Psalm 37:2

For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(2) For they . . .—This inevitable metaphor for the brevity of human life, made still more forcible in an Eastern clime where vegetation is so rapid both in growth and decay, and generally in the Bible applied, without distinction of good or bad, with a mournful sigh over human weakness, becomes here a source of comfort to the godly man.

Green herb.—Literally, greenness of herbage.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

37:1-6 When we look abroad we see the world full of evil-doers, that flourish and live in ease. So it was seen of old, therefore let us not marvel at the matter. We are tempted to fret at this, to think them the only happy people, and so we are prone to do like them: but this we are warned against. Outward prosperity is fading. When we look forward, with an eye of faith, we shall see no reason to envy the wicked. Their weeping and wailing will be everlasting. The life of religion is a believing trust in the Lord, and diligent care to serve him according to his will. It is not trusting God, but tempting him, if we do not make conscience of our duty to him. A man's life consists not in abundance, but, Thou shalt have food convenient for thee. This is more than we deserve, and it is enough for one that is going to heaven. To delight in God is as much a privilege as a duty. He has not promised to gratify the appetites of the body, and the humours of the fancy, but the desires of the renewed, sanctified soul. What is the desire of the heart of a good man? It is this, to know, and love, and serve God. Commit thy way unto the Lord; roll thy way upon the Lord, so the margin reads it. Cast thy burden upon the Lord, the burden of thy care. We must roll it off ourselves, not afflict and perplex ourselves with thoughts about future events, but refer them to God. By prayer spread thy case and all thy cares before the Lord, and trust in him. We must do our duty, and then leave the event with God. The promise is very sweet: He shall bring that to pass, whatever it is, which thou has committed to him.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For they shall soon be cut down like the grass - As the grass in the field is cut down by the mower; that is, however prosperous they may seem to be now, they are like the grass in the meadow which is so green and luxuriant, but which is soon to fall under the scythe of the mower. Their prosperity is only temporary, for they will soon pass away. The idea in the word rendered "soon" - מהרה mehêrâh - is that of "haste" or "speed:" Psalm 147:15; Numbers 16:46; Deuteronomy 11:17. The thought is not that it will be done immediately, but that "when" it occurs it will be a quick and rapid operation - as the grass falls rapidly before the mower.

And wither as the green herb - When it is cut down. That is, not as the dry and stinted shrub that grows in the desert of sand, but like the herb that grows in a garden, or in a marsh, or by the river, that is full of juices, and that needs abundant water to sustain it - like the flag or rush (compare Job 8:11) - and that withers almost instantly when it is cut down. The rapidity with which things "wilt" is in proportion to the rapidity of their growth, so the prosperity of a sinner is suddenly blasted, and he passes away. Compare Psalm 90:5-6.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

PSALM 37

Ps 37:1-40. A composed and uniform trust in God and a constant course of integrity are urged in view of the blessedness of the truly pious, contrasted in various aspects with the final ruin of the wicked. Thus the wisdom and justice of God's providence are vindicated, and its seeming inequalities, which excite the cavils of the wicked and the distrust of the pious, are explained. David's personal history abundantly illustrates the Psalm.

1, 2. The general sentiment of the whole Psalm is expressed. The righteous need not be vexed by the prosperity of the wicked; for it is transient, and their destiny undesirable.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

For their happiness, the matter of thy envy, is but shortlived.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. Which in the morning looks green, pretty, and flourishing, and in the evening is cut down, and then fades away; see Psalm 90:5; and so the wicked prosper and flourish for a while, and then they perish with all their honour, riches, and wealth; so that their happiness is a very short lived one, and therefore need not be envied and fretted at.

Geneva Study Bible

For they shall soon be {b} cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.

(b) For God's judgment cuts down their state in a moment.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

2. The grass and the green herb are a common image for what is transient and perishable. See note on Psalm 37:20; and cp. Psalm 90:5 f.; Psalm 103:15 f.; Isaiah 40:6 ff.

be cut down] Or, fade. Cp. Job 14:2; Job 18:16 (R.V. marg.).

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 2. - For they shall soon be cut down like the grass. So Zophar, in the Book of Job (Job 20:5), "The triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment." And, no doubt, if we compare time with eternity, the longest triumph that the wicked ever enjoy is but for a brief space, is soon gone, endures "but for a moment." It has a continuance, however, which to men in this life seems long, often intolerably long; and hence the disturbance which men's minds suffer on account of it (Job 21:7, 13; Psalm 73:3-16). And wither as the green herb (comp. Psalm 90:5, 6; Psalm 103:15; Isaiah 40:6, 7; James 1:10, 11; 1 Peter 1:24). Psalm 37:2

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Olshausen observes, "The poet keeps entirely to the standpoint of the old Hebrew doctrine of recompense, which the Book of Job so powerfully refutes." But, viewed in the light of the final issue, all God's government is really in a word righteous recompense; and the Old Testament theodicy is only inadequate in so far as the future, which adjusts all present inconsistencies, is still veiled. Meanwhile the punitive justice of God does make itself manifest, as a rule, in the case of the ungodly even in the present world; even their dying is usually a fearful end to their life's prosperity. This it is which the poet means here, and which is also expressed by Job himself in the Book of Job, Job 27:1. With התחרה, to grow hot or angry (distinct from תּחרה, to emulate, Jeremiah 12:5; Jeremiah 22:15), alternates קנּא, to get into a glow, excandescentia, whether it be the restrained heat of sullen envy, or the incontrollable heat of impetuous zeal which would gladly call down fire from heaven. This first distich has been transferred to the Book of Proverbs, Proverbs 24:19, cf. Proverbs 23:17; Proverbs 24:1; Proverbs 3:31; and in general we may remark that this Psalm is one of the Davidic patterns for the Salomonic gnome system. The form ימּלוּ is, according to Gesenius, Olshausen, and Hitzig, fut. Kal of מלל, cognate אמל, they wither away, pausal form for ימּלוּ like יתּממוּ, Psalm 102:28; but the signification to cut off also is secured to the verb מלל by the Niph. נמל, Genesis 17:11, whence fut. ימּלוּ equals ימּלּוּ; vid., on Job 14:2; Job 18:16. ירק דּשׁא is a genitival combination: the green (viror) of young vigorous vegetation.