Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 121:4
Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
Behold, he that keepeth Israel – The Keeper – the Guardian – of his people. The psalmist here passes from his own particular case to a general truth – a truth to him full of consolation. It is, that the people of God must always be safe; that their great Guardian never slumbers; and that he, as one of his people, might, therefore, confidently look for his protecting care.
Shall neither slumber nor sleep – Never slumbers, never ceases to be watchful. Man sleeps; a sentinel may slumber on his post, by inattention, by long-continued wakefulness, or by weariness; a pilot may slumber at the helm; even a mother may fall asleep by the side of the sick child; but God is never exhausted, is never weary, is never inattentive. He never closes his eyes on the condition of his people, on the needs of the world.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 121:4
Behold, He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
God, the Keeper of Israel
Why was this added? Was it not enough to say, He that keepeth thee will not slumber? Nay, this is not mere repetition. In the one sentence God is spoken of as the Keeper generally of His Church, or people; in the other sentence as the keeper of the believer individually. And the transition from the believer to the Church is exquisitely beautiful and comforting. For the individual, on being told of the wakefulness of his heavenly Keeper, might say–Can I dare to hope that one so insignificant as myself is to be the object of so unwearied attention? And why not, O thou of little faith? Thou art a member of that body which God hath purchased to Himself at inestimable cost. Dost thou not know, that to touch this body is to touch the apple of His eye? and is not the body touched, if touched in the very least of its members? If thou canst believe that He that keepeth Israel never slumbers, is not the wakeful eye upon thyself? What is Israel but the aggregate of such units as thyself? and how can Israel be incessantly watched if a single unit be overlooked? Or there is another way, in which the third and fourth verses may be connected. There is nothing of selfishness in religion. It does not content the believer that great privileges are his; he longs to share them with others; they seem but half enjoyed, unless enjoyed in fellowship and communion with multitudes possessing like precious faith. Does his heart, then, bound at being told–He that keepeth thee will not slumber? Yes, but his joy is not full till the celestial voice adds–He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. Then he feels–There is a blessed company who share with me this unwearied protection. I am not alone, and I would not be alone, in the favour of that glorious Being, who made heaven and earth. Friends, kinsmen, children, all may be included. There is room for an innumerable multitude:–oh! that an innumerable multitude may suffer themselves to be gathered under the shadow of His wings. (H Melvill, B. D.)
The wakeful eyes of God
I. The Lord keeps Israel–
1. As a shepherd keeps his sheep–by feeding them, by supplying all their needs, and also by guarding them from all their adversaries. He keeps the flock with vigilance so that it is not diminished either by the ravaging of the wolf or by the straying of the sheep.
2. As a king keeps his jewels. God hides His people in the casket of His power, and protects them with all His wisdom and strength.
3. As a governor keeps the city committed to his charge.
II. He shall neither slumber nor sleep.
1. Think of Gods eyes as never wearying of His people. Infinite patience!
2. God is never forgetful of His people for a single moment.
3. God is always ready to show Himself strong on behalf of those who trust Him.
4. God is never asleep in the sense that He ceases to consider us. You and I, in thinking of one thing, often forget another; but it is not so with God. He is so great that His centre is everywhere, and His circumference is nowhere; and you, dear brother or sister, may be the very centre of Gods thoughts, and so may I; and all His redeemed may at the same moment have His thoughts fixed upon each one of them. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
There is no sleep with God
His eye is ever upon His people for good. That great eye never closes. That great eye is as bright and piercing as ever, and not for a single instant is the vigilance relaxed. A poor woman, as the Eastern story has it, came to the Sultan one day, and asked compensation for the loss of some property. How did you lose it? said the monarch. I fell asleep, was the reply, and a robber entered my dwelling. Why did you fall asleep? I fell asleep because I believed that you were awake. The Sultan was so much delighted with the answer of the woman that he ordered her loss to be made up. But what is true, only by a legal fiction, of human governments, that they never sleep, is true in the most absolute sense with reference to the Divine government. We can sleep in safety, because our God is ever awake. We are safe, because He never slumbers. (N. McMichael.)
All preserved for Israels sake
As He preserved the ark for Noahs sake, and Goshen for the ancient Israelites sake, and all that were in the ship for St. Pauls sake, and all that were in the bath for St. Johns sake, and all that fled to the tombs of the martyrs in Rome, when the Goths sacked the city, for the Christians sake: so at this day He supporteth all kingdoms and states for the Churches sake. The world is as a hop-yard, the Church as the hops, kingdoms, states, and commonwealths as the poles; and as the owner of the hop-yard preserveth the poles and stakes carefully, not for themselves, but that the hops may grow upon them: so God preserveth all states and societies of men, that they may be a support to His Church. We may take this note higher, and truly affirm that He keepeth heaven and earth for her sake; the earth to be as a nursery for her children, to grow awhile; and the heaven for His garden and celestial Paradise, whither He will transplant them all in the end. Wherefore, although the world never so much scorn, and contemn, and malign, and persecute Gods chosen, yet it is indebted to them for its being and continuance; for God keepeth the heavens for the earth, the earth for living creatures, other living creatures for men, men for Israel, and Israel for the elects sake. For their sake it is that the heavens move, the sun, moon and stars shine, the winds blow, the springs flow, the rivers run, the plants grow, the earth fructifieth, the beasts, fowls, and fishes multiply; for as soon as grace hath finished her work, and the whole number of the elect is accomplished, nature shall utterly cease, and this world shall give place to a better in which righteousness shall dwell. Yet when heaven and earth shall pass, this word of God shall not pass; for He that now keepeth militant Israel in the bosom of the earth shall then keep triumphant Israel in Abrahams bosom. (D. Featly, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 4. He that keepeth Israel] The Divine Being represents himself as a watchman, who takes care of the city and its inhabitants during the night-watches; and who is never overtaken with slumbering or sleepiness. There is a thought in the Antigone of Sophocles, that seems the counterpart of this of the psalmist,
, ,
,
‘ –
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Antig. ver. 613, Edit. Johnson.
Shall men below control great Jove above,
Whose eyes by all-subduing sleep
Are never closed, as feeble mortals’ are;
But still their watchful vigil keep
Through the long circle of th’ eternal year?
FRANKLIN.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. He that kept Israel or Jacob, when asleep, and appeared to him in a dream, and promised to keep him in all places, and did; who found his posterity in the wilderness, and kept them as the apple of his eye: he keeps his spiritual Israel, whom he has chosen, redeemed, and calls; and he that is in general their keeper, is the keeper of every particular believer, who may promise themselves the utmost safety under his care; since, though he may sometimes seem to sleep, when he withdraws his gracious presence, defers help, and does not arise so soon to the assistance of his people as they wish for and expect; yet does not in reality sleep, nor is any ways negligent of them; no, not so much as slumber, nor is in the least indifferent about them, and careless of them; see Ge 28:15. So Homer k represents Jupiter as not held by sleep, while other gods and men slept all night; and hence Milton l has the phrase of “the unsleeping eyes of God”: but the Phrygians had a notion that their god slept in winter, and was awake in summer m.
k Iliad. 2. v. 1, 2. l Paradise Lost, B. 5. v. 647. m Plutarch. de Iside & Osir. prope finem.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
4. Behold! he who keepeth Israel will not slumber nor sleep. (64) To recall each individual to the consideration of the common covenant, he represents the Divine providence as extending to the whole body of the Church. In order that each of us for himself may be assured that God will be gracious to him, it behoves us always to begin with the general promise made to all God’s people,. This form of expression, he will not slumber nor sleep, would be improper in other languages, according to the idiom of which it should rather be, He will not sleep, yea, he will not slumber: but when the Hebrews invert this order, they argue from the greater to the less. The sense then is, that as God never slumbers even in the smallest degree, we need not be afraid of any ham befalling us while he is asleep. The design of the Prophet is now obvious. To persuade true believers that God has a special care of each of them in particular, he brings forward the promise which God made to the whole people, and declares God to be the guardian of his Church, that from this general principle, as from a fountain, each might convey streams to himself. Accordingly immediately after, (Psa 121:5,) addressing himself to each in particular, he repeats, Jehovah is thy keeper, that no person might hesitate to apply to himself that which belonged to the whole community of Israel. Besides, God is called a defense at the right hand, to teach us that it is not necessary for us to go far in seeking him, but that he is at hand, or rather stands at our side to defend us.
(64) A notion was prevalent among the heathen, that their gods sometimes slept, and were not then conscious of the wants of their worshippers. Elijah thus addressed in irony the followers of Baal, 1Kg 18:27 :
“
Cry aloud; for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be waked.”
Very different was the character of the guardian of Israel. He relaxed not his watchful care over his people by indulging in light slumbers during the day, nor even by sleeping in the night, when the tired frame of man seeks and demands repose.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(4) Slumber nor sleep.This repetition, with the addition of a synonym, offers a very good instance of the step-like style supposed by many critics to give their name to these psalms. But it must be carefully noticed that there is no climax in the force of the two words, the first, if anything, being the stronger. It is used of the sleep of death (Psa. 76:5).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4. He that keepeth Israel The safety of Israel is due to the vigilant care of God. It is a divine gift.
Neither slumber nor sleep As the heathen gods were supposed to do. See 1Ki 18:27. Through all Israel’s meandering paths along the centuries Jehovah’s eye was upon them day and night.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 121:4 Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
Ver. 4. Behold, he that keepeth, &c. ] He repeateth that sweetest promise (that we may roll it as sugar under our tongues, that we may suck and be satisfied, Isa 66:11 ), and setteth it forth with a behold, q.d. mark it, “and know thou it for thy good,” Job 5:27 .
Shall neither slumber nor sleep
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
neither. Hebrew. l’o (like Greek. ou). He will not. Absolute.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 121:4-5
Psa 121:4-5
“Behold, he that keepeth Israel
Will neither slumber nor sleep.
Jehovah is thy keeper:
Jehovah is thy shade.”
“Keeper … Shade.” “Such tides of God are virtually promises. What a consolation there is in the very names which God has applied to himself. He reveals himself as our Sun, Shield, Strong Tower, High Tower, Hiding Place, and our Portion. So it is with Jesus Christ: the Light of the World, the Way, the Truth, the Life, the Resurrection, the Bread of life, Redeemer, etc.
Since God is our keeper, what is there that we should fear? The conclusion is quite natural, as Delitzsch said, “That the life of him who stands under such universal and unbounded protection can suffer no injury.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 121:4. If the care of one servant would require that God should never slumber. then surely the care of all Israel would require as much. There Is not much difference between slumber and sleep, yet there is a slight distinction If the original words are considered. The first means to allow oneself to fall asleep from lack of interest, the second means to go to sleep from physicial drowsiness. The Lord will not fail of his care through either cause.
Psa 121:5. The Psalmist is still addressing himself in a tone of assurance; he believed the Lord would help him in all of his trials. He then used a figure of speech in the form of a shade which would be a great relief from the scorching heat of the sun.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
he that: Psa 27:1, Psa 32:7, Psa 32:8, Psa 127:1, Isa 27:3
shall: 1Ki 18:27, Ecc 8:16, Rev 7:15
Reciprocal: Exo 26:14 – a covering Num 6:24 – keep thee 2Sa 8:14 – the Lord Pro 3:24 – liest