Psalms 92
Big idea: A Sabbath psalm, and the day off is what makes its argument possible. A senseless man doesn't know this: the wicked spring up as the grass — fast, everywhere, and gone. The righteous get a slower image: a palm tree, a cedar in Lebanon, planted in Yahweh's house. And then the line the whole psalm exists for, which no fast-growing plant can claim: they will still produce fruit in old age; they will be full of sap and green.
Psalm 92 sings on the Sabbath about a stable world. Psalm 93 says why the world is stable: Yahweh reigns.
92:1–8 — Your thoughts are very deep
The only psalm titled for the Sabbath, and its subject is what you can see when you stop. The first half sets a puzzle and names who misses it: a senseless man does not know THIS — that the wicked flourishing like grass is the evidence of their end rather than their success. Seeing that requires the long view, which is what a rest day is for.
1 A Psalm. A song for the Sabbath day. It is a good thing to give thanks to Yahweh, to sing praises to your name, Most High, 2 to proclaim your loving kindness in the morning, and your faithfulness every night, 3 with the ten-stringed lute, with the harp, and with the melody of the lyre. 4 For you, Yahweh, have made me glad through your work. I will triumph in the works of your hands. 5 How great are your works, Yahweh! Your thoughts are very deep. 6 A senseless man doesn’t know, neither does a fool understand this: 7 though the wicked spring up as the grass, and all the evildoers flourish, they will be destroyed forever. 8 But you, Yahweh, are on high forever more.
92:9–15 — They will still produce fruit in old age
The second half answers grass with trees. A palm and a cedar are the two slowest, longest-lived plants the region had, and the psalm's claim about them is precise: they are PLANTED in the house, and they keep bearing in old age. That is the opposite of the seventy-year arithmetic of Psalm 90 — and this psalm, unlike that one, was written for a day off.
9 For behold, your enemies, Yahweh, for behold, your enemies shall perish. All the evildoers will be scattered. 10 But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox. I am anointed with fresh oil. 11 My eye has also seen my enemies. My ears have heard of the wicked enemies who rise up against me. 12 The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree. He will grow like a cedar in Lebanon. 13 They are planted in Yahweh’s house. They will flourish in our God’s courts. 14 They will still produce fruit in old age. They will be full of sap and green, 15 to show that Yahweh is upright. He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.
Scripture text: World English Bible (public domain).