THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Psalms: God's Nurture Of The Inner Man In The Life Of Faith

CXXVIII: God's Worldwide Blessings By One Man's Reverence For Him

(Psalm 128:1-6)

I. Introduction

A. We live in an era where much is wrong with society and human needs are great on a worldwide scale.

B. However, lest we become despondent over this matter, Psalm 128:1-6 reveals that just one man can be used of God to produce in time worldwide blessings if he reveres the Lord and acts upon that reverence.

C. We thus view Psalm 128:1-6 for its insight and our edification and application (as follows):

II. God's Worldwide Blessings By One Man's Reverence For Him, Psalm 128:1-6.

A. The introductory remarks are part of verse one, so the numbering system in the Hebrew text matches that of the English Bible (Kittel, Biblia Hebraica, p. 1089). We thus stay with the English Bible's numbering system.

B. We then translate Psalm 128:1-6 (as follows; cited from Kittel, Ibid., p. 1089 for v. 1-2; p. 1090 for v. 3-6):

1. "A song of ascents. O the blessings of ('ashere, a superlative; H. C. Leupold, Expos. of the Psalms, 1974, p. 896) every man who reveres (yere', masc. sing. of yara', B. D. B., A Heb. and Eng. Lex. of the O. T., p. 431) Jahweh, who walks [fig. for orders his life] in His ways," Psalm 128:1.

2. "For you will eat (to'kel, 2 per. masc. sing. of 'akal, "eat," Ibid., p. 37-38) the fruit of the labor of your [m. suff.] hands; you [m. suff.] will be blessed, happy and prosperity will be yours [m. suff.]," Psalm 128:2.

3. "Your [m. suff.] wife will be like a fruitful vine in the innermost recesses of your [m. suff.] house; your [m. suff.] children will be like olive shoots around your [m. suff.] table," Psalm 128:3.

4. "Behold! For thus will an adult-male-at-the-height-of-his-powers (geber, Ibid., p. 149-150) be blessed who reveres the Lord," Psalm 128:4.

5. "[May] Jahweh bless you [m. suff.] from Zion that you might see (masc. sing. impve.; Ibid.; The Analy. Heb. and Chald. Lex., 1972, p. 670) the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your [m. suff.] life," (v. 5)

6. "and may you see (masc. sing. impve.; Ibid.) your [m. suff.] children's children! Peace be on Israel!" (v. 6)

C. We note significant observations regarding this psalm (as follows):

1. The exclusive use of masculine forms of the verbs, the exclusive use of the male pronoun suffixes added to words that we noted in the text and the technical noun for an adult male at the height of his powers in v. 4 in light of the context reveal that this psalm addresses adult male heads of households.

2. In addition, there is an ever widening circle of influence starting with the man and his personal relationship to Jahweh (v. 1a) that produces a life of obedience to God (v. 1b), and of the effect of that life first upon the blossoming of his wife (v. 3a), then his children (v. 3b), then his nation's capital city, Jerusalem (v. 5) followed by his extended family in succeeding generations (v. 6a) and finally the peace of Israel (v. 6b), which also implies an impact on other world nations that are caused by God to live at peace with Israel.

3. Accordingly, Psalm 128 teaches that if just one man truly reveres the Lord so that he obeys Him, ordering his life in accord with God's Word, manifold blessings from God will be his as he eats the fruit of his labor not only in terms of agricultural production, but in all his relationships. His good relationship with the Lord will affect his wife's productivity and blessing, which together with the man will impact his children for the good that in turn will affect his town, his tribe and eventually his nation's capital city, Jerusalem, what then leads to the peace of his nation and thus its relationship of peace with other nations of the world!

4. [We know from Romans 8:3-4 that the necessary reverence for God and motivation to obey Him come today only from depending on the indwelling Holy Spirit of God! Thus, we can add that a man needs to rely on the Holy Spirit to have the reverence, motivation and power to obey the Lord for blessing.]

Lesson: God makes even one male head of household who reveres Him so as to heed His Biblical will in life that he impacts first his wife for her edification, then his children, then his town and nation and eventually the world.

Application: Though Psalm 128:1-6 applies directly to men under the Mosaic Covenant (Deuteronomy 28), in principle, it is also true that in our dispensation of the Church, a head of household who relies on the Spirit of God to revere so as to heed Scripture will positively impact his wife, his children, his extended family, his community, his city, his country and eventually the world in ever widening circles of impact. Jonathan Edwards did this: as we before learned in our study of the prophetic era of the Church of Sardis (Revelation 3:1-6), Edwards' influence in the Great Awakening led to the formation of the United States and World Missions! May we thus revere the Lord!