Bible Commentaries
Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible
Psalms 127
CXXVII. A. This Ps. is, as is now generally admitted, composed of two independent Pss. In Psalms 127 A, i.e. in Psalms 127:1 f. the Psalmist's theme is the vanity of toil without Yahweh's blessing. The house was taken to mean the Temple: hence in the received text, but not in the LXX, the Ps. is ascribed to Solomon. At the end of Psalms 127:2 render, "So," i.e. as fully as others get by their toil—"he giveth to his beloved in sleep." But the text is almost certainly corrupt.
B. Psalms 127:3-5. Sons a Gift Bestowed by Yahweh.
Psalms 127:4. children of youth, i.e. begotten in the vigorous youth of the fathers, are a stalwart bodyguard round their parent. They are compared to arrows in a warrior's hand and quiver. But the Ps. points to a time of peace rather than of war. It is not in the battlefield but in "the gate," where legal cases are decided, that a man with many sons finds redress, corrupt as Oriental courts have usually been. His numerous progeny prevent his being put to "shame," i.e. disappointed (Job 5:4*).
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