For with you is the spring of life. In your light we will see light.
Parallel Translations
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For with you is the spring of life. In your light we will see light.
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For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.
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(36-10) For with Thee is the fountain of life; in Thy light do we see light.
Cross-references (21)
Passages linked to Psalms 36:9 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- John 8:12 Again, therefore, Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.”
- John 4:14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst again; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”
- 1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.
- John 4:10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
- John 7:37-39 Now on the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink! He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, from within him will flow rivers of living water.” But he said this about the Spirit, which those believing in him were to receive. For the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus wasn’t yet glorified.
- Revelation 21:6 He said to me, “I have become the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give freely to him who is thirsty from the spring of the water of life.
- 2 Corinthians 4:6 seeing it is God who said, “Light will shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
- Isaiah 60:19 The sun will be no more your light by day; nor will the brightness of the moon give light to you, but Yahweh will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.
- Jeremiah 2:13 “For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the spring of living waters, and cut out cisterns for themselves: broken cisterns that can’t hold water.
- James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, nor turning shadow.
- Job 29:3 when his lamp shone on my head, and by his light I walked through darkness,
- Psalms 27:1 Yahweh is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? Yahweh is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid?
- Isaiah 60:1-2 “Arise, shine; for your light has come, and Yahweh’s glory has risen on you. For, behold, darkness will cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but Yahweh will arise on you, and his glory shall be seen on you.
- Revelation 21:23 The city has no need for the sun or moon to shine, for the very glory of God illuminated it, and its lamp is the Lamb.
- Isaiah 2:5 House of Jacob, come, and let’s walk in the light of Yahweh.
- 1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
- Proverbs 4:18 But the path of the righteous is like the dawning light that shines more and more until the perfect day.
- Isaiah 12:3 Therefore with joy you will draw water out of the wells of salvation.
- John 1:8-9 He was not the light, but was sent that he might testify about the light. The true light that enlightens everyone was coming into the world.
- Malachi 4:2 But to you who fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in its wings. You will go out, and leap like calves of the stall.
- Revelation 22:17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” He who hears, let him say, “Come!” He who is thirsty, let him come. He who desires, let him take the water of life freely.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (16 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 9. For with thee is the fountain of life…
9. For with thee is the fountain of life The Psalmist here confirms the doctrine of the preceding verse, the knowledge of which is so profitable that no words can adequately express it. As the ungodly profane even the best of God’s gifts by their wicked abuse of them, unless we observe the distinction which I have stated, it were better for us to perish a hundred times of hunger, than to be fed abundantly by the goodness of God. The ungodly do not acknowledge that it is in God they live, move, and have their being, but rather imagine that they are sustained by their own power; and, accordingly, David, on the contrary, here affirms from the experience of the godly, and as it were in their name, that the fountain of life is in God. By this he means, that there is not a drop of life to be found without him, or which flows not from his grace. The metaphor of light, in the last clause of the verse, is tacitly most emphatic, denoting that men are altogether destitute of light, except in so far as the Lord shines upon them. If this is true of the light; of this life, how shall we be able to behold the light of the heavenly world, unless the Spirit of God enlighten us? for we must maintain that the measure of understanding with which men are by nature endued is such, that
“the light shineth in darkness, but the darkness comprehendeth it not,” (John 1:5;)
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and that men are enlightened only by a supernatural gift. But it is the godly alone who perceive that they derive their light from God, and that, without it, they would continue, as it were, buried and smothered in darkness.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 36:9 For with thee [is] the fountain of…
Psa 36:9 For with thee [is] the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.
Ver. 9. For with thee is the fountain of life] Vena vitae, verae vitae scaturigo, A fountain communicateth its water, and yet is not exhausted. Fontium perennitas, is one of the wonders in nature: what shall we say of this Divine fountain of life, temporal, spiritual, and eternal, overflowing and ever flowing?
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In thy light shall we see light] viz. Of knowledge and comfort. What is the air without light? or anything else without God? Absque Deo omnis copia est egestas, saith Bernard. In the former comparison, with thee is the fountain (or vein) of lives, the prophet alludeth either to waters, as is aforesaid, or to metals; to show that as the veins of gold, silver, and the like, do lie in bank in the bosom and bowels of the earth; so doth life in God. Or, to the veins of the body, which, as so many rivers or rivulets, derive their blood from that red sea, the liver. Certain it is, that man hath neither life nor light in himself till it be communicated unto him from God.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain With thee, i.e. in thy power to give it,…
With thee, i.e. in thy power to give it, and in thy presence to be enjoyed.
The fountain; which notes,
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1. Causality. It is in God as in a fountain, and from him is derived to us.
2. Abundance.
3. Excellency. Water is sweetest in the fountain; and fountains were rare and highly prized in those hot countries.
Of life; of that glorious, and blessed, and endless life, which alone is worthy of the name of life; this life being only a passage to death, and a theatre of great and manifold calamities. Although it be true, that God is the fountain both of natural and spiritual life.
In thy light; in the light of thy countenance or glorious presence, which then shall be fully manifested unto us, when we shall see thee clearly, and face to face, and not through a glass, and darkly, as we now see, 1Co 13:12; compare Psa 17:15.
See, i.e. enjoy, as seeing frequently signifies; of which see on Psa 34:12. Light; the light of life, as it is called, Joh 8:12. Light in this branch being the same thing with life in the former, i.e. joy, and comfort, and happiness, which is oft signified by light, as the contrary is by darkness. See Job 29:3 Psa 27:1; Isa 9:2. There we shall have pure light without any mixture of darkness. The word light is elegantly repeated in another signification; in the former clause it is light discovering, in this, light discovered or enjoyed.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain For with thee is the fountain of life,.... Or…
For with thee is the fountain of life,.... Or "lives" (f): God himself is the fountain of living waters; this is a reason proving the happiness of those that trust in the Lord, and that they shall enjoy the above things; because with God the object of their trust is the fountain of life; not only of natural life, from whom they have it, and by whom it is supported, but of spiritual life, being quickened by him when dead in sin, by virtue of which they live by faith on Christ, and also of eternal life; and the phrase denotes, that life is originally in God as in its fountain, and that both the fulness of it is with him, and the freeness of it in the communication of it to others, as well as its continuance and duration;
in thy light shall we see light; God is light itself, the Father of lights, and the former of it in every sense; in the light of his countenance, and the discoveries of his love, they that trust in him see light, or enjoy comfort; and in the light of his Son Jesus Christ, the sun of righteousness and light of the world, they see the face of God, and enjoy his favour, and behold the glory and excellency of Christ himself; and in the light of the divine Spirit, who is a spirit of wisdom and revelation, they see their sins exceeding sinful, their righteousness as nothing, and a preciousness in the blood, righteousness, and sacrifice of Christ; and in the light of the divine word they see the truths of the Gospel in their native simplicity and excellency, and the duties of religion to be performed by them; and in the light of faith, which is the gift of God, they have at least a glimpse of the unseen glories of the other world; and when the beatific vision shall take place, they shall see no more darkly through a glass, but face to face, even God himself, as he is in Christ.
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(f) "vena vitarum", Montanus.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Life - It is in God as in a…
Life - It is in God as in a fountain, and from him is derived to us. But - Of that glorious and blessed, and endless life, which alone is worthy of the name. Light - In the light of thy glorious presence, which shall be fully manifested, when we see thee face to face. Light - Joy and comfort, and happiness: the word light is elegantly repeated in another signification; in the former clause it is light discovering, in this light, discovered or enjoyed.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 9. For with thee is the fountain of…
Verse 9. For with thee is the fountain of life] This, in Scripture phrase, may signify a spring of water; for such was called among the Jews living water, to distinguish it from ponds, tanks, and reservoirs, that were supplied by water either received from the clouds, or conducted into them by pipes and streams from other quarters. But there seems to be a higher allusion in the sacred text. כי עמך מקור חיים ki immecha mekor chaiyim, "For with thee is the vein of lives." Does not this allude to the great aorta, which, receiving the blood from the heart, distributes it by the arteries to every part of the human body, whence it is conducted back to the heart by means of the veins. As the heart, by means of the great aorta, distributes the blood to the remotest parts of the body; so, GOD, by Christ Jesus, conveys the life-giving streams of his providential goodness to all the worlds and beings he has created, and the influences of his grace and mercy to every soul that has sinned. All spiritual and temporal good comes from Him, the FATHER, through Him, the SON, to every part of the creation of God.
In thy light shall we see light.] No man can illuminate his own soul; all understanding must come from above. Here the metaphor is changed, and God is compared to the sun in the firmament of heaven, that gives light to all the planets and their inhabitants. "God said, Let there be light; and there was light; "by that light the eye of man was enabled to behold the various works of God, and the beauties of creation: so, when God speaks light into the dark heart of man, he not only beholds his own deformity and need of the salvation of God, but he beholds the "light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ;" "God, in Christ, reconciling the world to himself." "In thy light shall we see light." This is literally true, both in a spiritual and philosophical sense.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Psa 36:9. With thee is the fountain of life…
Psa 36:9. With thee is the fountain of life — From which those rivers of pleasure flow. Life is in God as in a fountain, and from him is derived to us. As the God of nature, he is the fountain of natural life; in him we live, and move, and have our being. As the God of grace, he is the fountain of spiritual life: all the strength and comfort of sanctified souls; all their gracious principles, powers, and performances, are from him. He is the spring and author of all their sensations of divine things, and of all their motions toward them; and he invites all that thirst, nay, and whosoever will, to come and partake of these waters of life freely. As the God of glory, he is the fountain of eternal life: the happiness of glorified saints consists in the vision and fruition of him, and in the immediate communications of his love, without interruption, or fear, or cessation. This glorious, blessed, and endless life is alone worthy of the name of life: this present temporal life being only a passage to death, and a theatre of great and manifold calamities. In thy light — In the knowledge of thee in grace, and the vision of thee in glory; especially in the latter; in the light of thy countenance, or glorious presence, which then shall be fully manifested unto us, when we shall see thee clearly and face to face, and not through a glass and darkly, as we now see; shall we see light — The light of life, as it is called, Joh 8:12; light in this clause being the same thing with life in the former: pure light without any mixture of darkness; knowledge without ignorance, holiness without sin, happiness without misery. The word light is elegantly repeated in another signification; in the former clause it is light discovering, in this, light discovered or enjoyed.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain For with thee is the fountain of life -…
For with thee is the fountain of life - The fountain or source from which all life flows. All living beings derive their origin from thee, as streams flow from fountains; all that is properly “called” life proceeds from thee; everything which makes life real life - which makes it desirable or happy - has its origin in thee. The psalmist evidently meant here to include more than mere “life” considered as animated existence. He recalls what he had referred to in the previous verses - the various blessings which proceeded from the mercy and loving-kindness of God, and which were attendant on his worship; and he here says that all this - all that makes man happy - all that can properly be regarded as “life” - proceeds from God. Life literally, in man and in all animated beings; life spiritually; life here, and life hereafter - all is to be traced to God.
In thy light shall we see light - As thou art the Source of light, and all light proceeds from thee, so we shall be enabled to see light, or to see what is true, only as we see it in thee. By looking to thee; by meditating on thy character; by a right understanding of thyself; by being encompassed with the light which encompasses thee, we shall see light on all those great questions which perplex us, and which it is so desirable that we should understand. It is not by looking at ourselves; it is not by any human teaching; it is not by searching for information “away from thee,” that we can hope to have the questions which perplex us solved; it is only by coming to thyself, and looking directly to thee. There is no other source of real light and truth but God; and in the contemplation of himself, and of the light which encompasses him, and in that alone, can we hope to comprehend the great subjects on which we pant so much to be informed. All away from God is dark; all near him is light. If, therefore, we desire light on the subjects which pertain to our salvation, it must be sought by a direct and near approach to him; and the more we can lose ourselves in the splendors of his throne, the more we shall understand of truth. Compare 1Jo 1:5; Rev 21:23; Rev 22:5; 1Pe 2:9.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Light is an emblem of all blessings, given of…
Light is an emblem of all blessings, given of God as a means to gain more.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 9. With thee is the fountain of life—Here is…
9. With thee is the fountain of life—Here is the fundamental truth of all divine revelation. See Jer_2:13; Joh_17:13. From this “fountain” flow all streams of the water “of life” to irrigate and beautify the Eden of God. Rev_22:1; compare Gen_2:10-14.
In thy light shall we see light—The figure changes. As there is no water of life but that which proceeds from God the eternal “Fountain,” so there is no “light” of life but God’s revealed truth. Joh_1:4; Joh_1:9; Rev_22:5. Such language, in the Old Testament or the New, is susceptible only of the highest spiritual application, as an earnest of the life eternal with God.
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As a concluding prayer, David recognises, in Psa_36:10-12, the Church as in great affliction from the doings of wicked, unprincipled oppressors. Psa_36:10 is a prayer for the Church; Psa_36:11, for the poet himself, herein personifying the Church. See the introductory note.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 9. The expectation of Psa_36:8 is no idle dream,…
9. The expectation of Psa_36:8 is no idle dream, for God is the source of life and light. From Him springs all that constitutes life (Psa_34:12), physical and spiritual (cp. Jer_2:13; Jer_17:13): from Him proceeds all that makes up true happiness (cp. Psa_4:6). Golden sayings like this anticipate the revelation of the Gospel. It is only in the light of the Incarnation that their depth of meaning begins to be understood. Cp. Joh_1:4; Joh_1:9.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (9) In thy light.—Better, by thy light. This wonderful…
(9) In thy light.—Better, by thy light. This wonderful verse inspired Milton’s sublime invocation:
“The author of all being,
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Fountain of light, thyself invisible
Amidst the glorious brightness where thou sitt’st.”
It contains the germ of that moral and spiritual teaching which had its highest development in the Epistles of St. John. But the original intention of the words seems to be that the favour and bounty of God commend themselves as divine in origin, especially to those in the covenant relation.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain For with thee is the fountain of life. The…
For with thee is the fountain of life. The ultimate source of all life is God. Israel had been taught by Moses (Deu_30:20) that God was their Life; but this was not all; he is equally the Origin of life to everything that lives to angels, men, beasts, birds, fishes, zoophytes, plants. (see Gen_1:11, Gen_1:20, Gen_1:24, Gen_1:27, etc.) And, as he is the sole Source of natural life, so is he also the one and only Origin of spiritual vitality. (Psa_30:5 Psa_66:9 Joh_1:4 Joh_6:57 Joh_7:37-39, etc.) And in thy light shall we see light. (comp. Joh_1:4, Joh_1:5, 9 1Jn_1:5-7) God is essentially Life and Light. He "has life in himself". (Joh_5:26) He "is Light, and in him is no darkness at all". (1Jn_1:5) The Son, who is "the Light of the world", (Joh_8:12) is hut "the Effulgence of his Father"s glory", (Heb_1:3, Revised Version) "Light of light," the ray which streams from the Sun of the universe. Yet from him comes the light which enlighteneth all creatures. (Joh_1:9) "In his light we see light.
"The fountain of life.
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This short but sublime psalm opens in a minor key. With a few powerful strokes the psalmist paints the blindness, untruthfulness, blasphemous presumption of an ungodly life a life void of godly fear, and of that hatred of evil without which there is no true love of goodness. Then as with a sudden recoil from this hateful spectacle, the psalmist turns to God, pouring forth a noble strain of praise. He contemplates God"s mercy, truth, justice, bountiful providence, and loving-kindness to his children (ver. 9). May be looked at as the crowning point of this hymn of worship, at which praise turns to prayer.
I GOD IS THE SOLE ORIGINAL POSSESSOR OF LIFE UNDERIVED, SELF-SUSTAINED, ETERNAL. "The Father hath life in himself". (Joh_5:26) "God draws existence from his own self. We possess but a borrowed existence; being is not native to us. As in our turn, one by one, we shall pass out of this life, and the world will go on its way without us; so, if God willed, we might pass out of being, and the universe would not miss us" (Saurin). But God "inhabiteth eternity". (Isa_57:15) This truth, the foundation of religion, is sublimely set forth in the Old Testament, especially in contrast with the vanity of idols; and is shadowed forth in the personal name by which God entered into covenant with his people. (Exo_3:14 Exo_6:3; comp. Isa_43:10-13 Isa_44:6; so in the New Testament, Joh_17:3 Rev_4:9, Rev_4:10)
II GOD IS THE AUTHOR AND SUSTAINER OF LIFE. The variety, beauty, activity, fruitfulness, joy, of the life of all living creatures are so many streams, whose inexhaustible fountain is in him. (Act_17:25, Act_17:28) From the gigantic trees of California and Australia, four hundred or five hundred feet in height, to the all but invisible moss on Arctic snows; from the eagle, soaring above the mountain peaks, the elephant in his massive strength, the whale plunging deep in ocean, to those creatures revealed by our strongest-lenses, tens of thousands of which find ample space in a few drops of water; all draw life and being every moment from him. The least is as carefully designed and finished as the highest. Let us not forget how these two worlds of life plants and animals are balanced and made mutually dependent: the plant feeding on the air which the animal breathes out, and which to itself is poison, and giving back that which the plant needs not, but which to the animal is the breath of life. Even death and decay are made to minister to life. The creatures appear and vanish, like waves on the great river of life; but the river flows on, for its fountain is in God. (Psa_104:27-31) Shall we imagine that this is true only of our small world, and that all the suns and systems with which space teems are splendid deserts? Or is not Isa_45:18 true of many and many another world as of our own?
III SPIRITUAL LIFE MAN"S HIGHEST LIFE LIKE BODILY LIFE, HAS ITS FOUNTAIN IN GOD. He alone bestows and sustains it. We share with the lower creatures the life of sensation and conscious activity. But we have also (whether we heed it or not) a higher life, or capacity of life the life of personal character, which may be cultivated and perfected in personal communion with God. Each one has in him germs of good and of happiness; germs, too, of evil and misery, for whose full development this life does not afford room. Each human spirit, a world in itself, has in it material for heaven or hell. This is so, whether we like to think so or no. More than this, Scripture reveals (what we could never have discovered, reasonable as it is) that the Spirit of God, personally bestowed and dwelling in us, creates and sustains this higher life. (Joh_3:6) The most vigorous life bright intellect, intense emotion, strenuous will, fruitful activity if destitute of living communion with God, and devoid of his Spirit, is pronounced in Scripture but a living death. (Eph_2:1, Eph_2:4, 5 1Jn_5:12)
LESSONS.
1. Worship. If we could rise to the height of these words, fathom their depth, read their full meaning, our souls would he bowed, yet uplifted in adoration filled with the glorious sense of the majesty, the mystery, the infinite greatness and goodness of God. (1Ti_1:17 1Ti_6:15, 1Ti_6:16)
2. Submission. He with whom is the fountain of life must determine how and how long the stream shall flow. Our lives belong to him. When he withdraws life he is not taking away what we have any right or claim to only what is his. (Heb_9:27) But the Lord Jesus holds the key. (Rev_1:18)
3. Faith in Jesus. Christ is the Possessor and Dispenser of spiritual life. (Joh_5:26) All the streams of both physical and spiritual life flow through him. (Col_1:15, 16 Joh_1:3) He came to give life. (Joh_10:10) But a man might die of thirst at the brink of a full-flowing fountain, if he would not drink. So, with infinite pathos, our Saviour says, "Ye will not come". (Joh_5:40) But all who will are freely bidden. (Joh_7:37-39 Rev_22:17)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain Ver. 9. For with thee is the fountain of…
Ver. 9. For with thee is the fountain of life. This verse is made of simple words, but like the first chapter of John's Gospel, it is very deep. From the Lord, as from an independent self sufficient spring, all creature life proceeds, by him is sustained, through him alone can it be perfected. Life is in the creature, but the fountain of it is only in the Creator. Of spiritual life, this is true in the most emphatic sense; "it is the Spirit that quickeneth, ""and we are dead, and our life is hid with Christ in God." In thy light shall we see light. Light is the glory of life. Life in the dark is misery, and rather death than life. The Lord alone can give natural, intellectual, and spiritual life; he alone can make life bright and lustrous. In spiritual things the knowledge of God sheds a light on all other subjects. We need no candle to see the sun, we see it by its own radiance, and then see everything else by the same lustre. We never see Jesus by the light of self, but self in the light of Jesus. No inward intelligence of ours leads us to receive the Spirit's light, but the rather, it often helps to quench the sacred beam; purely and only by his own illumination, the Holy Ghost lights up the dark recesses of our heart's ungodliness. Vain are they who look to learning and human wit, one ray from the throne of God is better than the noonday splendour of created wisdom. Lord, give me the sun, and let those who will delight in the wax candles of superstition and the phosphorescence of corrupt philosophy. Faith derives both light and life from God, and hence she neither dies nor darkens.
Ver. 9. For with thee is the fountain of life. These are some of the most wonderful words in the Old Testament. Their fulness of meaning no commentary can ever exhaust. They are, in fact, the kernel and the anticipation of much of the profoundest teaching of S. John. J. J. Stewart Perowne.
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Ver. 9. In thy light shall we see light. The object and matter of our eternal happiness is called light. It will not be a dazzling and confounding light as was the brightness of Moses' face at his coming down from the mount; the people could not behold him: it will not be an astonishing light, as that in the mount at our Lord's transfiguration; the disciples fell to the ground, their weak eyes could not behold those glimpses of glory that shined through the vail of flesh. But the light in our heaven of happiness will be a strengthening and comforting light; it will strengthen and confirm the eyes of our understanding to behold it. Then shall we be enabled as the young eagles, to behold the Sun of Righteousness in his brightness and glory. It was said by the Lord to Moses, "None can see my face and live." Ex 33:20. That glorious sight which Daniel saw took strength from him. Da 10:8. The object being without him, drew out all his spirits to behold and admire it and so weakened him; but in heaven our God, whom we shall see and know, will be within us to strengthen us; then shall we live because we see his face. It will be also a comforting light, like the light of the morning to the wearied watchman, who longed after it in the nighttime. William Colville.
Ver. 9. In thy light shall we see light. It is but a kind of dim twilight comparatively, which we enjoy here in this world. While we are hid in this prison house we can see but little; but our Father's house above is full of light; "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun, "etc. Mt 13:43. If the Day star be risen in your hearts, live in the pleasant and cheerful expectation of perfect day. For we can ascend but a little way into the mysteries of the kingdom, as long as we are upon the footstool; and we shall know vastly and inconceivably more in the first moment after we come to heaven, than we are capable of attaining here throughout all our days. Timothy Cruso.
Ver. 9. In thy light shall we see light. The light of nature is like a spark, the light of the gospel a lamp, the light of grace a star, but the light of glory the sun itself. The higher our ascent the greater our light; God dwelleth "in the light which no man can approach unto." 1Ti 6:16 no man, while he carries mortality and sin about him; but when those two corrupt and incapable qualities shall be put off, then shall we be brought to that light. We are now glad of the sun and stars over our heads, to give us light: what light and delight shall that be when these are under our feet! That light must needs go as far beyond their light as they now go beyond us. But alas! they are only able to discourse of that light, that do enjoy it, to whom that eternal day is risen; not we that live in the humble shade of mortality and natural dimness. I leave it therefore to your meditations: it is a glorious light which we do well often to consider, considering to admire, admiring to love, loving to desire, desiring to seek, and finding to enjoy for ever. Thomas Adams.
Ver. 9. In thy light shall we see light. There is a great boast of light in the world, and there is some ground for it in natural things; but, as of old the world by wisdom knew not God, so of late. If ever we know God, it must be through he medium of his word. This I take to be the meaning of the passage. The term light in the last clause means the true knowledge of God; and, in the first, the true medium of attaining it, namely, divine revelation. The sum seems to amount to this: the word of God is the grand medium by which we can attain a true and saving knowledge of God. What the sun and stars are to the regions of matter, that revelation is to the mental region. Ge 1:13, 17. ...There are many things of which you may entertain no doubt, concerning which there may be no manner of dispute; yet, make a point of seeing them in God's light. Many content themselves with seeing them in the light in which great and good men have placed them; but, though angels, they are not the true light: they all view things partially. If what they say be true, yet, if we receive it merely on their representation, our faith will stand in the wisdom of men, and not in the power of God. 1Co 2:5. That knowledge or faith which has not God's word for its ground will not stand in the day of trial. Andrew Fuller.
Ver. 9. In this communion of God what can we want? Why, God shall be all and in all unto us; he shall be beauty for the eye, music for the ear, honey for the taste, the full content and satisfaction of our desires, and that immediately from himself. True it is God is all in all in this world, "In him we live, and move, and have our being; " but here he works by means of secondary causes; here he gives wine to make the heart glad, and oil, etc.; but there all intervening means between God and us is removed: with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light; not in the light of the sun, or the light of a candle; there is no need of them Re 22:5; but "in thy light, "the light of God himself; yea, the whole life of glory, together with all the concomitants of it, flows from him as the sole and original fountain of it. Oh, how sweet must that happiness be that is so derived! Edmund Pinchbeck, B.D., in "The Fountain of Life:" a Funeral Sermon, 1652.
Ver. 9. Whatsoever can be found in the creature, even when God blesseth the use thereof to his own children, is but a drop from the ocean, is but a little water out of the well, in comparison of what a believer will see and feel to be in God reconciled through Christ, for with thee is the fountain of life. David Dickson.
Ver. 9. (first clause). LIFE, natural, mental, spiritual, proceeds from God, is sustained, restored, purified, and perfected by him. In him it dwells with permanency, from him it flows freely, with freshness, abundance, and purity; to him it should be consecrated.
Ver. 9. (second clause). LIGHT, what it is to see it. Divine light, what it is; how it is the medium by which we see other light. The experience here described, and the duty here hinted at.
Psalms 36:10*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain For with Thee is the fountain of life; in…
Psa_36:9
For with Thee is the fountain of life; in Thy light shall we see light.
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Life and light
We think of Easter as the festival of the defeat of death: it is no less the festival of the glory of life. It is one of the many proofs that God desires and loves our health and not our sickness, our happiness and not our misery. From many causes, chief of all, the sin of the age, we habitually take too unfavourable and too unthankful a view of our mortal life. The cynic, the worldling, the noted profligate, the unreal Christian, seem to assume as an axiom that life is an unmitigated evil, and that it is only to be got through because we must, and as best we can. And even good men complain of life. But God hears and bears with it all, even as the mother forgives the fretfulness of her child. Christians should never cherish dark views. If we have them, remember they are not Christian, and they are mainly due to our own faults. I do not wish to indulge a weak optimism. I know the outward lives of many are dull and humble, and mush be so, but what I would fain show you is that the externals of life are not life, and that aa far as all the glorious essentials of life are concerned, you may still be blessed above all that this world can give. I do not shut my eyes to the reality of evil, but I still say that the sentiment of the bitter, worldly poet, Know that whatever thou hast been, tis something bitter not to be, is a false and un-Christian sentiment. Almost all of us make too much of the few great woes of life, and too little of the multitude of its innocent pleasures. See these mortal bodies--how adapted to our needs. Think of how much of good attends each period of life from infancy to old age. Pessimists commiserate the lot of old age. So does not Scripture. It says that a hoary head is a crown of glory if found in the way of righteousness. Would you be young again? So would not I. A beautiful and peaceful ago in its calm and wisdom may be as the sunset to the day. And here God overrules our trials for good so that trials really become mercies. Look, then, hopefully, thankfully at life. It is not life which ruins man: it is man which ruins life. And too many do this, so that their life has not been as God meant it to be, but as a mirage of the deceitful wilderness, a ruin lost in mud and sand. The man has been a martyr of Satan, and not of God. But Christ would fain glorify our life. The secret of life, the secret of felicity is with Him or nowhere. But it is with Him, and it is for them that fear Him. It transfigures the world of Nature, making it the very autograph of His love. And God has given to us art, literature, science, appealing not to the senses but to the soul. How great are the pleasures of the mind: and yet more those of the moral nature, and the spirit of man is capable of joys more transcendent still; unattainable, indeed, apart from Christ, but in Him, open to us all. Think of but two of them, Hope and Love. How love transfigures life. Do we not know it, all of us, and many by blessed experience? And what is Easter for if it be not to teach us life? It is thus, then, that Christ gives us light, and that in His light we see light. (Dean Farrar.)
The fountain of life
I. Illustrate the doctrine of the text. As waters in a fountain are continually rising up and flowing forth, so life in God is naturally springing up, and ceaselessly overflowing. Life natural, intellectual, spiritual. Life in its simplest and life in its sublimest forms. Thought carries us back to the infinite past when nought but God was. So it might have remained and the happiness of God none the less. But it pleased Him to manifest His glory by creation. First the heavens, then the earth, then the tribes of-animated nature, all that roam in the forest, or swim the sea. Then man was created, as completing the chain of natural life, and at the same time connecting this world with others, that may be the sphere of intellectual and spiritual existence. Thus has the Fount of living waters filled this lower world with streams of life--and ever since the memorable days of creation--from Him have those streams flowed on, supplying all that is necessary for the unbroken succession, and whatever the form of life, however glorious, however beneficent, to God man is indebted for them all. But the highest life is the spiritual, the life of God in the soul. Now, man had this at the first, but lost it by sin, yet receives it back again through Christ.
II. Improve it,
1. Let the Fountain of all life have the glory due to His name.
2. Let the powers of natural and intellectual life, which we have received, be dedicated to the Author of them. Let all we have be devoted to the Lord who gave them. But the subject comes home to us also with all the force of Gospel obligation. The Redeemer of our life says also, Ye are not your own.
3. Especially let spiritual life be sought from God, the fountain of life.
4. Let believers rejoice in hope of the time when spiritual life shall be perfected. (I. Jacob.)
The fountain of life
I. The natural life. This is a noble gift, bestowed for noble purposes; our bodies are material, composed of matter, that is, of earthly substance; evidently made from the dust, as to the dust returning. Whence comes it, then, that one portion of matter should be gifted with life, and be endued with faculties which have a living power, whilst another portion lies dull and heavy and incapable, as it was originally created? The Church calls us to thank God for our creation: let us see that it be indeed a blessing.
II. From God is our providential life, the preservation of our existence; and when we consider the numberless casualties to which we are exposed, this preservation is one continued marvel, nothing less than the constant exercise of Gods almightiness on our behalf, by day and by night.
III. Our spiritual life can be derived only from the Father of spirits, from the God of the spirits of all flesh: our blessed Lord has placed this upon the clearest possible footing, that which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
IV. There is another life which we profess to be seeking, another world to which we are on our journey; the very purpose and end of our present spiritual being. So says our blessed Lord, Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
V. Then In his light shall we see light. All the shadows of earthly imperfection will fly away before the sun of righteousness, which is the sun Of glory. And as He led Israel through the wilderness, by the pillar of a cloud and the pillar of fire, so will He, by the light of His Spirit and His Word, lead every humble obedient servant through the worlds wilderness, and bring them safely to the heavenly shore. (J. Slade, M.A.)
The fountain of life
We feel what life is better than we can define it. It is much more than existence. Life means unwearying vigour, full enjoyment, constant growth, abundant fruitfulness.
1. Alas, some have no life--no spiritual life; the physical, the intellectual, the social are there, vigorous enough; but there is death towards God. Lay hold of the life which is life indeed, writes Paul, and many a one has come to feel that even the best of life without God is not life indeed. A mans life consiteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. Life cut off from God is but another name for death.
2. Some have deteriorated life. They have gone back. They are not what they were in their feelings towards Christ and His service. It is as when after months of severe physical strain we have no heart for anything; are tired of everything, and most of all of ourselves, and need to get away to some bracing mountain side to drink in new strength. As sudden torrents from the newly melted snows course down the half-empty channels of the plain, and sweep away the foul things gathered there, and waken into fragrance and vigour the drooping verdure on their banks, so the inrush to the soul of more life from the everlasting hills would sweep away our bad moods, and the fruits of holiness would once more deck our character.
3. And some have insufficient life. They thirst for more. Desire for more life is characteristic of the higher piety rather than of the lower. The more we have the more we want. The further we get in Divine things the more we have of dissatisfaction with present attainment, and of longing for higher. We read promises of a heritage we have not possessed. Would that all this--this larger, better, richer life were mine! And, intensifying that desire, we see that we are confronted by temptation, or work, or perhaps by sorrows, which need more life on our part than we have. The old life is not enough for these; we shall fall in the conflict, or fail in the task, or be crushed by the burden without more life. But more life!--we should override our difficulties then, and smite down our adversaries, our character and speech would be charged with a resistless inspiration, and we ourselves from walking, or even climbing, should mount up as on wings to those high places which are bathed in the full sunlight of Gods face. (Charles New.)
Being and well-being
Life and light are the greatest blessings of which we have any conception. All feel life to be valuable. What would life be without light? A world without light would be cold, dark and monotonous. God is the source of both.
I. He is the source of being. Fountain of life. The word fountain suggests--
1. Causation.
2. Plenitude.
3. Activity.
II. He is the source of well-being. He is the light--the blessedness of being. His revealed character is the light of the soul. Two things are necessary to make light a blessing--
1. A healthy visual faculty. If the eye of the soul is not sound, light may be a pain, a curse.
2. Beautiful objects of vision. If the eye is made to look upon the monstrous, and the horrific, light will be a bane. (Homilist.)
In Thy light shall we see light.--
God alone can reveal a God
Light has this property, that it is at once the vehicle and that which is borne by the vehicle: it is the revelation and its channel, and this twofold property of light remains the same whether we regard it as an actual emanation of particles, or only an undulation or vibration of some invisible ether itself at rest. And so with the revelation of God. No doubt He has revealed Himself by means of prophets, etc. (Heb_1:1-14.). But all such revelation was partial and incomplete; what the prophet saw or heard was only a glimpse of the real truth. Hence Christ was needed as the Revealer of God. And in like manner the Holy Spirit is the Revealer of Christ. (J. B. Heard, M. A.)
Light in Gods light
I. In the light of divine scripture we see light on human nature and on human life. Scripture contains Gods solution of mans pro-roundest mysteries. The light which earth could not supply has been revealed from above. The Scriptures are not only a revelation of God to man, they are a revelation of man to himself. In the light of Divine truth our mysteries are solved, or souls are quieted, we emerge out of the darkness to follow Him who is the Light of the world. We feel that we are not left to our own fancies, to the mere phantoms of our own imagination; but that over all, guiding all, and allowing us to note His ways, is the Divine care and guidance of the living God.
II. In the light of divine atonement we see the light of human salvation. Here is heavens cure of earths deep sorrows, Gods solution of earths blackest mystery.
III. In the light of divine promises we see light on human adversity and care. They assure us that every care is under Divine control, that every trial has its purpose, and that no burden too great shall ever rest upon our hearts.
IV. In the light of divine revelation we see light on human destiny. To unassisted man there is no darkness so dense as that which rests on the future. We cannot anticipate the conclusion of a single hour. But on this darkness there is light. If a man die we know he will live again; if a man die in Christ he shall live for ever with Christ. (W. H. King.)
In thy light of God
The picture in the mind of him who wrote this psalm is very clear. Men are looking for light. With that insatiable passion which belongs to their humanity, they are running hither and thither seeking to know. And he who writes is in true sympathy with their search. To him too light seems the most precious thing on earth. Knowledge appears to him the treasure which is most worth possessing. But it seems to him that there is something which needs to be suggested to these searchers after light. They appear to him to be questioning this thing and that thing, as if the secret of its being, its power to be understood and comprehended, the light with which it ought to shins, were something which it carried in itself. He sees things differently. To him everything is comprehensible and capable of being understood only as it exists within the great enfolding presence of God. The first thing for any man to do who wanted knowledge was to put himself under God, to make himself Gods man; because both he who wanted to know and that which he wanted to know had God for their true element, and were their best and did their best only as they lived in Him.
I. Four facts concerning human knowledge which confirm the doctrine of the psalm.
1. The constant sense of the essential unity of knowledge. Men study many things. Each man finds for a time contentment in his special science in the mastery of his peculiar facts; but as each man goes deeper into the knowledge of the chosen subject of his study, he becomes aware of how impossible it is for him to know that subject well, unless he knows far more than that. All truth makes one great whole; and no student of truth rightly masters his own special study unless he at least constantly remembers that it is only one part of the vast unity of knowledge, one strain in the universal music, one ray in the complete and perfect light.
2. A second fact with regard to human knowledge is its need of inspiration and elevation from some pure and spiritual purpose. It is a fact which is assured by all the testimony of mans experience of study, that, not upon the lower grounds of economy and the usefulness of knowledge to mans physical and social wants, but by some sense of a preciousness inherent in itself, of a fitness between it and the nature of man, of a glory in seeking it and a delight in finding it for its own pure sake, that only so have all the great revelations of truth come to mankind.
3. Another characteristic of the best search after wisdom is the way in which it awakens the sense of obedience. In other words, all of mans loftiest search for knowledge has always seemed to be aware, not merely of two parties to the great transaction, but also of a third--not merely of a knowledge to be sought and of a man to win it, but also of a knowledge-giver, who was to stand between the treasure and the needy human life, and give to the obedient humanity the boon it sought.
4. Closely allied to this fact is the other one which yet remains to be mentioned with regard to the search of man after knowledge, which is the constant tendency which it has always shown to connect itself with moral character. All the old initiations to the mysteries of knowledge bore knowledge to this instinct. The man to whom the deepest known secrets of things were to be opened to-morrow must be purified to-night by lustrations that should signify his inner baptism.
II. Is there no one conception in which these four convictions all unite, and in whose embrace they become not scattered discoveries or results of various experience, but parts of one complete idea which needs and which harmonizes them all? If it be true that in the thought of God most simply and broadly apprehended--in the thought, that is, of a great, strong, loving Father, who knows all truth, and loves all men, and feeds men with truth as a father feeds his children with bread, making them with each new food fit for a richer food which He has still to give them--these four conceptions find their meeting-place; if as the young light-seeker goes with these four convictions working together in his soul they almost necessarily seek one another and unite into what is at first the dream, and by and by becomes the faith of a personal presence, lofty, divine, loving and wise; if this is true, have we not reached as the result of all this long analysis something like that which David puts with such majestic simplicity in his glowing verse. The combination of these consciousnesses makes, almost of necessity, the consciousness of God. As they are necessary to the search for light, so is the God in whom they meet the true inspirer and helper of the eternal search. Look at the life of Jesus Christ. He knew the streets of Jerusalem and the lanes of Galilee and the history of His mysterious Hebrew people, and the hearts of the lilies and the souls of men; but He knew them all differently from the way in which the Hebrew scribes and scholars knew them. To Him they were all full of light. There is no other description of His knowledge that can tell its special and peculiar character like that. It was all full of light. It was full also of God. He knew everything as Gods child in Gods house. It was Gods light in which He saw the deeper light in everything. Picture Jesus of Nazareth set down in Rome with all the flashing splendour of imperial power all around him! or in Athens, with the wisdom of the philosophers on every side. Would the young Jew have cast his faith away? Too real for him the visions that had come to him in Nazareth! Too real for him the glory of His Father, which had filled His Fathers house! He would have laid fresh hold upon that truth and love which he had never so needed until now. He would have stood undazzled in the Roman glory, unpuzzled in the Grecian wisdom, because He would have known that in His heart He carried the light by which they should give light to Him. The knowledge of God lies behind everything, behind all knowledge, all skill, all life. That is the sum of the whole matter. The knowledge of God! And then there comes the great truth, which all religions have dimly felt, but which Christianity has made the very watchword of its life, the truth that it is only by the soul that God is really known; only by the experiences of the soul, only by penitence for sin, only by patient struggle after holiness, only by trust, by hope, by love does God make Himself known to man. So may He give us all the grace to know Him more and more. (Bp. Phillips Brook,.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 36:9 Light represents salvation and celebration (18:25-29; 27:1; cp.…
36:9 Light represents salvation and celebration (18:25-29; 27:1; cp. 35:6).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.