Psalms 129:5 - Meaning and Application

The psalmist has seen many plans fail, plans made as deeply and as dangerously as if they came from hell itself to destroy the church. So he closes his psalm as Deborah closed her song: “So may all your enemies perish, O Lord” (Judges 5:31).

There are many who hate Zion, God’s chosen people, and who hate Zion’s God, his worship, and his worshipers. They have a deep dislike for true religion and for religious people, and they do all they can to keep God from having a church in the world.

We should pray that all their efforts against the church will fail, and that they will be brought to shame and turned back. “Let them all be confounded” means the same as saying, “They will all be confounded.” This shame is pictured by a comparison: while God’s people flourish like a loaded palm tree or a green, fruitful olive tree, their enemies will dry up like grass on a housetop. As men, they need not be feared, for they will be made like grass (Isaiah 51:12). But as enemies of Zion, they are so certain to be ruined that they may be treated with the same contempt as grass on the roof, which is small, short-lived, sour, and good for nothing.

That grass dies quickly. It withers before it can grow fully, because it has no root. And the higher its place, which may suit its pride, the more it is exposed to the sun’s heat, so the sooner it withers. Some read the line to mean that it withers before it is pulled up. So the enemies of God’s church often fade away on their own, before God’s judgments even cut them down.

That grass is useful to no one. In the same way, these enemies are only an unprofitable burden on the earth. Their plans against Zion will never ripen or come to anything. No matter what they promise themselves, they will gain no more from their work than a farmer gains from grass growing on a housetop. Their harvest will end in a heap in a day of sorrow (Isaiah 17:11).

No wise person will pray God to bless the reapers, as Psalm 129:8 says. It was an old and honorable custom, not only to greet strangers and travelers, but especially to pray for the success of harvest workers. Boaz did this for his reapers, saying, “The Lord be with you” (Ruth 2:4). In this way, we recognize God’s care, show kindness to our neighbors, and honor their labor. If a prayer like this comes from a sincere and godly heart, God accepts it as a holy wish.

But sacred words must never be used in joking or careless ways. Mowing grass on a housetop would be a joke, and so anyone who honors God’s name should not treat the usual forms of blessing as a joke. Holy things must not be handled lightly.

It is also dangerous to give our good wishes to the church’s enemies in their attacks on the church. If we wish them success, we share in their evil deeds (2 John 1:11). When it says that no one will bless them or greet them kindly, it means more than that. It also means that wise and good people will condemn them, pray that God will stop them, and speak against their schemes. Woe to those who have the prayers of the saints against them. “I cursed his dwelling place” (Job 5:3).