Psalm 128/Commentary

Psalm 128 “Home Sweet Home”

“The quiet blessings of an ordered life are traced from the center outwards in this psalm, as the eye travels from the godly man to his family and finally to Israel. Here is simple piety with its proper fruit of stability and peace” (Kidner p.

443).

This psalm first of all deals with the God-fearing man or woman, second with the God-fearing family, and last of all with the God-fearing city or nation. The previous Psalm (127), reminded us that without God, every human endeavor is in vain. In this Psalm, the writer reminds us that there are nevertheless several important responsibilities that rest on the person who would partake of God’s blessings. In short, he must fear God and obey Him.

A Man Before God

128:1 “How blessed is everyone who fears the Lord”: To “fear” the Lord, includes having a profound reverence and awe for Him. “God must be taken seriously. He must not be trifled with. He must be, as He actually is, the center of everything we are, think, or aspire to be. He must be our starting point for every project, the strength we seek for every valuable endeavor, the one we earnestly desire to please and honor as our goal…..For those who think as the world does, God is a plaything of the mind and spiritual realities are mere ‘Godtalk’. For the world the only meaningful reality is what can be seen, felt and measured by the senses” (Boice p. 1125).

Points To Note: 1. The word “blessed” carries the idea of happy, fortunate and well-off. So many people in our culture are convinced that taking God seriously will only result in misery. The Bible challenges that concept and argues that the people who are truly blessed are the people to take God and His word seriously (Matthew 5:1ff). 2. “The idea of fearing God has vanished from our world-view. We suppose that it is left over from the Middle Ages. Some professed Christians have taught the monstrous opinion that the God of the 1

Old Testament is a God of wrath and that the God of the New Testament is a God of love” (Williams pp. 429-430). 3. But the New Testament teaches us to fear God just as must as the Old Testament did (Matthew 10:28). In addition, the Old Testament stated that the fear of God is the beginning of true wisdom and knowledge (Proverbs 1:7). It is very healthy to take God seriously and treat Him with the utmost respect—for He deserves as much (Malachi 1:6ff).

128:1 “Who walks in His ways”: Note the ingredients to true happiness.

These ingredients aren’t impossible to seek or find, rather, blessedness is found by someone who fears God and walks in His ways, that is, follows His word (Isaiah 66:2; Luke 6:46). “If these promises seem modest, and the program of verse 1 unadventurous, they can be compared with their high-sounding alternatives: ‘You shall be happy’ with ‘ye shall be as gods’ (Genesis 3:5); and walking ‘in his ways’ with ‘every one to his own way’ (Isaiah 53:6). Psalm 14 shows what comes of these ambitions” (Kidner p. 443).

128:2 “When you shall eat of the fruit of your hands, you will be happy and it will be well with you”: This is one example of how godly people are blessed.

They will actually enjoy the fruits of their labors. So many people in this life work very hard, but they really can’t enjoy what they have earned or acquired. How many people are so anxious about the future, or so eager to have more, that they can’t enjoy what they already have? In this sense, the meek truly inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5). If you work in trusting dependence upon God, you will enjoy your accomplishments, but if you work in stubborn independence of God, then your accomplishments will be marred by anxiety, worry, lust for more, and so on.

128:3 “The vine was a symbol of not only fruitfulness but of sexual charm (Song of Solomon 7:8ff) and of festivity (Judges 9:13)” (Kidner p. 433). Consider the contrast between this woman and the promiscuous woman in Proverbs 7:11: She is loud and wayward, her feet do not stay at home. In this Psalm the attractiveness of this wife is wholly wrapped up in her faithfulness. The faithful man will enjoy the warmth of wife and family around his table when he eats the fruit of his labors. “This image does not mean simply that the wife will produce lots of children…Actually, in the Bible the vine with its grapes and the wine that is made from them is a symbol of refreshment and lavish enjoyment….The psalm is promising that however hard the day-to-day work in the fields may be for a laboring man, to come home to a good wife is somewhat like coming home to harvest. It is time to forget the hard summer work and enjoy God’s bounty” (Boice p. 1128). Compare with Ecclesiastes 9:9.

128:3 “Olive trees take a long time to mature and become profitable. Patiently cultivated, they become quite valuable and continue to produce a profitable crop 2

for centuries longer perhaps than any other fruit-producing tree or plant. The interesting thing about these two images, vines and olive plants, is that they are biblical symbols of the abundant life. They are not food staples like wheat or corn. They symbolize rich blessing” (Boice p. 1128).

“Though the olive tree may not bear after it has been planted for forty years, it is a symbol of longevity and productivity. So are children within the household of faith! They are not like grass, which is here today but is gone tomorrow.

Rather, they are olive trees that in due time bear their fruit. The blessedness of the godly man will extend to other generations. What a privilege God bestows on His children in this life that we may already taste the firstfruits of our heritage!” (Gaebelein p. 796).

128:4 Yes, these blessings are very common for those who serve the Lord! (1 Peter 3:10ff).

The Wider Horizon 128:5 These verses remind us that however blessed we or our families may be personally, that blessing is always incomplete unless it embraces other people too. Compare with Jeremiah 29:5-7 and Matthew 5:13-16.

Such blessings are not to be limited to a few days or years but rather are to be experienced throughout life. In the Old Testament, for the faithful to be in Jerusalem during one of the festivals was an assurance of God’s blessing on their lives. The godly person in the Old Testament was not only concerned about his personal well-being, but also the well-being of Jerusalem and the nation of Israel (122:6-9).

Do we pray for God’s blessings upon the church, the spiritual Israel in the New Covenant? (Galatians 6:16)

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