to plan and ability to execute. He is the Source of blessing.The Caravan and Temple.

THE HAPPINESS OF SOCIETY DEPENDENT ON THE DIVINE BLESSING

(Psa. 127:1-2)

I. That family greatness should be founded in the Divine blessing. Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it (Psa. 127:1). It has been the ambition of many to found a family and to hand down a name to posterity. The love of posthumous fame is a mania with some men. But if God be ignored and the law of righteousness disobeyed, the most colossal efforts to raise a distinguished and enduring house, though protected by all the laws that the ingenuity of the legislature can invent, will prove futile. The history of the changes that have taken place among the families of some of our old nobility furnishes some of the saddest and most humiliating revelations of social life.

II. That the safety of civil society is secured by the Divine blessing. Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain (Psa. 127:1).

It is sometimes a marvel with some how the vast populations of our large cities are fed: it is no less a marvel how they are protected. Around the masses of society is drawn the strong cordon of Divine law, and over all there rest the ample wings of the Divine protection. If the Lord were to withdraw His presence, the vigilance of the police and the utmost alertness of the civic authorities would not avail. Society would be unendurable, indeed impossible, as at present constituted, but for the action of our Divine Guardian. How much less can a spiritual commonwealth be reared or preserved without the blessing of God!

III. That the prosperity of society is dependent on the Divine blessing.

1. Labour is useless without the Divine blessing. It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows (Psa. 127:2). Labour is the prime necessity of man and the first condition of prosperity. The most princely fortunes have sprung from toil, and are kept together by it. A wealthy farmer when asked why he should trouble himself to rise so early as he did, repliedIf you want the world you must rise and seek it, and if you have the world you must rise and keep it. Often more anxious labour is involved in taking care of this worlds goods than was spent in first acquiring them. And yet no amount of labour, no amount of parsimonious care will suffice, if God withhold His blessing.

Except the Lord conduct the plan,
The best concerted schemes are vain,

And never can succeed;

We spend our wretched strength for nought:
But if our works in Thee be wrought,

They shall be blest indeed.

2. Rest is a Divine gift. For so He giveth His beloved sleep (Psa. 127:2). Sleep is half meat; it is the most beneficent medicine of wearied and suffering humanity. The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much; but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep (Ecc. 5:12): if he eat much when he ought to eat little, or if his plenty be a load upon his conscience, or if his godless puzzle day and night be how to retain. The man loved of God may lie down in peace and sleep. Prosperity brings no joy to him who cannot sleep.

LESSONS:

1. Jehovah is the founder, defender, and preserver of the family, the State, and the Church. 2. The happiness of society rests, not on the wisdom and toil of its most gifted members, but on the Divine blessing.

CHILDREN THE GIFT OF GOD

(Psa. 127:3-5)

I. That children are the gift of God. Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord; and the fruit of the womb is His reward (Psa. 127:3). This view is frequently and emphatically stated (Gen. 30:2; Gen. 30:18; Gen. 33:5; Gen. 48:9; Deu. 7:13; Pro. 19:14). The gift of children is an evidence of the Divine favour. They are to be welcomed with joy and affection, and not to be regarded as an encumbrance and a burden. The childless pair, whatever worldly affluence they possess, feel that one of heavens choicest gifts is withheld. It is a most unenviable home, if home it can be called, where a child is unwelcome.

II. That children are to be firmly and judiciously trained. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth (Psa. 127:4). They are a sacred trust and solemn responsibility: not to be weakly fondled or foolishly spoilt; but to be wisely, kindly, and strictly disciplined to obedience and duty. Parents must not trifle with their children, like idiots playing with sharp tools; but as the bowman straightens and polishes his arrow, gives it a solid point and wings it with proper feathers, they must educate their sons and daughters in the name, and with the help of the Rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. The arrows that are not prepared and directed when in the hand, may, when they are gone abroad into the world and all parental training is too late, prove arrows in the heart.

III. That a large family is a source of domestic joy. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them (Psa. 127:5). The parents live over again the happy period of their youth in the gambols and laughter, and the indescribable little ways of their children. It is a dismal house where there is a silent nursery. It may be scrupulously clean and faultlessly prim, but there is a strangely felt absence of life, of voice, of genial humanity. When the father of John Wesley received his son unscathed from the window of the burning parson age, he exclaimed, Come, neighbours, let us kneel down; let us give thanks unto God: He has given me all my eight children; let the house go, I am rich enough. The good children of a large family help one another, and are a source of comfort and support to their aged parents.

IV. That children are the strength and defence of the home. They shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate (Psa. 127:5). The parents shall courageously plead their cause in courts of judicature, which were held at the gates of cities, not fearing to be crushed by the might of their adversaries, as weak and helpless persons frequently are. Or, as some understand the words, the children shall not be ashamed to plead for their parents in the gates, but will be ready at all times to appear for them, to answer any charge, and to vindicate them in their persons, their good name, or their property. The Chinese have a proverbWhen a son is born into a family, a bow and arrow are hung before the gate. In Eastern books sons are spoken of as the arrows of their fathers. People fear to offend a family where there are many sons, lest the arrows should be sent at them. The training of children has a reflex influence for good upon parents. Many a hint is unconsciously given as to training up a parent in the way he should go.

LESSONS:

1. A large family has its cares, but it has also its special rewards.

2. The training of children is also a training of the parents.

3. Children may become the greatest blessing, or the greatest curse.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Psalms 127

DESCRIPTIVE TITLE

In Relief of Domestic and Civic Anxiety.

ANALYSIS

Stanza I., Psa. 127:1-2, Jehovahs Blessing Succeeds our Endeavours, Allays our Anxieties, and Gives us Sleep. Stanza II., Psa. 127:3-5, Children a Gift from Jehovah.

(Lm.) Song of the StepsBy Solomon.

1

Except Jehovah build the house

in vain[745] will its builders have toiled thereon:

Except Jehovah watch the city
in vain[745] will the watchman have kept awake.

2

It is vain[745] for you who early rise who late take rest,

[745] Or: For unreality.

who eat the bread of wearisome toil:

So would he give his beloved ones[746] sleep.[747]

[746] So (pl.) some cod. (w. Sep., Syr., Vul.)Gn. M.T. (sing.).
[747] Thus w. Per., rather than in sleeppreferred by O.G. 446a, Dav. Heb. Syntax 97, Br. and others.

3

Lo! an inheritance from Jehovah are sons,

a reward is the fruit of the womb:

4

As arrows in the hand of a warrior

so are the sons of the youth.

5

How happy the man who hath filled his quiver with them!

they shall not be put to shame,

Surely they will speak with enemies in the gate.

(Nm.)

PARAPHRASE

Psalms 127

Unless the Lord builds a house, the builders work is useless. Unless the Lord protects a city, sentries do no good.
2 It is senseless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, fearing you will starve to death; for God wants His loved ones to get their proper rest.
3 Children are a gift from God; they are His reward.
4 Children born to a young man are like sharp arrows to defend him.
5 Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them. That man shall have the help he needs when arguing with his enemies.[748]

[748] Literally, When they speak with their enemies in the gate.

EXPOSITION

The object and argument of this psalm are plain. Its object is, to allay carking care; and its argument is, that Jehovah cares for usthat the need of his blessing in order to the prosperity of our most arduous enterprises, should lead us to rest in him, since that is his way of leading us, that is how he would have us shew our trust in him. His benefactions are not deprecated: on the contrary, their value is picturesquely and impressively extolled; for how could anything surpass, for beauty and force, the picture of a yet able but ageing father, emboldened by the rally to him of stalwart sons, ready to speak with the enemy, either in judicial witness and plea on the forum, or by bold parley with the foe before striking the ready blow? Yet at the root of even this imposing tree of prosperity lay Jehovahs blessing. For it is thus that we grasp the unity of the psalm, in dissent from those critics who would divide it into two incoherent portions.

In vain, says the poet with threefold emphasis, your most toilsome work, your most wearisome watch, your most protracted restlessness, except you have Jehovahs blessing. It is by teaching you this lesson,it is thus,it is so,that your loving heavenly Father would give you sleep.

This construction of the first stanza is surely sufficiently satisfying to lead us to acquiesce in the conclusion of A.V., R.V. (text), P.B.V., Perowne, Carter,that the noun sleep is what is called the accusative of object; in other words, that sleep is the very blessing which Jehovah is here represented as giving to his beloved ones. Nevertheless, it may be conceded to be, not only grammatically possible, but exegetically plausible and in a good degree satisfying, to render the word sleep as an adverbial accusative of time or mannerin sleep,with R.V. (marg.), O.G., Davidson, Briggs, Leeser (during sleep); since it is perfectly true that the operations of nature are many of them still active, some of them especially active, while the worker is asleep, and not infrequently the plans of those with large enterprises on hand are advancing by leaps and bounds when the busy brain that originated them is sweetly at rest. Practically, the two constructions come nearly to the same thing; seeing that the likeliest way to get sleep, is to be assured that all is going on well during sleep. But are they going on well? Who knows, except Jehovah who never slumbers or sleeps (Psa. 121:4)? Who can effectually prosper them, save the Maker of heaven and earth? Therefore, trust thou in Himand rest.

The very geniality of this psalm, makes easy its assumed original application and intention, according to the theory favoured by the expositor. Quite taking is the suggestion of those who, from this psalm, picture the exiles rebuilding Jerusalemthe father aided by his numerous sons, speaking with and putting to shame or flight the troublesome Samaritans and others at Jerusalems gate. Perhaps even more taking is the hintthat this psalm was first meant to encourage the building of an ancestral house, even the family of David, by one who had remained unmarried or a widower until about the time this Song of the Steps was written! This suggestion may attract to itself an especial interest if, with Thirtle (O.T.P. 49), we credit the Jewish tradition that King Hezekiah, after his recovery, married Isaiahs daughter Hephzibah; and if we conjecture, as we then may (2Ki. 21:1), that this good king had yet to wait two or three years before there was born to him an heir! Even learned critics may forget to allow for the touch of nature which makes the whole world kin. In any case we have not yet felt any literary compulsion to carry the dating of these Songs of the Steps to a period so late as the Exile.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1.

What is the one outstanding purpose of this psalm?

2.

In verses three through five we have a picture of sons aiding and helping their fatherbut under what circumstances? How do we know this is the proper application? Discuss.

3.

How does the noon sleep have a very prominent part in the first half of this psalm? Discuss.

4.

How related to the building of the Temple?

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(1) House.A house, any house, not the Temple. The thought is a general one. Even in the common labours of men, it is the Divine blessing which contributes the success. An Gottes Segen ist alles gelegen.

Waketh.Perhaps better, watcheth. The house that has been built with such toil, the city which has been planned with such skill, may suddenly fall before the midnight attack of the robber or the enemy, in spite of the strictest police, unless Gods vigilant providence preserve it.

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

1. House Here to be taken literally, as city unquestionably should be in the next member. But it is viewed in its relations to home avocations, and the rearing of the family as the ultimate objects sought. It spoils the beauty and proportions of the psalm to consider it merely in the figurative sense of family, as in Rth 4:11. As the “house” represents and relates to the family, so does the “city,” in the next clause, represent and relate to the state. Both are comprehended in the national life, and both depend on God, without whom all labour is profitless.

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

Psalms 127

Introduction – Psalms 127 is one of only two Psalms that are attributed to Solomon. We find the other recorded in Psalms 72. However, King Solomon is said to have written many more songs; but we only have these two recorded. See:

1Ki 4:32, “And he spake three thousand proverbs: and his songs were a thousand and five.”

Psa 127:1  (A Song of degrees for Solomon.) Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.

Psa 127:1 Word Study on “degrees” – Strong says the Hebrew word “ma’alah” ( ) (H4609) literally means, “elevations,” and in book of Psalms it means, “a climatic progression.” Strong says this word is derived from the Hebrew verb “‘alah” ( ) (H5927), which means “to ascend.” This noun occurs 45 times in the Old Testament Scriptures and is often translated “steps,” as in 1Ki 10:19. In 2Ki 20:9-11 “ma’alah” ( ) is translated “degrees,” referring to the ten steps the shadow regressed on the king’s sundial.

Psa 127:1 “Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it”- Comments – A church must be built by the Lord for it to profit in God’s Kingdom and to prosper in souls. This work can be done as the Holy Spirit is allowed to work in men’s lives. Note these insightful words from Kenneth Hagin:

“Notice in this Scripture, that they did build the house. They got it built, all right, but their labor was all in vain because the Lord wasn’t in it. So many times in the ministry, what we do is good, but it is not the Lord’s plan at all. It is man’s plan.” [120]

[120] Kenneth Hagin, Plans Purposes and Pursuits (Tulsa, Oklahoma: Faith Library Publications, c1988, 1993), 23.

Woe to the man that builds his house out of wood, hay and stubble, and leaves off the gold, silver and precious stones. He will have no rewards in heaven, although he himself shall be saved (1Co 3:12-15).

1Co 3:12-15, “Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.”

Psa 127:1 “except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.” Comments – God can watch over his Church, keeping evil from developing in the church, such as sin, strife, sickness, poverty, etc. Many people working in churches in denominations which depart from the Bible work hard to increase numbers and guide people into happiness. But, the curse rules their lives and souls are not watered and fed in order to grow.

Comments – Note that when the city of built by God, His walls are walls of salvation (Isa 26:1). The Lord also kept and protected Job in this same manner (Job 1:10). In Isa 22:9 the city of Jerusalem was full of breaches.

Isa 26:1, “In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah; We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks.”

Job 1:10, “Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.”

Isa 22:9, “Ye have seen also the breaches of the city of David, that they are many: and ye gathered together the waters of the lower pool.”

Psa 127:2  It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.

Psa 127:2 Comments – Sorrows refer to anxious soil, painful labours. Many preachers and church workers have spent years, even lifetimes of work, in vain because they have served man-made programs, but they have not built churches on the Word of God.

It is vain to get up early and go to bed late for the purpose of eating the bread of painful labours. God provides for our needs and gives us the peace and confidence that we will provide for us. Therefore, we know that we can sleep in peace, as we learn that God will meet all of our needs (Pro 3:24).

Pro 3:24, “When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet.”

Psa 127:3-5 Children are a Heritage of the Lord – Sons are a blessing from God (Deu 28:11, 1Ch 26:5). This is particularly obvious in the lives of Sarah, Rachel, Hanna and Elizabeth.

1Ch 26:5, “Ammiel the sixth, Issachar the seventh, Peulthai the eighth: for God blessed him .”

Deu 28:11, “And the LORD shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body , and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers to give thee.”

Psa 127:3  Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.

Psa 127:3 Word Study on “heritage” – Strong says the Hebrew word “heritage” ( ) (H5159) means, “something inherited, occupancy,” and comes from the primitive root ( ) (5157), which means, “to inherit, occupy.” The Enhanced Strong says it is used 222 times in the Old Testament, being translated in the KJV as “inheritance 192, heritage 27, inherit 2, possession 1.”

Psa 127:3 Comments – The purpose of God’s creation was so that it would be fruitful and multiply. God’s first command to man was to be fruitful, multiply and take dominion over the earth. To procreate children in the institution of the family and spiritual children in the institution of the church is everyone’s divine calling. God gives us children as a blessing so that we can fulfill His command to be fruitful and multiply. We see throughout Scripture how God opened the womb as a blessing and how He closed the womb as a form of judgment.

Souls in the Kingdom of God, or children of God, are God’s reward to a praying church. Rebirth of souls into God’s Kingdom is likened to a woman who travails and gives birth to a child (Gal 4:19). Much praying in the spirit and intercession must be made to God for the powers of darkness broken.

Gal 4:19, “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,”

Psa 127:4  As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.

Psa 127:4 Comments – Psa 127:4 refers to spiritual warfare. A church with spiritual birth, or souls being won, is like adding artillery to an army. The church becomes more powerful and able to fight and win larger battles as it grows. The arrows of the mighty man can be likened to the arrow of deliverance in 2Ki 13:17.

2Ki 13:17, “And he said, Open the window eastward. And he opened it. Then Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot. And he said, The arrow of the LORD’S deliverance, and the arrow of deliverance from Syria: for thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek, till thou have consumed them.”

Psa 127:5  Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

Psa 127:5 “Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them” – Comments – Paul the Apostle explains that joy also comes by having spiritual children in the Lord, which means a productive ministry (1Th 2:20).

1Th 2:20, “For ye are our glory and joy .”

Psa 127:5 “they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate” – Comments – The gate may be viewed as figurative of God’s throne, where both Satan is accusing the brethren, and where the saints on earth are interceding for lost souls and other wayward Christians.

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

The Divine Blessing Needed for Human Enterprises.

A song of degrees for Solomon, a hymn written by him probably in connection with the building of the Temple, but applicable to all similar conditions of life, the believers realizing their dependence upon Jehovah in all things.

v. 1. Except the Lord build the house, Himself watching over the erection of every building executed by men and prospering their labors, they labor in vain that build it, there being so many possibilities of failure if the blessing or consent of the Lord is missing; except the Lord keep the city, Himself the Watchman and Guardian prospering the precautionary measures of the citizens, the watchman waketh but in vain, no matter with what degree of faithfulness he applies himself to his appointed work.

v. 2. It is vain, to no object and purpose, for you to rise up early, to sit up late, lengthening the day by artificial means, toiling and moiling with worry and care, always taking thought for this life and its needs, Mat 6:25-34, to eat the bread of sorrows, thinking only of the hardships connected with the obtaining of one’s daily bread; for so He giveth His beloved sleep, that is, while the believer reposes securely in God’s protection, free from trouble and care on account of his trust in the providence of his heavenly Father, the Lord prepares to reward this trust by giving him all that he needs for his own good, as a free reward of His kindness and mercy. This blessing of the Lord upon the believers is now set forth by an unusually evident example.

v. 3. Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord, sons are bequeathed by the Lord as a special gift and blessing, and the fruit of the womb is His reward, given to parents as an evidence of His favor, this fact being stressed time and again in Scripture as a standing reproof to the many blind and foolish people of our days who enter into marriage only for selfish reasons and consider children an unwelcome burden.

v. 4. As arrows, weapons of defense, are in the hand of a mighty man, so are children of the youth, begotten while the parents are still in the vigor of their age Gen 37:3, and therefore themselves grown to manhood and womanhood before the senile decline of the parents.

v. 5. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them, to whom the Lord has granted a house full of children; they shall not be ashamed, they will not meet with disgrace, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate, that is, in the place where business was transacted and differences were adjusted. Not only will children, if properly brought up, be a support of their parents when these have attained old age but they will also make it their business to protect the rights of their parents against all detractors a beautiful picture serving as an admonition to both parents and children, an example which should be heeded far more.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

EXPOSITION

A DIDACTIC psalm, preaching a contented trust in God as more conducive to the prosperity of a man, or a state, than any amount of fussy activity. The ascription to Solomon is borne out

(1) by the use of Solomonic words; e.g. ‘etseb, ne’urim, yedido; and

(2) by the agreement of the general sentiment with Pro 10:22.

Psa 127:1

Except the Lord build the house; rather, a house; i.e. any house whatsoever. They labor in vain that build it. They will effect nothingno house will be built. Except the Lord keep the city; rather, a city. The watchman waketh but in vain. Human watching is of no use unless accompanied by Divine watching.

Psa 127:2

It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late (comp. Isa 5:11); i.e. to be “careful and troubled” about your work in the world, whatever it is. To eat the bread of sorrows. To feed, as it were, on sorrowand trouble and careto make your lives a burden to yourselves through your carefulness. For so he giveth his beloved sleep; rather, surely he giveth to his beloved in sleep; i.e. in their sleep. The teaching is similar to that of Exo 14:14; Isa 30:7, Isa 30:15; Mat 6:25-34. God gives to men that which he knows they have need of, if they have only the faith to “sit still” and “wait.”

Psa 127:3

Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord. The teaching is enforced by an example. The prosperity, alike of states and of individuals, depends on nothing so much as on an abundant progeny of children. But children are manifestly the free gift of God. And the fruit of the womb is his reward. One of the ways in which he rewards his faithful ones (see Deu 28:10 :11).

Psa 127:4

As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth; rather, the children of youth; i.e. children born to a man in his youth. Such children protect their aged parents as effectually as arrows in the hand of a warrior.

Psa 127:5

Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them. Happy the man whose quiver contains many such arrows, and who is thus sure of abundant protection. They shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate; rather, when they shall speak (Hengstenberg, Kay, Cheyne, Revised Version). “The gate” was the place where judgment was given, and where consequently adversaries were apt to meet, as they pushed their respective causes. There might be collisions on such occasions; and, in any case, a man with several lusty sons to take his part would have an advantage.

HOMILETICS

Psa 127:1-5

The blessing of God.

The psalm is in keeping with that prevalent piety which led the devout Israelite to trace God’s hand in everything, and ascribe both good and evil, both joy and sorrow, to his directing power.

I. UNBLESSED LABOR.

1. We can do nothing at all without the Divine co-operation. We constantly depend on the presence of his material, on the action of his laws, on the activity of the forces he keeps in play. We all recognize this in agriculture; that it is vain for the husbandman to sow his seed, unless God sends his rain and wind and sunshine, etc. It is also true of our other occupations. The sailor and the builder depend on the constancy and regularity of Divine laws and forces. We are always assuming their existence, though we may think nothing of their Author.

2. We can effect nothing without the Divine permission. If God means that the guilty city shall fall, the watchman will wake and the soldier will fight in vain. If God intends to humble a man whose pride needs to be brought down, his utmost exertions in his trade or in his profession will not bring success. Many a man has found, as he at first thought to his cost, but as he afterwards knew to his great advantage, that when God’s wise and faithful providence is against his prosperity, he wakes early and works hard in vain. But how much more blessed is he in a corrective adversity, than he would be in a hardening prosperity! We do well to ask that God’s blessing may wait upon and crown all our activities; we do well, also, to remember that it may happen that, for our own sake, God will not grant us our desire in the form of temporal success.

3. We find no blessedness in a prosperity which is not hallowed by devotion. It is a vain thing for a man to strive hard and to attain the immediate object of his pursuit, if he is not making his life a life of holy service. Even if the bread he eats is not “bread of sorrows” in the sense that it is scanty, yet it will be such in the sense that it yields no abiding joy; for it is abundantly clear that a life of even prosperous labor, apart from the service and without the friendship of God, selfish and earthbound, is a life of dissatisfaction and practical defeat. The springs of pure and lasting joy do not rise on that lower ground.

II. NEEDLESS ANXIETY. “It is vain that ye rise up early,” etc.; “for he giveth to his beloved in sleep and without labor, ‘so,’ i.e. just as, even as to those who vainly harass themselves with labor and think not of him” (‘Speaker’s Commentary’). To those who serve God and are beloved of him he will grant sufficiency, though they do not turn labor into hard toil, but take the rest they need. It is not godless struggle, but reverent activity, that attains the goal and receives the prize of happy life. The two elements of success are

(1) a moderate and rational activity With needful and appropriate rest; and

(2) the enjoyment of God’s favor bringing down his blessing on our work. Be diligent at your post, give to muscle and to brain the relaxation they demand, spend your days and powers in the fear of God,then you may commit yourself to his promise and await its fulfillment. There is no need for anxiety if you are honestly and wisely laborious, and also prayerful and obedient (see Php 4:5-7).

III. THE FULNESS AND OVERFLOW OF DIVINE BLESSING. “So he giveth to his beloved in sleep.”

1. What great things God does for our bodily well-being in sleep! Every night he lays his restoring hand upon us, refreshes us, renews our muscular and mental powers, gives back to us the vitality and strength which had been exhausted. Every morning we owe to him a “new song” of praise.

2. What great things God does for us in the outside world during our unconsciousness! Our Lord reminds us that, while we are otherwise occupied, “night and day,” the seed we have sown springs and grows, we “know not how.” Many things God does for us when we are as unconscious of his action as if we were “in sleep.” It is an unseen hand, working with such silence that no ear hears the sound, that is carrying on those wonderful operations by which he “satisfies the wants of every living thing.”

3. What great things he does for us in the human world in which we take no part! His hand was working and overruling in all the toil and strife of the nations of the earth, leading the world up to, and making it ready for, the great advent of the Redeemer. Unknown to us, while we are practically “in sleep,” he is directing all our strife and all our labor to a beneficent result.

4. We are hoping that God will make our past life effective for good in many hearts and through many generations when we “fall on sleep.” When our body rests in the grave, the influences he enabled us to exert in life will, under his gracious guidance, be telling and bearing fruit. To those who love and serve him now he will give the blessing of the workman whose labor is producing and reproducing long after he has left the field.

IV. THE BLESSING OF PARENTAGE. (See next psalm.)

HOMILIES BY S. CONWAY

Psa 127:1-5

The builder’s psalm.

Our ignorance of the exact reference of this psalm enables us to apply it, as perhaps otherwise we might not be able, to all builders whatsoever. Four such seem to be pointed at here.

I. THE TEMPLE–BUILDERS.

1. We know that this was one of the solicitudes of the returned exilesto uprear again the temple of the Lord. And in the books written after the return from Babylon we read about this and the difficulties they had to encounter, and the success they at length achieved. Continually they needed to remember that “except the Lord build,” etc.

2. And in the gathering together the living stones which are to form the Church of God, how we need to remember this same truth! Her builders are perpetually tempted, and some are all too prone, to try other methods in this work than those the Lord employs. We are apt to rely on wealth, eloquence, learning, talent, and all other such things, and to forget that it is the Lord alone can really make our work successful.

II. THOSE OF THE CITY. (Psa 127:1.) Jerusalem is doubtless meant, and, surrounded as she was by relentless and ever-watchful foes, the sentinels and guards needed ever to be on the alert. But again the same reminder comes in. And it does so still. This is the age of great towns and cities, of municipal corporations who naturally and properly take pride in the cities over which they are placed. They cannot but know how much depends upon wise administration and rule, on the sagacity and wisdom which the citizens can supply. And they who know the history of municipalities know how eager corruption and vice are to assert their power. And often it seems that to pander to them would help on the city’s prosperity. But the city-builders need to recollect the truth of this psalm. What is all man’s wisdom apart from God?

III. THE BUSINESS. (Psa 127:2.) “Our house,” “our firm,”these are well-known expressions for business associationshow many are hard at work to build such houses? And in the keen competition of the day, how difficult this often is I what temptations are on every hand, by tricks of trade, by what is called smartness, to get on, it matters not much by what means. How many succumb to such temptations, and try to keep one conscience for Sundays and quite another for weekdays! They have little faith in what this psalm says, “Except the Lord,” etc. Their faith is in strenuous hard work, rising early, sitting up late, eating the bread of toil, and so to win rest and repose for themselves. But it is not so, the psalmist declares; for all that toiling and moiling is “vain;” the Lord giveth to his beloved that which they need without all that restlessness and anxiety; their souls repose in him; he keeps them in perfect peace. Let the Lord, then, be the predominant partner in every firm; so shall the house be built.

IV. THE HOME. (Psa 127:3-5.) People marry, and then begins the upbuilding of the family. What strenuous exertion does many a father put forth for the sake of his family! If the children be numerous, the parents are often very slow to appreciate the congratulations of these verses (3-5). The reason is that they are counting most precious for their children what the Lord scarcely counts precious at all. Of course, only a fool would despise secular advantages for his children, if they may be had; but infinitely more important for them is the grace of God possessing their hearts. Then no real ill can come to them, but eternal good shall be their portion.S.C.

Psa 127:2

The sleep God gives.

This psalm is, by its title in our Bible, ascribed to Solomon; in the Septuagint it is left without a title; in the Syriac Version it is ascribed to David. In structure it is like all the rest of these “Psalms of Degrees.” Hence we are very much in the dark as to its date and authorship, and are shut up, as it is well we should be, to its religious teachings. What these are it is not difficult to see; for its plain lesson is that all our defense and security are in the Lord alone. Hence reminder of this is given to the builders of the city, its watchmen and its toilers; and of its greatest earthly defense, the numerous children that should be born, it is declared that the blessed gift of children is from the Lord alone. So that if we are to know the real sense of security without which men cannot sleep, the Lord must give it.

I. NOW, THIS IS TRUE OF OUR LITERAL, NATURAL LIFE. Strong walls and vigilant guards are not enough; the Lord must give one sleep. And he does so.

1. Think of the physical conditions of sleep. They are part of that wonderful organization which God endued us with, and which is so constructed that at due times sweet refreshing sleep shall steal over our senses, and our tired bodies shall have rest.

2. Think of the terrestrial conditions. How this earth of ours swings itself round out of the light into the darkness. “Thou makest darkness, and it is night” (Psa 104:1-35.). The sounds and stir of the day are hushed, and the glare of light is gone for a while, and thus provision for sleep is made.

3. Of the social conditions. Strong governments, wise laws, skilful administration, security for life and property, all that which we call civilization, which God has been teaching men generation after generation,all this, which gives that sense of security without which we could not rest, is part of God’s methods whereby he bestows on us the blessed boon of sleep.

II. IT IS YET MORE TRUE OF THAT CALM AND SERENITY OF SOUL WHICH WE ALL WISH TO ENJOY. It is the Lord who giveth that. The psalm is a reminder to many who were seeking this “in vain” ways (see former homily). It is he who giveth, etc. It is not they who gain it for themselves or in any way earn it; nor is it given to all, but only to the beloved of the Lord. To them he giveth sleep, not the partial and unreal rest of soul which some seem to enjoy. To the builders, the watchmen, the toilers, the word is sent that apart from the Lord all is in vain. “Come unto me, all ye,” etc.

III. AND TRUE, ALSO, OF THE SLEEP OF DEATH. To those who die in the Lord, death is but a sleep prior to a glorious awakening: hence it is so often spoken of as a sleep. But the Lord alone can give this.

1. For it there is needed forgiveness of sin. But this can only come to those who bring the sacrifice of the contrite heart. Even God cannot forgive an impenitent man; for he who will not give up his sin cannot escape the suffering which ever goes along with it.

2. And the new heart. The regenerating grace of the Holy Spirit. “Without holiness shall no man see the Lord.” He that is not meet for heaven cannot enter there.

3. And a continual and utter trust in the love of God in Christ. But all these are his gifts. For them “Christ is all and in all.” Seek them, and so will rest of soul be ours now, and when life is done we shall sleep in him.S.C.

Psa 127:4

Children as arrows.

The psalmist takes far other than that pessimistic view, so common in our day, as to God’s gift of children. Men now too often look upon them as so many misfortunes and encumbrances, and as compelling poverty and privation where else these evils had not been, and as so many channels through which trouble may come to the home in which they have been born. How beautifully and blessedly different is the teaching of this and the following psalm on this matter! Of course, where social conditions are such that, let a man be ever so willing to work, no work can be found for him, and toil as he will he cannot make a living, then the fact of a large family is, at any rate for a time, but an increase of sorrow. But then, such social conditions ought not to be, and the fact that by them what God designed to be so great a blessing is made to be only a terrible calamity, is reason enough why men should strive for a better condition of things. And there can be no doubt that many of man’s laws and, yet more, man’s sins do turn God’s blessings into a curse. But children, it is never to be forgotten, were designed to be God’s blessings, and in myriads of homes they are so. The special blessing the psalmist has in his mind, as coming through our children, is that they are as arrows in the hand of a mighty man. The similitude is a suggestive one.

I. THEY ARE SO FOR PROTECTION. Those children that are born when their parents are young will be of age to help and maintain their parents when these need such help. They defend their home from the attack of poverty and want. Long ere these have reached their home, these arrows have made them turn back.

II. FOR HELP IN THE BATTLE OF LIFE. The spur and stimulus which children impart to their parents, the pleasure they give, the love they awaken, the aspirations after good they arouse,all these things are of vast help in life’s battle, even “as arrows are,” etc.

III. NEED TO BE CAREFULLY PREPARED. Arrows do not grow of themselves: they have to be wrought out with much thought and care. So our children.

IV. AND TO BE WELL AIMED. What is our aim for our children? The arrows will go where they are sent. How many parents there are who have no worthy aim for their children! They will be glad for them to “get on,” to become rich, and to take good positions in society. If they have aim, it is no higher one than that. And those who profess the higher aim, that their children should be the Lord’s, how badly, clumsily, carelessly, they seek that aim!

V. SENT FORTH WITH ALL POWER. See the “mighty man,” how “he bends his bow and makes ready his arrow upon the string,” and then draws it back to its full length, that it may speed with the more force on the way he would have it go; that is a picture of the strenuous, careful endeavor we should make to urge our arrows, our children, in the right way. But what all too little strenuousness there is in this matter!

VI. THEY ARE SURE TO WOUND, IF NOT KILL, SOMEWHERE. The foes of the homewant, godlessness, evil reputation and character, strife and ill will, hopelessness and despair, the malice of men, and much else, the children should slay, and not suffer them to come near us; and good children do this. But if we have not so trained them to thus serve the home, then they will turn and wound and pierce their parents to the heart. Bad children do this. Yes, always, they are “as arrows.”S.C.

HOMILIES BY R. TUCK

Psa 127:1

The God of the family life.

“These pictures are mild and bright; humanizing are they in the best sense: they retain certain elements of Paradise, and yet more the elements of the patriarchal era, with the addition of that patriotism and of that concentration in which the patriarchal life was wanting. The happy religious man, after the Hebrew pattern, possessed those feelings and habitudes which, if they greatly prevail in a community, impart to it the strength of a combination which is stronger than any other; uniting the force of domestic virtue, of rural, yeoman like, agricultural occupations, of unaggressive, defensive valor; and of a religious animation which is national as well as authentic and true” (Isaac Taylor). It is well to note that the very first associations of human beings over which God presided took the form of family life. Of Adam it is said, “which was the son of God,” so the first relation of humanity was a family relation. When Adam and Eve had a child, earth held its model relationshipit had a family group. The patriarchs were but heads of families. The nation of Israel was Jehovah’s family. And Christ came to restore for humanity its Divine family relationships. Man organized for himself fictitious social and citizen relations. Man made towns, governments, kings. All who are concerned in the welfare of humanity realize that everything depends on the healthy maintenance of family life. Napoleon was asked what could be done to restore the prestige of France. At once he replied, “Give us better mothers.”

I. GOD INTERESTED IN FAMILY LIFE. The “God of the families of his people,” he is called. The interest belongs to his own paternity; and we can partly realize it as we think of our interest in our children’s children. It is possible to exaggerate in presenting God’s interest in the individual. The plea for a family religion and a family altar is based on God‘s family care and blessing.

II. GOD WORKING IN FAMILY LIFE. Using its associations, cares, and mutual services for his work of character-culture. The commonplaces of family life only gain their dignity when God is seen to be using them; and the anxieties of family life become endurable when we feel sure that God is overruling. The Divine training of character for the life that is coming, by sanctifying family experiences, needs to be much more fully considered than it is.

III. GOD WORKING THROUGH FAMILY LIFE. That is, working his great work for humanity through the witness of family life. There is no mightier force used by God for securing the redemption of the race.R.T.

Psa 127:1

The true city watchman.

“Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.” This would come home very forcibly to the restored exiles if, as we may well assume, the psalm was written before Nehemiah restored the walls of the holy city. Then the only protection of the city must have been the vigilance of the night-watchmen, which never could be depended on. And yet the city containing God’s people was absolutely secure; and would have been as secure if no watchmen had ever paced their ordered rounds. Their God was their defense. In older days, foes gathered round, but they never broke in, unless God gave them a commission of discipline or judgment. The restored exiles were surrounded by active enemies, and exposed on every side. But it did not matter. The fiat of Divine love and power held them in strictest restraint. Scheme they might, but they could not overpass Jehovah’s limits, “Hitherto shalt thou come, and no further.” The truth may be illustrated in all those human arrangements for mutual safety which have for their type the city watchman, and which we call national and local government. So elaborate is man’s device for securing the liberty of the person, the safety of property, and the health of the family, that there is grave danger of losing all sense of needing God. Indeed, God in city life is but a sentiment. And yet we remove his direct relation from the various forms of human association at our peril. Be it government, or socialistic self-government, “unless the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.” Very remarkable is the way in which man’s civilization brings mischief as well as good; and his seemingly perfect schemes leave loop-holes for the entrance of desolating evils. This may be illustrated from city sanitary schemes, and from the prevalence of particular types of diseases, and from the masterful spread of epidemics such as’ influenza. It may be shown that the true preservation of a city is an immaterial matter as well as a material; it is as closely related to morals and religion as to safety for property, healthy houses, and pure water. And if it could be sowhich it cannotthat we succeed in separating God from the material, no one can delude himself with the idea that God is not concerned with the moral and religious. So, after all, it must be God who “keeps the city.”R.T.

Psa 127:2

The limited value of self-exertion.

The great lesson of this psalm is “that without God’s blessing all human efforts and human precautions are in vain; that man can never command success; that God gives and man receives.” It is suggested that the psalm was written to check self-congratulation and self-reliance on the part of those who were rejoicing in their national restoration. The sentence, “so he giveth his beloved sleep,” may meanso much as others gain by hardest toil and pains God gives to his beloved even while they sleep and can do nothing. While they are slumbering he is giving. “The pious, God-fearing man attains the same end without exertion of his own.” Delitzsch well summarizes the points of the psalm: “The rearing of the house which affords us protection, and the stability of the city in which we securely and peaceably dwell, the acquisition of possessions that maintain and adorn life, the begetting and rearing of sons that may contribute substantial support to the father as he grows old,all these are things which depend upon the blessing of God, without natural preliminary conditions being able to guarantee them, well-devised arrangements to ensure them, unwearied labors to obtain them by force, or impatient care and murmuring to get them by defiance.”

I. SELF–EXERTION SHOULD BE ESTIMATED. It has its value. It is not necessarily wrong. Human enterprise and energy, the impress of a man’s self on his work, is required in every department of life. Human labor and watchfulness are never superfluous in their right spheres. It is no true piety to under value self-exertion. Man must everywhere be his best possible.

II. SELF–EXERTION SHOULD BE RIGHTLY ESTIMATED. It has no right to claim the first place in a man’s confidence. That he must keep for dependence on God. A man may work in dependence on himself, and he may work in dependence on God. Self-exertion is only rightly estimated when it is seen as loyalty and service to God (comp. Php 2:12, Php 2:13, and illustrate by the prophet’s putting his hand on the king’s hand when the king drew the bow).

III. SELF–EXERTION SHOULD BE DIVINELY ESTIMATED, The question is not what men think of our energy and enterprise. It isWhat does God think of it? Does he see it as a trying to push beyond him, and to be independent of him? or does he see it to be loyal and loving working with him? If the latter, then his blessing is upon the righteous.R.T.

Psa 127:3

Children a man’s reward.

The picture presented is of the Hebrew man in mid-life, at rest in his country home, with his sturdy sons about him; his wife is still young; her fair daughters are like cornices sculptured as decorations for a palace” (Isaac Taylor). The Jews at all times of their history esteemed a large family one of the chief of blessings. “The Oriental view interweaves itself with the religious creed of the Brahmins, according to which a son, by offering the funeral libation, is said to procure rest for the departed spirit of his father.” By “reward” we may understand “sign of Divine favor.” The reward of a whole life’s goodness cannot come until the life is completed. Signs of Divine favor cheer and encourage as life progresses. Some married people do not have families, but we have no right to regard the withholding as a judgment. We need only say that, when children are sent, they are a sign of Divine favor. And this is not saying that all children who come into the world come as a Divine reward. We are exclusively dealing with the families of God’s people, and all we have said is strictly true of them. There is a great compensation for persons who have no children, in the fact that they often have an unusual love for other-people‘s children, and skill in ministering to them. This is illustrated in Sunday schools, ministers, orphan and outcast institutions, etc.

I. CHILDREN REWARD A MAN IN WHAT THEY THEMSELVES ARE. A man has no pleasure in life that can equal his joy in his children, who bear his image, and in miniature reproduce himself. Their ways, their talk, their crudities, their innocence, their unfolding, their very frailties, are a perpetual interest, relief, and pleasure. The child-ministry of childhood is seldom sufficiently estimated. Illustration may be taken from McLeod’s ‘Wee Davie;’ or the more recent story of ‘Bootle’s Baby.’

II. CHILDREN REWARD A MAN IN WHAT THEY BECOME. For a man lives over again in the success of his children. He is proud of their well-grown healthy bodies; of their developed, and cultured minds; of their honorable and useful positions. A man never feels to have lived in vain when he leaves a respectable and well-ordered family behind him.

III. CHILDREN REWARD A MAN IN WHAT THEY DO FOE HIM. This is especially in the psalmist’s mind. The good man who has good children has a fortune laid up against old age and infirmity safer far than shares in joint-stock companies. His every need will be safely met by the response child-love will make to all his sacrifices in days gone by.R.T.

Psa 127:4

Children a man’s power.

“As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.” They are his effective agents in the battle of life. This is illustrated in many a business. The man is greatly helped as difficulties develop, and responsibilities increase, who has his own sons to share his burdens. The service of hirelings, however devoted and faithful, can never equal that of sons. A man gradually outgrows the toiling part of life. He may think and plan better than ever; but the executive power fails; and it is well if sons arise to be not only arrows, but even arms, for him. In the entire active sphere of life a man’s sons may come to take his place.

I. CHILDREN ARE A MAN‘S POWER WHEN RIGHT RELATIONS ARE MAINTAINED. The assumption of the psalm is that they are maintained. The godly man’s God-fearing children alone are in thought. When children grow up willful, wayward, un-son-like, they are a man’s weakness. They are arrows bent from the straight, which may do more mischief than good. So on children the Word of God presses the duty of maintaining the family relation, and “honoring the father and the mother.” And the relation must be preserved right up to the close of life. For long a son stands with his father; the time comes when he may have to stand for his father. Neglect of, and cruelty to, aged parents belong to heathenism, not to the religion of the eternal Father.

II. CHILDREN ARE A MAN‘S POWER WHEN RIGHT CHARACTER IS CULTURED. What children are to their parents will of necessity depend much on natural disposition. Even an affectionate disposition finds expression in various forms. But it depends very much more on home-training. Parents may make themselves too independent, and, seeking little help from their children, get but little when they sorely need it. True home-culture nourishes mutual service. Only out of the practice of a Common service can the special ministries of times of strain be found to grow.R.T.

Psa 127:5

Children a man’s security.

The sons of a man’s youth-time are specially mentioned, because they would naturally grow up to be a support and protection to their father in his old age, when he would most need their support, If he should be involved in a lawsuit, his stalwart sons would not suffer might to prevail against right. Some think the reference is to a battle fought with besiegers at the gates. But the peaceful association is better. “Unjust judges, malicious accusers, and false witnesses were shy and faint-hearted before a family so capable of defending itself.”

I. CHILDREN A SECURITY AGAINST POVERTY. How this comes round to the aged is sadly illustrated by the number of old people who end their days in a workhouse; and by the number of cases in which business men keep too long in business, and fail to adjust their methods to new times. Many an old man has wrecked a good business simply by keeping it on too long. If there are children, they arrest the decaying process, bring in new life, and so keep away the poverty which would otherwise enter as an armed man.

II. CHILDREN A SECURITY AGAINST AFFLICTION. There is nothing sadder than the aged man, in invalid condition, tended only by strangers. No matter what may be the form which the decay of nature takes, there is reliefthe best reliefif the aged parent is tended and cared for by his own children. And there are annals of heroism, which relate the self-denying devotion of children, who have taken away well-nigh all the bitterness and strain of last months of affliction.

III. CHILDREN ARE A SECURITY AGAINST ENEMIES. For a man may suffer, worthily or unworthily, through his own weaknesses, or through persistent malice, right up to the close of his life. It makes one sad to think of David, not only groaning about enemies in his old age, but speaking bitterly about them. But they rage in vain, and must leave the old man in peace, if his sons are round him, and defending him. To him they may be “sons of peace.”R.T.

HOMILIES BY C. SHORT

Psa 127:1

The Divine Builder.

(For the opening or reopening of a church.) “Except the Lord build the house,” etc.

I. OUR DEPENDENCE UPON GOD FOR ALL REAL PROSPERITY.

1. Consider the material of the house we are building. “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” “Ye also as living stones, are built up a spiritual house,” etc. The spiritual temple dwarfs the most magnificent material cathedrals.

2. The Divine implements employed on the building. Spiritual men working with Divine truthsthe gospelto build up a spiritual edifice. But some conditions to be remembered.

(1) That the qualifications for such work are God-given, “By the grace of God I am what I am.”

(2) Even then we are still dependent upon the cooperative blessing of God’s Spirit. “So then neither is he that planteth anything [alone], neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase.” The soul like an organ. The keys give no musical response to the touch of the most skilful player till the wind is passed to the pipes.

II. HOW DEPENDENCE UPON GOD MAY BEST BE PROMOTED.

1. By the most strenuous spiritual effort on our part. This no paradox; for the more we aim to do for God, the more shall we feel the need of God to give us true success.

2. By constantly thinking of the greatness of his work, and the littleness of our faculties in relation to it. Men succeed in grand material enterprises and intellectual achievementsconstruct mighty bridges and steam-enginesand write magnificent books and poems; but to win men to Christ a good life is the most arduous work in life, demanding the highest inspirations of the mind.

3. We must realize the spirit of dependence by the constant help of prayer. To know the value of work we must put ourselves forth in constantly renewed endeavor; but our highest work can be sustained only by the help of the devoutest prayer.S.

Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary

Psalms 127.

The virtue of God’s blessing. Good children are his gift.

A Song of Degrees for Solomon.

Title. Shiir hammangaloth lishlomoh.] This is said to have been composed by Solomon, and is observed to be a commentary upon a pious maxim, which is several times repeated in the Proverbs, That no endeavours of man can be prosperous, without the blessing and assistance of God. Mr. Mudge, however, observes, that there seems to be no other reason for attributing the psalm to Solomon, than that the first verse talks of building a house. It evidently points to a certain family, which God had blessed with security, affluence, and children; and was occasioned, I suppose, by the lovely appearance they made when they came to present themselves before the temple, to pay the customary homage to God.

Psa 127:1. Except the Lord, &c. In this first verse the Psalmist shews how vain it is to attempt any thing, if the Lord do not prosper it, both in relation to private families and public societies; for by building the house, is meant the increase of children and the bringing them up in the fear of Jehovah; by which houses, i.e. families, are built up, supported, and continued. In this sense the expression is used, Gen 16:2., Exo 1:21., Deu 25:9; Deu 25:19. As, unless God keep the city, that is, guard and preserve public societies, the watchmen will do little good; so unless God build up private families, all the industry of men will not be successful for that purpose.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Psalms 127

A Song of Degrees for Solomon

Except the Lord build the house,
They labour in vain that build it:
Except the Lord keep the city,
The watchman waketh but in vain.

2It is vain for you to rise up early,

To sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows:

For so he giveth his beloved sleep.

3Lo, children are a heritage of the Lord:

And the fruit of the womb is his reward.

4As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man:

So are children of the youth.

5Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them:

They shall not be ashamed,
But they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Contents and Composition.All help, all protection, and all blessing come from God; without Him all labor, care, and trouble are vain. This thought, related to Pro 10:22, and expressed in the form of a mashal is individualized by the building of a house, the watching of a city, and the earning of bread (Psa 127:1-2), and the Divine blessing of a numerous offspring (Psa 127:3-5). There is no definite allusion to the building of the Temple by Solomon (most of the older expositors after the Rabbins), or to that after the Restoration (many since Theodoret). Nor is there any trace of a special connection with the two following Psalms (Hitzig). There is nothing to falsify the reference to Solomon as the author in the superscription. [The title should be rendered: by Solomon] This statement, however, is not found in the Sept. Nor is it decisive of itself that in 2Sa 12:25 the name Jedediah, beloved, is given to Solomon, and that he was promised prosperity, 1Ki 3:5, in a dream (Hengst.) It may have been just from these resemblances that the inference of a Salomonic authorship was made (Olsh., Delitzsch, Hitzig). It is purely arbitrary to infer (Stier), from the aphoristic form that David here speaks of Solomon (Syr.) although the forcible language and vivacious tone, if not, in the absence of all political allusion, necessarily indicating a highly flourishing state of the kingdom (Hengst. after the older commentators), yet do argue a prosperous period in the life of the author and a soul satisfied in God. The assumption that the Psalm is a fragment is devoid of all support. [If it was the Collector who inserted the statement with regard to the authorship, he probably had better reasons for his opinion than those which have led so many critics (in whose wake Perowne again seems inclined to follow) to fancy that Solomon was not the author.1J. F. M.]

Psa 127:1-2. Build the houseIt is not the laying of the foundation of a patrimony (Calvin, Geier, Calov., et al.) but of house building in its strict sense. [Translate: They have labored, they have watched. The writer places himself at the end of the work and sees its result (Perowne)J. F. M.] In Psa 127:2 the sitting down is to be closely connected with what follows. They come late to sit down to eat (Hitzig, Del.); they get their bread by toiling and moiling. Others take the expression as equivalent to lying down, so that by rising up early and retiring late, they lengthen the natural day by artificial means (Sept., Syr., Calvin, Geier, et al., Hupfeld). Sitting at meals was customary (1Sa 20:34) before the Greek custom of reclining was introduced among the Jews. The words do not refer to sitting at work until late at night (Aben Ezra, Luther, et al.) does not mean: for (Luther) but: thus. This means: without more trouble, (Bttcher) or: in like manner, and passes over into the notion: such, or: the same.Sleep is here not contrasted with labor but with trouble and care, and expresses the freedom from trouble and the peace of the man who reposes in Gods protection. A false translation is: when he giveth His beloved sleep (Sept., Vulg.) [The explanation of the last clause of the verse which is now generally followed is this: God is represented as giving to those whom he loves in sleep, that is without any fatiguing toil on their part, all things that are for their own good. Sleep is evidently contrasted with the late working of those who do not give themselves up to Gods protection, and who are alluded to in the first part of the verse. The following is probably the correct translation: It is vain for you rising early, sitting down late, eating the bread of toil; thus (the things thus sought for) He giveth His beloved in sleep.J. F. M.]

Psa 127:4-5. The children of youth are not young children (Luth., Rudinger, Rosenm.), but they are contrasted with the children of old age (Gen 37:3). As such they are already grown up when their father is growing old, and are therefore able to assist him (Geier). The gate (Psa 127:5) is used for the places of public resort (Psa 5:9), especially those where justice is administered (Deu 21:19 and elsewhere). A taking part in such affairs, in general, therefore, judging (Isa 20:4; 2Sa 19:30; Jer 12:1) is probably meant here also, and not specially a struggle in defence of the fatherland (Rudinger, Rosenm., Umbreit). The subject of the statement is not merely the sons as defenders (Calvin, Geier, De Wette, Hengst.), or the fathers as accused but not pronounced guilty (Grotius, Kster), but both in common (Aben Ezra, Kimchi, Grotius, and most).In the translation: sons of the outcasts (Sept., Vulg.), an allusion was perceived to those born in the captivity. The translation in Psa 127:5 : blessed is he whose desire is fulfilled by them, weakens the sense.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

Through Gods blessing our labor prospers without harassing trial and without anxiety.Parents have not given their children to themselves. God has presented them to them; are they also treated and educated accordingly?We must gratefully and humbly ascribe to God every successful result, and nothing to our own strength, ability, or endurance, and employ all our strength, time, and gifts in reliance upon Gods assistance, and according to His will, so that we may not be ashamed.To begin and end with God, takes from every day its burden.

Starke: Let God be the beginning and the end in all things, and thou wilt walk securely on thy way so that thy foot shall not stumble.Gods servants in the ministry of His Church built Him a spiritual house. If it is to be built rightly, God Himself must be the Master-builderBe first a friend of God, and then do what is commanded thee, leaving the rest to Him. He will prosper thy affairs even while thou sleepest, if thou dost lie down with full trust in Him.To be able to sleep quietly in the midst of much labor, is a blessing of God.Gifts are not to be forced from the giver.Parents act sinfully who murmur against God, if He does not bless their married life with offspring.It is an affliction of married life to have no children; but to have spoiled children is much worse. Prayer and wisdom are necessary to educate them rightly.

Frisch: All the servants of God have to build up the house of the Lord, that is, the Church of God. But God must be the Master-builder, and give success from above to the work of His servants.Rieger: In all situations, success does not depend upon diligence, skill, or natural sagacity, but upon Gods blessing and providence. Men should therefore not lose their trust in God by immoderate application, or suffer themselves to be annoyed by difficulties which meet them, or become self-exalted with success.Richter: Sons well brought up are a protection, honor, and blessing to their father.Guenther: Lord, do Thou thus build our houses, defend our city and country, bless our exertions, educate our children to become citizens of the city of God, and at last show us mercy in the final judgmentTaube: The secret of domestic blessing, how it rests, not upon our labor or care, not in human watching and power, but only in the gifts of mercy from above.

[Matt. Henry: Such children are arrows in the hand, which with prudence may be directed aright to the mark, Gods glory and the service of their generation, but afterwards when they are gone out into the world, they are arrows out of the hand; it is too late to bend them then. But these arrows in the hand prove often arrows in the heart, a constant grief to their godly parents, whose grey hairs they bring with sorrow to the grave.Bishop Horne: If Gods aid be called in, if part of our time be spent in prayer, not the whole of it in prayerless toiling and moiling, our work will become easier and go on better.Scott: Children should also remember their obligations to their parents, and study to requite them by laboring to supply their wants, to vindicate their characters, and to protect them from oppression in their old age.J. F. M.]

Footnotes:

[1][Mr. Perowne, following an opinion alluded to above, asserts (I. p. 95) that a misunderstanding of the words: except Jehovah build the house, which were supposed to allude to the building of the Temple, led the Psalm to be ascribed to Solomon. In other words, the Collector committed a blunder in interpretation, of which no unlearned reader of our day is guilty. On the other hand, why should he ignore the possibility that Solomon, who was something of a house-builder in his time, apart from his connection with the Temple, and who speaks elsewhere so feelingly of the vanity of unaided human labor, might have generalized his own experience for the benefit of his nation; and that, being something of a moralist and proverbial philosopher, he might have presented this and some kindred thoughts in the form of an apophthegmatic Psalm; and that, being an acknowledged teacher in his kingdom, he might, in accordance with a custom not unusual with him, have accompanied this utterance with his own name? The unqualified assertion just quoted simply assumes the impossibility of this. As to why Solomon should not have been the author we are left by Mr. Perowne entirely in the dark, nothing approaching to an argument being found in his discussion of the subject.J. F. M.]

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

CONTENTS

This Psalm contains a pious and devout acknowledgment, that all blessings are from the Lord. Neither the builder, nor the soldier, nor the master of a family, can be successful in their several callings, but from the divine mercy.

A Song of Degrees for Solomon.

Psa 127:1

Under two striking similitudes, the sacred Writer points out the vast necessity of looking stedfastly, and continually to God, for his blessing upon every concern. He instanceth the cases of the builder, and the soldier. No builder like him that buildeth for eternity; no soldier like him that fights, or watcheth for an immortal victory: but whence, for either shall we hope for success, except we be founded in the Lord Jesus Christ?

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

God the Builder of the Home

Psa 127:1

He who undertakes to build up a home without God fails and fails dismally. The first requisite in the building of the home is character, and the final purpose of every true home is the strengthening and development of character. Let us consider the practical bearing of this thought of the home as a school of character.

I. The first necessity is surely a frank recognition of the Divinity of the home. The division of secular and sacred is misleading in almost all its applications; nothing is secular but that which is enfeebling, ugly, sinful; everything which has a legitimate function in life should be viewed by Christian people as sacred, and the scenes of all such activities should be holy places. You read the report of a gathering held in some church or chapel, and the newspaper informs you that the ‘sacred edifice’ was well filled. Now whilst for my own part I fully understand and sympathize with the deep and often superstitious veneration even of the wood and stone that has been long associated with the prayer and praise of devout people, I find a deeper truth in the view of Puritanism that every place in which reverence is paid to God, and duty performed in fellowship with Him, becomes thereby sacred. Convention would scarcely permit the reporter to describe your house as a ‘sacred edifice,’ but it ought to be that, and the sense of its holiness ought to grow on you year by year as the Divine meaning of the home becomes clearer.

II. The acknowledgment of God in the home is the basis of all true culture of souls, and the secret of the best type of home influence. And in speaking of the ‘culture of souls’ and of ‘home influence’ it is well to remind you that such words do not refer merely to the influence of parents upon children; the earliest pupils in the school of the home are the husband and wife themselves. They are at once pupils and teachers, each learning from the other, each instructing the other.

III. In the presence of the most solemn of all life’s tasks, the training of children, how momentous is the significance of our text! The religious destiny of the rising generation is largely, under God, within the power of the parents. What do our children acquire in our homes? Maxims of commonplace morality, or the sense of God as a near and warm friend? To believe in the grandeur of your children’s possibilities, fathers and mothers, to believe that even in childhood they may acquire the God-regarding habit; how great a matter is this, and what dignity and worth it would impart to their characters! The Lord builds our homes that our labour be not in vain! He will. He does. The very word ‘home’ thrills us; it comes to us laden with the sacred associations of many faithful generations; and by His grace shall we not covenant with Him and with one another in high resolve to make home life yet more joyous and Divine?

References. CXXVII. 1. J. S. Bartlett, Sermons, p. 198. C. J. Vaughan, Memorials of Harrow Sundays, p. 1. C. D. Bell, The Name Above Every Name, p. 232. J. Baldwin Brown, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxiii. p. 103. CXXVII. 1-3. J. Bowstead, Practical Sermons, vol. i. p. 129.

The Gift of Sleep

Psa 127:2

The Psalmist is warning against that overwork which so surely degenerates into worry. He is picturing the man who overdrives himself until he has no leisure and no liberty. Remember that the Psalmist never dreamed of casting a slur upon honest, manly labour. What was borne in upon his soul was this: that by overtoil we lose more than we gain, for many of the richest gifts of heaven only approach us as by the path of slumber.

I. Let me consider that thought, thinking first of the blessings of our infancy. There is a world of love encompassing an infant, yet how unconscious the babe is of it all. Not alone in the land beyond the river is a place prepared for every one God loves. When into this present life a child awakes, hearts have been busy with the preparation; it is clad and fed, and sheltered from the storm. Yet who more passive than that little infant? Helpless it lies, and doomed to certain death if life depended upon its puny efforts. But ‘God giveth to His beloved sleep’.

II. Our text has a great depth of meaning when we think upon the influences that play upon youth. Mightier influences than any teacher wields are being wielded beyond the class-room walls; in the loving intercourse of home there is progressing a deeper education than has ever been dreamed of in the standards. Its lesson book is not the printed page; it is the happy companionship of boyhood. Yet how absolutely and utterly unconscious is the youth of the blessings which are ingathering on him so, and which are to make him rich through all the years.

III. Our text has large significance in regard to the pursuit of happiness. The only sure way to miss the gift of happiness is to rise early and sit up late for it. The way to be happy is not to toil for happiness. It is to be awake to what is higher and fall asleep to that, and then as the day goes on, comes the discovery that ‘God giveth to His beloved in sleep’.

G. H. Morrison, The Wings of the Morning, p. 24.

References. CXXVII. 2. H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 1666, p. 367. J. T. Stannard, The Divine Humanity, p. 125. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. i. No. 12. C. J. Vaughan, Memorials of Harrow Sundays, p. 1. CXXVII. 3. W. Braden, Christian World Pulpit, vol. vii. p. 369. CXXVII. 3-5. H. W. Beecher, Ibid. vol. ix. p. 323. CXXVII. International Critical Commentary, vol. ii. p. 457.

Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson

XV

PSALM AFTER DAVID PRIOR TO THE BABYLONIAN EXILE

The superscriptions ascribed to Asaph twelve palms (Psa 50 ; 73-83) Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun presided over the Levitical singers in the time of David. Their sons also directed the various bands of musicians (1Ch 25 ). It seems that the family of Asaph for many generations continued to preside over the service of song (Cf. Ezr 3:10 ).

The theme of Psa 50 is “Obedience is better than sacrifice,” or the language of Samuel to Saul when he had committed the awful sin in respect to the Amalekites. This teaching is paralleled in many Old Testament scriptures, for instance, Psa 51:16-17 . For thou delightest not in sacrifice; else would I give it: Thou hast no pleasure in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

The problem of Psa 73 is the problem of why the wicked prosper (Psa 73:1-14 ), and its solution is found in the attitude of God toward the wicked (Psa 73:15-28 ). [For a fine exposition of the other psalms of this section see Kirkpatrick or Maclaren on the Psalms.]

The psalms attributed to the sons of Korah are Psa 42 ; Psa 44 ; Psa 45 ; Psa 47 ; Psa 48 ; Psa 49 ; Psa 84 ; Psa 85 ; Psa 87 . The evidence that Psalms 42-43 were one poem is internal. There are three stanzas, each closing with a refrain. The similarity of structure and thought indicates that they were formerly one psalm. A parallel to these two psalms we find in the escape of Christian from the Castle of Giant Despair in Pilgrim’s Progress .

Only two psalms were ascribed to Solomon, viz: Psa 72 and 127. However, the author believes that there is good reason to attribute Psa 72 to David. If he wrote it, then only one was written by Solomon.

The theme of Psa 72 is the reign of the righteous king, and the outline according to DeWitt, which shows the kingdom as desired and foretold, is as follows: (1) righteous (Psa 72:1-4 ) ; (2) perpetual (Psa 72:5-7 ); (3) universal (Psa 72:8-11 ); (4) benign (Psa 72:12-14 ); (5) prosperous (Psa 72:15-17 ).

Psa 127 was written when Solomon built the Temple. It is the central psalm of the psalms of the Ascents, which refer to the Temple. It seems fitting that this psalm should occupy the central position in the group, because of the occasion which inspired it and its relation to the other psalms of the group. A brief interpretation of it is as follows: The house here means household. It is a brief lyric, setting forth the lessons of faith and trust. This together with Psa 128 is justly called “A Song of Home.” Once in speaking to Baylor Female College I used this psalm, illustrating the function of a school as a parent sending forth her children into the world as mighty arrows. Again I used this psalm in one of my addresses in our own Seminary in which I made the household to refer to the Seminary sending forth the preachers as her children.

The psalms assigned to the era of Hezekiah and Isaiah are Psa 46 ; Psa 47 ; Psa 48 . The historical setting is found in the history of the reign of Hezekiel. Their application to Judah at this time is found in the historical connection, in which we have God’s great deliverances from the foreign powers, especially the deliverance from Sennacherib. We find in poetry a description of the destruction and desolation of Jerusalem in the Lamentations of Jeremiah and in Psa 74 ; Psa 79 .

The radical critics ascribe Psa 74 ; Psa 79 to the Maccabean period, and their argument is based upon the use of the word “synagogues,” in Psa 74:8 . The answer to their contention is found in the marginal rendering which gives “places of assembly” instead of “synagogues.” The word “synagogue” is a Greek word translated from the Hebrew, which has several meanings, and in this place means the “place of assembly” where God met his people.

The silence of the exile period is shown in Psa 137 , in which they respond that they cannot sing a song of Zion in a strange land. Their brightening of hope is seen in Psa 102 . In this we have the brightening of their hope on the eve of their return. In Psa 85:10 we have a great text:

Mercy and truth are met together;

Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

The truth here is God’s law demanding justice; mercy is God’s grace meeting justice. This was gloriously fulfilled in Christ on the cross. He met the demands of the law and offers mercy and grace to all who accept them on the terms of repentance and faith.

Three characteristics of Psa 119 are, first, it is an alphabetical psalm; second, it is the longest chapter in the Bible, and third, it is an expansion of the latter part of Psa 19 . Psalms 146-150 were used for worship in the second temple. The expressions of innocence in the psalms do not refer to original sin, but to a course of conduct in contrast with wicked lives. The psalmists do not claim absolute, but relative sinlessness.

The imprecations in the psalms are real prayers, and are directed against real men who were enemies of David and the Jewish nation, but they are not expressions of personal resentment. They are vigorous expressions of righteous indignation against incorrigible enemies of God and his people and are to be interpreted in the light of progressive revelation. The New Testament contains many exultant expressions of the overthrow of the wicked. (Cf. 1Co 16:22 ; 2Ti 4:14 ; Gal 5:12 ; Rev 16:5-6 ; Rev 18:20 .) These imprecations do not teach that we, even in the worst circumstances, should bear personal malice, nor take vengeance on the enemies of righteousness, but that we should live so close to God that we may acquiesce in the destruction of the wicked and leave the matter of vengeance in the hands of a just God, to whom vengeance belongs (Rom 12:19-21 ).

The clearest teachings on the future life as found in the psalms, both pro and con, are found in these passages, as follows: Psa 16:10-11 ; Psa 17:15 ; Psa 23:6 ; Psa 49:15 ; Psa 73:23-26 . The passages that are construed to the contrary are found in Psa 6:5 ; Psa 30:9 ; Psa 39:13 ; Psa 88:10-12 ; Psa 115:17 . The student will compare these passages and note carefully their teachings. The first group speaks of the triumph over Sheol (the resurrection) ; about awaking in the likeness of God; about dwelling in the house of the Lord forever; about redemption from the power of Sheol; and God’s guiding counsel and final reception into glory, all of which is very clear and unmistakable teaching as to the future life.

The second group speaks of DO remembrance in death; about no profit to the one when he goes down to the pit; of going hence and being no more; about the dead not being able to praise God and about the grave as being the land of forgetfulness ; and about the dead not praising Jehovah, all of which are spoken from the standpoint of the grave and temporal death.

There is positively no contradiction nor discrepancy in the teaching of these scriptures. One group takes the spirit of man as the viewpoint and teaches the continuity of life, the immortality of the soul; the other group takes the physical being of man as the viewpoint and teaches the dissolution of the body and its absolute unconsciousness in the grave.

QUESTIONS

1. How many and what psalms were ascribed to Asaph?

2. Who presided over the Levitical singers in the time of David?

3. What is the theme of Psa 50 , and where do we find the same teaching in the Old Testament?

4. What is the problem of Psa 73 , and what its solution?

5. What psalms are attributed to the sons of Korah?

6. What is the evidence that Psalms 42-43 were one poem and what the characteristic of these two taken together?

7. What parallel to these two psalms do we find in modern literature?

8. What psalms were ascribed to Solomon?

9. What is the theme of Psa 72 ?

10. What is the outline according to DeWitt, which shows the kingdom as desired and foretold?

11. When was Psa 127 written and what the application as a part of the Pilgrim group?

12. Give a brief interpretation of it and the uses made of it by the author on two different occasions.

13. What psalms are assigned to the era of Hezekiah and Isaiah, and what their historical setting?

14. What is their application to Judah at this time?

15. Where may we find in poetry a description of the destruction and desolation of Jerusalem?

16. To what period do radical critics ascribe Psalms 74-79; what is their argument, and what is your answer?

17. Which psalm shows the silence of the exile period and why?

18. Which one shows their brightening of hope?

19. Explain Psa 85:10 .

20. Give three characteristics of Psa 119 .

21. What use was made of Psalms 146-150?

22. Explain the expression of innocence in the psalms in harmony with their teaching of sin.

23. Explain the imprecations in the psalms and show their harmony with New Testament teachings.

24. Cite the clearest teachings on the future life as found in the psalms, both pro and con.

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

PSALMS

XI

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF PSALMS

According to my usual custom, when taking up the study of a book of the Bible I give at the beginning a list of books as helps to the study of that book. The following books I heartily commend on the Psalms:

1. Sampey’s Syllabus for Old Testament Study . This is especially good on the grouping and outlining of some selected psalms. There are also some valuable suggestions on other features of the book.

2. Kirkpatrick’g commentary, in “Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges,” is an excellent aid in the study of the Psalter.

3. Perowne’s Book of Psalms is a good, scholarly treatise on the Psalms. A special feature of this commentary is the author’s “New Translation” and his notes are very helpful.

4. Spurgeon’s Treasury of David. This is just what the title implies. It is a voluminous, devotional interpretation of the Psalms and helpful to those who have the time for such extensive study of the Psalter.

5. Hengstenburg on the Psalms. This is a fine, scholarly work by one of the greatest of the conservative German scholars.

6. Maclaren on the Psalms, in “The Expositor’s Bible,” is the work of the world’s safest, sanest, and best of all works that have ever been written on the Psalms.

7. Thirtle on the Titles of the Psalms. This is the best on the subject and well worth a careful study.

At this point some definitions are in order. The Hebrew word for psalm means praise. The word in English comes from psalmos , a song of lyrical character, or a song to be sung and accompanied with a lyre. The Psalter is a collection of sacred and inspired songs, composed at different times and by different authors.

The range of time in composition was more than 1,000 years, or from the time of Moses to the time of Ezra. The collection in its present form was arranged probably by Ezra in the fifth century, B.C.

The Jewish classification of Old Testament books was The Law, the Prophets, and the Holy Writings. The Psalms was given the first place in the last group.

They had several names, or titles, of the Psalms. In Hebrew they are called “The Book of Prayers,” or “The Book of Praises.” The Hebrew word thus used means praises. The title of the first two books is found in Psa 72:20 : “The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.” The title of the whole collection of Psalms in the Septuagint is Biblos Psalman which means the “Book of Psalms.” The title in the Alexandrian Codex is Psalterion which is the name of a stringed instrument, and means “The Psalter.”

The derivation of our English words, “psalms,” “psalter,” and “psaltery,” respectively, is as follows:

1. “Psalms” comes from the Greek word, psalmoi, which is also from psallein , which means to play upon a stringed instrument. Therefore the Psalms are songs played upon stringed instruments, and the word here is used to apply to the whole collection.

2. “Psalter” is of the same origin and means the Book of Psalms and refers also to the whole collection.

3. “Psaltery” is from the word psalterion, which means “a harp,” an instrument, supposed to be in the shape of a triangle or like the delta of the Greek alphabet. See Psa 33:2 ; Psa 71:22 ; Psa 81:2 ; Psa 144:9 .

In our collection there are 150 psalms. In the Septuagint there is one extra. It is regarded as being outside the sacred collection and not inspired. The subject of this extra psalm is “David’s victory over Goliath.” The following is a copy of it: I was small among my brethren, And youngest in my father’s house, I used to feed my father’s sheep. My hands made a harp, My fingers fashioned a Psaltery. And who will declare unto my Lord? He is Lord, he it is who heareth. He it was who sent his angel And took me from my father’s sheep, And anointed me with the oil of his anointing. My brethren were goodly and tall, But the Lord took no pleasure in them. I went forth to meet the Philistine. And he cursed me by his idols But I drew the sword from beside him; I beheaded him and removed reproach from the children of Israel.

It will be noted that this psalm does not have the earmarks of an inspired production. There is not found in it the modesty so characteristic of David, but there is here an evident spirit of boasting and self-praise which is foreign to the Spirit of inspiration.

There is a difference in the numbering of the psalms in our version which follows the Hebrew, and the numbering in the Septuagint. Omitting the extra one in the Septuagint, there is no difference as to the total number. Both have 150 and the same subject matter, but they are not divided alike.

The following scheme shows the division according to our version and also the Septuagint: Psalms 1-8 in the Hebrew equal 1-8 in the Septuagint; 9-10 in the Hebrew combine into 9 in the Septuagint; 11-113 in the Hebrew equal 10-112 in the Septuagint; 114-115 in the Hebrew combine into 113 in the Septuagint; 116 in the Hebrew divides into 114-115 in the Septuagint; 117-146 in the Hebrew equal 116-145 in the Septuagint; 147 in the Hebrew divides into 146-147 in the Septuagint; 148-150 in the Hebrew equal 148-150 in the Septuagint.

The arrangement in the Vulgate is the same as the Septuagint. Also some of the older English versions have this arangement. Another difficulty in numbering perplexes an inexperienced student in turning from one version to another, viz: In the Hebrew often the title is verse I, and sometimes the title embraces verses 1-2.

The book divisions of the Psalter are five books, as follows:

Book I, Psalms 1-41 (41 chapters)

Book II, Psalms 42-72 (31 chapters)

Book III, Psalms 73-89 (17 chapters)

Book IV, Psalms 90-106 (17 chapters)

Book V, Psalms 107-150 (44 chapters)

They are marked by an introduction and a doxology. Psalm I forms an introduction to the whole book; Psa 150 is the doxology for the whole book. The introduction and doxology of each book are the first and last psalms of each division, respectively.

There were smaller collections before the final one, as follows:

Books I and II were by David; Book III, by Hezekiah, and Books IV and V, by Ezra.

Certain principles determined the arrangement of the several psalms in the present collection:

1. David is honored with first place, Book I and II, including Psalms 1-72.

2. They are grouped according to the use of the name of God:

(1) Psalms 1-41 are Jehovah psalms;

(2) Psalms 42-83 are Elohim-psalms;

(3) Psalms 84-150 are Jehovah psalms.

3. Book IV is introduced by the psalm of Moses, which is the first psalm written.

4. Some are arranged as companion psalms, for instance, sometimes two, sometimes three, and sometimes more. Examples: Psa 2 and 3; 22, 23, and 24; 113-118.

5. They were arranged for liturgical purposes, which furnished the psalms for special occasions, such as feasts, etc. We may be sure this arrangement was not accidental. An intelligent study of each case is convincing that it was determined upon rational grounds.

All the psalms have titles but thirty-three, as follows:

In Book I, Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 10 ; Psa 33 , (4 are without titles).

In Book II, Psa 43 ; Psa 71 , (2 are without titles).

In Book IV, Psa 91 ; Psa 93 ; Psa 94 ; Psa 95 ; Psa 96 ; Psa 97 ; Psa 104 ; Psa 105 ; Psa 106 , (9 are without titles).

In Book V, Psa 107 ; III; 112; 113; 114; 115; 116; 117; 118; 119; 135; 136; 137; 146; 147; 148; 149; 150, (18 are without titles).

The Talmud calls these psalms that have no title, “Orphan Psalms.” The later Jews supply these titles by taking the nearest preceding author. The lack of titles in Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; and 10 may be accounted for as follows: Psa 1 is a general introduction to the whole collection and Psa 2 was, perhaps, a part of Psa 1 . Psalms 9-10 were formerly combined into one, therefore Psa 10 has the same title as Psa 9 .

QUESTIONS

1. What books are commended on the Psalms?

2. What is a psalm?

3. What is the Psalter?

4. What is the range of time in composition?

5. When and by whom was the collection in its present form arranged?

6. What the Jewish classification of Old Testament books, and what the position of the Psalter in this classification?

7. What is the Hebrew title of the Psalms?

8. Find the title of the first two books from the books themselves.

9. What is the title of the whole collection of psalms in the Septuagint?

10. What is the title in the Alexandrian Codex?

11. What is the derivation of our English word, “Psalms”, “Psalter”, and “Psaltery,” respectively?

12. How many psalms in our collection?

13. How many psalms in the Septuagint?

14. What about the extra one in the Septuagint?

15. What is the subject of this extra psalm?

16. How does it compare with the Canonical Psalms?

17. What is the difference in the numbering of the psalms in our version which follows the Hebrew, and the numbering in the Septuagint?

18. What is the arrangement in the Vulgate?

19. What other difficulty in numbering which perplexes an inexperienced student in turning from one version to another?

20. What are the book divisions of the Psalter and how are these divisions marked?

21. Were there smaller collections before the final one? If so, what were they?

22. What principles determined the arrangement of the several psalms in the present collection?

23. In what conclusion may we rest concerning this arrangement?

24. How many of the psalms have no titles?

25. What does the Talmud call these psalms that have no titles?

26. How do later Jews supply these titles?

27. How do you account for the lack of titles in Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 10 ?

XII

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF PSALMS (CONTINUED)

The following is a list of the items of information gathered from the titles of the psalms:

1. The author: “A Psalm of David” (Psa 37 ).

2. The occasion: “When he fled from Absalom, his son” (Psa 3 ).

3. The nature, or character, of the poem:

(1) Maschil, meaning “instruction,” a didactic poem (Psa 42 ).

(2) Michtam, meaning “gold,” “A Golden Psalm”; this means excellence or mystery (Psa 16 ; 56-60).

4. The occasion of its use: “A Psalm of David for the dedication of the house” (Psa 30 ).

5. Its purpose: “A Psalm of David to bring remembrance” (Psa 38 ; Psa 70 ).

6. Direction for its use: “A Psalm of David for the chief musician” (Psa 4 ).

7. The kind of musical instrument:

(1) Neginoth, meaning to strike a chord, as on stringed instruments (Psa 4 ; Psa 61 ).

(2) Nehiloth, meaning to perforate, as a pipe or flute (Psa 5 ).

(3) Shoshannim, Lilies, which refers probably to cymbals (Psa 45 ; Psa 69 ).

8. A special choir:

(1) Sheminith, the “eighth,” or octave below, as a male choir (Psa 6 ; Psa 12 ).

(2) Alamoth, female choir (Psa 46 ).

(3) Muth-labben, music with virgin voice, to be sung by a choir of boys in the treble (Psa 9 ).

9. The keynote, or tune:

(1) Aijeleth-sharar, “Hind of the morning,” a song to the melody of which this is sung (Psa 22 ).

(2) Al-tashheth, “Destroy thou not,” the beginning of a song the tune of which is sung (Psa 57 ; Psa 58 ; Psa 59 ; Psa 75 ).

(3) Gittith, set to the tune of Gath, perhaps a tune which David brought from Gath (Psa 8 ; Psa 81 ; Psa 84 ).

(4) Jonath-elim-rehokim, “The dove of the distant terebinths,” the commencement of an ode to the air of which this song was to be sung (Psa 56 ).

(5) Leannoth, the name of a tune (Psa 88 ).

(6) Mahalath, an instrument (Psa 53 ); Leonnoth-Mahaloth, to chant to a tune called Mahaloth.

(7) Shiggaion, a song or a hymn.

(8) Shushan-Eduth, “Lily of testimony,” a tune (Psa 60 ). Note some examples: (1) “America,” “Shiloh,” “Auld Lang Syne.” These are the names of songs such as we are familiar with; (2) “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” and “There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood,” are examples of sacred hymns.

10. The liturgical use, those noted for the feasts, e.g., the Hallels and Hallelujah Psalms (Psalms 146-150).

11. The destination, as “Song of Ascents” (Psalms 120-134)

12. The direction for the music, such as Selah, which means “Singers, pause”; Higgaion-Selah, to strike a symphony with selah, which means an instrumental interlude (Psa 9:16 ).

The longest and fullest title to any of the psalms is the title to Psa 60 . The items of information from this title are as follows: (1) the author; (2) the chief musician; (3) the historical occasion; (4) the use, or design; (5) the style of poetry; (6) the instrument or style of music.

The parts of these superscriptions which most concern us now are those indicating author, occasion, and date. As to the historic value or trustworthiness of these titles most modern scholars deny that they are a part of the Hebrew text, but the oldest Hebrew text of which we know anything had all of them. This is the text from which the Septuagint was translated. It is much more probable that the author affixed them than later writers. There is no internal evidence in any of the psalms that disproves the correctness of them, but much to confirm. The critics disagree among themselves altogether as to these titles. Hence their testimony cannot consistently be received. Nor can it ever be received until they have at least agreed upon a common ground of opposition.

David is the author of more than half the entire collection, the arrangement of which is as follows:

1. Seventy-three are ascribed to him in the superscriptions.

2. Some of these are but continuations of the preceding ones of a pair, trio, or larger group.

3. Some of the Korahite Psalms are manifestly Davidic.

4. Some not ascribed to him in the titles are attributed to him expressly by New Testament writers.

5. It is not possible to account for some parts of the Psalter without David. The history of his early life as found in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1and 2 Chronicles, not only shows his remarkable genius for patriotic and sacred songs and music, but also shows his cultivation of that gift in the schools of the prophets. Some of these psalms of the history appear in the Psalter itself. It is plain to all who read these that they are founded on experience, and the experience of no other Hebrew fits the case. These experiences are found in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles.

As to the attempt of the destructive critics to rob David of his glory in relation to the Psalter by assigning the Maccabean era as the date of composition, I have this to say:

1. This theory has no historical support whatever, and therefore is not to be accepted at all.

2. It has no support in tradition, which weakens the contention of the critics greatly.

3. It has no support from finding any one with the necessary experience for their basis.

4. They can give no reasonable account as to how the titles ever got there.

5. It is psychologically impossible for anyone to have written these 150 psalms in the Maccabean times.

6. Their position is expressly contrary to the testimony of Christ and the apostles. Some of the psalms which they ascribe to the Maccabean Age are attributed to David by Christ himself, who said that David wrote them in the Spirit.

The obvious aim of this criticism and the necessary result if it be Just, is a positive denial of the inspiration of both Testaments.

Other authors are named in the titles, as follows: (1) Asaph, to whom twelve psalms have been assigned: (2) Mosee, Psa 90 ; (3) Solomon, Psa 72 ; Psa 127 ; (4) Heman, Psa 80 ; (5) Ethem, Psa 89 ; (6) A number of the psalms are ascribed to the sons of Korah.

Not all the psalms ascribed to Asaph were composed by one person. History indicates that Asaph’s family presided over the song service for several generations. Some of them were composed by his descendants by the game name. The five general outlines of the whole collection are as follows:

I. By books

1. Psalms 1-41 (41)

2. Psalms 42-72 (31)

3. Psalms 73-89 (17)

4. Psalms 90-106 (17)

5. Psalms 107-150 (44)

II. According to date and authorship

1. The psalm of Moses (Psa 90 )

2. Psalms of David:

(1) The shepherd boy (Psa 8 ; Psa 19 ; Psa 29 ; Psa 23 ).

(2) David when persecuted by Saul (Psa 59 ; Psa 56 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 52 ; Psa 54 ; Psa 57 ; Psa 142 ).

(3) David the King (Psa 101 ; Psa 18 ; Psa 24 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 110 ; Psa 20 ; Psa 20 ; Psa 21 ; Psa 60 ; Psa 51 ; Psa 32 ; Psa 41 ; Psa 55 ; Psa 3:4 ; Psa 64 ; Psa 62 ; Psa 61 ; Psa 27 ).

3. The Asaph Psalms (Psa 50 ; Psa 73 ; Psa 83 ).

4. The Korahite Psalms (Psa 42 ; Psa 43 ; Psa 84 ).

5. The psalms of Solomon (Psa 72 ; Psa 127 ).

6. The psalms of the era of Hezekiah and Isaiah (Psa 46 ; Psa 47 ; Psa 48 )

7. The psalms of the Exile (Psa 74 ; Psa 79 ; Psa 137 ; Psa 102 )

8. The psalms of the Restoration (Psa 85 ; Psa 126 ; Psa 118 ; 146-150)

III. By groups

1. The Jehovistic and Elohistic Psalms:

(1) Psalms 1-41 are Jehovistic;

(2) Psalms 42-83 are Elohistic Psalms;

(3) Psalms 84-150 are Jehovistic.

2. The Penitential Psalms (Psa 6 ; Psa 32 ; Psa 38 ; Psa 51 ; Psa 102 ; Psa 130 ; Psa 143 )

3. The Pilgrim Psalms (Psalms 120-134)

4. The Alphabetical Psalms (Psa 9 ; Psa 10 ; Psa 25 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 37 ; 111:112; Psa 119 ; Psa 145 )

5. The Hallelujah Psalms (Psalms 11-113; 115-117; 146-150; to which may be added Psa 135 ) Psalms 113-118 are called “the Egyptian Hallel”

IV. Doctrines of the Psalms

1. The throne of grace and how to approach it by sacrifice, prayer, and praise.

2. The covenant, the basis of worship.

3. The paradoxical assertions of both innocence & guilt.

4. The pardon of sin and justification.

5. The Messiah.

6. The future life, pro and con.

7. The imprecations.

8. Other doctrines.

V. The New Testament use of the Psalms

1. Direct references and quotations in the New Testament.

2. The allusions to the psalms in the New Testament. Certain experiences of David’s life made very deep impressions on his heart, such as: (1) his peaceful early life; (2) his persecution by Saul; (3) his being crowned king of the people; (4) the bringing up of the ark; (5) his first great sin; (6) Absalom’s rebellion; (7) his second great sin; (8) the great promise made to him in 2Sa 7 ; (9) the feelings of his old age.

We may classify the Davidic Psalms according to these experiences following the order of time, thus:

1. His peaceful early life (Psa 8 ; Psa 19 ; Psa 29 ; Psa 23 )

2. His persecution by Saul (Psa 59 ; Psa 56 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 7 ; Psa 52 ; Psa 120 ; Psa 140 ; Psa 54 ; Psa 57 ; Psa 142 ; Psa 17 ; Psa 18 )

3. Making David King (Psa 27 ; Psa 133 ; Psa 101 )

4. Bringing up the ark (Psa 68 ; Psa 24 ; Psa 132 ; Psa 15 ; Psa 78 ; Psa 96 )

5. His first great sin (Psa 51 ; Psa 32 )

6. Absalom’s rebellion (Psa 41 ; Psa 6 ; Psa 55 ; Psa 109 ; Psa 38 ; Psa 39 ; Psa 3 ; Psa 4 ; Psa 63 ; Psa 42 ; Psa 43 ; Psa 5 ; Psa 62 ; Psa 61 ; Psa 27 )

7. His second great sin (Psa 69 ; Psa 71 ; Psa 102 ; Psa 103 )

8. The great promise made to him in 2Sa 7 (Psa 2 )

9. Feelings of old age (Psa 37 )

The great doctrines of the psalms may be noted as follows: (1) the being and attributes of God; (3) sin, both original and individual; (3) both covenants; (4) the doctrine of justification; (5) concerning the Messiah.

There is a striking analogy between the Pentateuch and the Psalms. The Pentateuch contains five books of law; the Psalms contain five books of heart responses to the law.

It is interesting to note the historic controversies concerning the singing of psalms. These were controversies about singing uninspired songs, in the Middle Ages. The church would not allow anything to be used but psalms.

The history in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles, and in Ezra and Nehemiah is very valuable toward a proper interpretation of the psalms. These books furnish the historical setting for a great many of the psalms which is very indispensable to their proper interpretation.

Professor James Robertson, in the Poetry and Religion of the Psalms constructs a broad and strong argument in favor of the Davidic Psalms, as follows:

1. The age of David furnished promising soil for the growth of poetry.

2. David’s qualifications for composing the psalms make it highly probable that David is the author of the psalms ascribed to him.

3. The arguments against the possibility of ascribing to David any of the hymns in the Hebrew Psalter rests upon assumptions that are thoroughly antibiblical.

The New Testament makes large use of the psalms and we learn much as to their importance in teaching. There are seventy direct quotations in the New Testament from this book, from which we learn that the Scriptures were used extensively in accord with 2Ti 3:16-17 . There are also eleven references to the psalms in the New Testament from which we learn that the New Testament writers were thoroughly imbued with the spirit and teaching of the psalms. Then there are eight allusions ‘to this book in the New Testament from which we gather that the Psalms was one of the divisions of the Old Testament and that they were used in the early church.

QUESTIONS

1. Give a list of the items of information gathered from the titles of the psalms.

2. What is the longest title to any of the psalms and what the items of this title?

3. What parts of these superscriptions most concern us now?

4. What is the historic value, or trustworthiness of these titles?

5. State the argument showing David’s relation to the psalms.

6. What have you to say of the attempt of the destructive critics to rob David of his glory in relation to the Psalter by assigning the Maccabean era as the date of composition?

7. What the obvious aim of this criticism and the necessary result, if it be just?

8. What other authors are named in the titles?

9. Were all the psalms ascribed to Asaph composed by one person?

10. Give the five general outlines of the whole collection, as follows: I. The outline by books II. The outline according to date and authorship III. The outline by groups IV. The outline of doctrines V. The outline by New Testament quotations or allusions.

11. What experiences of David’s life made very deep impressions on his heart?

12. Classify the Davidic Psalms according to these experiences following the order of time.

13. What the great doctrines of the psalms?

14. What analogy between the Pentateuch and the Psalms?

15. What historic controversies concerning the singing of psalms?

16. Of what value is the history in Samuel, 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles, and in Ezra and Nehemiah toward a proper interpretation of the psalms?

17. Give Professor James Robertson’s argument in favor of the Davidic authorship of the psalms.

18. What can you say of the New Testament use of the psalms and what do we learn as to their importance in teaching?

19. What can you say of the New Testament references to the psalms, and from the New Testament references what the impression on the New Testament writers?

20. What can you say of the allusions to the psalms in the New Testament?

XVII

THE MESSIAH IN THE PSALMS

A fine text for this chapter is as follows: “All things must be fulfilled which were written in the Psalms concerning me,” Luk 24:44 . I know of no better way to close my brief treatise on the Psalms than to discuss the subject of the Messiah as revealed in this book.

Attention has been called to the threefold division of the Old Testament cited by our Lord, namely, the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms (Luk 24:44 ), in all of which were the prophecies relating to himself that “must be fulfilled.” It has been shown just what Old Testament books belong to each of these several divisions. The division called the Psalms included many books, styled Holy Writings, and because the Psalms proper was the first book of the division it gave the name to the whole division.

The object of this discussion is to sketch the psalmist’s outline of the Messiah, or rather, to show how nearly a complete picture of our Lord is foredrawn in this one book. Let us understand however with Paul, that all prophecy is but in part (1Co 13:9 ), and that when we fill in on one canvas all the prophecies concerning the Messiah of all the Old Testament divisions, we are far from having a perfect portrait of our Lord. The present purpose is limited to three things:

1. What the book of the Psalms teaches concerning the Messiah.

2. That the New Testament shall authoritatively specify and expound this teaching.

3. That the many messianic predictions scattered over the book and the specifications thereof over the New Testament may be grouped into an orderly analysis, so that by the adjustment of the scattered parts we may have before us a picture of our Lord as foreseen by the psalmists.

In allowing the New Testament to authoritatively specify and expound the predictive features of the book, I am not unmindful of what the so-called “higher critics” urge against the New Testament quotations from the Old Testament and the use made of them. In this discussion, however, these objections are not considered, for sufficient reasons. There is not space for it. Even at the risk of being misjudged I must just now summarily pass all these objections, dismissing them with a single statement upon which the reader may place his own estimate of value. That statement is that in the days of my own infidelity, before this old method of criticism had its new name, I was quite familiar with the most and certainly the strongest of the objections now classified as higher criticism, and have since patiently re-examined them in their widely conflicting restatements under their modern name, and find my faith in the New Testament method of dealing with the Old Testament in no way shattered, but in every way confirmed. God is his own interpreter. The Old Testament as we now have it was in the hands of our Lord. I understand his apostle to declare, substantially, that “every one of these sacred scriptures is God-inspired and is profitable for teaching us what is right to believe and to do, for convincing us what is wrong in faith or practice, for rectifying the wrong when done, that we may be ready at every point, furnished completely, to do every good work, at the right time, in the right manner, and from the proper motive” (2Ti 3:16-17 ).

This New Testament declares that David was a prophet (Act 2:30 ), that he spake by the Holy Spirit (Act 1:16 ), that when the book speaks the Holy Spirit speaks (Heb 3:7 ), and that all its predictive utterances, as sacred Scripture, “must be fulfilled” (Joh 13:18 ; Act 1:16 ). It is not claimed that David wrote all the psalms, but that all are inspired, and that as he was the chief author, the book goes by his name.

It would be a fine thing to make out two lists, as follows:

1. All of the 150 psalms in order from which the New Testament quotes with messianic application.

2. The New Testament quotations, book by book, i.e., Matthew so many, and then the other books in their order.

We would find in neither of these any order as to time, that is, Psa 1 which forecasts an incident in the coming Messiah’s life does not forecast the first incident of his life. And even the New Testament citations are not in exact order as to time and incident of his life. To get the messianic picture before us, therefore, we must put the scattered parts together in their due relation and order, and so construct our own analysis. That is the prime object of this discussion. It is not claimed that the analysis now presented is perfect. It is too much the result of hasty, offhand work by an exceedingly busy man. It will serve, however, as a temporary working model, which any one may subsequently improve. We come at once to the psalmist’s outline of the Messiah.

1. The necessity for a Saviour. This foreseen necessity is a background of the psalmists’ portrait of the Messiah. The necessity consists in (1) man’s sinfulness; (2) his sin; (3) his inability of wisdom and power to recover himself; (4) the insufficiency of legal, typical sacrifices in securing atonement.

The predicate of Paul’s great argument on justification by faith is the universal depravity and guilt of man. He is everywhere corrupt in nature; everywhere an actual transgressor; everywhere under condemnation. But the scriptural proofs of this depravity and sin the apostle draws mainly from the book of the Psalms. In one paragraph of the letter to the Romans (Rom 3:4-18 ), he cites and groups six passages from six divisions of the Psalms (Psa 5:9 ; Psa 10:7 ; Psa 14:1-3 ; Psa 36:1 ; Psa 51:4-6 ; Psa 140:3 ). These passages abundantly prove man’s sinfulness, or natural depravity, and his universal practice of sin.

The predicate also of the same apostle’s great argument for revelation and salvation by a Redeemer is man’s inability of wisdom and power to re-establish communion with God. In one of his letters to the Corinthians he thus commences his argument: “For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? -For after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preach-ing to save them that believe.” He closes this discussion with the broad proposition: “The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God,” and proves it by a citation from Psa 94:11 : “The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.”

In like manner our Lord himself pours scorn on human wisdom and strength by twice citing Psa 8 : “At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight” (Mat 11:25-26 ). “And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children that were crying in the temple and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased, and said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?” (Mat 21:15-16 ).

But the necessity for a Saviour as foreseen by the psalmist did not stop at man’s depravity, sin, and helplessness. The Jews were trusting in the sacrifices of their law offered on the smoking altar. The inherent weakness of these offerings, their lack of intrinsic merit, their ultimate abolition, their complete fulfilment and supercession by a glorious antitype were foreseen and foreshown in this wonderful prophetic book: I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices; And thy burnt offerings are continually before me. I will take no bullock out of thy house, Nor he-goat out of thy folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, And the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all of the birds of the mountains; And the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee; For the world is mine, and the fulness thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, Or drink the blood of goats? Psa 50:8-13 .

Yet again it speaks in that more striking passage cited in the letter to the Hebrews: “For the law having a shadow of good things to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshipers, once purged should have no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance made of sins year by year. For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, But a body didst thou prepare for me; In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hadst no pleasure: Then said I, Lo, I am come (In the roll of the book it is written of me) To do thy will, O God. Saying above, Sacrifice and offering and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou wouldst not, neither hadst pleasure therein, (the which are offered according to the law), then hath he said, Lo, I am come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second” (Heb 10:1-9 ).

This keen foresight of the temporary character and intrinsic worthlessness of animal sacrifices anticipated similar utterances by the later prophets (Isa 1:10-17 ; Jer 6:20 ; Jer 7:21-23 ; Hos 6:6 ; Amo 5:21 ; Mic 6:6-8 ). Indeed, I may as well state in passing that when the apostle declares, “It is impossible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins,” he lays down a broad principle, just as applicable to baptism and the Lord’s Supper. With reverence I state the principle: Not even God himself by mere appointment can vest in any ordinance, itself lacking intrinsic merit, the power to take away sin. There can be, therefore, in the nature of the case, no sacramental salvation. This would destroy the justice of God in order to exalt his mercy. Clearly the psalmist foresaw that “truth and mercy must meet together” before “righteousness and peace could kiss each other” (Psa 85:10 ). Thus we find as the dark background of the psalmists’ luminous portrait of the Messiah, the necessity for a Saviour.

2. The nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation to be wrought by the coming Messiah. In no other prophetic book are the nature, fullness, and blessedness of salvation so clearly seen and so vividly portrayed. Besides others not now enumerated, certainly the psalmists clearly forecast four great elements of salvation:

(1) An atoning sacrifice of intrinsic merit offered once for all (Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:4-10 ).

(2) Regeneration itself consisting of cleansing, renewal, and justification. We hear his impassioned statement of the necessity of regeneration: “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts,” followed by his earnest prayer: “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me,” and his equally fervent petition: “Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean; wash me and I shall be whiter than snow” (Psa 51 ). And we hear him again as Paul describes the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputes righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, And whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not reckon sin Psa 32:1 ; Rom 4:6-8 .

(3) Introduction into the heavenly rest (Psa 95:7-11 ; Heb 3:7-19 ; Heb 4:1-11 ). Here is the antitypical Joshua leading spiritual Israel across the Jordan of death into the heavenly Canaan, the eternal rest that remaineth for the people of God. Here we find creation’s original sabbath eclipsed by redemption’s greater sabbath when the Redeemer “entered his rest, ceasing from his own works as God did from his.”

(4) The recovery of all the universal dominion lost by the first Adam and the securement of all possible dominion which the first Adam never attained (Psa 8:5-6 ; Eph 1:20-22 ; Heb 2:7-9 ; 1Co 15:24-28 ).

What vast extent then and what blessedness in the salvation foreseen by the psalmists, and to be wrought by the Messiah. Atoning sacrifice of intrinsic merit; regeneration by the Holy Spirit; heavenly rest as an eternal inheritance; and universal dominion shared with Christ!

3. The wondrous person of the Messiah in his dual nature, divine and human.

(1) His divinity,

(a) as God: “Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever” (Psa 45:6 and Heb 1:8 ) ;

(b) as creator of the heavens and earth, immutable and eternal: Of old didst thou lay the foundation of the earth; And the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure; Yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; As a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed. But thou art the same, And thy years shall have no end Psa 102:25-27 quoted with slight changes in Heb 1:10-12 .

(c) As owner of the earth: The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof; The world, and they that dwell therein, Psa 24:1 quoted in 1Co 10:26 .

(d) As the Son of God: “Thou art my Son; This day have I begotten thee” Psa 2:7 ; Heb 1:5 .

(e) As David’s Lord: The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, Until I make thine enemies thy footstool, Psa 110:1 ; Mat 22:41-46 .

(f) As the object of angelic worship: “And let all the angels of God worship him” Psa 97:7 ; Heb 1:6 .

(g) As the Bread of life: And he rained down manna upon them to eat, And gave them food from heaven Psa 78:24 ; interpreted in Joh 6:31-58 . These are but samples which ascribe deity to the Messiah of the psalmists.

(2) His humanity, (a) As the Son of man, or Son of Adam: Psa 8:4-6 , cited in 1Co 15:24-28 ; Eph 1:20-22 ; Heb 2:7-9 . Compare Luke’s genealogy, Luk 3:23-38 . This is the ideal man, or Second Adam, who regains Paradise Lost, who recovers race dominion, in whose image all his spiritual lineage is begotten. 1Co 15:45-49 . (b) As the Son of David: Psa 18:50 ; Psa 89:4 ; Psa 89:29 ; Psa 89:36 ; Psa 132:11 , cited in Luk 1:32 ; Act 13:22-23 ; Rom 1:3 ; 2Ti 2:8 . Perhaps a better statement of the psalmists’ vision of the wonderful person of the Messiah would be: He saw the uncreated Son, the second person of the trinity, in counsel and compact with the Father, arranging in eternity for the salvation of men: Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:5-7 . Then he saw this Holy One stoop to be the Son of man: Psa 8:4-6 ; Heb 2:7-9 . Then he was the son of David, and then he saw him rise again to be the Son of God: Psa 2:7 ; Rom 1:3-4 .

4. His offices.

(1) As the one atoning sacrifice (Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:5-7 ).

(2) As the great Prophet, or Preacher (Psa 40:9-10 ; Psa 22:22 ; Heb 2:12 ). Even the method of his teaching by parable was foreseen (Psa 78:2 ; Mat 13:35 ). Equally also the grace, wisdom, and power of his teaching. When the psalmist declares that “Grace is poured into thy lips” (Psa 45:2 ), we need not be startled when we read that all the doctors in the Temple who heard him when only a boy “were astonished at his understanding and answers” (Luk 2:47 ); nor that his home people at Nazareth “all bear him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth” (Luk 4:22 ); nor that those of his own country were astonished, and said, “Whence hath this man this wisdom?” (Mat 13:54 ); nor that the Jews in the Temple marveled, saying, “How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?” (Joh 7:15 ) ; nor that the stern officers of the law found their justification in failure to arrest him in the declaration, “Never man spake like this man” (Joh 7:46 ).

(3) As the king (Psa 2:6 ; Psa 24:7-10 ; Psa 45:1-17 ; Psa 110:1 ; Mat 22:42-46 ; Act 2:33-36 ; 1Co 15:25 ; Eph 1:20 ; Heb 1:13 ).

(4) As the priest (Psa 110:4 ; Heb 5:5-10 ; Heb 7:1-21 ; Heb 10:12-14 ).

(5) As the final judge. The very sentence of expulsion pronounced upon the finally impenitent by the great judge (Mat 25:41 ) is borrowed from the psalmist’s prophetic words (Psa 6:8 ).

5. Incidents of life. The psalmists not only foresaw the necessity for a Saviour; the nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation; the wonderful human-divine person of the Saviour; the offices to be filled by him in the work of salvation, but also many thrilling details of his work in life, death, resurrection, and exaltation. It is not assumed to cite all these details, but some of the most important are enumerated in order, thus:

(1) The visit, adoration, and gifts of the Magi recorded in Mat 2 are but partial fulfilment of Psa 72:9-10 .

(2) The scripture employed by Satan in the temptation of our Lord (Luk 4:10-11 ) was cited from Psa 91:11-12 and its pertinency not denied.

(3) In accounting for his intense earnestness and the apparently extreme measures adopted by our Lord in his first purification of the Temple (Joh 2:17 ), he cites the messianic zeal predicted in Psa 69:9 .

(4) Alienation from his own family was one of the saddest trials of our Lord’s earthly life. They are slow to understand his mission and to enter into sympathy with him. His self-abnegation and exhaustive toil were regarded by them as evidences of mental aberration, and it seems at one time they were ready to resort to forcible restraint of his freedom) virtually what in our time would be called arrest under a writ of lunacy. While at the last his half-brothers became distinguished preachers of his gospel, for a long while they do not believe on him. And the evidence forces us to the conclusion that his own mother shared with her other sons, in kind though not in degree, the misunderstanding of the supremacy of his mission over family relations. The New Testament record speaks for itself:

Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto them. How is it that ye sought me? Knew ye not that I must be in my Father’s house? And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them Luk 2:48-51 (R.V.).

And when the wine failed, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. And Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. Joh 2:3-5 (R.V.).

And there come his mother and his brethren; and standing without; they sent unto him, calling him. And a multitude was sitting about him; and they say unto him. Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee. And he answereth them, and saith, Who is my mother and my brethren? And looking round on them that sat round about him, he saith, Behold, my mother and my brethren) For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother Mar 3:31-35 (R.V.).

Now the feast of the Jews, the feast of tabernacles, was at hand. His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judea, that thy disciples also may behold thy works which thou doest. For no man doeth anything in secret, and himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou doest these things, manifest thyself to the world. For even his brethren did not believe on him. Jesus therefore saith unto them, My time is not yet come; but your time is always ready. The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that its works are evil. Go ye up unto the feast: I go not up yet unto this feast; because my time is not fulfilled. Joh 7:2-9 (R.V.).

These citations from the Revised Version tell their own story. But all that sad story is foreshown in the prophetic psalms. For example: I am become a stranger unto my brethren, And an alien unto my mother’s children. Psa 69:8 .

(5) The triumphal entry into Jerusalem was welcomed by a joyous people shouting a benediction from Psa 118:26 : “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord” (Mat 21:9 ); and the Lord’s lamentation over Jerusalem predicts continued desolation and banishment from his sight until the Jews are ready to repeat that benediction (Mat 23:39 ).

(6) The children’s hosanna in the Temple after its second purgation is declared by our Lord to be a fulfilment of that perfect praise forecast in Psa 8:2 .

(7) The final rejection of our Lord by his own people was also clear in the psalmist’s vision (Psa 118:22 ; Mat 21:42-44 ).

(8) Gethsemane’s baptism of suffering, with its strong crying and tears and prayers was as clear to the psalmist’s prophetic vision as to the evangelist and apostle after it became history (Psa 69:1-4 ; Psa 69:13-20 ; and Mat 26:36-44 ; Heb 5:7 ).

(9) In life-size also before the psalmist was the betrayer of Christ and his doom (Psa 41:9 ; Psa 69:25 ; Psa 109:6-8 ; Joh 13:18 ; Act 1:20 ).

(10) The rage of the people, Jew and Gentile, and the conspiracy of Pilate and Herod are clearly outlined (Psa 2:1-3 ; Act 4:25-27 ).

(11) All the farce of his trial the false accusation, his own marvelous silence; and the inhuman maltreatment to which he was subjected, is foreshown in the prophecy as dramatically as in the history (Mat 26:57-68 ; Mat 27:26-31 ; Psa 27:12 ; Psa 35:15-16 ; Psa 38:3 ; Psa 69:19 ).

The circumstances of his death, many and clear, are distinctly foreseen. He died in the prime of life (Psa 89:45 ; Psa 102:23-24 ). He died by crucifixion (Psa 22:14-17 ; Luk 23 ; 33; Joh 19:23-37 ; Joh 20:27 ). But yet not a bone of his body was broken (Psa 34:20 ; Joh 19:36 ).

The persecution, hatred without a cause, the mockery and insults, are all vividly and dramatically foretold (Psa 22:6-13 ; Psa 35:7 ; Psa 35:12 ; Psa 35:15 ; Psa 35:21 ; Psa 109:25 ).

The parting of his garments and the gambling for his vesture (Psa 22:18 ; Mat 27:35 ).

His intense thirst and the gall and vinegar offered for his drink (Psa 69:21 ; Mat 27:34 ).

In the psalms, too, we hear his prayers for his enemies so remarkably fulfilled in fact (Psa 109:4 ; Luk 23:34 ).

His spiritual death was also before the eye of the psalmist, and the very words which expressed it the psalmist heard. Separation from the Father is spiritual death. The sinner’s substitute must die the sinner’s death, death physical, i.e., separation of soul from body; death spiritual, i.e., separation of the soul from God. The latter is the real death and must precede the former. This death the substitute died when he cried out: “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me.” (Psa 22:1 ; Mat 27:46 ).

Emerging from the darkness of that death, which was the hour of the prince of darkness, the psalmist heard him commend his spirit to the Father (Psa_31:35; Luk 23:46 ) showing that while he died the spiritual death, his soul was not permanently abandoned unto hell (Psa 16:8-10 ; Act 2:25 ) so that while he “tasted death” for every man it was not permanent death (Heb 2:9 ).

With equal clearness the psalmist foresaw his resurrection, his triumph over death and hell, his glorious ascension into heaven, and his exaltation at the right hand of God as King of kings and Lord of lords, as a high Driest forever, as invested with universal sovereignty (Psa 16:8-11 ; Psa 24:7-10 ; Psa 68:18 ; Psa 2:6 ; Psa 111:1-4 ; Psa 8:4-6 ; Act 2:25-36 ; Eph 1:19-23 ; Eph 4:8-10 ).

We see, therefore, brethren, when the scattered parts are put together and adjusted, how nearly complete a portrait of our Lord is put upon the prophetic canvas by this inspired limner, the sweet singer of Israel.

QUESTIONS

1. What is a good text for this chapter?

2. What is the threefold division of the Old Testament as cited by our Lord?

3. What is the last division called and why?

4. What is the object of the discussion in this chapter?

5. To what three things is the purpose limited?

6. What especially qualifies the author to meet the objections of the higher critics to allowing the New Testament usage of the Old Testament to determine its meaning and application?

7. What is the author’s conviction relative to the Scriptures?

8. What is the New Testament testimony on the question of inspiration?

9. What is the author’s suggested plan of approach to the study of the Messiah in the Psalms?

10. What the background of the Psalmist’s portrait of the Messiah and of what does it consist?

11. Give the substance of Paul’s discussion of man’s sinfulness.

12. What is the teaching of Jesus on this point?

13. What is the teaching relative to sacrifices?

14. What the nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation to be wrought by the coming Messiah and what the four great elements of it as forecast by the psalmist?

15. What is the teaching of the psalms relative to the wondrous person of the Messiah? Discuss.

16. What are the offices of the Messiah according to psalms? Discuss each.

17. Cite the more important events of the Messiah’s life according to the vision of the psalmist.

18. What the circumstances of the Messiah’s death and resurrection as foreseen by the psalmist?

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

XVI

THE MESSIANIC PSALMS AND OTHERS

We commence this chapter by giving a classified list of the Messianic Psalms, as follows:

The Royal Psalms are:

Psa 110 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 72 ; Psa 45 ; Psa 89 ;

The Passion Psalms are:

Psa 22 ; Psa 41 ; Psa 69 ;

The Psalms of the Ideal Man are Psa 8 ; Psa 16 ; Psa 40 ;

The Missionary Psalms are:

Psa 47 ; Psa 65 ; Psa 68 ; Psa 96 ; Psa 100 ; Psa 117 .

The predictions before David of the coming Messiah are, (1) the seed of the woman; (2) the seed of Abraham; (3) the seed of Judah; (4) the seed of David.

The prophecies of history concerning the Messiah are, (1) a prophet like unto Moses; (2) a priest after the order of Melchizedek; (3) a sacrifice which embraces all the sacrificial offerings of the Old Testament; (4) direct references to him as King, as in 2Sa 7:8 ff.

The messianic offices as taught in the psalms are four, viz: (1) The Messiah is presented as Prophet, or Teacher (Psa 40:8 ); (2) as Sacrifice, or an Offering for sin (Psa 40:6 ff.; Heb 10:5 ff.) ; (3) he is presented as Priest (Psa 110:4 ); (4) he is presented as King (Psa 45 ).

The psalms most clearly presenting the Messiah in his various phases and functions are as follows: (1) as the ideal man, or Second Adam (8); (2) as Prophet (Psa 40 ); (3) as Sacrifice (Psa 22 ) ; (4) as King (Psa 45 ) ; (5) as Priest (Psa 110 ) ; (6) in his universal reign (Psa 72 ).

It will be noted that other psalms teach these facts also, but these most clearly set forth the offices as they relate to the Messiah.

The Messiah as a sacrifice is presented in general in Psa 40:6 . His sufferings as such are given in a specific and general way in Psa 22 ; Psa 41 ; Psa 69 . The events of his sufferings in particular are described, beginning with the betrayal of Judas, as follows:

1. Judas betrayed him (Mat 26:14 ) in fulfilment of Psa 41:9 .

2. At the Supper (Mat 26:24 ) Christ said, “The Son of man goeth as it is written of him,” referring to Psa 22 .

3. They sang after the Supper in fulfilment of Psa 22:22 .

4. Piercing his hands and feet, Psa 22:16 .

5. They cast lots for his vesture in fulfilment of Psa 22:18 .

6. Just before the ninth hour the chief priests reviled him (Mat 27:43 ) in fulfilment of Psa 22:8 .

7. At the ninth hour (Mat 27:46 ) he quoted Psa 22:1 .

8. Near his death (Joh 19:28 ) he said, in fulfilment of Psa 69:21 , “I thirst.”

9. At that time they gave him vinegar (Mat 27:48 ) in fulfilment of Psa 69:21 .

10. When he was found dead they did not break his bones (Joh 19:36 ) in fulfilment of Psa 34:20 .

11. He is represented as dead, buried, and raised in Psa 16:10 .

12. His suffering as a substitute is described in Psa 69:9 .

13. The result of his crucifixion to them who crucified him is given in Psa 69:22-23 . Compare Rom 11:9-10 .

The Penitential Psalms are Psa 6 ; Psa 32 ; Psa 38 ; Psa 51 ; Psa 102 ; Psa 130 ; Psa 143 . The occasion of Psa 6 was the grief and penitence of David over Absalom; of Psa 32 was the blessedness of forgiveness after his sin with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah; Psa 38 , David’s reference to his sin with Bathsheba; Psa 51 , David’s penitence and prayer for forgiveness for this sin; Psa 102 , the penitence of the children of Israel on the eve of their return from captivity; Psalm 130, a general penitential psalm; Psa 143 , David’s penitence and prayer when pursued by Absalom.

The Pilgrim Psalms are Psalms 120-134. This section of the psalter is called the “Little Psalter.” These Psalms were collected in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, in troublous times. The author of the central psalm of this collection is Solomon, and he wrote it when he built his Temple. The Davidic Psalms in this collection are Psa 120 ; Psa 122 ; Psa 124 ; Psa 131 ; Psa 132 ; Psa 133 . The others were written during the building of the second Temple. They are called in the Septuagint “Songs of the Steps.”

There are four theories as to the meaning of the titles, “Songs of the Steps,” “Songs of Degrees,” or “Songs of Ascents,” viz:

1. The first theory is that the “Songs of the Steps” means the songs of the fifteen steps from the court of the women to the court of Israel, there being a song for each step.

2. The second theory is that advanced by Luther, which says that they were songs of a higher choir, elevated above, or in an elevated voice.

3. The third theory is that the thought in these psalms advances by degrees.

4. The fourth theory is that they are Pilgrim Psalms, or the songs that they sang while going up to the great feasts.

Certain scriptures give the true idea of these titles, viz: Exo 23:14-17 ; Exo 34:23-24 ; 1Sa 1:3 ; 1Ki 12:27-28 : Psa 122:1-4 ; and the proof of their singing as they went is found in Psa_42:4; 100; and Isa 30:29 . They went, singing these psalms, to the Feasts of the Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. Psa 121 was sung when just in sight of Jerusalem and Psa 122 was sung at the gate. Psa 128 is the description of a good man’s home and a parallel to this psalm in modern literature is Burns’s “Cotter’s Saturday Night.” The pious home makes the nation great.

Psa 133 is a psalm of fellowship. It is one of the finest expressions of the blessings that issue when God’s people dwell together in unity. The reference here is to the anointing of Aaron as high priest and the fragrance of the anointing oil which was used in these anointings. The dew of Hermon represents the blessing of God upon his people when they dwell together in such unity.

Now let us look at the Alphabetical Psalms. An alphabetical psalm is one in which the letters of the Hebrew alphabet are used alphabetically to commence each division. In Psalms 111-112, each clause so begins; in Psa 25 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 145 ; each verse so begins; in Psa 37 each stanza of two verses so begins; in 119 each stanza of eight verses so begins, and each of the eight lines begins with the same letter. In Psa 25 ; 34 37 the order is not so strict; in Psa 9 and Psa 10 there are some traces of this alphabetical order.

David originated these alphabetical psalms and the most complete specimen is Psa 119 , which is an expansion of the latter part of Psa 19 .

A certain group of psalms is called the Hallelujah Psalms. They are so called because the word “Hallelujah” is used at the beginning, or at the ending, and sometimes at both the beginning and the ending. The Hallelujah Psalms are Psalm 111-113; 115-117; 146-150. Psa 117 is a doxology; and Psalms 146-150 were used as anthems. Psa 148 calls on all creation to praise God. Francis of Assisi wrote a hymn based on this psalm in which he called the sun his honorable brother and the cricket his sister. Psa 150 calls for all varieties of instruments. Psalms 113-118 are called the Egyptian Hallel. They were used at the Passover (Psalm 113-114), before the Supper and Psalm 115-118 were sung after the Supper. According to this, Jesus and his disciples sang Psalms 115-118 at the last Passover Supper. These psalms were sung also at the Feasts of Pentecost, Tabernacles, Dedication, and New Moon.

The name of God is delayed long in Psa 114 . Addison said, “That the surprise might be complete.” Then there are some special characteristics of Psa 115 , viz: (1) It was written against idols. Cf. Isa 44:9-20 ; (2) It is antiphonal, the congregation singing Psa 115:1-8 , the choir Psa 115:9-12 , the priests Psa 115:13-15 and the congregation again Psa 115:16-18 . The theme of Psa 116 is love, based on gratitude for a great deliverance, expressed in service. It is appropriate to read at the celebration of the Lord’s Supper and Psa 116:15 is especially appropriate for funeral services.

On some special historical occasions certain psalms were sung. Psa 46 was sung by the army of Gustavus Adolphus before the decisive battle of Leipzig, on September 17, 1631.Psa 68 was sung by Cromwell’s army on the occasion of the battle of Dunbar in Scotland.

Certain passages in the Psalms show that the psalm writers approved the offering of Mosaic animal sacrifices. For instance, Psa 118:27 ; Psa 141:2 seem to teach very clearly that they approved the Mosaic sacrifice. But other passages show that these inspired writers estimated spiritual sacrifices as more important and foresaw the abolition of the animal sacrifices. Such passages are Psa 50:7-15 ; Psa 4:5 ; Psa 27:6 ; Psa 40:6 ; Psa 51:16-17 . These scriptures show conclusively that the writers estimated spiritual sacrifices as more important than the Mosaic sacrifices.

QUESTIONS

QUESTIONS

1. What are the Royal Psalms?

2. What are the Passion Psalms?

3. What are the Psalms of the Ideal Man?

4. What are the Missionary Psalms?

5. What are the predictions before David of the coming Messiah?

6. What are the prophecies of history concerning the Messiah?

7. Give a regular order of thought concerning the messianic offices as taught in the psalms.

8. Which psalms most clearly present the Messiah as (1) the ideal man, or Second Adam, (2) which as Prophet, or Teacher, (3) which as the Sacrifice, (4) which as King, (5) which as Priest, (6) which his universal reign?

9. Concerning the suffering Messiah, or the Messiah as a sacrifice, state the words or facts, verified in the New Testament as fulfilment of prophecy in the psalms. Let the order of the citations follow the order of facts in Christ’s life.

10. Name the Penitential Psalms and show their occasion.

11. What are the Pilgrim Psalms?

12. What is this section of the Psalter called?

13. When and under what conditions were these psalms collected?

14. Who is the author of the central psalm of this collection?

15. What Davidic Psalms are in this collection?

16. When were the others written?

17. What are they called in the Septuagint?

18. What four theories as to the meaning of the titles, “Songs of the Steps,” “Songs of Degrees,” or “Songs of Ascents”?

19. What scriptures give the true idea of these titles?

20. Give proof of their singing as they went.

21. To what feasts did they go singing these Psalms?

22. What was the special use made of Psa 121 and Psa 122 ?

23. Which of these psalms is the description of a good man’s home and what parallel in modern literature?

24. Expound Psa 133 .

25. What is an alphabetical psalm, and what are the several kinds?

26. Who originated these Alphabetical Psalms?

27. What are the most complete specimen?

28. Of what is it an expansion?

29. Why is a certain group of psalms called the Hallelujah Psalms?

30. What are the Hallelujah Psalms?

31. Which of the Hallelujah Psalms was a doxology?

32. Which of these were used as anthems?

33. Which psalm calls on all creation to praise God?

34. Who wrote a hymn based on Psa 148 in which he called the sun his honorable brother and the cricket his sister?

35. Which of these psalms calls for all varieties of instruments?

36. What is the Egyptian Hallel?

37. What is their special use and how were they sung?

38. Then what hymns did Jesus and his disciples sing?

39. At what other feasts was this sung?

40. Why was the name of God delayed so long in Psa 114 ?

41. What are the characteristics of Psa 115 ?

42. What is the theme and special use of Psa 116 ?

43. State some special historical occasions on which certain psalms were sung. Give the psalm for each occasion.

44. Cite passages in the psalms showing that the psalm writers approved the offering of Mosaic animal sacrifices.

45. Cite other passages showing that these inspired writers estimated spiritual sacrifices as more important than the Mosaic sacrifices.

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

Psa 127:1 A Song of degrees for Solomon. Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh [but] in vain.

A Sony of degrees for Solomon ] As Psa 72:1 . Penned by David not long before his death, and left his son Solomon, to teach him that nothing can be gotten or kept, no, not children begotten, but by God’s blessing. This last was a fit lesson for Solomon, who, by so many wives and concubines, left but one only son that we read of, and him none of the wisest. Some render it, A Song of degrees of Solomon, making him the penman of it; yea, Origen from this inscription entitleth Solomon to all the songs of degrees; but that is not likely (Lib. 3, , cap. 1).

Ver. 1. Except the Lord build the house ] Not the fabric only, but the family and the government thereof; there is no good to be done if God set not to his fiat, and say, Let it be done; if he blast or not bless men’s endeavours and policies, they are all but arena sine calce, sand without lime, they will not hang together, but, like untempered mortar, fail asunder. There is a curse upon such as idolize themselves, and kiss their own hands, though they be industrious, Jehoiakim, for instance, Jer 22:24-30 Y (Naz.).

Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman ] Whether civil or military, frustra nititur, qui Deo non innititur. Politicians stand on their own heads, like children, and shake their heels against heaven, but all in vain. Soldiers, some of them, are ready to say, with Ajax, I acknowledge no God but my sword, &c. Such shall be surely befooled and confuted; and God’s blessing declared to be all in all.

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

“A song of the ascents: of Solomon.” All of blessing turns on Jehovah, on Jehovah-Jesus. When Israel welcomes and depends on Him what fruitful showers! “Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children” as in Psa 45 : so here. Solomon had an earnest and might well sing in the Spirit; yet his was not the rest of God, but vanity of vanities.

Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 127:1-2

1Unless the Lord builds the house,

They labor in vain who build it;

Unless the Lord guards the city,

The watchman keeps awake in vain.

2It is vain for you to rise up early,

To retire late,

To eat the bread of painful labors;

For He gives to His beloved even in his sleep.

Psa 127:1-2 This strophe asserts the sovereignty of YHWH. What He desires is secure! YHWH had a theological, global purpose for Israel. See Special Topic: YHWH’s Eternal Redemptive Plan .

The term house (Psa 127:1) and His beloved (Psa 127:2) are metaphors for the nation of Israel, which developed from YHWH’s special promises to the Patriarchs (both a land and a seed, i.e., Gen 12:1-3).

Notice the parallel between unless the Lord builds the house. . .unless the Lord guards the city. This strophe is built on

1. parallelism

2. sound plays ()

a. in vain, Psa 127:1 (twice), 2 – BDB 996 (see Special Topic: Vain, Empty, Nothingness)

b. guards, Psa 127:1 – BDB 1036

c. watchman, Psa 127:1 – BDB 1036

d. keeps awake, Psa 127:1 – BDB 1052

e. to rise up early, Psa 127:2 – BDB 1014

f. retire late, Psa 127:2 – BDB 442,

g. sleep, Psa 127:2 – BDB 446, , which occurs only here in the OT (AB, p. 225, suggests this could be the Syrian or Ethiopian word for prosperity, that would fit this context, however, sleep also fits the context well)

Psa 127:2 Human efforts without God are useless, ineffective, and temporary (cf. Joh 15:5).

There are three participles and two infinitive constructs that form parallel phrases.

1. to rise up early

2. to retire late

3. to eat the bread of painful labors

It is interesting that AB (p. 223) sees #3 as a reference to idolatry and cites (1) Jerome’s notes (Juxta Helraeos) as a support and (2) Psa 106:36-37 and possibly Psa 139:24, which are from the same basic root (BDB 780 I and BDB 781). However, the idea of painful labor seems to be a better parallel to #1 and #2 of strenuous human effort to bring about a desired result.

His beloved This refers to Israel (cf. Deu 33:12; Psa 60:5; Psa 108:6; Isa 5:1; Jer 11:14; Jer 12:7). Because the MT and DSS introductions have Solomon, some scholars have made a connection with 2Sa 12:25, where Solomon is called Jedidiah (i.e., beloved of Yah) by Nathan.

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

Title. A Song of degrees. Same as 120 (“the degrees”). App-67. The Structure, and the references to Hezekiah being childless (App-67. xiv), show that this is not a Psalm “made up of two smaller Psalms, having no connection with each other”.

for Solomon = of or by Solomon. The central Psalm of the fifteen. Selected by Hezekiah to complete and perfect the arrangement.

the LORD. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4.

the = a.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Psa 127:1-5 is a psalm that is important for all of us to really get implanted deep in our hearts.

Except the LORD build the house, they labor in vain that build it ( Psa 127:1 ):

I spent far too many years laboring in vain, trying to build the Lord’s house. Trying to build the Lord’s church. I used every gimmick that came down the pike, and there’s a lot of them. There are people that are cranking out programs every day, sending them out to churches. And you can buy all kinds of programs: church growth programs, and financial programs. And we get letters all the time of some new program that they’ve devised for church growth or whatever. They’ll come out for a fee and do a demographics on your community and determine just what kind of a program you should enter into to attract the community that you’re in, and a sociological demographic. They’ve got everything all figured out. It’s just like if you’re trying to merchandise peanuts in an area. They’ll come out and they’ll take a survey of the people and find out just how to package the peanuts to sell them best, you know. Will they go best in the little cellophane wrap or a little box? Or do you need a can? And the colors and everything else. They’ve got the whole thing doped out. Well, they got them doped out for churches, too.

And I worked every program that I could trying to build the church of Jesus Christ… all to no avail. I was laboring in vain. Except the Lord build the house, you’re spinning your wheels. It’s just a lot of futile effort.

except the LORD keep the city, the watchman wakes up in vain ( Psa 127:1 ).

Unless God keeps our house. Unless the Lord build our house, you know, you’re just worrying in vain. You can’t do anything. We’ve got to just trust the Lord.

It is vain for you to rise up early, and to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows ( Psa 127:2 ):

Now, not to rise up early to work, but to eat the bread of sorrows.

for so he giveth his beloved sleep ( Psa 127:2 ).

You know, a lot of people pound the pillow all night long worried about things. It’s vain to spend the night worrying.

Now the psalmist begins to talk about the family and the family ties and the strength of the nation is in the strength of the family. And recognizing that this principle is true, he turns now his attention towards the family and declares,

Lo, children are a heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward ( Psa 127:3 ).

Years ago we were living in Tucson, Arizona, and we had a captain in the Air Force that was living next door to us. And they were a very friendly couple, Jim and Jan and their three daughters. And because our driveways were adjacent to each other, according to the sociological books, you have a… if your driveway is adjacent to your neighbor’s driveway, then you’ll get acquainted with that neighbor. It’s sociologically compatible homes. And it’s interesting in the demographics, sociological demographics, according to where your driveway is and where your house is in the block and so forth, they can show you which houses you’ll be friends of the neighbors around. It’s a crazy deal and they’ve worked it all out.

But we had sociological compatible driveways and so we got acquainted with them. And through our acquaintance, Jan came to receive Jesus Christ. And ultimately, Jim accepted the Lord. Shortly after Jim accepted the Lord, he was transferred to Alaska. He was a pilot of the B29s and I got a letter from Jim, which I will treasure and prize as long as I live. Jim had been a professor at Cornell University prior to being recalled into the Air Force. And he wrote in his letter of his agnosticism that he had had, of his attitudes towards his three daughters. He said, “I used to say that children were the scourge of the earth.” And he said, “I hated being tied down in marriage. And I hated being tied down by my girls. I couldn’t wait to get away. I love the missions where I would fly off overseas and all and I could just get away from them for a while.” He said, “But since receiving Jesus Christ, since your sharing His love with me and my finding out how glorious it is to know the Lord and follow Him,” he said, “you know, I’m so lonely for my family I can hardly wait for them to get things packed and get up here with me.” He said, “I have such a love for my little girls. They’re such a blessing, they’re such a heritage, you know.” And oh the way the Lord can turn things around in a person’s life. Giving us the true sense of value for children are a heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is His reward.

As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of his youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them ( Psa 127:4 , Psa 127:5 ):

So the quiver full of children.

they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate ( Psa 127:5 ). “

Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary

Psa 127:1-3. Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.

It is vain for you, to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows for so he giveth his beloved sleep. Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD and the fruit of the womb is his reward.

The psalmist had been speaking about house-building, and there is the building up of the house in the sense of a family being built up by children. Some people think children an encumbrance, but they are a heritage of the Lord, and they are to be looked upon with gladness. One said, I have twelve sons, and his friend answered, That is exactly Jacobs number. Yes, said the first speaker, and I have Jacobs God to enable me to sustain them. There is a comfort in that thought; may God grant that none may be troubled by those whom God sends to us for a heritage!

Psa 127:4. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.

In the case of an arrow, you know it all depends which way you shoot it. Mind, therefore, that you direct your children aright; give them a good start, a true aim from the very first, God helping you, and then they shall fly from you like the arrows of a mighty archer.

Psa 127:5. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them:

That is, when they are like arrows; not when they are gnarled and knotty, like crooked sticks. When they are unwilling to be tutored and trained, then they become a trial and a trouble; but happy is the man who has a quiver full of arrows; the more the merrier of such children as the psalmist here speaks of.

Psa 127:5. They shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

When there was any suit at law, these sons of his would be there to plead for him; if there was any fighting to be done, they also would be to the front. It was a dangerous thing to attack a man who had a house full of strong, loyal, loving sons. They would be his defense, they would speak, and speak with very considerable emphasis, too, with his enemies in the gate.

This exposition consisted of readings from PSALMS 126. and 127.

Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible

Psa 127:1

Psalms 127

WITHOUT GOD; MAN’S LABOR IS IN VAIN

This is the central psalm in the Little Psalter and the only one ascribed to Solomon. As Rawlinson remarked, the arrangement of these psalms could hardly have come about accidentally. There appears to be an artificial arrangement separating the ascribed psalms by those considered anonymous.

This is the amazing pattern that emerges: A … A … D … A … D … A … A … S … A … A … A … D … A … D … A. (A = Anonymous, D = David, and S = Solomon).

Solomon, according to the superscription, is the author of this psalm. As Leupold said, “There is a strong disinclination on the part of many interpreters to accept this; but there are good reasons for accepting it as reliable. There is absolutely nothing in the psalm itself which casts any doubt on Solomon’s authorship.

Besides this, very reliable scholars have pointed out a number of reasons why the Solomonic authorship should be accepted. Delitzsch listed three of these. (1) In the Hebrew text, there is found in Psa 127:2 here an allusion to the name Jedidiah, which Solomon received from Nathan (2Sa 12:25). That reference is in the English words “his beloved”; and Kidner referred to this as perhaps Solomon’s “concealed signature. (2) The second reason cited by Delitzsch is that the giving of his beloved “sleep” may be construed as a reference to the great wisdom which God gave to Solomon in that dream (while he slept) “At Gibeon (1Ki 3:5 ff).” (3) The third reason is “The Proverbs-like form of the psalm.” (4) A fourth reason for accepting the ascription of the psalm to Solomon was cited by Rawlinson.

The words `[~’etseb],’ `[~ne’urim],’ and `[~yedidow]’ are Solomonic words; also, this psalm agrees with the sentiment of Pro 10:22.

Psa 127:1

“Except Jehovah build the house,

They labor in vain that build it:

Except Jehovah keep the city,

The watchman waketh but in vain.”

It was this writer’s privilege to attend the inauguration of Dwight David Eisenhower as president of the United States of America. My wife and I had seats No. 113 and No. 114 for the swearing-in ceremonies in front of the capitol, and it was upon this verse that President Eisenhower laid his hand for his taking the oath of office.

Along with the first clause of the following verse, there is a triple affirmation of “vanity” in this psalms upon all the affairs of men unless they receive the blessing of God.

Three areas of human endeavour are reviewed here: (1) building one’s house (family, estate, etc.); (2) keeping the security of a city (or nation); and (3) the begetting of children.

“Labor” (Psa 127:1) is a reference to the most diligent and persistent toil. The simple point is, that no matter how hard a man may work, if God’s blessing is not upon him, it will all go for nothing.

“The watchman waketh but in vain” (Psa 127:1). This does not mean that a city does not need watchmen, or that such a vital service should be discontinued. It simply means that no amount of diligent concern can save a city without the blessing of God. This is just as true now as it was when written. Unless God shall bless our great American cities, the last one of them shall be destroyed.

“Verse one here is universal in its meaning, indicating that dependence upon God is vital in all human undertakings.

E.M. Zerr:

Psa 127:1. The gist of this verse is that man is wholly dependent on the Lord for the ability to accomplish the things of which he sometimes wishes to boast.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

The thought of the pilgrim centres upon the city toward which his face is turned as the place of home. The strength of the Hebrew people in the past, and all that remains of it today, largely results from the keen sense which they ever cherished of the importance of the home and the family. The house, the city, labour, are all important to the conserving of the strength of the family. Towards these the pilgrims look, but as they hope, they recognise that, as in the settlement which will make these possible Jehovah is the one Worker, so in these also He is the one and only Strength of His people. He must build the house and guard the city. He must be the Partner in toil, giving to His beloved even when they rest in sleep. After toil is over.

The last is a thought full of comfort to the toiler. Jehovah is never weary, and carries on the enterprise while His trusting child gains new strength in sleep. Children, the glory of the house, are His gift, and they become the support and defence of their parents. Thus the pilgrims look forward to the rest which follows exile, in the city of God; and recognise that this also in all its details, will result from His power and working.

Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible

The Lord Hath Done Great Things for Us

Psa 126:1-6; Psa 127:1-5

The circumstances under which this psalm was written are evident upon its face. The exiles, lately back from Babylon, are rejoicing in the gladness of their return. But their joy was not complete so long as the larger portion of their nation were still in bondage. The metaphor of streams in the South is derived from the rapidity with which dry water-courses become flushed with torrent streams. The returned exiles longed to see the vacant solitudes of their land suddenly filled with returning crowds. They asked that their tears might be the seeds of mighty harvests. Let not the Christian worker count as lost the seeds he sows or the tears in which he steeps them. That doubtless is Gods guarantee.

Psa 127:1-5

This psalm was probably suggested by Ezras efforts to rebuild the Temple. We cannot succeed apart from God, but must be His fellow-workers. See Pro 10:22. The bread of trouble is that which is hardly obtained, where labor is severe, and the results slow. Beware of needless anxiety. As builders, Psa 127:1, look to God for plan, materials, and co-operation. As watchers, Psa 127:1, commit all keeping to Gods watch and ward. As toilers, Psa 127:2, have a little more quiet rest and ease of mind. As parents, Psa 127:3-5, do not shrink from parental responsibilities; when you are old, your children will answer for you.

Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

Psa 127:1

There is progress in life, there is progress in history, because the Lord is building, working, and watching with man; and man is learning.-slowly, alas! and by stages that seem imperceptible each moment, visible only over a long range of generations-that the one way of life, the one fountain of blessing, is the taming of his self-will to build, and watch, and work with God.

I. The great concern of man’s life on earth is the discovery and establishment of a harmony between himself and God. The concord of man’s thought and activity with God’s is the secret upon earth of all true, real, and abiding work.

II. Man, we say familiarly, is the architect of his own fortune. It is a poor limitation; he is the architect of his own character and his own destiny. By the house of life I mean those principles and habits of moral judgment and action which are the true house of the soul, wherein it dwells and from which it comes forth to work benignly or malignly for itself and mankind. Of that house man is the architect, not God; that house he is daily building, and that building will abide and be the home or the prison of the soul throughout eternity.

III. If you would build wisely, look to the foundations. Christ is the one Rock on which the house of life must rest if it is to escape the floods and fires by which all that is perishable must perish, and be lifted on high among the imperishable things through eternity. The question, “What think ye of Christ?” is the vital question for every one of us.

IV. And build daily in conscious, blessed dependence on the co-operation of a higher hand. There is One working with you, working in you, who alone can make your building of the house of life a large and lasting success.

J. Baldwin Brown, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxiii., p. 103.

References: Psa 127:1.-C. J. Vaughan, Memorials of Harrow Sundays, p. 1. Psa 127:2.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. i., No. 12. Psa 127:3.-W. Braden, Christian World Pulpit, vol. vi., p. 369. Psalm 127-S. Cox, The Pilgrim Psalms, p. 155.

Psa 127:2

We take the “sleep” in our text as denoting death, and confine ourselves to an illustration of the passage under this one point of view. Here we have an idea which it would be well to work out in detail. God values death. He must value that which He reserves for the objects of His love. There are two great reasons to be given why death should be regarded as a gift to the believer, and why, therefore, as being a gift, it should be called precious or valuable in God’s sight.

I. Regard the believer as testifying to the finished work of Christ. What evidence of the complete success of the scheme of redemption can exceed or equal that which is furnished by the death of God’s saints? That which they could never have learned from natural theology the Gospel has taught them: they have learned how to die. Thus the Gospel is put, as it were, to the greatest possible trial; and the trial does but issue in full evidence of its sufficiency.

II. Regard the believer as admitted in and through death into final security. Having fought the good fight and kept the faith dying as well as living, the righteous are henceforward placed beyond the reach of danger. Nothing can put their salvation in peril. If they be not crowned till the morning of resurrection, a crown is laid up for them which “no thief can rifle and no moth corrupt.” The death is a precious gift because the life is perilous; and God bestows a benefit on His people when He has gathered them into the separate state, because then they can be no more tempted to the forsaking of His law, no more exposed to the assaults of the Evil One, no more challenged to a battle in which, if victory be glorious, there is all the risk of a shameful defeat.

H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 1666.

References: Psa 127:3.-F. Tholuck, Hours of Devotion, p. 425. Psa 127:3-5.-H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. ix., p. 323. Psa 127:4.-A. P. Stanley, Good Words, 1877, p. 82; J. E. Vaux, Sermon Notes, 2nd series, p. 100. Psa 127:1-3.-J. Baldwin Brown, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxiii., p. 136. Psa 128:5.-W. M. Statham, Ibid., vol. xviii., p. 360. Psalm 128-S. Cox, The Pilgrim Psalms, p. 177. Psa 129:8.-V. M. Statham, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxv., p. 29. Psalm 129-S. Cox, The Pilgrim Psalms, p. 199.

Fuente: The Sermon Bible

A Song of degrees for Solomon

See title note; (See Scofield “Psa 120:1”).

Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes

for Solomon: or, of Solomon, Psa 72:1, *title

The Lord: Psa 33:16-18, Pro 16:9, Pro 21:30, Pro 21:31, Ecc 9:11, 1Co 3:7

build: 1Ch 22:10, 1Ch 22:11, 1Ch 28:10, 1Ch 28:20, 1Ch 29:19, 1Co 3:9-15

they labour: 1Co 15:14, Gal 4:11

that build it: Heb. that are builders of it in it

except: Psa 121:3-5, Isa 27:3, Zec 2:4, Zec 2:5

the watchman: Son 3:3, Son 5:7, Isa 21:5-12, Isa 56:10, Isa 62:6, Jer 51:12, Jer 51:31, Eze 33:2-9

Reciprocal: Gen 1:28 – General Gen 2:22 – made Gen 24:12 – I pray Gen 28:3 – God Exo 1:21 – made them Lev 26:6 – ye shall Lev 26:20 – your strength Deu 8:18 – he that Jos 2:2 – told the king Jos 6:1 – because 2Sa 7:11 – he will make 1Ki 2:24 – made me 2Ki 6:27 – whence 2Ki 7:10 – the porter 2Ki 19:26 – of small power 1Ch 17:10 – the Lord 2Ch 17:5 – the Lord Neh 7:3 – Let not the gates Psa 121:4 – he that Isa 21:8 – I stand Isa 37:27 – their inhabitants Jer 51:58 – the people Hab 2:13 – is it Mal 1:4 – They shall build Luk 5:5 – we Rom 11:25 – until 1Co 3:6 – God 1Th 2:1 – in vain

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

The necessary dependence of all upon Jehovah.

A song of the ascents: of Solomon.

Thus all comes from Jehovah, and He is seen to be the sole dependence of all His creatures. It is from this that man departed in Eden; to set up in independence for himself. If he is brought back, then; it must be to this; and this is what we find in the hundred and twenty-seventh psalm. Jehovah alone is sufficient: except He build the house, the builders toil on it in vain; except He keep the city, the keeper vainly is awake. And then follows the emphatic rebuke of that anxious toil on man’s part, early and late, eating the bread of drudgery, while God gives to those beloved of Him in a way so different: they lie down and sleep, and are supplied!

So with the blessing of children: they are an inheritance from Jehovah, and a reward; a portion like Abraham’s, a defence in the day of trial, and of false accusation.* This last part of the psalm leads on to the one following.

{*The gate of the city was the place of judgment.}

Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary

Psa 127:1. Except the Lord build the house That is, assist and bless those that build it, whether an artificial house, such as the temple, or the royal palace, or any of those numerous structures which Solomon raised; or rather, a natural or civil house, a family or kingdom; they labour in vain that build it They will never succeed well in their attempts, bring it to perfection, or have any comfort in it. The success of all our undertakings depends so entirely upon Gods blessing, that it is in vain to attempt any thing without it: in vain is it to build houses and cities, or to endeavour to uphold families, or establish states, unless he prosper the design: and the care of the watchman, of the soldier, or magistrate, is to no purpose, unless the divine providence be likewise the guard. In every undertaking the blessing of God must accompany the labours of man to render them effectual. No work can prosper without him; nor can any design miscarry under his favour and protection. Above all men they ought to implore the divine grace and benediction, who are employed either in building or defending the spiritual house and city of God; especially as the same persons, like the Jews after the captivity, surrounded by enemies, always ready to obstruct the work, are often obliged to hold a sword in one hand while they build with the other. Our own edification in faith and holiness must likewise be carried on by us in this attitude, by reason of the many temptations which are continually assailing us. Horne.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

REFLECTIONS.

The man who begins the world aright, must begin with God. The stately house is built in vain, and the family multiplied for wickedness, unless it be done in the Lords counsel, and with a view to the house in heaven. Hence we should pray for guidance in all our temporal affairs, and for a blessing on all our toils.

Among all the mercies of a temporal nature, that of children stands the first. Good children are the joy of our youth, the glory of our family, and the comfort of our declining years: and that all those blessings may attend our house, let us pray for wisdom to educate them aright. Let us train them up to self-denial, habituate them to obedience, and to abhor vice; and in vanquishing the corrupt propensities of nature, let us bring to their aid all the advantages of a religious education. Then, if they will perversely follow the flesh, and become prodigals, we must leave them to eat the fruit of their own doings, and hope that afflictions will bring them home to God. But those faithful fathers who do their best, generally have some of their children who prove a very great comfort to them in old age.

Psa 127:3. Olive plants round about thy table. The Jews, in their warm climate, often took their food in gardens, under the shade of olives, vines, and figtrees.

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

CXXVII. A. This Ps. is, as is now generally admitted, composed of two independent Pss. In Psalms 127 A, i.e. in Psa 127:1 f. the Psalmists theme is the vanity of toil without Yahwehs blessing. The house was taken to mean the Temple: hence in the received text, but not in the LXX, the Ps. is ascribed to Solomon. At the end of Psa 127:2 render, So, i.e. as fully as others get by their toilhe giveth to his beloved in sleep. But the text is almost certainly corrupt.

B. Psa 127:3-5. Sons a Gift Bestowed by Yahweh.

Psa 127:4. children of youth, i.e. begotten in the vigorous youth of the fathers, are a stalwart bodyguard round their parent. They are compared to arrows in a warriors hand and quiver. But the Ps. points to a time of peace rather than of war. It is not in the battlefield but in the gate, where legal cases are decided, that a man with many sons finds redress, corrupt as Oriental courts have usually been. His numerous progeny prevent his being put to shame, i.e. disappointed (Job 5:4*).

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

PSALM 127

The Lord the builder of the house and the keeper of the city.

(vv. 1-2) Already the godly remnant have owned that If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, they would have been swallowed up by their enemies. Looking back on their captivity they can say, Blessed be the Lord…our soul is escaped (Psa 124:1; Psa 124:6; Psa 124:7). Now they look on to the house and the city, the goal to which they are journeying, and they own, Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it; and except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.

Thus, in the course of these pilgrim psalms, the godly own that it is the Lord who sets them free; it is the Lord who keeps them on their pilgrim journey; and it is the Lord who establishes them in the home to which they are going. They had seen the purpose of the Lord to have Jerusalem builded and compact together (Psa 122:3). Now they recognize that only the Lord can carry out His purpose.

We know that in a day to come men will rebuild the temple; but the godly, guided by the Spirit of God, will realize that all the labours of men will be in vain. The Jewish nation, returning to the land in unbelief, will neither be able to maintain their temple or keep their city. However great the energy they may put forth, in rising up early and sitting up late, and eating the bread of sorrows – human efforts will be in vain.

In contrast to the restless energy of the flesh, the godly who trust in the Lord are kept in perfect calm, surrounded though they may be by sorrows and toil. In the midst of all human unrest, He giveth His beloved sleep.

(vv. 3-5) Further, the house and the city will not be complete without the inhabitants. If the Lord builds the house and keeps the city, He also gives the children of youth (JND) those who, with strength and vigor of youth, will be used under the hand of the Lord to defend the house and meet the enemy in the gate.

Fuente: Smith’s Writings on 24 Books of the Bible

127:1 [A Song of degrees for Solomon.] Except the LORD {a} build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the {b} city, the watchman waketh [but] in vain.

(a) That is, govern and dispose all things pertaining to the family.

(b) The public estate of the commonwealth.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

Psalms 127

Solomon spoke of God’s blessing in family life in this ascent psalm that is also a wisdom psalm. Trust in God yields domestic benefits that hard work alone cannot provide.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

1. The futility of labor without faith 127:1-2

These verses recall the spirit of Ecclesiastes with its emphasis on futility. It is foolish, frustrating, and futile to attempt projects without seeking God’s blessing. This applies to building a house and building a household. It also applies to the much larger task of defending a city. Putting in long hours of hard work will only lead to weariness. Conversely, those who trust in the Lord-His beloved-experience rest. Solomon was not denigrating hard work but was advocating dependence on the Lord as one works.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Psa 127:1-5

THIS pure expression of conscious dependence on Gods blessing for all well-being may possibly have special reference to the Israel of the Restoration. The instances of vain human effort and care would then have special force, when the ruins of many generations had to be rebuilt and the city to be guarded. But there is no need to seek for specific occasion, so general is this psalm. It sings in a spirit of happy trust the commonplace of all true religion, that Gods blessing prospers all things, and that effort is vain without it. There is no sweeter utterance of that truth anywhere, till we come to our Lords parallel teaching, lovelier still than that of our psalm, when He points us to the flowers of the field and the fowls of the air, as our teachers of the joyous, fair lives that can be lived, when no carking care mars their beauty.

In Psa 127:1 the examples chosen by the singer are naturally connected. The house when built is one in the many that make the city. The owners troubles are not over when it is built, since it has to be watched. It is as hard to keep as to acquire earthly goods. The psalmist uses the past tenses in describing the vanity of building and watching unblessed by God. “They” have built in vain, and watched in vain. He, as it were, places us at the point of time when the failure is developed, -the half-built house a ruin, the city sacked and in flames.

Psa 127:2 deals with domestic life within the built house and guarded city. It is vain to eke out the laborious day by early beginning and late ending. Long hours do not mean prosperous work. The evening meal may be put off till a late hour; and when the toil-worn man sits down to it, he may eat bread made bitter by labour. But all is in vain without Gods blessing. The last clause of the verse must be taken as presenting a contrast to the futile labour reprehended in the former clauses; and therefore the beautiful rendering of the A.V. must be abandoned, though it has given many sweet thoughts to trustful souls, and none sweeter than in Mrs. Brownings pathetic lines. But clearly the contrast is between labour which effects nothing, but is like spinning ropes out of sea sand, and Gods gift of the good which the vain toil had aimed at, and which He gives to His beloved in their sleep. “So” seems here to be equivalent to “Even so,” and the thought intended is probably that Gods gift to His beloved secures to them the same result as is ineffectually sought by godless struggles.

This is no preaching of laziness masquerading as religious trust. The psalmist insists on one side of the truth. Not work, but self-torturing care and work, without seeking Gods blessing, are pronounced vanity.

The remainder of the psalm dwells on one special instance of Gods gifts, that of a numerous family, which in accordance with the Hebrew sentiment, is regarded as a special blessing. But the psalmist is carried beyond his immediate purpose of pointing out that that chief earthly blessing, as he and his contemporaries accounted it, is Gods gift, and he lingers on the picture of a father surrounded in his old age by a band of stalwart sons born unto him in his vigorous youth, and so now able to surround him with a ring of strong protectors of his declining days. “They shall speak with their enemies in the gate.” Probably “they” refers to the whole band, the father in the midst and his sons about him. The gate was the place where justice was administered, and where was the chief place of concourse. It is therefore improbable that actual warfare is meant; rather, in the disputes which might arise with neighbours, and in the intercourse of city life, which would breed enmities enough, the man with his sons about him could hold his own. And such blessing is Gods gift.

The lesson of the psalm is one that needs to be ever repeated. It is so obvious that it is unseen by many, and apt to be unnoticed by all. There are two ways of going to work in reference to earthly good. One is that of struggling and toiling, pushing and snatching, fighting and envying, and that way comes to no successful issue; for if it nets what it has wriggled and wrestled for, it generally gets in some way or other an incapacity to enjoy the good won, which makes it far less than the good pursued. The other way is the way of looking to God and doing the appointed tasks with quiet dependence on Him, and that way always succeeds; for, with its modest or large outward results, there is given likewise a quiet heart set on God, and therefore capable of finding water in the desert and extracting honey from the rock. The one way is that of “young lions,” who, for all their claws and strength, “do lack and suffer hunger”; the other is that of “them that seek the Lord,” who “shall not want any good.”

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary