Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 128:2
For thou shalt eat the labor of thine hands: happy [shalt] thou [be], and [it shall be] well with thee.
2. A personal application of the general principle of Psa 128:1, addressed to any God-fearing father of a family.
For thou shalt eat &c.] Or, The labour of thine hands shalt thou surely eat. His industry will not be baffled by bad seasons or other drawbacks, but will produce good results (Hag 1:11; Hag 2:17), and instead of their being carried off by enemies he will enjoy them himself. Cp. Isa 65:21-22: and contrast the warnings of Lev 26:16; Deu 28:30 ff.; Amo 5:11; Mic 6:15; Job 31:8.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For thou shalt eat the labor of thine hands – Thou shalt enjoy the avails of thy labor; thou shalt be secure in thy rights. See the notes at Isa 3:10. This is a general promise respecting the prosperity which religion affords. If all people were truly religious, this would be universal, so far as man is concerned. Property would be secure; and, except so far as abundant harvests might be prevented by the direct providence of God – by blight, and mildew, and storms, and drought – all people would enjoy undisturbed the avails of their labor. Slavery, whereby one man is compelled to labor for another, would come to an end; every one who is now a slave would eat the labor of his own hands; and property would no more be swept away by war, or become the prey of robbers and freebooters. Religion, if it prevailed universally, would produce universal security in our rights.
Happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee – literally, Happy thou, and well with thee. That is, happiness and security would be the consequence of true religion.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 128:2-3
For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands.
Piety the charm of the poor mans home
Here are three things which are essential materials to make a good home.
I. A godly and industrious father. He is blessed–
1. In himself.
2. In his business.
3. In his family.
4. In his Church.
5. In his country.
II. A godly, home-keeping mother. Here are two features of a Christian wife: what she is–a fruitful vine; and where she is–by the side of her house. As the fruitful vine afforded shade as well as grapes, the figure imports comfort as well as a family.
III. A circle of godly and home-loving children. What is it to be like olive-plants? The olive-branch in Scripture is the emblem of peace, and the olive oil is the emblem of grace. Peace and grace are lovely features in a child, and when peace and grace take possession of the heart of a whole family, Christian people love to visit their dwelling. (J. B. Owen, M. A.)
The morality of business
It is most likely that the psalm was written shortly after the return of the Jews from their exile in Babylon; when the nation was once more, in a sense, mistress of its destinies, and could look out on the beloved native land as its own again. We can all understand what an impulse this feeling would give to the cultivation of the soil; how cheerfully the husbandman would go forth to his daily task, expecting literally to eat the labour of his hands; and with what fresh interest and dignity his work would be invested, when he could look forward to enjoying the fruit of his toil in freedom and peace. But if these were, as it is likely they were, the associations of the moment, still, there is nothing that should prevent our giving the words the widest possible application. The dignity and the happiness with which the commonest hand-labour was associated in the eyes of the psalmist, are the privilege and the glory of labour always and everywhere. To suppose that we gain in true dignity and real happiness by ceasing to labour and studying to idle easily and gracefully through life, is the greatest folly that ever possessed the brain of man. We know who it was who said, Six days shalt thou labour,–and, doubtless, it was said in the interest of the individual, as well as of society at large. And certain it is, that he who would rest with real enjoyment on the seventh day, must labour on the six. When I speak of The Morality of Business, I give to the word business the widest possible meaning, as that which occupies a mans energies, whether of mind or of body, and makes him busy. In considering the morality of business, then, I think we may lay it down as an invariable rule that, so far as the employer is concerned, his business should be so conducted that he himself, and every honest workman under him, shall be able to take a real interest and pleasure in it; and that, so far as the workers are concerned, they shall be dissatisfied with themselves unless they do really feel such an interest, and take such pleasure, in their work. The workman has a just ground of complaint against his employer, if he is required to do anything which tends to destroy an honest mans pleasure in his work. I have often wondered why Trade Unions do not turn their attention to this point, and support their members in refusing to do fraudulent and dishonest work,–work which, if traced out in its results, can be proved to be ultimately in the highest degree hurtful and disastrous to the whole community, as well as to the particular employers and workpeople who are guilty of it. Such a matter as this would surely be far more worthy of the efforts of Trade Unions, as well as far more beneficial both to their members and to society at large, than are some of those which frequently claim and occupy their attention. On the other hand, if the workman has a just ground of complaint against his employer, should he be required to do anything which can destroy an honest mans interest in his work,–undoubtedly the employer has an equally just ground of complaint against his workpeople, if, whilst he is doing his part by them, they fail to throw into their work that interest, and to take that pleasure in it, which will both further their own happiness and at the same time promote his success. A great deal of the mischief from which we are suffering is due to the fact that we overrate enormously the worth of money, and still believe, in spite of our Saviour, that mans life does consist in the abundance of the things which he possesses. Money can command much; but it cannot command the happiness which makes life sweet, and worth having, to us. This must be sought in quite other ways;–through the daily labour, of which our psalmist says, Thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: O well is thee, and happy shalt thou be; through patient continuance in well-doing; through the diligent discharge of our daily duties in all the various relations of life. (Canon D. J. Vaughan.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 2. Those shalt eat the labour of thine hands] Thou shalt not be exempted from labour. Thou shalt work: But God will bless and prosper that work, and thou and thy family shall eat of it. Ye shall all live on the produce of your own labour, and the hand of violence shall not be permitted to deprive you of it. Thus,
Happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee.] Thou shalt have prosperity.
Verse 3. Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine] Thy children, in every corner and apartment of thy house, shall be the evidences of the fruitfulness of thy wife, as bunches of grapes on every bough of the vine are the proofs of its being in a healthy thriving state. Being about the house sides, or apartments, is spoken of the wife, not the vine; being around the table is spoken of the children, not of the olive-plants. It does not appear that there were any vines planted against the walls of the houses in Jerusalem, nor any olive-trees in pots or tubs in the inside of their houses; as may be found in different parts of Europe.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands; thy labour shall not be vain and fruitless, and the fruit of thy labours shall not be taken away from thee, and possessed by others, as God threatened to the disobedient, Deu 28, but enjoyed by thyself with comfort and satisfaction.
Well with thee, both in this world and in the world to come, as even the Chaldee paraphrast explains these words.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2. For thou shalt eatthat is,It is a blessing to live on the fruits of one’s own industry.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For thou shall eat the labour of thine hands,…. That is, thou that fearest the Lord, and walkest in his ways. It is an apostrophe, or address to such, even to everyone of them; instancing in one part of the blessedness that belongs to them, enjoyment of what their hands have laboured for; which may be understood both in a literal and spiritual sense: man must labour and get his bread with the sweat of his brow; he that will not work should not eat, he that does should; and a good man may have a comfortable enjoyment of the good of his labour; than which, as to temporal blessings, there is nothing better under the sun, Ec 5:18; and, in a spiritual sense, good men labour in prayers at the throne of grace, there lifting up holy hands to God, wrestling with him for a blessing, which they enjoy; they labour in attendance on the word and ordinances, for the meat which endures to everlasting life; and they find the word and eat it, and Christ in it, whose flesh is meat indeed; and feed by faith on it, to the joy and comfort of their souls;
happy [shall] thou [be], and [it shall be] well with thee; or, to thy soul, as the Syriac version; happy as to temporal things, and well as to spiritual ones: such having an apparent special interest in the love, grace, mercy, and delight of God; in his providence, protection, and care; in the supplies of his grace, and in his provisions for his people, in time and eternity. It is well with such that felt God, in life and at death, at judgment and for ever: and the Targum is,
“thou art blessed in this world, and it shall be well with thee in the world to come;”
and so Arama.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
2. For when thou shalt eat the labor of thy hands thou shalt be blessed. Some divide this sentence into two members, reading these words, For thou shalt eat the labor of thy hands, as a distinct sentence, and then what follows, Thou shalt be blessed, as the beginning of a new sentence. I indeed grant that it is true, as they assert, that the grace of God, manifested in the faithful enjoying the fruits of their labor is set in opposition to the curse to which all mankind have been subjected. But it is more natural to read the words as one sentence, bringing out this meaning — That God’s children are happy in eating the fruits of their labor; for if we make them two sentences, these words, thou, shalt be blessed, and it shall be well with thee, would contain a cold and even an insipid repetition. Here the Prophet, confirming the doctrine stated in the first verse, teaches us that we ought to form a different estimate of what happiness consists hi from that formed by the world, which makes a happy life to consist in ease, honors, and great wealth. He recalls God’s servants to the practice of moderation, which almost all men refuse to exercise. How few are to be found who, were it left to their own choice, would desire to live by their own labor; yea, who would account it a singular benefit to do so! No sooner is the name of happiness pronounced, than instantly every man breaks forth into the most extravagant ideas of what is necessary to it, so insatiable a gulf is the covetousness of the human heart. The Prophet therefore bids the fearers of God be content with this one thing — with the assurance that having God for their foster-father, they shall be suitably maintained by the labor of their own hands; just as it is said in Psa 34:10,
“
The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger; but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.”
We must remember that the Prophet does not speak of the highest blessedness, which consists not in meat and drink, nor is confined within the narrow bounds of this transitory life; but he assures God’s believing people that even in this pilgrimage or earthly place of sojourn they shall enjoy a happy life, in so far as the state of the world will permit; even as Paul declares that God promises both these to such as fear him, in other words, that God will take care of us during the whole course of our life, until he has at last brought us to eternal glory. (1Ti 4:8.) The change of person serves also to give greater emphasis to the language; for after having),’ spoken in the third person, the Prophet comes to address his discourse to. each individual in particular, to this effect: — Not only does immortal felicity await thee in heaven, but during thy pilgrimage in this world God will not cease to perform the office of the father of a family in maintaining thee, so that thy daily food will be administered to thee by his hand, provided thou art contented with a lowly condition.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(2) For thou.The Hebrew by the position of the particle is more emphatic:
For it is the labour of thine hands thou shalt eat.
(See Note, Psa. 116:10.) This picture of a successful and peaceful husbandry, which itself throws a whole flood of light on the condition of Palestine and of the people, now not nomadic but agricultural, is rendered still more emphatic by references to the numerous passages where it is foretold that enemies would devour the harvests (Deu. 28:30-33; Lev. 26:16).
Happy.The same word translated blessed in Psa. 128:1.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
2. Thou shall eat Literally, Thou shalt surely eat the labour of thy hands. The clause is strongly asseverating. This is the true dignity of man to support himself by his own labour; and this is the faithfulness of God to his children, to assure the rewards of their labour to them. It is “the promise of the life that now is,” 1Ti 4:8; opposed to the threatening of Deu 28:33; Lev 26:16
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 128:2. For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands That is, provided thou thus fear the Lord: for it is observable, that all these blessings are promised as the reward of a religious conduct, or fearing the Lord. See the REFLECTIONS at the end.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psa 128:2 For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy [shalt] thou [be], and [it shall be] well with thee.
Ver. 2. For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands ] That is, thou shalt reap and receive the sweet of thy sweat, whether it be of the brow or of the brain, according to the kind of thy calling. And although thou be forced to live by the labour of thine hands (whence man’s life is called the life of his hands, Isa 57:10 ), yet that shall be no hindrance to thy happiness, but a furtherance of thine account.
Happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
labour. Put by Figure of speech Metonymy (of Cause), App-6, for that which is produced by labour.
thine hands: i.e. thine own hands, in contrast with the opposite (Lev 26:16. Deu 28:30-33, Deu 28:39, Deu 28:40). See also Amo 5:11. Mic 6:15.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
thou shalt eat: Gen 3:19, Deu 28:4, Deu 28:11, Deu 28:39, Deu 28:51, Jdg 6:3-6, Ecc 5:18, Ecc 5:19, Isa 62:8, Isa 65:13, Isa 65:21-23
and it shall: Ecc 8:12, Isa 3:10, Jer 22:15, 1Co 15:58, Eph 6:3
Reciprocal: Gen 2:15 – put Deu 12:7 – ye shall Jdg 19:16 – his work Rth 3:1 – may be Neh 5:2 – our sons Psa 1:3 – whatsoever Pro 12:11 – tilleth Pro 13:11 – he Pro 31:31 – of the Ecc 2:10 – my heart rejoiced Ecc 3:13 – General Isa 19:15 – General Jer 40:9 – Fear Jer 42:6 – that it
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 128:2. Thou shalt eat the labour, &c. Thy labour shall not be vain and fruitless, and the fruit of thy labour shall not be taken from thee and possessed by others, as was threatened to the disobedient Deuteronomy 28., but enjoyed by thyself with comfort and satisfaction. Happy shalt thou be Whether thou be high or low, rich or poor, in the world, if thou fear God, and walk in his ways, thou mayest take the comfort of the promise to thyself, and expect the benefit of it, as if it were directed to thee by name. And it shall be well with thee Both in this world and (as even the Chaldee paraphrast interprets the words) in the world to come. Whatever befalls thee, good shall be brought out of it; and it shall be well with thee while thou livest, better when thou diest, and best of all in eternity. Henry.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
128:2 For thou shalt eat the labour of thine {b} hands: happy [shalt] thou [be], and [it shall be] well with thee.
(b) The world esteems them happy who live in wealth and idleness but the Holy Spirit approves them best who live of the mean profit of their labours.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
2. Some specific blessings 128:2-4
The work of the person who fears and obeys God will be productive. It will yield joy and well-being to him (Psa 128:2; cf. Psa 127:1-2). Such a man’s wife will also be fruitful. Vines were everywhere in Israel, and grape production was one of its chief industries. The implication of this statement is that the wife would bear children. Likewise, the children of the godly would make beneficial contributions symbolized by olives, another one of the most important crops in Israel. The psalmist pictured the family gathered around the dinner table (Psa 128:3). Psa 128:4 with Psa 128:1 frame the thought of Psa 128:2-3.