The righteous shall shoot forth like a palm-tree; he shall grow like a cedar on Lebanon.
Psalm 92 carries the title "A Psalm. A Song for the Sabbath," and its middle section watches the wicked spring up like grass and then perish. Verse 12 answers with two trees: one fruitful, one long-lived.
The verse answers a picture from earlier in the psalm.
They will flourish, but not like the grass, which flourishes only for a day, as in the case of the wicked (v. 7). They will flourish like a palm tree that brings fruit in abundance, and like a cedar in Lebanon, whose long age runs into centuries. The godly will have their roots in the house of the Lord, and they will adorn the courts of our God. Age will not diminish their fruitfulness, nor lessen their vitality.
The psalm's title also points the verse forward.
The inscription tells us this is a Psalm for the Sabbath day. The rest for His people comes when the Lord arises, delivers them, and the enemies perish. This Psalm looks forward to that rest, the coming great Lord's day. The praise is because of the work Jehovah has done, His redemption work for His people... Then the wicked will perish, and all who do evil will be scattered, while the saints of God will flourish like the palm tree.
Scripture ties the palm's upright shape to the character of the person it pictures.
Scripture connects this tree with righteousness. Jeremiah 10:5 says, "They are upright as the palm tree," and Psalm 92:12 says, "The righteous flourish like the palm tree."... righteousness is to mark the people of God in all their ways... If the church does not show righteousness today, where else on earth will we find it? Every judgment we form and speak, and every action, should bear the upright feature of the palm tree.
(Jeremiah 10:5 is quoted here from an older translation.)
The image also pushes back against a cold idea of what a righteous person is like.
This is a divine definition of a righteous man or woman. It is a pity that our conceptions are often so different — of something hard, rigid and unfriendly. We have all met these beautiful and generous people. Their fruit never tastes sweeter to us than just after we have passed the bitter waters of Marah.
One writer heard how growers straighten a crooked palm, and saw a picture of trouble in it. He also links the palm to a feast that pictures a coming rest.
I heard from the believers in Israel that sometimes when a palm tree is growing crooked they weight it with a large stone to make it grow straight up. That is a nice illustration of tribulation, which can be necessary to produce a righteous life. Leviticus 23 links the palm with the feast of tabernacles... That is why the feast of tabernacles is a beautiful picture of the millennial rest, when the King will reign in justice.
The cedar is not always a compliment in Scripture; elsewhere it stands for the pride of powerful men. That makes its use here worth noticing.
In some cases the cedar of Lebanon pictures the glory and pride of man. Here it pictures the beauty and glory that God puts on the believer. Man in the flesh may pretend to have such greatness, but it does not belong to him. Through new birth, though, the believer may wear such dignity as his own, without the danger of pride in his own importance.
Another writer looks at what a cedar stood for among the nations.
In Scripture the cedar always stands for power or high position, if not pride... The Psalmist uses it to express the prosperity of the righteous, who "grow like a cedar in Lebanon"... Powers and empires in the world have been like trees. They gave shelter to the birds, and their branches covered the beasts of the field. But the trees died. Not so when Israel shall be first among the nations: their glory shall not fade, nor their leaf wither.
Neither tree grows on its own. The psalm ends by naming the point of the whole picture.
The soil they are planted in is the best: planted in the house of Jehovah, they flourish in the courts of God Himself. This makes us remember that "in Him we live and move and have our being." Their strength lasts into old age; they still have sap and stay green. All this declares, blessed be God, that Jehovah, to whom they have been brought back, is upright. He has pledged Himself to His people.
- Planted — the trees are not wild growth; their vigour comes from the soil God chose, the house and courts of the Lord.
- Upright — the palm's straight stem pictures righteousness; growers weight a crooked palm with a stone, as trouble straightens a life.
- Fruitful — grass lasts a day; the palm bears fruit in abundance, and age does not thin the harvest.
- Enduring — the cedar adds centuries and dignity, but this is glory God gives, not greatness a person claims.
- Proof — the whole picture declares one thing: the Lord is upright, and He has pledged Himself to His people.
Those that are planted in the house of Jehovah shall flourish in the courts of our God
Psalm 92 is a song for the Sabbath day. By this verse the singer has already watched the wicked shoot up like grass and vanish. So what makes the righteous last when everything else withers? The answer is not the tree. It is the ground it stands in.
One writer starts with the psalm's title, and reads its flourishing as part of a rest still to come.
The inscription tells us it is a Psalm for the Sabbath day. The rest for His people comes when the Lord arises, delivers them, and the enemies perish. This Psalm looks forward to that rest, the coming great Lord's day. The praise is because of the work Jehovah has done, His redemption work on behalf of His people… Then the wicked will perish, and all who do evil will be scattered, while the saints of God will flourish like the palm tree.
A palm and a cedar are strong trees. One writer looks past their strength to the ground they stand in.
Their soil is surely the best for this: planted in the house of Jehovah, they flourish in the courts of God Himself. And this makes us remember that "in Him we live and move and have our being." Their vigour lasts into old age. They have sap and are green.
Earlier in the psalm the wicked flourish too — but only as grass. This verse holds two things together: where the root goes, and what shows.
They will flourish, but not like the grass, which flourishes only for a day, as with the wicked (v. 7). They will flourish like a palm tree loaded with fruit, and like a cedar in Lebanon, whose long life runs for centuries. The godly will have their roots in the house of the Lord, and they will adorn the courts of our God. Age will not lessen their fruitfulness or weaken their vitality.
The palm and the cedar picture the kingdom. One writer asks who else they picture.
These emblems are not only emblems of the kingdom, but also of those who belong there. There will be perfect harmony between the glories of the kingdom and those who will have part in it, between the Father's house and those who dwell there.
One writer finds a living example in Samuel, the boy given to the house of the Lord to grow up there.
He was indeed a rare plant of the Lord's own raising; and planted, as he was, in the house of the Lord, he flourished "in the courts of our God."
One writer draws a rule out of how one king began his reign.
Of Hezekiah it is written that in the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them. That was a happy opening of his way. A course begun with God is sure, in the long run, to prove a triumphant one. There may be failure, difficulty, temptation, sorrow, clouds and darkness. Yet in the end it will be clear that the one who begins his course in the sanctuary will end in the glory. "They are planted in the house of the LORD; they flourish in the courts of our God."
The same writer warns that time among God's people can crowd out personal nearness to Christ.
We all need to work harder at cultivating a sincere faith. We need to enter with more spiritual vigour into the power of the link that binds us, individually, to Christ. This would make us rich and flourishing, even in old age. … We suffer real damage when we let what is called Christian fellowship interfere with our personal connection and communion with Christ.
- Planted — the tree does not choose its ground. God sets it in His house, and that soil, not its own strength, explains all the rest.
- Rooted — roots go down in God's house; the beauty shows in His courts. Hidden nearness first, visible fruit second.
- Lasting — the wicked flourish like grass for a day. These flourish like the palm and the cedar, and old age does not cut the crop.
- Matched — one emblem covers the kingdom and its people, so the house and those who live in it agree in character.
- Begun — Samuel grew up there as a child. Hezekiah opened its doors as a king. A course begun in the sanctuary ends in the glory.
They are still vigorous in old age, they are full of sap and green;
Psalm 92 is titled a song for the sabbath day. Early in the psalm the singer watches the wicked spring up like grass. By verse 14 he is looking at the righteous, still bearing fruit at an age when strength should be gone. Two questions follow: what keeps a life green that long, and what is the fruit for?
The psalm's title points to a day of rest that is still coming.
The inscription tells us it is a Psalm for the Sabbath day. The rest for His people comes when the Lord arises, delivers them, and the enemies perish. This Psalm looks forward to that rest, the coming great Lord's day. The praise is for the work Jehovah has done, His redemption work for His people. Then the wicked will perish, all who do evil will be scattered, and the saints of God will flourish like the palm tree.
Earlier in the psalm the wicked spring up like grass. The contrast with verse 14 is about how long a thing lasts.
Christ has been exalted. The result is not only judgment for the wicked, but blessing for the righteous. They will flourish — not like the grass, which flourishes only for a day, as with the wicked (v. 7), but like a palm tree that bears fruit in abundance, and like a cedar in Lebanon, which lives on for centuries. The godly will have their roots in the house of the Lord, and they will adorn the courts of our God. Age will not diminish their fruitfulness, nor lessen their vitality.
The verse says the righteous are still full of sap. The verse before it names the ground they are planted in.
The soil they are planted in is surely the best for this: planted in the house of Jehovah, they flourish in the courts of God Himself. And this makes us remember that "in Him we live and move and have our being." Their vigour lasts into old age; they have sap and are green.
The palm is a tree that grows by water.
The living water of the Spirit nourishes the "trees of the Lord," which "are full of sap." The palm tree is the figure of the righteous — upright, and useful in every way — still bearing fruit in old age, lasting as long as the streams that feed them.
Fruit here is wider than work anyone can put on a schedule, which is why it can go on when activity slows.
Fruit-bearing may include preaching or teaching, but it means much more; it goes on, indeed, to the continuing of the life of Christ in us. It means that what was so perfectly blended in Him, and seen here on earth, is now seen in His people. It comes out in such a way that it continues Himself here.
Commentators do not treat the verse as automatic. One writer notes how seldom believers actually reach it.
The freshness, softness, simplicity, tenderness and earnest affection of our young days rarely carry forward into the strong years of manhood and mature old age. Very often one finds a depth of tone, a richness of experience, a moral elevation in the early stages of the Christian life. Too soon it gives way to a chilling formalism in one's personal ways, or to mere energy in defending some barren system of theology.
He points to the cure: a stronger personal link with Christ.
We all need to cultivate a "sincere faith" more carefully. We need to enter with more spiritual vigour into the power of the link that binds each of us to Christ. This would make us "full of sap and green," even in old age.
One writer wrote to a friend who called himself old.
You must not call yourself old as if you were tired. The Lord was never weary, yet the Ancient of Days; you have to renew your strength as an eagle to bear fruit in old age.
The psalm's last verse gives the reason. The point of the fruit is not the tree.
If the righteous have their place in the courts of the Lord, it will be for the glory of the Lord — "to declare that the Lord is upright." He is the firm "rock" on which all blessing is founded, and One in whom there is no unrighteousness.
- Planted — the fruit of verse 14 grows out of verse 13; the vigour belongs to the soil, not the tree.
- Watered — the living water of the Spirit feeds the palm, so its fruit lasts as long as the streams.
- Fruitful — this fruit is wider than preaching or teaching. It is Christ's own life continued in His people.
- Guarded — early freshness can harden into formalism; the cure is a personal link with Christ.
- For Him — the green old age is evidence in public that the Lord is upright, a Rock with no unrighteousness in Him.