They are planted in Yahweh’s house. They will flourish in our God’s courts.
Parallel Translations
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They are planted in Yahweh’s house. They will flourish in our God’s courts.
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Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God.
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(92-14) Planted in the house of the LORD, they shall flourish in the courts of our God.
Cross-references (10)
Passages linked to Psalms 92:13 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 2 Peter 3:18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.
- Isaiah 61:3 to provide for those who mourn in Zion, to give to them a garland for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of Yahweh, that he may be glorified.
- Ephesians 3:17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, to the end that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
- Isaiah 60:21 Then your people will all be righteous. They will inherit the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.
- Romans 6:5 For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will also be part of his resurrection;
- Psalms 100:4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, and bless his name.
- Romans 11:17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the root and of the richness of the olive tree,
- Psalms 116:19 in the courts of Yahweh’s house, in the middle of you, Jerusalem. Praise Yah!
- 2 Chronicles 4:9 Furthermore he made the court of the priests, the great court, and doors for the court, and overlaid their doors with bronze.
- Psalms 135:2 you who stand in Yahweh’s house, in the courts of our God’s house.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 92:13 Those that be planted in the house…
Psa 92:13 Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God.
Ver. 13. Those that be planted] Having taken deep root there. Hypocrites are only thrust in, as a stake, into the earth. Mnason was an old disciple, Andronicus and Junia were in Christ before Paul, and therefore of note among the apostles for well-rooted and fruited, Rom 16:7.
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In the courts of our God] In Christ, and under the ordinances.
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 Those that be planted; whom God by his gracious…
Those that be planted; whom God by his gracious providence and Holy Spirit hath planted or fixed there.
In the house of the Lord, i.e. in its courts, which are a part of the house, and oft come under that name in Scripture. And by this house he means the church of God, whereof all just persons are real and living members.
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The courts; which he mentions rather than the house, because he speaks not here of the priests, but of all just men, who were permitted to come no further than into the courts.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain They shall still bring forth fruit in old age,....…
They shall still bring forth fruit in old age,.... Being thus planted and watered, they shall not only bring forth the fruits of righteousness, but shall continue, and go on to do so, and even when they are grown old; contrary to all other trees, which, when old, cease bearing fruit; but so do not the righteous; grace is often in the greatest vigour when nature is decayed; witness Abraham, Job, David, Zachariah, and Elisabeth, and good old Simeon, who went to the grave like shocks of corn, fully ripe:
they shall be fat and flourishing; or "green", full of sap and moisture, abound with green leaves and precious fruit; or, in other words, abound in grace, and be fruitful in every good work: being ingrafted into the true olive, the church of God, they partake of the root and fatness of it; having a place in the house of the Lord, they are satisfied with the goodness and fatness thereof, and are made to drink of the river of divine pleasure; and being in the courts of the Lord, where a feast of fat things is provided for them, they eat and feed, and so thrive and flourish; the allusion is to fat and flourishing palm trees (g).
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(g) "Praeferat Herodis palmetis pinguibus----". Horat. Ep. l. 2. Ep. 2. v. 148.
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 Planted - Whom God by his gracious providence has…
Planted - Whom God by his gracious providence has fixed there. The house - In its courts; he means in the church of God, whereof all good men are living members.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 13. Those that be planted in the house…
Verse 13. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord] I believe the Chaldee has the true meaning here: "His children shall be planted in the house of the sanctuary of the Lord, and shall flourish in the courts of our God." As these trees flourish in their respective soils and climates, so shall the righteous in the ordinances of God. I do not think there is any allusion to either palm-trees or cedars, planted near the tabernacle or temple.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Psa 92:13-14. Those that be planted in the house…
Psa 92:13-14. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord — In his church, of which all righteous persons are real and living members: those whom God, by his gracious providence and Holy Spirit, hath planted and fixed there, and incorporated with his people; shall flourish in the courts of our God — Like the trees just mentioned, they shall retain their pleasant verdure, extend their cooling shade, refresh many by their sweet and nourishing fruit, or support and adorn them by their useful qualities, and increase continually in grace and goodness. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age — When their natural strength decays it shall be renewed: their last days shall be their best days, wherein, as they shall grow in grace, so they shall increase in comfort and blessedness. He seems to allude to the palm-trees above mentioned, which produce, indeed, little fruit till they be about thirty years of age, but after that time, while their juice continues, the older they become, are the more fruitful, and will bear each three or four hundred pounds of dates every year. “Happy the man whose goodness is always progressive, and whose virtues increase with his years; who loseth not, in multiplying of worldly cares, the holy fervours of his first love, but goeth on, burning and shining more and more, to the end of his days!” — Horne.
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 Those that be planted in the house of the…
Those that be planted in the house of the Lord - As if plants were reared up in the house of God. The same image, under the idea of the olive tree, occurs in Psa 52:8. See the notes at that verse. The passage here may refer particularly to those who have been trained up in connection with the church; young plants set out in the sanctuary, and cultivated until they have reached their growth.
Shall flourish in the courts of our God - That is, Having been planted there, they will grow there; they will send out their boughs there; they will produce fruit there. The “courts” of the house of God were properly the areas or open spaces around the tabernacle or the temple (see the notes at Mat 21:12); but the word came also to denote the tabernacle or the temple itself, or to designate a place where God was worshipped. It has this meaning here. The passage affords an encouragement to parents to train up their children in attendance on the ordinances of public worship; and it shows the advantage of having been born in the church, and of having been trained up in it - an advantage which no one can fully appreciate. The passage may also be regarded as furnishing a proof of what will be the result of being thus “planted” and nurtured in connection with the church, inasmuch as trees carefully planted and cultivated are expected to produce more and better fruit than those which grow wild.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 13. Planted in the house of the Lord—The metaphor…
13. Planted in the house of the Lord—The metaphor is carried through this and the following verses. The right planting is first essential to growth and fertility. See note on Psa_52:8; and compare Jer_17:8; Eze_19:10; Eze_19:13; Mat_15:13.
Shall flourish—Grow vigorously, and with unfading leaf. See Psa_92:12 and Psa_1:3. True church life, in its doctrines, ordinances, and fellowships, is God’s soil for spiritual growth.
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 13. Planted in the house of Jehovah
13. Planted in the house of Jehovah
They shall flourish in the courts of our God.
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It is possible that trees had grown in the Temple courts, as they grow at the present day in the Haram area, and that the prosperity and security of the righteous are compared to the luxuriant growth of the carefully tended trees in the sacred precincts. But the expression may be merely figurative. The land was ‘Jehovah’s house.’ Replanted there, Israel will evermore flourish under the care and guardianship of Jehovah. Cp. Psa_52:8; Isa_61:3; Jer_32:41.
The addition in the P.B.V. ‘in the courts of the house of our God’ is from the Vulg.
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 (13) (See Note, Psa_52:8, and Stanley’s Jewish Church, ii.…
(13) (See Note, Psa_52:8, and Stanley’s Jewish Church, ii. 207.)
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 Those that be planted in the house of the…
Those that be planted in the house of the Lord; rather, Planted (or, Being planted) in the house of the Lord, they. This does not refer to the "trees" of the preceding verse, but to the "righteous," who are viewed as passing their days almost continually in the temple courts, and so as (in a certain sense) "planted" there. The passage has no bearing on the question whether the temple courts were or were not planted with trees. Shall flourish in the courts of our God. (comp. Psa_84:2, Psa_84:10)
Vers. 13-15. "Planted in the house of the Lord.
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Five subjects fall to be considered here.
I THE PLANTED ONES. The similitude is taken from the fact of trees being commonly planted in the quadrangles of Eastern houses; there were trees in the temple courts. Now, from this emblem we learn much about those persons whom it represents.
1. They must have had life in them. People do not plant dead things. So ere ever any soul is planted in the house of the Lord, the Divine life must have begun. It may have been very feeble, but it was there. Many come to church, and regularly, who have never been planted in the house of the Lord, because they are not "born again.
2. They are where they once were not. The tree had been transplanted, moved from one place to another. So the soul of the man spoken of here. He has been "translated out of the kingdom of darkness into," etc.; he has passed "from death into life;" he has undergone a great and wonderful change. The process may have been very painful; the roots of our life seemed so to cling to our old state. But by one means and another we have been transplanted. "If any man be in Christ Jesus, he is a new creature; old things have," etc.
3. And it was done for us, not by ourselves. We were "born, not of the will of man, nor of the will of the flesh, but of the will of God." Unless Christ saves us, we shall never be saved. We owe our all to the grace of God.
4. The roots have taken hold of the soil. (C.H. Spurgeon) We often make use of the expression that a man has taken root in a place, meaning that he has settled down there, and has found pleasure and good in his surroundings, and is at home there. So these people, these planted ones, find their home in the house of God.
5. And they stay there. They are no mere birds of passage, but they dwell in the secret place of the Most High, love the habitation of God"s house, their soul"s home is there. In body they must often be absent, but in spirit never.
II THE PROSPERITY PROMISED THEM. They "shall flourish in the courts of our God.
1. As a fact they do. What great saint ever set light store by the sanctuary of God?
2. And it is certain they will. There is the promise of God. There is the soul nurture which the sacred services of the sanctuary supply. There is the shelter, and retreat from the hostile forces of the world outside. There is the ever-watchful eye of the husbandman. God cares for the trees planted there. He watches over them night and day.
III THE PERMANENCE OF ALL THIS. "They bring forth fruit in old age" (see homily on this clause).
IV THE PROOF HEREBY GIVEN OF THE CHARACTER OF GOD.
1. They shout that the Lord is upright. " They do this, for they, being righteous themselves, prove that he who made them so is righteous. We judge by deeds. Righteous souls are God"s deeds.
2. And they show his love also; for he does not cast them off in the time of their old age, as most men do their servants; but he puts yet more honour on them.
V THE PERSONAL TESTIMONY OF THE PSALMIST. "He is my Rock," etc. It is as if he would say, "I know all this is true, for he is my Rock, and there is," etc. It is good to proclaim the truth of God, but he does it the more powerfully who can bear testimony from his own experience. Then, are we willing to be planted in the house of our God? Go and tell him so, and it shall be done unto you. S.C.
The testimony of old age to God"s faithfulness.
Perowne thinks allusion may be to the "date palm, which, when it reaches maturity, produces three or four hundred pounds weight of fruit, and has been known even to produce six hundred pounds weight." In contrast with the prosperity of the wicked, which is but for a moment, the prosperity of the righteous is declared to be long lived. The aged are spared among us, not for any direct work they can do, but for the testimony they can render to the faithfulness and mercy of God. Over and over again we may hear them saying, "I have been young, and now am old, yet have I never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread." Godly old age testifies, on the basis of its personal, lengthened, and varied experiences, of three things.
I GRACE EVER ADAPTED. According to the promise, "As thy day, so shall thy strength be.
II GRACE EVER ABOUNDING. According to the promise, "God is able to make all grace abound, so that ye, having all sufficiency unto all good things, may abound unto every good word and work.
III GRACE EVER CONTINUING. As we sing in our hymn"His grace shall to the end Stronger and brighter shine.
And according to the promise, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you." John Owen says, "When believers are under all sorts of bodily and natural decays, and, it may be, have been overtaken with spiritual decays also, there is provision made in the covenant to render them fat, flourishing, and fruitful vigorous in the power of internal grace, and flourishing in the expression of it in all duties of obedience. Blessed be God for this good word of grace that he hath given us such encouragement against all the decays and temptations of old age which we have to conflict withal. R.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain Ver. 13. Those that be planted in the house…
Ver. 13. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. In the courtyards of Oriental houses trees were planted, and being thoroughly screened, they would be likely to bring forth their fruit to perfection in trying seasons; even so, those who by grace are brought into communion with the Lord, shall be likened to trees planted in the Lord's house, and shall find it good to their souls. No heart has so much joy as that which abides in the Lord Jesus. Fellowship with the stem begets fertility in the branches. If a man abide in Christ he brings forth much fruit. Those professors who are rooted to the world do not flourish; those who send forth their roots into the marshes of frivolous pleasure cannot be in a vigorous condition; but those who dwell in habitual fellowship with God shall become men of full growth, rich in grace, happy in experience, mighty in influence, honoured and honourable. Much depends upon the soil in which a tree is planted; everything, in our case, depends upon our abiding in the Lord Jesus, and deriving all our supplies from him. If we ever really grow in the courts of the Lord's house we must be planted there, for no tree grows in God's garden self sown; once planted of the Lord, we shall never be rooted up, but in his courts we shall take root downward, and bring forth fruit upward to his glory for ever.
Ver. 13. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God, are not distinctive of some from others, as though some only of the flourishing righteous were so planted; but they are descriptive of them all, with an addition of the way and means whereby they are caused so to grow and flourish. And this is their implantation in the house of the Lord, that is, in the church, which is the seat of all the means of spiritual life, both as unto growth and flourishing, which God is pleased to grant unto believers. To be planted in the house of the Lord, is to be fixed and rooted in the grace communicated by the ordinances of divine worship. Unless we are planted in the house of the Lord, we cannot flourish in his courts. See Ps 1:3. Unless we are partakers of the grace administered in the ordinances, we cannot flourish in a fruitful profession. John Owen.
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Ver. 13. Those that be planted in, the house of the Lord, etc. Saints are planted in the house of God; they have a kind of rooting there: but though the tabernacle be a good rooting place, yet we cannot root firmly there, unless we are rooted in Jesus Christ. To root in tabernacle work, or in the bare use of ordinances, as if that would carry it, and commend us to God, when there is no heart work, when there is no looking to the power of godliness, and to communion with Christ, what is this but building upon the sand? Many come often to the tabernacle, who are more strangers to Christ; they use pure ordinances, but are themselves impure. These may have a great name in the tabernacle for a while, but God blots their names, and roots their hopes out of the tabernacle; yea, he puts them from the horns of the altar, or slays them there, as Solomon gave commandment concerning Joab. Abraham Wright.
Ver. 13. In the house of the Lord. As if in a most select viridarium or as if in a park, abounding in trees dedicated to God. And as in Ps 5:12 he had made mention of Lebanon, where the cedars attain their highest perfection, so now he tacitly opposes to Lebanon the house of God, or church, wherein we bloom, grow, and bring forth fruit pleasing to God. Martin Geier.
Psalms 92:14*
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 Those that be planted in the house of the…
Psa_92:13-15
Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God.
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The trees in Gods courts
I. The planting. It sounds odd to hear of planting a tree in a house, and of its flourishing in courts; but remember an oriental house is a sort of quadrangle. It is a four-square building, with the middle open to the sky, and generally there is a small garden, in which a palm-tree, or an olive, or some other evergreen tree will be found planted: so that what seems strange to us--a tree planted in a house--was not at all strange to David or to anybody else who lived in the city of Jerusalem. And it is a very beautiful figure--this being planted within the four courts of Gods house, that we might grow right in the middle of the place where God with His family deigns to dwell. Well, we are planted in Gods house in two respects. First, in regeneration, when we are born into the house; and secondly, at our profession of faith, which should be by baptism, when we are publicly brought into the house and planted in the likeness of Christs death by being buried, after His commandment, in the water.
1. Planting implies, first, that there has been something done for us that we could not do for ourselves. A tree cannot plant itself. And you know, there is a necessity that there should be a work of grace upon our souls, which shall come, not from ourselves, but distinctly from God.
2. It implies, too, that there must be a great change in our position, for a tree that is planted has been growing somewhere else. Do we know ourselves to be new creatures in Christ Jesus?
3. It implies also that there is life in us. God does not intend to have dead stumps standing in His court. If we do not know the life of God, we know not God at all.
4. And it implies that we ourselves have taken hold of the soil wherein we have been planted. Are you seeking for vital truth to sustain your souls vitality? Do you in the ordinances send out the rootlets of your desire, to seek after what God has prepared for you? Is there in you a living sap flowing, which sap is being fed by what you draw in from the soil in which God has placed you?
II. The promise. Those that be planted shall flourish.
1. Because God has said that they shall. His promises are sure to be fulfilled. If He plants a tree He will cause it to flourish. Therefore, be very hopeful. As your needs arise, they shall be supplied.
2. Because of the goodness of the soil. They are planted where the means of grace abound, and where the Holy Spirit has promised to abide.
3. Because they are planted in a sheltered position are you not like a vineyard on a very fruitful hill, which He has hedged about and walled, and in which He has put a wine-press, and which He has watered every morning, and, lest any should hurt it, has kept night and day?
4. Because they are so near the husbandman (Joh_15:1). Now, if any of you are not flourishing, though you are planted in the house of the Lord, I am sure it is not through any faultiness on Gods part. Let such ask Him, and ask themselves, the reason why, and go to Him in prayer, and say--Good Lord, I am planted in Thy house; make me to flourish according to Thy word.
III. The continuance of this flourishing. They shall bring forth fruit, etc. There are some that begin with a spurt, and it is soon over; and there are some trees that promise exceedingly well for fruit, but the blossoms did not knit, hence they fail to yield fruit in due season. But those whom God plants, and whom He makes to flourish, bring forth fruit, and continue to bring it forth till old age.
1. What fruit, then, you will ask, do they bring forth?
(1) There is the fruit of testimony. I distinctly recollect hearing a blind old minister talk of the lovingkindness of the Lord when I was sixteen or seventeen, and the encouragement that he gave me has never departed from me. A young man could not have done that, because he had not attained so much experience; but the weight of years, and even of infirmities, made that venerable blind mans testimony very, very weighty to my soul.
(2) Saints bring forth fruit in the way of savour when they grow old. Many young ministers can rattle out some of the truths of the Gospel very readily; but if you want to taste the sweetness, to feel the unction, to enjoy the savour, you must hear one that has had long and deep experience. It must be so. There is an inimitable mellowness about the Christian who has grown old in his Masters service.
(3) The aged Christian ought to have the fruit of patience. You remember Dr. Hamiltons story of poor old Betty, who could not do anything but lie in bed and cough, but she said, Well, bless the Lord, whatever the Lord has told me to do I have tried to do it; and when He said, Betty, bring up your family, I tried to bring them up in the fear of God. When He said, Betty, go to the house of God and sing My praises, I was delighted to do it. And when He said, Betty, go upstairs and lie in bed and cough; well, I will do it, she said, and bless the name of the Lord for letting me do it, so long as there is anything to be done for Him.
(4) One of the most delicious fruits that Christians produce in their old age is calm, quiet confidence in God.
2. The text does not speak of old age merely bringing forth fruit, but it says--They shall be fat and flourishing, which means that Christians, in their advanced years, shall have a fulness of savour and life in them.
IV. The manifestation that affords conclusive proof of the Divine faithfulness. To show that the Lord is upright. These good folks are to bring forth fruit, and to be fat and flourishing, on purpose to manifest before the eyes of all men. That the Lord is upright: He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him. That the Lord is upright. Well, how does the fruit-bearing of an aged Christian show that? Why, it shows that God has kept His promise. He has promised that He will never leave them nor forsake them. There you see it. He has promised that when they are weak they shall be strong. There you see it. He has promised that if they seek Him they shall not lack any good thing. There you see it. He has promised them, Thy bread shall be given thee; thy water shall be sure. Hear what they have to say, and you will see it. He has said, Even to hoar hairs I am He. I have made and I will bear, and I will carry you as in the days of old. There you have it. Ask them. There you see it. We put Q. E. D. at the end of a proposition when it is proved. So you may put that down at the end of the problem of life. God is good to His people. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fruitfulness of piety
I. The fruitfulness of piety. Its abundance. It is like the palm-tree. The righteous surpass the wicked, as the palm-tree the grass that is cast into the fire. Much fruit glorifies God. The palm, the noblest tree of the plain, and the cedar, the noblest tree of the mountain, both stand as symbols of the righteous. Both are superior to the caprices of seasons. The palm looks from a lofty eminence down on the desert, and the cedar defies the storm. Both are enduring. Fruits are better than seeds. Deeds than profession.
II. The immediate and ultimate source of this piety. They are planted in the courts of the Lord. Piety must find its nutrition in holy exercises. Worship, meditation with the lights of Christian truth should lead on to far higher spirituality than the broken lights of the Old Temple services. There is never a doctrine in the Word or nature that is not intended for enrichment and elevation of the true and temper of life.
III. The fruitfulness of piety gives direct and honourable testimony to God. The Lord is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him. Dependence on God essential to fruitfulness. (G. B. Johnson.)
Plants that grow in the Church
I. The place where these righteous people shall develop is said to be the house of Jehovah. This is the temple of Gods ancient people.
1. The psalmist uses this figure to describe the character of the righteous. The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree. This is the kind of plant that grow in the house of Jehovah, quite in contrast with the wicked described as springing as the grass. The grass springs up quickly and withers as quickly. The palm-tree grows tall and straight. So with the righteous. The palm-tree also is strong. The righteous, those who have been made righteous with Gods own righteousness, can stand against the fiercest tempests of sin and temptation.
2. The palm-tree is the most graceful and beautiful of trees. In the Song of Solomon, the most beautiful of women is likened to it. We learn to esteem a most beautiful one whose features were at first repulsive, because of the character of righteousness that has enveloped his person.
3. The palm-tree, too, is endogenous. While many trees grow by additions of rings to the outsider this tree grows by adding cell within cell, thus developing from within outward. The man you have known as a boy, now developed into a truly righteous character, has done it by no change that you can detect without. You recognize his features distinctly enough as those of the boy. Character makes the difference. It is an expansion that has come from within.
4. The palm-tree is useful for its food products.
II. God is in His house. God dwells in His church to-day, in the assemblages of His people, as nowhere else, to make central power-stations for the production of righteous lives. The area for the growth of the date palm is limited. There is no fruit at an altitude of more than one thousand feet above the sea-level. So God has given us a place where He can successfully grow the righteous. It is His Church.
III. They shall flourish. No one cares to start a business that is going to fail, or to live a life that is not going to be life indeed. A sixteenth-century man who owned a lot in London instructed his architect that the lot was small, but he would have him remember that he owned all the way up. That is the advantage the righteous man has. The possibilities of his development are limited only by infinite space upward. The immeasurable altitudes belong to him. (D. T. Wyman.)
Soul planting
I. The soil which it requires. The house of the Lord. The courts of our God. This means the redemptive religion of God; or, in other words, the Gospel. Nothing but the Gospel has the power to quicken, nurture, and fully develop the human soul as it is found in its corrupt state. Science, philosophy, poetry, social ethics, and all the arts and influences of civilization have tried and failed. You may as well expect that an acorn would grow to a perfect oak planted in the sand, as to expect that the soul will grow to its proper proportions if planted in any soil but the Gospel.
II. The prosperity which it will realize. Shall flourish.
1. Flourish in size, multiplying their branches of power, and towering higher and higher.
2. Flourish in strength. Ever receiving more vitality and vigour.
3. Flourish in beauty. More majestic in figure, more exquisite in hue, more charming in flower.
4. Flourish in fruitfulness. Clusters increasing with every age. They shall flourish. How glorious the soul may become! (Homilist.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 92:13 The Temple area consisted of the Lord’s own…
92:13 The Temple area consisted of the Lord’s own house and the courts that surrounded it.
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