THE SONGS OF ASCENT – PART 9 – PSALM 127 – WITHOUT THE LORD ALL LABOUR IS IN VAIN – AND A LOOK AT THE EVIL OF SOLOMON
PSALM 127 A SONG OF ASCENTS, OF SOLOMON
[A]. SADLY WE WILL CONSIDER SOLOMON WHO WROTE THE PSALM
The first things we note here is that this Psalm was penned by Solomon. This man is what we might call “a mixed bag”. A study of Solomon’s life reaches the conclusion that this was a very inconsistent man and we wonder what his eternal status might be.
When he was young and he had ascended to David’s throne, God appeared to him saying, “Ask what I shall give you.” At that time Solomon was humble and asked for wisdom and knowledge and God granted that along with riches and honour. However, this man offered a long prayer to the Lord at the dedication of the Temple, which on face value, was a great prayer but he did not live according to it.
Solomon gathered the proverbs together which are in the book of Proverbs, but sadly he did not live according to many of them. For example, here in Ecclesiastes, he wrote, {{Ecclesiastes 12:1 “Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near when you will say, “I have no delight in them.”}} That was a description of Solomon’s life.
He very quickly departed from God because he was an uncontrollable sexual addict. The biblical record has given us this – {{1Kings 11:3 “He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away.”}}
I know often in these times a king’s greatness and standing was sometimes measured according to how many wives he had. Something of the same mindset operated among the tribes of Africa and possibly still does now, and in the Islamic harems. However in Solomon’s case it was outrageous. One thousand women were kept at public expense but that was just the tip of the iceberg.
This is how the bible records this disgraceful incident – {{1Kings 11:1-2 Now King Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, from the nations concerning which the LORD had said to the sons of Israel, “You shall NOT associate with them, neither shall they associate with you, for they will surely turn your heart away after their gods.”}}
Solomon held fast to these in “love”. I can not see how a man can love 1 000 women at the same time. As I said he was a sexual addict. You might excuse a man for loving two or three women at the one time (though not permitted biblically) but one thousand? Impossible. I put it down to uncontrollable lust.
Solomon’s act was in absolute disobedience to the statutes of God. He departed from God’s decree once he took the first heathen wife, but then the second, and the third, and the fourth . . . up to 1 000. This was in total disregard and defiance of God. It was sin at its worst because of what it developed into.
What did it develop into? Here is what happened – {{1Kings 11:4-8 “for it came about when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods, and his heart was not wholly devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been. SOLOMON WENT AFTER ASHTORETH the goddess of the Sidonians and after MILCOM the detestable idol of the Ammonites, and SOLOMON DID WHAT WAS EVIL in the sight of the LORD, and did not follow the LORD fully, as David his father had done. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable idol of Moab, on the mountain which is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the detestable idol of the sons of Ammon. Thus also he did for all his foreign wives who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.”}}
Even the Temple was not spared and his idols were found there. No true man of God would do that. Solomon filled the land with idols and heathen practices. He became an idolater of the worst kind because he promoted it, and this is what God in the bible says about idolaters – {{1Corinthians 6:9 “or do you not know that the unrighteous SHALL NOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor IDOLATERS, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals.”}} Solomon introduced and promoted idolatry into Israel and it continued until Assyria destroyed Israel/Samaria, and Babylon destroyed Judah, all because of idolatry introduced by Solomon.
We also have this record – {{1Kings 11:9 “Now the LORD was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice.”}} Stupid Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, in all his youthful stupidity said to the people the following – {{1Kings 12:11 “Whereas MY FATHER LOADED YOU WITH A HEAVY YOKE, I will add to your yoke. MY FATHER DISCIPLINED YOU WITH WHIPS, but I will discipline you with scorpions.”}} That, and another verse, says that Solomon was arrogant and cruel and dictatorial.
He had great wealth and power and prestige, but great opulence does not make a great man of God. Solomon failed in all those aspects.
Anyway, that is enough for Solomon for now, but we have to note that he wrote the Psalm we are going to consider today. A grossly defective man can not do anything good for God so I am assuming that Solomon wrote this Psalm when he walked with God when young, before he took wives and concubines for himself. It is a psalm before his departure from the Lord.
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Let us now get to the Psalm we are studying.
PSALM 127 A SONG OF ASCENTS, OF SOLOMON
[B]. GOD MUST LAY THE FOUNDATION FOR THE BUILDING
{{Psalm 127:1 “Unless the LORD builds the house, they labour in vain who build it. Unless the LORD guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain.”}}
There are three vain matters mentioned in the first two verses. The first of these in verse 1 deals with effort and planning. It goes to motive and where one’s trust is being placed. The construction of a house is the example but this principle is not contained to the building of a house.
We must understand that when the ungodly build houses then they may survive for centuries and the effort spent on them is not wasted. Therefore what is this expression really telling us – “Unless the LORD builds the house, they labour in vain who build it?” When it comes to building houses and railway lines and cities and all the rest, those literal material things are the same whether built by godly or wicked people.
The expression must have a deeper meaning than just the physical. Maybe we could look at a well-known parable of the Lord, the one about the wise and foolish man. The wise man built on a solid foundation and the foolish one built on sand. What that parable is highlighting is the FOUNDATION, not the riches or grandeur of what is built on it. It is the foundation that is essential.
Luke wrote these words, very strategic and to the point – {{Luke 6:47-49 “Everyone who comes to Me, and hears My words, and acts upon them, I will show you whom he is like: he is like a man building A HOUSE, who dug deep and laid A FOUNDATION UPON THE ROCK; and when a flood rose, the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built, but the one who has heard, and has not acted accordingly, is like a man who built a house upon the ground without any foundation and the torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great.”}} (Remember Jesus is the ROCK of salvation, a mighty ROCK in a weary land).
Here we have a man who paid attention to the FOUNDATION and he built on the rock. A house is probably the second most expensive investment a man makes. There is only one more expensive than that, and it is investing in eternity. If your second most expensive investment pays attention to the foundation, what about your future? Have you invested in eternity? You may ask, “How do I do that?
I want you to look at these verses and especially verse 12. {{1Corinthians 3:11-12 “FOR NO MAN CAN LAY A FOUNDATION OTHER THAN THE ONE WHICH IS LAID, WHICH IS JESUS CHRIST. Now if any man builds upon the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw”}}
Unless the Lord builds a house they labour in vain. However the Lord has built the house. Jesus Christ laid the foundation. He lays the foundation for your house; for my house. That is what it is all about. Every construction in the world that does not have Jesus Christ as the foundation is a building built in vain. Of course we are not speaking of houses built of bricks, and mortar and timber. We are speaking about people’s lives. What foundation is your life built on? Unless it is the house (your life) that is built by the Lord, everything will be in vain.
All your labours and effort will be like the man who worked really hard and had great returns from his farm and retired early, or intended to, but his soul was required by the Lord. He died and what was there for eternity? Absolutely nothing, but the man dwells in hell. Why? It is because he built the house, and all the farm and the business, BUT the Lord had nothing to do with the building so it was ALL in vain. The Lord must build your house (your life on His foundation) or you have nothing.
Let me address Christians who rightly have had the Lord build the house. He has built your house, but you know what? That house is empty and new. It needs to be furnished and properly cared for and developed into a family home. Now you as a Christian have come to the Lord for salvation and you are saved. That is good because you recognised there is no other foundation for salvation except in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now what? Well you must furnish your Christian life.
Look at this verse again – {{1Corinthians 3:12 “Now if any man builds upon the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw . . .”}} How are you providing for the “house” the Lord made for you? Is your life selfish and lazy and the house the Lord built is neglected. You started well but do you want to finish like Solomon with what was reprobate with nothing of value for more than half of his life? The time is short. Build on the Lord’s foundation with service for the Lord Jesus, and in your effort doing the will of God so you produce the gold, silver and precious stones. That is how you take care of the house the Lord built.
This is how Paul stressed it to Timothy – {{1Timothy 6:18-19 “Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.”}}
THE SECOND “VAIN”
The end of Psalm 127:1 is this – “Unless the LORD guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain.”}} This is parallelism that we spoke of in the first message in the series. I will not expand on that very much because you understand what is being said. Just one thing I will say. I see the guarding of the city very much like the welfare of our nations. None of our current nations in the western world looks to God anymore for His guidance. The Lord is kicked out, and in many Australian Councils and political meetings prayers are banned. Our western nations will not allow the Lord to guard our nations. Therefore disaster is coming!
That is why disaster is coming. The Rapture is very close and once God’s people are removed, His Tribulation judgment falls very quickly. There you have the truth of Psalm 127 verse 1.
[C]. SELF-WILLED EFFORTS AMOUNT TO NOTHING IN THE END, JUST VANITY
{{Psalm 127:2 “It is VAIN for you to rise up early, to retire late, to eat the bread of painful labours for He gives to His beloved even in his sleep.”}}
We come to the third “vain” in this Psalm. This verse is not unlike one of the Proverbs you’d find in the book. At first glance it looks like the verse is advocating a lazy life but we know that can’t be. What I think is being said is that a life devoted fully to gaining success and wealth and fame and power is a worthless life. It is called “painful labours,” so much expended effort.
A life rightly connected with the Lord (the foundation we considered earlier) does not worry about the future for our future is with the Lord. Even in sleep he does not worry and the Lord ministers to him. Our lives are in His hands providing we place them there. As the psalmist said, {{Psalm 31:14-15 but as for me, I trust in You, O LORD. I say, “You are my God.” MY TIMES are in Your hand - - - .”}}
I remember a man some 40 years ago who worked hard and then he retired from a mining company. He set up the front of his house with a large greenhouse and went into the plant hiring business. He had a small transport truck that had two paintings on it. One was a plant in a pot that looked all fresh and lovely with the wording “From Us” and the other painting was a plant and pot but the plant was starting to wither. It was worded “From You”. Barely had this man started when suddenly he died. I was shocked. All his aspirations were in this new venture but as far as I know he did not belong to the Lord so all his efforts were in vain.
[D]. CHILDREN ARE A GIFT FROM THE LORD
{{Psalm 127:3 “Behold, children are a GIFT of the LORD. The fruit of the womb is a reward.”}}
In the last 20 years, especially in the last 5 years, no other verse from the bible has been attacked like this one (along with the homosexual filthiness). Abortion is made available and the advocates of this murder are fanatical about getting more and more unborn babies killed. I am shocked at the hardness and wickedness of these murder advocates (mainly women) militantly legislating for the murder of the unborn. It is a foulness from hell.
God is very angry, but just for the moment His hand is stayed. According to the World Health Organisation, 73 million abortions are performed every year in the world with 1,310,000 coming from the USA (Guttmacher Institute). All this is a satanic overturn of all that God decreed such as this verse – {{Genesis 1:28 God blessed them and God said to them, “BE FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY, and fill the earth and subdue it and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”}}
A Christian couple who have had great difficulty for some time trying to conceive, and eventually do, will speak of the child as being a gift from the Lord. As a gift we protect their gender and sexuality both of which are savagely attacked to be destroyed today from the earliest age. We live in a Sodom world with idols of Moloch everywhere so children (unborn) can be thrown into the fire and destroyed, and even when they are older.
Are Christians losing the battle against murder and immorality and corruption in our nation and in the world? Yes we are. What are we doing wrongly? May I say, “Nothing, except the church national leadership is too weak”. We have to realise we live at the very end time of the Church age and are on the verge of the Rapture for the Church. This is what Paul wrote about these last days of the Church age -
{{2Timothy 3:1-4 “Realise this, that in the last days difficult times will come, for men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, ARROGANT, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, UNHOLY, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, BRUTAL, HATERS OF GOOD, TREACHEROUS, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God”}}
{{2Timothy 3:12-13 “Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. EVIL MEN AND IMPOSTORS WILL PROCEED FROM BAD TO WORSE, deceiving and being deceived.”}}
[E]. IS THERE VALUE IN MANY CHILDREN ACCORDING TO THIS PSALM?
{{Psalm 127:4 “Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one’s youth. Psalm 127:5 How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They shall not be ashamed when they speak with their enemies in the gate.”}}
This is how Solomon saw children. How many did he have? Who knows, because he had 1 000 illegal liasons with his wives and mistresses.
The understanding in the verse is that the one who fits that description has lots of kids. I know of families where there are 13 even 15 kids. Verse 5 says the man who has many children is blessed. I don’t think I am the one to comment on that (I have 4 children). If you want to investigate further, go and speak with those who have many children as see what they say.
I will close with two quotes you might like to consider.
[1]. FROM HOMILETIC REVIEW
Children Likened to Arrows. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.
1. An arrow is small, but powerful. One slew Ahab. Latent capacities of a child.
2. An arrow must be sharpened. A child must-be educated, its faculties developed. Note its natural sharpness.
3. An arrow travels far. Who can measure the influence of a child?
4. Its power depends upon the strength and judgment with which it is sent. A lesson to parents.
5. It is firmly imbedded; as the twig is bent, so it will grow.
6. Let us not send into the world poisoned arrows.
[2]. FROM N. McMichael
Children, you may perceive here what is the duty which you owe your parents. You are to protect them in their old age, and be to them as arrows in the hands of the warrior. Protect them from the assaults of poverty, should they require your assistance in this respect. Poverty and old age are unsuitable companions: let it be your pleasure to alleviate this distressing yoke as far as you can. They did not leave you to the cold charity of strangers when you were more feeble than they now are. Why should you act differently towards them, and pay back your debt with an immense ingratitude? You are to protect them under all the infirmities of declining years. If you cannot bear with the fretfulness of disease, and with the deepening shadows of those to whom under God you owe your existence, and who toiled for you and watched over you when you could do neither for yourselves, what sympathy can be expected from others?
ronaldf@aapt.net.au
