Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 128

Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord - That honors God; that is truly pious. See the notes at Psalms 1:1; Psalms 112:1. What that blessedness is, is indicated in the following verses.

That walketh in his ways - The ways which God commands or directs. On the word “walketh,” see the notes at Psalms 1:1.

For you shall eat the labor of your hands—You shall enjoy the fruits of your labor; you shall be secure in your rights. See the notes at Isaiah 3:10.

This is a general promise concerning the prosperity that religion provides.

If all people were truly religious, this would be universal, as far as humanity is concerned. Property would be secure; and, except to the extent that abundant harvests might be prevented by the direct providence of God—by blight, and mildew, and storms, and drought—all people would enjoy undisturbed the fruits of their labor.

Slavery, by which one person is compelled to labor for another, would come to an end; everyone who is now a slave would “eat the labor of his own hands”; and property would no longer be swept away by war, or become the prey of robbers and plunderers.

Religion, if it prevailed universally, would produce universal security in our rights.

Happy shall you be, and it shall be well with you—literally, “Happy you, and well with you.” That is, happiness and security would be the consequence of true religion.

Your wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of your house - It is not uncommon in the East, as elsewhere, to train a vine along the sides of a house. This is done partly to save ground, partly because it provides good exposure for fruit, partly as an ornament, and partly to protect it from thieves.

Such a vine, in its beauty and abundant clusters, becomes a beautiful emblem of the mother of a numerous household. One of the blessings most desired and valued in the East was a numerous posterity. This, in the case of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, was among the chief blessings God promised them—a posterity that would resemble in number the sands of the sea or the stars of heaven. Compare Genesis 15:5; Genesis 22:17; Genesis 32:12.

These two things—the right to the benefits of one’s labor (Psalms 128:2) and a numerous family—are the blessings first specified as constituting the happiness of a pious household.

Your children like olive plants round about your table - Compare the notes at Psalms 52:8. Beautiful; producing abundance; sending up young plants to take the place of the old when they decay and die.

The following extract from “The Land and the Book,” vol. I, pp. 76-77, provides a good illustration of this passage:

“To what particular circumstance does David refer in the 128th Psalm, where he says, Your children shall be like oliveplants round about your table? Follow me into the grove, and I will show you what may have suggested the comparison. Here we have come upon a beautiful illustration. This aged and decayed tree is surrounded, as you see, by several young and thrifty shoots, which spring from the root of the venerable parent. They seem to uphold, protect, and embrace it.

We may even fancy that they now bear that load of fruit which would otherwise be demanded of the feeble parent. Thus do good and affectionate children gather round the table of the righteous. Each contributes something to the common good and welfare of the whole—a beautiful sight, with which may God refresh the eyes of every friend of mine.”

Behold, that thus shall the man be blessed ... - As if he had said, “Look upon this picture. See the farmer cultivating his fields; see him gathering in the grain; see him at his own table calmly, quietly, and gratefully enjoying the fruit of his toil. Look upon that picture of a happy family—numerous, cheerful, beloved—giving promise of upholding the name of the family in future years—and see all this as coming from the Lord—and you have an illustration of the blessedness which follows a religious life.”

The Lord shall bless thee out of Zion - He will not merely bless you in the field and in the house, but will add blessings that seem to come more directly from Zion, or that seem to be more directly connected with religion: He will bless you with religious influences in your own family; He will bless you by permitting you to see the growth of the church and the conversion of souls.

And thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem - The prosperity, the happiness of Jerusalem: that is, the good of the church; the advancement of pure religion. The Hebrew might be rendered, “And look you upon the good of Jerusalem” — in the imperative; and, thus rendered, it would be a command to regard, in these circumstances, the welfare of Jerusalem, or the prosperity of the church. But the language also admits the other construction, and the connection seems to require it. Thus understood, it is a promise that the one referred to would be permitted to enjoy a view of the continual prosperity of religion in the world.

All the days of thy life - To the very close of life. No higher blessing could be promised to a pious man than that he should see religion always prospering; that the last view he would have of the world should be the rapid advances of religion; that he should die in a revival of religion.