Wesley's Explanatory Notes
Psalms 129:6
House — tops — Which there were flat. Which — Having no deep root, never comes to maturity. And so all their designs shall be abortive.
House — tops — Which there were flat. Which — Having no deep root, never comes to maturity. And so all their designs shall be abortive.
Verse Psalms 129:6. _AS THE GRASS_ UPON _THE HOUSETOPS_] As in the east the roofs of the houses were _flat_, seeds of various kinds falling upon them would naturally vegetate, though in an imperfect...
LET THEM BE AS THE GRASS UPON THE HOUSETOPS - The housetops, or roofs of houses, covered with sand or earth, in which seeds of grass may germinate and begin to grow, but where, as there is no depth of...
PSALM 120-134 The Psalms of Degrees Fifteen brief Psalms follow, called songs of degrees, or, ascents. They were in all probability used by Israel going up to Jerusalem three times a year to celebrat...
CXXIX. PERSECUTED BUT NOT CAST DOWN. Psalms 129:1. Israel's tyrants compared to ploughmen who have extended their ploughing far, but Yahweh in His righteousness cut the cord which fastened the ox to...
AS THE GRASS. as grass. The reference in verses: Psalms 129:6; Psalms 129:7 is not to "Egyptian monuments", but to the reply of Jehovah concerning Sennacherib, which Hezekiah quotes here. Compare 2 Ki...
PSALMS 129 DESCRIPTIVE TITLE Israel's Thanks for Past Deliverances, and Prayer for Continued Vindication. ANALYSIS Stanza I., Psalms 129:1-4, Israel's Experience of Vexation and Deliverance. Stanza...
Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, which withereth afore it groweth up: LET THEM BE AS THE GRASS UPON THE HOUSE-TOPS, WHICH WITHERETH AFORE IT GROWETH UP - (Psalms 37:2; Isaiah 37:27.) Gr...
A song of deliverance in trouble and the overthrow of the wicked....
AFORE IT GROWETH UP] better, 'before it is plucked,' or, 'before it is unsheathed,' i.e. before it shoots into blossom. 8. Cp. Ruth 2:4....
Psalms 107:150 _GORDON CHURCHYARD_ PSALMS 129 PSALMS FOR CLIMBING; PSALMS 120:134 Jesus said, "We wi
WHICH WITHERETH AFORE IT GROWETH UP. — This clause, with its Aramaic colouring, probably contains a textual error. The context seems certainly to require the meaning “before it is plucked up,” and man...
יִ֭הְיוּ כַּ חֲצִ֣יר גַּגֹּ֑ות שֶׁ קַּדְמַ֖ת...
Psalms 129:1 THE point of view here is the same as in Psalms 124:1, with which the present psalm has much similarity both in subject and in expression. It is a retrospect of Israel's past, in which th...
This song is that of one who ascending toward the much desired place of rest and worship, looks back and sees how in the past Jehovah has delivered from sore perils. The backward look would seem to be...
(c) Let them be as the grass [upon] the housetops, which withereth afore it groweth up: (c) The enemies who lift themselves high, and as it were approach the Sun, are consumed with the heat of God's...
_From. Or Hebrew, "more than the morning watch; yea, more than the morning watch." I expect my deliverance with greater eagerness than sentinels do the return of morning. All the day and night long I...
These expressions are delivered in the. Spirit of prophecy; as if The sacred Writer had said, such will be the sure consequence of all Zion's foes; they must perish forever. And to which every true fo...
Psalms 129 recurs now with joy to the sorrows and trials through which the children of Zion have gone. But Jehovah is righteous, and has cut asunder the cords of the wicked. The haters of Zion (for Zi...
LET THEM BE AS THE GRASS [UPON] THE HOUSETOPS,.... The tops of the houses in Judea were flat, and so grass grew upon them, being covered with plaster of terrace; though it was but small and weak, and...
Let them be as the grass [upon] the housetops, which withereth afore it groweth up: Ver. 6. _Let them be as the grass, &c._] They are cursed with a witness whom the Holy Ghost thus curseth in such an...
_Let them all be confounded_, &c. Hebrew, יבשׁו ויסגו אחור, _they shall all be confounded, and turned back_ Forced to retreat with shame and disappointment. And so in the next verse, instead of _Let t...
THE VICTORY OF THE CHURCH OVER HER ENEMIES. A song of degrees, describing the deliverances of the people of God in the past and therefore confidently asserting the overthrow of the enemies in the fut...
Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, the grass that sprouts in the thin soil blown or carried on the flat roofs of Oriental houses, WHICH WITHERETH AFORE IT GROWETH UP, since it lacks sufficie...
5-8 While God's people shall flourish as the loaded palm-tree, or the green and fruitful olive, their enemies shall wither as the grass upon the house-tops, which in eastern countries are flat, and wh...
THE HOUSE-TOPS there were flat, and therefore more capable of grass or green corn growing between the stones than ours are. WHICH WITHERETH AFORE IT GROWETH UP; which having no deep root, never comes...
Psalms 129:6 grass H2682 housetops H1406 withers H3001 (H8804) before H6927 up H8025 (H8804) as the grass -...
Three Songs of degrees. Psalms 129:1. _Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say: many a time have they afflicted me from my youth: yet they have not prevailed against me._...
CONTENTS: Prayer for destruction of all the enemies of Zion. CHARACTERS: God, Israel. CONCLUSION: God has many ways of disabling men to do their mischief against His people and of bringing their cou...
The only title of this psalm is, _a song of degrees._ The author is unknown. It contains a general reference to the troubles of Israel, and the overthrow of her enemies. Psalms 129:1. _From my youth....
_Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth._ THE PERSECUTED CONDITION OF GODLY MEN ON THIS EARTH I. As suffering under the hand of wicked persecution. The persecution here referred to was--...
_Let them be as the grass upon the housetops._ THE UNHOLY LIFE Such a life is-- I. Transient (verse 6). Wickedness is inimical to longevity. What are all-the possessions, pleasures, the pomps, and...
PSALM PSALM—NOTE ON PSALMS 129:1. This psalm reflects on what God’s people have endured and how God has sustained them. As a Song of Solomon 1:1 of Asce
PSALM—NOTE ON PSALMS 129:5 The second section prays that such enemies will fail in their purposes (v. Psalms 129:5; see note on 25:2–3)....
INTRODUCTION This Psalm was written after the Captivity, and contains a reference to the many tribulations which the Jews passed through from their youth—_i.e._, the earliest part of their history,—t...
EXPOSITION THIS psalm consists of a retrospect (Psalms 129:1) and an anticipation (Psalms 129:5). The retrospect shows Israel oppressed by enemies for a long term of years, but finally vindicated and...
Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say: Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth: yet they have not prevailed against me (Psalms 129:1-2). So here is Israel, and...
Jeremiah 17:5; Jeremiah 17:6; Matthew 13:6; Psalms 37:2; Psalms 92:7...