4 Do good, O Jehovah, unto the good, and to them that are upright in their hearts.
My shield is with God, who saveth the upright in heart.
Thou art good, and doest good; teach me thy statutes.
Continue thy loving-kindness unto them that know thee, and thy righteousness to the upright in heart;
{To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David.} Blessed is he that understandeth the poor: Jehovah will deliver him in the day of evil. Jehovah will preserve him, and keep him alive; he shall be made happy in the land; and thou wilt not deliver him to the will of his enemies. Jehovah will sustain him upon the bed of languishing: thou turnest all his bed in his sickness.
{A Psalm of Asaph.} Truly God is good to Israel, to such as are of a pure heart.
For Jehovah Elohim is a sun and shield: Jehovah will give grace and glory; no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.
Let my heart be perfect in thy statutes, that I be not ashamed.
and thou proffer thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul: then shall thy light rise in the darkness, and thine obscurity be as midday; and Jehovah will guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and strengthen thy bones; and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a water-spring, whose waters deceive not.
Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and says of him, Behold [one] truly an Israelite, in whom there is no guile.
For God [is] not unrighteous to forget your work, and the love which ye have shewn to his name, having ministered to the saints, and [still] ministering.
But whoso may have the world's substance, and see his brother having need, and shut up his bowels from him, how abides the love of God in him? Children, let us not love with word, nor with tongue, but in deed and in truth. And hereby we shall know that we are of the truth, and shall persuade our hearts before him -- that if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, we have boldness towards God, and whatsoever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments, and practise the things which are pleasing in his sight. And this is his commandment, that we believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and that we love one another, even as he has given us commandment. And he that keeps his commandments abides in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit which he has given to us.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Psalms 125
Commentary on Psalms 125 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
PSALM 125
Ps 125:1-5. God honors the confidence of His people, by protection and deliverance, and leaves hypocrites to the doom of the wicked.
1, 2. Mount Zion—as an emblem of permanence, and locality of Jerusalem as one of security, represent the firm and protected condition of God's people (compare Ps 46:5), supported not only by Providence, but by covenant promise. Even the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed, but God's kindness shall not depart, nor His covenant of peace be removed (Isa 54:10).
They that trust—are "His people," (Ps 125:2).
3. Though God may leave them for a time under the "rod," or power (Ps 2:9), and oppression of the wicked for a time, as a chastisement, He will not suffer them to be tempted so as to fall into sin (1Co 10:13). The wicked shall only prove a correcting rod to them, not a destroying sword; even this rod shall not remain ("rest") on them, lest they be tempted to despair and apostasy (Ps 73:13, 14). God may even try His people to the uttermost: when nothing is before our eyes but pure despair, then He delivers us and gives life in death, and makes us blessed in the curse (2Co 1:8, 9) [Luther].
the lot—the possession, literally, "Canaan," spiritually, the heavenly inheritance of holiness and bliss which is appointed to the righteous. Sin's dominion shall not permanently come between the believer and his inheritance.
4. (Compare Ps 7:10; 84:11).
5. Those who turn aside (under temptation) permanently show that they are hypocrites, and their lot or portion shall be with the wicked (Ps 28:3).
crooked ways—(Compare De 9:16; Mal 2:8, 9).
their—is emphatic; the "crooked ways" proceed from their own hearts. The true Israel is here distinguished from the false. Scripture everywhere opposes the Jewish delusion that mere outward descent would save (Ro 2:28, 29; 9:6, 7; Ga 6:16). The byways of sin from the way of life.