Psalm 129:7














Jowett says, "At Anata, the Anathoth of Scripture, I observed that the roofs of some of the houses were partially covered with grass - a circumstance which I noticed also in several other places. As the roofs of the common dwellings are flat, and, instead of being built of stone or wood, are coated with plaster or hardened earth, a slight crop of grass frequently springs up in that situation. Such vegetation, however, having no soil into which it can strike its roots, and being exposed to a scorching sun, rarely attains to any great height or continues long. It is a feeble, stunted product, and soon withers away. Hence the sacred writers sometimes allude to the grass of the house-top as an emblem of weakness, frailty, and certain destruction" (Isaiah 37:27). The meaning of vers. 7, 8 is this - There will be no reapers of such worthless grass as this; there will be nothing to elicit the utterance of those common formulas of benediction with which passers-by were wont to greet harvesters. It is better to associate these verses with the short-lived enmity of the Samaritans to the returned exiles, than with the more systematic dealing of an empire like Babylon.

I. THE ENMITY OF THE SAMARITANS WAS SHOWY. After rain, the grass on the house-top springs up in a very showy and boastful way, as if it were going to do great things. And so the Samaritans vaunted much and taunted much, and at first seemed to accomplish much; for they put cords on the restoring work of the exiles, and stopped the building of the temple, and prevented the building of the wall. II, THE ENMITY OF THE SAMARITANS WAS SHORT-LIVED. It was met with patience. Presently the energy of an Ezra and a Nehemiah, like an east wind or a scorching sun, hopelessly cut down the blades. Persecutors of God's people are never given a "long tether." God's people may always pray, "Come quickly."

III. THE ENMITY OF THE SAMARITANS BROUGHT THEM NO GOOD. It only spoiled permanently their relations with Israel, and put them out of favor with Persia. The mower never filled his hand with any harvest of the grass that grew on that housetop. The harvest of all enmities to God's people is never anything else than "a heap in a time of desperate sorrow." Goodness is a harvest reaped from good. - R.T.

Let them be as the grass upon the housetops.
Such a life is —

I. TRANSIENT (ver. 6). Wickedness is inimical to longevity. What are all-the possessions, pleasures, the pomps, and grandeurs of unholy men l Mere fading flowers of the field.

II. USELESS (ver. 7). Ungodly men may leave behind them their worldly possessions that may become useful to others; but what they leave behind them morally in the way of sound teaching and life-example is worth nothing; nay, it is worse than worthless.

III. UNBLESSED (ver. 8). Who can bless the memory of the wicked, the memory of those who have lived lives entirely selfish, sensual, secular, utterly regardless of the interests and rights of others? They can only be cursed.

(David Thomas, D. D.)

In the East, the houses have generally flat roofs. These are covered with a kind of compost or cement. This should obstruct all vegetation; but if chipped and broken up in any part, grass seeds carried there by the wind take root and grow. The plant springs up rapidly, from the thinness of the soil, and from its warm exposure. From its elevated situation it is seen at a distance, and makes a goodly show. But the same causes make the plant feeble and shrivelled, and it withers before it reaches maturity. Who would covet such prosperity as this? It is not the tall, majestic tree, which has withstood the winds and storms of centuries. It is as grass; not even as grass sown in the humble valley, full of moisture, and rich in beauty: it is as grass on the housetop, which dies before the ears are fully formed. Their prosperity has no stability: its roots are not deep in the Divine blessing.

(N. McMichael.)

is a wide field of thickly-growing corn stirred by gentle breezes under a ripening sun. As the labourers, humming or shouting snatches of cheery song, bind the sheaves, and carry load after load away, they receive friendly salutations from people passing by. Nearly two hundred years before this psalm was produced, Isaiah sketched the pride, impotence and ruin of Israel's foes. They that hate Zion are "as the grass on the housetops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up" (Isaiah 37:27). The flat roof of an Eastern dwelling is no more the place for vegetation than Jerusalem is a proper field for Gentile and Samaritan ploughers; but so long as there are winds to blow particles of earth into crevices and corners, dews and showers to moisten the drifted dust, and birds of the air to sow seeds, the best cemented housetop is not proof against the appearance of straggling and struggling blades. The enemies of Israel shall be "as the grass upon the housetops, which withereth afore it groweth up," which for want of nourishment at the roots dries and dies before it can be pulled: "wherewith the mower filleth not his hand; nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom." Let who will express approbation of the salutations interchanged by Mohammedans when they meet, so long as they do not speak of them as if they originated with Turks and Moors. Such greetings are the remnant, in many countries, of a beautiful primitive custom. The Book of Ruth supplies a delightful glimpse of a harvest field thirteen hundred years before the Christian era (Ruth 2:4). The thought is ridiculous of housetop harvesting occasioning such benedictions. Equally out of question is it for the Church's adversaries to be blessed by God or man.

(E. J. Robinson.)

People
Psalmist
Places
Jerusalem
Topics
Arms, Bands, Binder, Bindeth, Binds, Bosom, Doesn't, Fill, Filled, Filleth, Gathers, Gets, Grain, Grain-stems, Hands, Mower, Reaper, Sheaves, Wherewith
Outline
1. An exhortation to praise God for saving Israel in their great afflictions
5. The haters of the church are cursed

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Psalm 129:7

     5126   arm

Library
Voluntary Suffering
I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting. T hat which often passes amongst men for resolution, and the proof of a noble, courageous spirit, is, in reality, the effect of a weak and little mind. At least, it is chiefly owing to the presence of certain circumstances, which have a greater influence upon the conduct, than any inherent principle. Thus may persons who appear to set death and danger at defiance in the hour
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 1

Calvin -- Enduring Persecution for Christ
John Calvin was born in 1509, at Noyon, France. He has been called the greatest of Protestant commentators and theologians, and the inspirer of the Puritan exodus. He often preached every day for weeks in succession. He possest two of the greatest elements in successful pulpit oratory, self-reliance and authority. It was said of him, as it was afterward said of Webster, that "every word weighed a pound." His style was simple, direct, and convincing. He made men think. His splendid contributions to
Various—The World's Great Sermons, Volume I

Psalms
The piety of the Old Testament Church is reflected with more clearness and variety in the Psalter than in any other book of the Old Testament. It constitutes the response of the Church to the divine demands of prophecy, and, in a less degree, of law; or, rather, it expresses those emotions and aspirations of the universal heart which lie deeper than any formal demand. It is the speech of the soul face to face with God. Its words are as simple and unaffected as human words can be, for it is the genius
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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