happiness · noun, common masculine plural construct
man
הַגֶּ֗בֶרha.Ge.ver
H1397
properly · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
quiver
אַשְׁפָּת֗וֹ'ash.pa.To
H827
a quiver or arrow-case · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
full
מִלֵּ֥אmi.Le'
H4390
to fill or (intransitively) be full of · verb, piel perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
ashamed
יֵבֹ֑שׁוּye.Vo.shu
H954
properly · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
speak
יְדַבְּר֖וּye.da.be.Ru
H1696
perhaps properly · verb, piel imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
enemies
אוֹיְבִ֣ים'oy.Vim
H341
hating · verb, qal active participle, masculine plural absolute
gate
בַּשָּֽׁעַרba.Sha.'ar
H8179
an opening · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Proverbs 27:11 My son, be wise, and make my heart glad, that I may answer him that reproacheth me.
Job 42:12-16 So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousa…
Genesis 50:23 And Joseph saw Ephraim’s children of the third generation: the children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were brought up upon Joseph’s kne…
Job 5:4 His children are far from safety, and they are crushed in the gate, neither is there any to deliver them.
Psalms 18:47 It is God that avengeth me, and subdueth the people under me.
Job 1:2 And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 127:1–end
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…
Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them,.... That is, his house full of them; called a quiver, referring to arrows before mentioned, this being the case in which they are put up: to have many children was always reckoned a great temporal blessing and happiness; see Job 1:2. The Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Ethiopic, and Arabic versions, render it, "that fills his desire" has as many as he desires or wishes for: the Targum,
"who fills his school of them:''
so Jarchi interprets the children, of the disciples of the wise men. It may be applied to young converts, the children of Christ and of the church; which, when numerous, is a blessing to him and her; see Isaiah 49:20;
they shall…
Psalm 127:3-5
3. Lo! children are the heritage of Jehovah: the fruit of the womb is the reward which he bestows. [101] 4. As arrows in, the hand of a strong man so are the children of youth. [102] 5. Blessed is the man who shall have filled his quiver with them; for [103] they shall not be ashamed when they speak with their enemies in the gate.
3. Lo! children are the heritage of Jehovah. Solomon here adduces one instance in which, in a particular manner, he would have us to recognize the truth which he has hitherto asserted generally -- that the life of men is governed by God. Nothing seems more natural than for men to be produced of men. The majority of mankind dream, that after God had…
The Church Fathers
"Blessed is the man who has filled his desire from them" [Psalm 127:5]. Well, my brethren, who fills his desire from them? Who loves not the world. He who is filled with the desire of the world, has no room for that to enter which they have preached. Pour forth what you carry, and become fit for that which you have not. That is, you desire riches: you can not fill your desire from them: you desire honours upon earth, you desire those things which God has given even unto beasts of burden, that is, temporal pleasure, bodily health, and the like; you will not fulfil your desire from them...."He shall not be ashamed, when he speaks with his enemies in the gate." Brethren, let us speak in the gate, that is, let all know what we speak. For he who chooses not to speak in the gate, wishes what he speaks to be hidden, and perhaps wishes it to be hidden for this reason, that it is evil. If he be confident, let him speak in the gate; as it is said of Wisdom, "She cries at the gates, at the entry of the city." [Proverbs 8:3] As long as they hold unto righteousness in innocency, they shall not be ashamed: this is to preach at the gate. And who is he who preaches at the gate? He who preaches in Christ; because Christ is the gate whereby we enter into that city. [John 10:9] ...They, therefore, who speak against Christ, are without the gate; because they seek their own honours, not those of Christ. But he who preaches in the gate, seeks Christ's honour, not his own: and, therefore, he who preaches in the gate, says, Trust not in me; for you will not enter through me, but through the gate. While they who wish men to trust in themselves, wish them not to enter through the gate: it is no marvel if the gate be closed against them, and if they vainly knock for it to be opened.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Arms, Armor — The subject naturally divides itself into— I. Offensive weapons: Arms. II. Defensive weapons: Armor. I. Offensive weapons.—
Bow — The bow was in use in early times both in war and in the chase (Gen. 21:20; 27:3; 48:22). The tribe of Benjamin were famous for the use of the bow (1 Chr. 8:40; 12:2; 2 Chr. 14:8; 17:17); so also…
Children — The blessing of offspring, but especially of the male sex, is highly valued among all eastern nations, while a the absence is regarded as one of the severest punishments. (Genesis 16:2; 7:14; 1…
Quiver — The sheath for arrows. The Hebrew word (aspah) thus commonly rendered is found in Job 39:23; Ps. 127:5; Isa. 22:6; 49:2; Jer. 5:16; Lam. 3:13. In Gen. 27:3 this word is the rendering of the Hebrew…
Arrows · Illustrative: Of young children — Illustrative: Of young children
Children · Were named: Numerous, considered an especial blessing — Were named: Numerous, considered an especial blessing
Courts Of Justice · The judgment of: Allusions to — The judgment of: Allusions to
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
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 (Gen 30:2; Deu 7:13) beside בּנים also admits of the including of daughters. It is with בּנים (recalling Gen 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…
like arrows: God uses children to protect the reputation of his people against the wicked (cp. 120:4; 7:12-13).
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 127:5
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.
Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them. Those who have no children bewail the fact; those who have few children see them soon gone, and the house is silent, and their life has lost a charm; those who have many gracious children are upon the whole the happiest. Of course a large number of children means a large number of trials; but when these are met by faith in the Lord it also means a mass of love, and a multitude of joys. The writer of this comment gives it as his own observation, that he has seen the most frequent unhappiness in marriages which ar…
