John Trapp on Psalms 128

PSAL. CXXVIII.

VErſ. 1 Bleſſed is every one that feareth the Lord] This Pſalm is fitly ſubjoyned to the former, and it is, [non-Latin text not transcribed], a kind of wedding-ſermon, written for the inſtruction and comfort of married couples, and ſhewing that Conjugium humanae eſt divina Academia vitae. And it is to bee obſerved, that here all men are ſpoken to as wedded; becauſe this is the ordinary eſtate of moſt people. See 1 Cor. 7.1, 2. At this day, every Jew is bound to marry about eighteen years of age or before twenty; elſe hee is accounted as one that liveth in ſin; and how the Popiſh clergy, profeſſing continency, have turned all places into ſo many Sodoms, who knoweth not?

And walketh in his wayes] The true reverentiall fear of God will eaſily form the heart to a right obedience. They that fear the Lord will keep his Covenant, Pſal. 103.13. with 18. and therefore was the Law delivered at firſt in that terrible manner.

Verſ. 2 For thou ſhalt eat the labour of thy hands] That is, thou ſhalt reap and receive the ſweet of thy ſweat; whether it bee of the brow, or of the brain, according to the kind of thy calling.Iſa. 57.10. And although thou bee forced to, live by the labour of thine hands (whence mans life is called the life of his hands) yet that ſhall bee no hinderance to thy happineſs, but a furtherance of thine account.

Happy ſhalt thou bee, and O ſhall bee [illegible: 1 word] with thee] The Chaldee thus expoundeth it, Happy thou in this World; and good ſhall it bee unto thee in the World to come.

Verſ. 3 Thy Wife ſhall bee as a fruitfull vine] Full of bunches and cluſters of rich ripe Grapes; ſo ſhee, of Children, and thoſe vertuous; the little-ones hanging on her breaſts, as Grapes on the Vine; the Elder as Olive-plants, ſtraight, green, freſh and flouriſhing, Pſal. 52.9. legitimate alſo; as the Olive admitteth no other graſſ. Indeed the Olive ſet into the Vine yeeldeth both Grapes and Olives; whereby is repreſented the naturall affection that is betwixt the Mother and her Children. The Vine and the Olive are two of the beſt fruits; the one for chearing the heart, the other for clearing the face, Pſal. 104.15. the one for ſweetneſs, the other for fatneſs, Judg. 9.13. both together implying,Simon Bi[illegible: 2 letters]iſ [illegible: 1 letter] [illegible: 1 word]. that a great part of a mans temporal happineſs conſiſteth in having a good Wife and Children. It is ſaid of Sylla, that hee had been happy had hee never been ſo married: And Auguſtus his wiſh was (but all too late) Utinam a[illegible: 1 letter]t caelebs vixiſſem, a[illegible: 1 letter]t orbus periiſſem, Oh that I had either lived ſingle, or dyed childleſs. [illegible: 1 word].

By the ſides of thy houſe] Where Vines are uſually planted, that they may have the benefit of the Sun. The modeſt wife is domiporta, found at home, as Sarah in the Tent; not ſo the Harlot, Prov. 7.12.

Thy Children like Olive-plants] See the Note before on this verſe.

Round about thy Table] Making a moſt delectable incloſure.

Verſ. 4 Behold, that thus ſhall the man bee bleſſed, &c.] Behold, and that thou; q. d. Know it for a truth, and reſt aſſured of the bleſſedneſſe of married couples, whatſoever the Devill and his Agents (ſpeaking baſely of marriage) ſuggeſt to the contrary, ſo bee it they fear the Lord, for that's it that ſweeteneth, and ſanctifieth all eſtates of life whatſoever.

Verſ. 5 The Lord ſhall [illegible: 1 word] thee out of Zion] viz. With ſpirituall benedictions, Epheſ. 1.3. and theſe are far better than all other that Heaven and Earth afford, Pſal. 134.3.

And thou ſhalt ſee the good of Jeruſalem] i. e. The proſperity of the Church; without which all other comforts are to a good ſoul, but as ſo many Ichabods: A good Chriſtian injoyeth them not, but is even ſick at heart of the afflictions of Joſeph. Amos 6.6.

Verſ. 6 Yea thou ſhalt ſee thy Childrens Children] A faithfull man ſhall abound with bleſſings, Prov. 28.20. hee ſhall have all that heart can wiſh, or need require.

And peace upon Iſrael] Procured in part by thy piety and prayers.