Don’t fret because of evildoers, neither be envious against those who work unrighteousness.
For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither like the green herb.
Parallel Translations
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Don’t fret because of evildoers, neither be envious against those who work unrighteousness.
For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither like the green herb.
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Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.
For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.
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A Psalm of David. Fret not thyself because of evil-doers, neither be thou envious against them that work unrighteousness.
For they shall soon wither like the grass, and fade as the green herb.
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Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (19)
- Psalms 37:7 (v1) Rest in Yahweh, and wait patiently for him. Don’t fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who makes wicked plots…
- Proverbs 23:17 (v1) Don’t let your heart envy sinners, but rather fear Yahweh all day long.
- Proverbs 24:19 (v1) Don’t fret yourself because of evildoers, neither be envious of the wicked;
- Proverbs 3:31 (v1) Don’t envy the man of violence. Choose none of his ways.
- Proverbs 24:1 (v1) Don’t be envious of evil men, neither desire to be with them;
Show all 19 cross-references
- Psalms 73:3 (v1) For I was envious of the arrogant, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
- Galatians 5:21 (v1) envy, murders, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these; of which I forewarn you, even as I also forewarned you, that those who practice…
- James 4:5-6 (v1) Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who lives in us yearns jealously”? But he gives more grace. Therefore it says,…
- 1 Samuel 1:6-8 (v1) Her rival provoked her severely, to irritate her, because Yahweh had shut up her womb. So year by year, when she went up to Yahweh’s house,…
- Psalms 92:7 (v2) though the wicked spring up as the grass, and all the evildoers flourish, they will be destroyed forever.
- Psalms 90:5-6 (v2) You sweep them away as they sleep. In the morning they sprout like new grass. In the morning it sprouts and springs up. By evening, it is…
- Proverbs 19:3 (v1) The foolishness of man subverts his way; his heart rages against Yahweh.
- James 1:10-11 (v2) and the rich, in that he is made humble, because like the flower in the grass, he will pass away. For the sun arises with the scorching…
- Job 14:2 (v2) He grows up like a flower, and is cut down. He also flees like a shadow, and doesn’t continue.
- Psalms 37:35-36 (v2) I have seen the wicked in great power, spreading himself like a green tree in its native soil. But he passed away, and behold, he was not.…
- Job 20:5-9 (v2) that the triumphing of the wicked is short, the joy of the godless but for a moment? Though his height mount up to the heavens, and his…
- Psalms 73:17-20 (v2) until I entered God’s sanctuary, and considered their latter end. Surely you set them in slippery places. You throw them down to…
- 1 Peter 1:24 (v2) For, “All flesh is like grass, and all of man’s glory like the flower in the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls;
- Psalms 129:5-7 (v2) Let them be disappointed and turned backward, all those who hate Zion. Let them be as the grass on the housetops, which withers before it…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On v1 1. Fret not thyself because of the wicked. David…
1. Fret not thyself because of the wicked. David lays down this as a general principle, that the prosperity of the wicked, in which they greatly rejoice, should on no account vex or disquiet the children of God, because it will soon fade away. On the other hand, although the people of God are afflicted for a time, yet the issue of their afflictions shall be such, that they have every reason to be contented with their lot. Now all this depends upon the providence of God; for unless we are persuaded that the world is governed by him in righteousness and truth, our minds will soon stagger, and at length entirely fail us. David then condemns two sinful affections of the mind, which are indeed closely allied, and the one of which is generated by the other. He first enjoins the faithful not to fret on account of the wicked; and, secondly, that they should not indulge an envious spirit towards them. For, in the first place, when they see the wicked enjoying prosperity, from which it might naturally be supposed that God regards not the affairs of men, there is a danger lest they should shake off the fear of God, and apostatise from the faith. Then another temptation follows, namely, that the influence of the example of the wicked excites in them a desire to involve themselves in the same wickedness with them. This is the natural sense. The Hebrew words, אל-תתחר, al-tithechar, which we have rendered, Fret not thyself, are by some translated, Do not mingle thyself with. But this interpretation is too forced, and may be disproved by the context; for in the eighth verse, where mention is expressly made of wrath and anger, it would surely be absurd to interpret in another sense the same verb which immediately follows these two words, and which is there used in the same sense and for the same end as in this first verse. In the second place, the order which David observes is very natural; for when the prosperity of the wicked has irritated our minds, we very soon begin to envy them their happiness and ease. First, then, he exhorts us to be on our guard, lest a happiness which is only transitory, or rather imaginary, should vex or disquiet us; and, secondly, lest envy should lead us to commit sin. The reason by which he enforces this exhortation is added in the following verse: for if the wicked flourish to-day like the grass of the field, to-morrow they shall be cut down and wither. We need not wonder that this similitude is often to be met with in the sacred writings, since it is so very appropriate; for we see how soon the strength of the grass decays, and that when cast down by a blast of wind, or parched with the heat of the sun, even without being cut by the hand of man, it withers away. In like manner, David tells us that the judgment of God, like a scythe in the hand of man, shall cut down the wicked, so that they shall suddenly perish.
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.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1–2 He admonisheth us neither to vex ourselves for the…
He admonisheth us neither to vex ourselves for the prosperous estate of the wicked, neither to desire to be like them to make our state the better.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–2 Psa 37:1 « [A Psalm] of David. » Fret…
Psa 37:1 « [A Psalm] of David. » Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.
Ver. 1. Fret not thyself because of evil-doers] Who prosper in the world when better men suffer many times. This made good David sick of the fret, as himself testifieth, Psa 73:14-16, till better informed and settled, by repairing to the sanctuary, Psa 73:17. He wrote this thirty-seventh psalm for the good of God’s people; lest they, being scandalized in like manner, and stumbling at the same stone that he had done, should want direction, and so fall into inconvenience, temptation, and a snare. David was old when he wrote this psalm, as appeareth, Psa 37:25, "I have been young, and now am old," therefore should his counsel here given be the more acceptable. He might as well say to men’s tumultuatiug passions, as once Augustus did to his mutinous soldiers, and thereby quieted them, Audite senem iuveues, quem iuvenem senes audierunt, Hear old men you youth, rather than old men hear the youth. Fret not yourselves, fret not yourselves, I say, to do evil. Be not angry at God, as Jonah was; or aggrieved, as Jeremiah, Jer 12:1; and Habakkuk, Hab 1:13; as if the Divine providence did not justly divide to every man his due estate, and do him right; but have patience a while, yea, let patience have line and rope, her perfect work, as St James hath it; and quiet your boiling spirits with that word, wherewith Christ becalmed the raging sea, "Peace; be still." God will unriddle his providences ere long; and then men shall see the reason of all occurrences, and that all was done in singular wisdom. Pompey, beaten out of the field by Caesar, complained that there was a mist over the eye of providence; when as indeed all the fault was in the soreness or dimness of his own eyes, and the twinkling light of Nature’s rush candle. Seneca saw as far and said as much to this matter as a heathen could, in his tract, Cur malis bene sit, &c. Whu is it well for the wicked, But it is the sanctuary alone that can afford sound satisfaction to a soul thus puzzled; as for philosophical comforts and counsels in this case, Cicero said well of them, Nescio quomodo imbecillior est medicina quam morbus, However it cometh to pass, the disease is too hard for the medicine.
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Neither be thou envious against, &c.] Their prosperity is their portion, all they are likely to have, Psa 17:14; and what is it more than a small annuity for term of life, in the utmost part of that large lordship, whereof thou art the heir, and shalt shortly be the possessor? Queen Elizabeth envied the milkmaid, when she was in prison. But if she had known what a glorious reign she should have had afterwards for forty-four years she would not have envied her. And as little needeth a godly man, though in misery, to envy a wicked man in the ruff of all his prosperity and jollity, considering what he hath in hand, much more what he hath in hope.
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 On vv1–2 Fret not thyself, give not way to immoderate grief,…
Fret not thyself, give not way to immoderate grief, or anger, or impatience,
because of evil-doers; because they prosper in their wicked enterprises, whilst thou art sorely afflicted.
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Neither be thou envious, esteeming them happy, and secretly wishing that thou wert in their condition.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v1 The instructions here given are very plain; much need…
The instructions here given are very plain; much need not be said for the exposition of them, but there is a great deal to be done for the reducing of them to practice, and there they will look best.
I. We are here cautioned against discontent at the prosperity and success of evil-doers (Psa 37:1, Psa 37:2): Fret not thyself, neither be thou envious. We may suppose that David speaks this to himself first, and preaches it to his own heart (in his communing with that upon his bed), for the suppressing of those corrupt passions which he found working there, and then leaves it in writing for instruction to others that might be in similar temptation. That is preached best, and with most probability of success, to others, which is first preached to ourselves. Now, 1. When we look abroad we see the world full of evil-doers and workers of iniquity, that flourish and prosper, that have what they will and do what they will, that live in ease and pomp themselves and have power in their hands to do mischief to those about them. So it was in David's time; and therefore, if it is so still, let us not marvel at the matter, as though it were some new or strange thing. 2. When we look within we find ourselves tempted to fret at this, and to be envious against these scandals and burdens, these blemishes and common nuisances, of this earth. We are apt to fret at God, as if he were unkind to the world and unkind to his church in permitting such men to live, and prosper, and prevail, as they do. We are apt to fret ourselves with vexation at their success in their evil projects. We are apt to envy them the liberty they take in getting wealth, and perhaps by unlawful means, and in the indulgence of their lusts, and to wish that we could shake off the restraints of conscience and do so too. We are tempted to think them the only happy people, and to incline to imitate them, and to join ourselves with them, that we may share in their gains and eat of their dainties; and this is that which we are warned against: Fret not thyself, neither be thou envious. Fretfulness and envy are sins that are their own punishments; they are the uneasiness of the spirit and the rottenness of the bones; it is therefore in kindness to ourselves that we are warned against them. Yet that is not all; for, 3. When we look forward with an eye of faith we shall see no reason to envy wicked people their prosperity, for their ruin is at the door and they are ripening apace for it, Psa 37:2. They flourish, but as the grass, and as the green herb, which nobody envies nor frets at. The flourishing of a godly man is like that of a fruitful tree (Psa 1:3), but that of the wicked man is like grass and herbs, which are very short-lived. (1.) They will soon wither of themselves. Outward prosperity is a fading thing, and so is the life itself to which it is confined. (2.) They will sooner be cut down by the judgments of God. Their triumphing is short, but their weeping and wailing will be everlasting.
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II. We are here counselled to live a life on confidence and complacency in God, and that will keep us from fretting at the prosperity of evil-doers; if we do well for our own souls, we shall see little reason to envy those that do so ill for theirs. Here are three excellent precepts, which we are to be ruled by, and, to enforce them, three precious promises, which we may rely upon.
1. We must make God our hope in the way of duty and then we shall have a comfortable subsistence in this world, Psa 37:3. (1.) It is required that we trust in the Lord and do good, that we confide in God and conform to him. The life of religion lies much in a believing reliance on God, his favour, his providence, his promise, his grace, and a diligent care to serve him and our generation, according to his will. We must not think to trust in God and then live as we list. No; it is not trusting God, but tempting him, if we do not make conscience of our duty to him. Nor must we think to do good, and then to trust to ourselves, and our own righteousness and strength. No; we must both trust in the Lord and do good. And then, (2.) It is promised that we shall be well provided for in this world: So shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. He does not say, "So shalt thou get preferment, dwell in a palace, and be feasted." This is not necessary; a man's life consists not in the abundance of these things; but, "Thou shalt have a place to live in, and that in the land, in Canaan, the valley of vision, and thou shalt have food convenient for thee." This is more than we deserve; it is as much as a good man will stipulate for (Gen 28:20) and it is enough for one that is going to heaven. "Thou shalt have a settlement, a quiet settlement, and a maintenance, a comfortable maintenance: Verily thou shalt be fed." Some read it, Thou shalt be fed by faith, as the just are said to live by faith, and it is good living, good feeding, upon the promises. "Verily thou shalt be fed, as Elijah in the famine, with what is needful for thee." God himself is a shepherd, a feeder, to all those that trust in him, Psa 23:1.
2. We must make God our heart's delight and then we shall have our heart's desire, Psa 37:4. We must not only depend upon God, but solace ourselves in him. We must be well pleased that there is a God, that he is such a one as he has revealed himself to be, and that he is our God in covenant. We must delight ourselves in his beauty, bounty, and benignity; our souls must return to him, and repose in him, as their rest, and their portion for ever. Being satisfied of his loving-kindness, we must be satisfied with it, and make that our exceeding joy, Psa 43:4. We were commanded (Psa 37:3) to do good, and then follows this command to delight in God, which is as much a privilege as a duty. If we make conscience of obedience to God, we may then take the comfort of a complacency in him. And even this pleasant duty of delighting in God has a promise annexed to it, which is very full and precious, enough to recompense the hardest services: He shall give thee the desires of thy heart. He has not promised to gratify all the appetites of the body and the humours of the fancy, but to grant all the desires of the heart, all the cravings of the renewed sanctified soul. What is the desire of the heart of a good man? It is this, to know, and love, and live to God, to please him and to be pleased in him.
3. We must make God our guide, and submit in every thing to his guidance and disposal; and then all our affairs, even those that seem most intricate and perplexed, shall be made to issue well and to our satisfaction, Psa 37:5, Psa 37:6. (1.) The duty is very easy; and, if we do it aright, it will make us easy: Commit thy way unto the Lord; roll thy way upon the Lord (so the margin reads it), Pro 16:3; Psa 55:22. Cast thy burden upon the Lord, the burden of thy care, Pe1 5:7. We must roll it off ourselves, so as not to afflict and perplex ourselves with thoughts about future events (Mat 6:25), not to cumber and trouble ourselves either with the contrivance of the means or with expectation of the end, but refer it to God, leave it to him by his wise and good providence to order and dispose of all our concerns as he pleases. Retreat thy way unto the Lord (so the Septuagint), that is, "By prayer spread thy case, and all thy cares about it, before the Lord" (as Jephthah uttered all his words before the Lord in Mizpeh, Jdg 11:11), "and then trust in him to bring it to a good issue, with a full satisfaction that all is well that God does." We must do our duty (that must be our care) and then leave the event with God. Sit still, and see how the matter will fall, Rut 3:18. We must follow Providence, and not force it, subscribe to Infinite Wisdom and not prescribe. (2.) The promise is very sweet. [1.] In general, "He shall bring that to pass, whatever it is, which thou hast committed to him, if not to thy contrivance, yet to thy content. He will find means to extricate thee out of thy straits, to prevent thy fears, and bring about thy purposes, to thy satisfaction." [2.] In particular, "He will take care of thy reputation, and bring thee out of thy difficulties, not only with comfort, but with credit and honour: He shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light and thy judgment as the noon-day." (Psa 37:6), that is, "he shall make it to appear that thou art an honest man, and that is honour enough." First, It is implied that the righteousness and judgment of good people may, for a time, be clouded and eclipsed, either by remarkable rebukes of Providence (Job's great afflictions darkened his righteousness) or by the malicious censures and reproaches of men, who give them bad names which they no way deserve, and lay to their charge things which they know not. Secondly, It is promised that God will, in due time, roll away the reproach they are under, clear up their innocency, and bring forth their righteousness, to their honour, perhaps in this world, at furthest in the great day, Mat 13:43. Note, If we take care to keep a good conscience, we may leave it to God to take care of our good name.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–2 Fret not thyself because of evildoers,.... The saints may…
Fret not thyself because of evildoers,.... The saints may be grieved at them and for them, because of their evil doings, and may be angry with them for them; yet are not to show any undue warmth, at least in an indecent way, by calling them opprobrious names; for the words may be rendered, "do not show thyself warm" or "angry" (i): in a sinful way; or fret not at their outward prosperity, as it is explained Psa 37:7. The Targum adds, "to be like them", which agrees with Psa 37:8;
neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity; that is, at their present temporal happiness; see Psa 73:3. The Targum adds, as before, to be joined with them; which sense some parallel places seem to incline to, Pro 3:31.
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(i) "ne accendaris ira", Junius & Tremellius; "ne exardescas", Gejerus, Michaelis.
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 On v1 David exhorts to patience and confidence in God, ver.…
David exhorts to patience and confidence in God, ver. 1-8. Shews the different state of the righteous and the wicked, ver. 9- 40. A psalm of David.
Fret not - Because they prosper in their wicked enterprizes.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1–2 Godly directions for those who are in adversity not…
PSALM XXXVII
Godly directions for those who are in adversity not to envy the
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prosperity of the wicked, because it is superficial, and of
short duration, 1-22;
to put their confidence in God, and live to his glory, as this
is the sure way to be happy in this life, and in that which is
to come, 23-40.
NOTES ON PSALM XXXVII
In the title this Psalm is attributed to David by the Hebrew, and by most of the Versions: but it is more likely it was intended as an instructive and consoling ode for the captives in Babylon, who might feel themselves severely tempted when they saw those idolaters in prosperity; and themselves, who worshipped the true God, in affliction and slavery. They are comforted with the prospect of speedy deliverance; and their return to their own land is predicted in not less than ten different places in this Psalm.
This Psalm is one of the acrostic or alphabetical kind: but it differs from those we have already seen, in having two verses under each letter; the first only exhibiting the alphabetical letter consecutively. There are a few anomalies in the Psalm. The hemistich, which should begin with the letter ע ain, has now a ל lamed prefixed to the word with which it begins, לעולם leolam; and the hemistich which should begin with ת tau (Ps 37:39) has now a ו vau prefixed, ותשועת utheshuath. It appears also that the letters ד daleth, כ caph, and ק koph, have each lost a hemistich; and ע ain, half a one. The manner in which this Psalm is printed in Dr. Kennicott's Hebrew Bible gives a full view of all these particulars. To the English reader some slighter differences may appear; but it should be observed, that the verses in our English Bibles are not always divided as those in the Hebrew. In all the Psalms that have a title, the title forms the first verse in the Hebrew; but our translation does not acknowledge any of those titles as a part of the Psalm, and very properly leaves them out of the enumeration of the verses.
Verse 1. Fret not thyself because of evil doers] It is as foolish as it is wicked to repine or be envious at the prosperity of others. Whether they are godly or ungodly, it is God who is the dispenser of the bounty they enjoy; and, most assuredly, he has a right to do what he will with his own. To be envious in such a case, is to arraign the providence of God. And it is no small condescension in the Almighty to reason with such persons as he does in this Psalm.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v1 Psa 37:1-2. Fret not thyself — Give not way…
Psa 37:1-2. Fret not thyself — Give not way to immoderate grief, or anger, or impatience; because of evil-doers — Because they prosper in their wicked enterprises, while thou art sorely afflicted. Neither be thou envious, &c. — Esteeming them happy, and secretly wishing that thou wert in their condition. They shall wither as the green herb — For their happiness, the matter of thy envy, is but short-lived.
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 On vv1–2 Fret not thyself - The Hebrew word here means…
Fret not thyself - The Hebrew word here means properly to burn, to be kindled, to be inflamed, and is often applied to anger, as if under its influence we become “heated:” Gen 31:36; Gen 34:7; 1Sa 15:11; 2Sa 19:43. Hence, it means to fret oneself, to be angry, or indignant. Compare Pro 24:19. We should perhaps express the same idea by the word “worrying” or “chafing.” The state of mind is that where we are worried, or envious, because others are prosperous and successful, and we are not. The idea is, therefore, closely allied with that in the other part of the verse, “neither be thou “envious.””
Because of evil-doers - Wicked men:
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(a) at the fact that there are wicked men, or that God suffers them to live;
(b) at their numbers;
(c) at their success and prosperity.
Neither be thou envious - Envy is pain, mortification, discontent, at the superior excellence or prosperity of others, accompanied often with some degree of malignant feeling, and with a disposition to detract from their merit. It is the result of a comparison of ourselves with others who are more highly gifted or favored, or who are more successful than we are ourselves. The feeling referred to here is that which springs up in the mind when we see persons of corrupt or wicked character prospered, while we, endeavoring to do right, are left to poverty, to disappointment, and to tears.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 Psalms 37
Psalms 37
A Psalm of David
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1 Fret not thyself because of evil doers,
Neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.
2 For they shall soon be cut down like the grass,
And wither as the green herb.
3 Trust in the Lord, and do good;
So shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.
4 Delight thyself also in the Lord;
And he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
5 Commit thy way unto the Lord;
Trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.
6 And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light,
And thy judgment as the noon-day.
7 Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him:
Fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way,
Because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.
8 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath:
Fret not thyself in any wise to do evil.
9 For evil doers shall be cut off:
But those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth.
10 For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be:
Yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.
11 But the meek shall inherit the earth;
And shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.
12 The wicked plotteth against the just,
And gnasheth upon him with his teeth.
13 The Lord shall laugh at him:
For he seeth that his day is coming.
14 The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow,
To cast down the poor and needy,
And to slay such as be of upright conversation.
15 Their sword shall enter into their own heart,
And their bows shall be broken.
16 A little that a righteous man hath is better
Than the riches of many wicked.
17 For the arms of the wicked shall be broken:
But the Lord upholdeth the righteous.
18 The Lord knoweth the days of the upright:
And their inheritance shall be for ever.
19 They shall not be ashamed in the evil time:
And in the days of famine they shall be satisfied.
20 But the wicked shall perish,
And the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs:
They shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away.
21 The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again:
But the righteous sheweth mercy, and giveth.
22 For such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth;
And they that be cursed of him shall be cut off.
23 The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord:
And he delighteth in his way.
24 Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down:
For the Lord upholdeth him with his hand.
25 I have been young, and now am old;
Yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken.
Nor his seed begging bread.
26 He is ever merciful, and lendeth;
And his seed is blessed.
27 Depart from evil, and do good;
And dwell for evermore.
28 For the Lord loveth judgment,
And forsaketh not his saints;
They are preserved for ever:
But the seed of the wicked shall be cut off.
29 The righteous shall inherit the land,
And dwell therein for ever.
30 The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom,
And his tongue talketh of judgment.
31 The law of his God is in his heart;
None of his steps shall slide.
32 The wicked watcheth the righteous,
And seeketh to slay him.
33 The Lord will not leave him in his hand,
Nor condemn him when he is judged.
34 Wait on the Lord, and keep his way,
And he shall exalt thee to inherit the land:
When the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it.
35 I have seen the wicked in great power,
And spreading himself like a green bay tree.
36 Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not:
Yea, I sought him, but he could not be found.
37 Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright:
For the end of that man is peace.
38 But the transgressors shall be destroyed together:
The end of the wicked shall be cut off.
39 But the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord:
He is their strength in the time of trouble.
40 And the Lord shall help them, and deliver them:
He shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them,
Because they trust in him.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Its Contents and Composition.—We certainly cannot call this Psalm a Theodicy, and hardly a didactic Psalm. For it does not, as it were, allay doubts of God’s righteous government (De Wette), which are solved in Psalms 49, and still more in Psalms 73 but it exhorts not to yield to feelings of ill humor excited by the apparent prosperity of the ungodly; but rather to trust in the protection of God, the righteous Judge, and to persevere in doing good, with the assurance of the final and often very sudden ruin of the wicked, and the sure deliverance and manifold blessings of the pious. And these exhortations are not developed in a didactic form, or elaborately proved, but they are expressed in a form corresponding with that of Proverbs, in rounded clauses easily remembered, which treat of the same thoughts in very different and often agreeable figures, and turns of expression; and they are so connected by an alphabetical arrangement, that “they hang together not unlike many precious stones or pearls, which are strung on one string in one necklace” (Amyrald). Two verses of two lines are as a rule allotted to each letter, and indeed so that the parts of the tetrastich are connected with one another in sense. Yet this Psalm likewise, as the previous alphabetical Psalms (Psalms 9, 25, 34), has many deviations from the rule, which are hardly to be explained from a preconceived plan, and with reference to the number ten as a sign of what is perfect and complete in itself (Hengst.). The Psa_37:7; Psa_37:20; Psa_37:34, have each only three lines for the corresponding letters, whilst the letters נ and ת have strophes of five lines in two verses, yet so that the 26th verse of two lines follows the tristich (Psa_37:25), whilst the 40th verse of three lines follows the 39th verse with two lines. ח is used twice, in Psa_37:14-15. ע seems to be missing, and in its place ם forms a long strophe in Psa_37:27-29. However, there seems to be here merely a false division of the verses. If the new strophe is begun in the middle of the present Psa_37:28, it is not necessary to supply the missing strophe by erasing ל of the first word לְעוֹלָם (Bellermann, Metrik S. 121); we need only not to count the Lamed (Maurer), as we do not count the Vav of Psa_37:39. This explanation is simpler than the supposition that a clause has fallen off after Psa_37:28 c, although the Sept., Symm., Vulg. have such an one = injusti punientur, as if they had read עַוָּלִים נשְׁמָדוּ (Capp., Ewald, et al.), or עריצים (Hitzig). De Wette has taken back his supposition that the wicked are heathen and the righteous are Jews, as indeed nothing indicates that the poet comforted his fellow-citizens, suffering under the oppression of a foreign yoke, with the prospect of a speedy change of fortune (Rosenmüller). There are no references at all, that can be traced (Hupfeld), to such relations as occurred in the Syrian oppression (Olsh.), or would suit the government of David (De Wette). The contents even lead rather to a period prior to the composition of the book of Job, than to a period subsequent to this, and not at all to “a revived Jewish dogmatism” (Hitzig). And, as it has already been remarked, neither the quiet didactic tone nor the alphabetic form lead to a later period of composition. With respect to the resemblances with Pro_3:31; Pro_16:3; Pro_16:8; Pro_20:24; Pro_23:17; Pro_24:19, these do not imply that we have here reminiscences and repetitions (Hitzig, G. Baur). They may be explained rather from an internal relationship with the Proverbs of Solomon which are rooted and grounded in the poetry of David, such as is now before us (Hengst.). Moreover, the repetition of the same thoughts and turns of expression, is not necessarily due to the alphabetical limitation. They may have the practical aim of making a strong impression (Berleb. Bibel). This agrees very well with the advanced age of the auther (Psa_37:25), who, however, can not at all be charged with tedious prolixity, but rather discloses a complete mastery of the material, a ripened experience and a great skill in the art of a flowing, clear style, which, with all its simplicity, has yet peculiarities of expression. All this is rather in favor of David, whose life affords ample occasion for the experience and feelings here expressed: “Such examples David had certainly seen in Saul, Ahithophel, Absalom and the like, who were powerful in their ungodly natures, and before one could look around him they passed away, so that it might be asked and said, Where are they gone?” (Luther). Psa_37:5 has afforded the theme of the song of Paul Gerhardt: Befiehl du deine Wege.—It is possible that Psa_37:12; Psa_37:21; Psa_37:31, on account of similarity, begin special clauses of the Psalm (Hitzig, Delitzsch).3
[Str. I. Psa_37:1. Fret not thyself.—This verb literally denotes to heat oneself with excitement or anger. It is used in this form only in Pro_24:19, and in this Psalm in Psa_37:1; Psa_37:7-8.
Psa_37:2. Grass is the usual figure of perishableness, and is frequently coupled with flower of the field, comp. Psa_90:5; Psa_103:15; Psa_129:6; Isa_40:6-7; Job_14:2. Here it is connected with green herb, which is literally greenness of herbage, and refers to the tender grass and young herbage. Comp. Psa_1:3.—C. A. B.]
Str. II. Psa_37:3. Dwell in the land.—The possession of the land and dwelling in it are frequently designated as the reward of righteousness. But it does not follow from this any more than from Psa_37:27 that we are here to think of a promise (Rosenm., Stier, Hengst.). The context is opposed to this and likewise the connection of the clauses. Accordingly, we must suppose an exhortation, which refers not so much to a conflict with desires to emigrate out of displeasure with affairs at home (most interpreters), as to an encouragement to a quiet life, tranquillized by God, in the land of the promise. If the expression is merely regarded as typical and explained of the entire position in which a man is placed by God, of the possession and calling of the individual as well as that maintained by every one (Hupfeld, Hitzig), then the coloring of the expression which was so comforting to the Israelites, is too much weakened, although it is true that this clause is parallel to that immediately preceding, and the consequences of the trust are stated (De Wette).—Practice faithfulness.—These words cannot mean: nourish thyself honestly (Luther); or: feed securely = live in careless trust (Chald., Calvin); perhaps: feed thyself in faithfulness. Moreover, this faithfulness, according to the context, is not the faithfulness of God, in which the proud are to rejoice (Jerome, Cleric., Hengst.). There is no promise expressed here, so likewise it is not said that the pious will rejoice in their own faithfulness, or will be fed, that is, preserved and nourished on account of their constancy in faith and their trust in God (Isaki). It is an exhortation to the loving practice of faithfulness; for רעה means: to go or be behind something (Hitzig).
[Str. III. Psa_37:5-6. Roll thy way upon Jehovah.—Comp. Psa_22:8; Pro_16:3; 1Pe_5:7. The way here refers to the whole course of life, with its troubles and cares. These God will assume together with the care of the way of those who trust in Him.—He will do it, that is, He will accomplish what they cannot do and will bring it to a good end, as Psa_22:31; Psa_52:9. This is still further carried out in the next verse. Jehovah will cause thy righteousness, which is now in the darkness of night, to go up as the light, or the daylight, the dawning sun; and then still more emphatically: thy right as the noonday, the clearest, brightest and fullest light. Comp. Isa_58:10; Job_11:17; also Job_5:14; Isa_59:10; Amo_8:9.—C. A. B.]
[Str. IV. Psa_37:7. Be still before Jehovah.—Perowne: “A word expressive of that calm resignation which leaves itself absolutely in the hands of God. This hushed, bowed temper of spirit best suits us. Here is the best cure for dissatisfaction with the present and for anxiety about the future, that we leave both in the hands of God.”—C. A. B.]
[Str. V. Psa_37:8-9. Only to do evil.—Alexander: “Do not indulge a passion which can only make thee a partaker in the guilt of those who are its objects.”—They shall inherit the land.—The they is emphatic. The land is the land of promise, the common blessing of all the faithful.—C. A. B.4]
[Str. VI. Psa_37:10. And thou lookest at his place and he is not there.—Some take the place as the subject of the last clause, as if his very place had disappeared, but it is better with Hupfeld, Moll, et al., to take the ungodly as the subject as in the parallel member, the place which he usually occupied knows him no more. Comp. Psa_37:36 and Psa_10:15.—C. A. B.]
[Str. VII. Psa_37:12. Jehovah laughs at him.—Delitzsch: “The Lord, who regards the attack on the righteous as an attack on Himself, laughs at the angry plotters (Psa_2:4), for He, who orders the fates of men, foresees from afar with omniscient glance, the day of the wicked, that is the day of his death, of his visitation.”—C. A. B.]
[Str. VIII. Psa_37:14-15. The sword and the bow are usual figures for all kinds of means of doing injury. Here being directed against the poor and innocent, in accordance with the lex talionis they pierce their own heart, and are broken under their own feet, vid. Ps. 6:15, 16; 9:15, 16; 57:6; Pro_26:27; Est_7:10.—C. A. B.]
[Str. IX. Psa_37:16. The little of the righteous is better than the riches of many wicked.—Hupfeld: “This is true in many respects: 1) Because with contentment and the blessing of God it reaches farther than the great accumulation of unrighteous goods; which (even according to our proverb) does not prosper (Pro_13:25; Job_20:12, under the figure of food which does not agree with the body); 2) because it alone affords rest and satisfaction to the soul, which are frightened away from it by the cares of riches and unrighteous possessions. In this sense the similar proverbs, Pro_15:16; Pro_16:8; because the riches of the unrighteous do not last, but soon pass away.”
Psa_37:17. Arms of the wicked.—These are the instruments of his wickedness, and the means of his power; as Psa_10:15; 1Sa_2:31; Job_38:15. Comp. Psa_3:7, where the teeth are broken.—C. A. B.]
Str. X. [Psa_37:18. Knoweth the days—Perowne: “Watcheth over, careth for, lovingly orders all that befalls them. See the same use of the verb, Psa_1:6; Psa_31:7, compared with 15. ‘My times are in Thy hand.’ ”—C. A. B.]
Psa_37:20. The splendor of the pastures.—Since כֵּר generally = lamb, it may be translated: as the most precious of the lambs (Syr., Chald., Aben Ezra, Kimchi, Cocc., Venema, Rosenm., et al.), by which then is understood the fat pieces of the lambs of the sacrifice, which were burnt upon the altar. This is much better than to refer it to the most fine wool of lambs (Köster), or the most precious lambs, that is, lambs of the sacrifice (Calvin, Cleric). The interpretation: as the delight of the lambs = grass (Hengst.) is artificial. The meanings of “circuit, meadow, pasture,” are evident from Psa_65:13; Isa_30:23 (and apparently Isa_14:30 in its corrected reading).—They have vanished in smoke, vanished.—This hardly refers to Sodom and Gomorrah (Hengst., after John Arndt); scarcely to the burning up of the pieces of the sacrifice, or of dry grass, which had been set on fire, Isa_5:24 (most interpreters). Moreover the ב is not to be changed into כּ after Hos_13:3; it is rendered certain by Psa_102:4; comp. Psa_78:33; Psa_39:6, and indicates comparison, “in nature of” (Rosenm., De Wette, Hupf., Hitzig, Delitzsch). Our translation follows the accents.
[Str. XI. Psa_37:21-22. Perowne: “The blessing and the curse of God, as seen in the different lots of the righteous and the wicked. The wicked, through God’s curse resting upon him, is reduced to poverty, so that he is compelled to borrow, and cannot pay; whereas the righteous hath even abundance not only for his own wants, but for the wants of others. It is the promise, Deu_15:6; Deu_28:12; Deu_28:44, turned into a proverb.”—C. A. B].
Str. XII. Psa_37:23-24. A man’s steps are established by Jehovah.—[Hupfeld: “The Divine blessing and assistance of the righteous under another figure; that of a guide in the way of life, who guides his steps and makes them secure and although he may fall, He lifts him up again.”—C. A. B.]. Since גבר has not the article, it is not to be explained as such a man, as the one just spoken of (De Wette, et al.) The parallel passages, Pro_16:9; Pro_20:24, are in favor of a general interpretation. Some have translated “ordered” (after the Sept. Vulg., Jerome), instead of established, yet this is contrary to usage.—For Jehovah sustains his hand—[So Hupf., Delitzsch, Moll, et al., and not with His hand, Böttcher, A. V. et al—C. A. B.]
[Str. XIII. Psa_37:25-26. Delitzsch: “It is an old Theological rule that: promissiones corporales intelligendæ sunt cum exceptione crucis et castigatione. Abandonment and poverty for a time the Psalmist does not question, but he will meet the temptation, which springs up to those who fear God, from those circumstances which apparently contradict the Divine righteousness; and he does this by contrasting the final abiding condition with the transient one.”—C. A. B.]
[Str. XV. Psa_37:31. His steps shall not waver—comp. Psa_18:36. The law within the heart keeps him steadily in the right way.—C. A. B.]
[Str. XVI. Psa_37:33. Perowne: “Men may condemn but God acquits.—Here, as in 1Co_4:3, the righteous judgment of the Great Judge is opposed to the ἀνακρίνειν of human judgment (ἡμέρα). So Tertullian: ‘Si condemnamur a mundo, absolvimur a Deo.’ ”—C. A. B.]
Str. XVIII. Psa_37:34-36. I saw a Wicked man, arrogant, and spreading himself as a leafy indigenous tree. And one passed by and lo he was no more.—Hitzig prefers instead of arrogant, a word which after the Sept.=towering, and translates the following line after a corrected reading with the Sept. and Vulg.; and spreading himself as a cedar of Lebanon, and I went by. Hupfeld on the other hand after Aben Ezra, Calvin, Cleric.: he passed by =passed away.
Str. XIX. Psa_37:37. Mark the just man,etc. The ancient translators have all taken the concretes as abstracts and have likewise given the verbs another meaning=preserve honesty and keep rectitude (righteousness) before your eyes. From this originated Luther’s: remain pious and keep yourself upright. In the latter case there seems to have been a confounding of ראה with רעה of Psa_37:5. But to regard these words as abstracts is contrary to usage. שׁמר is elsewhere used only of practical keeping as Psa_37:34, from which verse this has been made dependent without any need. The true interpretation was seen already by Aben Ezra, Isaki, Calvin and most all recent interpreters have adopted it.—That the man of peace hath posterity. It follows from Psa_37:38 that the reference here is to posterity as Psa_109:13; Jer_31:17; Amos 4; Amo_9:1; Eze_22:25, (Sept., Venema, De Wette, Olsh., Hupfeld, [Perowne]), and not to the “future,” whether for both verses (Calvin, Cleric., Hengst. [Alexander] or only for Psa_37:37. The context and the construction favors least of all the translation: the end of the man is peace (Kimchi, Geier, et al. [A. V. likewise].
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. Take care that the sight of the success of the ungodly does not kindle in your heart envious jealousy and wrath, or burning ill humor and consuming fretfulness. Their success is only apparent and of short duration. It is like the green grass which soon withers and is like smoke which vanishes away. Accordingly the pious have no reason to be excited by it, but rather have every reason to strengthen and exercise themselves in faith in the holy government of God and in obedience to God’s holy will, in order that they may live to see the end and wait patiently for the result. “This is a fine comparison, a terror to hypocrites and a comfort to the afflicted. How nicely it lifts us up above our sight and sets us before God’s sight. Before our sight the hypocrite’s substance is green and flourishing and increases and covers the whole world, so that it alone seems to be something, as the green grass covers and adorns the earth. But before God’s sight, what are they? Hay, soon to be made; and the higher the grass grows the nearer it is to the scythe and fork. … Why then should you be angry, when their wickedness and success have such a short existence?” (Luther).
2. He who puts his trust in God, and has his pleasure in the Lord, will not reward evil with evil, will not meet violence with violence, will not be drawn and driven by injustice to injustice, but will continue in doing good, in devotion to God, in pious conversation, and long before the final decision comes, will live to see all the promises of God gradually but surely fulfilled to the pious, whilst the ungodly will never gain their ends and often will be destroyed suddenly. “Thus He takes all impatient thoughts entirely away and gives rest to the heart. As if He would say: dear child, cease thine impatience and curse not and wish no evil, these are human and wicked thoughts … And what help is there in this anger? It does not make the case any better, it only leads deeper into the mire. Thou hast hindered God from bestowing His grace and favor, and thou hast become like the evil doers and will be destroyed like them.” (Luther).—“Many of them do wicked things in wrath from revenge and impatience, that they regret afterwards forever” (Joh. Arnd).
3. The tribulation of the pious through the violence of the wicked is often so great, that the patient seem to be entirely subdued, yet the meek will not only gain and keep peace, but the inheritance, whose foundation, pledge and type they have in the land of promise, will continue to be assured to them by the power of God, and happiness in life will by God’s hand arise in shining clearness (Job_11:17; Isa_58:8; Mic_7:9), to the innocent sufferer out of every trouble. “Since now our dear God has such a great work in mind respecting all those who fear Him, be still in the Lord and hinder Him not in His work; but wait upon Him in patience.” (Joh. Arnd). On the other side the day of the ungodly is already now before God’s eyes, in which the splendor of their success, and their light of life will be put out. He treats the devices and the preparations of the wicked as already now of nought, that is, as weak, and as foolish; but He will some time bring them to nought, he will turn their weapons and arrows upon them in a deadly form and will break their arms, that is, the instruments or the means of their power and violence, so that they will no longer be able to injure others or even to help themselves.
4. God’s blessing upon the pious shows itself in this, that they are not only satisfied and delighted with a little, because they have their delight in God, and content themselves in Him as the highest good, but that they as individuals can accomplish much more with a little, than many ungodly persons with much, that, they constantly experience fresh tokens of Divine care and provision, so that they suffer no lack, but rather are able to minister to others with their goods and gifts, and that they transmit their inheritance to their posterity, which in their turn become blessings. Thus a chain of blessings passes through the life and the generations of the pious with all the need, poverty, trouble and dangers of earth. The ungodly, on the other hand, are not helped by their number or their power, their craft or their strength, their riches or their arrogance. The curse comes upon them for their wickedness, and the judgment of God destroys them and theirs.
5. In the distribution of blessings and curses to the pious and the ungodly the righteous government of God manifests itself already in this world. We can rely upon it with the more firmness, as it has its deepest ground, in the Divine love for justice. Even on this account, however, he who would receive this blessing and enjoy God’s protection and help must take care, that the marks of true piety are found in him. Such a man may very well have to endure many tribulations, needs and dangers, for the ungodly have a hostility to the righteous and seek to put them out of the way. But the hand of God is ready to help those who walk in the way of God, because they have God’s law in their hearts, and this way leads above. Those who walk in it, may stumble and fall, but they will not remain upon the ground and perish. God puts His hand under them to support them. But this hand exterminates the ungodly with their race, so that at last not one remains and not one escapes the judge (Amo_4:2; Amo_9:1; Eze_23:25).
6. Every attentive observer sees sufficient examples of this government of God in history. Would that this might awaken the fear of God in all earnestness, and strengthen the power of trust in God, in order that every sincerely pious man might constantly receive richer experiences of the Divine blessing. “Thus then, let every one see to it, how he stands and lives before God in this respect; whether he has faith enough to trust God for a piece of bread, and whether we allow to Him power, wisdom and faithfulness enough to assist us in every righteous cause, help us through it and provide for us and maintain His own work” (Berl. Bib.).—“Ah, says he, God cannot and will not suffer that faithfulness and confidence should go unrewarded, else He would not be true, just, and truthful.” (Joh. Arnd).—“O the shameful unfaithfulness, distrust and damned unbelief, that we should not believe such rich, powerful and comforting promises of God, and stumble so very easily, at such little things, as when we merely hear the wicked words of the ungodly. Help, God, that we may some day have true faith. Amen!” (Luther). We would here with Tholuck remember that Luther on his death-bed said to his children, Children, riches I do not leave you, but I leave you, a rich God.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
The prosperity of the ungodly blossoms but a short time, it has a corrupt root and a bitter fruit.—The right of the righteous may for a while be obscured, but God brings it surely to light.—He who has his delight in the Lord, may be troubled for awhile in the world, but it will finally be well with him.—Put your confidence in God, then thou wilt not be vexed with the apparent prosperity of the ungodly; have your delight in the Lord and you will not envy the fleeting joy of the unrighteous; continue in the exercise of good and you will not change your end for the vain gains of the wicked.—The ungodly have no true and abiding prosperity, but only those who fear God.—The only, but sure means of salvation are, to fear, love, and trust God above all things.—Do not recompense the wickedness of the wicked with evil, but leave the judgment to the Lord. He is the just Rewarder.—Impatience and wrath are not productive of good, but only make the bad worse, and evil times worse times.—It is especially undeserved suffering arid unjust attacks, that show the great strength of trust in God, the power of patience and the strength of meekness.—The pious are as sure of the blessing of God as the ungodly of His curse; and both extend even to the coming generations.—It is due to the Divine blessing that the pious accomplish more with little than the ungodly with much.—Peace and joy depend for men not upon riches or poverty, but upon communion with God.—The great and abiding gain of godliness.—The mouth, heart and steps of the pious harmonize with one another and with God’s will and word.—Even the pious may stumble and fall, but God will not let them lie upon the ground, and prevents them from falling into ruin by His hand and grace.—The righteous have many enemies, but although their power and wickedness are even as great as their number, yet they are assured of the final victory by God’s faithfulness, power and grace.—It is a part of the experience of the pious, that they should be tried in patience and exercised in waiting, but that their waiting should not be vain, because it is founded in trust in God, and has as its end the coming of the Lord.—It is one and the same hand of God, which delivers the pious and exterminates the ungodly with their seed.—There is a difference between the pious and the ungodly not only according to their dispositions, but likewise in their actions and their destinies.—What God has promised to the pious, He knows how to give to them and to keep for them, yet all at the proper time and according to His wisdom.—The wishes of those who fear God are fulfilled; but the devices of the ungodly perish.—God not only distinguishes between the righteous and the unrighteous; He finally separates them from one another.—We may be visited by severe calamity, and be given up by all the world, and yet we are not forsaken by God.—God sees not only how men act on earth, He rewards them for it, whether early or late.—The pious not only receive a blessing for themselves and their seed; they will likewise become blessings through God’s grace.—God knows His own children and rewards their trust abundantly; He protects them in danger; He comforts them in time of trouble; He nourishes them in days of hunger; He delivers them out of the hand of all their enemies.
Starke: There are evil-doers enough in the world, but if we should conquer them with the sword it would only be worse; seek rather to win them by love and good conduct and leave the rest to God.—Whoever reflects upon the miserable end of the prosperity of the ungodly will rather be moved to pity and sympathy and prayer than to angry zeal and ill-will against these poor men.—Many a man is dissatisfied with God the Lord, because He does not do what he desires; but whoever is satisfied with the will of God, receives what he desires, yea more than he wishes. O what happy people we would be, if we should cast all our cares upon the Lord, attend to our calling with diligence and leave the result with God.—Satan seeks to excite believers to sinful anger by the wickedness of the ungodly. Hence the necessity of watching, patience, faith and prayer.—If we are obliged to wait with much patience for the heavenly inheritance, it is yet worth the trouble, for it is eternal and imperishable.—We must not reckon the time of the prosperity of the ungodly by the course of the physical sun, but by the numbers of the Holy Spirit (Psa_90:5), thus will we find, that in comparison with the everlasting pains of hell, scarcely a moment has been allotted to them.—The ungodly do not lack the will to do mischief; but what can they do more than gnash their teeth (Act_7:54).—The ungodly have long hands and much assistance in persecuting the pious; but God’s hands reach farther still and are much stronger, than that they should be laid hold of and cast down.—True riches do not consist in great provisions, but in contentment with what God gives.—God has already resolved, how long the godly shall remain in the vale of sorrow; during this time He provides for them as a father; afterwards He will give them the inheritance of eternal life.—Smoke rises on high at first with strength as if it would go even to the heavens, but a little wind can drive it asunder, so that it cannot longer be seen; see, the ungodly are like this smoke.—Pious parents have the consolation that God’s blessing will come upon their children, and pious children are assured, that God will bless them on account of their parents.—Mercy is one of the most beautiful virtues, not only on account of its character, because we thus become like God, but also on account of its reward.—If heaven and earth pass away, yet the inheritance of believers cannot fail.—It is impossible to do good and bad at the same time.—The heart, mouth and entire walk of the believer are sanctified and blessed by the Word of God.—Who would not rather have a bad beginning and a good end, than a good beginning and a bad end?—What we lack, will be supplied by the gracious assistance of the strong God.
Luther: The righteous give, the ungodly do not, and yet both receive from God.—God blesses thee temporally and eternally, that thou mayest trust in Him, although thou art cursed and injured by the ungodly.—God does not take poverty from His saints but He will not let them perish.—Selnekker: Torment thyself not with impatience and wrath, but be satisfied with the will of God and His long-suffering, and hold fast to His word and promises, then wilt thou obtain the desire of thine heart.—Experience makes the best interpretation.—Schnepf: The possessions of the ungodly burn as grease in the fire.—Frisch: The whole earth is the Lord’s, and so belongs to His children.—Every one desires to be happy here in time and there in eternity, but very few use the true means of obtaining it.—Arndt: The dear cross and poverty are no signs of disfavor, but a trial of faith and patience, a mirror of the wonderful help and preservation of God, and an evidence, that God is not pleased with great splendor but with faith, fear of God, humility and patience.—Oetinger: Every day of the righteous man has in God’s purpose its special measure of grace and trial, and serves to complete his lot.—Tholuck: The salvation of the pious remains immovable, the longer it seems to tarry, the more imperishable will be its endurance.—Who would despair, when God declares that His own treasury is in the possession of His children.—It must be a rare occurrence, that any one who has been a friend to many in trouble, should not be able to find a friend in need.—Stiller: If it is not as you could wish, examine yourself; perhaps it is the fault of your wishes or your other actions.—Guenther: Life and death are both set before us, we are to choose. The choice seems easy, and yet most make the mistake.—Taube: To be still before the Lord is the true test, whether we trust the Lord, have our delight in the Lord and commit our way to the Lord in deed and in truth.—It is particularly evil days which give especial proofs of the faithfulness of God toward the pious.—The pious may suffer want, but not ruin.—Thym: If the end is good, all is good. 1) Therefore remain pious, although the cross weighs upon you; 2) deviate not from the narrow way although the world may entice; 3) finally, if it is well with the pious, that outweighs all.—The righteous are never forsaken. 1) In life, the Lord leads them graciously; 2) in death, He sends them His angel of peace; 3) in eternity, He crowns them with the crown of victory.
[Matt. Henry: Fretfulness and envy are sins that are their own punishment, they are the uneasiness of the spirit, and the rottenness of the bones.—We must follow providence, and not force it; subscribe to Infinite Wisdom, and not prescribe.—If we take care to keep a good conscience, we may leave it to God to take care of our good name.—A fretful, discontented spirit lies open to many temptations and those that indulge it are in danger of doing evil.—They that are sure of an everlasting inheritance in the other world have no reason to envy the wicked their transitory possessions and pleasures in this world.—The law of God must be a commanding, ruling principle in the heart; it must be a light there, a spring there, and then the conversation will be regular and uniform; none of his steps will slide; it will effectually prevent backsliding into sin, and the uneasiness that follows from it.—If we make conscience of keeping God’s way, we may with cheerfulness wait on Him, and commit to Him our way; and we shall find Him a good master, both to His working servants and to His waiting servants.—Barnes: The small property of one truly good man, with his character and hopes, is of more value than would be the aggregate wealth of many rich wicked men with their character and prospects.—Other things being equal, the honest, temperate, pure, pious man will be the most prosperous in the world: for honesty, temperance, purity, and piety produce the industry, economy, and prudence on which prosperity depends.—As a great law, the children of the pious are not vagrants and beggars. As a great law they are sober, industrious, and prosperous. The vagrants and the beggars of the world are from other classes; and whatever may be the bearing of religion on the destinies of men in the future world, in this world the effect is to make them virtuous, industrious, prudent and successful in their worldly affairs, so that, their children are not left to beggary and want, but to respectability and to competence.—It is better to have God for our friend in life, and our support in death, than to have all the external prosperity of wicked men.—Spurgeon: Who envies the fat bullock the ribbons and garlands which decorate him as he is led to the shambles? Yet the case is a parallel one; for ungodly rich men are but as beasts fattened for the slaughter.—There is joy in holy activity which drives away the rust of discontent.
Very much of the outward depends upon the inward; where there is heaven in the heart there will be heaven in the house.—A silent tongue in many cases not only shows a wise head, but a holy heart.—The evil man does not see how close his destruction is upon his heels; he boasts of crushing others when the foot of justice is already uplifted to trample him as the mire of the streets. Sinners in the hand of an angry God, and yet plotting against His children! Poor souls, thus to run upon the point of Jehovah’s spear.—Content finds multum in parvo, while for a wicked heart the whole world is too little.—Where the children of the righteous are not godly, there must be some reason for it in parental neglect, or some other guilty cause. The friend of the Father is the friend of the family. The God of Abraham is the God of Isaac and Jacob.—Among the legacies of wicked men the surest entail is a judgment on their family.—Policy slips and trips, it twists and tacks, and after all is worsted in the long run, but sincerity plods on its plain pathway and reaches the goal.—Good men are men of mark, and are worth our study.—C. A. B.]
Footnotes:
[3][Delitzsch: “The bond which connects Psalms 37 with 36 is the similarity of contents which here and there likewise correspond in expressions. The fundamental thought which pervades the whole Psalm is like that of the first verses: Be not scandalized at the success of the ungodly, but hope in the Lord, for the success of the ungodly soon comes to an end, and the result separates the righteous and the unrighteous. Therefore Tertulian calls this Psalm providentiæ speculum; Isodore, portio contra murmur; Luther, vestis piorum, cui adscriptum: Hic Sanctorum patientia est (Rev_14:12).”—C. A. B.]
[4][Delitzsch: “The land in this Psalm is throughout the promised possession of salvation, the land of the presence of Jehovah, which has not only a glorious past but likewise a future full of promise, and will finally be the inheritance of the true Israel, in a more complete manner that under Joshua.”—C. A. B.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1–2 1. Fret not—The verb literally denotes to excite one’s…
1. Fret not—The verb literally denotes to excite one’s self to displeasure through envy, jealousy, or zeal, but generally through anger. So Psa_37:7-8. See Pro_24:19; and compare Psa_73:3; Pro_23:17. Such a state of mind is equally opposed to benevolence toward man and submission to God.
Envious—A different word from “fret” or “anger,” just noticed, but of parallel signification.
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 On vv1–2 1. Fret net thyself] Lit., incense not thyself: be…
1. Fret net thyself] Lit., incense not thyself: be not angry or indignant or discontented.
neither be thou envious &c.] Neither be envious of them that do unrighteousness, and for the time prosper (Psa_37:7). The severity of the temptation is attested by Psa_73:3. The warning, repeated in Psa_37:7-8, is found again in Pro_24:19. Cp. Pro_3:31; Pro_23:17; Pro_24:1. The phrase rendered in A.V. workers of iniquity is a different one from that in Psa_36:12. It is the opposite of doing good (Psa_37:3; Psa_37:27). The LXX rendering is τοὺς ποιοῦντας τὴν ἀνομίαν, words which occur in Mat_13:41 in a context which should be compared with this Psalm. Cp. 1Jn_3:4.
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1, 2. Stanza of Aleph, stating the theme of the Psalm;—an exhortation against discontent and envy at the prosperity of the wicked, on the ground that it is only transitory.
1–11. Warnings and counsels for times of temptation.
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 On vv1–2 (1) Fret . . .—This verb, repeated in Psa_37:7-8,…
(1) Fret . . .—This verb, repeated in Psa_37:7-8, is found besides only in Pro_24:19. Its meaning is to heat or inflame oneself.
Neither be thou envious . . .—This has a similar root-meaning (comp. our “burn with jealousy”), and so is in close parallelism with “fret.” This verse occurs almost word for word in Pro_3:31; Pro_23:16; Pro_24:1. and Psa_73:3.
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 On vv1–2 THIS is another of the alphabetical psalms, (see above,…
THIS is another of the alphabetical psalms, (see above, Ps 9 Ps 25, and Ps 34) and, though more free from irregularities than the previous ones, is not altogether without them. While, generally, each letter heads a stanza consisting of two verses, there are three occasions on which the stanza assigned to a letter is formed of only one verse (see vers. 7, 20, and 34). Further, there are two occasions when the stanza begins with a wrong letter, l taking the place of w of t. These anomalies it has been proposed to get rid of by altering the text; but, to judge by the previous alphabetical psalms, absolute exactness was not at first aimed at in this form of composition.
The psalm is wholly didactic. It begins with exhortation, which is carried on through five stanzas to the end of ver. 9. Exhortation then gives place to calm and unimpassioned instruction, of a character resembling that which makes up the bulk of the Book of Proverbs. This tone continues to the end of ver. 33, when there is a return to exhortation, but exhortation (vers. 34, 37) mingled with instruction (vers. 35, 36, 38-40). The whole poem is grave, quiet, equable, devoid of excitement or lyric fervour. It is unlike David"s other compositions, but may be his, as asserted in the title, and may be the only composition which we possess of his belonging to his old age (ver. 25).
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The object of the poem is to reassure men whose minds are disturbed by the fact of the frequent prosperity of the wicked, to convince them that in every case retribution will overtake the ungodly man at the last, and to impress upon them that the condition of the righteous, even when they suffer, is far preferable to that of the wicked, whatever prosperity they may enjoy.
Fret not thyself because of evildoers. According to Aristotle, we have a special emotion implanted in our nature nemesiv which causes us to "fret" when we witness undeserved prosperity ("Rhet.," 2:9, Certainly the feeling is very common and very strong; it is also characteristic of the best natures. (see Psa_73:3-14 Job_21:7-15 Jer_12:1, 2 Mal_3:15) The feeling does not need to be eradicated, but only to be held in check. Faith in God"s retributive justice will enable us calmly to await "the end", (Psa_73:17) in full assurance that ultimately God"s vengeance will overtake the wicked man, and he will receive condign punishment. Neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. Envy is not a natural passion. To envy the evil-doers on account of their prosperity is at once a folly and a danger. Their position is really not enviable; and, if we allow ourselves to envy them, we shall be tempted to follow their example. (see Pro_24:1)
HOMILIES BY C. CLEMANCE Vers. 1-40. The good man"s directory.
This is a very remarkable psalm. Its theme is one throughout its entire length. Yet it is not so much drawn out consecutively as repeated proverbially. This may be partly accounted for by its alphabetical structure. There is no advance between the verses at the commencement and those at its close, but rather a remarkable variety of beautiful turns of expression to a thought that is the same throughout. The whole psalm may be summed up thus: "Just now, you see the wicked prospering and the ungodly depressed. Do not fret over this. Trust, do right, rest in the Lord, wait and see. And by-and-by you will find that the righteous are brought out to the light, while the wicked are relegated to forgetfulness and shame.
Even now to have God in the heart with a crust in the hand, is better than to have the riches of many wicked. God will, in his own time and way, appear for his faithful ones, and prove the truth of his ancient word, "Them that honour me, I will honour. So far as the text of the psalm is concerned, there is little to call for laboured criticism, though the Hebrew student would do well to examine minutely the second halves of the third and thirty-seventh verses. For the most part the psalm is delightfully plain and clear; and nowhere could any better rule or directory for life be found than is herein contained. In our homiletic treatment of it we will notice
I THE SEVERAL DUTIES HERE ENJOINED ON THE GOOD MAN. These duties are put into a form suggested by the circumstances which surrounded the writer. When David wrote this psalm he was an old man. Looking back on the scenes of past observation and experience, he had witnessed many strange inequalities on the surface of society. Looking in one direction, he had often beheld an ungodly man enjoying all that heart could wish, so far as this world was concerned; and in another direction he had as often seen a good man, one who walked closely with God, in the midst of trial, affliction, and distress. This state of things had perplexed him, and he knew that it still perplexed the righteous. To meet their perplexities and to assuage them, this psalm was penned; and it is this purpose which forms the background of thought throughout the entire length of the psalm.
1. The first injunction is fret not" (ver. 1). Do not worry or perplex yourself about these mysteries of God"s providence. Even if the lot of the wicked seems more easy, more pleasant, more prosperous than yours, yet "they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb; " besides, "a little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked." God"s people are infinitely better off, with him as their heavenly Friend, than any of the ungodly are, with all their noise and parade.
2. Hence a second duty is presented to us: Trust" and Rest in the Lord. " Two expressions for substantially the same attitude of spirit. But this restful trusting is put in contrast from fretting. Your work is not to worry, but to trust your God. Now, in what sense is this intended? Let us picture the good man under the difficulty to which we have referred. He sees the ungodly in high places, while he is obscure, depressed, afflicted; and he wonders what it means, now, in what sense is such a one to trust in the Lord? He is to trust in God, believing that such a state of things is known and permitted by him in infinite wisdom; that this state of chaos is perfectly consistent with God"s love for his people; that God has some wise and holy end in permitting it to prove him and to improve him; and that he will see that end, either in this world or in the next.
3. Then there follows a third duty: Wait patiently. " If we are content to wait and let God"s methods in providence open up before us, we shall see the ungodly cut down (vers. 2, 9, 10, 15, 17, 20, 25, 36, 38); that God will give us the desires of our heart, and graciously clear our way (vers. 4, 5); that though we may have been misunderstood and misrepresented for a time, yet God will clear us and our reputation in the long run (ver. 6); that God will grant the true possession and peaceful enjoyment of life to the meek and loyal (ver. 11); that the little of the righteous brings far more joy than the much of the wicked (ver. 16); that he will be upheld where others fall (ver. 17); that supplies shall be sent to the saint even in days of famine (ver. 19); that step by step will be taken under the ordering of a Divine Guide (ver. 23); that even in falling he shall not perish, for to him shall be shown a Divine upholding grace (ver. 24); that the righteous man will leave a blessed inheritance to his children, peace was his in life, and peace shall follow his children when he is gone to his rest (ver. 37); that his life is but an outworking of God"s great salvation (vers. 39, 40). It is not in youth that all this can be seen, but if we believe God when we are young, we shall have proved him ere we are old. Only let us "wait patiently." There is a vast unfolding plan, which, if we are wise to observe, will be ever revealing to us "the loving-kindness of the Lord.
4. And thus we are led on to a fourth duty that of obedience. (Ver. 3) "Trust in the Lord, and do good," i.e. do right." In ver. 34 the same duty is expressed in another phrase, "Wait on the Lord, and keep his way. " Trusting and trying, resting and working, are to go together. We are to find out what God would have us do in the sphere in which he has placed us; then to trust in the Lord, be strong, and do it. And we may "do right" (ver. 3), or, in other words, we may "keep his way" (ver. 34) in one or other of two methods. By actively doing the Divine will; and this is probably what most of us are called on to do to pursue with energy the duties in active life that are set before us. Now, we may fulfil these:
(1) In attending at each moment to the duty of the moment; simply doing the right thing, at the right time, in the right way, and with the distinct aim and purpose of pleasing God. May be our calling is not that which we should prefer, and yet we see no way open to any other. When God does open a way in another direction, by all means let us follow it. But, meanwhile, be it ours simply to do the work which lies before us, with a readiness and cheerfulness that befit those whose sole aim is to please God.
(2) In the cultivation of holiness we may "do right," ever setting the Lord before us, and aiming to follow him who "left us an example, that we should follow his steps.
(3) In personal efforts to help, to relieve, to comfort, or to serve another, we may do right. In this respect, as well as others, "it is accepted, according to what a man hath, and not according to what he hath not." But we may "do right" also by patiently bearing the Divine will; and sometimes this is all the believer can do simply to bear what God has laid upon him. Nor is there a nobler sight on earth than to see one who, racked with pain or wrapped in obscurity, can say, "My lot is appointed me by my Father"s will; all that will is love, and therefore I can cheerfully bear it. If my Father were to give the rod unto my own hands, I would give it back to him, saying, "Father, thou knowest best; do with me as seemeth good in thy sight. Why, such a one, though he never goes outside the doors of his own house from one year"s end to another, is a missionary to the Church and to the world! Preach fervently as we may by words, we cannot preach like these suffering saints! But we must notice
II THE CONNECTION THERE IS BETWEEN THESE SEVERAL DUTIES. We have specified them under four heads.
1. Fret not.
2. Trust.
3. Wait patiently.
4. Do right.
These four may be reduced to two: trusting and trying; or, in other words, to resting and working. Both are included in the verse already quoted. "Trust in the Lord, and do right." While these duties in combination make up "the whole duty of man," they are so connected together that neither can be discharged without the other. If we do not trust in God, we cannot do the right, and if we do not desire to do right, we have no right to trust in God. What, then, is the relation between them? At least a fourfold one.
1. Trust in God ensures the peace of mind which fits a man for work. E.g. take a tradesman in business, whose affairs are going down, and who will soon find himself on the wrong side of the balance-sheet. It is impossible for him to go about his business with the energy it requires, especially in these times. But put the man"s affairs straight; tell him that everything is set right, and that by-and-by he will find himself in a better position than at present, and you put new life into the man. When he knows that all is right, he can set about his work with all the zest that is needed. So it is here. There once were two burdens pressing on the heart. The one, of his spiritual interests, the other, of his temporal care. What has become of these? The first, the burden of guilt, he has laid at the foot of the cross. The second, the load of earthly care, he brings day by day, and casts it upon his God. Thus he has nothing left to care for, nothing left to be anxious about. Hence, the peace of God passing all understanding keeps his heart and mind in Christ Jesus; and, consequently, with unburdened heart, he can go about the work his Father has given him to do.
2. Trusting in God ensures the reception of strength for the discharge of work. "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength;" "As thy days, so shall thy strength be." So runs the promise, and so runs experience too. Strength according to the days; strength sure as the days; strength to the end of the days. Such will be the uniform result of" waiting on God all the day.
3. Trusting in God supplies a man with motives to perform his work. If I am permitted to trust in God, then honour requires that I shall do right; for I trust in God for strength to perform his will; hence when I ask for strength there is a tacit pledge that the strength received from God shall be spent in obedience to God. And not only so, but gratitude also requires that I should do right. If I receive of God"s strength, how and I but gratefully spend it for him? And the honor of religion requires that I should do right. For if I tell the world I am trusting in God, and yet fail to do right, what will the worldling say? What can he say, but this? your God is not the God you say he is, or else you have not the trust in him which you profess to have." If we want the world to believe in God, if we want them to give us credit for sincerity, we must show that, while we trust in God, we also do right.
4. Trusting in God gives a man a guarantee of the successful issue of his work. Is it mine to trust in God? Can I, under all circumstances, repose in him? Then I know that, to the very last, all shall be well. He hath said, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." Trusting in him, we will dare to work, to suffer, or to die.
5. Trusting in God will ensure a blessing to those on whom our work may afterwards full. (Ver. 37, Hebrew and Revised Version margin, compared with ver. 38, Hebrew.) The good man layeth an inheritance to his children"s children. "The generation of the upright shall be blessed." The Old Testament does not project our thought into our own future life after death as the New Testament does, but it lays very much stress on the effect of a man"s life on the generations which will follow him on earth: this is in accordance with Deu_7:9. And there can be no manner of doubt that the posterity of a man of trained righteousness, integrity, and piety, even though he be a poor man, will have the best of all legacies pious poverty, God"s blessing, and a fathers prayers. We do not say that young people are now taught too much to look to their future life, but we do venture to affirm that far too little stress is laid upon, and mention is far too seldom made of, the thought of the effect of parental character upon posterity. The law of heredity is stronger than that of environment; or, to put the same truth in somewhat antique form, "Grace does not run in the blood, but it purifies it.
6. Trusting in God ensures a man of a home in God when the earthly work is over. Even when flesh and heart fail, God is the Strength of our heart, and our Portion for ever! C.
HOMILIES BY W. FORSYTH Vers. 1-40. Two pictures.
The psalmist says, at ver. 25, "I have been young, and now am old." We may regard him therefore as speaking in this psalm with the fulness of knowledge and the confidence of ripened wisdom. His old experience has attained to prophetic strain. Let us consider two pictures.
I THE EVILS OF ENVY. It is common. It takes its rise and works upon the lower part of our nature, blinding our minds, perverting our hearts, and stirring up all our evil passions. It "frets" us with a sense of our inferiority; it "frets" us with a feeling of the injustice with which we are treated; it "frets" us with a proud consciousness of what we would have done, if only things had been otherwise, and we had fair opportunities. In these and other ways it breaks our peace and embitters our lives. And yet how useless is envy as a resource amidst the ills of life! Instead of remedying, it only aggravates our troubles. Nothing but evil can come of evil. Envy leads not only to waste, but to worry, and not only to worry, but to wearing away of our powers, as by the slow and insidious progress of disease.
Besides, envy is manifestly unreasonable in view of the realities of character. The prosperity of the wicked is vain and delusive. Look to the tendencies of things, look to the effect upon character, look to the end, and then see how, even in the deepest sense, it is infinitely better to have little with a clear conscience, than a full purse of unrighteous gains; to take the lowest place among men, with the love of God, than lands and heritages and the highest honours of the world, by the sacrifice of truth and righteousness. Moreover, envy is in reality a grievous offence against God. We are slow to admit this. We regard "fretfulness" as more an unhappy temper than a sin. But in this we err. "Envy" implies dissatisfaction with God"s government, distrust of his justice, and doubt of his truth. When we give way to "envy," we place ourselves first, and as good as say, "If God were just, if he really loved us and eared for us, he would settle things otherwise, and not suffer our enemies to triumph over us." Thus in our selfishness we blind ourselves to the truth, and act not only unworthily towards God, but inconsistently with our own best faith and hopes. "The tree is known by its fruits." To judge rightly of envy, let us mark its effects. See how it wrought in Cain. See how from that time onward, wherever it has had sway, it has wrought terrible evils as in Saul, and Ahab, and Haman, and the wicked Jews, and even in the Christian Church. If these things are so, how great a sin do we who profess to be the followers of the meek and lowly Jesus commit by yielding to this mean and degrading vice that has wrought such havoc in the world and in the Church!
II THE BLESSEDNESS OF TRUST IN GOD. Trust is the true antidote to envy. We see this in the dispositions it produces towards God, piety (vers. 3-6); towards man, benevolence (ver. 8). Next in the benedictions it secures. It brings settledness. Instead of distressing cares and passions, we have tranquillity. Instead of pain, we have peace. We are at home with God. There is also sustenance. We are "fed" with heavenly food. We gain strength for all work. "Daily bread" fits us for daily duty. There is also satisfaction. Our higher nature is set above our lower nature. Reason rules instead of passion. Love binds us to our brethren instead of our being separated by envy. Trust in God brings to us all that is really good for us, and we bask as in the sunshine of God"s favour instead of being alienated from him by wicked works. Mark the Divine order with regard to these blessings. There must be a right spirit before there can be right conduct. Mark also how, as we live a true and unselfish life, doing good and hoping for nothing again but what God the Lord sees fit to give, we secure not only our own self-respect, bat grow in favour with God and man. The surest way to get rid of discontent with the present, and fear of the future, is to do right and leave auto God. "Careless seems the Great Avenger; history"s pages but record One death-grapple in the darkness, "twixt old systems and the Word, Truth for ever on the scaffold wrong for ever on the throne. Yet that scaffold sways the future, and behind the dim unknown, Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above his own. (Lowell) W.F.
HOMILIES BY C. SHORT Vers. 1-6. Doubts raised by the Divine providence, and how to meet them.
The difficulty which perplexes the mind of the psalmist here is How does God judge the wicked, if he allows them to prosper; and how reward the righteous, if they suffer adversity? The answers given are not a consecutive argument. The whole psalm is more like a string of pearls held together only by the string. The thoughts have no joints or links to unite them. The leading thought, repeated in various ways, is not to envy the present prosperity of the wicked, but rather to wait in patient resignation for the just judgments of God.
I BURNING ENVY IS WRONG IN ITSELF, AND LEADS TO EVIL CONSEQUENCES. (Ver. 1) To grudge the wicked their prosperity is very much as if we coveted it. And envy is nigh to cursing an unrighteous spirit.
II WE MUST ALLOW TIME TO SOLVE THIS AS WELL AS MANY OTHER DIFFICULTIES. (Ver. 2) Fate of Saul, Absalom, and Ahithophel. "What thou knowest not now," etc.
III LET NOT YOUR DIFFICULTIES SUPPLANT THE ONLY TRULY SATISFYING EXERCISES OF THE HEART AND LIFE. (Vers. 3, 4) Trust in the unseen Lord; delight yourself in him; find the joy of his service; and your best desires shall be satisfied. Do not let your jealousy of the wicked cause you to cease from doing good, and unsettle your ways of life; inhabit the land, and live a truthful and faithful life.
IV LET THE RIGHTEOUS MAN BE ASSURED OF THE SYMPATHY AND CO-OPERATION OF THE RIGHTEOUS GOD. (Vers. 5, 6) God brought David out of all dangers with which Saul threatened him, and made his name to shine over the whole kingdom. Present adversity is often the way w future glory. Think of the darkness that fell upon Christ in his sufferings and death; and yet he was the Sun of Righteousness. S.
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 On vv1–2 Title. Of David. There is but this word to…
Title. Of David. There is but this word to denote the authorship; whether it was a song or a meditation we are not told. It was written by David in his old age Ps 37:25, and is the more valuable as the record of so varied an experience.
Subject. The great riddle of the prosperity of the wicked and the affliction of the righteous, which has perplexed so many, is here dealt with in the light of the future; and fretfulness and repining are most impressively forbidden. It is a Psalm in which the Lord hushes most sweetly the too common repinings of his people, and calms their minds as to his present dealings with his own chosen flock, and the wolves by whom they are surrounded. It contains eight great precepts, is twice illustrated by autobiographical statements, and abounds in remarkable contrasts.
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Division. The Psalm can scarcely be divided into considerable sections. It resembles a chapter of the book of Proverbs, most of the verses being complete in themselves. It is an alphabetical Psalm: in somewhat broken order, the first letters of the verses follow the Hebrew alphabet. This may have been not only a poetical invention, but a help to memory. The reader is requested to read the Psalm through without comment before he turns to our exposition.
Ver. 1. The Psalm opens with the first precept. It is alas! too common for believers in their hours of adversity to think themselves harshly dealt with when they see persons utterly destitute of religion and honesty, rejoicing in abundant prosperity. Much needed is the command, Fret not thyself because of evildoers. To fret is to worry, to have the heartburn, to fume, to become vexed. Nature is very apt to kindle a fire of jealousy when it sees lawbreakers riding on horses, and obedient subjects walking in the mire: it is a lesson learned only in the school of grace, when one comes to view the most paradoxical providences with the devout complacency of one who is sure that the Lord is righteous in all his acts. It seems hard to carnal judgments that the best meat should go to the dogs, while loving children pine for want of it. Neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. The same advice under another shape. When one is poor, despised, and in deep trial, our old Adam naturally becomes envious of the rich and great; and when we are conscious that we have been more righteous than they, the devil is sure to be at hand with blasphemous reasonings. Stormy weather may curdle even the cream of humanity. Evil men instead of being envied, are to be viewed with horror and aversion; yet their loaded tables, and gilded trappings, are too apt to fascinate our poor half opened eyes. Who envies the fat bullock the ribbons and garlands which decorate him as he is led to the shambles? Yet the case is a parallel one; for ungodly rich men are but as beasts fattened for the slaughter.
Whole Psalm. The righteous are preserved in Christ with a special preservation, and in a peculiar safety. In the thirty-seventh Psalm this point is excellently and largely handled, both by direct proof, and by answer to all the usual objections against their safety. That they shall be preserved is affirmed, Ps 37:3, 17, 23, 25, 32. The objections answered are many.
Objection 1. Wicked men flourish. Solution. A righteous man should never grieve at that, for "they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb." Ps 37:2.
Objection 2. Righteous men are in distress. Solution Ps 37:6. The night of their adversity will be turned into the light of prosperity; and as surely as they can believe when it is night that it shall be day, so surely may they be persuaded when crosses are upon them, that comfort and deliverance shall come.
Objection 3. But there are great plots laid against the righteous, and they are pursued with great malice, and their intended ruin is come almost to the very issue. Solution Ps 37:12-15. The Lord sees all the plots of wicked men, and laughs at their spiteful and foolish malice; while they are busy to destroy the righteous, and hope to have a day against them, "The Lord seeth that their own day is coming upon them, even a day of destruction, a day of great judgment and eternal misery; "their bow shall be broken, and the sword that they have drawn shall enter into their own heart.
Objection 4. But the just have but small means. Solution Ps 37:16-17. "A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked. For the arms of the wicked shall be broken: but the Lord upholdeth the righteous."
Objection 5. Heavy times are like to befall them. Solution Ps 37:19. "They shall not be ashamed in the evil time, and in the days of famine they shall have enough."
Objection 6. But the wicked wax fatter and fatter, and they prevail in vexing the righteous. Solution Ps 37:20. Indeed the wicked are fat, but it is but "the fat of lambs, "their prosperity shall soon melt; and as they be like smoke in vexing the godly, so shall they be like smoke in vanishing away.
Objection 7. But the righteous do fall. Solution Ps 37:24. Though he do fall, yet he falls not finally, nor totally, for he "is not utterly cast down; "and besides, there is an upholding providence of God in all the falls of the righteous.
Objection 8. We see some wicked men that do not so fall into adversity, but rather are in prosperity to their dying days. Solution Ps 37:28. Though they do, yet, "their seed shall be cut off."
Objection 9. But some wicked men are strong yet, and in their seed spread also. Solution Ps 37:35-36. Note also that these "spreading bay trees" many times "soon pass away; "and they and their houses are sometimes "utterly cut off."
Objection 10. But upright men are under many and long crosses. Solution Ps 37:37. Yet "his end is peace."
Objection 11. But nobody stands for the godly when they come into question. Solution Ps 37:39-40. "Their salvation is of the Lord; "he is their strength, he will help them and deliver them, etc.
But if we would be thus delivered, observe: 1. That we must not unthankfully fret at God's providence Ps 37:1. 2. We must "trust in the Lord and do good" Ps 37:3. 3. We must "delight ourselves in the Lord, "and not place our contentment on earthly things Ps 37:4. 4. We must "commit our ways to God" Ps 37:5. 5. We must get patience and humble affections Ps 37:7-11. 6. We must be of upright conversation Ps 37:14. 7. We must be merciful Ps 37:25-26. 8. We must "speak righteous things, "and get "the law into our hearts" Ps 37:30-31. 9. We must "keep our way, "and "wait on God" and not use ill means. Nicolas Byfield.
Whole Psalm. This Psalm may well be styled, The good man's cordial in bad times; a sovereign plaister for the plague of discontent; or, a choice antidote against the poison of impatience. Nathaniel Hardy, in a Funeral Sermon, 1649.
Whole Psalm. This Psalm very much reminds one in its construction of the sententious and pithy conciseness of the Book of Proverbs. It does not contain any prayer, nor any direct allusion to David's own circumstances of persecution or distress. It is rather the utterance of sound practical wisdom and godliness from the lips of experience and age, such as we might suppose an elder of the church, or a father of a family, to let fall as he sat with his household gathered around him, and listening to his earnest and affectionate admonitions. Barton Bouchier.
Whole Psalm. The present Psalm is one of the alphabetical Psalms, it is called "Providentiae speculum, "by Tertullian; "Potio contra murmur, "by Isidore; "Vestis piorum, "by Luther. Christopher Wordsworth.
Ver. 1. Fret, or, inflame not, burn not thyself with anger or grief. John Diodati.
Ver. 1. Neither be thou envious, etc. Queen Elizabeth envied the milkmaid when she was in prison; but if she had known what a glorious reign she should have had afterwards for forty-four years, she would not have envied her. And as little needeth a godly man, though in misery, to envy a wicked man in the ruff of all his prosperity and jollity, considering what he hath in hand, much more what he hath in hope. John Trapp.
Ver. 1. Would it not be accounted folly in a man that is heir to many thousands per annum that he should envy a stage player, clothed in the habit of a king, and yet not heir to one foot of land? who, though he have the form, respect, and apparel of a king or nobleman, yet he is, at the same time, a very beggar, and worth nothing? Thus, wicked men, though they are arrayed gorgeously, and fare deliciously, wanting nothing, and having more that heart can wish, yet they are but only possessors: the godly Christian is the heir. What good doth all their prosperity do them? It does but hasten their ruin, not their reward. The ox that is the labouring ox is the longer lived than the ox that is in the pasture; the very putting of him there doth but hasten his slaughter; and when God puts the wicked men into fat pastures, into places of honour and power, it is but to hasten their ruin. Let no man, therefore, fret himself because of evil doers, nor be envious at the prosperity of the wicked; for the candle of the wicked shall be put into everlasting darkness; they shall soon be cut off, and wither as a green herb. Ludovic de Carbone, quoted by John Spencer.
Ver. 1. The art of tranquillity. W. Jones.
Ver. 1-2. A frequent temptation, and a double correctivea sight of sinners in death and hell.
Psalms 37:2*
Ver. 1,2. A frequent temptation, and a double correctivea sight of sinners in death and hell.
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 On v1 Fret not thyself because of evil-doers.
Psa_37:1-12
Fret not thyself because of evil-doers.
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Fret not
There are many who suppose that it is well-nigh impossible to pass the time of our sojourning here without some degree of anxiety and depression of spirit. I grant you these feelings will come to us, but we are not obliged to welcome them. Luther quaintly said that, whereas we cannot prevent the birds from hovering over and flying round about our heads, we can prevent them from building their nests in our hair. The Lord will net hold us accountable for the suggestions that the devil makes, or our own evil hearts produce, but He does hold us responsible for yielding to those suggestions, and nourishing them.
I. A description of the complaint. Worrying, murmuring, or fretting, is certainly a malady. It must not be regarded as a mere circumstance that afflicts us from without. It is a deep-seated complaint that reigns within. One of the old Puritans says, of one who was always complaining, that he was sick of the frets. He recognized that it was an inward ailment, affecting both soul and body. The root of the mischief was in the rebellious heart.
1. What is the nature of this complaint? It is of the nature of a fever. Fret not thyself, or as it might be read, Do not grow hot, inflame net thyself, because of evil-doers. Leave to the sea to fret, and fume, and rage, and roar. Leave to the wicked, of whom the troubled sea is so apt an emblem, to toss to and fro, and cast up mire and dirt. Leave to the caged bird, that has no wisdom, to beat itself against the bars and make its incarceration still more unendurable; but for you who are already Gods, who have such a Father and Friend, and such a home, to which you are each moment coming nearer, for you to fret is clean contrary to the spirit of the Gospel; and to the grace which is in Christ Jesus.
2. What are the causes of this complaint?
(1) The prosperity of the wicked. I do not know of anything more likely to contribute to envy--which is nearly always an accompaniment of fretting--than a view of the prosperity of the wicked, that is if that view is a one-sided and short-sided one, as it generally is. The wicked spreads himself like a green bay tree, everything seems to go well with him. But he is a stranger to the one thing needful. He is altogether unacquainted with the joys we know, and what shall his end be? Have you ever found it in your heart to envy the apparent riches of the stage king, who struts his little hour behind the footlights with crown, and robes, and sceptre, and I know not what?
(2) The care that seems inseparable from daily life. So long as we dwell in the land there must be the question of being fed and clothed. I had almost said that religion is a farce and a fraud unless it stoops with me to such matters as these. It does so.
(3) There is another matter that mightily troubles some people, viz. the safeguarding of their reputation. Well, but let not this give rise to fretting and to distrust of God (Psa_37:5-6). What reputation we have is due to Gods grace. If He has made it, He will keep it. Your reputation is not of half so much account as are Gods cause, etc.
3. What are the symptoms of this disease.
(1) It is generally accompanied by envy--neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. Be on the look-out against that green-eyed monster jealousy, for it works havoc in the heart, and havoc everywhere.
(2) It is accompanied also by loss of appetite that is, for the things of God. If we give way to repining, we shall not care for Gods Word, prayer will become almost impossible, the Gospel itself will lose its zest.
(3) Accompanying this fever there is, of course, a very high temperature. It is very easy, when you are in this state of mind, to get angry, and very difficult to cease from wrath.
(4) There is a consuming thirst with this fretting fever, a longing for something one has not got, a parching of the tongue and a drying of the lip, almost unbearable.
(5) The vision is impaired; we do not see things clearly.
(6) There is loss of memory, for we forget the mercies which have gone before, a recollection of which would help us to bear the troubles of the present.
II. The prescription.
1. The first item is trust in the Lord. Faith cures fretting. I believe in the faith cure--not as some administer it, but as God administers it. It is the only cure for worrying. If thou trustest all shall be well.
2. Do good. This is the second ingredient in the prescription. Do not give up, do not yield to fear. Do good; get to some practical work for God; continue in the path of daily duty, take spiritual exercise.
8. Diet is a very important matter in fever cases. It reads in the original, Thou shelf be fed with truth. Oh, the patient begins to get better at once, if he is fed on faithfulness. If you eat Gods truth and live on His Word, and drink in His promises, recovery is sure.
4. Delight thyself also in the Lord. Joy is one of the fruits of the Spirit. God writes straight on crooked lines; delight in Him if you cannot delight in anybody else; delight in Him if you find no joy in yourself.
5. Commit thy way unto the Lord. Not merely petition the King and then go on worrying, but roll the burden upon the Lord. Then the matter becomes His rather than yours; He accepts the responsibility which is too heavy for you. Too often we shoulder the load again.
6. Rest in the Lord. Any doctor will prescribe rest in a case of fever; without it the patient is not likely to pull through. You must have rest; be still and see the salvation of the Lord, sit silent before God. Rubbing the eye is not likely to bring the mote out. Even if it does it will only inflame the optic more, and fretting is something like rubbing the eyes--it only increases the inflammation. Do not strive and struggle.
7. Wait patiently for Him. The buds of His purposes must not be torn rudely open. They will unfold of themselves if you will let them. If you try to expedite matters you will spoil the whole business. Gods time is the best time.
8. Cease from anger and forsake wrath. Ah, I have heard of some people down with the fever who have been foolish enough to do things and to take things which are only calculated to add fuel to the fire. You cannot give up fretting until you begin to forgive. (T. Spurgeon.)
Fretting
1. Fretting in many cases supposes envy. Fret not thyself because of evil-doers, neither be thou envious, etc. Asaph did this, and ha forcibly describes this painful and injurious process in the seventy-third psalm. It became too painful for him. He questioned the rectitude of Providence and the wisdom of God. Just then he was stopped; like Job, he said, Once have I spoken, but I will proceed no further; he fell on his face, confessing, I am foolish, I was envious! and soon the scene changed from darkness to light, from complaining to communion, from fretting to rest in God.
2. While the fretting mood lasts, while we are troubled because God withholds certain things from us which He gives so abundantly to others, expectation from God is excluded. Hope pines when the heart frets, and peace flutters outside that soul which care corrodes, and which complainings fill with discord.
3. Yet many excuses are often made for this line of conduct; and the more it is indulged in, the more it is justified. Wherefore should a living man complain? If a sinner, he has no right to do so; if a saint, no reason: for a sinner deserves hell at any moment, and a saint, though most unworthy, is on his way to a glorious heaven; and his very trials and deprivations are a means of preparing and training him for that better world. (John Cox.)
Fretting
I. The sin. Fretfulness is a sin against,--
1. Ourselves. Destroys peace of mind; the mother of bitterness, harshness, fault-finding.
2. Others. Robs homes of their happiness.
3. God. John Wesley once said, I dare no more fret than curse and swear. To have persons at my ears murmuring and fretting at everything, is like tearing the flesh from my bones. By the grace of God I am discontented at nothing. I see God sitting on His throne, and ruling all things.
II. The causes.
1. Envy.
2. Covetousness.
3. Want of faith in God. I have read that one of Cromwells friends was a fretting Christian, to whom everything went wrong. On a certain occasion, when unusually fretful, his sensible servant said, Master, dont you think that God governed the world very well before you came into it? Yes; but why do you ask? Master, dont you think God will govern the world very well after you go out of it? Of course I do. Well, then, cant you trust Him to govern it for the little time you are in it?
III. The cure.
1. Look on the bright side of things.
2. Look not merely at the present, but think of the future.
3. Have faith in God. Then you will welcome whatever comes, knowing that He can help, even by adverse circumstances. (J. Scilley.)
The cure for care
1. Fret not thyself. Do not get into a perilous heat about things. Keep cool! Even in a good cause fretfulness is not a wise helpmeet. Fretting only heats the bearings, it does not generate the steam. It is no help to a train for the axles to get hot; their heat is only a hindrance; the best contributions which the axles can make to the progress of the train is to keep cool.
2. How, then, is fretfulness to be cured? The psalmist brings in the heavenly to correct the earthly. The Lord is the refrain of almost every verse, as though it were only in the power of the heavenly that this dangerous fire could be subdued.
(1) Trust in the Lord. Trust! It is, perhaps, helpful to remember that the word which is here translated trust is elsewhere in the Old Testament translated careless. Be careless in the Lord! Instead of carrying a load of care let care be absent t It is the carelessness of little children running about the house in the assurance of their fathers providence and love.
(2) Delight thyself in the Lord. How beautiful the phrase! The literal significance is this, Seek for delicacies in the Lord. Yes, and if we only set about with ardent purpose to discover the delicacies of the Lords table, we should have no time and no inclination to fret. But this is just what the majority of us do not do. The delicacies of music are not found in the first half-dozen lessons; it is only in the later stages that we come to the exquisite. And so it is in art, and so it is in literature, and so it is with the things of the Lord. Eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. Let us be ambitious for the excellent! God has not yet given to us of His best. He always keeps the best wine until the last. When we sit at the table of the Lord, tasting of His delicacies, fretfulness will be unable to breathe.
(3) Commit thy way unto the Lord. Thy way! What is that? Any pure purpose, any worthy ambition, any duty, anything we have got to do, any road we have got to tread, all our outgoings. Commit thy way unto the Lord. Let us commit our beginnings unto Him, before we have gone wrong., let us have His companionship from the very outset of the journey. If I am going out alone, fretfulness will encounter me before I have gone many steps in the way; if I go out in the company of Jesus I shall have the peace that passeth understanding, and the heat of my life will be the ardour of an intense devotion:
(4) Rest in the Lord. Having done all this, and doing it all, trusting in the Lord, delighting in the Lord, committing my way unto the Lord, let me now just rest. Dont worry. Whatever happens, just refer it to the Lord! If it be anything injurious he will suppress it. If it be anything containing helpful ministry He will adapt it to our need. This is the cure for care. (J. H. Jowett, M. A.)
Discontent
David was peculiarly qualified to admonish the righteous as to their demeanour in relation to the ungodly. Never, perhaps, had man hotter conflicts with evil-doers and workers of iniquity, and never were more signal triumphs gained over malignant hosts. We need words of soothing such as are breathed in the text. There is enough in society, both profane and professedly religious, to vex the spirit and trouble it with bitterest grief.
I. That there has ever been a generation of evil-doers. All ages have been blackened with the shadow of evil-doers. Not a single century has been permitted to complete its revolution without being marred by their deadly presence! I ask you to mark the terrible energy implied in the designation workers of iniquity. Reference is not made to men who make a pastime of iniquity, or who occasionally commit themselves to its service, but to those who toil at it as a business. As the merchantman is industrious in commerce, as the philosopher is assiduous in study, as the artist is indefatigable in elaboration, so those slaves of iniquity toil in their diabolic pursuits with an ardour which the most powerful remonstrance seldom abates! They are always ready to serve their master.
II. That the servants of God are not to be moved from their course by the generation of the unrighteous. Fret not thyself because of evil-doers, etc. This language does not sanction carelessness as to the moral condition and destiny of the parties indicated. We need to mourn over it. But we are not to fret over evil-doers, though it be natural to do so, when we think of the terrible harm they do. You punish such men more severely by taking no notice of their malignity--they would rejoice in provoking retaliation. And these evil-doers are often prosperous in their way, whilst the good are often exposed to social hardships. Imagine not that secular prosperity is a pledge of Divine favour.
III. That a terrible doom awaits the generation of evildoers. For they shall soon be cut down, etc. Know ye of any such miserable spectacle as that of a human being cut down? As travellers have wandered over the ruins of classic temples, they have mourned their departed glory, but what are such ruins compared to the ruins of manhood? The heart that might have expanded with holiest emotion--wasted! The image of God an irrecoverable wreck! Imagination can paint no horrors so appalling. Though God uses not our chronometers in the measurement of time, yet the wicked themselves will have occasion to exclaim, We are soon cut down! You wrong your own souls in reasoning that to-morrow shall be as this day and more abundant. The hour of your fullest joy is the hour of highest danger. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.--
Fretful envy
I. A painful passion. There may be fretfulness where there is no envy. One may fret because of the tardy advancement of a cause dear to his heart, or because of the troubles of those in whom he is interested. There is a great deal of fretfulness that is almost constitutional, and therefore innocent and free from all envy; but there can be no envy where there is not fretfulness. What is envy? It is not merely a desire to possess that good which another has: that is emulation. To crave after that which gives power, and worth, and happiness is a laudable ambition. We are commanded to covet earnestly the best gifts. But envy is a malicious desire to possess what others have: it means their deprivation. Jealousy is a dread lest another shall possess what we wish for ourselves; envy is a dislike for another because he actually possesses the good desired; and because it is so impregnated with the malign it is always fretful. It is a grudging, growling passion; it is never at rest.
II. It is a foolish passion. It is directed against the most unenviable of characters. The workers of iniquity will be cut down like the grass.
III. Envying the wicked. Shall the imperial eagle, whose undazzled eye drinks in the splendours of a cloudless sun, envy the worm that never rose an inch beyond its native dust? Shall the sun itself envy the flickering rush-light which the feeblest breeze can extinguish? Shall the heaving ocean, bearing on its bosom the richest merchandise, and reflecting from its deep blue eye the glories of the firmament, envy the little summer pool, which a passing cloud has poured into a foot-print? Sooner shall such envy be called into existence than the true child of God envy the workers of iniquity. (Homilist.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v1 Psalms 37
Psalms 37
THERE is a natural connection between acrostic structure and didactic tone, as is shown in several instances, and especially in this psalm. The structure is on the whole regular, each second verse beginning with the required letter, but here and there the period is curtailed or elongated by one member. Such irregularities do not seem to mark stages in the thought or breaks in the sequence, but are simply reliefs to the monotony of the rhythm, like the shiftings of the place of the pause in blank verse, the management of which makes the difference between a master and a bungler. The psalm grapples with the problem which tried the faith of the Old Testament saints-namely, the apparent absence of correlation of conduct with condition-and solves it by the strong assertion of the brevity of godless prosperity and the certainty that well-doing will lead to well-being. The principle is true absolutely in the long run, but there is no reference in the psalm to the future life. Visible material prosperity is its promise for the righteous, and the opposite its threatening for the godless. No doubt retribution is not wholly postponed till another life, but it does not fall so surely and visibly as this psalm would lead us to expect. The relative imperfection of the Old Testament revelation is reflected in the Psalms, faiths answer to Heavens word. The clear light of New Testament revelation of the future is wanting, nor could the truest view of the meaning and blessedness of sorrow be adequately and proportionately held before Christ had taught it by His own history and by His words. The Cross was needed before the mystery of righteous suffering could be fully elucidated, and the psalmists solution is but provisional. His faith that infinite love ruled and that righteousness was always gain, and sin loss, is grandly and eternally true. Nor is it to be forgotten that he lived and sang in an order of things in which the Divine government had promised material blessings as the result of spiritual faithfulness, and that, with whatever anomalies, modest prosperity did, on the whole, attend the true Israelite. The Scripture books which wrestle most profoundly with the standing puzzle of prosperous evil and afflicted goodness are late books, not merely because religious reflectiveness was slowly evolved, but because decaying faith had laid Israel open to many wounds, and the condition of things which accompanied the decline of the ancient order abounded with instances of triumphant wickedness.
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But though this psalm does not go to the bottom of its theme, its teaching of the blessedness of absolute trust in Gods providence is ever fresh, and fits close to all stages of revelation; and its prophecies of triumph for the afflicted who trust and of confusion to the evil-doer need only to be referred to the end to be completely established. As a theodicy, or vindication of the ways of God with men, it was true for its age, but the New Testament goes beneath it. As an exhortation to patient trust and an exhibition of the sure blessings thereof, it remains what it has been to many generations: the gentle encourager of meek faith and the stay of afflicted hearts.
Marked progress of thought is not to be looked for in an acrostic psalm. In the present instance the same ideas are reiterated with emphatic persistence, but little addition or variation. To the didactic poet "to write the same things is not grievous," for they are his habitual thoughts; and for his scholars "it is safe," for there is no better aid to memory than the cadenced monotony of the same ideas cast into song and slightly varied. But a possible grouping may be suggested by observing that the thought of the "cutting off" of the wicked and the inheritance of the land by the righteous occurs three times. If it is taken as a kind of refrain, we may cast the psalm into four portions, the first three of which close with that double thought. Psa_37:1-9 will then form a group, characterised by exhortations to trust and assurances of triumph. The second section will then be Psa_37:10-22, which, while reiterating the ground tone of the whole, does so with a difference, inasmuch as its main thought is the destruction of the wicked, in contrast with the triumph of the righteous in the preceding verses. A third division will be Psa_37:23-29, of which the chief feature is the adduction of the psalmists own experience as authenticating his teaching in regard to the Divine care of the righteous, and that extended to his descendants. The last section (Psa_37:30-40) gathers up all, reasserts the main thesis, and confirms it by again adducing the psalmists experience in confirmation of the other half of his assurances, namely the destruction of the wicked. But the poet does not wish to close his words with that gloomy picture, and therefore this last section bends round again to reiterate and strengthen the promises for the righteous, and its last note is one of untroubled trust and joy in experienced deliverance.
The first portion (Psa_37:1-9) consists of a series of exhortations to trust and patience, accompanied by assurance of consequent blessing. These are preceded and followed by a dehortation from yielding to the temptation of fretting against the prosperity of evil-doers, based upon the assurance of its transitoriness. Thus the positive precepts inculcating the ideal temper to be cultivated are framed in a setting of negatives, inseparable from them. The tendency to murmur at flaunting wrong must be repressed if the disposition of trust is to be cultivated; and, on the other hand, full obedience to the negative precepts is only possible when the positive ones have been obeyed with some degree of completeness. The souls husbandry must be busied in grubbing up weeds as well as in sowing; but the true way to take away nourishment from the baser is to throw the strength of the soil into growing the nobler crop. "Fret not thyself" (A.V.) is literally, "Heat not thyself, and be not envious" is "Do not glow," the root idea being that of becoming fiery red. The one word expresses the kindling emotion, the other its visible sign in the flushed face. Envy, anger, and any other violent and God-for-getting emotion are included. There is nothing in the matter in hand worth getting into a heat about, for the prosperity in question is short lived. This leading conviction moulds the whole psalm, and, as we have pointed out, is half of the refrain. We look for the other half to accompany it, as usual, and we find it in one rendering of Psa_37:3, which has fallen into discredit with modern commentators, and to which we shall come presently; but for the moment we may pause to suggest that the picture of the herbage withering as soon as cut, under the fierce heat of the Eastern sun, may stand in connection with the metaphors in Psa_37:1. Why should we blaze with indignation when so much hotter a glow will dry up the cut grass? Let it wave in brief glory, unmeddled with by us. The scythe and the sunshine will soon make an end. The precept and its reason are not on the highest levels of Christian ethics, but they are unfairly dealt with if taken to mean, Do not envy the wicked mans prosperity, nor wish it were yours, but solace yourself with the assurance of his speedy ruin. What is said is far nobler than that. It is, Do not let the prosperity of unworthy men shake your faith in Gods government, nor fling you into an unwholesome heat, for God will sweep away the anomaly in due time.
In regard to the positive precepts, the question arises whether Psa_37:3 b is command or promise, with which is associated another question as to the translation of the words rendered by the A.V., "Verily thou shalt be fed," and by the R.V., "Follow after faithfulness." The relation of the first and second parts of the subsequent verses is in favour of regarding the clause as promise, but the force of that consideration is somewhat weakened by the non-occurrence in Psa_37:3 of the copula which introduces the promises of the other verses. Still its omission does not seem sufficient to forbid taking the clause as corresponding with these. The imperative is similarly used as substantially a future in Psa_37:27 : "and dwell for evermore." The fact that in every other place in the psalm where "dwelling in the land" is spoken of it is a promise of the sure results of trust, points to the same sense here, and the juxtaposition of the two ideas in the refrain leads us to expect to find the prediction of Psa_37:2 followed by its companion there. On the whole, then, to understand Psa_37:3 b as promise seems best. (So LXX, Ewald, Gratz, etc.) What, then, is the meaning of its last words? If they are a continuation of the promise, they must describe some blessed effect of trust. Two renderings present themselves, one that adopted in the R.V. margin, "Feed securely," and another "Feed on faithfulness"; (i.e., of God). Hupfeld calls this an "arbitrary and forced" reference of "faithfulness"; but it worthily completes the great promise. The blessed results of trust and active goodness are stable dwelling in the land and nourishment there from a faithful God. The thoughts move within the Old Testament circle, but their substance is eternally true, for they who take God for their portion have a safe abode, and feed their souls on His unalterable adherence to His promises and on the abundance flowing thence.
The subsequent precepts bear a certain relation to each other, and, taken together, make a lovely picture of the inner secret of the devout life: "Delight thyself in Jehovah; roll thy way on Him; trust in Him; be silent to Jehovah." No man will commit his way to God who does not delight in Him; and unless he has so committed his way, he cannot rest in the Lord. The heart that delights in God, finding its truest joy in Him and being well and at ease when consciously moving in Him as an all-encompassing atmosphere and reaching towards Him with the deepest of its desires, will live far above the region of disappointment. For it desire and fruition go together. Longings fixed on Him fulfil themselves. We can have as much of God as we wish. If He is our delight, we shall wish nothing contrary to nor apart from Him, and wishes which are directed to Him cannot be in vain. To delight in God is to possess our delight, and in Him to find fulfilled wishes and abiding joys. "Commit thy way unto Him," or "Roll it upon Him" in the exercise of trust; and, as the verse says with grand generality, omitting to specify an object for the verb, "He will do"-all that is wanted, or will finish the work. To roll ones way upon Jehovah implies subordination of will and judgment to Him and quiet confidence in His guidance. If the heart delights in Him, and the will waits silent before Him, and a happy consciousness of dependence fills the soul. the desert will not be trackless, nor the travellers fail to hear the voice which says, "This is the way; walk ye in it." He who trusts is led, and God works for him, clearing away clouds and obstructions. His good may be evil spoken of, but the vindication by fact will make his righteousness shine spotless; and his cause may be apparently hopeless, but God will deliver him. He shall shine forth as the sun, not only in such earthly vindication as the psalmist prophesied, but more resplendently, as Christian faith has been gifted with long sight to anticipate, "in the kingdom of my Father." Thus delighting and trusting, a man may "be silent." Be still before Jehovah, in the silence of a submissive heart, and let not that stillness be torpor, but gather thyself together and stretch out thy hope towards Him. That patience is no mere passive endurance without murmuring, but implies tension of expectance. Only if it is thus occupied will it be possible to purge the heart of that foolish and weakening heat which does no harm to anyone but to the man himself. "Heat not thyself; it only leads to doing evil." Thus the section returns upon itself and once more ends with the unhesitating assurance, based upon the very essence of Gods covenant with the nation, that righteousness is the condition of inheritance, and sin the cause of certain destruction. The narrower application of the principle, which was all that the then stage of revelation made clear to the psalmist, melts away for us into the Christian certainty that righteousness is the condition of dwelling in the true land of promise, and that sin is always death, in germ or in full fruitage.
The refrain occurs next in Psa_37:22, and the portion thus marked off (Psa_37:10-22) may be dealt with as a smaller whole. After a repetition (Psa_37:10-11) of the main thesis slightly expanded, it sketches in vivid outline the fury of "the wicked "against "the just" and the grim retribution that turns their weapons into agents of their destruction. How dramatically are contrasted the two pictures of the quiet righteous in the former section and of this raging enemy, with his gnashing teeth and arsenal of murder! And with what crushing force the thought of the awful laughter of Jehovah, in foresight of the swift flight towards the blind miscreant of the day of his fall, which has already, as it were, set out on its road, smites his elaborate preparations into dust! Silently the good man sits wrapped in his faith. Without are raging, armed foes. Above, the laughter of God rolls thunderous, and from the throne the obedient "day" is winging its flight, like an eagle with lightning bolts in its claws. What can the end be but another instance of the solemn lex talionis, by which a mans evil slays himself?
Various forms of the contrast between the two classes follow, with considerable repetition and windings. One consideration which has to be taken into account in estimating the distribution of material prosperity is strongly put in Psa_37:16-17. The good of outward blessings depends chiefly on the character of their owner. The strength of the extract from a raw material depends on the solvent applied, and there is none so powerful to draw out the last drop of most poignant and pure sweetness from earthly good as is righteousness of heart. Naboths vineyard will yield better wine, if Naboth is trusting in Jehovah, than all the vines of Jezreel or Samaria. "Many wicked" have not as much of the potentiality of blessedness in all their bursting coffers as a poor widow may distil out of two mites. The reasons for that are manifold, but the prevailing thought of the psalm leads to one only being named here. "For," says Psa_37:17, "the arms of the wicked shall be broken." Little is the good of possessions which cannot defend their owners from the stroke of Gods executioners, but themselves pass away. The poor mans little is much, because, among other reasons, he is upheld by God, and therefore needs not to cherish anxiety, which embitters the enjoyments of others. Again the familiar thought of permanent inheritance recurs, but now with a glance at the picture just drawn of the destruction coming to the wicked. There are days and days. God saw that day of ruin speeding on its errand, and He has loving sympathetic knowledge of the days of the righteous (Psa_1:6), and holds their lives in His hand; therefore continuance and abundance are ensured.
The antithetical structure of Psa_37:16-22 is skilfully varied, so as to avoid monotony. It is elastic within limits. We note that in the Teth strophe (Psa_37:16-17) each verse contains a complete contrast, while in the Yod strophe (Psa_37:18-19) one half only of the contrast is presented, which would require a similar expansion of the other over two verses. Instead of this, however, the latter half is compressed into one verse (Psa_37:20), which is elongated by a clause. Then in the Lamed strophe (Psa_37:21-22) the briefer form recurs, as in Psa_37:16-17. Thus the longer antithesis is enclosed between two parallel shorter ones, and: a certain variety breaks up the sameness of the swing from one side to the other, and suggests a pause in the flow of the psalm. The elongated verse (Psa_37:20) reiterates the initial metaphor of withering herbage (Psa_37:2) with an addition for the rendering "fat of lambs" must be given up, as incongruous, and only plausible on account of the emblem of smoke in the next clause. But the two metaphors are independent. Just as in Psa_37:2, so here, the gay "beauty of the pastures," so soon to wilt and be changed into brown barrenness, mirrors the fate of the wicked. Psa_37:2 shows the grass fallen before the scythe: Psa_37:20 lets us see it in its flush of loveliness, so tragically unlike what it will be-when its "day" has come. The other figure of smoke is a stereotype in all tongues for evanescence. The thick wreaths; thin away and melt. Another peculiar form of the standing antithesis appears in the Lamed strophe (Psa_37:21-22), which sets forth the gradual impoverishment of the wicked and prosperity as well as beneficence of the righteous, and, by the "for" of Psa_37:22, traces these up to the "curse and blessing of God, which become manifest in the final destiny of the two" (Delitzsch). Not dishonesty, but bankruptcy, is the cause of "not paying again"; while, on the other hand. the blessing of God not only enriches, but softens, making the heart which has received grace a wellspring of grace to needy ones, even if they are foes. The form of the contrast suggests its dependence, one the promises in Deu_15:6. Thus the refrain is once more reached, and a new departure taken.
The third section is shorter than the preceding: (Psa_37:23-29), and has, as its centre, the psalmists confirmation from his own experience of the former part of his antithesis, the fourth section similiarly confirming the second. All this third part is sunny with the Divine favour streaming upon the righteous, the only reference to the wicked being in the refrain at the close. The first strophe (Psa_37:23-24) declares Gods care for the former under the familiar image of guidance and support to a traveller. As in Psa_37:5, Psa_37:7, the "way" is an emblem of active life, and is designated as "his" who treads it. The intention of the psalm, the context of the metaphor, and the parallelism with the verses just referred to, settle the reference of the ambiguous pronouns "he" and "his" in Psa_37:23 b. God delights in the good mans way (Psa_1:6), and that is the reason for His establishing his goings. "Quoniam Deo grata est piorum via, gressus ipsum ad laetum finem adducit" (Calvin). That promise is not to be limited to either the material or moral region. The ground tone of the psalm is that the two regions coincide in so far as prosperity in the outer is the infallible index of rightness in the inner. The dial has two sets of hands, one within and one without, but both are, as it were, mounted on the same spindle, and move accurately alike. Steadfast treading in the path of duty and successful undertakings are both included, since they are inseparable in fact. True, even the fixed faith of the psalmist has to admit that the good mans path is not always smooth. If facts had not often contradicted his creed, he would never have sung his song; and hence he takes into account the case of such a mans falling, and seeks to reduce its importance by the considerations of its recoverableness and of Gods keeping hold of the mans hand all the while.
The Nun strophe brings in the psalmists experience to confirm his doctrine. The studiously impersonal tone of the psalm is dropped only here and in the complementary reference to the fall of the wicked (Psa_37:35-36). Observation and reflection yield the same results. Experience seals the declarations of faith. His old eyes have seen much; and the net result is that the righteous may be troubled, but not abandoned, and that there is an entail of blessing to their children. In general, experience preaches the same truths today, for, on the whole, wrong doing lies at the root of most of the hopeless poverty and misery of modern society. Idleness, recklessness, thriftlessness, lust, drunkenness, are the potent factors of it; and if their handiwork and that of the subtler forms of respectable godlessness and evil were to be eliminated, the sum of human wretchedness would shrink to very small dimensions. The mystery of suffering is made more mysterious by ignoring its patent connection with sin, and by denying the name of sin to many of its causes. If mens conduct were judged by Gods standard, there would be less wonder at Gods judgments manifested in mens suffering.
The solidarity of the family was more strongly felt in ancient times than in our days of individualism, but even now the children of the righteous, if they maintain the hereditary character, do largely realise the blessing which the psalmist declares is uniformly theirs. He is not to be tied down to literality in his statement of the general working of things. What he deals with is the prevailing trend, and isolated exceptions do not destroy his assertion. Of course continuance in paternal virtues is presupposed as the condition of succeeding to paternal good. In the strength of the adduced experience, a hortatory tone, dropped since Psa_37:8, is resumed, with reminiscences of that earlier series of counsels. The secret of permanence is condensed into two antithetical precepts, to depart from evil and do good and the keynote is sounded once more in a promise, cast into the guise of a commandment (compare Psa_37:3), of unmoved habitation, which is, however, not to be stretched to refer to a future life, of which the psalm says nothing. Such permanent abiding is sure, inasmuch as Jehovah loves judgment and watches over the objects of His lovingkindness.
The acrostic sequence fails at this point, if the Masoretic text is adhered to. There is evident disorder in the division of verses, for Psa_37:28 has four clauses instead of the normal two. If the superfluous two are detached from it and connected as one strophe with Psa_37:29, a regular two-versed and four-claused strophe results. Its first word (Lolam =" forever") has the Ayin, due in the alphabetical sequence, in its second letter, the first being a prefixed preposition, which may be passed over, as in Psa_37:39 the copula Vav is prefixed to the initial letter. Delitzsch takes this to be the required letter; but if so, another irregularity remains, inasmuch as the first couplet of the strophe should be occupied with the fate of the wicked as antithetical to that of the righteous in Psa_37:29. "They are preserved forever" throws the whole strophe out of order. Probably, therefore, there is textual corruption here, which the LXX helps in correcting. It has an evidently double rendering of the clause, as is not unfrequently the case where there is ambiguity or textual difficulty, and gives side by side with "They shall be preserved forever" the rendering "The lawless shall be hunted out," which can be returned into Hebrew so as to give the needed initial Ayin either in a somewhat rare word, or in one which occurs in Psa_37:35. If this correction is adopted, the anomalies disappear, and strophe, division, acrostic, and antithetical refrain are all in order.
The last section (Psa_37:30-40), like the preceding, has the psalmists experience for its centre, and traces the entail of conduct to a second generation of evil-doers, as the former did to the seed of the righteous. Both sections begin with the promise of firmness for the "goings or steps" of the righteous, but the later verses expand the thought by a fuller description of the moral conditions of stability. "The law of his God is in his heart." That is the foundation on which all permanence is built. From that as centre there issue wise and just words on the one hand and stable deeds on the other. That is true in the psalmists view in reference to outward success and continuance, but still more profoundly in regard to steadfast progress in paths of righteousness. He who orders his footsteps by Gods known will is saved from much hesitancy, vacillation, and stumbling, and plants a firm foot even on slippery places.
Once more the picture of the enmity of the wicked recurs, as in Psa_37:12-14, with the difference that there the emphasis was laid on the destruction of the plotters and here it is put on the vindication of the righteous by acts of deliverance (Psa_37:32-33).
In Psa_37:34 another irregularity occurs, in its being the only verse in a strophe and being prolonged to three clauses. This may be intended to give emphasis to the exhortation contained in it, which, like that in Psa_37:27, is the only one in its section. The two key words "inherit" and "cut off" are brought together. Not only are the two fates set in contrast, but the waiters on Jehovah are promised the sight of the destruction of the wicked. Satisfaction at the sight is implied. There is nothing unworthy in solemn thankfulness when Gods judgments break the teeth of some devouring lion. Divine judgments minister occasion for praise even from pure spirits before the throne, and men relieved from the incubus of godless oppression may well draw a long breath of relief, which passes into celebration of His righteous acts. No doubt there is a higher tone, which remembers truth and pity even in that solemn joy; but Christian feeling does not destroy but modify the psalmists thankfulness for the sweeping away of godless antagonism to goodness.
His assurance to those who wait on Jehovah has his own experience as its guarantee (Psa_37:35), just as the complementary assurance in Psa_37:24 had in Psa_37:25. The earlier metaphors of the green herbage and the beauty of the pastures are heightened now. A venerable, wide-spreading giant of the forests, rooted in its native soil, is grander than those humble growths; but for lofty cedars or lowly grass the end is the same. Twice the psalmist stood at the same place; once the great tree laid its large limbs across the field, and lifted a firm bole: again he came, and a clear space revealed how great had been the bulk which shadowed it. Not even a stump was left to tell where the leafy glory had been.
Psa_37:37-38 make the Shin strophe, and simply reiterate the antithesis which has moulded the whole psalm, with the addition of that reference to a second generation which appeared in the third and fourth parts. The word rendered in the A.V. and R.V. "latter end" here means posterity. The "perfect man" is further designated as a "man of peace."
The psalm might have ended with this gathering together of its contents in one final emphatic statement, but the poet will not leave the stern words of destruction as his last. Therefore he adds a sweet, long, drawn out close, like the calm, extended clouds, that lie motionless in the western sky after a day of storm in which he once more sings of the blessedness of those who wait on Jehovah. Trouble will come, notwithstanding his assurances that righteousness is blessedness; but in it Jehovah will be a fortress home, and out of it He will save them. However the teaching of the psalm may need modification in order to coincide with the highest New Testament doctrine of the relation between righteousness and prosperity, these confidences need none. Forever and absolutely they are true: in trouble a stronghold, out of trouble a Saviour, is God to all who cling to Him. Very beautifully the closing verse lingers on its theme and wreathes its thoughts together, with repetition that tells how sweet they are to the singer: "Jehovah helps them, and rescues them: He rescues them, and saves them." So the measure of the strophe is complete, but the song flows over in an additional clause, which points the path for all who seek such blessedness. Trust is peace. They who take refuge in Jehovah are safe, and their inheritance shall be forever. That is the psalmists inmost secret of a blessed life.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 This psalm was probably written by David in his…
INTRODUCTION
This psalm was probably written by David in his old age, and contains his experience in reference to the providential dealings of God with men. It acknowledges the transient prosperity of the wicked, but places in sublime contrast therewith the confidence and destiny of the good, and proves clearly that the latter have little cause to envy the former. It is folly to envy a man because be is clothed in the garb of a king; he may, after all, be only a pauper in disguise.
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THE TRANSIENT PROSPERITY OF THE WICKED UNWORTHY THE ENVY OF THE GOOD
(Psa_37:1-2.)
I. That there is apparently much in the prosperity of the wicked to excite the fretful envy of the good.
It cannot be denied that wicked men are often in great prosperity even while the pious are poor and despised. They are eminent in social position and fortunate in commercial speculation; hence they are surrounded by all that heart could wish. This is a matter of history. It is also a matter of everyday experience. In this life the wicked are prosperous. They live for this life alone, they are often cunning and selfish; hence it is not to be wondered at that they succeed in it. And they always take good care to display their grandeur, so that it may be universally seen and admired. Hence they are the occasion of perplexity to the good, and often of desponding thoughts and envious feelings. It is hard to understand how it is that so many good things should fall to the lot of characters so unworthy of them, while the children of God are in comparative need. At such a sight it is difficult to realise that Heaven is just in its providential dealings with men. But this thought will come with devotion (Psa_73:16-17).
II. That it is foolish to envy the prosperity of the wicked, because it is only of temporary duration.
It is impossible not to regard the temporary prosperity of the wicked; the good cannot be indifferent to it; it is thrust upon their attention. But the good are not obliged to envy it, or to be ill-tempered at it. Their envy will do no good. It will not alter things, or make them better. This social condition is permitted by Heaven. It must, therefore, be accepted by the devout mind as appropriate, as a token of the beneficence of God in that He will permit such distinguished mercy to attend a wicked life. But the prosperity of the wicked will only be transient, as the beauty of the grass, or as the momentary bloom of the flower. And, therefore, it is not worthy of envy, as it is prosperity of the lowest kind, and will soon wither in the grave; whereas, though the good may endure a long period of want, yet it will only be as a prelude to the eternal wealth and enjoyment of heaven. Surely, then, they have no need to envy the temporal prosperity of the wicked.
III. That it is sinful to envy the prosperity of the wicked, because it is contrary to the command of God.
The Bible clearly reveals the fact that envy is a sinful passion, and that it is the outcome of an impure heart. A good man cannot indulge envy, or he will soon be little better in moral character than those whose prosperity he may contemplate. Envy is forbidden by God. It is an unhallowed flame within the soul. It hinders prayer. It leads to oppression. It is contrary to the example of Christ. Hence if good men would keep their souls in harmony with the law of God; if they would be contented in spirit and happy in life, they must not yield to the dire sentiment of envy.
IV. That it is injurious to envy the prosperity of the wicked, because it awakens the lower sentiments of the soul.
There is no lower passion of which man is capable than that of envy. It is a mean and unhappy companion. It looks askance at every one it meets. In its light a friend may be turned into an enemy. And for a good man to give himself up to it, would indeed be to allow the lower feelings of his soul to gain the mastery over all that is true and magnanimous within him. A pure soul cannot indulge envy.
V. That it is presumptuous to envy the prosperity of the wicked, because it is rebellion against the providence of God.
God has a certain method of providence in the universe, and it ill becomes good men to rebel against it. It is just. It is disciplinary. It will ultimately be adjusted to all the moral requirements of the universe. The good should therefore be patient, not fretful. They can afford to wait. They have moral prosperity, they need not therefore envy secular pride. They must fall in with the providence of God, even though at times it may be of difficult interpretation.
LESSONS:—
1. Not to cultivate an envious outlook upon the social conditions of men.
2. To trust in God during the enigmas of the present, and wait the final adjustment of all things.
THE DISPOSITIONS AND BENEDICTIONS OF THE GOOD
(Psa_37:3-11.)
In the opening verses of this psalm we are told of the dispositions which should and should not characterise a pious soul It should not be fretful or envious. It should be trustful. It should be joyous. It should be meek. These dispositions win the benediction of Heaven The blessings of the soul are intimately allied to its moral dispositions. Men find the world what they make it by their own inner spirit.
I. The dispositions that should characterise a godly life.
1. Trust. “Trust in the Lord.” If men would avoid a fretful spirit, they should trust in the Lord. Faith is the noblest disposition of the soul, and is an antidote for envy. It has an elevating influence upon the moral character of those who exercise it. The Lord is worthy of the confidence of men. He is omnipotent, and cannot fail. He is faithful, and will never forsake. The good may therefore confide their life, temporal circumstances, their reputation, and the government of the universe to Him, knowing that He will order all for their ultimate spiritual welfare. Trust not in man, not even in yourself. Trust in God must also be followed by appropriate effort; only they who “do good” have any right to expect Divine help.
2. Joy. “Delight thyself also in the Lord.” Hence the joy of the good is not carnal and sinful, but spiritual and pure. It is delight in the Supreme Being, in His character and perfections, in the noblest love, and in the highest wisdom; hence it is eminently real and secure. In what better object can the soul delight? In uncertain riches? In fleeting pleasure? In dying friendship? The joy of the Lord is our strength both in sorrow and in service. God delights in the good, and what more reasonable than that they should rejoice in Him. The life of the Christian is one of holy delight in the Eternal. Faith inspires delight.
3. Devotion. “Commit thy way unto the Lord.” The good are not to take the sole guidance and responsibility of their own life. They are to commit their way, their sorrow, their moral imperfections, their mental perplexities, their domestic cares, and their temporal circumstances, entirely into the hands of the Lord. They are to do this by prayer, with faith, in delight In this consists true piety. Though the great God has the vast concerns of the universe to watch over, He is willing to direct the individual life committed to His care. Some men commit their way unto reason; some to impulse; and some to passion. But God is the only true guardian of the way of an immortal soul.
4. Rest. “Rest in the Lord.” This is the duty and privilege of the good. This is not a world for much repose; men are anxious and active; they make haste to be rich; they pursue pleasure ardently; they are tormented by care: they are unrestful. But religion gives moral quietude. It calms the soul. It silences the voice of complaint. God is the only true resting-place of the soul; but what a sweet rest is found in Him! See, then, the accompaniments of faith, joy, devotion, rest Faith bears blessed fruit.
5. Patience. “Wait patiently.” The good must be patient in suffering, in service—under adverse circumstances, when their reputation is maligned, and when the mystery of life presses heavily upon them. God is worth waiting for. His time is the best. Men tarry for the king. Time should not be considered in waiting for the King of heaven. The splendour of His advent will more than compensate for the delay.
6. Meekness. “But the meek shall inherit the earth.” The good should be meek and contented with their lot, not haughty, defiant, or restless. Hence we see the dispositions which should characterise a pious soul, and the benedictions they attain, and the admiration they win.
II. The benedictions that are bestowed upon a godly life.
1. That a godly life is watched over by the beneficent providence of God. “Thou shalt dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.” The Divine providence enables the good to feel at home in this world, even though they do not regard it as their home. They dwell in the land because it is the property of their Father in heaven, and He gives them the right to reside in it. Thus their temporal and moral requirements will be met. They will be fed with the bread that perisheth, as also with the bread that cometh down from heaven. Truth is the sustenance of the soul, and it shall never be lacking to the good.
2. That a godly life is privileged by the gratification of its best desires. “He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” The desires of the good are the outcome of their trust and delight in the Lord, and therefore may safely be granted. Man is a creature of desire. He often longs for that he can never attain. His aspirations are often ambitious, and, if realised, would prove injurious. But the inclinations of the good are pure and spiritual, they are in harmony with the will of God and the welfare of the soul. Religion alone can give true satisfaction to human desire.
3. That a godly life shall be vindicated from the slander and calumny of men. “And He shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light.” The good are often maligned in this world by those who envy the beauty of their characters and the glory of their reputation. Sometimes this is the outcome of sheer malice, and occasionally of wanton mischief. But from the darkness of calumny God will bring the good into the light of day, when men shall see the untarnished beauty of their characters, the injury that has been done them, and the tender solicitude of Heaven for the public vindication of the pure.
4. That a godly life is enriched by a true ownership of the earth. “But the meek shall inherit the earth.” The world is not inherited by the busy or by those who are given to speculation, but by the meek. They inherit it by their contented spirit, and because they enjoy it. It is the gift of their Father to them, and they possess its title-deeds in Christ. The meek are the true and permanent inheritors of the soil; they will inherit the new heaven and the new earth.
5. That a godly life shall experience a sweet and affluent peace. “And shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.” A godly life is generally characterised by peacefulness. It is at peace with self, with God, and with the universe. Its peace is affluent; it is a delight; it is divinely given to the pure. “My peace I give unto you.” Weak men are agitated by the storms of earth, while good men know the peace of God which passeth all understanding, and anticipate a destiny of peace which shall never be broken by sorrow or sin.
LESSONS:—
1. To cultivate the dispositions of soul commended by God.
2. To expect the benedictions of Heaven promised to a trustful soul.
THE PLOTTINGS OF THE WICKED AGAINST THE GOOD
(Psa_37:12-15.)
That the wicked plot against the just is matter of history, and also of everyday experience. They envy the moral character of the good, with the respect it wins and the influence it wields. They cannot interpret its inner meaning or understand the secret of its modest power. They are also rebuked by the quiet dignity of the Christian character, and hence, through sheer hatred, seek to persecute and remove it out of their sight. To this end they employ their best genius and cunning, and await the result with the utmost complacency, little thinking that Heaven holds them and their schemes in derision.
I. The plottings of the wicked against the good are wrathful. “And gnasheth upon him with his teeth.” The wicked show by their gestures the rage they indulge against, and injury they would inflict upon, the good if it were in their power. They gnash with their teeth, thus indicating their angry but curbed rage. They have not the ability or the opportunity to accomplish the mischief their violent passion would devise. Sinners are held in check by the restraining providence of God, by legal penalties, and often by the sheer force of public opinion, which favours the welfare of the good. But if the wicked cannot always execute their plottings against the just, they do not disguise their anger; they little think how morally impotent and vulgar their puny gnashing makes them appear. They show that they are the creatures of a passion they cannot vent.
II. The plottings of the wicked against the good are cruel. “The wicked have drawn out the sword.” They have drawn the weapon out of the sheath and await the time to use it. They do not seek to overcome the just by Scripture truth, by logical argument, or by cultured means, but by the cruel and deadly instrument of war. They employ no half measures, as they vainly imagine. They repose more confidence in the physical and material agency than in the intellectual and the moral. In seeking the injury of the good, they would prefer a sword to any other instrumentality. They shrink not from murder if their rage can only achieve its malicious design. They are of the lowest type of mind.
III. The plottings of the wicked against the good are determined. “And have bent their bow.” They not merely carry a sword, but also a bow; nor would they refuse any other instrument likely to accomplish their mischievous design upon the good. They bend the bow with all the determination of will they can possibly summon. They take steady aim that they may wound a vital part. And thus the wicked, in their plottings against the just, make use of all the instrumentalities they can command, exercise all the talents they possess, and are strong in their determination to achieve the end they contemplate.
IV. The plottings of the wicked against the good are cowardly. “To cast down the poor and needy.” The wicked do not seek to engage in conflict with the strong amongst the good, who would be competent to expose and vanquish their plottings, but with the poor and needy. They attack the feeble who are too meek in spirit to suspect their mischief, or to defend themselves from it; they attack the poor who have not wherewith to protect themselves from the assaults of their imperious enemies. Wicked men are generally cowardly. They have not the courage of their rage, or the valour of their determination.
V. The plottings of the wicked against the good are self-destructive. “Their sword shall enter into their own heart.” The very weapon intended for the destruction of the good, under the mysterious but retributive arrangements of Divine Providence, shall be employed in the defeat of the wicked. The wicked are often hung upon gallows built by themselves. Their plottings are self-destructive; they are vain; they are useless; their bows are broken; their agencies are cut off; their plans are defeated; they outwit themselves; they invite the derision and retribution of heaven.
LESSONS:—
1. That it is foolish for the wicked to plot against the good.
2. Such plottings are intelligible to the good, being explained by the enmity of the world to Christ.
3. Such plottings are not to be feared, but are to be outlived by trust in God.
THE RIGHTEOUS AND HIS LITTLE BETTER THAN THE WICKED WITH HIS MUCH
(Psa_37:16.)
It is a fact of everyday observation that the righteous often have little, while the ungodly have much. The little may be better than the much. This is the arithmetic of Heaven, not of the world. Why is the little better?
I. Because it is honestly gained. The little that a righteous man hath is sure to be honestly gained. It will be either the product of healthy labour, of commendable skill, or of lawful inheritance. This cannot always be said of the riches of the wicked; they are often got by fraud, by cunning, from the orphan, and the widow. The way in which wealth is obtained has much to do with its real value.
II. Because it may be safely retained. The little that a righteous man bath is far more likely to be safely retained than are the riches of the wicked. The former are careful in the use, prayerful in the investment, and unselfish in the gift of their little; while the latter are spendthrift, godless, and selfish in the use of their much. Prayer and benevolence are a great preservative to wealth.
III. Because it may be truly enjoyed. The little of the righteous is rightfully earned, and, therefore, may be truly enjoyed; whereas the much of the wicked is often unjustly gained, and is, therefore, associated with unhappy deeds, with unwelcome memories, with self-accusation, and with a fear of retribution. It cannot be truly enjoyed.
IV. Because it will be carefully spent. It is just possible that the little of the righteous will go farther than the great riches of the wicked. The righteous are careful but not miserly; they gather up the fragments that nothing may be lost. The wicked are often speculative, and lose more than they win. They are spendthrift; they make a boast of their prodigality; they are well bled by flatterers and by sinful accomplices.
V. Because it will be benevolently used. The little of the righteous will be given to the Lord; to His cause on the earth; to His poor; and to institutions worthy of help. Men lose nothing by giving to the prophet of the Lord (1Ki_17:14; Pro_11:24). The righteous gain by giving. The wicked lose by withdrawing. A running stream inherits the most territory.
VI. Because it will be divinely blessed. The righteous can justly expect the blessing of God upon their little, because it is honestly gained and it is benevolently used. The wicked have no right to anticipate the benediction of Heaven upon their riches. No man is rich without the blessing of God.
LESSONS:—
1. To be satisfied with little.
2. To make little sufficient.
3. To use little well.
CONTRASTED CHARACTERS
(Psa_37:16-28.)
We have in these verses a fine contrast between the wicked and the righteous. It is drawn by unerring skill, after minute observation, and is in keeping with the general experience of mankind. The wicked and the good:—
I. They are contrasted in their possessions. “A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked.” The wicked often have greater property and wealth than the good, but they are not content therewith; yea, they are even unrestful in its possession. Whereas the righteous have little, but, by the quietude of their soul, their little becomes much, and is a true enjoyment to them. Wicked men are troubled by their much (Luk_12:16). Good men are grateful for their little (Psa_103:2).
II. They are contrasted in their strength. “For the arms of the wicked shall be broken: but the Lord upholdeth the righteous.” The arms are a token of power and strength, and the arms of the wicked shall be broken. They shall be broken by the retributive providence of God, and by the failure of their own schemes. What a pitiable sight they present! Revengeful, yet armless. Like Samson shorn of his strength. The strength of the good man does not consist in his arms, hence there is no reference to them, but in the inspiring energy of God. He is upheld by the Lord, hence his superior power and safety.
III. They are contrasted in their perpetuity. “The Lord knoweth the days of the upright; and their inheritance shall be for ever.” “But the wicked shall perish.” The good are known by God. He knows their present estate and their future glory. He sees their trials, and also the weight of glory in reserve for them. He beholds the sword unsheathed, and the bow bent against them, but no weapon formed against them can prosper. The times of the good are in the hand of the Lord, hence He will deliver them from special calamities, and will feed them when famine is prevalent. But the wicked shall perish,—they have no defence against their enemies, they have no granary in Egypt to which they can flee in the days of famine. They will perish ignobly, irreparably, and eternally. This will be the end of their hatred, cunning, and wealth.
IV. They are contrasted in their integrity. “The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again: but the righteous showeth mercy and giveth.” Though the wicked have great wealth, they are often under the necessity of borrowing money, because they are prodigal. They borrow to meet the demands of extravagant habits, of sinful pleasures, and of accomplices in vices. Sin is very expensive. It involves in hopeless debt, and oftentimes to those against whom the sword has been unsheathed. The wicked pay not again. They are not willing to reform their extravagant habits, they are not willing to work, and they are dishonest at heart, and so they pay not their debts, even though they violate their most sacred bonds. The righteous lend to the wicked, they are merciful and generous in spirit. Their wealth was lent to them, and they are willing to lend it again, and to receive their usury from Him who ever rewards a beneficent deed. The plottings of the wicked do not interrupt the benevolent dispositions of the good. It is better to lend than to borrow.
V. They are contrasted in their posterity. “Yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. But the seed of the wicked shall be cut off.” David had not seen the seed of the righteous begging bread. He was a king, and would not be likely to meet with such poverty. Yet his experience was wide in the matter, and he was competent to pass an opinion. The children of good men are seen begging; but very seldom. This is the exception, the rule is in harmony with the statement of this verse. The children of the wicked are cut off, they inherit from their parents the seeds of destruction (Pro_3:33).
LESSONS:—
1. Which character is the more inviting, the more prosperous, the more enduring?
2. Which will you cultivate?
THE RIGHTEOUS
(Psa_37:29-34.)
The psalmist found congenial employment in writing about good men, and their relation to God, to His government, and to the world at large. He delighted to show the Divine care for the good, their excellencies of character, the protection they enjoyed, and the future they anticipated. The righteous:
I. The land he inherits. “The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein for ever.” The righteous inherit the earth, the world in which they now are, they inherit it as the sons of God through Christ, and, standing on Calvary, all that they can see from that hill is theirs. They will dwell eternally in this world by the work they do, by the influences they exert, by the inspiration they impart, and by the silent testimony they leave behind (Heb_11:4).
II. The wisdom he speaks. “The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment.” Good men are known by their speech, they talk on good subjects, and talk on them wisely. He converses about moral questions, his tongue talketh of judgment. He speaks not about the follies of the age, he has no interest in the gossip of the weak,—he prefers the deeper and more solemn themes of life and destiny.
III. The law he keeps. “The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide.” This is the secret of his wise speech. Men who know God, and who search His law, are furnished with themes for noble conversation, and are imbued with a true spirit of wisdom. If men would read the Bible more, they would talk more wisely. The good man not merely reads the law, he not merely knows it, but it is resident within him as a vital and transformative principle (Psa_119:11). Obedience to this law is elevating, preserving, safe, and sanctifying. It is the highest law, and obedience to it is the most influential and worthy.
IV. The safety he enjoys. “The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him. The Lord will not leave him in his hand.” The righteous are watched by deceptive and cruel men, they are often unconscious of this peril. But they have another watcher, even the Lord who is their Sun and Shield. The Divine Guardian is greater and more vigilant than the human foe. Jesus was watched by His enemies.
V. The condemnation he escapes. “Nor condemn him when he is judged.” In this world the righteous are often condemned, by secret slander, by cruel hatred, by violent plots, by public opinion, and even by the legal tribunals of the land. But there comes a day when their condemnation will be reversed, their shame will be removed, their characters will be cleared, and infinite justice will receive them into its eternal protection. The good can afford to wait this time, and no doubt many long for it to turn their darkness into light, their sadness into joy. A false sentence is now passed on moral goodness; the future will reveal its injustice. The pure life only can escape condemnation. What a joy to escape the condemnation of God, not through our own merit, but through the cross of Jesus.
VI. The exaltation he expects. “Wait on the Lord and keep His way, and He shall exalt thee to inherit the land.” The good are to wait on the Lord, because He may be long in coming to them, because He is worth waiting for, and because at His coming they will realise all their long-cherished hopes. The early watchers on the mountain wait for the rising of the sun, and the multitudes wait for the coming of the king. So let the Christian wait for the Lord. The good must not only wait on the Lord, but also keep His way. There must be keeping as well as waiting, and then there will be inheriting. Canaan is the inheritance and the exaltation of the pure.
LESSONS:—
1. Talk wisely.
2. Obey diligently.
3. Walk carefully.
4. Anticipate joyfully.
THE TEMPORARY PROSPERITY OF THE WICKED AS CONTRASTED WITH THE PEACEFUL DESTINY OF THE GOOD
(Psa_37:35-37.)
The first verse contains the pith of the entire psalm. “Fret not thyself because of evil-doers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.” The following reasons are given as a preventative of an envious spirit: The glory of the wicked is of brief duration (Psa_37:2); the moral rectitude of the good will be finally manifested (Psa_37:6); the good are divinely protected from the attacks of evil men (Psa_37:12-15); they are divinely guided (Psa_37:23); they are the true inheritors of the soil (Psa_37:29); their destiny is peaceful. Hence the good have no need to envy the wicked in their bright but transient prosperity, especially when they consider the future. Perhaps, when David wrote this psalm, the image of Saul was floating before his vision. Truly, in reference to that monarch, he could say, “I have seen the wicked,” &c.
I. That wicked men are often in the possession of great power. “I have seen the wicked in great power.”
1. They often have social distinction. It very often happens that the wicked are rich; they have a productive farm, or a good business, which places at their command the luxuries of life. Hence they are surrounded by men of like fortunes, and are largely courted by the multitude beneath them. It is customary in these times to make wealth rather than character the test of companionship; hence rich men are suns in the firmament of our social life, they are surrounded by attendant planets, and stars, hoping to catch the rays of their favour. They keep up appearances, they give grand entertainments, they aid philanthropic institutions, and so gain social popularity. Such men are dangerous. They are, to those who circle near them, as the bright light to the moth: they occasion moral ruin.
2. They often have national distinction. They have gained influence in the local circle in which they move, hence they are elevated to a seat in the legislature; or, it may be, that they are clever as they are wicked, and thus, by sheer intellect, gain the pre-eminence of their fellows. They make an invention, they write a book, they win a battle, and society, not being in an ideal state, is in danger of elevating genius rather than goodness. Again, if they are not clever, they are cunning, and we all know the power of fraud to out-do honesty for a time. They flatter the great men of the age, and so win their help to fame. For even great men are wonderfully open to flattery. But, sometimes their plots are so deeply laid, that even the good are duped by them.
3. The supremacy of the wicked is a matter of history and experience. “I have seen,” &c. History is a record of the wicked who have been in great power. Human society exhibits the same fact. Men of the highest genius, whose names are household words, and whose works will be read to the end of time, are illustrations of this statement. We think of Byron; and also of many kings who have ascended our throne. This outlook upon history and society may be perplexing, but the problem will one day be solved, when it will appear that saints were the true kings of the world, and that ambitious sinners were its paupers.
4. In this supremacy the wicked appear strong and arrogant. “Spreading himself,” &c. They imagine that their foundation is secure, that the effects of their wealth and genius upon the popular mind will never die away; that their smile will win, that their frown will subdue their enemies. Their demeanour is imperious. Their tones of voice are emphatic. They forget that modesty and humility would best serve their end. They are like the swollen stream, which spreads itself throughout the land, to show off its expansiveness, but certainly not its depth.
II. That wicked men often experience unexpected reverses.
1. Severe and complete. “Yet he passed away.” Sometimes these men pass from the highest pinnacle of wealth to abject poverty, through speculation or panic; their true characters are unveiled, and society discards them. No vestige is left of their power.
2. Unlikely and unexpected. Such reverses are not often anticipated. We expect that wealth will protect from them. The wicked are like the rider through the desert, unexpectedly plundered by some stern robber. At the roots of the richest flower there may be an insect eating away its life unseen. The calm often breaks suddenly into storm. The wicked aristocrat may soon become the wicked pauper.
3. Minutely observed. “I sought him.” Men of wealth are talked about by everybody; their houses, clothes, habits, are the staple theme of the neighbourhood. “I sought him.” Men come to the ruin to mock; to search to see if there was anything left they could plunder, and, no doubt, to weep. Some would pity his fall. The world soon hears of the destruction of its powerful ones.
III. That while the wicked experience these reverses, the good are happy in their life, and peaceful in their futurity. “The end of that man is peace.”
1. The good are a great contrast to the wicked just contemplated. The character of the one is impure, that of the other is holy; the circumstances of the one are affluent, those of the other may be needy; the destiny of the one is ignominious, while that of the other is happy. The contrast is not only great, but happy. It is pleasant to turn from the one to the other. Good men are the charm of history and of life. They are welcome as the shady nook during the hot summer day. The contrast is solemn. To think of the wicked in their power and ruin, and then of the good in their peace and hope, must certainly evoke a feeling of regret that one life should lack the beauty and safety of the other.
2. The good are worthy of careful note and imitation. “Mark the perfect man.” He is worthy of note. A perfect man! Are you astonished? Have you never seen one? True, they are not often to be met with,—you should therefore note him the more when you do see him. If you go into a picture gallery, and find a beautiful work of art, you study it from every point of view, its every feature and tint. So with the flower in your garden. But here is not a lifeless picture, a withering flower, but an immortality,—therefore let your study be deeper and truer. Mark his moral bearing, his strict integrity, his untiring zeal, his gentle spirit, his effort for the good of others. But do not look at him merely to admire, but to imitate; not merely that the natural instincts of your soul may be pleased, but that your manhood may catch the glory of his. Men always become like the object they study. Moral character is the highest kind of study If you mark the perfect man you will see that life does not always go easily with him; sometimes the night is dark and rough, but he always has one star to cheer and guide him on his journey.
3. The lift of the good will ultimately come to an end. “The end of that man.” What a pity! We should like their beautiful light to shine on in our midst for ever. Good men are the world’s jewels; they are patterns of life; they are prayers; they are inspirations. We cannot spare them. But death is rude, and takes them from us; they gladly step into heaven. And thus are plucked earth’s choicest flowers, to be removed to the Eden above.
4. The departure of the good will be peaceful in its issue. There may be the pain of disease, but that only touches the surface of the man. In the depths of his soul there is celestial calm. Peace, the end of life! How welcome after the storm. “Come at last, has it?” exclaims the dying saint. “Peace!” “My spirit has found its rest in the home of the Eternal.” We are told that Stephen fell asleep; God turned the angry cries of the murderous mob into the lullabies of a saintly repose.
WHICH WILL YOU HAVE?
1. Wickedness and power; or,
2. Piety and peace.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 I. None who can honestly say they are trying…
Psa 37:1
I. None who can honestly say they are trying to serve Christ will make such a mistake as to hold up before their own eyes earthly reward as the fit end of spiritual work, and to look upon it as an unheard-of and monstrous thing that a good man should be less successful in this world than a worldly man. The danger is, not that we shall turn atheists or unbelievers, but that we shall be disheartened, not that we shall lose all faith, but that we shall find our faith weakened.
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II. The fact is that even when we have learnt what it is that Christ puts before us, there still remains the hope that He will give more than He promises, and that we shall get the best of both worlds. There are men, no doubt, who utterly fail of success in both worlds, for while their want of faith, and truth, and love makes them no servants of Christ, their want of self-control and of common-sense robs them of all chance in this world. But, on the other hand, the thorough-going servant of this world will succeed in this world better than the Christian. And the Christian cannot learn it too soon.
III. What then follows? This follows: that the service of Christ demands a generous devotion. Christians who wish to serve God shall be rewarded, not by His love—no, for that they have always had—but by being enabled to love Him, for that is the highest of all blessings.
Bishop Temple, Rugby Sermons, 2nd series, p. 267.
Psa 37:1-2
We need words of soothing such as are breathed in the text. There is enough in society, both profane and professedly religious, to vex the spirit and trouble it with bitterest grief. The slanderer’s foul tongue is ever ready to attack a holy character. Envy’s cruel hand is continually outstretched to purloin the crown and the sceptre which would never rightfully fall to its lot. The Psalmist teaches us:—
I. That there has ever been a generation of evil-doers. He refers to this generation with the utmost familiarity. All ages have been blackened with the shadow of evil-doers. Notice the terrible energy implied in the designation "workers of iniquity." Reference is not made to men who make a pastime of iniquity, or who occasionally commit themselves to its service, but to those who toil at it as a business.
II. That the servants of God are not to be moved from their course by the generation of the unrighteous. The meaning which the Psalmist conveys is this, that however obscure or trying may be the secular position of the godly, they are not to murmur against the social government of God because the unrighteous are surrounded with all the luxuries which the most extravagant ambition can desire.
III. That a terrible doom awaits the generation of evil-doers. There are three facts which call for the attention of Christians: (1) Your fretfulness is an imputation on the Divine government. (2) Your fretfulness falsifies your attachment to Christian principles. (3) Your fretfulness gives society an erroneous idea of the Gospel.
Parker, The Cavendish Pulpit, p. 193.
Psa 37:3
Our text contains three precepts and a promise.
I. The first precept is "Put thou thy trust in the Lord." Here comes in a most important question: Who is the Lord, that I may trust Him? The word here rendered "the Lord" is in Hebrew "Jehovah," which was God’s covenant name to His people Israel. In this name, "Jehovah," was bound up the promise made to Abraham that in his seed should all the families of the earth be blessed. So that when it was said to the Jew of old, "Put thou thy trust in Jehovah," it was said, Trust in thy covenant God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of His people Israel. The covenant has been now enlarged from the members of one human family to the whole family in heaven and earth. What the Jew saw in shadow, and type, and prophecy we see in its blessed fulfilment. The Desire of all nations is come. Whatever reason there may have been for the Jew to put his trust in the Lord, that reason is now for us very much stronger and more urgent. God, who appeared to them but in the dim and gradual dawn of His merciful purposes to mankind, has risen on us with His full life-giving and cheering power, the Sun of righteousness, with healing on His wings.
II. The second precept has reference to the kind of life which he who puts his trust in the Lord must lead. He is not to be an idle member of society, a burden to the land, but active and useful in the relations of life. "Be doing good." Christian activity is a necessary condition of the fulfilment of the promise with which the text concludes.
III. Our next precept is of a different kind, and regards that quietness and conformableness to the laws and usages of human society in which, provided they be not contradictory to the express commands of God, the Christian man should always be found. "Dwell in the land." As the Christian is on the Lord’s Day, so must he be in the week: a God-fearing citizen as well as a God-fearing Christian, consistent, and at unity with himself.
IV. "Verily thou shalt be fed." Words cannot be plainer than these. The Psalmist himself evidently understood them literally. And to confirm us in this view, we have even a more express command and promise of our Lord Himself: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things" (meat, drink, and raiment) "shall be added to you."
H. Alford, Sermons, p. 213.
Psa 37:3
I. There is something very significant in the order of thought in the text. It is, "Trust in the Lord, and do good," not Do good, and trust in the Lord. The Psalmist had his eye on the living root out of which all living goodness springs. Good deeds will have a living greenness and a boundless fertility when the root out of which they spring is planted by the river of the grace and the love of God.
II. But what is good? What are good deeds? The Churches are ready enough with their "Do this and live." But God goes at once to the root of the matter: Be good if you would do good. Good, beautiful, Christlike deeds are the effluence of a good, beautiful, Christlike life.
III. The promise, "So shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed." The Psalmist has no ideal meanings here; he means home and bread. Let a man live out fearlessly the Divine rule, and daily his life will grow richer in love, in honour, and in the supply of all his needs.
J. Baldwin Brown, The Sunday Afternoon, p. 344.
Reference: Psa 37:3-8.—H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxvii., p. 93.
Psa 37:3-9
God is building up a kingdom that is invisible—a kingdom of holy thoughts, of pure feelings, of faith, of hope, of righteousness. God’s kingdom is advancing surely, though it advances slowly, and though it is invisible to us. Here then is the foundation of our faith, our hope, our patient waiting. We are to rest on the fact that God is carrying on a work in this world; that He never forgets that work; that He never lets it lag or linger; that it is ever going forward, though we may not see it advance, and though it may seem to be receding.
I. Consider the folly of the discouragement which many feel because men are so imperfect, particularly those who go from a higher to a lower state of society. To such men the word is, Wait on the Lord, wait patiently, and by-and-bye He shall give you the desire of your heart.
II. Consider the folly of envying wicked men when they are in power, and thinking that perhaps it is worth while to be as wicked as they are. Their prosperity, says the Psalm in effect, is at the beginning, and not at the end. Wicked men do prosper for a little while; but in the end they shall have their just reward.
III. There is an application of the subject to those that are in trouble. We have no need to hurry. Wait patiently. Trust in God. Do not give up your faith.
H. W. Beecher, Sermons, 1870, p. 334.
Psa 37:4
There is no bodily pain equal to the pain of the heart. Bodily pains call for sympathy, but the sufferings of the heart are hidden; none know of them; none may know of them; they are a concealed, consuming fire, unsuspected by all around.
I. I suppose there are many now past the middle age to whom the fact that the chapter of life is closing, that the romance of life is concluding, causes many an ache. Without resurrection of the dead, new heavens and a new earth, God, and Christ, and eternity, we are of all men most miserable. There is nothing more hopeless than a declining life, nothing more calculated to fill with despair than the ebbing away of life’s forces. "Delight thou in the Lord, and He shall give thee thy heart’s desire."
II. There is the anguish of bereavement and of unrequited love. Here again the soul will find its only solace in prayer—in prayer for the object of affection. In the kingdom of the resurrection those who have loved hopelessly here will meet with those they loved, and then the loved ones may discover with wonder to whom they owe their place, and who, unseen as an angel, stayed them up when faltering, saved them from falling, by the mighty power of loving, intercessory prayer.
S. Baring-Gould, Village Preaching for a Year, vol. ii., p. 65.
I. Notice what the text says: "Delight thyself in the Lord;" that is, in everything the Lord loves and commands. Without this delight the Lord’s commands will be galling and irksome; but with it the heart will be filled with sunshine. If we cannot bring ourselves to delight in the Lord while we are here, we can hardly expect to be able to delight ourselves in Him hereafter. Heaven is not really desired by sinners. Their delight is not in God, and they would rather flee away from His presence than dwell with Him. The end of that state cannot be otherwise than wretched.
II. The text goes on to tell you that if you delight in the Lord, He shall grant you the desires of your heart. It is not hard to tell what people often do desire in their hearts. Some desire money, and will do anything for it; some poor misguided persons desire strong drink, and will do anything for it. To desire these things and nothing else is very lamentable. But though people desire them, they do not always get them. But if you delight in the Lord, He will give you the desires of your heart. It is He alone who can do so, for He alone is all-powerful.
III. The next question is what your heart’s desires will be. If you delight in the Lord, your desires will be such as will please Him. In that case one of the first desires must be to be like Him. Set your mind greatly on this, and God is sure to give you your desire, and the result will be to fill the heart with such sunshine as other desires can never give. You will also desire to be useful. As you grow up God will furnish you with opportunities. "He shall give thee the desires of thine heart."
G. Litting, Thirty Children’s Sermons, p. 174.
References: Psa 37:4.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. viii., No. 454; Ibid., Morning by Morning, p. 166; Homiletic Magazine, vol. xv. p. 305; H. R. Reynolds, Notes of the Christian Life, p. m.
Psa 37:4-7
"I have been young, and now am old," says the writer of this Psalm. Its whole tone speaks the ripened wisdom and autumnal calm of age. The dim eyes have seen and survived so much, that it seems scarcely worth while to be agitated about what ceases so soon. The clauses of the text contain the elements which secure peace even in storms and troubles. If we consider them carefully, we shall see that there is a well-marked progress in them.
I. Here is the secret of tranquillity in freedom from eager earthly desires. "Delight thyself," etc. One desire unfulfilled is enough to banish tranquillity; but how can it survive a dozen dragging different ways? Unbridled and eager wishes destroy tranquillity by putting us at the mercy of externals. Rest comes with delighting in God (1) because that soul must needs be calm which is freed from the distraction of various desires by the one master-attraction; (2) because in such a case desire and fruition go together; (3) desire after God will bring peace by putting all things in their right place.
II. The secret of tranquillity is found in freedom from the perplexity of choosing our path. "Commit thy way unto the Lord," or, as the margin says, roll it upon God. (1) This is a word for all life, not only for its great occasions. (2) It prescribes the subordination—not the extinction—of our own inclinations. (3) It prescribes the submission of our judgment to God, in the confidence that His wisdom will guide us. These two keys—joy in God and trust in His guidance—open for us the double doors of the secret place of the Most High.
III. The secret of tranquillity is found in freedom from the anxiety of an unknown future. "Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him." We are sure that in the future are losses, and sorrows, and death. Thank God, we are sure, too, that He is in it. That certainty alone and what comes of it makes it possible for a thoughtful man to face to-morrow without fear or tumult.
A. Maclaren, Sermons Preached in Manchester, 2nd series, p. 245.
Reference: Psa 37:5.—J. E. Vaux, Sermon Notes, 1st series, p. 18.
Psa 37:7
Rest is the highest condition of man. It is above work. The maturity of everything is its rest. It is an approach to the Eternal One. For what is rest? The balance of the mind, the equipoise of feeling, a harmony of the inner with the outer life, the peace of desire, and the repose of the consciousness of truth. Consider what is the exact meaning of the expression to "rest in the Lord."
I. Those two words "the Lord" convey to the mind (1) absolute sovereignty, (2) the idea of the work of God. "The Lord" is the essential name of the Second Person in the blessed Trinity. (3) The person of God—the Lord Jesus Christ. He is a real presence, a personal Saviour, the truest reality of every day’s life—"the Lord."
II. What is rest? (1) Satisfaction. The needle points to its pole; I find all I want, and more, in the Lord. (2) Silence. This silence is a blessed, childlike state, the truest worship. "The Lord is in His holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before Him"—the still sanctities of rest. (3) Absolute reliance, as one who feels that all things are undertaken for you, who feels, "I have omnipotence on my side; an eternity of faith is underneath me." (4) Perfect peace—the shadow of the rock, the chicken under the wing, the babe asleep on its mother’s bosom, the loved disciple on his Master’s breast. "Rest in the Lord."
III. Notice one or two ways by which you may secure your own soul and glorify God by rest. (1) You must set out with a simple and undoubting sense of your own forgiveness and your safety in Christ. (2) Learn the happy art of quickly passing on everything to God. (3) There is an active and a passive rest. You will find work a great help to rest. It does more than anything else to prevent what is the bane of rest—self-inspection and the restlessness of idle fancies. And as you work never forget this rule of life, that you have nothing to do with results; results are with God. Do your duty, and leave all issues. That is the rest of work.
J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 10th series, p. 174.
I. Consider, first, the state of mind here supposed. It is a state of unrest, of a mind ill at ease, a distracted heart going first to this source of relief and then to that, but never satisfied. The text is to remind a man under such circumstances that there is but one way and one strength; that other ways besides that one are but a going about, and other strengths besides that one but a comparison of weaknesses.
II. Consider some classes of persons who are thus laboriously miserable, doing and undoing, like children building up paper houses which are to fall down under their hands. (1) There are the men who have their portion in this present world, not knowing, and perhaps not caring to know, whether they have a portion in any other. (2) The words of the text are addressed to the weary, burdened, conscience-convicted sinner. If we can get no rest in our sins and no rest from them, we are exactly those for whom the proffered relief is prepared, exactly those whom Christ invites to partake of it: "Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." Rest in what Christ is, and wait patiently for what Christ will do.
III. The words of the text may also be addressed to the more established believer under all the disquietudes and trials which he must expect to meet with in his Christian course. Rest and wait, trusting, expecting, like the impotent man at the gate of the Temple, to receive something. He that believeth must not make haste; though the vision tarry, he must wait for it. The general lesson of the text is that we be without carefulness, that we carry our burdens to God and leave them with Him. God in Christ is the soul’s refuge and the soul’s rest.
D. Moore, Penny Pulpit, No. 2998.
Restlessness and impatience seem to be inseparably connected with humanity. They are manifested by all classes at every stage of their existence, from the child who grows weary of its newest toy to the philosopher who is dissatisfied with the result of his patient, lifelong thought. Rest! Some men know not what it means; they have never in their lives experienced it. And for others it has no sooner come than gone, vanished like some transient dream of bliss. Yet rest cannot be quite impossible for man, for it has been occasionally achieved. The Psalmist, for example, had practised what we find him preaching in the text. "The Lord is my Shepherd," he says; "I shall not want."
I. Observe that the rest to which the Psalmist attained is an intelligent and intelligible rest. There can be no rest for us in circumstances; they are ever changing. There can be no rest in self, for self is too much at the mercy of circumstances. There can be no complete rest for us in other men, for they may play us false or be taken away by death. The only perfect rest conceivable for man is a rest in the Lord.
II. All forms of restlessness and impatience resolve themselves into a want of faith. They amount to practical atheism. (1) Young men probably more than any other class are characterised by a feverish restlessness and a tremendous impatience. It is our eager craving after ease and pleasure, our indisposition to endure hardness and conflict, our longing to enjoy the present moment, however meanly, rather than work out patiently some future good, however glorious—it is these things that mar us, that keep us from ever becoming what we might have been. There is no cure for this restlessness but faith. Faith in the future and in the God of the future will alone help us worthily to discharge our present duty. (2) There is another very common form of restlessness, arising not from the mere absence of enjoyment, but from the actual presence of pain. To any one in such a predicament I would say, (a) Your present adversity may be the best means, perhaps the only means, to a great prosperity which is in store for you at no distant date. (b) It is a great mistake to imagine that happiness is the chief end of life, and that we have a right to as much of it as we like to demand. The end of life is not happiness, but duty. God has a purpose to fulfil in our existence, and surely it must be evident that with this purpose an indefinite amount of happiness might be quite incompatible.
III. Our restlessness and impatience involve a practical disbelief in immortality. We chafe and fret when our wishes are thwarted, as if there were no life but the present, as if the grave were the end of all things for us. Can we not wait—wait like men—for "the far-off interest of tears"?
A. W. Momerie, Defects of Modern Christianity, and Other Sermons, p. 242.
I. First David speaks to us about rest. All men are craving for rest. In the present day there is a very great danger of many men working too much rather than too little. Where can a man rest? (1) Not in worldly prosperity. How very soon the gourd withers! How often the stream dries up! We are like boys upon the seaside with their sand spades. We dig and dig, but it is all sand, and we cannot build on sand. We are looking to the trees, and we want a tree where we can build our nest; but on every tree there is the woodman’s mark, and soon the trees will fall. Not here, not in the world, can we rest. (2) We cannot rest in the sunshine of home. Very often the hardest blows we receive come to us in the home circle, and the deepest wounds the heart ever knows are the wounds inflicted in the home. (3) A man cannot rest in his own religious experience. David found that his experience changed from day to day. Nor is he alone. The experience of all God’s people has fluctuated: one day in the mountain and then down in the valley; one day in the arctic regions of death, another day amid the tropics. Not in our own experience can we rest. (4) But where can we rest? "Rest in the Lord." There is an ark upon the troubled billows; O dove with weary pinions, fly there. Rest in the power of God, in the promises of God, in the unchanging goodness of God.
II. Our text speaks also of patience. Many a man waits who does not wait patiently. (1) We have to wait patiently for answers to our prayers. (2) We have to wait patiently for the explanation of many of life’s mysteries. (3) We have to wait patiently for God’s blessing to come upon our labours. (4) On a bed of death we must exercise patience and wait for the Lord to come.
E. S. Gange, Penny Pulpit, No. 1009.
Waiting is the side of faith which develops most slowly. Working is not always a sign of faith. Diversion and oblivion are not faith. Faith’s harder lesson is given in making a man lie still, and not work at all, but simply bear and wait.
I. We are to wait unwaveringly. "Wait on the Lord and keep His way."
II. We are to wait cheerfully. "Fret not thyself because of evil-doers."
III. We may wait confidently. "Thou shalt dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed."
M. R. Vincent, Gates into the Psalm Country, p. 127.
References: Psa 37:7.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxiii., No. 1333; H. R. Reynolds, Notes of the Christian Life, p. 130; Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. xx., p. 279; C. Vince, Christian World Pulpit, vol. v., p. 81; S. Wilberforce, Sermons, p. 225; J. Martineau, Hours of Thought, vol. i., p. 329. Psa 37:9.—Congregationalist, vol. vii., p. 409.
Psa 37:11
Such a promise as this relates both to the future and the present. The text cannot have its perfect fulfilment until Christ shall come a second time in power and great majesty, but there are senses in which it has a present accomplishment.
I. Who are the meek? We go to Christ for a description of meekness, and we gather it from the portrait given by Christ—that we should be forbearing, forgiving, patient under injuries and contradictions. We must distinguish between that meekness which may be only the effect of constitution and another which is the clear produce of grace. The man who is only meek from constitution will ordinarily prove to be a timid or irresolute man, wholly unprepared to face an emergency or to master an idolatrous sin; but Christian meekness is in the largest sense compatible with Christian boldness.
II. Christian meekness must chiefly result, first, from a deep sense of our own unworthiness, and, secondly, an earnest love of our fellow-men. He who is humble in the meek consciousness of his own vileness as a sinner will invariably be averse to all overbearing; and he who is jealous for the well-being of others will forbear and forgive, and keep down resentment, however injurious the conduct of others.
III. The promise of our text is to be accomplished in the future; for in this life the heir is nothing more than a man who has not yet reached an age on which to enter into possession. Nevertheless the consciousness of being an heir will bring with it a certain feeling of possession, though the time be yet far distant for taking it as his own. The heir of the earth, though not a possessor, may have such a rich and precious interest in the earth as shall bear out the expression of his being now blessed. The meek, fraught with the persuasion that they deserve nothing but wrath, find in the commonest mercies tokens of their being the children of God.
IV. In proportion as a man acquires love for his fellow-men he may clearly be said to inherit the earth. The spot cannot be found where the meek man being placed shall be quite a stranger. Wherever he journeys he may be said to be still at home. He possesses the earth by family compact, by the claims or rights of relationship, and the possession thus obtained is possession by heirship. And if we have thus a home in the earth in its length and breadth, we contend it is fairly and literally made out that the meek man inherits the earth.
H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 2257.
Psa 37:16
I. The Divine power given by the Almighty to true faith and devotion of heart takes up, nourishes, and cherishes whatever is good and comfortable in our condition, makes the most of it, spreads, enlarges, ripens it, as the sun in springtime does the little flowers, which would otherwise quite wither away; while, on the other hand, there is in the love of the world, in all kinds of covetousness, a blighting, withering quality, which gradually causes the most abundant growth of prosperity to shrivel, and contract, and sink into nothing. A little circumstance in a good man’s life may grow Upon him and cause him more happy thought, even in this world, than the greatest prosperity of a bad man.
II. One sure friend that the righteous hath is worth all the companions of the ungodly. Elijah in the wilderness, with now and then a visit from an angel—did he not find that the remembrance of those rare moments cast a light over all his solitary hours which quite prevented them from being tedious?
III. The same rule holds, not only in respect of outward things, but of knowledge also, and scholarship, and acquaintance even with Divine matters. A little drop of knowledge, touched by Divine grace, may swell into a sea.
IV. Such is God’s mercy on the one hand, and the perverseness of men on the other, that even in respect of spiritual blessings also the Psalmist’s saying holds true. A little measure of grace well employed and received into a heart willing to be made righteous is better than the highest spiritual privileges when God, in His unsearchable judgments, has vouchsafed them to unworthy persons.
Plain Sermons by Contributors to "Tracts for the Times" vol. vi., p. 159 (see also J. Keble, Sermons for Saints’ Days, p. 343).
Psa 37:23-24
I. The first truth of the text is that God orders, arranges, establishes, the details of His children’s lives.
II. God is pleased with him who thus lets his steps be ordered.
III. The Psalmist recognises infirmity as an element of the good man’s walk. There is a possibility of his falling, which the text provides for: "The Lord upholdeth him with His hand."
IV. From these truths we conclude: (1) If God has ordained a way for men to walk in, it is the height of folly to walk in any other way. (2) If God orders our ways, step by step, it becomes us to take heed to the details of our lives. (3) If God orders each detail of our lives, ought we not to get great and solid comfort from the fact? (4) It becomes us to fall in with God’s order, and to attach to the separate steps the same importance that He does.
M. R. Vincent, God and Bread, p. 07.
References: Psa 37:24.—S. Martin, Westminster Chapel Pulpit, 3rd series, No. 15. Psa 37:31.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iii., p. 261. Psa 37:32-34.—H. Thompson, Concionalia: Outlines for Parochial Use, 2nd series, p. 500.
Psa 37:34
This Psalm is written with a view of encouraging good men who are in perplexity, and especially perplexity concerning God’s designs, providence, and will.
I. The use of difficulties to all of us in our trial in this world is obvious. Our faith is variously assailed by doubts and difficulties, in order to prove its sincerity. To all those who are perplexed in any way soever, who wish for light, but cannot find it, one precept must be given—Obey. It is obedience which brings a man into the right path; it is obedience which keeps him there and strengthens him in it.
II. Let us apply this exhortation in the case of those who have but lately taken up the subject of religion. Every science has its difficulties at first; why then should the science of living be without them? When the subject of religion is new to us, it is strange. Let then every beginner make up his mind to suffer disquiet and perplexity. The more he makes up his mind manfully to bear doubt, struggle against it, and meekly to do God’s will all through it, the sooner this unsettled state of mind will cease, and order will rise out of confusion.
III. It sometimes happens, from ill-health or other cause, that persons fall into religious despondency. Such afflicted ones must be exhorted to keep a guard upon their feelings and to control their hearts. Supposing their state to be as wretched as is conceivable, can they deny that it is their duty now to serve God? Whatever our difficulty be, this is plain: "Wait on the Lord, and keep His way, and He shall exalt thee."
J. H. Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons, vol. i., p. 228.
Reference: Psa 37:35-37.—E. Matthews, Welsh Pulpit of To-day, p. 102.
Psa 37:38
I. The character here presented for our study: the perfect and upright man. The essential principle of the perfectness of which David speaks is a heart right with God, a life whose root and whose aim is God.
II. "The end of that man is peace." For (1) he knows Whom he has believed, and is persuaded that He is able to keep that which he has committed unto Him until that day. (2) He knows to what he is passing—to a world which is brighter, a bliss which is deeper, than even his most vivid dreams. (3) The rest—and a man has other cares at such hours—he leaves with God. To be able to cast his care upon Him who he knows will care—care with a tenderness of which earth has no measures—is peace, the peace of God in the contemplation of the future of our beloved.
J. Baldwin Brown, Aids to the Development of the Divine Life, No. 8.
Psa 37:38
I. "Keep innocency." In the strictest sense of all, innocence was a treasure forfeited for ever in Paradise. It is only in a very modified sense that we can speak with truth even of the innocence of childhood. It is but a comparative innocency which belongs to any child of man.
II. "Take heed unto the thing that is right.’’ How general the language; at first sight how vague, yet in reality how intelligible and how emphatic! We all know, or may know if we will, what is right: the duty of praying always, of loving God, of trusting in Christ, of seeking and obeying the Holy Spirit. But mark well the words, "Take heed unto the thing that is right." However easy to discover, our duty is not easy to do. If we will not take heed, we shall certainly miss the thing that is right.
III. "That shall bring a man peace at the last"—in its widest sense, at the end of life. A life of innocency and of steadfast obedience shall end in a peaceful death, a peaceful eternity. But there are other endings between us and that last end; and, however inferior to that in importance, they may yet be thought and spoken of without irreverence as affording each a minor fulfilment of the promise here expressed.
C. J. Vaughan, Harrow Sermons, 2nd series, p. 384.
References: Psa 37:39.—Spurgeon, My Sermon Notes: Genesis to Proverbs, p. 151. Psa 38:2.—Bishop Harvey Goodwin, Parish Sermons, 4th series, p. 162. Psa 38:4.—Preacher’s Monthly, vol. i., p. 353.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
F. W. Grant 1903 · Public Domain On v1 The manifestation of God for the righteous in their…
The manifestation of God for the righteous in their possession of the earth.
[A psalm] of David.
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The thirty-seventh psalm, the third and middle one of the series, has already been noted as the hinge or pivot upon which the rest turn, the full blessing brought in for the righteous in Israel, in their possession of the land. And in this Jehovah manifests Himself, and glorifies Himself upon the earth.
The structure has been noted also as alphabetic; and it is almost perfect in this respect, not quite, if the present division of the verses is correct, as, after all, I believe it is, though I had doubted it. This will be examined in its place (verse 28).
The letters, with three exceptions only, have each a couplet of verses attached, in which we are intended perhaps to realize the markedly antithetical character of the psalm -present and future, righteous and wicked, being thus put in contrast.
Contrary to the general character of the psalms of this series also, there is no prayer heard throughout the present one. All is definitely assured, predictive, and admonitory, -prophetic, that is, all the way through, though couched in general terms only, and in this way more suited to the admonitory purpose.
1. The first section insists on the perpetuity of the blessing of the righteous, in contrast with the speedy and perfect end of the wicked: and makes this an argument for entire rest of heart in committing oneself to God. The present apparent success of wickedness naturally excites to fretfulness and envy of him who seems thus to have so much the best of it as to the things here. But this is to forget that faith’s part is necessarily in the unseen: "they shall soon be cut down like grass, and wither like the green herb."
Faith is next exhorted to, in view of Jehovah’s faithfulness. The soul may be pastured upon this, and dwell secure; -the peaceable fruits of righteousness being thus encouraged. Let the heart cleave to the Lord in love, and love will be sure to respond, and the requests of the heart so purified be fulfilled.
Let the way too be committed to Him, and difficulties will disappear before Jehovah’s sufficiency. Not only will one’s purposes thus be realized, but thy righteousness too will be made plain as the light, and thy right as the noon-day.
But patience will be needed also; and one may be patient when the end is certain. Let the wicked prosper as he is permitted, and even his mischief prosper. Rest in Jehovah Himself: He is still Jehovah.
The government of God is active still, and sure in the end toward which it works. Cease then from anger and forsake wrath, the only result of which is to make one copy the evil he resents. Evil-doers shall be cut off at last and the quiet waiters upon Jehovah, these shall inherit the earth (or land).
The last couplet simply develops this, -the end of the wicked, completely rooted out of the land, and the meek inheriting the land at last, satisfied with abundant prosperity.
2. The second section, which is a short one, occupies itself only with the wicked His enmity against the righteous is noted, his plots, with still their limit. The Lord derides his folly, and foresees his end. His sword, already drawn, enters his own heart; his bent bow snaps, instead of discharging itself. It is an illustration of the Lord’s words, that they that take the sword shall perish with it, and, of course, a pregnant example of divine government.
3. The third section contrasts the portion of the righteous and the wicked. If the righteous have but little, it is better than the abundance of many wicked: one is for a time the other has the enduring support of Jehovah. Jehovah marks and knows the days of the perfect, and even in the evil time they shall not be ashamed, and in famine they shall be satisfied. As for the wicked, they shall be consecrated to the Lord in their death, who would not be in life, and consume away like animals under the ban, consumed by the fire of wrath and not accepted.
4. We have now, contrasted as before, the ways of each, -a longer detail. First, the bounty and grace of the righteous is contrasted with the greed and injustice of the wicked. But those blessed of Jehovah are those in due time to possess the land, while the wicked, grasp as he may, shall be cut off under His curse. This seems to me the evident meaning of the verse, although I may be, perhaps, alone in thinking so. To make the cause of the wicked man’s not repaying to be his poverty, and that under the curse of God, while the righteous gives as already possessing the earth, seems an entire inversion of the facts as the psalm presents them, as well as a justification of the "wicked," such as in no wise commends itself.
Next we have the steps of a man (like Psa 34:8, gebher, implying strength), his firm and prosperous steps are "established of Jehovah." It is from Him they get their strength. "And He delighteth in his way" -a way so blessed and strengthened. Thus, if such a man falls, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the hand that he lifts to Jehovah is upheld by Him. He "affords it," as Delitzsch puts it, "a firm point of support or fulcrum, so that he can rise up again."
The psalmist adds to this the realization of it in his own experience. From the days of his youth to his present old age he had not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. The character of the righteous is again given as that of one showing grace and ministering -little righteousness has he who can forget the claims of the needy when his own needs are so many -and this the Lord delights to maintain: his seed is," not merely blessed, but "for blessing," -the blessing of others his ministry is perpetuated in those who spring from him, and learn his ways.
Thereupon the psalmist, naturally enough, turns from this encouraging assurance to admonition: "Depart from evil and do good: and dwell forevermore. For," he adds, "Jehovah is a lover of judgment, and forsaketh not his godly ones: they are preserved forever, but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off. The righteous shall possess the earth (or land), and dwell therein forever." * With this the fourth section of the psalm ends.
{*The middle verse here, it will be observed, is of unusual length, and instead of two verses under the Samech, there are three: which does not occur under any other letter in the psalm. This of course might very easily be an intentional irregularity, along with the omission of one letter of the alphabetic structure, which is seldom perfectly preserved in these compositions. The two things coming together, however, -the omission of the letter, with the unusual lengthening of the one verse, which if divided in the middle would make four verses here (the regular number if the letter were inserted), naturally raises a question as to the true division. But this seems more than question when we find the omitted letter (Ain) standing thus, with only a prepositional letter before it, at the head of the verse so made. The interposed letter (l’) is no doubt still an objection; yet but a slight one: for the 39th has also a letter (the copulative v’) before the Tau, which in a similar way is not to be reckoned. The critics mostly therefore correct the division of the psalm accordingly.
But, on the other hand, the numerical structure decides against this, and maintains the common division. The Ain couplet thus restored might be indeed a fifth subsection (a governmental lesson); but the first verse would be but a poor first, if it could be taken as such at all; and the 29th could not stand as a second, while the number 3 is stamped upon both clauses of it. The Septuagint addition, which would make the Samech begin with "the unjust shall be punished," leaving "they are preserved forever" in the previous section, while it shows that what the critics now accept was not then accepted as the true division, would still less suit the numerical structure.}
5. The last section, as a deuteronomic one, sums up these ways of God, whether with the righteous or the wicked. They are simple enough, while requiring for the present faith to realize them: for still, in the government of God, "clouds and darkness are round about Him." But the day comes, to which the psalm looks on, in which all will come out fully. In that day "the righteous shall be recompensed on the earth, much more the wicked and the sinner" (Pro 11:31). This is the Old Testament side of the truth, let us remember; and we shall fall into great error, if we take it as the whole truth. So taken, it has been used, and is quite competent to prove, that there is no heavenly portion for the saints of the present and the past, and only annihilation of personal existence for the wicked. I do not imply that this would be a light penalty, however light man may be disposed to make of it; but it is not what such texts mean. If "the future of the wicked is, to be cut off," this does not mean that he is to have no future, -that his portion is extinction; but simply that the earth is to be freed from his presence, and thus from the misery caused by that presence. Even the Old Testament shows us, as we have seen in the Psalms themselves, a Sheol which man passes into out of the bodily condition; and the New Testament clearly reveals the Gehenna of the lost on the one hand, the paradise of God for the saved on the other.* I cannot enter into this here, of course: but the "cutting off" and destruction of the wicked are distinctly stated to be "from the earth" (Psa 104:35; Pro 2:22; etc.). All application of these earthly judgments to that judgment which is "after" death (Heb 9:27) involves a necessarily materialistic use of terms which is foreign to Scripture.
{*See "Facts and Theories of a Future State," passim. Loizeaux Brothers, New York.}
We have six subsections here. First, we are given to see the righteous in that obedience of heart to God which makes his mouth meditate wisdom -that is, utter what his heart has meditated. His tongue, therefore, speaketh judgment -practical discernment of things in their moral or spiritual difference. It is the law of his God in his heart that has thus enlightened him; and walking in the light, he walks securely: his steps do not slide.
But just because he is thus obedient to God, he has his enemies in the wicked, who watch him, and even seek his death. They may even go through the form of trial, and encompass themselves with the similitude of justice, to accomplish their cruel ends; but Jehovah is against them, and, spite of all that may seem to be the case, cannot abandon the righteous to their hand, nor condemn him because they do this. Nay, He will surely justify him.
But the way to the inheritance is in a path of patience; yet the righteous shall possess the land, and see the wicked cut off out of it. In the meanwhile, a partial experience will leave the wicked in power, flourishing like a green tree in its own congenial soil. But this is not the end; and every one can furnish examples of the rapid uprooting and passing away of all this show of strength. Presently he is not; and the ends of the two -the wicked and the upright -how different! The end of the one is peace -or prosperity; and of the other, as rebels against God, to be cut off. Victory is for the righteous; their salvation is of One who cannot fail them. Even in the time of strait He is their stronghold; and what a fortress to be beleaguered by the enemy! He shall help and rescue them as surely as they have fled to Him for refuge.
F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 This is an acrostic Ps., in which the alphabetic…
This is an acrostic Ps., in which the alphabetic arrangement is carried without a break through 22 stanzas of varying length, to which the vv. of the English Bible do not correspond. The contents are closely akin to the maxims of the book of Proverbs, but they are touched with a fervour which elevates them into true poetry. The creed of the Psalmist is that sooner or later, even in this life, wickedness is punished, and righteousness vindicated. This is a theory which, of course, is too simple to cover all the facts of experience, but it is true as far as it goes, and its practical doctrine of 'trust in God and do the right' is sound at all times.
3. So shalt thou dwell.. and.. be fed] RV 'dwell in the land and follow after faithfulness.' Do not go to other lands: an utterance of patriotism.
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8. In any wise to do evil] RV 'it' (fretfulness) 'tendeth only to evil doing.'
9. The earth] RV 'the land' of Canaan. So in Psa_37:11, Psa_37:22.
10. It shall not he] RV 'he shall not be.'
11. See Mat_5:6.
13. His day] of retribution.
14. Conversation] conduct, manner of life.
18. Knoweth the days] regards with favour and watchful care: cp. Psa_1:6; Psa_31:7. For ever] from generation to generation. For OT. thought there was satisfaction in the blessings of one's posterity as well as in those of one's own life: see Psa_37:26-27, Psa_37:29.
20. Fat of lambs] RV 'excellency of the pastures,' the grass and flowers which wither away—a figure distinct from that of the burning which follows.
23. Ordered] RV 'established.'
35. A green bay tree] RV 'a green tree in its native soil.'
36. He passed by] RV 'one passed by.' Perhaps we should read, 'I passed by.'
37. End] RM 'future' or 'posterity.'
39. Strength] RV 'strong hold.'
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 Psalm 37
Psalm 37
The Blessed Lot of the Righteous Contrasted with the Wicked
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1. Waiting for Jehovah and His promise (Psa 37:1-11)
2. The doom of the wicked and the portion of the righteous (Psa 37:12-20)
3. The ways of the righteous and the wicked (Psa 37:21-29)
4. God’s gracious ways with the righteous (Psa 37:30-40)
This Psalm is also alphabetical in structure and somewhat proverbial in character. It is full of sweet comfort and encouragement to faith. All the saints of God have fed on its beautiful statements, and the coming saints of Israel will find help and strength in it for their souls. He who trusts in the Lord and waits for Him needs not to fret on account of evil-doers; they will soon be cut off. But what is the righteous man to do? Trust in the Lord--delight thyself in Him--commit thy way unto the Lord--rest in the Lord. If God’s people will but do this all is well, for He who never faileth adds His promises. He promises safety, the fulfilment of the heart’s desire; He will bring it to pass and bring forth righteousness as the light. Waiting for the Lord will end for the godly of that coming day, when the evil-doers will be cut off in judgment and when those who waited on the Lord shall inherit the earth. This is Israel’s promise which will be realized for the godly remnant when the Lord appears in glory in their midst. These brief hints will help in the study of the entire Psalm. It must be looked upon as prophetic, pointing to the day when the wicked troubles no more, when his end is come and when the Lord exalts the righteous to inherit the land.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v1 The Apparent Good Fortune of the Godless Compared with…
The Apparent Good Fortune of the Godless Compared with the Believers’ True Happiness.
A psalm of David, rightly considered one of the most beautiful written by him, called by Luther the garment of the pious, bearing the inscription: "Here is the patience of the saints," Rev 14:12.
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v. 1. Fret not thyself, with excitement and anger, because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity, being vexed by their apparent good fortune and prosperity.
v. 2. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, fading away and perishing, and wither as the green herb, the tender grass and young vegetation of spring, whose beauty is but transient. These two verses having expressed the sentiment of the whole psalm, the two thoughts contained in them are further elaborate.
v. 3. Trust in the Lord, every believer placing his full confidence in Jehovah alone, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, the exhortation being to a quiet and peaceable life, and, verily, thou shalt be fed, rather, practice faithfulness and uprightness in all dealings.
v. 4. Delight thyself also in the Lord, considering Him the heart’s highest desire; and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart, all the requests which accord with His gracious and good will.
v. 5. Commit thy way unto the Lord, literally, "roll it upon Jehovah," heavy as it may seem with all its troubles and cares; trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass, perform all that is needed for the believer’s true happiness.
v. 6. And He shall bring forth thy righteousness, which is now unappreciated and in densest darkness, as the light, when the dawn spreads over the eastern sky and the morning sun dispels the darkness, and thy judgment, the right on the part of the believers, as the noonday, in full brightness before the eyes of all the world.
v. 7. Rest in the Lord, being still before Jehovah with that calm resignation which knows itself secure in His hands, and wait patiently for Him, looking for His help in steadfast hope; fret not thyself, in anxious vexation, because of him who prospereth in his way, against the wicked in his good fortune, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass, carrying out evil plans to harm the righteous.
v. 8. Cease from anger and forsake wrath, jealously guarding against the sins of an evil temper; fret not thyself in any wise to do evil, for such would be the natural result if a believer would yield to his vexation; he himself would become guilty of sin.
v. 9. For evil-doers shall be cut off, this result being certain without the sinful anger of the believer; but those that wait upon the Lord, steadfastly placing their trust in Him, they shall inherit the earth, enjoy true happiness even here in time, while sure of the blessings of eternity.
v. 10. For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be, wiped out by the avenging hand of God; yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, wondering why it was so suddenly empty, and it shall not be, literally, "it is not," denoting the quick stroke of God’s avenging justice.
v. 11. But the meek, those who humbly rest their trust in God, shall inherit the earth, as the Lord repeats, Mat 5:5; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace, enjoying the happiness of true prosperity under the blessing of Jehovah.
v. 12. The wicked plotteth against the just, with the intention of harming him at every opportunity, and gnasheth upon him with his teeth, in a gesture of unbridled fury.
v. 13. The Lord shall laugh at him, making mockery of the unbeliever’s futile anger; for He seeth that His day, the day of judgment and punishment, is coming.
v. 14. The wicked have drawn out the sword, to commit murder, and have bent their bow, ready to let the death-dealing arrow fly, to cast down the poor and needy, with the weapons of violence, and to slay such as be of upright conversation, who conduct themselves in accordance with the will of Jehovah.
v. 15. Their sword, by the dispensation of God, through His avenging power, shall enter into their own heart, and their bows shall be broken.
v. 16. A little that a righteous man hath, though he be poor in this world’s goods, is better than the riches of many wicked, which do not represent true prosperity, because they do not give contentment, do not afford them rest and satisfaction.
v. 17. For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, so that these members of wickedness can neither harm others nor help themselves; but the Lord upholdeth the righteous, Jehovah being their everlasting Strength and Stay.
v. 18. The Lord knoweth the days of the upright, carefully watches over them, lovingly orders all that befalls them; and their inheritance shall be forever, they will be given the blessings which He has intended for them, here in time and hereafter in eternity.
v. 19. They shall not be ashamed in the evil time, objects of mockery because of their being forsaken by the Lord, and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied, their wants being supplied in accordance with God’s gracious and good will.
v. 20. But the wicked shall perish, this their ultimate fate being emphasized time and again, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs, or, ’’as the splendor of the pastures," which vanishes so quickly; they shall consume, into smoke shall they consume away, as smoke dissolves and vanishes in the air.
v. 21. The wicked borroweth and payeth not again, being deliberately dishonest in his dealings; but the righteous showeth mercy and giveth, glad to share the blessings given him by God with such as are in want.
v. 22. For such as be blessed of Him shall inherit the earth, the blessing of Jehovah proving rich abundance for them; and they that be cursed of Him shall be cut off, their final lot being one of extreme want, of unhappiness, no matter how many treasures they have heaped up.
v. 23. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, firmly established, with Jehovah as his Guide; and He delighteth in his way, Jehovah has pleasure in the entire conduct and manner of living of the believer.
v. 24. Though he fall, for even the righteous will occasionally stumble and become guilty of transgressions, he shall not be utterly cast down, stretched out to his full length, unable to rise again; for the Lord upholdeth him with His hand, sustaining him, offering him His almighty and gracious support, so that he can once more stand upright and proceed upon his way.
v. 25. I have been young and now am old, the psalmist has the experience of a lifetime to draw from; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, abandoned past the point of help, nor his seed begging bread, suffering permanent want. Temporary abandonment and privation there may be, but the righteous are never really forsaken by Jehovah.
v. 26. He, the righteous, the possessor of true righteousness by faith, is ever merciful, showing the faith of his heart in deeds of love, and lendeth; and his seed is blessed, the blessing of Jehovah resting upon his house and family. The conclusion drawn by David, therefore, is:
v. 27. Depart from evil and do good, following the way of true righteousness; and dwell forevermore, that being God’s blessing of mercy upon true piety.
v. 28. For the Lord loveth judgment, He is right in all His dealings with men, and forsaketh not His saints; they are preserved forever. But the seed of the wicked shall be cut off, their entire posterity, following them in their wickedness, shall be destroyed.
v. 29. The righteous shall inherit the land and dwell therein forever, possessors of true happiness.
v. 30. The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, for he is continually meditating upon such things as pertain to the highest wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment, intent upon the right in every situation.
v. 31. The Law of his God is in his heart, providing the motive for his pious conduct; none of his steps shall slide, his entire conduct being guided by a certain rule and norm, since his will is regulated by the will of God.
v. 32. The wicked watcheth the righteous and seeketh to slay him, to that end he has laid his plans.
v. 33. The Lord will not leave him in his hand, will not give the righteous up to the evil intention of the wicked, nor condemn him when he is judged, the divine judgment will acquit him, even if men should declare him guilty.
v. 34. Wait on the Lord, with quiet, steady confidence, and keep His way, and He shall exalt thee to inherit the land, this promise being given six times in this one psalm; when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it.
v. 35. I have seen the wicked in great power, proud, ruthless, arrogant, and spreading himself like a green bay-tree, a tree in full foliage, teeming with strength.
v. 36. Yet he passed away, rather, "lo, one passed by," spoken as of a casual passer-by, and, lo, he was not, gone without causing so much as a ripple; yea, I sought him, but he could not be found. "The paths of glory lead but to the grave. "
v. 37. Mark the perfect man and behold the upright, watching closely how the Lord deals with such a person; for the end of that man is peace, the man of peace receiving everlasting peace as the reward of God’s mercy.
v. 38. But the transgressors shall be destroyed together; the end of the wicked, their entire posterity, shall be cut off.
v. 39. But the salvation of the righteous, their final deliverance from every evil, of body and soul, property and honor, is of the Lord: He is their Strength in the time of trouble, in every form of distress and oppression.
v. 40. And the Lord shall help them and deliver them; He shall deliver them from the wicked and save them because they trust in Him, making Jehovah their sole refuge. The lesson of the psalm is beautifully summarized in the well-known hymn of Paul Gerhardt "Commit Whatever Grieves Thee," which has brought consolation to many a troubled heart.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v1 General Information:
General Information:
Parallelism is common in Hebrew poetry. (See: Poetry and Parallelism)
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A psalm of David
Possible meanings are 1) David wrote the psalm or 2) the psalm is about David or 3) the psalm is in the style of David's psalms.
Do not be irritated because of evildoers
"Do not let wicked people upset you" or "Do not be bothered by what wicked people do"
dry up as the grass ... wither as the green plants
Evildoers are spoken of as if they are grass and plants that dry up and die in the hot weather. These two similes both mean they will die. AT: "die" or "come to an end" (See: Simile and Parallelism)
translationWords
psalm
David
evil
envy
righteous
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1–2 Ps 37 This psalm elaborates on the problems posed…
Ps 37 This psalm elaborates on the problems posed in Ps 36: How should the godly respond to the reality of evil? When will the Lord bring justice? Why does he permit the wicked to destroy his created order? Psalm 37 offers clear responses that reduce the tensions of life (37:1-9, 34) and promise that the meek will have a future (37:10-11, 39-40). The alternating contrast between the godly and the wicked emphasizes the futility of folly (37:12-24, 27-33). The personal observations of the psalmist add a human touch (37:25-26, 35-38). He encourages viewing the inheritance of the land from a long-range perspective: The earth belongs to the Lord, who will give it to those he blesses—the lowly and godly who trust in him, put their hope in him, and follow him (see 37:9, 11, 22, 29, 34; see also Isa 57:13; Matt 5:5).
37:1-9 The wise respond to evil by trusting in the Lord. Trust includes five dimensions: (1) renouncing irritability and envy (37:1-2); (2) delighting in the Lord (37:3-4); (3) submitting to the Lord (37:5-6); (4) practicing patience in hope (37:7); and (5) avoiding anger (37:8-9).
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37:1 envy: The jealous desire to have what others enjoy leads to further sin (73:3; Prov 3:31; Jas 1:14-15; 4:1-2).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.