Psalm 37: The Heritage of the Righteous and of the Wicked
A Psalm of David.
1 Do not fret because of evildoers, nor be envious of the workers of iniquity. 2 For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.
“The psalm grapples with the problem which tried the faith of the Old Testament saints-namely, the apparent absence of correlation of conduct with condition-and solves it by the strong assertion of the brevity of godless prosperity and the certainty that well-doing will lead to well-being.” (Expositor's Bible Commentary)
“‘Do not fret’— the Hebrew word here means properly to burn, to be kindled, to be inflamed, and is often applied to anger, as if under its influence we become ‘heated:’ Genesis 31:36; Genesis 34:7; 1 Samuel 15:11; 2 Samuel 19:43. ’ Hence, it means [not]… to be angry, or indignant…” (Albert Barnes)— “because of evildoers.”
“’Nor be envious of the workers of iniquity.’ They have their portion in this life; and their enjoyment of it cannot be long, for their breath is but a vapor that speedily vanishes away. They [yea, we all] fall before death, as the greensward does before the scythe of the mower.” (Adam Clarke) “And what is it more than a small annuity for term of life, in the utmost part of that large lordship, whereof thou art the heir, and shalt shortly be the possessor?” (John Trapp) “To envy the evil-doers on account of their prosperity is at once a folly and a danger. Their position is really not enviable; and, if we allow ourselves to envy them, we shall be tempted to follow their example.” (The Pulpit Commentary)
3 Trust in Yahweh, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. 4 Delight yourself also in Yahweh, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. 5 Commit your way to Yahweh, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. 6 He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.
Trust in Yahweh is better than anger and envy. Do His work; believe! "'Dwell in the land,' reading in the Bible of His dealings with Israel. Meditation on His precepts will sooth us, as David’s playing soothed Saul. Delight yourself in these stories and He shall do the same for you. “‘Commit yourself to Yahweh, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.’ Godly men find their delight in Yahweh because they do His will, and He in return answers their prayers.” (Arthur Peake) Thus we are to trust our reputation among men to Him. “It is better to trust our character with God than with the ablest counselor. Scandal may pass over a fair name for a while and cloud it, but God is the avenger of all the righteous. There will be a resurrection of reputations, as well as of persons at the last great day. Only we must commit it to God.” (C. H. Spurgeon)
“‘He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.’ God manifests the ‘righteousness’ of the godly, i.e. the fact that they are in the right. Their ‘judgment’ is their plea, which in the end gains the day. The language is borrowed from the courts of law.” (Peake) The Judgment is in mind. For some are never vindicated in this life. But "Queen Elizabeth envied the milkmaid, when she was in prison. But if she had known what a glorious reign she should have had afterwards for forty-four years she would not have envied her." (John Trapp)
7 Rest in Yahweh, and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass. 8 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; do not fret—it only causes harm. 9 For evildoers shall be cut off; but those who wait on Yahweh, they shall inherit the earth. 10 For yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more; indeed, you will look carefully for his place, but it shall be no more. 11 But the meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.
“‘Rest in Yahweh,’— be still before Him— “A word expressive of that calm resignation which leaves itself absolutely in the hands of God. This hushed, bowed temper of spirit best suits us. Here is the best cure for dissatisfaction with the present and for anxiety about the future, that we leave both in the hands of God.” (Perowne)— “‘and wait patiently for Him.’ Waiting for the Lord will end for the godly of that coming day, when the evil-doers will be cut off in judgment and when those who waited on the Lord shall inherit the earth. This is Israel’s promise which will be realized for the godly remnant when the Lord appears in glory in their midst. These brief hints will help in the study of the entire Psalm.
It must be looked upon as prophetic, pointing to the day when the wicked troubles no more, when his end is come and when the Lord exalts the righteous to inherit the land.” (Arno Gaebelein)
“Do not fret [be angry] because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; do not fret—it only causes harm.’ Many professed Christians do much harm to the cause of Christ by their angry words and rash deeds invoked by social media. “There is an old proverb that it is hard for an empty sack to stand upright. Therefore, when you are in temporal trouble, ask the Lord to fill you with His grace, for then you will stand upright, and by-and-by you shall be delivered.” (C. H. Spurgeon)
“’For evil-doers shall be cut off,’ this result being certain without the sinful anger of the believer; ‘but those that wait upon the Lord,’ steadfastly placing their trust in Him, ‘they shall inherit the earth,’ enjoy true happiness even here in time, while sure of the blessings of eternity. ‘For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be,’ wiped out by the avenging hand of God; ‘yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place,’ wondering why it was so suddenly empty, ‘and it shall not be,’ literally, ‘it is not,’ denoting the quick stroke of God's avenging justice [according to my theology, their destruction]. ‘But the meek,’ those who humbly rest their trust in God, ‘shall inherit the earth,’ as the Lord repeats, Mat_5:5; ‘and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace,’ enjoying the happiness of true prosperity under the blessing of Jehovah.”
(The Popular Commentary by Paul E. Kretzmann)
“Their wealth which they accumulate, the beauty which they think is upon their estate, all this is but as the painted colors of the bubble, which is scarcely seen before it vanishes. Wilt thou envy this? Wilt thou envy a little child his play-toys, which will be broken in an hour? Wilt thou envy a madman the straw crown which he plaits and puts upon his head when he thinks himself a king? Oh! be not so foolish. Thine inheritance is eternal, and thou art immortal [by gift from God, if you are truly converted]. Why shouldest thou envy the creature of an hour? “ (C. H. Spurgeon)
12 The wicked plots against the just, and gnashes at him with his teeth. 13 Yahweh laughs at him, for He sees that his day is coming. 14 The wicked have drawn the sword and have bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy, to slay those who are of upright conduct. 15 Their sword shall enter their own heart, and their bows shall be broken.
The wicked plots against the just, and gnashes at him with his teeth— “out of malice and rage”(Matthew Poole) rooted in that old enmity of the seed of the serpent and That of the woman— the wicked “being set on by that old manslayer, who lendeth the wicked man his seven heads to plot, and his ten horns to push.” (John Trapp) First the wicked try to spoil their righteousness — make them fall or abandon their faith. “If that fail, then to destroy them. To this end they plot, or act with a great deal of policy and contrivance.” (Joseph Benson)— “‘and gnashes at him with his teeth’: which expresses his malice and hatred, as David's enemies did upon him, Psalm 35:16; and Stephen's, Acts 7:54.” (John Gill)
“The Lord shall laugh at him’— ... That is, He will regard all his attempts as vain - as not worthy of serious thought or care.” (Albert Barnes) None can snatch His little ones out of His hands.... “For He sees that his day is coming’—The day of his punishment. Thus, Jeremiah 5:31, Thy day is come, the time that I will visit thee.” (Joseph Benson)— “Your doom has come to you, O inhabitant of the land. The time has come, the day is near— tumult rather than joyful shouting on the mountains.” (Ezekiel 7:7)—"The day of the Lord, which He has appointed to judge the world in, and which comes suddenly, at unawares, as a thief in the night.” (John Gill) —“The day of his destruction or overthrow.” (Albert Barnes)
For now: “‘The wicked have drawn out the sword and have bent their bow;’ having put the arrow in it, in order to shoot, ‘to cast down the poor and needy and to slay such as be of upright conversation’; those “who walk according to the rule of the Word of God, and as becomes the Gospel of Christ.” (John Gill) But: “I cannot but think, that David understood by these weapons, with which he has furnished the ungodly, their bitter and malicious invectives, their false and foul reproaches, etc. These were the arms, in the use of which, as he frequently complains, they were admirably well skilled.” (Dr. C. H. Dodd) “Thus, Psalms 57:4, speaking of wicked men, he says, ‘Whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.’ And if so, then Psalms 37:15 will mean that their intention will be frustrated; they shall not do the mischief they intended; ‘their bows shall be broken’— And their invectives and calumnies shall recoil and do themselves hurt; ‘their’ sharp ‘sword,’ their false and malicious tongues, ‘shall pierce through their own soul.’ And that this was the psalmist’s meaning, who can doubt, after reading Psalms 64:3, where the wicked doers are said to have ‘whet their tongue like a sword, and to shoot out their arrows, even bitter words.’”(Benson)
“If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.” (John 15:19) More or less metaphorically based many times on the faithfulness of the righteous: “We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” (Romans 8:36)
Yet: "‘Their sword shall enter into their own heart,’.... As Saul's did into his, 1 Samuel 31:4; ‘and their bows shall be broken.'” (John Gill)
16 A little that a righteous man has Is better than the riches of many wicked. 17 For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, but Yahweh upholds the righteous. 18 Yahweh knows the days of the upright, and their inheritance shall be forever. 19 They shall not be ashamed in the evil time, and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied. 20 But the wicked shall perish; and the enemies of Yahweh, like the splendor of the meadows, shall vanish. Into smoke they shall vanish away.
“A ‘righteous’ man's ‘little’ is better than a ‘wicked’ man's ‘much’.” (John Gill) “Because he hath it with many great and glorious advantages, with God’s favour and blessings, with great serenity, and satisfaction of his own mind, which is infinitely more desirable and comfortable than all earthly possessions; with the consolations of God’s Spirit, and the assurance of everlasting felicity; whilst wicked men’s riches are loaded with many encumbrances, with the wrath and curse of God, the torment of their own consciences and passions, and the dreadful expectation of an after-reckoning, and of endless miseries.” (Matthew Poole)
“‘For the arms of the wicked shall be broken’— i.e. his power, valour, all that wherein they think their strength and help standeth.” (Trapp) “Their power to do evil.” (Adam Clarke) “Even the members of the body needed to hold weapons are destroyed.” (Jamieson, Fausset, Brown) “The strongest sinew in the arm of flesh cracks.”(Trapp) “That will be broken on which the wicked rely, or, in other words, that their plans will fail, and that they will be disappointed - as a man is rendered helpless whos e arms are broken.” (Albert Barnes) “‘But the Lord upholdeth the righteous,’ though seemingly never so weak and wealthless.” (John Trapp)
“‘The Lord knoweth the days of the upright and their inheritance shall be forever— shall be permanent, enduring. Perhaps all that was implied in tiffs language, as it was used by the psalmist, was that they would ‘continue,’or would not be cut off as the wicked are; that is, that righteousness would contribute to length of days upon the earth (cp. Psalm 37:9); yet the ‘language’ suggests a higher idea, and is applicable to the righteous in respect to the promise that they will be put in ‘everlasting’ possession of that which they ‘inherit’ from God; that is, that they will be literally blessed forever. They will have a sure inheritance on earth, and it will endure to all eternity in another world.” (Albert Barnes)
“‘They shall not be ashamed in the evil time,’ for the disappointment of their hopes, ‘and in the days of famine’ of the Word of God, “but their hopes and desires shall be satisfied, as it follows.” (Matthew Poole)
“‘But the wicked shall perish’ - The general sentiment here is the same as in Psalm 1:1-6, that the righteous shall be prospered and saved, and that the wicked shall perish.” (Albert Barnes) They “‘shall be as the fat of lambs’— which in an instant melteth before the fire. ‘They shall consume into smoke’ — utterly and irrecoverably.” (Joseph Benson )
“All that there was of them - their wealth, their splendor, their power - shall utterly vanish away. This is spoken in contrast with what would be the condition of the righteous.” (Albert Barnes) “While the wicked, however mighty, are destroyed, and that utterly, as smoke which vanishes and leaves no trace.” (Jamieson, Fausset, Brown)
21 The wicked borrows and does not repay, but the righteous shows mercy and gives. 22 For those blessed by Him shall inherit the earth, but those cursed by Him shall be cut off.
The righteous shows mercy and gives. They shall inherit the [new] earth. Yet the “wicked Jew shall meet with the same fate as a wicked Babylonian; and a wicked Christian shall fare no better.” (Clarke) These are “Israel’s promise which will be realized for the godly remnant when the Lord appears in glory in their midst. These brief hints will help in the study of the entire Psalm. It must be looked upon as prophetic, pointing to the day when the wicked troubles no more, when his end is come and when the Lord exalts the righteous to inherit the land.” (Gaebelein)
23 The steps of a good man are ordered by Yahweh, and He delights in his way. 24 Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; for Yahweh upholds him with His hand.
25 I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging bread.
“This is a charming observation, founded on long experience, from youth to age: never was it known that the Lord forsook his redeemed. But, Reader! without my observing it, surely it will strike you, as it doth me, that the begging of bread means somewhat of more importance than the bread that perisheth; for many of God's people have been driven to great straits and difficulties, by reason of outward circumstances of poverty. But if read with an eye to that bread which Jesus handeth in secret, and which none knoweth save he that receiveth; even in the deepest want the soul can say, in the language of his master, I have bread to eat that the world knows not of (Rev 2:17; John 4:32).” (Hawker's Poor Man's Comm)
26 He is ever merciful, and lends and his descendants are blessed. 27 Depart from evil, and do good; and dwell forevermore. 28 For the Lord loves justice, and does not forsake His saints; they are preserved forever, but the descendants of the wicked shall be cut off. 29 The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell in it forever. 30 The mouth of the righteous speaks wisdom, and his tongue talks of justice. 31 The law of his God is in his heart; one of his steps shall slide.
“Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. And a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those entering the temple courts. When he saw Peter and John about to enter the temple, he asked them for money. Peter looked directly at him, as did John. ‘Look at us!’ said Peter. So the man gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, ‘Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk!’ Taking him by the right hand, Peter helped him up, and at once the man’s feet and ankles were strengthened. He sprang to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and leaping and praising God. When all the people saw him walking and praising God, they recognized him as the man who used to sit begging at the gate of the temple, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.” (Acts 3:1-10)
32 The wicked watches the righteous, and seeks to slay him. 33 Yahweh will not leave him in his hand, nor condemn him when he is judged.
After speaking the Word of God at Solomon’s Porch, Peter and John were brought before the council of elders where Peter spoke the Word again as recorded in Acts 4:1-17.
"Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, ‘Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to listen to you rather than God. For we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.’ So the Council members threatened them further and let them go. They could not find a way to punish them, because all the people were glorifying God for what had happened. For the man who was miraculously healed was over forty years old.” (Acts 4:18-22)
34 Wait on Yahweh, and keep His way, and He shall exalt you to inherit the land; when the wicked are cut off, you shall see it. 35 I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a native green tree. 36 Yet he passed away, and behold, he was no more; indeed I sought him, but he could not be found. 37 Mark the man, and observe the upright; for the future of that man is peace. 38 But the transgressors shall be destroyed together; the future of the wicked shall be cut off. 39 But the salvation of the righteous is from Yahweh; He is their strength in the time of trouble. 40 And Yahweh shall help them and deliver them; He shall deliver them from the wicked, snd save them, because they trust in Him.
Wait on Him, and keep His way, and He shall exalt you to inherit the land— “The future is dim, after all our straining to see into its depths. The future is threatening, after all our efforts to prepare for its coming storms. A rolling vapour veils it all; here and there a mountain peak seems to stand out; but in a moment another swirl of the fog hides it from us. We know so little, and what we do know is so sad, that the ignorance of what may be, and the certainty of what must be, equally disturb us with hopes which melt into fears, and forebodings which consolidate into certainties. We are sure that in that future are losses, and sorrows, and death; thank God! We are sure too, that He is in it. That certainty alone, and what comes of it, makes it possible for a thoughtful man to face to-morrow without fear or tumult. The only rest from apprehensions which are but too reasonable is ‘rest in the Lord.’ If we are sure that He will be there, and if we delight in Him, then we can afford to say, ‘As for all the rest, let it be as He wills, it will be well.’ That thought alone, dear friends will give calmness! What else is there, brethren!” (Alexander MacLaren) We will yet live! Our future is peace! Let us be about our Father’s business while it is yet light. Let us trust in Jesus to deliver us from sin and death.