Psalms 128:3

"Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine,

In the innermost parts of thy house;

Thy children, like olive plants,

Round about thy table.

Behold, thus shall the man be blessed

That feareth Jehovah."

"A fruitful vine" (Psalms 128:3). This simile of a faithful wife is quite appropriate. A vine is beautiful, fruitful, desirable and valuable. Also, a vine needs the support of something to stabilize, protect and uphold it. The Lord's love of the vine is seen in that he also made it the metaphor of Israel, and, in the last analysis, a metaphor of Jesus Christ himself, "The Fairest of Ten Thousand." And from this, it also becomes a metaphor of the Church, "The Israel of God."

Kidner also noted that just as a vine remains in one place, so the faithful wife "stays at home." "This is in sharp contrast with what is said of the promiscuous wife in Proverbs 7:11, `She is loud and wayward, her feet do not stay at home.'"[4] In the New Testament, this quality is mentioned in Titus 2:5.

"Like olive plants around thy table" (Psalms 128:3). "As the husband looks on his sons gathered around his table, he is reminded of the numerous seedlings that shoot up under a cultivated olive tree."[5]

Numerous offspring were the specific blessings promised to the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The numbers of their posterity were to reach astronomical proportions, "as numerous as the sands of the seashore," or "as the stars of the heavens." This vision of innumerable posterity continued throughout the history of Israel as a matter of the very greatest desirability. There was no disaster that a Jewish woman feared any more than the intolerable stigma of being childless.

"Thus shall the man be blessed that feareth Jehovah" (Psalms 128:4). "This repetition of verse 1 is to emphasize that all of the coveted blessings mentioned are properly experienced only in the context of the fear of God."[6]

It was this writer's privilege, as well as that of his wife, to grow up in exactly the type of God-fearing, industrious, happy family as that which is described in these verses.