Psalms 144:12

That our sons [may be] as plants grown up in their youth,.... The Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Ethiopic, Syriac, and Arabic versions, read, "whose sons [are as] plants", c.

That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace: That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth -

This mercy I beg, not only for my own sake, but for the sake of thy people, that thine and our enemies being subdued, and peace established in the land, thy people may enjoy those blessings which thou hast promised to them; and particularly, that our sons, which are the strength, and safety, and hopes of a nation, may be like plants, flourishing and thriving, and growing in height and strength, as plants do in their youth, and they only; for when they grow old, they wither and decay. Our daughters; upon whom the hope of posterity depends. As corner-stones, polished after the similitude of palace; strong and beautiful, and adorned with all the ornaments belonging to their sex.

Psalms 144:12 That our sons [may be] as plants grown up in their youth; [that] our daughters [may be] as corner stones, polished [after] the similitude of a palace:Ver. 12. That our sons may be as plants, &c.] As young plants, fair and flourishing. That our daughters may be as corner stones, &c.] Tall and trim, comely of person and costly arrayed, resembling the polished pillars at palace gates. Tremellius rendereth the last words of this verse, sint structura templi, may be the building of the temple, that is, may be such living stones as may be used to the building and polishing of God’ s Church, that we may altogether grow up to a holy temple in the Lord, Ephesians 2:21; Ephesians 4:12-13. For, indeed, what can better preserve Jacob from confusion, or his face from waxing pale, than to see his children, the work of God’ s hands, framed and fitted for God’ s building. This maketh religious parents to sanctify God’ s name (as here), even to sanctify the Holy One, and with singular encouragement, from the God of Israel, Isaiah 29:22-23.

(12) That our sons.—This rendering of the relative, which so strangely begins this fragment, would be possible after Genesis 11:7; Genesis 13:16, &c, if a finite verb instead of participles followed; or it might mean “because,” as in Genesis 30:18, &c, but for the same anomalous construction; or it might, as by the LXX., be rendered whose, if any antecedent for it could be discovered. But all these devices are plainly impossible, and there is nothing for it but to treat the passage which it introduces as a fragment of another poem quite unconnected with the previous part of the psalm. Render, we whose.As plants.—The Hebrew word seems always to denote a young, vigorous tree lately planted. (See especially Job 14:9, aptly translated by the LXX. νεόϕυτον. (For the comparison, comp. Isaiah 5:7; Psalms 1:3, Note, Psalms 128:3.) Grown up in their youth.—The form here used is peculiar, but in another conjugation the verb is frequently used of bringing up children (see 2 Kings 10:6; Isaiah 1:2; Isaiah 23:4, &c.). as it is of the rain nourishing young plants (Isaiah 44:14). Here the poet must mean grown tall beyond their age, or the figure is somewhat tame. A suggestion to read, “reproductive in their youth,” i.e., though young themselves, bringing up families, improves the poetry, and suits well the intention of this fragment of song and the general feeling of the Hebrew race. Comp. especially Psalms 127:4, “sons of youth” (Burgess). Corner stones.—The word only occurs once besides, in Zechariah 9:15, where it is used of the corners of the altar. The derivation is from a root meaning to conceal, as is also the word rendered garners, in the next verse. Aquila and Symmachus, “angles.” Polished.—The Hebrew word means to hew, used, with one exception, of wood for fuel, but is cognate with a word used of stones, and in Isaiah 51:1 in the passive participle of a cave hewn in a rock. The exception is Proverbs 7:16, where the word is applied to tapestry. After the similitude of a palace—i.e., like a large and stately building. There seems no reason to confine the reference to the Temple, as the LXX. and Vulg. do, though the absence of the article is not insuperably against this (Isaiah 44:28). The explanations usually given of this passage make the resemblance to be either to caryatides carved at the angles of a palace, or to carved or variegated wood pillars in the corners of a spacious room. For the former there seems to be no authority in Scripture or known Hebrew usage. The latter has the support of Dr. J. G. Wetzstein, but seems far-fetched. It is far more according to Hebrew feeling to render the words simply, like hewn angles, the building of a palace; an image suggestive, like that of “the wall” in Son 8:9 (see Note), of unassailable chastity and virtue. Perhaps the phrase “women of strength or of a strong fortification,” in Rth 3:11, may imply the same figure.

Verse 12. That our sons may be as plants] God had promised to his people, being faithful, THREE descriptions of BLESSINGS, Deuteronomy 28:4. 1. The fruit of the body - sons and daughters. 2. The fruits of the ground - grass and corn in sufficient plenty. 3. Fruit of the cattle - "the increase of kine, and flocks of sheep." These are the blessings to which the psalmist refers here, as those in which he might at present exult and triumph: blessings actually enjoyed by his people at large; proofs of his mild and paternal government, and of the especial blessing of the Almighty. The people who were in such a state, and revolted, had no excuse: they were doubly guilty, as ungrateful both to God and man.

12–15. A description of the prosperity of Israel under the protection and blessing of Jehovah. Cp. generally Deuteronomy 28:2 ff; Deuteronomy 30:9. The absolute dependence of the earlier verses upon existing Psalms makes it probable that these verses also are borrowed, though the poem from which they were taken is not preserved; and the absence of a clear grammatical connexion with the preceding verses makes this probability almost a certainty. What the compiler intended the connexion to be (for considering the general character of the Psalm we need not doubt that he appended them himself) is much disputed. (1) The LXX (followed of course by the Vulg.) changes the pronouns to the third person, and makes Psalms 144:12-14 describe the temporal prosperity of the enemies of Israel referred to in Psalms 144:11. “Whose mouth hath spoken vanity … whose sons are as young plants &c.” Psalms 144:15 then describes the contrast between this temporal happiness and the true spiritual happiness which Israel possesses. ‘Men call the people happy who have these things; (but truly) happy is the people whose God is the Lord.’ This however can only be regarded as a conjectural alteration, and not as the true reading. (2) It is possible to render, We whose sons, or (R.V.) When our sons &c., and to take Psalms 144:15 as the apodosis, but such a lengthy protasis as the whole of Psa 144:12-14 is awkward. (3) The A.V., which follows Aq., Symm. and Jer., may give the right meaning. The goal to which the Psalmist looks forward as the end of deliverance from enemies is the happiness and prosperity of the nation. No doubt the construction is harsh, but it may be explained by the supposition that the Psalmist borrowed the description in Psalms 144:12-14, and tacked it loosely on to the rest of his poem by the particle of relation or conjunction asher, without altering the construction of the passage to suit it.

That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth - That our sons - not called forth to the hardships of the tent and the field, the perils and the exposures of war - may grow up under the

12. Grown up—That is, becoming strong, refers to our sons in an early and vigorous development. So polished refers to daughters. It is better rendered carved.