Commentary on the Psalms 39

Unless the Lord build the house, in vain do they labour that build it.

Unless the Lord guard the city, in vain does the watchman keep watch.

It is in vain for you to rise up early; arise after you have sat.

This psalm is spoken concerning the state of affairs after the return.

For when they had been delivered from captivity and had returned from the land of the barbarians, and finding the city in ruins and the walls together with the towers thrown down to the ground, they set about to raise them up again; but many, attacking from many quarters, hindered the work, envying the prosperity of the Jews and dreading their good fortune;

then, while these things were going on, time wore away, and so much time was consumed that upward of forty years were spent in the building of the temple;

which very thing the Jews also declared when they said:

This temple was built in forty and six years;

not speaking of the former building, that of Solomon, but of this later one, the one after the deliverance from the Persians.

Since, therefore, much time was being spent while the temple and the city and the walls were being built (for the building of the city consumed even far more), the Prophet, training them once again to take refuge in God, sets these things forth, showing that everything comes to nothing and is in vain, unless they draw to themselves the inclining favour that comes from God.

For not only the deliverance from captivity, but even the raising up of the wall by those who had been delivered, is impossible without the inclining favour of God.

And why do I speak of the raising up of walls and the building of a city? Nay, not even once it has come into being and been completed could anyone keep it safe, if he be bereft of that alliance.

These things he said, through all of them persuading them once again to take refuge in His inclining favour, so that they might not become more slothful because of their ease.

For this reason He did not give them the good things all at once, but gently and little by little, lest they should run back to their former wickedness through too swift a deliverance from their evils.

But even in the very giving of the good things He continually reminded them, perpetually rousing up their slothfulness by the assault of their enemies.

Now the saying has been uttered in a general sense, but it has taken its starting point from this particular occasion.

For it must be fitted to all matters, not that we ourselves may be slothful, nor that we may lie supine, but that, while contributing our own part, we may cast the whole upon God, hanging always and in all things upon the hope that is in Him.

For just as it is not possible, when God does not help, to bring matters to their completion;

so likewise, if God does help, yet they be idle and have flung themselves down, it is not possible to attain the end.

It is in vain for you to rise up early;

arise after you have sat.

Another translator says, They are slow to sit.

Another, They linger in sitting.

But what he means is something of this sort:

even though you keep vigil, even though you rouse yourselves up before the dawn, even though you delay your resting, spending all your time in toil and hardship, yet if you do not enjoy the inclining favour from above, all human endeavours will come to nothing, and there will be no gain whatever from this diligence.

They that eat the bread of sorrow.

This he says, showing that they lived a laborious life, becoming both soldiers and builders.

For with the one hand, he says, they carried a basket or a stone, and with the other a sword, for the building.

and dividing themselves also for warfare, they carried the rubble along together with their shields.

For since the city was without walls and stripped bare, suspecting at every hour the sudden and unexpected assaults of the enemy, they wove together the walls under arms, and swords and shields and daggers lay ready at hand, and scouts stationed far off announced the enemy's unseen approach, and sounded the trumpet whenever they perceived them advancing from afar.

But even if you do these things, he says, and eat the bread of sorrow, all will be to no purpose and in vain, unless you draw to yourselves the alliance from above.

But if those men, in order to raise up a city and its walls, had need of so great an alliance from above;

how much more do we, who are journeying along the road that leads to heaven!

When He gives sleep to His beloved.

Behold, the inheritance of the Lord is sons.

What is this sequence of thought? It is a close one, and closely joined to what went before.

For what he says is this:

unless God supply what comes from Himself, all things are in vain;

but when He supplies what comes from Himself, then sleep too is sweet, then there is rest, and a life delivered from dangers and full of security.

When therefore He gives them sleep, when He gives them rest, when He beats back those who assail them, then they will not only build the city, not only guard it, but will also receive things far greater;

for they will be fathers of many children, and He will grant to them the blessings of good offspring.

The reward of the fruit of the womb.

Another version: A reward is the fruit of the womb.

What does this mean? As a reward, he says, they will receive a goodly progeny.

For even though what takes place is a work of nature,

yet when God supplies what comes from Himself, this too will run its course more abundantly.

For this too needs the impulse from above, and Jerusalem will flourish with a multitude.

Their prosperity will not consist in these things only—such as in building, in guarding, in good offspring—

but other things besides will be added to these.

And showing what these are, he goes on to say:

As arrows in the hand of a mighty man, so are the sons of those who were shaken off.

And what he means is this:

they will not be merely in the security of walls, nor in a fortified city, nor in an abundance of children, but they will also be terrible to their enemies, and so terrible as arrows.

And not simply 'arrows,' but 'in the hand of the mighty.'

For arrows by themselves are not terrible, but when they are held by a mighty man, threatening death to those who assail.

So then, thus terrible will these men be.

These—which ones? The sons of those who were shaken off.

That is, of those who once were weak, of those who had been fettered.

For he continually reminds them also of their former misfortune in the time of their prosperity, so that from every side he may set their mind aright—both from what they suffered, and from what they were delivered, and from what they will enjoy.

Blessed is the man who shall fulfill his desire from them;

they shall not be put to shame when they speak with their enemies in the gate.

Blessed is he who shall fill his quiver from them.

That is, that this too will be added to them: strength of body, an irresistible terror, goodly offspring, security, beauty of city, victory and trophies in wars.

Therefore he also pronounces blessed those who are about to enjoy this prosperity.

For they shall be, he says, fully armed.

But I do not rest the blessing on these things, but rather on this—that they shall not be put to shame.

For they shall not be put to shame, he says, when they speak with their enemies in the gate.

What ever is this? The greatest trophy, the greatest splendor, the brightness, the blessedness.

For they are not going to be reproached as though they had not enjoyed God's providence, nor as though they had a weak God, nor as though, having a mighty One, they had by their own sins thrust away His providence from themselves;

but flourishing in all things—in the city, in the walls, in the guarding, in the children, in the arms, in the power—they will not hide their faces from their enemies

when they behold them, but will meet them with great manliness, adorning themselves, thinking greatly, arraying themselves, God through all these things displaying His succor on their behalf.

For the sum of good things, and the crown of blessedness, is henceforth to be able to be adorned by the alliance of God.

Therefore indeed he also brought his discourse to a close here, teaching all men before all other things to seek after that adornment, and to make that their glory.

Let us, therefore, also emulate this man, that we may attain the eternal good things, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father be glory, together with the Holy Spirit, unto the ages of ages.