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This is a family-psalm, as divers before were state-poems and church-poems. It is entitled (as we read it) "for Solomon," dedicated to him by his father. He having a house to build, a city to keep, and seed to raise up to his father, David directs him to look up to God, and to depend upon his providence, without which all his wisdom, care, and industry, would not serve. Some take it to have been penned by Solomon himself, and it may as well be read, "a song of Solomon," who wrote a great many; and they compare it with the Ecclesiastes, the scope of both being the same, to show the vanity of worldly care and how necessary it is that we keep in favour with God. On him we must depend, I. For wealth, Ps 127:1,2. II. For heirs to leave it to, Ps 127:3-5. In singing this psalm we must have our eye up unto God for success in all our undertakings and a blessing upon all our comforts and enjoyments, because every creature is that to us which he makes it to be and no more.
1-5
Dependence on Providence; God the Giver of Prosperity
简体中文
仰赖护理；神是繁荣的赐予者
所罗门的上行之诗。
¹ 若不是耶和华建造房屋，建造的人就枉然劳力；若不是耶和华看守城池，看守的人就枉然儆醒。
² 你们清晨早起，夜晚安歇，吃愁苦的饭，本是枉然；惟有耶和华所亲爱的，必叫他安然睡觉。
³ 儿女是耶和华所赐的产业；所怀的胎，是他所给的赏赐。
⁴ 少年时所生的儿女，好像勇士手中的箭。
⁵ 箭袋充满的人，便为有福；他们在城门口和仇敌说话的时候，必不至于羞愧。
此处我们被教导：在今世一切事务上，都要持续仰望神的护理。所罗门被人称许为智慧人，容易倚靠自己的聪明与筹划，因此他父亲教导他要往更高处看，在自己的事业中要带着神同行。他将要成为办理事务的人，所以大卫指教他如何在信仰的引导下办理事务。父母教导儿女时，当按儿女的处境和时机调整劝勉。我们必须仰望神——
一、在家庭一切事务上——甚至皇室家庭的事务上，因为王宫若没有神的保护，便毫无安全可言。我们必须倚靠神的赐福，而非自己的筹谋。1. 关于建立家室：若不是耶和华建造房屋——藉着他的护理和赐福——建造的人就枉然劳力，无论其心思多么精巧。这可就物质意义上的房屋来理解：若不是耶和华赐福，人建造就是徒然，正如巴别的建造者，他们试图抵挡天意而建；又如希伊勒，他在咒诅之下重建耶利哥。若其样式与设计立基于骄傲与虚浮，或其根基立基于欺压与不义（哈2:11、12），神必不在其中建造；不，若没有承认神，我们就没有理由期望他的赐福，而没有他的赐福，一切尽属虚空。或更确切地说，这应理解为使卑微的家族成为显赫：人藉着有利的联姻、官职、职位、购置而劳碌；但这一切都是徒然，除非神建立那家，并使穷人从尘土中抬举。谋划再周全，若神不以成功加冕，也必失败。参玛1:4。2. 关于保护家室或城池（这是诗人特别提到的）：若城池的卫兵没有神便不能保全它，那家中的主人更不能救自己的家不被拆毁。若不是耶和华看守城池——免于火灾、免于仇敌——看守的人——那些巡行城中或在城墙上巡逻的人——就枉然儆醒，即便他们不打盹、不睡觉；因为一场熊熊大火可能突然爆发，即便最早发觉也未必能阻止其祸患。卫兵可能被杀，城池可能因千万种意外而被出卖、沦陷，这些意外是最警觉的哨兵或最审慎的官长也无法防备的。3. 关于使家致富：这需要时间与心思，但若没有护理的恩惠，也不能成就，并不亚于一桩幸运的转机所能成就的：你们清晨早起、夜晚安歇——如此在贪求世俗财富中剥夺了身体的休养——本是枉然。通常，早起的人不愿熬夜，熬夜的人也不易劝自己早起；但有些热心追逐世俗的人两者都肯做，宁可剥夺睡眠来喂养自己的忧虑。他们在饮食上的安慰不亚于在休息上的安慰之少；他们吃愁苦的饭。我们受判吃汗流满面才得糊口的饼，原是刑罚的一部分；但这些人更进一步：他们在黑暗中吃喝（传5:17）。他们终日充满忧虑，这忧虑使他们的安慰变苦，使他们的生命成为重担。这一切都是为了赚钱，却尽属徒然——除非神使他们兴盛；因为货财并不一定归给智慧人（传9:11）。那些爱神、又蒙神所爱的人，心灵安逸，无需这样烦扰便能安然度日。所罗门又名耶底底亚——耶和华所爱的（撒下12:25）；国度是应许给他的，那么押沙龙早起去讨好百姓、亚多尼雅如此搅扰并自称我必作王，都属徒然。所罗门安然坐着，他既为耶和华所爱，神便赐他安睡，也赐他国度。当知：（1）对今世之事过度、过分的忧虑是虚妄无益的事。我们若拥有世俗之物，便是为虚妄而疲惫；若没有，也常是徒然为其疲惫（该1:6、9）。（2）身体的睡眠是神赐给他所爱之人的礼物。我们之所以安然入睡（诗4:8），之所以安然甘甜（耶31:25-26），都是因他的恩惠。神赐睡眠给他的选民，乃在于他同时赐恩典，使我们能在他的敬畏中躺卧——我们的灵魂归回他，以他为安息——并在我们醒来时仍与他同在，把睡眠所得的复兴用于他的事奉。他使他所亲爱的安然睡觉——即心灵的宁静与知足，对现今所有的舒适享受，并对将来的有美好盼望。我们所当作的，是保守自己常在神的爱中；那么无论我们在世上拥有多或少，都可安心。
二、关于家庭的繁增。他指出：1. 儿女是神的礼物（诗127:2）。儿女若被扣留，是神扣留了他们（创30:2）；儿女若被赐下，是神赐下的（创33:5）；他们对我们是安慰还是忧愁，全在乎神使他们如何。所罗门多立妃嫔，违背了律法，但我们从未读到他所生的儿子多过一个；因为凡愿以儿女为耶和华所赐产业的人，必须照他所喜悦赐下的方式领受——就是与一妻的合法婚姻。玛2:15：所以一人，为要寻求神的后裔。然而他们行奸淫，必不繁增。儿女是产业，是赏赐，当如此看待——是祝福，不是重担；因为赐口的主必赐粮，只要我们信靠他。俄别以东有八个儿子，因为耶和华赐福给他，因他接待了约柜（代上26:5）。儿女是归耶和华的产业，也是从他而来的产业；他们是我的儿女（神说）就是你所为我生的（结16:20）；当他们被算为归他的一代时，才最是我们的尊荣与安慰。2. 它们是美善的礼物，是家室极大的支持与保障：少年时所生的儿女，好像勇士手中的箭——懂得如何为自己的安全与益处使用箭——照样，少年时所生的儿女，即父母年轻时所生的儿女，他们最为强壮健康，到父母需要他们服事时，他们已长大可以服事了；或更确切地说，是指儿女自己尚年幼；他们是父母和家庭多方面的善助，可以藉着他们抵御仇敌。儿女众多的家庭如同装满箭的箭袋，可推想长短不一，但早晚都有用处；天赋与性情各异的儿女，可以多方面为家庭效力。多子的可以坦然在城门口在审判中与仇敌说话；在争战中他无所惧怕，因为有那么多好的助手——如此热心、如此忠诚、又正在青春的活力中（撒上2:4-5）。在此当留意：少年时所生的儿女是手中的箭，可以谨慎地将他们正当地引向靶心——神的荣耀和他们那一代的事奉；但日后他们已步入世界，便成了离手的箭；到那时再要弯曲他们就太迟了。然而这些手中的箭常常成了心中的箭，成了敬虔父母长期的忧伤，使他们的白发忧忧愁愁地下到阴间。
英文原文
Dependence on Providence; God the Giver of Prosperity
A song of degrees for Solomon.
¹ Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.
² It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.
³ Lo, children are a heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
⁴ As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.
⁵ Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.
We are here taught to have a continual regard to the 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, and therefore his father teaches him to look higher, and to take God along with him in his undertakings. He was to be a man of business, and therefore David instructed him how to manage his 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,
I. 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, by his providence and blessing, those labour in vain, though ever so ingenious, 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 built 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 2:11,12), 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, 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 1:4. 2. For the securing of a family or a city (for this is what the psalmist particularly mentions): 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. Except the Lord keep the city from fire, from enemies, the watchmen, who go about the city, or patrol upon the walls of it, though they neither slumber nor sleep, wake but in vain, for a raging fire may break out, the mischief of which the timeliest discoveries 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; this is a work of time and thought, but cannot be effected without the favour of Providence any more than that which is the product of one happy turn: "It is vain for you to rise up early and sit up late, and so to deny yourselves your bodily refreshments, in the eager pursuit of the wealth of the world." 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, will rob their sleep to pay their cares. And they have as little comfort in their meals as in their rest; they eat the bread of sorrows. It is part of our sentence that we eat our bread in the sweat of our face; but those go further: all their days they eat in darkness, Ec 5:17. They are continually fell of care, which embitters their comforts, and makes their lives a burden to them. All this is to get money, and all in vain except God prosper them, for riches are not always to men of understanding, Ec 9:11. 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 (2Sa 12:25); 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 to say, I will be king. Solomon sits still, and, being beloved of the Lord, to him he gives sleep and the kingdom too. Note, (1.) Inordinate excessive care about the things of this world is a vain a d fruitless thing. We weary ourselves for vanity if we have it, and often weary ourselves in vain for it, Hag 1:6,9. (2.) Bodily sleep is God's gift to his beloved. We owe it to his goodness that our sleep is safe (Ps 4:8), that it is sweet, Jer 31:25,26. 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 we have by sleep in his service. He gives his beloved sleep, that is, quietness and contentment of mind, and comfortable enjoyment of what is present and a comfortable expectation of what is to come. Our care must be to keep ourselves in the love of God, and then we may be easy whether we have little or much of this world.
II. In the increase of the family. He shows, 1. That children are God's gift, Ps 127:2. If children are withheld it is God that withholds them (Ge 30:2); if they are given, it is God that gives them (Ge 33:5); and they are to us what he makes them, comforts or crosses. Solomon multiplied wives, contrary to the law, but we never read of more than one son that he had; for those that desire children as a heritage from the Lord must receive them in the way that he is pleased to give them, by lawful marriage to one wife. Mal 2:15, therefore one, that he might seek a seed of God. But they shall commit whoredom and shall not increase. Children are a heritage, and a reward, and are so to be accounted, blessings and not burdens; for he that sends mouths will send meat if we trust in him. Obed-edom had eight sons, for the Lord blessed him because he had entertained the ark, 1Ch 26:5. Children are a heritage for the Lord, as well as from him; they are my children (says God) which thou hast borne unto me (Eze 16:20); and they are most our honour and comfort when they are accounted to him for a generation. 2. That they are a good gift, and a great support and defence to a family: As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man, who knows how to use them for his own safety and advantage, so are children of the youth, that is, children born to their parents when they are young, which are the strongest and most healthful children, and are grown up to serve them by the time they need their service; or, rather, children who are themselves young; they are instruments of much good to their parents and families, which may fortify themselves with them against their enemies. The family that has a large stock of children is like a quiver full of arrows, of different sizes we may suppose, but all of use one time or other; children of different capacities and inclinations may be several ways serviceable to the family. He that has a numerous issue may boldly speak with his enemy in the gate in judgment; in battle he needs not fear, having so many good seconds, so zealous, so faithful, and in the vigour of youth, 1Sa 2:4,5. Observe here, Children of the youth are arrows in the hand, which, with prudence, may be directed aright to the mark, God's glory and the service of their generation; but afterwards, when they have gone abroad into the world, they are arrows out of the hand; it is too late to bend them then. But these arrows in the hand too often prove arrows in the heart, a constant grief to their godly parents, whose gray hairs they bring with sorrow to the grave.
本篇如前数篇之为国事之诗、为教会之诗一样,是家庭之诗。它(照我们所读)题为「所罗门的诗」,是其父献于他者。他既要建殿、守城、为父兴起后裔,大卫便指引他仰望神、倚靠他的护理——若没有这,他一切智慧、谨慎、勤勉都无济于事。有人认为是所罗门自作,也可读作「所罗门的歌」——他作了许多;他们将其与《传道书》相比,二者宗旨相同,皆在显示世俗挂虑的虚空,并我们必须保持与神和好是何等必要。我们必须倚靠神:一、为财富(诗127:1,2);二、为承受产业的子嗣(诗127:3-5)。我们唱这首诗时当举目仰望神,求我们一切所谋的成功,并求他赐福我们一切安慰与享受;因每一个受造之物对我们,不过是他所定的那样,不能更多。