Commentary on Ezra Nehemiah Ester Job and Psalms, Commentary 5 · Psalm 128 – Psalm 129
PSAL. CXXVIII.
VErſ. 1 Bleſſed is every one that feareth the Lord] This Pſalm is fitly ſubjoyned to the former, and it is, foreign, a kind of wedding-ſermon, written for the inſtruction and comfort of married couples, and ſhewing that Conjugium humanae eſt divina Academia vitae. And it is to bee obſerved, that here all men are ſpoken to as wedded; becauſe this is the ordinary eſtate of moſt people. See 1 Cor. 7.1, 2. At this day, every Jew is bound to marry about eighteen years of age or before twenty; elſe hee is accounted as one that liveth in ſin; and how the Popiſh clergy, profeſſing continency, have turned all places into ſo many Sodoms, who knoweth not?
And walketh in his wayes] The true reverentiall fear of God will eaſily form the heart to a right obedience. They that fear the Lord will keep his Covenant, Pſal. 103.13. with 18. and therefore was the Law delivered at firſt in that terrible manner.
Verſ. 2 For thou ſhalt eat the labour of thy hands] That is, thou ſhalt reap and receive the ſweet of thy ſweat; whether it bee of the brow, or of the brain, according to the kind of thy calling.Iſa. 57.10. And although thou bee forced to, live by the labour of thine hands (whence mans life is called the life of his hands) yet that ſhall bee no hinderance to thy happineſs, but a furtherance of thine account.
Happy ſhalt thou bee, and O ſhall bee … with thee] The Chaldee thus expoundeth it, Happy thou in this World; and good ſhall it bee unto thee in the World to come.
Verſ. 3 Thy Wife ſhall bee as a fruitfull vine] Full of bunches and cluſters of rich ripe Grapes; ſo ſhee, of Children, and thoſe vertuous; the little-ones hanging on her breaſts, as Grapes on the Vine; the Elder as Olive-plants, ſtraight, green, freſh and flouriſhing, Pſal. 52.9. legitimate alſo; as the Olive admitteth no other graſſ. Indeed the Olive ſet into the Vine yeeldeth both Grapes and Olives; whereby is repreſented the naturall affection that is betwixt the Mother and her Children. The Vine and the Olive are two of the beſt fruits; the one for chearing the heart, the other for clearing the face, Pſal. 104.15. the one for ſweetneſs, the other for fatneſs, Judg. 9.13. both together implying,Simon Bi…iſ… …. that a great part of a mans temporal happineſs conſiſteth in having a good Wife and Children. It is ſaid of Sylla, that hee had been happy had hee never been ſo married: And Auguſtus his wiſh was (but all too late) Utinam a…t caelebs vixiſſem, a…t orbus periiſſem, Oh that I had either lived ſingle, or dyed childleſs.….
By the ſides of thy houſe] Where Vines are uſually planted, that they may have the benefit of the Sun. The modeſt wife is domiporta, found at home, as Sarah in the Tent; not ſo the Harlot, Prov. 7.12.
Thy Children like Olive-plants] See the Note before on this verſe.
Round about thy Table] Making a moſt delectable incloſure.
Verſ. 4 Behold, that thus ſhall the man bee bleſſed, &c.] Behold, and that thou; q. d. Know it for a truth, and reſt aſſured of the bleſſedneſſe of married couples, whatſoever the Devill and his Agents (ſpeaking baſely of marriage) ſuggeſt to the contrary, ſo bee it they fear the Lord, for that's it that ſweeteneth, and ſanctifieth all eſtates of life whatſoever.
Verſ. 5 The Lord ſhall … thee out of Zion] viz. With ſpirituall benedictions, Epheſ. 1.3. and theſe are far better than all other that Heaven and Earth afford, Pſal. 134.3.
And thou ſhalt ſee the good of Jeruſalem] i. e. The proſperity of the Church; without which all other comforts are to a good ſoul, but as ſo many Ichabods: A good Chriſtian injoyeth them not, but is even ſick at heart of the afflictions of Joſeph. Amos 6.6.
Verſ. 6 Yea thou ſhalt ſee thy Childrens Children] A faithfull man ſhall abound with bleſſings, Prov. 28.20. hee ſhall have all that heart can wiſh, or need require.
And peace upon Iſrael] Procured in part by thy piety and prayers.
PSAL. CXXIX.
VErſ. 1 Many a time] Or, Much, and long.
Have they] i. e. The Perſecutors that deſerve not a name. The rich man is not named (as Lazarus is) becauſe not worthy. They ſhall bee written in the Earth,Luk. 10. Jer. 17.13.
Afflicted mee] i. e. The whole community of Saints; ſpoken of here in the ſingular, for their 1 Unity, 2 Paucity.
From my youth] The firſt that ever dyed, dyed for religion; ſo early came Martyrdome into the World.
May Iſrael now ſay] Who yet are promiſed peace, Pſal. 128.6. but ſo was Joſiah; and yet he dyed in battel, 2 Chron. 34.28. But the very God of peace had ſanctified him throughout, and ſo altered the property of his affliction, that it was ſubſervient to his ſalvation.
Verſ. 2 Many a time, &c.] Anadiploſis ad exaggerationem, q. d. They have done it and done it again, but could never atchieve their deſign, viz. to ſupplant and eradicate mee; which might not bee. Oppugnarunt (non expugn…unt, however the Vulgar ſo rendreth here.) The Church is invincible. Athens took upon her of old to bee ſo; and Venice late boaſteth the like: but time hath confuted the one, and may ſoon do the other; when the Church ſhall ſtand firm, becauſe founded on a Rock. More truly may it bee ſaid of it, than twas once of Troy, Victa tamen vinces, everſaq, Tr…ja reſurges: Obruet hoſtiles illa ruina domes.Ovid de ….
Verſ. 3 The plowers plowed upon my back] Which was never without ſome Croſs upon it, yea ſome plough paſſing over it. The Church is Gods Husbandry; and hee will bee ſure to plow his ſeverall, what ever becommeth of the wild waſte. She is his threſhing-flore, Iſa. 21.10. and hath but little reſt or reſpite. Enemies are flails to threſh off our husks, files to brighten our graces; ploughs and harrows, without which wee ſhould bear but a very thin crop. Gods people do foreign, ſow the ſeed of prayer in the long furrows which thoſe plowers made on their backs; like as the Jews in their feaſts break their glaſſes, as Jeruſalem was broken.
They made long their furrows] Heb. Furrow; as if there were totum pro … corpus. Here haply the Pſalmiſt alludeth to thoſe exquiſite torments whereunto many of the Martyrs were put, ſulcati fidiculi….
Verſ. 4 The Lord is righteous] That's a ruled caſe, and muſt bee held for a certain truth, whatever wee are, or our Perſecutors.
Hee hath cut aſunder the cords of the wicked] That is, their harneſs, their ploughtraces (nam continuatur tropus Ruſticus) ſo that the plough is looſe, and the horſes at liberty; all their forces and deſigns are broken.
Verſ. 5 Let them all bee conſounded, &c.] And if thoſe that hate Zion, how much more thoſe that hurt her with their virulent tongues, or violent hands?
Verſ. 6 Let them bee at the graſs, &c.] They are curſed with a witneſs whom the Holy Ghoſt thus curſeth, in ſuch emphaticall manner, in ſuch exquiſite tearms.
Verſ. 7 Wherewith the Mower filleth not his hand] As holding it not worth gathering in. Wicked men are uſeleſs creatures: as Stratonicus in Athenau… ſaith, that the Hill Hamus was for eight months in the year very cold, and for the other four it was Winter.
Verſ. 8 Neither do they which go by ſay, &c.] As they uſe to do to harveſt men, Ruth 2.3 Joh. Chriſtianity is no enemy to curteſie; yet in ſome caſes, ſaith not, God ſpeed.