Psa 127:1-2 | KD | STEP | The inscribed לשׁלמה is only added to this Song of degrees because there was found in not only an allusion to the name Jedidiah , which Solomon received from Nathan ( ), but also to his being endowed with wisdom and riches in the dream at Gibeon (1Ki 3:5.). And to these is still to be added the Proverbs-like form of the Psalm; for, like the proverb-song, the extended form of the Mashal , it consists of a double string of proverbs, the expression of which reminds one in many ways of the Book of Proverbs (עצבים in , toilsome efforts, as in ; מאחרי, as in ; בּני הנּעוּרים in , sons begotten in one’s youth; בּשּׁער in , as in ; ), and which together are like the unfolding of the proverb, : The blessing of Jahve, it maketh rich, and labour addeth nothing beside it . Even Theodoret observes, on the natural assumption that points to the building of the Temple, how much better the Psalm suits the time of Zerubbabel and Joshua, when the building of the Temple was imperilled by the hostile neighbouring peoples; and in connection with the relatively small number of those who had returned home out of the Exile, a numerous family, and more especially many sons, must have seemed to be a doubly and threefoldly precious blessing from God.

‏ Psalms 127:1-2

Everything Depends upon the Blessing of God ^{▼▼An Gottes Segen ist alles gelegen.}

The inscribed לשׁלמה is only added to this Song of degrees because there was found in Psa 127:2 not only an allusion to the name Jedidiah, which Solomon received from Nathan (2Sa 12:25), but also to his being endowed with wisdom and riches in the dream at Gibeon (1Ki 3:5.). And to these is still to be added the Proverbs-like form of the Psalm; for, like the proverb-song, the extended form of the Mashal, it consists of a double string of proverbs, the expression of which reminds one in many ways of the Book of Proverbs (עצבים in Psa 127:2, toilsome efforts, as in Pro 5:10; מאחרי, as in Pro 23:30; בּני הנּעוּרים in Psa 127:4, sons begotten in one’s youth; בּשּׁער in Psa 127:5, as in Pro 22:22; Pro 24:7), and which together are like the unfolding of the proverb, Pro 10:22 : The blessing of Jahve, it maketh rich, and labour addeth nothing beside it. Even Theodoret observes, on the natural assumption that Psa 127:1 points to the building of the Temple, how much better the Psalm suits the time of Zerubbabel and Joshua, when the building of the Temple was imperilled by the hostile neighbouring peoples; and in connection with the relatively small number of those who had returned home out of the Exile, a numerous family, and more especially many sons, must have seemed to be a doubly and threefoldly precious blessing from God. Psa 127:1-2

The poet proves that everything depends upon the blessing of God from examples taken from the God-ordained life of the family and of the state. The rearing of the house which affords us protection, and the stability of the city in which we securely and peaceably dwell, the acquisition of possessions that maintain and adorn life, the begetting and rearing of sons that may contribute substantial support to the father as he grows old - all these are things which depend upon the blessing of God without natural preliminary conditions being able to guarantee them, well-devised arrangements to ensure them, unwearied labours to obtain them by force, or impatient care and murmuring to get them by defiance. Many a man builds himself a house, but he is not able to carry out the building of it, or he dies before he is able to take possession of it, or the building fails through unforeseen misfortunes, or, if it succeeds, becomes a prey to violent destruction: if God Himself do not build it, they labour thereon (עמל בּ, Jon 4:10; Ecc 2:21) in vain who build it. Many a city is well-ordered, and seems to be secured by wise precautions against every misfortune, against fire and sudden attack; but if God Himself do not guard it, it is in vain that those to whom its protection is entrusted give themselves no sleep and perform (שׁקד, a word that has only come into frequent use since the literature of the Salomonic age) the duties of their office with the utmost devotion. The perfect in the apodosis affirms what has been done on the part of man to be ineffectual if the former is not done on God’s part; cf. Num 32:23. Many rise up early in order to get to their work, and delay the sitting down as along as possible; i.e., not: the lying down (Hupfeld), for that is שׁכב, not ישׁב; but to take a seat in order to rest a little, and, as what follows shows, to eat (Hitzig). קוּם and שׁבת stand opposed to one another: the latter cannot therefore mean to remain sitting at one’s work, in favour of which Isa 5:11 (where בּבּקר and בּנּשׁף form an antithesis) cannot be properly compared. 1Sa 20:24 shows that prior to the incursion of the Grecian custom they did not take their meals lying or reclining (ἀνα- or κατακείμενος), but sitting. It is vain for you - the poet exclaims to them - it will not after all bring hat you think to be able to acquire; in so doing you eat only the bread of sorrow, i.e., bread that is procured with toil and trouble (cf. Gen 3:17, בּעצּבון): כּן, in like manner, i.e., the same as you are able to procure only by toilsome and anxious efforts, God gives to His beloved (Psa 60:7; Deu 33:12) שׁנא (= שׁנה), in sleep (an adverbial accusative like לילה בּּקר, ערב), i.e., without restless self-activity, in a state of self-forgetful renunciation, and modest, calm surrender to Him: “God bestows His gifts during the night,” says a German proverb, and a Greek proverb even says: εὕδοντι κύρτος αἱρεῖ. Böttcher takes כּן in the sense of “so = without anything further;” and כן certainly has this meaning sometimes (vid., introduction to Psa 110:1-7), but not in this passage, where, as referring back, it stands at the head of the clause, and where what this mimic כן would import lies in the word שׁנא.

‏ Psalms 127:1-2

Everything Depends upon the Blessing of God ▼▼An Gottes Segen ist alles gelegen.

Everything Depends upon the Blessing of God ^{▼▼An Gottes Segen ist alles gelegen.}