Psalm 127:3

Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(3) Children.—With the true patriarchal feeling of the blessing of a numerous offspring, the poet here directly alludes to Genesis 30:2. “Heritage of Jehovah” is, of course, “heritage from Jehovah,” i.e., a promise granted by Him, just as Israel itself was a possession He made for Himself.

Benson Commentary

Psalm 127:3. Lo, children are a heritage of the Lord — They come not from the power of mere nature, but from God’s blessing, even as an inheritance is not the fruit of a man’s own labour, but the gift of God. He can, in a moment, blast the most fruitful stock, or he can make the barren woman keep house, and become a joyful mother of children. The psalmist mentions children here, because all the forementioned toil and labour are, in a great measure, and most commonly, undertaken for their sakes; and because they are the chief of all those blessings to which he refers. And the fruit of the womb is his reward — Not a reward of debt, merited by good men, but a reward of grace, as the apostle expresses himself, Romans 4:4, which God gives them graciously, as Jacob acknowledges of his children, Genesis 35:5. God indeed frequently gives children, and other outward comforts, to ungodly men, but this is in the way of his common providence; whereas he gives them to his people as peculiar favours, and in the way of promise and covenant.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

127:1-5 The value of the Divine blessing. - Let us always look to God's providence. In all the affairs and business of a family we must depend upon his blessing. 1. For raising a family. If God be not acknowledged, we have no reason to expect his blessing; and the best-laid plans fail, unless he crowns them with success. 2. For the safety of a family or a city. Except the Lord keep the city, the watchmen, though they neither slumber nor sleep, wake but in vain; mischief may break out, which even early discoveries may not be able to prevent. 3. For enriching a family. Some are so eager upon the world, that they are continually full of care, which makes their comforts bitter, and their lives a burden. All this is to get money; but all in vain, except God prosper them: while those who love the Lord, using due diligence in their lawful callings, and casting all their care upon him, have needful success, without uneasiness or vexation. Our care must be to keep ourselves in the love of God; then we may be easy, whether we have little or much of this world. But we must use the proper means very diligently. Children are God's gifts, a heritage, and a reward; and are to be accounted blessings, and not burdens: he who sends mouths, will send meat, if we trust in him. They are a great support and defence to a family. Children who are young, may be directed aright to the mark, God's glory, and the service of their generation; but when they are gone into the world, they are arrows out of the hand, it is too late to direct them then. But these arrows in the hand too often prove arrows in the heart, a grief to godly parents. Yet, if trained according to God's word, they generally prove the best defence in declining years, remembering their obligations to their parents, and taking care of them in old age. All earthly comforts are uncertain, but the Lord will assuredly comfort and bless those who serve him; and those who seek the conversion of sinners, will find that their spiritual children are their joy and crown in the day of Jesus Christ.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord - They are an inheritance derived from the Lord. They are bestowed by him as really as success is in building a house, or in guarding a city. The idea is, that everything which we value, or which we desire, is a gift from God, and is to be received as from him, and to be acknowledged as his gift. The general idea here, as in the previous verses, is that of entire dependence on God.

And the fruit of the womb is his reward - Or rather, "a reward;" that is, they are of the nature of a reward for a life of devotion to God; they are among the blessings which God promises, and are evidences of his favor. Our translation by inserting the words "is his" obscures the sense, as if the meaning were that they belong to God as his "reward" for what he does for us. The reverse of this is the true idea - that they are a blessing with which he rewards or favors his people. Of course, this is not universally true, but the promise is a general one, in accordance with the usual promises in the Bible in regard to the result of piety. Children are to be reckoned among the divine favors bestowed on us, and for their lives, their health, their virtues, and the happiness derived from them, we are, as in other things, dependent on him - as in building a house, in guarding a city, or in the rest and comfort derived from toil.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

3-5. Posterity is often represented as a blessing from God (Ge 30:2, 18; 1Sa 1:19, 20). Children are represented as the defenders (arrows) of their parents in war, and in litigation.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Children; which he mentions here, partly because they are the chief of all these blessings, and partly because all the forementioned toil and labour is in a great measure and most commonly undertaken for their sakes.

Are an heritage of the Lord; they come not from the power of nature, and from a man’s conversation with his wife, or with a multitude of wives or concubines, which Solomon had, but only from God’s blessing; even as an inheritance is not the fruit of a man’s own labour, but the gift of his father, or rather the gift of God, both enabling and inclining his father to give it to him.

His reward; not a reward of debt merited by good men, but a reward of grace, of which we read Romans 4:4, which God gives them graciously, as Jacob acknowledgeth of his children, Genesis 33:5. And although God give children and other outward comforts to ungodly men in the way of common providence, yet he gives them only to his people as favours, and in the way of promise and covenant.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord,.... As all success, safety, and the blessings of life, depend on the providence of God; so this very great blessing is a gift of his; having children, and those good ones, as the Targum interprets it; for of such only can it be understood: so, in a spiritual sense, the children of Christ, the antitypical Solomon, are the gifts of his heavenly Father to him; his portion and inheritance, and a goodly heritage he esteems them;

and the fruit of the womb is his reward; "fruit" (y) is the same with "children" in the preceding clause; see Luke 1:42; a reward he gives to good men, not of debt, but of grace; the Targum,

"a reward of good works:''

so regenerate persons are a reward to Christ, of his sufferings and death, Isaiah 53:10.

(y) "Nascitur ad fructum mulier", Claudian. in Eutrop. l. 1. v. 331.

Geneva Study Bible

Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

3. Lo, sons axe an inheritance from Jehovah;

The fruit of the womb is a reward.

As He bestowed upon Israel the possession of Canaan (Exodus 15:17; Deuteronomy 4:21), not as an hereditary right, but of His own free-will, in accordance with His promise, so of His free gift and grace does He bestow the blessing of numerous children. The P.B.V. well expresses the sense, “Lo, children and the fruit of the womb are an heritage and gift that cometh of the Lord.” If the thought of recompence is included at all in ‘reward,’ it is, in accordance with the spirit of Psalm 127:1-2, as a recompence for the fear of God (cp. 128) that children are given, not, as the Targum glosses, introducing the later Jewish doctrine of merit, as a reward for good works.

the fruit of the womb] A more general expression including daughters. Cp. Psalm 132:11; Genesis 30:2; Deuteronomy 7:13.

3–5. All blessings are God’s gift, but especially the blessing of a numerous family. In dilating upon its advantages the Psalmist passes away from the primary theme of the Psalm.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 3. - Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord. The teaching is enforced by an example. The prosperity, alike of states and of individuals, depends on nothing so much as on an abundant progeny of children. But children are manifestly the free gift of God. And the fruit of the womb is his reward. One of the ways in which he rewards his faithful ones (see Deuteronomy 28:10:11). Psalm 127:3

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

With הנּה it goes on to refer to a specially striking example in support of the maxim that everything depends upon God's blessing. פּרי הבּטן (Genesis 30:2; Deuteronomy 7:13) beside בּנים also admits of the including of daughters. It is with בּנים (recalling Genesis 30:18) just as with נהלת. Just as the latter in this passage denotes an inheritance not according to hereditary right, but in accordance with the free-will of the giver, so the former denotes not a reward that is paid out as in duty bound, but a recompense that is bestowed according to one's free judgment, and in fact looked for in accordance with a promise given, but cannot by any means be demanded. Sons are a blessed gift from above. They are - especially when they are the offspring of a youthful marriage (opp. בּן־זקנים, Genesis 37:3; Genesis 44:20), and accordingly themselves strong and hearty (Genesis 49:3), and at the time that the father is growing old are in the bloom of their years - like arrows in the hand of a warrior. This is a comparison which the circumstances of his time made natural to the poet, in which the sword was carried side by side with the trowel, and the work of national restoration had to be defended step by step against open enemies, envious neighbours, and false brethren. It was not sufficient then to have arrows in the quiver; one was obligated to have them not merely at hand, but in the hand (בּיד), in order to be able to discharge them and defend one's self. What a treasure, in such a time when it was needful to be constantly ready for fighting, defensive or offensive, was that which youthful sons afforded to the elderly father and weaker members of the family! Happy is the man - the poet exclaims - who has his quiver, i.e., his house, full of such arrows, in order to be able to deal out to the enemies as many arrows as may be needed. The father and such a host of sons surrounding him (this is the complex notion of the subject) form a phalanx not to be broken through. If they have to speak with enemies in the gate - i.e., candidly to upbraid them with their wrong, or to ward off their unjust accusation - they shall not be ashamed, i.e., not be overawed, disheartened, or disarmed. Gesenius in his Thesaurus, as Ibn-Jachja has already done, takes דּבּר here in the signification "to destroy;" but in Genesis 34:13 this Piel signifies to deal behind one's back (deceitfully), and in 2 Chronicles 22:10 to get rid of by assassination. This shade of the notion, which proceeds from Arab. dbr, pone esse (vid., Psalm 18:48; Psalm 28:2), does not suit the passage before us, and the expression לא־יבשׁוּ is favourable to the idea of the gate as being the forum, which arises from taking ידברו in its ordinary signification. Unjust judges, malicious accusers, and false witnesses retire shy and faint-hearted before a family so capable of defending itself. We read the opposite of this in Job 5:4 of sons upon whom the curse of their fathers rests.