Psalm 112:1-10
1 Praise the LORD! Blessed is
the man who fears the LORD, Who delights greatly in His commandments.
2 His descendants will be
mighty on earth; The generation of the upright will be blessed.
3 Wealth and riches will be in
his house, And his righteousness endures forever.
4 Unto the upright there
arises light in the darkness; He is gracious, and full of compassion, and
righteous.
5 A good man deals graciously
and lends; He will guide his affairs with discretion.
6 Surely he will never be
shaken; The righteous will be in everlasting remembrance.
7 He will not be afraid of
evil tidings; His heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD.
8 His heart is established; He
will not be afraid, Until he sees his desire upon his enemies.
9 He has dispersed abroad, He
has given to the poor; His righteousness endures forever; His horn will be
exalted with honor.
10 The wicked will see it and
be grieved; He will gnash his teeth and melt away; The desire of the wicked
shall perish.
When we were studying Psalm
111, we said that it and Psalm 112 are connected and very similar. It appears
that both of them were written by an anonymous person, possibly a Levite, after
the Babylonian captivity to encourage the Jewish remnant who had returned to
rebuild the temple and the city of Jerusalem. You can see the connection
between the two psalms when you put the last verse of Psalm 111 with the first
verse of Psalm 112.
Psalm 111 ends with; “The
fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all
those who do His commandments. His praise endures forever.” Psalm 112
begins with; “Praise the LORD! Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, Who
delights greatly in His commandments.” In Psalm 111 the writer extolled the
Lord for His great and marvelous works, and he ended by admonishing us to fear
the Lord and obey His precepts (111:10). Now in Psalm 112, the blessings of
obeying that admonition are described. Both psalms must be read in light of
God's covenant with Israel in which He promises to bless them if they fear Him
and obey His Word (Lev. 26:1-13; Deut. 28:1-14).
During much of their history,
the Jews memorized their Scriptures and other sacred literature. That is why
poetry is so popular in the Bible. Jewish poetry often had an acrostic form,
with meter and a specialized structure, both a distinct aid to memory. Like
Psalm 111, Psalm 112 is an acrostic psalm, a reminder that it was to be
memorized as well as read. Psalm 111 puts the emphasis on the Savior, this
psalm puts the emphasis on the saint. In Psalm 111 we were occupied with the power
of God. In Psalm 112 we are occupied with the people of God. In Psalm 111 it
was the Lord's person, here it is the Lord's people. In Psalm 111 His works
were underlined; here our works are underlined.
We must not conclude that, on
the basis of this psalm, all believers today can claim health, wealth, success,
and happiness if they faithfully obey the Lord, for this promise is not found
in the new covenant. For that matter, the believer described in this psalm had
times of darkness (v. 4), occasionally received bad news (v. 7), had his
enemies (vv. 8, 10), and had to consider the justice of his decisions (v. 5).
We who live under the new covenant have in Jesus Christ every spiritual
blessing that we will ever need (Eph. 1:3; 2 Peter 1:3-4), and we have the
promise that our God will meet our needs (Phil. 4:19).
The attributes of God given in
111 become the character qualities of the godly believer in 112, for becoming
more and more like Jesus Christ is the greatest reward of a faithful life of
obedience (Rom. 8:29; 2 Cor. 3:18). We want more than the blessing; we want to
be like the One who gives the blessing.
God bless!
