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| Family, a little church! By John L. Chopores Ps 128:3 Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table. Ver. 3. Thy wife. To reach the full of earthly felicity a man must not be alone. A helpmeet was needed in Paradise, and assuredly she is not less necessary out of it. He that findeth a wife findeth a good thing. It is not every man that feareth the Load who has a wife; but if he has, she shall share in his blessedness and increase it. Shall be as a fruitful vine. To complete domestic bliss children are sent. They come as the lawful fruit of marriage, even as clusters appear upon the vine. For the grapes the vine was planted; for children was the wife provided. It is generally well with any creature when it fulfils its purpose, and it is so far well with married people when the great design of their union is brought about. They must not look upon fruitfulness as a burden, but as a blessing. Good wives are also fruitful in kindness, thrift, helpfulness, and affection: if they bear no children, they are by no means barren if they yield us the wine of consolation and the clusters of comfort. Truly blessed is the man whose wife is fruitful in those good works which are suitable to her near and dear position. Thy children like olive plants round about thy table. Hundreds of times have I seen the young olive plants springing up around the parent stem, and it has always made mc think of this verse. The Psalmist never intended to suggest the idea of olive plants round a table, but of young people springing up around their parents, even as olive plants surround the fine, well rooted tree. The figure is very striking, and would be sure to present itself to the mind of every observer in the olive country. How beautiful to see the gnarled olive, still bearing abundant fruit, surrounded with a little band of sturdy successors, any one of which would be able to take its place should the central olive be blown down, or removed in any other way. [SPURGEON]. Ver. 3. Thy children like olive plants, etc. Follow me into the grove, and I will show you what may have suggested the comparison. Here we have hit upon a beautiful illustration. This aged and decayed tree is surrounded, as you see, by several young and thrifty shoots, which spring from the root of the venerable parent. They seem to uphold, protect, and embrace it, we may even fancy that they now bear that load of fruit which would otherwise be demanded of the feeble parent. Thus do good and affectionate children gather round the table of the righteous. Each contributes something to the common wealth and welfare of the whole -- a beautiful sight, with which may God refresh the eyes of every friend of mine. --W. M. Thomson. Ver. 3. A fruitful vine by the sides of thine house. It does not say on the sides of the house, but by the sides. The passage probably refers to the trellissed, bowers which often lead up to the houses, and are covered with vines, the grapes, hanging over head. Sitting in these bowers is sitting under our own vines: #Mic 4:4. I have seen in Constantinople grapes hanging over the people's heads in the principal streets, the vines being trained from one side of the street to the other. --John Gadsby, in "My Wanderings", 1860. Ps 128:4 Behold, that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the LORD. Ps 128:5 The LORD shall bless thee out of Zion: and thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life. Ps 128:6 Yea, thou shalt see thy children's children, and peace upon Israel. Go to my master page at: http://members.tripod.com/~free384/index.html
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