Psa 127:1 | MHM | STEP | v. 1. : This psalm, attributed to Solomon, teaches us to have a continual regard to divine Providence in all the concerns of this life. Solomon was cried up for a wise man, and would be apt to lean to his own understanding and forecast; the psalm therefore redirects him—and us—to look higher, and to take God along in every undertaking. He was to be a man of business, and so he is here instructed how to manage that business under the direction of his religion. Parents, in teaching their children, should suit their exhortations to their condition and occasions. We must have an eye to God, In all the affairs and business of the family, even of the royal family, for kings' houses are no longer safe than while God protects them. We must depend upon God's blessing and not our own contrivance. 1. For the raising of a family: Except the Lord build the house, those labour in vain that build it. We may understand it of the material house: except the Lord bless the building, it is to no purpose for men to build, any more than for the builders of Babel, who attempted in defiance of heaven, or Hiel, who rebuilt Jericho under a curse. If the model and design be laid in pride and vanity, or if the foundations be laid in oppression and injustice (Hab. ii. 11, 12 ), God certainly does not build there; nay, if God be not acknowledged, we have no reason to expect his blessing, and without his blessing all is nothing. Or, rather, it is to be understood of the making of a family considerable that was mean; men labour to do this by advantageous matches, offices, employments, and purchases—but all in vain, unless God build up the family and raise the poor out of the dust. The best-laid project fails unless God crown it with success. See Mal. i. 4 . 2. For the securing of a family or a city: Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. If the guards of the city cannot secure it without God, much less can the good man of the house save his house from being broken up. The watchmen, though they neither slumber nor sleep, wake but in vain; a raging fire may break out, the mischief of which the timeliest discovery may not be able to prevent. The guards may be slain, or the city betrayed and lost, by a thousand accidents which the most watchful sentinel or most cautious governor could not obviate. 3. For the enriching of a family: It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows. Usually, those that rise early do not care for sitting up late, nor can those that sit up late easily persuade themselves to rise early; but there are some so hot upon the world that they will do both, robbing their sleep to pay their cares. And they have as little comfort in their meals as in their rest; all their days they eat in darkness, (Eccl. v. 17 ), continually full of care, which embitters their comforts and makes their lives a burden to them. All this toil is to get money, and all in vain except God prosper them; for riches are not always to men of understanding (Eccl. ix. 11 ). Those that love God, and are beloved of him, have their minds easy and live very comfortably without this ado. Solomon was called Jedidiah —Beloved of the Lord (2 Sam. xii. 25 ); to him the kingdom was promised, and then it was in vain for Absalom to rise up early to wheedle the people, and for Adonijah to make such a stir and say, I will be king. Solomon sat still, and, being beloved of the Lord, to him God gave sleep and the kingdom too. Note, (1.) Inordinate, excessive care about the things of this world is a vain and fruitless thing. We weary ourselves for vanity if we have it, and often weary ourselves in vain for it (Hag. i. 6, 9 ). (2.) Bodily sleep is God's gift to his beloved. We owe it to his goodness that our sleep is safe (Ps. iv. 8 ), that it is sweet (Jer. xxxi. 25, 26 ). God gives us sleep as he gives it to his beloved when with it he gives us grace to lie down in his fear, our souls returning to him and reposing in him as our rest, and when we awake to be still with him and to use the refreshment of sleep in his service.

‏ Psalms 127:1

v. 1.: This psalm, attributed to Solomon, teaches us to have a continual regard to divine Providence in all the concerns of this life. Solomon was cried up for a wise man, and would be apt to lean to his own understanding and forecast; the psalm therefore redirects him—and us—to look higher, and to take God along in every undertaking. He was to be a man of business, and so he is here instructed how to manage that business under the direction of his religion. Parents, in teaching their children, should suit their exhortations to their condition and occasions. We must have an eye to God,

In all the affairs and business of the family, even of the royal family, for kings' houses are no longer safe than while God protects them. We must depend upon God's blessing and not our own contrivance. 1. For the raising of a family: Except the Lord build the house, those labour in vain that build it. We may understand it of the material house: except the Lord bless the building, it is to no purpose for men to build, any more than for the builders of Babel, who attempted in defiance of heaven, or Hiel, who rebuilt Jericho under a curse. If the model and design be laid in pride and vanity, or if the foundations be laid in oppression and injustice (Hab. ii. 11, 12 ^a), God certainly does not build there; nay, if God be not acknowledged, we have no reason to expect his blessing, and without his blessing all is nothing. Or, rather, it is to be understood of the making of a family considerable that was mean; men labour to do this by advantageous matches, offices, employments, and purchases—but all in vain, unless God build up the family and raise the poor out of the dust. The best-laid project fails unless God crown it with success. See Mal. i. 4 ^b. 2. For the securing of a family or a city: Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. If the guards of the city cannot secure it without God, much less can the good man of the house save his house from being broken up. The watchmen, though they neither slumber nor sleep, wake but in vain; a raging fire may break out, the mischief of which the timeliest discovery may not be able to prevent. The guards may be slain, or the city betrayed and lost, by a thousand accidents which the most watchful sentinel or most cautious governor could not obviate. 3. For the enriching of a family: It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows. Usually, those that rise early do not care for sitting up late, nor can those that sit up late easily persuade themselves to rise early; but there are some so hot upon the world that they will do both, robbing their sleep to pay their cares. And they have as little comfort in their meals as in their rest; all their days they eat in darkness, (Eccl. v. 17 ^c), continually full of care, which embitters their comforts and makes their lives a burden to them. All this toil is to get money, and all in vain except God prosper them; for riches are not always to men of understanding (Eccl. ix. 11 ^d). Those that love God, and are beloved of him, have their minds easy and live very comfortably without this ado. Solomon was called Jedidiah—Beloved of the Lord (2 Sam. xii. 25 ^e); to him the kingdom was promised, and then it was in vain for Absalom to rise up early to wheedle the people, and for Adonijah to make such a stir and say, I will be king. Solomon sat still, and, being beloved of the Lord, to him God gave sleep and the kingdom too.

Note, (1.) Inordinate, excessive care about the things of this world is a vain and fruitless thing. We weary ourselves for vanity if we have it, and often weary ourselves in vain for it (Hag. i. 6, 9 ^f). (2.) Bodily sleep is God's gift to his beloved. We owe it to his goodness that our sleep is safe (Ps. iv. 8 ^g), that it is sweet (Jer. xxxi. 25, 26 ^h). God gives us sleep as he gives it to his beloved when with it he gives us grace to lie down in his fear, our souls returning to him and reposing in him as our rest, and when we awake to be still with him and to use the refreshment of sleep in his service.