Psalm 126:5 Komentář

It was with reference to some great and surprising deliverance of the people of God out of bondage and distress that this psalm was penned, most likely their return out of Babylon in Ezra's time. Though Babylon be not mentioned here (as it is, Psa 137:1-9) yet their captivity there was the most remarkable captivity both in itself and as their return out of it was typical of our redemption by Christ. Probably this psalm was penned by Ezra, or some of the prophets that came up with the first. We read of singers of the children of Asaph, that famous psalmist, who returned then, Ezr 2:41. It being a song of ascents, in which the same things are twice repeated with advancement (Psa 126:2, Psa 126:3, and Psa 126:4, Psa 126:5), it is put here among the rest of the psalms that bear that title. I. Those that had returned out of captivity are here called upon to be thankful (Psa 126:1-3). II. Those that were yet remaining in captivity are here prayed for (Psa 126:4) and encouraged (Psa 126:5, Psa 126:6). It will be easy, in singing this psalm, to apply it either to any particular deliverance wrought for the church or our own land or to the great work of our salvation by Christ. A song of degrees.

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 126 A Song of degrees. This psalm is generally thought to have been written by Ezra, or some good man returned from the Babylonish captivity, and on account of it: the inscription in the Syriac version of it, besides observing it to be a song of degrees or ascents, and without a name, is, "it is said of Haggai and Zechariah, who came up out of Babylon with the captives; but spiritually; and it is an expectation of good things to come.'' It may have respect to redemption by the Messiah; and the conversion of the Jews in the latter day.

They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. A proverbial expression, encouraging faith in prayer put up for the return of the captivity, whether in a literal or spiritual sense. Praying or seeking the Lord is sowing in righteousness, Hos 10:12; which is often attended with tears and weeping; the issue of them is not always seen soon: these, like seed, lie buried under the clods, but take effect and will rise up in due time: saints should wait patiently for a return of them, as the husbandman for the fruits of the earth; in due time they will produce a large crop of blessings, a plentiful harvest, which the praying saint will reap with joy; as those that prayed and waited for the redemption in Jerusalem; and as those that pray for the latter day glory, the conversion of the Jews, the fulness of the Gentiles, and the destruction of antichrist; the souls under the altar have been sowing in tears, but before long they will reap in joy, Rev 6:9. It may be applied to the state and condition of saints in common in this life; now is their sowing time, and careful they should be that they sow not to the flesh, but to the spirit: and a sorrowful time it is, on account of inward corruptions, Satan's temptations, divine desertions, and the imperfection of their services; but before long they will reap life everlasting, reap in joy, and be in the fulness of it; now they weep, then they shall rejoice; now they mourn, then they shall be comforted. Psalms 126:6

“Blessed are they who weep, for they shall laugh.” They, therefore, who spend the days of their life, which is already at its consummation and declining toward its setting, in weeping for their sins, these will be glad in that true morning that is approaching. “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy,” of course, in the future.

For the next words are, "They that sow in tears, shall reap in joy" [Psalm 126:5]. In this life, which is full of tears, let us sow. What shall we sow? Good works. Works of mercy are our seeds: of which seeds the Apostle says, "Let us not be weary in well doing; for in due season we shall reap if we faint not." [Galatians 6:9] Speaking therefore of almsgiving itself, what says he? "This I say; he that sows sparingly, shall reap also sparingly." [2 Corinthians 9:6] He therefore who sows plentifully, shall reap plentifully: he who sows sparingly, shall reap also sparingly: and he that sows nothing, shall reap nothing. Why do ye long for ample estates, where ye may sow plentifully? There is not a wider field on which you can sow than Christ, who has willed that we should sow in Himself. Your soil is the Church; sow as much as you can. But you have not enough to do this. Have you the will? As what you had would be nothing, if you had not a good will; so do not despond, because you have not, if you have a good will. For what do you sow? Mercy. And what will you reap? Peace. Said the Angels, Peace on earth unto rich men? No, but, "Peace on earth unto men of a good will." [Luke 2:14] Zacchæus had a strong will, Zacchæus had great charity. [Luke 19:8] ...Did then that widow who cast her two farthings into the treasury, sow little? Nay, as much as Zacchæus. For she had narrower means, but an equal will. She gave her two mites [Luke 21:1-4] with as good a will as Zacchæus gave the half of his patrimony. If you consider what they gave, you will find their gifts different; if you look to the source, you will find them equal; she gave whatever she had, and he gave what he had....But if they are beggars whose profession is asking alms, in trouble they also have what to bestow upon one another. God has not so forsaken them, but that they have wherein they may be tried by their bestowing of alms. This man cannot walk; he who can walk, lends his feet to the lame; he who sees, lends his eyes to the blind; and he who is young and sound, lends his strength to the old or the infirm, carries him: the one is poor, the other is rich.

I sympathize with you, because the Lord our God also sympathized with us, suffered with us. You see, he revealed himself in you, and you in himself, when he said, “My soul is sad to the point of death.” He suffered for us, let us suffer for him; he died for us, let us die for him, in order to live forever with him. But perhaps you are hesitant to die, O mortal creature, though you are bound to die sometime or other, precisely because you are mortal. Would you like not to fear death? Die for God. But perhaps the reason you are afraid to die is that death is such a sad business. Consider the harvest; the time for sowing is cold; but if the farmer declines to be made miserable by sowing in the cold in winter, he won’t rejoice in the summer. Take a look at yourself, and see whether the reason you are reluctant to sow is that there is the sadness and misery of the cold at seed time.Look at the psalm: “Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy. Going, they were going and weeping, casting their seed;” That is what we were singing just now; let us do what we have sung. Let us sow our souls in this time, like corn in winter, so that we may reap them in eternal time, like corn in summer time. That is the way the holy martyrs, the way all the just, toiling away on earth, weeping cast their seed; this life, after all, is full of tears. And what follows? “But coming, they will come with exultation, carrying their lapfuls.” Your seed is the shedding of your blood; your lapful the reception of your crown.

Who labored? Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Read their labors! In all their labors [there was] prophecy of Christ; and thus [they were] the sowers. Moses and the rest of the patriarchs and all the prophets, how much did they endure in that cold when they were sowing! Therefore in Judea the harvest was now ready. Rightly there the crop was, so to speak, ripe, when so many thousands of people were bringing the price of their possessions and laying it at the feet of the apostles; their shoulders freed of worldly baggage, they were following Christ, the Lord. Truly a ripe harvest. What came of it? From that harvest a few grains were cast out, and they sowed the world, and there arises another harvest that is to be reaped at the end of the world. About this harvest it is said, “They who sow in tears shall reap in joy.” To this harvest, therefore, not apostles but angels will be sent; he says, “The reapers are the angels.”

So [Christ] transposed the weak members of his body [the church] into himself. And perhaps it was of them that it is said, “Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy,” that is to say, of the weaker ones. After all, that great herald of Christ was not sowing in tears when he said, “For I indeed am already being sacrificed, and the time of my casting off is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have completed the course, I have kept the faith. For the rest, there is being kept for me the crown of justice—a crown made of sheaves. There is being kept for me,” he says, “the crown of justice, which the Lord, the just judge, will render to me on that day.” As though to say, “He will render me the harvest, for whom I am spending myself in sowing.” These words, brothers, as I understand them, are the words of someone merrymaking, not of someone crying. You don’t suppose he was in tears, do you, when he said this? Wasn’t he exactly like the cheerful giver, whom God loves? So let us refer these words [Jesus’ words] to the weak, in order that not even those who have sown in tears need despair, because even if they have sown in tears, the pain and the sighing will pass away. Sadness passes at the end, and gladness comes without end.And yet for all that, dearly beloved, this finally is how it seems to me that these words refer to everyone, “Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy. Going they were going and weeping, casting their seed. But coming they shall come with merrymaking, carrying their sheaves.” Listen, if with the Lord’s assistance I am able to explain it, how “going they were going and weeping” belongs to everyone. From the moment we are born, we are going. Is there anyone, after all, who stands still? Is there anyone who, from the moment he enters life, is not forced to get moving? An infant is born; it gets moving by growing. Death is the end. We have still got to come to the end—but with merrymaking.

Concerning food. Let the body have its victuals, that it may live and render its services unimpeded, but not so as to be given to daintiness. Let these be your rules regarding food, since many trip up over meat. There are those who eat things sacrificed to idols without taking any notice. There are others who practice abstinence and then pass judgment on those who eat. And so the soul of this person or that is soiled in different ways, all in connection with the question of meats, through their not knowing the sensible reasons for eating or not eating. For we fast by abstaining from wine and from meat, not as though these things were abominations that we must hate but as expecting a reward for doing so, namely, that in spurning sensuous things, we may enjoy a spiritual and heavenly feast, “that sowing now in tears, we may reap in joy,” in the world to come. But do not, in fasting, despise those who are eating such food, and eating it because of bodily infirmity. Do not blame those “who use a little wine for their stomach’s sake, and their frequent infirmities,” and certainly do not adjudge them to be sinners. Do not abhor flesh meats as if they were taboo, for the apostle evidently knew people like that, since he says that there are [those] “who forbid to marry, and command to abstain from meats, which God has created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe.” If therefore you are abstaining from these things, let it not be as from things abhorred, or your reward is lost, but as good things let them be transcended, in the quest of the fairer spiritual rewards that are set before you.

Let no one believe that he possesses any happiness or true joy in this world. Happiness can be prepared for, but it cannot be possessed here. Two times succeed each other in their own order, “a time to weep, and a time to laugh.” Let no one deceive himself, brethren; there is no time to laugh in this world. I know, indeed, that everyone wants to rejoice, but people do not all look for joy in the place where it should be sought. True joy never did exist in this world, it does not do so now, and it never will. For thus the Lord warned his disciples in the Gospel when he said, “You will suffer in the world,” and again, “While the world rejoices, you will grieve for a time, but your grief will be turned into joy.” For this reason, with the Lord’s help let us do good in this life through labor and sorrow, so that in the future life we may be able to gather the fruits of our good deeds with joy and exultation according to that sentence: “Those who sow in tears shall reap rejoicing.”

But this discourse of the Lord is also appropriate to all believers who are striving to arrive at eternal joys through the tears and distress of the present [life]; who rightly lament and weep and are sorrowful during the present [time], since they are not yet capable of seeing him whom they love. As long as they are in their body they recognize that they are on a journey and [absent] from their fatherland and kingdom. They have no doubt that they must reach their crown by labors and contests. Their sorrow will be changed to joy when, after the struggle of this present life is over, they receive the prize of everlasting life, about which it is said in the psalm, “Those who sow in tears will reap in joy.”

The temporal blessings of true piety. The eighth chapter of Zecariah is a virtual commentary on this Psalm. Compare Psa 128:3 with Zac 8:5; and Psa 128:2 with Lev 26:16; Deu 28:33; Zac 8:10; and Psa 128:6 with Zac 8:4. (Psa 128:1-6) (Compare Psa 1:1).

As in husbandry the sower may cast his seed in a dry and parched soil with desponding fears, so those shall reap abundant fruit who toil in tears with the prayer of faith. (Compare the history, Ezr 6:16, Ezr 6:22).