Psalms

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Psalm 127

If the Lord does not build the house,
in vain do its builders labour;
if the Lord does not watch over the city,
in vain does the watchman keep vigil.

In vain is your earlier rising,
your going later to rest,
you who toil for the bread you eat;
when he pours gifts on his beloved while they slumber.

Truly sons are a gift from the Lord,
a blessing, the fruit of the womb.
Indeed the sons of youth
are like arrows in the hand of a warrior.

O the happiness of the man
who has filled his quiver with these arrows!
He will have no cause for shame
when he disputes with his foes in the gateways.

Commentary

This short poem, which is attributed to King Solomon, takes up three of our most common and universal preoccupations, namely, building, security, and the raising of the family. It asks the important question: What does it all amount to? Where is it all going? Will there be any permanence to our activities? Will we leave any footprints in the sands of time?

If Solomon did indeed write this psalm, it is a great pity that he did not appropriate its lessons to his own great building projects, to the security of his own state, and to the proper running of his own enormous household. His kingdom was in ruin, divided for ever, at the end of his reign (see 1 Kings 11:11ff), and he allowed his foreign wives to turn him away from the true worship of the living God (see 1 Kings 11:1ff).

This psalm proclaims that man’s schemes come to nothing, whereas that which comes from the hand of God is both strong and permanent.

If the Lord does not build the house,
in vain do its builders labour;
if the Lord does not watch over the city,
in vain does the watchman keep vigil.

In vain is your earlier rising,
your going later to rest,
you who toil for the bread you eat;
when he pours gifts on his beloved while they slumber.

Truly sons are a gift from the Lord,
a blessing, the fruit of the womb.
Indeed the sons of youth
are like arrows in the hand of a warrior.

O the happiness of the man
who has filled his quiver with these arrows!
He will have no cause for shame
when he disputes with his foes in the gateways.
                                                   (vv. 1-5).

In a nutshell, verses 1-2 proclaim that all human endeavour which leaves God out of account is in vain, is worthless and leads nowhere. Three times the verdict “in vain” is given on all God-less activities. This is a radical denunciation of the attitude to work which claims that man can run and service his home, society and country disregarding God’s will and God’s laws for that home, society and land. God is Lord of history, and very much involved with His creatures. He has definite plans for each individual, and each nation, which we neglect at our peril.

History is that complex interaction between God’s plans for mankind, and our free cooperation with them, or our decision to act independently of them. When we rely on our own power and ingenuity we show our mistrust of God, and our lack of confidence in God’s loving designs for us. Consequently we carry the burdens of family, society and nation unaided by God because we will not accept any help. We become enslaved by the treadmill of work, of social and political problems where we must take decisions as if we were God. The state then decides who will live and who will die, who will be helped and who will be abandoned to starve to death in poverty, loneliness and despair. What a burden to take on when it is all in vain when God’s Law would ensure the rights of the individual, make the family secure, and bring stability and peace to the nation.

It is not God’s plan that we should eat the bread of anxiety and endless toil (see Matthew 6:25-34), overburdened with problems. He wants to teach us a more excellent way, not the way of sloth and inactivity, but that of surrender to His wise and perfect plan for each person, each nation and for the world. Reliance on God is the way of peace, where we carry out His will, with His help, and allow Him to be God for us. “Set your hearts on his kingdom first, and on his righteousness, and all these other things will be given you as well” (Matthew 6:33, J.B.). No wonder, then, that the psalmist says that all our endless labour without God is in vain, when He is prepared to see to all our needs if we submit to His ways. God pleads with us to give Him the burdens (see Matthew 11:28-30) and just accept from Him the light “yoke” of loving service to Him and to our neighbour, which will ensure that everyone is cared for according to their real needs. The perfect combination comes when God is allowed to be God, and we
cooperate with His loving designs. This gives us an inner freedom from the anxieties of the world, which enables us to achieve lasting happiness while we are used effectively by God to rebuild the Church and society.

Perhaps the incident where the gospel shows us Jesus asleep in the boat, with a storm raging round Him, is a good pictorial representation of the teaching in this psalm (see Luke 8:22-25). The Son of God did not sleep from a slothful refusal to work, but as necessary rest following his labours in building up the Kingdom of God. He slept, confident that His Father, the keeper of Israel, who neither slumbers nor sleeps, was in perfect control of every eventuality (see Psalm 121:4). He was resting in God. The frantic activity and strain of self-effort on the part of the disciples did nothing to improve conditions in the boat. The relaxed sleep of Jesus manifested a greater confidence in God than all the anxiety and fear of the others. Jesus, therefore, was the One through whom God could work to deal with the situation and calm the storm. Relaxed confidence in God brought the victory where frenetic activity only brought failure, pain and frustration – a good lesson for those who run our families, and our
countries, if only they were willing to learn.

The family is the basic unit of both society and Church. In the Old Testament, to have a family was regarded as a blessing; not to have one, a curse. The gift of children was seen as evidence of divine favour (see Genesis 30:2, 22-24, etc.). A family raised in the image of God was real wealth, not only for the parents, but also for the nation. God alone is the builder and architect of the family. Parents are His collaborators, who must cooperate with His plans for each child, and for the family as a whole, for He alone knows what the end product should be. Both the Church and the nation are as strong and as healthy as the family. When family life breaks down the Church and society begin to fall apart too, for the family is the basic unit of both. The result is anarchy.

If God is barred from the home, the builders of both society and nation labour in vain, because it is in the home that young people learn the principles of living in society, and become responsible citizens. It is there that they learn how to live a life that is worthwhile, fruitful and according to the mind of God. The home is where one learns the selfless loving service and self-sacrifice that is needed in later life to help build both Church and nation. For this enormous task, the parents, who can really be called the builders of the nation, must bring the presence of God into the home, and initiate that communication with God that will enable their children to grow to full spiritual maturity. Unless the parents build with the Lord, and in submission to Him, they will labour in vain, and live to see their failure in the irresponsible or criminal activity of their children.

The final message from this psalm is: build with the Lord if you want to secure the future of your nation, and if you want the world to continue as your home; otherwise some foolish world leader, in his pretence at playing God, may decide that you or your nation or your world should no longer exist.

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