Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb19990328.htm

PSALMS: DIARIES OF GODLY OLD TESTAMENT SAINTS
Psalm One Hundred And Twenty-Eight - God's Formula For The Fulfilling Social Order For Humanity
(Psalm 128:1-6)
  1. Introduction
    1. Governments the world over struggle to provide welfare, security, stability, low crime and employment benefits for their people. Yet, as Jesus said in Matthew 6:32, all these things are what the nations seek, implying that it is an en dless quest of sorts that never fully gets met.
    2. However, God supplies a formula for a fulfilling social order in Psalm 128:1-6 that every international, national, state, county, town, hamlet and household would do well to apply as follows:
  2. God's Formula For The Fulfilling Social Order For Humanity, Psalm 128:1-6.
    1. The psalm teaches that the foundation to societal blessings is built upon male heads of households being right with God (as follows):
      1. After listing the blessings those who fear Jahweh would receive in verses 1-3, the psalmist summarizes those blessings, stating that thus will every "gever" be blessed, v. 4. (Biblia Hebraica, p. 1090)
      2. The word, gever in Hebrew, as we discovered in Psalm 127, is a technical work meaning a "male at the height of his powers", Theological Wordbook of the O. T., ed. Harris, Archer, Waltke, v. I, p. 148.
      3. After this revelation about male heads of households, the psalmist writes of the expanded national and international spin-off, resulting blessings of these godly men on society, Ps. 128:5-6.
      4. Thus, the foundation of the societal blessings taught in the psalm is a male head of household's right relationship with the God of Scripture!
    2. Accordingly, we can identify God's Formula For The Fulfilling Social Order for Humanity as follows:
      1. Step One - A male head of household chooses to respect Jahweh, the God of the Bible, Ps. 128:1a.
      2. Step Two - That head of household then decides to read and apply God's Word to his life, Ps. 128:1b.
      3. Step Three - Blessings begin to flow, feeding one upon another until that man's walk affects even the world's social order for good as follows, Ps. 128:2-6:
        1. Blessing Result One - This male head of household will then have a productive employment, 128:2a.
        2. Blessing Result Two - This head of household will be a happy man in his role in life, Ps. 128:2b.
        3. Blessing Result Three - This male head of household will enjoy prosperity and wholesomeness, v. 2c
        4. Blessing Result Four - This male head of household will have his productive, happy, prosperous and wholesome experience affect his wife so that she blossoms under his influence in the home, 128:3a.
        5. Blessing Result Five - This male head of household will have his own good influence both directly and through his blossoming wife positively affect his children for their development, Ps. 128:3b: (a) The sons are likened to olive shoots about one's table. (b) As it takes 13 years for olive shoots to become an economically productive orchard, and it takes 13 years for a son to reach his bar mitzvah and thus start to be an influential man in his community, the picture shows ch ildren feeding off of the livelihood and spiritual, mental and emotional influence of the parents through the godly lead of the father until they reach productivity. (c) The idea is that the sons at bar mitzvah will then become pr oductive for the advantage of his aging parents for their security and provision in later life!
        6. Blessing Result Six - As these sons mature in godliness like the parents, and they mingle with other males at the temple, they influence their community for God in widening circles of influence, 128:5.
        7. Blessing Result Seven - As the community is blessed and influenced this way, Israel's international contacts influence other nations for righteousness, producing international peace, Psalm 128:6!
Lesson: The KEY to societal renewal at ANY and ALL levels of human institutional experience is built on the FOUNDATION of at LEAST ONE MALE HEAD OF HOUSEHOLD getting RIGHT with God out of real RESPECT for God! All efforts that neglect to get male heads of households aligned with God's Word are doomed to fail as they bypass the way of social structure God designed!

Application: (1) To start world social renewal, as a MALE HEAD OF HOUSEHOLD, come to RESPECT so as to OBEY the God of the Bible! (2) STAYING on this track will yield great results! (3) If we are not a male, we can PRAY for the discipleship of suc h men for our good, Jas. 5:16b NIV!