His descendants will be powerful in the Land
The circle of the upright receive blessing
Wealth and riches are in his home
And his righteousness continues forever
Here we witness the first expression of the Commands’
power—the ongoing stability and power of the righteous persons’ descendants. Delight and reveling in Yhwh’s commands unleashes divine power and one its fruits is perpetual power in the Land. Notice this--that the earthly 'reveling', this type of festive joy in Yhwh's commands is met by heaven's own reveling, festive joy--or, we would say, blessing.
But this blessing-power extends beyond
the blessing found elsewhere in Scripture, where obedience to the covenant results in living long within the Land. Here, it is not simply the fact that they will participate in Yhwh’s
perpetuity through their generations. It is that their children will be powerful. This is not,
however, simply a form of earthly power. It is a power that is brought about by
heavenly blessing. It is buttressed by it. The psalmist envisions the ‘father’s’
faithfulness, that originally cracks open heavenly blessing, to be perpetuated
down through his descendants, such that they will live into that blessing,
returning a hundred fold what their father planted.
This power, on one level, finds its genesis in the faithful
man’s “wealth and riches” which are in his home. This is another side of
covenant power being unleashed. Heavenly wealth, heavenly riches, heavenly
glory, when they ‘come down’ are expressed in the faithful man’s “home”. This
is not so much a reward as much as an enacting of the covenant. It is reward,
but it is much more than that. As we will see, it takes rains down heaven into
the faithful’s home, only for it to flow out from that home to his ‘neighbors’.
It is not given to remain ‘in his home’. It is given in order to become a
blessing to others. And that is why his ‘righteousness continues forever’. So
long as the river of blessing flows through the house, his righteousness will
continue.
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