Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 128:3
Thy wife [shall be] as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table.
3. as a fruitful vine ] The fruitfulness, gracefulness, and preciousness of the vine are obvious points of comparison: its dependence and need of support may also be alluded to.
by the sides of thine house ] Rather, in the innermost chambers of thy house (Jer. in penetralibus domus tuae), to be connected with thy wife, as in the next line round about thy table obviously belongs to thy children. The women’s apartments were at the back of the tent or house, furthest from the entrance.
thy sons like olive plants ] The picture is that of the young olive trees springing up round the parent stem, fresh and full of promise. Cp. Thomson, Land and Book, p. 57. The evergreen olive is an emblem of vitality and vigour (Psa 52:8; Jer 11:16, &c.).
round about thy table ] Cp. 1Sa 16:11, “We will not sit round till he come hither.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house – It is not uncommon in the East, as elsewhere, to train a vine along the sides of a house – partly to save ground; partly because it is a good exposure for fruit; partly as an ornament; and partly to protect it from thieves. Such a vine, in its beauty, and in the abundant clusters upon it, becomes a beautiful emblem of the mother of a numerous household. One of the blessings most desired and most valued in the East was a numerous posterity, and this, in the case of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, was among the chief blessings which God promised to them – a posterity that should resemble in number the sands of the sea or the stars of heaven. Compare Gen 15:5; Gen 22:17; Gen 32:12. These two things – the right to the avails of ones labor Psa 128:2, and a numerous family – are the blessings which are first specified as constituting the happiness of a pious household.
Thy children like olive plants round about thy table – Compare the notes at Psa 52:8. Beautiful; producing abundance; sending up young plants to take the place of the old when they decay and die. The following extract and preceding cut from The land and Book, vol. i., pp. 76, 77, will furnish a good illustration of this passage: To what particular circumstance does David refer in the 128th Psalm, where he says, Thy children shall be like oliveplants round about thy table? Follow me into the grove, and I will show you what may have suggested the comparison. Here we have lilt upon a beautiful illustration. This aged and decayed tree is surrounded, as you see, by several young and thrifty shoots, which spring from the root of the venerable parent. They seem to uphold, protect, and embrace it. We may even fancy that they now bear that lead of fruit which would otherwise be demanded of the feeble parent. Thus do good and affectionate children gather round the table of the righteous. Each contributes something to the common wealth and welfare of the whole – a beautiful sight, with which may God refresh the eyes of every friend of mine.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 128:3-4
Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine.
A pattern wife
There are trailing slatterns, like brambles and nettles, who leave conspicuous in a dwelling what they should conceal, and choke with unsightliness and discomfort what ought to be kept clear; who cause what would be attractive to offend, render what is repulsive more so, and, themselves the most forbidding objects, drive their toil-worn husbands to the seat of the scornful and the bower of sin. The woman pictured in the song is not to be seen lounging at the door, an idle gossip, with something to say to every passer-by, but attends to her duties in the interior of the dwelling, and, like her husband, fears the Lord (Pro 9:13-14; Amo 6:10). The clinging vine is a symbol of attachment, grace, and fruitfulness, dressing the props and walls to which its curling tendrils hold, with leaves that shade the verandah and cool the house, and enriching them with clusters of juicy fruit that maketh glad the heart of man (Psa 104:15). The pious and loving wife, the screen, the adornment, and crown of the God-fearing husband who is her support and strength, so spreads the table that, however plain, it is a feast; so pours the water that it turns to wine; so smiles that all the room shines with comfort and pleasure; so speaks that the house is full of charming music; so lives that the master is happy everywhere because most happy when at home. (E. J. Robinson.)
Wedded happiness
Dr. Cuyler, who has just celebrated his golden wedding, says he has made up his mind that there is no place like home. At a meeting he said, I have just returned from my delightful golden wedding trip. And I have no desire to depart. In fact, I have the fullest sympathy for that eccentric, eloquent preacher who, during his last hours, tossed about in uneasy pain, and then summoned his family, who said to him, Dont be troubled. You will soon be among the angels. What do I care about that? he answered; I am satisfied with the good woman, who is better than any angel I have ever read of.
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
As a fruitful vine; like the vine for fruitfulness; or like that sort of vines known by this name for its eminent fruitfulness, as some trees amongst us are for the same reason called the great bearers. By the sides of thine house, where the vines are commonly planted for support and other advantages; which being applied to the wife, may signify either,
1. The wifes duty to abide at home, Tit 2:5, as the harlot is deciphered by her gadding abroad, Pro 7:11,12. Or rather,
2. The legitimateness of the children, which are begotten at home by the husband, and not abroad by strangers.
Like olive plants, numerous, growing and flourishing, good both for ornament and manifold uses, as olive trees are.
Round about thy table; where they shall sit at meat with thee, for thy comfort and safety.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3. by the sidesor, “within”(Ps 48:2).
olive plantsarepeculiarly luxuriant (Ps 52:8).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Thy wife [shall be] as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house,…. The vine being a weak and tender tree, which needs propping and supporting; and often is fastened to the sides of a house, to which the allusion here is; whereunto it cleaves, and on which it runs up, and bears very agreeable fruit; it is properly used to express the weakness and tenderness of the female sex, their fruitfulness in bearing children, and their care of domestic affairs, being keepers at home; see 1Pe 3:7. Kimchi observes, that the vine is the only tree men plant within doors; which, when it is grown up, they bring out at a hole or window of the house without, to have the sun and air; and so its root is within the house, and the branches without: and he observes, that a modest woman is within the house, and does not go without, and is only seen by her husband; but her children, like the branches of the vine, go out to work. This may be applied to Christ and his church; to him the other characters agree: he, as man, is one that feared the Lord; the grace of fear was in him; the spirit of fear rested on him; and he was in the exercise of it, and walked in all the ways of the Lord, Isa 11:1; he now sees and enjoys the travail or labour of his soul to satisfaction, and is made most blessed for evermore, Isa 53:11. The church is the bride, the Lamb’s wife, the spouse of Christ; and may be compared to a vine for her weakness in herself, her fruitfulness in grace and good works, and in bringing forth souls to Christ, through the ministry of the word; all which is pleasant and grateful to him; see Ps 80:14;
thy children like olive plants round about thy table; a numerous offspring was always accounted a very great blessing; and it must be very pleasant to a parent to see his children round about his table, placed in their proper order according to their age, partaking of what it is furnished with: Job, in his time of prosperity, had many children; and, next to the presence of the Almighty with him, he mentions this of his children being about him; see Job 1:2. This may be applied to the spiritual seed and offspring of Christ, which are like to olive trees or olive plants; to which David is compared,
Ps 52:8; the two anointed ones in Zec 4:11; the two witnesses in Re 11:4; and all true believers in Christ may; because of their excellency, these being choice plants; because of their fruitfulness and beauty; because of their fatness, and having oil in them; and because of their perpetuity, being ever green; see Jer 11:16. Now Christ has a table, which he has well furnished, at which he himself sits, and places these his children all around; and whom he welcomes to the entertainment he makes, and takes delight and pleasure in them, So 1:12. Kimchi observes, the olive trees do not admit of a graft from other trees; see Ro 11:24; and so this denotes the legitimacy of those children, being free from all suspicion of being spurious, being born of such a wife as before described; and being green and moist all the year long, denotes their continuance in good works.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
3 Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine on the sides of thy house. Here again it is promised, as in the preceding Psalm, that God will make those who honor him fruitful in a numerous offspring. The majority of mankind indeed desire to have issue, and this desire may be said to be implanted in them by nature; but many, when they have obtained children, soon become cloyed therewith. Again it is often more grateful to want children than to leave a number of them hi circumstances of destitution. But although the world is carried away by irregular desires after various objects, between which it is perpetually fluctuating in its choice, God gives this his own blessing, the preference to all riches, and therefore we ought to hold it in high estimation. If a man has a wife of amiable manners as the companion of his life, let him set no less value upon this blessing than Solomon did, who, in Pro 19:14, affirms that it is God alone who gives a good wife. In like manner, if a man be a father of a numerous offspring, let him receive that goodly boon with a thankful heart. If it is objected that the Prophet in speaking thus, detains the faithful on the earth by the allurements of the flesh, and hinders them from aspiring towards heaven with free and unencumbered minds, I answer, that it is not surprising to find him offering to the Jews under the law a taste of God’s grace and paternal favor, when we consider that they were like children. He has, however, so tempered, or mixed it, as that by it; they might rise in their contemplations to the heavenly life. Even at the present day God, though in a more sparing manner, testifies his favor by temporal benefits, agreeably to that passage in Paul’s first Epistle to Timothy just now quoted, (1Ti 4:8,)
“
Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.”
But by this he does not cast any hindrance or impediment in our way to keep us from elevating our minds to heaven, but ladders are by this means rather erected to enable us to mount up thither step by step. The Prophet, therefore, very properly reminds the faithful that they already receive some fruit of their integrity, when God gives them their food, makes them happy in their wives and children, and condescends to take care of their life. But his design in commending the present goodness of God is to animate them to hasten forward with alacrity on the path which leads to their eternal inheritance. If the earthly felicity described in this Psalm may not always be the lot of the godly, but should it sometimes happen that their wife is a termagant, or proud, or of depraved morals, or that their children are dissolute and vagabonds, and even bring disgrace upon their father’s house, let them know that their being deprived of God’s blessing is owing to their having repulsed it by their own fault. And surely if each duly considers his own vices he will acknowledge that God’s earthly benefits have been justly withheld from him.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(3) By the sidesNo doubt the inner part of the house is meant (see Psa. 48:2)the gynecum or womans quarteror perhaps the sides of the inner court or quadrangle. This is no more out of keeping with the figure of the vine than the table is with that of olive plants. Though the Hebrews had not yet developed the fatal habit of secluding their women, as later Orientals have done, still there was a strict custom which allotted a more private tent (Gen. 18:9) or part of a house to them. And doubtless we are here also to think of the good housewife who is engaged within at the household duties, and is not like the idle gossip, sitting at the door of her house on a seat in the high places of the city (Pro. 9:14). The vine and olive are in Hebrew poetry frequent symbols of fruitfulness and of a happy, flourishing state. (See Psa. 52:8; Jer. 11:16.) The comparison of children to the healthy young shoots of a tree is, of course, common to all poetry, being indeed latent in such expressions as scion of a noble house. (Comp. Euripides, Medea 1,098: a sweet young shoot of children.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. By the sides of thine house Literally. In the sides; supposed to denote “the background, or privacy of the house, where the housewife, who is not to be seen much out of doors, leads a quiet life, entirely devoted to her family,” ( Delitzsch;) in contrast with the harlot, who wanders the street. Pro 7:11-12. This requires us to refer the word “sides” not to vine, but to wife, as it is not the vine on the side of the “house,” but the wife on the inside of the “house,” thus: “Thy wife in the sides of thy house shall be as a fruitful vine; thy children around thy table like olive settings.” This last figure seems borrowed from the young olives springing from the roots of the parent tree, and perpetuating its beauty and fruitfulness.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 128:3. Thy wife shall be, &c. The author of the Observations remarks, that it does not appear from the accounts of any traveller, that it was ever the custom of the Jews to conduct vines along the sides of their houses. However common this may be among us, it does not appear to be an eastern custom, or to make any part of the verdure with which they set off their courts; I doubt, therefore, the late very ingenious and learned Dr. Doddridge was mistaken in supposing the occasion of our Lord’s comparing himself to a vine might be his standing “near a window, or in some court by the side of the house, where the sight of a vine might suggest this beautiful simile;” to which, after referring to the present passage, he adds, “That circumstance was, no doubt, common in Judea, which abounded with the finest grapes;” (see his Family Expositor, vol. 2: p. 475 note b.) and I am apprehensive that this is an additional proof of the necessity of attending to the customs of the east when we would explain the scriptures. The Jewish nation would not have admitted this illustration, had this management been common in the other parts of that country; for, according to their writers, Jerusalem was distinguished from all the other towns of Judea, as by several other peculiarities, so in particular by its having no gardens in it, or any trees, excepting some rose-bushes, which it seems had been customary from the days of the ancient prophets: consequently there could be no vine, in their opinion, about the side of the house in which our Lord was when he spoke these words. But this psalm is no proof, I apprehend, that it was practised any where else in that country; though it has been thus understood by other writers besides this author; and among the rest, by no less considerable persons than Cocceius, Hammond, Patrick, and Rabbi Kimchi. For, as it is evident that the good man’s sons being like olive plants about his table, means not that they should be like the olive plants which grew round his table; (it being, I presume, a thought in Bishop Patrick which will not be defended, that the Psalmist refers to a table spread in an arbour composed of young olive trees; for we find no such arbours in the Levant, nor is the tree very fit for such a purpose;) so, in like manner, the first clause must signify, “Thy wife shall be, in the sides or private apartments of thy house, fruitful as a thriving vine:” The place here mentionedthe sides of the housereferring to the wife, not to the vine; as the otherthe tablerefers to the children, not to the olives. See Observations, p. 103.
REFLECTIONS.The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction, says Solomon, Pro 1:7. They have none of that fear, because they care not for the benefits which attend it. If the wicked could be without fear, they would think themselves happy; but they have the full measure of it, of destroying, distracting, confounding fear, which always comes to pass. The fear of the wicked, it shall come upon him; that which he fears most shall befal him; Pro 10:24 whereas the fear of the devout and pious man is comfortable and nourishing, and under God’s blessing drives from him, and secures him from all the ill that he fears. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; pride and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth do I hate; Pro 8:13. And whoever through grace hates these as much as he ought to do, need fear nothing else. Love is the natural parent of filial fear, and never was without it. No man ever loved with a very moderate passion, who did not exceedingly fear to offend or displease the object of his love. And truly, if we do not fear God, so as to hate every thing he hates, and love every thing he loves; if we be not afraid of offending him, and jealous lest our addresses and solicitations may not meet with acceptance from him, it must proceed from want of love, which can never be without this filial fear.
We have in this psalm,
1. The truly blessed character. He that feareth the Lord and walketh in his ways, making his will the rule of duty, desiring to be obedient in all things, and fearing nothing so much as to offend him.
2. The happiness promised. In general, all the felicity of God’s people shall be the portion of that soul. Happy shalt thou be, and it shalt be well with thee; all needful blessings shall be thine; in particular, (1.) Thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands; he shall have strength to labour, a blessing upon his honest industry, and a heart to enjoy the good things God bestows. (2.) Thy wife shall be as the fruitful vine by the sides of thine house; of earthly blessings this is the chief; a wife that adorns the house of her abode; a keeper at home, as a vine fixed to the walls, leaning for support on him to whom her desire is, and fruitful in those tenderest pledges and cements of connubial love. (3.) Thy children like olive-plants round about thy table, a flourishing offspring, rising by steps like plants of different years; and round a table, which mercy plentifully spreads for their provision. If they but grow up trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified, then shall that father hang over them with delight, and pour forth his warmest benediction upon them. (4.) The Lord shall bless thee out of Zion, the blessing of the basket, the store, and the family are great, but infinitely more valuable are the spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus: those continue but the passing days of time, these endure to the ages of eternity. (5.) Thou shalt see thy children’s children, the crown of old age, Pro 17:6 a rising generation, transmitting down from age to age, not only the resemblance of the persons, but also the piety of their fathers, who seem still to live in them. (6.) Thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life, national prosperity, and peace upon Israel, or the flourishing state of the church of God, and the abundance of spiritual peace and joy shed abroad upon the assemblies, and in the hearts of the Israel of God. Amen! So be it!
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psa 128:3 Thy wife [shall be] as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table.
Ver. 3. Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine ] Full of bunches and clusters of rich ripe grapes; so she of children, and those virtuous; the little ones hanging on her breasts, as grapes on the vine; the elder as olive plants, straight, green, fresh, and flourishing, Psa 52:8 , legitimate also; as the olive admitteth no other graft. Indeed, the olive set into the vine yieldeth both grapes and olives, whereby is represented the natural affection that is between the mother and her children. The vine and the olive are two of the best fruits; the one for cheering the heart, the other for clearing the face, Psa 104:15 ; the one for sweetness, the other for fatness, Jdg 9:13 , both together implying that a great part of a man’s temporal happiness consisteth in having a good wife and children. It is said of Sulla that he had been happy had he never been so married, Si non habuissem uxorem; and Augustus’ wish was (but all too late), Utinam aut caelebs vixissem, aut orbus periissem, Oh that I had either lived single or died childless (Suetonius).
By the sides of thine house
Thy children like olive plants
Round about thy table
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
wife . . . fruitful. The reference is, as in Psalm 127 to the fact that Hezekiah was childless at this time and ionged for an heir. App-67.
children = sons.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 128:3-4
Psa 128:3-4
“Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine,
In the innermost parts of thy house;
Thy children, like olive plants,
Round about thy table.
Behold, thus shall the man be blessed
That feareth Jehovah.”
“A fruitful vine” (Psa 128:3). This simile of a faithful wife is quite appropriate. A vine is beautiful, fruitful, desirable and valuable. Also, a vine needs the support of something to stabilize, protect and uphold it. The Lord’s love of the vine is seen in that he also made it the metaphor of Israel, and, in the last analysis, a metaphor of Jesus Christ himself, “The Fairest of Ten Thousand.” And from this, it also becomes a metaphor of the Church, “The Israel of God.”
Kidner also noted that just as a vine remains in one place, so the faithful wife “stays at home.” “This is in sharp contrast with what is said of the promiscuous wife in Pro 7:11, `She is loud and wayward, her feet do not stay at home.’ In the New Testament, this quality is mentioned in Tit 2:5.
“Like olive plants around thy table” (Psa 128:3). “As the husband looks on his sons gathered around his table, he is reminded of the numerous seedlings that shoot up under a cultivated olive tree.
Numerous offspring were the specific blessings promised to the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The numbers of their posterity were to reach astronomical proportions, “as numerous as the sands of the seashore,” or “as the stars of the heavens.” This vision of innumerable posterity continued throughout the history of Israel as a matter of the very greatest desirability. There was no disaster that a Jewish woman feared any more than the intolerable stigma of being childless.
“Thus shall the man be blessed that feareth Jehovah” (Psa 128:4). “This repetition of verse 1 is to emphasize that all of the coveted blessings mentioned are properly experienced only in the context of the fear of God.
It was this writer’s privilege, as well as that of his wife, to grow up in exactly the type of God-fearing, industrious, happy family as that which is described in these verses.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 128:3. In the days of special providence, God rewarded a righteous man frequently with the joys of a happy family. (See Job 42:15-17.)
Psa 128:4. This virtually repeats the thought in Psa 128:1.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
a fruitful vine: Gen 49:22, Pro 5:15-18, Eze 19:10
olive plants: Psa 52:8, Psa 144:12, Jer 11:16, Hos 14:6, Hos 14:7, Rom 11:24
round about: Psa 127:5
Reciprocal: Gen 1:22 – General Gen 1:28 – General Gen 9:1 – blessed Gen 11:11 – begat sons Deu 28:4 – General Deu 33:24 – Asher be blessed Rth 4:11 – the Lord 1Ch 8:40 – many sons Job 1:2 – seven sons Job 5:25 – thy seed Job 29:5 – my children Psa 127:3 – children Psa 147:13 – blessed Pro 5:16 – dispersed Pro 14:11 – the tabernacle Pro 17:6 – Children’s Zec 8:5 – playing
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 128:3. Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine He will bless thee also in thy wife, and make her as fruitful as the vine, which spreads itself, laden with full clusters, over all the sides of thy house; and in thy hopeful children too, who shall grow up and flourish like the young olive-plants that are set in thy arbour, round about thy table. Thus Bishop Patrick interprets the verse, and certainly the text, in its most obvious and literal sense, seems to countenance his interpretation. Mr. Harmer, however, in his Observations on Divers Passages of Scripture, questions the propriety of it, remarking that it does not appear, from the accounts of any travellers, that it was ever the custom of the Jews to conduct vines along the sides of their houses, and that we find no such arbours in the Levant as the bishop supposes, composed of young olive-plants, in the midst of which tables were set. He therefore understands the words thus: Thy wife shall be in the sides, or private apartments of thy house, fruitful as a thriving vine: considering the sides of the house as referring to the wife, not to the vine; and the table, in the other clause, to the children only, not to the olives. Cocceius, however, and Rabbi Kimchi, agree with Bishop Patrick, as does Dr. Hammond also, whose words are, Vines, it seems, were then planted on the sides of houses, as now they are among us, and not only in vineyards, and to that the psalmist here refers. So likewise of olive-plants it is observable, not only that tables were dressed up with the boughs of them, ramis felicis oliv, but that, in the eastern countries, they were usually planted, as in arbours, to shade the table, entertainments being made without doors, in gardens, under that umbrage, which gave all the liberty of the cool winds and refreshing blasts. An image whereof we have Gen 18:4, Wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree; and a full expression Est 1:5, The king made a feast in the court of the garden of the kings palace. Dr. Horne also, after weighing what Mr. Harmer had advanced against it, adopts this interpretation, observing that Mr. Merrick, in his Annotations, produces some very good arguments in favour of it. The doctors comment is, The vine, a lowly plant, raised with tender care, becoming, by its luxuriance, its beauty, its fragrance, and its clusters, the ornament and glory of the house to which it is joined, and by which it is supported, forms the finest imaginable emblem of a fair, virtuous, and fruitful wife. The olive-trees planted by the inhabitants of the eastern countries around their tables, or banqueting-places in their gardens, to cheer the eye by their verdure, and to refresh the body by their cooling shade, do no less aptly and significantly set forth the pleasure which parents feel at the side of a numerous and flourishing offspring.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
128:3 Thy wife [shall be] as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy {c} children like olive plants round about thy table.
(c) Because God’s favour appears in no outward thing more than in the increase of children, he promises to enrich the faithful with this gift.