Useful Bible Studies > Songs of Ascent Commentary

Last part: A prayer against the enemies of God’s people

 

Psalm 129

The lives of wicked people

Grass may start to grow on a roof. But farmers do not collect hay or straw from the roofs of houses. The sun is hot, and the roof becomes very dry. So the grass dies while it is still a young plant. In Psalm 129:6, the poet prays that the efforts of wicked people will be unsuccessful, like that grass. The results of their lives and their work are completely evil. So the poet does not want there to be any such results from their lives.

Again, it is interesting to compare this passage with Psalm 128. In Psalm 128:2-3, the poet used word-pictures about the harvest to describe a good man and his family. But in Psalm 129, the word-pictures are again opposite. The evil man is like a plant that produces no harvest. He is like grass that dies too soon.

Psalm 129:8 may still be about the harvest. People felt great joy at the sight of the harvest. And so they blessed each other (Ruth 2:4). God had shown his kindness to them by means of the harvest. So they asked God to show his kindness to other people too (Ruth 2:12; Ruth 2:19-20).

But the poet prays that nobody will bless such evil people. Nobody should express joy or happiness when they hear about those people. Instead, people should feel afraid because of the way that God acts against those evil people. God defeats those evil people completely. And people who see it will learn never to oppose God.

Next part: Psalm 129 as poetry

See the word list for explanation of words with a *

 

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© 2015, Keith Simons.