Псалом 36

According to the inscription of the Hebrew, Greek and Latin (Vulgate) Bible, the psalm belongs to David. From the indication of Ps.37:25 it is clear that the psalm was written by David in his old age and represents the teaching he offered to every person for guidance in life. This learning is based on experience and observation. In the psalm's indication of the quick death of the wicked, who temporarily triumphed (Ps. 37:35–36), but unexpectedly quickly died, one can see an image of the fate of Absalom. And the entire content of the psalm does not contradict the given time of David’s flight from Jerusalem, when he had to see the rapid strengthening of his enemies and the dejected state of those around him. The psalm was written in memory of this time. Do not be angry when you see the prosperity of the wicked, for it is not durable, like grass (1-2). Trust in the Lord and He will save you and reward you (3–6). All the wealth of the wicked and all their machinations against the righteous will be destroyed by the Lord, but the righteous will be planted and supported by Him during their fall, they will inherit the land from which the Lord will destroy the wicked (7-24). The Lord loves truth and will not forsake the righteous. No matter how quickly the power of the wicked increases, the Lord will crush the latter (25–40). Ps.36:1. Do not be jealous of evildoers, do not envy those who commit iniquity, Ps.37:2. for they, like grass, will soon be cut down and, like green grass, they will wither. “Do not be jealous” - do not be angry, do not worry at the sight of the prosperity of the wicked. Ps.37:3. Trust in the Lord and do good; live on earth and keep the truth. “Live on earth and keep the truth” - during your earthly life, strive to follow and keep the truth, since it is the guarantee of your well-being. Ps.36:4. Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. “Delight yourself in the Lord” - find consolation in your activities and life not in external successes, but in the agreement of its direction with the instructions of the Lord. Such behavior will earn a reward from God: He will fulfill “the desires of your heart.” Ps.36:5. Commit your way to the Lord and trust in Him, and He will do it, Ps.37:6. and He will bring out your righteousness like the light and your justice like the noonday. Whoever entrusts his life to the guidance of God, the Lord will bring him to light for his truth and justice, that is, he will reward him. Ps.36:8. Stop being angry and leave rage; do not be jealous to the point of doing evil, “Do not be jealous to the point of doing evil” - do not be angry at the successes of the wicked to the point of causing them harm. Ps.36:9. For those who do evil will be destroyed, but those who trust in the Lord will inherit the earth. Ps.36:10. A little more, and the wicked will no longer be; you look at his place, and he is not there. Ps.36:11. But the meek will inherit the earth and enjoy much peace. “But those who trust in the Lord” are the same as “the meek” (Ps. 37:11), since trusting in God is submission to His leadership, subordination of one’s will to His instructions. They “will inherit the land” - a paraphrase of the entire Deuteronomy, in which the inheritance of Palestine, as the promised land, is assigned by God only for people who morally deserve a reward from God, for the righteous. Ps.36:16. A little of a righteous man is better than the riches of many wicked people, Ps.36:17. For the arms of the wicked will be broken, but the Lord will strengthen the righteous. Expression 16th Art. explained by the content of 17. Since the wicked perish, their strength ("muscles") is broken by God, then what they acquire cannot be durable, no matter how much it is collected. On the contrary, the little that the righteous have is not only not lost, but gradually increases, since the Lord “reinforces” them. Ps.36:18. The Lord knows the days of the blameless, and their inheritance will endure forever: By “the property of the immaculate”, as can be judged from the context of the speech, we mean their material well-being. It “will endure forever” - an indication of the durability of this good: it will pass from generation to generation, while from the wicked their benefits are taken away in the same way. Ps.36:21. The wicked borrows and does not repay, but the righteous is merciful and gives, The attitude of the wicked towards people is generally different from the attitude of the righteous. The wicked is guided not by moral principles, but by material calculation. For him, the meaning of life is to acquire external power and material wealth, and therefore, when he “borrows and does not repay,” he tries to delay or not make payment at all, since the latter, in his understanding, damages his external wealth. The righteous, on the contrary, is guided by moral obligations to people and love, and therefore condescends to his debtors ("has mercy") and gives to those in need from his wealth. Ps.36:25. I was young and old, and I did not see the righteous abandoned and his descendants asking for bread: David justifies the need to follow the truth and live according to the law of God with his observations: he has already grown old “and has not seen a righteous man abandoned,” that is, he does not know an example when a righteous man was completely abandoned by the Lord and was rejected by Him, even though he had to experience various calamities in his life. The latter were only temporary, but never, as David observed, the decisive and final provisions of the life of the righteous. Ps.36:27. Turn away from evil and do good, and you will live forever: Ps.36:28. for the Lord loves righteousness and does not forsake His saints; they will remain forever; [and the wicked will be cast out] and the descendants of the wicked will be destroyed. “Life forever” depends on avoiding evil and doing good, since “the Lord loves righteousness and does not forsake His saints; they will remain forever." By life forever we can mean eternal life beyond the grave in closeness and unity with God. David, like all the psalmists and, in general, the writers of the Old Testament, considered the death of the body to be the inevitable end of human existence on earth, therefore a literal understanding of the expression “life forever,” in the sense of eternal physical life on earth, cannot be acceptable in this place. The Lord is eternal, He loves truth and does not abandon the righteous; when the latter dies on earth in body, he is still not abandoned by God, since the Lord stands close to his soul, that is, the righteous person after death is in eternal proximity to God. This passage of the psalm is one of the few in the Psalter that reveals the features of the afterlife existence of the righteous. Ps.36:29. The righteous will inherit the earth and will live on it forever. Here David again goes to the image of what was previously expressed in vv. 10-12. and 18. Ps.36:37. Observe the blameless and behold the righteous, for the future of such a person is peace; “Observe the blameless and look at the righteous” - learn from observing their behavior and fate how to act. “The future of the righteous is peace” is a general indication, either in the sense of well-being in earthly life (see Art. 25) or in the afterlife (see 27–28). You might be interested in: