Psalms 128:5

"Jehovah bless thee out of Zion:

And see thou the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life.

Yea, see thou thy children's children.

Peace be upon Israel."

"The Lord bless thee from Zion" (Psalms 128:5). The thought here is that God's blessings upon his people are actually conveyed via the Lord's established religion. The prosperity and happiness of every God-fearing family upon earth is, in some degree, contingent upon the prosperity of holy religion in their community. From this comes the obligation of every God-fearing family, in our own times as well as in theirs, to support faithfully the advancement of the Word of God. This is done by faithful attendance of public worship and by faithful study of the Bible.

"Thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life" (Psalms 128:5). "The man who fears the Lord is a man whose happiness is imperfect unless he can see also the prosperity of Jerusalem."[7]

"All the days of thy life" (Psalms 128:5). There is more than a hint here that the God-fearing man will have a long life, a truth which is confirmed in the following verse. To be sure, "time and circumstance happen unto all men"; and there must, of course, be exceptions to a rule such as this; but, in the general sense, it is most certainly the truth.

"May you see your children's children" (Psalms 128:6). Solomon said that, "Children's children are the crown of an old man" (Proverbs 17:6). Spurgeon's comment on this was that, "The good man is glad that a pious stock is likely to be continued; he rejoices in the belief that other homes as happy as his own will be established, wherein there are altars to the glory of God."[8]

"Peace be upon Israel" (Psalms 128:6). When this was written, God's Israel was composed of the "seed" of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; but, even at that time, all of the literal posterity of the patriarchs were not counted as God's Israel, as for example, in the case of the Edomites and the Ishmaelites, all of whom were just as much Abraham's children as were any others.

The true Israel, for a long period of history, was indistinguishable from the nation, which became more and more wicked. For example, in the times of Elijah, there were only 7,000 worshippers of God in the millions of the population of the nation. By the times of Christ, the true Israel had dwindled to a comparatively few, including the apostles and prophets of the new dispensation. These became the nucleus of the Greater Israel known as Christianity, of which Paul wrote, when he said, "Peace be... and mercy upon the Israel of God" (Galatians 6:16).

In our own times, all who fear the Lord and follow his teachings, are as fully concerned for the peace and prosperity of the Church which is the New Israel as were any who lived under the Old Covenant were solicitous for the welfare of the Old Israel.