It may be applied to young converts, the children of Christ and of the church which, when numerous, is a blessing to him and her see Isaiah 49:20 So Jarchi interprets the children, of the disciples of the wise men. The Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Ethiopic, and Arabic versions, render it, "that fills his desire" has as many as he desires or wishes for: the Targum, That is, his house full of them called a quiver, referring to arrows before mentioned, this being the case in which they are put up: to have many children was always reckoned a great temporal blessing and happiness see Job 1:2. Gill's Exposition of the Entire BibleHappy is the man that hath his quiver full of them. The psalm is designed to inculcate the lesson of dependence on God for success in everything. The meaning is, that they would do honor to the family, and gratify the heart of the parent, by their valor in defending their city and home, or in attacking the cities of the enemies of their country. The connection does not allow us to understand this of forensic controversy, or of transactions in business, though these were usually performed at the gates of cities. The idea is, that they would speak with effect they would distinguish themselves they would let their presence be known. See the notes at Job 6:20.īut they shall speak with the enemies in the gate - Margin, "shall subdue, or destroy." The Hebrew word, however, means "to speak " and the meaning is, that they would "speak" to their foes in the place of conflict - for a battle occurred often in the gate of a city, as the possession of a gate, or an entrance to a city was of so much importance to those who attacked, and those who defended it. They shall not be ashamed - They shall not turn back discomfited, hanging their heads with shame and confusion. This is in accordance with the idea often presented in the Bible, and the promise often made there of a numerous posterity as a proof of the divine favor. That hath his quiver full of them - The quiver is a case in which arrows are carried and as a man - a hunter or warrior - feels secure when he has his quiver full of arrows, so a man is blessed in proportion to the number of his sons. This view certainly receives support from Job 5:4, where we have the very opposite picture of a tyrant’s sons, not only unable to support their father, but themselves “crushed in the gate ” and the phrase “speak with their enemies” in this same verse may be illustrated from Joshua 20:4 Jeremiah 12:1.īarnes' Notes on the BibleHappy is the man - Hebrew, The happiness of the man. On the other hand, it is the habit of Hebrew poetry to accumulate metaphors, and the gate is so commonly spoken of as the place of public resort, where legal cases were decided ( Isaiah 29:21 Amos 5:12, &c), that it is quite as likely that the allusion here is to the support which a man’s just cause would receive when evidently backed up by a long retinue of stalwart sons. With harm, and honour whom their father loves Obedient offspring, to requite their foes “Therefore men pray to have around their hearth, They shall not be discomfited, but they shall challenge their enemies in the gates. From the figure of the warrior and the arrows we should expect here, too, a martial image. (See especially Psalm 107:43.) Parents who have large families of sons are evidently intended. There is here one of the sudden changes of number in which Hebrew poetry abounds. Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(5) They.-Not the sons.
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