Works Volume 4, Book 5 · Psalm 128
The Hundred and Twenty Eighth Pſalm.
A Song of Degrees.
The hundred and twenty eighth is a ſhort enumeration of the preſent felicities which from God's ſpecial bleſſing are aſcertain'd to every pious man. It was on that account thought fit to be ſolemnly pronounced by the Levites, and ſung after the return from the captivity, as a ſpecial eminent bleſſing of God to his people.
1. BLeſſed is every one that feareth the Lord, that walketh in his ways.
Paraphrase. 1. There is no ſuch aſſurance of the comforts and felicities of this life, as that which is made over by God to all pious obedient ſervants of his.
2. For thou ſhalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy ſhalt thou be, and it ſhall be well with thee.
Paraphrase. 2. Such men ſhall not fail of a bleſſing on all their honeſt labours, but have plenty here, and, which is much more, take comfort in injoying that plenty, which covetous worldly men never doe; and after an age of felicity and proſperity here continued (ſave onelyonly when God ſees fit to give his mixture of the croſs) ſhall be tranſplanted to †foreign Good ſhall be to thee in the world to come. Chal.eternal immarceſcible joys.
3. Thy wife ſhall be as the fruitfull vine by the ſides of thine houſe; thy children like Olive plants round about thy table.
4. Behold thus ſhall the man be bleſſed that feareth the Lord.
Paraphrase. 3, 4. One prime and ſpecial bleſſing of heaven it is, that he ſhall have a fruitfull wife, and a plentifull and proſperous family of children. Of the former of which the cluſters of ſuch a vine as may for its fertility be ſtiled the great bearer, (hanging ſo thick, that they even cover the walls of the houſe where they were wont to be planted) is the fitteſt reſemblance; and of the latter, the verdure of the Olive is a proper emblem, with which as the tables without doors were wont to be ſurrounded, ſo ſhall his table be adorned and incompaſſed with a multitude of flouriſhing children. All true temporal felicity is compriſed in this, and this ſhall be the pious man's portion.
5. The Lord ſhall bleſs thee out of Zion, and thou ſhalt ſee the good of Jeruſalem all the days of thy life.
6. Yea thou ſhalt ſee thy childrens children, and peace upon Iſrael.
Paraphrase. 5, 6. And whatever elſe he can ſtand in need of, it ſhall be performed to him by God, in anſwer to his prayers which he offers up in his holy place: and as an accompliſhment of felicity to him, his interceſſions ſhall be heard for others, even for the publick of the nation; he ſhall be an inſtrument and a witneſs of good to the whole land; God ſhall be atoned by ſuch as he, and turn the captivity of his people by way of return to his prayers and faith and patience. God ſhall inlarge his days, and crown them with that double bleſſing of old age, firſt, the ſight of a numerous poſterity, and ſecondly, the reſtoring of peace and proſperity to the Kingdom.
Annotations on Pſal. CXXVIII.
V. 3. Fruitfull vine] In all countreys the ſeveral ſorts of vines have ſeveral names and appellations, among the Jews foreign and foreign &c. and one ſort ſeems here to be known by the title of foreign the fruit-bearing vine, foreignas among us tis ordinarily to ſtyle ſuch a kind of fruit the great bearer. Vines, it ſeems, were then planted on the ſides of houſes, as now they are among us, and not onelyonly in vineyards, to ſtand by themſelves; and to that alſo the Pſalmiſt here refers. So likewiſe of Olive-plants 'tis obſervable, not onelyonly that tables were dreſt up with the boughs of them, ramis felicis Olivae, but that in the Eaſtern countries they were uſually planted (as in arbours) to ſhade the table, entertainments being made without doors, in gardens, under that umbrage, which gave all the liberty of the cool winds and refreſhing blaſts. An image whereof we have Gen. 18.4. waſh your feet, and reſt your ſelves under the tree; and a full expreſſion, Heſt. 1.5. the King made a feaſt in the court of the garden of the King's palace.