Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 129:8
Neither do they which go by say, The blessing of the LORD [be] upon you: we bless you in the name of the LORD.
8. The blessing of Jehovah be upon you is the friendly greeting of the passers-by to the reapers at their work: we bless you in the name of Jehovah may be simply an emphatic repetition of the greeting (cp. Psa 118:26): or it may be, as the Targ. takes it, inserting and they do not answer them, the reapers’ reply. For this kindly custom cp. Rth 2:4, “Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said unto the reapers, The Lord be with you. And they answered him, The Lord bless thee.”
The fate of Zion’s enemies will be the opposite of her lot as foretold by the prophet, “Yet again shall they use this speech in the land of Judah and in the cities thereof, when I turn their fortunes, Jehovah bless thee, O habitation of righteousness, O mountain of holiness” (Jer 31:23).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Neither do they which go by say, The blessing of the Lord,… – As in a harvest-field, where persons passing by express their joy and gratitude that their neighbors are reaping an abundant harvest. The phrase The blessing of the Lord be upon you, was expressive of good wishes; of pious congratulation; of a hope of success and prosperity; as when we say, God be with you; or, God bless you. The meaning here is, that such language would never be used in reference to the grass or grain growing on the house-top, since it would never justify a wish of that kind: it would be ridiculous and absurd to apply such language to anyone who should be found gathering up that dry; and withered, and worthless grass. So the psalmist prays that it may be in regard to all who hate Zion Psa 129:5, that they may have no such prosperity as would be represented by a growth of luxuriant and abundant grain; no such prosperity as would be denoted by the reaper and the binder of sheaves gathering in such a harvest; no such prosperity as would be indicated by the cheerful greeting and congratulation of neighors who express their gratification and their joy at the rich and abundant harvest which has crowned the labors of their friend, by the prayer that God would bless him.
We bless you in the name of the Lord – Still the language of pious joy and gratification addressed by his neighbors to him who was reaping his harvest. All this is simply language drawn from common life, uttering a prayer that the enemies of Zion might be confounded and turned back Psa 129:5; a prayer that they might not be successful in their endeavors to destroy the Church. Such a prayer cannot but be regarded as proper and right.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 129:8
The blessing of the Lord he upon you.
Mutual benediction
Although mutuality is beautiful, we are not to be, as Christians, dependent on it. Bless them that curse you. Being reviled, we bless. Our responsibilities are the same, under all conditions of human life. Bug it is a pleasant and helpful thing when there is mutuality of blessing.
I. The spirit of the Christian life is that we should live in others. This is not merely a doctrine of abstract truth; it is a revelation of the life of God in Christ. He came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life,–His life of thought, His life of toil, His life of pity and compassion, His life of sorrow, His life of suffering, even unto death, for our sakes. So His whole history was a benediction, and He has left us as partakers of the Divine nature through Him the legacy of His joy and of His peace.
II. There are special occasions for the ministration of blessing; seasons when we are more alive to our own mercies; seasons when our warm fire-light contrasts with the cold hearths of the poor; seasons of health and strength, when we are called to sympathize with hopeless and incurable disease.
III. The spirit of blessing is the spirit of universal ministry. We are not all called to do the same thing, we are not all called to be bishops, or deacons, or teachers. There are diversities of operation. God chooses His instruments, calls them to their work. You cannot find the man or woman, child or father, master or servant you cannot bless. You may be ineloquent, but you can bless with a look. You may find yourself so nervous that your words are inaudible before man, but for you the whisper at the Throne of Grace is possible.
IV. The spirit of mutual blessing acts as a reminder of mercies. We are too apt to forget them, too apt to take them for granted, too apt to have the blessing and not to trace it up to the great Giver. Perhaps I have taken Gods mercies as though it was natural and proper for me to receive them, as though the consciousness of having done my duty ought to lead me to expect reward; as though my endeavour ought to have been so honoured; as though living a pure life I ought to have health; as though being friendly I ought to have friends. The text reminds us it is the blessing of the Lord. We shall never know the meaning of the word blessing until we look back upon life from the great battlements of heaven, and see all the way that the Lord led us in, to humble us, to prove us, and to try what was in our heart.
V. The spirit of mutual blessing is the spirit of the sanctuary. We bless you in the name of the Lord, and in another part we read, We bless you out of the house of the Lord. That is to be, as I take it, the spirit of the Church, and the Church has need to learn in all ages that lesson. The Church of Christ is to be the Church of restoration. If a man err, we are to restore such an one in the spirit of meekness. If men are cast down, we are to lift them up; we are to strengthen the hands that hang down and the feeble knees, and to say to them that are of a fearful heart, Thy God reigneth. (W. M. Statham.)
An ancient salutation
This ancient salutation still lingers in the East. And a delightful thing it would be were there a greater manifestation of courteous and devotional feeling in the harvest fields at home. Beyond the sacred circle of the Church, there is no sight so cheering under the broad vault of heaven as a rich field of corn, and the reapers cutting it down. It fills the heart with gladness, and sends the thoughts upward to Him who sends His sunshine, and rains, and dews, and crowns the year with His goodness. An abundant harvest is an unmixed benefit. It sometimes happens that the prosperity of one man is purchased at the expense of others; and that, to make his lamp burn brightly, many a lamp is extinguished, or sends forth a faint and flickering light. But here all are gainers, and none are losers. And hence we can ask the Divine favour to descend upon those who are engaged in cutting it down; and we can say with an enlightened conscience, The blessing of the Lord be upon you: we bless you in the name of the Lord. The reapers, too, on the harvest field should recollect, more than is always done, that God whose bounty is seen in every handful of corn they lay hold of. Why should God be so distant from us, when engaged in the ordinary pursuits of life? Why not acknowledge Him in all our ways? Why should it be supposed that He has nothing to do with us, and that we have nothing to do with Him, except on Sabbaths and in sanctuaries? Why should not the law of kindness be on our tongue, and the spirit of courtesy sweeten our daily intercourse? Why should we not care for each others welfare, and supplicate God, in the fine devotional feeling of the ancient world: We bless you in the name of the Lord? (N. McMichael.)
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Psa 130:1-8
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 8. Neither do they which go by say] There is a reference here to the salutations which were given and returned by the reapers in the time of the harvest. We find that it was customary, when the master came to them into the field, to say unto the reapers, The Lord be with you! and for them to answer, The Lord bless thee! Ru 2:4. Let their land become desolate, so that no harvest shall ever more appear in it. No interchange of benedictions between owners and reapers. This has literally taken place: Babylon is utterly destroyed; no harvests grow near the place where it stood.
ANALYSIS OF THE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-NINTH PSALM
The intent of the prophet in composing this Psalm is to comfort the Church in affliction, and to stir her up to glorify God for his providence over her, always for her good, and bringing her enemies to confusion, and a sudden ruin.
It is divided into three parts: –
I. The indefatigable malice of the enemies of the Church, Ps 129:1; Ps 129:3.
II. That their malice is vain. God saves them, Ps 129:2; Ps 129:4.
III. God puts into the mouth of his people what they may say to their enemies, even when their malice is at the highest.
I. “Many a time have they afflicted me,” &c. In which observe, –
1. That afflictions do attend those who will live righteously in Christ Jesus.
2. These afflictions are many: “Many a time,” &c.
3. That they begin with the Church: “From my youth.” Prophets, martyrs, &c.
4. This affliction was a heavy affliction: “The plowers plowed upon my back,” &c. They dealt unmercifully with me, as a husbandman does with his ground.
II. But all their malice is to no purpose.
1. “Yet they have not prevailed against me.” To extinguish the Church.
2. The reason is, “The Lord is righteous.” And therefore he protects all those who are under his tuition, and punishes their adversaries.
3. “The Lord is righteous,” &c. Cut asunder the ropes and chains with which they made their furrows: “He hath delivered Israel,” &c.
III. In the following verses, to the end, the prophet, by way of prediction, declares the vengeance God would bring upon his enemies which has three degrees: –
1. “Let them all be confounded,” &c. Fail in their hopes against us.
2. “Let them be as the grass,” &c. That they quickly perish. Grass on the housetops is good for nothing: “Which withereth afore it groweth up,” &c. Never is mowed, nor raked together.
3. “Neither do they which go by say, The blessing of the Lord,” &c. No man says so much as, God speed him! as is usual to say to workmen in harvest: but even this the enemies of the Church, and of God’s work, say not, for they wish it not.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Which was a usual salutation given by passengers to reapers, as Rth 2:4. So the meaning is, It never continues till the harvest comes.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Neither do they which go by say, the blessing of the Lord [be] upon you,…. As was usual with passengers, when they went by where mowers, and reapers, and binders, were at work in the field in harvest time; who used to wish the presence and blessing of God with them, and upon their labours; and who returned the salutation, as may be seen in Boaz and his reapers, Ru 2:4;
we bless you in the name of the Lord; which is either a continuation of the blessing of the passengers, or the answer of the reapers to them; so the Targum,
“nor do they answer them, “we bless you”,” c.
The sense is, that those wicked men would have no blessing on them, from God nor men that no God speed would be wished them; but that they were like the earth, that is covered with briers and thorns; which is nigh unto cursing, and its end to be burned.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(8) This harvest scene is exactly like that painted in Rth. 2:4, and the last line should be printed as a return greeting from the reapers.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
8. They which go by say It was customary, in passing a harvest field, to say to the harvesters, “The blessing of the Lord be upon you,” to which the latter responded as in Rth 2:4. But as this could not be said to persons who were gathering withered grass upon the housetops, as the women often did, and still do, to kindle the fire, so neither would men bless, in the name of the Lord, the haters of Zion who were doomed to perish.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
REFLECTIONS
PAUSE, my soul! look back and see what part thou hast borne in the afflictions of the Church. Depend upon it, among the truest evidences of the renewed life, a sincere love to Zion forms a principal part. If I truly love Jesus, I must love every member of the mystical body of Jesus; and as one of old said it, and all find it, the remembrance of Zion, taking part in her sorrows, and participating in her joys, proves a connexion with the King and Lord of Zion: If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right-hand forget her cunning. if I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth: If I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy. And oh! thou glorious Head of thy Church and people! shall I not find the blessedness of meditating on thine unequalled sorrows; when, for the redemption of our souls, the ploughers ploughed upon thy back, and made long their furrows! Didst thou give thy back to the smiters, and thy cheeks to them that plucked off the hair? And shall my soul look on, and feel no interest, no concern! Gracious Lord! let it be among the first of my thoughts to follow thee both to the cross, and to thy throne: to the doleful Gethsemane, and to the joy on which thou hast entered and taken everlasting possession. And let my soul feel all that sweet consolation in the consciousness, that I not only partake of what is thine, but that thou partakest of what is mine. Thou hast fellowship in all my exercises, trials, wants, difficulties: my sufferings are thine, for the lowest member of thy mystical body cannot be afflicted but the Head feels; and thou hast said he that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of thine eye. Hence, dearest Lord, let my soul rejoice in tribulation, when I know that that tribulation Jesus appoints, Jesus supports, Jesus takes part in, and Jesus will bless. Hallelujah. I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine. He takes part in all that concerns me, and, my soul, do thou take part in all that concerns him. If Jesus feels for my sorrows, he gives me to participate in his blessedness. What though I now sow in tears, I shall finally reap in joy: like the true spiritual mower, I shall bring home the full sheaves of corn to Jesus’s granary, and my bosom will be filled with his love. Amen.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 129:8 Neither do they which go by say, The blessing of the LORD [be] upon you: we bless you in the name of the LORD.
Ver. 8. Neither do they which go by say, &c. ] As they use to do to harvestmen, Rth 2:1-23 . Christianity is no enemy to courtesy; yet in some cases saith not, God speed, 3Jn 1:10 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
name. See note on Psa 20:1.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
The blessing: Psa 118:26, Rth 2:4
Reciprocal: Gen 47:10 – General Deu 6:7 – shalt talk 1Sa 13:10 – salute him 2Sa 8:10 – to bless him Job 21:29 – go by Psa 1:3 – whatsoever Jer 31:23 – The Lord 2Jo 1:10 – neither
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
GODS BLESSING
The blessing of the Lord be upon you.
Psa 129:8
I. This is a passing salutation, uttered by a good man to his fellows, or even upon the growing corn, the fruitful life of nature, or the sheaves which the binder wraps in his bosom. Such salutations are common in the East, as they have been from time out-of-mind. When Boaz entered the field, which contained the jewel of his life though he knew it not, he said unto the reapers: The Lord be with you! And they answered him: The Lord bless thee! Indeed, the Oriental is so profuse in his greetings that Elisha charged his servant to salute no man by the way.
II. It is a religious act and a Christian duty to conform with sincerity to the usages of polite and ordinary courtesy.It is impossible for those who follow Jesus Christ to be other than perfect in their manners, as true gentlemen and gentlewomen. A fine sensibility to the feelings and rights of others, a glad and gladdening presence, the scattering of kind and courteous words, the morning greeting and the evening salutation of peacethese are among the commonplaces of a high-toned Christian bearing. They are the manners of the Kingdom of God.
III. It is most necessary to control our feelings, to anoint our head and wash our face, to refrain from needlessly exposing our sorrows, to refuse the temptation to increase the heavy burden of the worlds sorrow by dilating on our own. Let us go through the world as a band of music down the street, which leaves it gladder. Let us seek to be blessed, and to be a blessing. Let us ask to be so filled that the cup may overflow. Let us be so filled with the Spirit, as Peter was, that those who are sick of soul may find healing in our very presence.
Illustration
The fairest scenes of earth have oftenest been the scenes of the most bitter suffering that man can inflict upon his fellow, and the scourge has ploughed long furrows of blood upon the quivering flesh of the slave. But there is a place where the afflicted soul may find a shelter. It is in the heart of God; not yonder in heaven, but here and now. He takes the breaking heart as a mother her sobbing child, who presses it to her breast. He pours in the wine and oil of His comfort, as the good Samaritan to the wounds of the waylaid traveller. He cuts asunder the cords with which our enemies had bound us, keeping us till they had leisure to complete their cruel intent; but when they come they find us gone. He is righteous, vindicating our lot, and causing those that hate us to be ashamed. They are as the withered grass of the housetops, whilst the righteous flourish as the palm tree, and grow like the cedar in Lebanon.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
129:8 {d} Neither do they which go by say, The blessing of the LORD [be] upon you: we bless you in the name of the LORD.
(d) That is, the wicked will perish, and none will pass for them.