A Song of Ascents. Of Solomon. Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the Lord guards the city, The watchman stays awake in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, To sit up late, To eat the bread of sorrows; For so He gives His beloved sleep. Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one's youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; They shall not be ashamed, But shall speak with their enemies in the gate.
"For so He gives His beloved sleep" If you look at the Hebrew it could also be translated "For so He gives to His beloved while they are asleep" This is a pun Solomon got his wisdom while he was asleep, and Adam got his wife while asleep, and with Abraham God made a covenant while he was asleep, and God worked in the lives of Jacob and Joseph through sleep (dreams.) The point of sleep is while you are unaware God is working on your behalf. It is all God's work, and He deserves the credit. All this becomes more clear if you line this up with the "House" pun in verse 1 "Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it" The word "house" could mean the temple Solomon built, or the dynasty God promised to David and not Saul. So verse 1 is about the fulfillment of God's promise to the line of David, which Christ is the one to sit on the throne of David forever. Also think of "vanity" in Solomon's writings (Ecclesiastes,) and compare it to how "vain" the Christian life is without the Lord building the house in the Resurrection. So how does a strong man like Solomon reach a goal that out of even his reach. A goal like the coming messiah, a world wide kingdom that lasts forever, and even the end to the curse of sin? The answer is through the promise of God, the promise that the messiah would be of the line of David. If this messiah was not Solomon, then the answer was Solomon would reach his far off goal, the promise of God through his children. "Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior." If a strong man can not reach his enemies he uses a bow and arrow to reach them. For Solomon Children were his arrow, his way of reaching the goal that he had that was just out of his reach.
"For so He gives His beloved sleep" If you look at the Hebrew it could also be translated "For so He gives to His beloved while they are asleep" This is a pun Solomon got his wisdom while he was asleep, and Adam got his wife while asleep, and with Abraham God made a covenant while he was asleep, and God worked in the lives of Jacob and Joseph through sleep (dreams.) The point of sleep is while you are unaware God is working on your behalf. It is all God's work, and He deserves the credit. All this becomes more clear if you line this up with the "House" pun in verse 1 "Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it" The word "house" could mean the temple Solomon built, or the dynasty God promised to David and not Saul. So verse 1 is about the fulfillment of God's promise to the line of David, which Christ is the one to sit on the throne of David forever. Also think of "vanity" in Solomon's writings (Ecclesiastes,) and compare it to how "vain" the Christian life is without the Lord building the house in the Resurrection. So how does a strong man like Solomon reach a goal that out of even his reach. A goal like the coming messiah, a world wide kingdom that lasts forever, and even the end to the curse of sin? The answer is through the promise of God, the promise that the messiah would be of the line of David. If this messiah was not Solomon, then the answer was Solomon would reach his far off goal, the promise of God through his children. "Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior." If a strong man can not reach his enemies he uses a bow and arrow to reach them. For Solomon Children were his arrow, his way of reaching the goal that he had that was just out of his reach.
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