Psalms 128:3

Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table. THY WIFE (SHALL BE) AS A FRUITFUL VINE BY THE SIDES OF THINE HOUSE - or 'in the inner parts' (Hengstenberg THY WIFE (SHALL BE) AS A FRUITFUL VINE BY THE SIDES OF THINE HOUSE - or, 'in the inner parts' (Hengstenberg, note, ): the most comfortable and secure place "of thine house." The idea is that of a happy home, as contrasted with Israel's past homeless state. Compare the phrase, 1 Sam. 35:3 ; also . A numerous and flourishing posterity is hereby premised to the seemingly decaying Israel (cf. ). THY CHILDREN LIKE OLIVE PLANTS ROUND ABOUT THY TABLE. The oliv...

3_Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine on the sides of thy house. _Here again it is promised, as in the preceding Psalm, that God will make those who honor him fruitful in a numerous offspring. The majority of mankind indeed desire to have issue, and this desire may be said to be implanted in them by nature; but many, when they have obtained children, soon become cloyed therewith. Again it is often more grateful to want children than to leave a number of them hi circumstances of destitution. But although the world is carried away by irregular desires after various objects, between which it is perpetually fluctuating in its choice, God gives this his own blessing, the preference to all riches, and therefore we ought to hold it in high estimation. If a man has a wife of amiable manners as the companion of his life, let him set no less value upon this blessing than Solomon did, who, in Prov...

THY WIFE SHALL BE AS A FRUITFUL VINE BY THE SIDES OF THINE HOUSE - It is not uncommon in the East, as elsewhere, to train a vine along the sides of a house - partly to save ground; partly because it is a good exposure for fruit; partly as an ornament; and partly to protect it from thieves. Such a vine, in its beauty, and in the abundant clusters upon it, becomes a beautiful emblem of the mother of a numerous household. One of the blessings most desired and most valued in the East was a numerous posterity, and this, in the case of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, was among the chief blessings which God promised to them - a posterity that should resemble in number the sands of the sea or the stars of heaven. Compare Genesis 15:5; Genesis 22:17;...

EXPOSITION IT is not quite easy to see why this psalm occurs among the "Songs of Ascents." The sentiment of it is that true religion never loses its reward; or, in other words, that whoever fears God shall be blessed. Five points of blessedness are enumerated (Psalms 128:2, Psalms 128:3, Psalms 128:5, Psalms 128:6); but no one of them seems to attach especially to pilgrims visiting Jerusalem. The picture of domestic life is pleasing, and one scarcely touched by any other psalmist. PSALMS 128:1...

THY WIFE [SHALL BE] AS A FRUITFUL VINE BY THE SIDES OF THINE HOUSE,.... The vine being a weak and tender tree, which needs propping and supporting; and often is fastened to the sides of a house, to which the allusion here is; whereunto it cleaves, and on which it runs up, and bears very agreeable fruit; it is properly used to express the weakness and tenderness of the female sex, their fruitfulness in bearing children, and their care of domestic affairs, being keepers at home; see 1 Peter 3:7. Kimchi observes, that the vine is the only tree men plant within doors; which, when it is grown up, they bring out at a hole or window of the house without, to have the sun and air; and so its root is within the house, and the branches without: and he observes, that a modest woman is within the house, and does not go without, and is only seen by her husband; but her children, like the branches of t...

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 celebrate the feasts of the Lord--”Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, a testimony for Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the LORD.” They are indeed Psalms of “the goings-up” for we rise higher and higher as we read through them. Prophetically they give us again the steps from trial and suffering to the glorious consummation. As they are so simple in language and construction no lengthy annotations are needed. Psalms 120:1 begins with distress, picturing again the suffering of the righteous godly remnant. In Psalms 121:1 the Keeper of Israel, the Covenant Keeping God, is revealed

CXXVIII. THE BLESSING OF A PIOUS HOME. Psalms 128:2_ a. i.e._ without being robbed by the oppressor. This shows how low peasant life in Israel has sunk. Psalms 128:3. Observe the seclusion of women. OLIVE PLANTS are a type of fruitfulness. As the parent tree decays, new plants sprout from the roots. They are also an image of beauty and freshness....

WIFE... FRUITFUL. The reference is, as in Psalms 127 to the fact that Hezekiah was childless at this time and ionged for an heir. App-67. CHILDREN. SONS....

THY WIFE SHALL BE, &C.— The author of the Observations remarks, that it does not appear from the accounts of any traveller, that it was ever the custom of the Jews to conduct vines along the sides of their houses. However common this may be among us, it does not appear to be an eastern custom, or to make any part of the verdure with which they set off their courts; I doubt, therefore, the late very ingenious and learned Dr. Doddridge was mistaken in supposing the occasion of our Lord's comparing himself to a _vine_ might be his standing "near a window, or in some court by the side of the house, where the sight of a vine might suggest this beautiful simile;" to which, after referring to the present passage, he adds, "That circumstance was, no doubt, _common in Judea,_ which abounded with the finest grapes;" (see his Family Expositor, vol. 2: p. 475 note _b._) and I am apprehensive that th...

PSALMS 128 DESCRIPTIVE TITLE A Happy Home and a Prosperous Commonwealth. ANALYSIS Stanza I., Psalms 128:1-3, The Happy Home Described. Stanza II., Psalms 128:4-6, The Interest of the Commonwealth in Such a Home. (Lm.) Song of the Steps. 1 How happy every one who revereth Jehovah who walketh in his ways! 2 The toil of thine own hands when thou eatest how happy for thee! and good for thine! 3 Thy wife like a fruitful vine in the recesses of thy house! Thy children like plantings of olive-trees around thy table! 4 Lo! surely thus shall be blessed the man who revereth Jehovah. 5 May Jehovah bless th