Psalm 37:25

I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Psalm 37:25-26. I have been young, and now am old, &c. — As if he had said, “I say nothing but what I can confirm by my own long observation: when I was young I began to take notice of it; and I have continued so to do, till now that I am grown old: and I cannot remember that in all my life I ever saw a truly pious; just, and charitable man, left destitute of necessary things, or his children after him,” (treading in his steps,) “reduced to such poverty that they were constrained to beg from door to door.” — Bishop Patrick. He is ever merciful and lendeth — He is so far from begging from others, that he hath ability, as well as inclination, to give, or lend to others, as need requires. And his seed is blessed — Not only with spiritual, but with temporal blessings, wherewith God rewards his benevolence and liberality to the poor and destitute. So far shall he be from wasting his property, and undoing himself and family by his charity and bounty, as covetous and worldly people supposed he would do, that he and his posterity will rather be enriched thereby. It must be observed that these temporal promises were more express and particular to the Jews in the times of the Old Testament, than to Christians in the New, and therefore were more generally fulfilled. Under the Christian dispensation, however, godliness hath so far the promise of the life that now is, that they who seek first and principally the kingdom of God, shall have the necessaries of life provided for them in some way or other, Matthew 6:33, and he that watereth others shall be watered himself. To fear and serve God is the readiest way to secure ourselves and families from want; and “so far is charity from empoverishing, that what is given away, like vapours emitted by the earth, returns in showers of blessings, into the bosom of the person who gave it; and his offspring is not the worse, but infinitely the better for it. The bread which endureth, as well as that which perisheth, is his; and the blessings of time are crowned with those of eternity.” — Horne.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

37:21-33 The Lord our God requires that we do justly, and render to all their due. It is a great sin for those that are able, to deny the payment of just debts; it is a great misery not to be able to pay them. He that is truly merciful, will be ever merciful. We must leave our sins; learn to do well, and cleave to it. This is true religion. The blessing of God is the spring, sweetness, and security of all earthly enjoyments. And if we are sure of this, we are sure not to want any thing good for us in this world. By his grace and Holy Spirit, he directs the thoughts, affections, and designs of good men. By his providence he overrules events, so as to make their way plain. He does not always show them his way for a distance, but leads them step by step, as children are led. God will keep them from being ruined by their falls, either into sin or into trouble, though such as fall into sin will be sorely hurt. Few, if any, have known the consistent believer, or his children, reduced to abject, friendless want. God forsakes not his saints in affliction; and in heaven only the righteous shall dwell for ever; that will be their everlasting habitation. A good man may fall into the hands of a messenger of Satan, and be sorely buffeted, but God will not leave him in his enemy's hands.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

I have been young - The idea in this whole passage is, "I myself have passed through a long life. I have had an opportunity of observation, wide and extended. When I was a young man, I looked upon the world around me with the views and feelings which belong to that period of existence; when in middle life, I contemplated the state of things with the more calm and sober reflections pertaining to that period, and to the opportunities of wider observation; and now, in old age, I contemplate the condition of the world with all the advantages which a still wider observation and a longer experience give me, and with the impartial judgment which one has who is about to leave the world. And the result of all is a conviction that religion is an advantage to man; that God protects His people; that He provides for them; that they are more uniformly and constantly blessed, even in their worldly affairs, than other people, and that they do not often come to poverty and want." There is a sad kind of feeling which a man has when he is constrained to say, "Ihave been young;" for it suggests the memory of joys, and hopes, and friends, that are now gone forever. But a man may have some claim to respect for his opinions when he is constrained to say it, for he can bring to the coming generation such results of his own experience and observation as may be of great value to those who are "young."

And now am old - This demonstrates that this psalm was one of the later productions of its author; and the psalm has an additional value from this circumstance, as stating the results of a long observation of the course of affairs on the earth. Yet there is much that is solemn when a man is constrained to say, "I am old." Life is nearly ended. The joys, the hopes, the vigor of youth, are all gone. The mature strength of manhood is now no more. The confines of life are nearly reached. The next remove is to another world, and that now must be near; and it is a solemn thing to stand on the shores of eternity; to look out on that boundless ocean, to feel that earth, and all that is dear on earth, is soon to be left "forever."

Yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken - Forsaken by God; so forsaken that he has not a friend; so forsaken that he has nothing with which to supply his wants.

Nor his seed begging bread - Nor his children beggars. This was a remarkable testheony; and though it cannot be affirmed that the psalmist meant to say literally that he had never, in any instance, met with such a case - for the language may have been intended as a general statement, yet it may have been true to the letter. In the course of a long life it may have occurred that he had never met with such a case - and if so, it was a remarkable proof of the correctness of the general remarks which he was making about the advantage of piety. It is not now universally true that the "righteous" are not "forsaken," in the sense that they do not want, or in the sense that their children are not constrained to beg their bread, but the following things, are true:

(a) that religion tends to make men industrious, economical, and prudent, and hence, tends to promote prosperity, and to secure temporal comforts;

(b) that religion "of itself" impoverishes no one, or makes no one the poorer;

(c) that religion saves from many of the expenses in life which are produced by vicious indulgence; and

(d) that, as a general rule, it saves men and their children from the necessity of public begging, and from the charity-house.

Who are the inmates of the poor-houses in the land? Who are the beggars in our great cities? Here and there, it may be, is one who is the child of pious parents, reduced by sickness or misfortune, or a lack of practical good sense - for religion does not alter the constitution of the mind, and does not impart the "skill" or "talent" upon which so much of the success in life depends; but the great mass of persons in our charity-houses, and of beggars in the streets, are themselves intemperate, or are the wives and children of the intemperate. They consist of those whom religion, as it would have made them virtuous and industrious, would have saved from rags and beggary. It may not now be literally true that anyone who has been young, and who is become old, could say that he had not once seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread; but the writer of these lines, who has this day - the day on which he pens them (Dec. 1, 1859) - reached the sixty-first year of his life, and who is constrained to say "I have been young," though he may feel a reluctance to add, "but now am old," can say, as the result of his own observation in the world, that, as a great law, the children of the pious are not vagrants and beggars. As a great law, they are sober, industrious, and prosperous. The vagrants and the beggars of the world are from other classes; and whatever may be the bearing of religion on the destinies of men in the future world, in this world the effect is to make them virtuous, industrious, prudent, and successful in their worldly affairs, so that their children are not left to beggary and want, but to respectability and to competence.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

23, 24. steps—way, or, "course of life"; as ordered by God, failures will not be permanent.

The Treasury of David

25 I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.

26 He is ever merciful, and lendeth; and his seed is blessed.

Psalm 37:25

This was David's observation, "I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread." It is not my observation just as it stands, for I have relieved the children of undoubtedly good men, who have appealed to me as common mendicants. But this does not cast a doubt upon the observation of David. He lived under a dispensation more outward, and more of this world than the present rule of personal faith. Never are the righteous forsaken; that is a rule without exception. Seldom indeed do their seed beg bread; and although it does occasionally occur, through dissipation, idleness, or some such causes on the part of their sons, yet doubtless it is so rare a thing that there are many alive who never saw it. Go into the union house and see how few are the children of godly parents; enter the gaol and see how much rarer still is the case. Poor ministers' sons often become rich. I am not old, but I have seen the families of the poor godly become rich, and have seen the Lord reward the faithfulness of the father in the success of the son, so that I have often thought that the best way to endow one's seed with wealth is to become poor for Christ's sake. In the Indian mission of the "Baptist Missionary Society," this is abundantly illustrated.

Psalm 37:26

"He is ever merciful, and lendeth." The righteous are constantly under generous impulses; they do not prosper through parsimony, but through bounty. Like the bounteous giver of all good, of who in they are the beloved sons, they delight in doing good. How stingy, covetous professors can hope for salvation is a marvel to those who read such verses as this in the Bible. "And his seed is blessed." God pays back with interest in the next generation. Where the children of the righteous are not godly, there must be some reason for it in parental neglect, or some other guilty cause. The friend of the father is the friend of the family. The God of Abraham is the God of Isaac and of Jacob.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

This assertion seems to be contradicted by many experiences; nor can it be denied, that both good men and their children have sometimes been reduced to great want.

Quest. How then is this true?

Answ.

1. Some render the last clause thus, nor (did I ever see)

his seed, ( to wit, forsaken, as was now said,) though

begging bread. So the sense is, I have seen him brought to beggary, yet even then God did not forsake him. But this sense agrees not with the context nor scope, which is to show the plenty and prosperity where with God blesseth him.

2. This is to be understood of the seed of the righteous treading in their fathers’ steps, from which if they degenerate, they lose all their privileges, as many places of Scripture witness.

3. Some few exceptions do not destroy the truth of a general proposition.

4. These temporal promises were more express and particular to the Jews in the times of the Old Testament, than to Christians in the New, and therefore were more literally fulfilled.

5. He speaks not of any kind of wanting, or desiring, or receiving relief from others, for so David himself did, 1 Samuel 21:3 25:8; but of the customary practice and trade of begging, which was threatened as a curse to the disobedient, Deu 28 Psalm 109:10.

6. Not begging, to wit, in vain; or so as to be forsaken, as was now expressed, and may very well be here understood; or so as to be sustained or relieved by others.

7. David speaks only of his own experience, which if since that time it be contradicted by other men’s experiences, it is no more than what happens in all the concernments of human life.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

I have been young, and now am old,.... The psalmist makes mention of his age, which takes in the whole compass of his life, to command attention to what he was about to say; which was founded upon a long experience and observation of things, and was as follows;

yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken; though afflicted of God, and persecuted by men, yet not forsaken; though poor and needy, and often in necessitous circumstances, yet God in his providence appeared for them in one way or another; and so as Apollinarius paraphrases it,

"I never knew a just man entirely needy;''

for such might be forsaken by men, and even by their dearest friends and relations, yet not by the Lord: they might indeed, at times, think themselves forsaken of him, and their enemies might conclude and say they were, and yet this was not their case, Isaiah 49:14; and though they may be forsaken by him for a while, yet not utterly; he will not leave them and forsake them for ever, Isaiah 54:7;

nor his seed begging bread; they being righteous also, which must be supposed; otherwise, as good men have wicked children, these, through their wickedness, may come to poverty, to beggary, as they sometimes do; though a distinction may be made between being poor and beggars; the seed of the righteous may be the one, and not the other: besides, there is a difference between asking bread of others, in some few instances, and constantly begging bread from door to door, in which last sense the psalmist must be understood here; for otherwise he himself in some cases, had asked bread, as of Ahimelech at Nob, and of Nabal, &c. as did also Elijah of the widow of Sarepta: and though there might have been instances of some of the posterity of the righteous who got their bread by begging at the door, as in the case of Lazarus; yet David had never observed any such instance during the time of his life, which shows that such instances are very rare; whereas among wicked men and their offspring the case is frequent and common. Again, it may be observed, that the psalmist is speaking in the context of righteous men that are liberal, and give to the poor freely and largely; and it is seldom if ever known that they or their children come to want and poverty. Once more, the word "forsaken" may be repeated in this clause, thus; "nor his seed begging bread forsaken" (x); or seeking it in vain, and finally destitute of it; though they have been so reduced as to beg their bread, they have not been forsaken; they have find it, bread sufficient to support life, as Apollinarius paraphrases it; their bread has been given and their water sure; see Isaiah 41:17. In an ancient Midrash (y), or exposition of the Jews, the sense is thus given:

"although his seed and his sons are begging bread, yet I have not seen the righteous man, their father, forsaken, because of his fear of the blessed God.''

(x) "Justum non vidi derelictum, et semen justi quaerens panem non vidi derelictum"; so Hopfnerus, Titelmannus, Lorinus, Franzius apud Gejerum; "frustra quaerens panem, et finalitur destitutum", Michaelis. (y) Vajikra Rabba, s. 35. fol. 175. 2.

Geneva Study Bible

I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his {r} seed begging bread.

(r) Though the just man die, yet God's blessings are extended to his posterity and though God suffer some just man to lack temporal benefits, yet he recompenses him with spiritual treasures.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

25, 26. Stanza of Nûn. An appeal to the experience of a long life in confirmation of the preceding stanzas. He has never seen the righteous permanently deserted by God, or his children reduced to homeless beggary (Psalm 109:10). Cp. Psalm 37:28; Psalm 37:33; Psalm 9:10; Genesis 28:15. Temporary impoverishment and apparent abandonment for a time need not be supposed to be excluded.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 25. - I have been young, and now am old. It is most natural to understand this literally, and to gather from it that the psalmist, whether David or another, composed this psalm in advanced life. It has certainly all the gravity, calmness, seriousness, and tone of authority which befit a teacher of many years and much experience. Yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. The social condition of the Israelites was very unlike that of modern European communities. Though there were rich and poor among them, there could scarcely be any that were very poor. Where there was a general obligation upon all well-disposed persons to lend to such as were in need, and no interest could be asked upon loans, and in the year of jubilee all debts were remitted, and mortgaged lands returned to their original owners or their families, actual begging was scarcely possible, and at any rate could only be brought about by extreme and reckless misconduct. Many philanthropists believe that even at the present time in our own country mendicancy is nearly always the consequence of persistence in evil courses. Still more must this have been the case in Palestine in the time of the monarchy (see Proverbs 20:4). Psalm 37:25

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

There is an old theological rule: promissiones corporales intelligendae sunt cum exceptione crucis et castigationis. Temporary forsakenness and destitution the Psalm does not deny: it is indeed even intended to meet the conflict of doubt which springs up in the minds of the God-fearing out of certain conditions and circumstances that are seemingly contradictory to the justice of God; and this it does, by contrasting that which in the end abides with that which is transitory, and in fact without the knowledge of any final decisive adjustment in a future world; and it only solves its problem, in so far as it is placed in the light of the New Testament, which already dawns in the Book of Ecclesiastes.