Four Blessings
Psalm 36:1–12
For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light. Psalm 36:9
David lists four ways in Psalm 36 in which the righteous are uniquely blessed.
Satisfaction. David does not use the word satisfaction, but this is what he means when he speaks of the righteous feasting on the “abundance” of God’s house. What is “God’s house” in this psalm? Some writers see the phrase as a reference to the temple, which can indeed be called the house of God. But there is nothing in the context to suggest this. Others suppose it to be a reference to heaven, in line with Jesus’s saying, “In my Father’s house are many rooms” (John 14:2), or his stories about guests feasting in the king’s great hall. In my judgment, the “house” David speaks of here is the world in which we live and in which God’s blessings are poured out. The reason I say so is that a present feasting is spoken of, not a future one. These verses describe a present and continuous enjoyment of God’s bounties.
Joy. Our word for the second blessing is joy, though the word David uses here is delights. The interesting thing about David’s word is that it is the plural of the word Eden and undoubtedly looks backward to the joys of our first parents before the fall.
Life. Verse 9 adds two more blessings of the righteous—life and light. Their fullness begins to be hinted at by the apostle John in the prologue to his Gospel, when he writes of Jesus, “In him was life, and that life was the light of men” (John 1:4). The prologue makes clear that the life spoken of is both physical, since “without him was not any thing made that was made,” (v. 3), and spiritual, since “to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (vv. 12–13).
It is hard to doubt that John was thinking of Psalm 36:9 as he composed the prologue.
Light. “In your light do we see light.” Where is the light of God to be found so that we might walk in light and grow as children of light? A glimmer is seen in nature. It is what the heathen have but reject, according to Romans 1. A steady beam is seen in the Old Testament, pointing onward to him who is himself the Light. The full glory of God’s light is in the gospel we proclaim. Yet the fullest revelation awaits the day when we shall see God in his glory and be like Jesus, whom we will encounter face-to-face (see 2 Cor. 3:7–18).
Taken from Come to the Waters by James Boice ISBN 9798887790954 used with permission from P&R Publishing, Phillipsburg NJ 08865
Scripture quotations are from the ESV (the Holy Bible English Standard Version) copyright 2001 by Crossway a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.