Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Psalms 131:2

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Psalms 131:2. I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child — On the contrary, I have been under the rod of others, and when chastised have not complained; and my silence under my affliction was the fullest proof that I neither murmured nor repined, but received all as coming from the hands of a just God.

My soul is even as a weaned child. — I felt I must forego many conveniences and comforts which I once enjoyed; and these I gave up without repining or demurring.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Psalm 129-131 Preparing for worship

Thinking back on the sorrows of Israel’s history, the travellers recall that ever since the days of the nation’s ‘youth’ in Egypt, Israel has had suffering. The backs of the people had been whipped when they were slaves, but God cut the cords that bound them in slavery and set them free (129:1-4). Now again they are troubled by those who hate them. They pray that God will turn back their enemies and make them as useless as stalks of grass that wither and die in the sun (5-7). Left without friends, their enemies will have no one to help them (8).
A sense of their own sinfulness overcomes the travellers as they approach the temple. They know that they need forgiveness, for no person in a sinful condition can stand before the holy God in his temple (130:1-4). They wait for the assurance of God’s forgiveness with the same longing as watch men on night duty wait for the light of dawn (5-6). But all the time they have a quiet confidence that God, in his love, will forgive them (7-8).
Realizing that they are forgiven, the grateful worshippers are now ready to enter God’s temple in holy worship. The importance of the occasion fills them with such a sense of awe that they are genuinely humbled before God. They confess that they cannot understand all about God and his ways, though at the same time they rest in the knowledge of his nearness and comfort (131:1-3).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

“Jehovah, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty; Neither do I exercise myself in great matters, Or in things too wonderful for me. Surely I have stilled and quieted my soul; Like a weaned child with his mother, Like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, hope in Jehovah From this time forth and forevermore.”

“My heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty” Haughtiness is betrayed by a proud look, the same being the head of the list of the seven things that God hates (Proverbs 6:17).

“Neither do I exercise myself in great matters” The “great matters” here refers to, “high positions, or the like.”W. E. Addis, p. 394. Christians are admonished, “Set not thy mind on high things.” (Romans 12:16).

“Things too wonderful for me” “The secret things belong unto Jehovah; but the things that are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever” (Deuteronomy 29:29).

It must not be thought that these admonitions forbid human research into the mysteries that lie all about us; but the teaching is rather that there are some things that men shall never know, due to the limitations of their mortality.

Fretting about the unknown is a futile exercise.

“I have stilled and quieted my soul” We find the enlightening words of Alexander Maclaren very helpful in understanding this.

“It is not the tranquillity of a calm nature which speaks here, but that into which the speaker has entered by the vigorous mastery of disturbing elements. How hard the struggle has been and how much bitter crying and petulant resistance there had been before the calm was won, is told by the lovely image of the weaned child.”Alexander Maclaren, Vol. III, p. 342.

“Like a weaned child” We agree with Kidner that the RSV `goofed’ in their rendition of this figure thus, “Like a child quieted at its mother’s breast.” That is not the meaning at all. As Kidner said, “The point of this verse is blunted by the RSV… The psalm emphasizes the word `weaned.’“Derek Kidner, op. cit., p. 448. It is a “weaned child” not a nursing child that is mentioned here. The point is that the human soul needs “weaning” from all of its anxious ambitions, etc., before it can enjoy the tranquillity of a heart in tune with God’s will. The psalmist here affirms that he is indeed weaned from such hurtful things.

Ballard has some very beautiful lines on this.

“What has brought about this change (this `weaning’)? Has he become stoically resigned to life’s defeats? Has he given up the struggle because of old age or weariness? No!… Like the merchantman in the New Testament seeking goodly pearls, and who discovered at length the `pearl of great price,’ he has come through many discouragements to find in God, rather than in things, life’s highest satisfaction. So, come what may, he rests in the Lord and trusts in him for the issue.”The Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. IV, p. 683.

There is also an undeniable echo in this psalm of the teachings of the Master, who set a little child in the midst of the vain-glorious apostles, quarreling about who was going to get the chief seats in the Kingdom of God, and thundered the message in their ears that, “Except ye turn and become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself and become as this little child, the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3 ff).

“O Israel, hope in Jehovah” Here again, the psalmist calls upon Israel to hope in Jehovah. See our full comment on this in the latter part of the preceding psalm. As we noted there, this admonition carries with it the implication that Israel, as a nation, was doing nothing of the kind.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Surely I have behaved and quieted myself - Margin, as in Hebrew, my soul. The Hebrew is, “If I have not soothed and quieted my soul.” This is a strong mode of affirming that he had done it. The negative form is often thus used to denote a strong affirmation. The full form would be, “God knows if I have not done this;” or, “If I have not done this, then let me bear the consequences; let me be punished.” The idea is that he was conscious he had done this. Instead of being arrogant, proud, and ambitious - instead of meddling with matters above him, and which did not belong to him, he had known his proper place. He had been gentle, calm, retiring. The word rendered behaved means properly to be even or level; then, in the form used here, to make even, smooth, or level; and it is used here in the sense of calming the mind; smoothing down its roughnesses; keeping it tranquil. Compare the notes at Isaiah 38:13, in our version, “I reckoned” (the same word as here) “till morning,” but where the correct translation would be, “I composed or calmed myself until morning.” So the meaning here is, that he had kept his mind calm, and even, and gentle.

As a child that is weaned of his mother - See Isaiah 28:9. There have been very various interpretations of this passage. See Rosenmuller in loc. Perhaps the true idea is that of a child, when weaned, as leaning upon its mother, or as reclining upon her breast. As a weaned child leans upon its mother. That is, as a child, accustomed to the breast, and now deprived of it, lays its head gently where it had been accustomed to derive its nutriment, feeling its dependence, hoping to obtain nourishment again: not angry, but gently grieved and sad. A little child thus clinging to its mother - laying its head gently down on the bosom - languishing - looking for nourishment - would be a most tender image of meekness and gentleness.

My soul is even as a weaned child - literally, “As a weaned child upon me my soul;” that is probably, My soul leans upon me as a weaned child. My powers, my nature, my desires, my passions, thus lean upon me, are gentle, unambitious, confiding. The Septuagint renders this in a different manner, and giving a different idea, “Had I not been humble, but exalted myself as a weaned child doth against its mother, how wouldst thou have retributed against my soul!” The Hebrew, however, requires that it should be otherwise interpreted. The idea is, that he had been gentle; that he had calmed down his feelings; that whatever aspirations he might have had, he had kept them under; that though he might have made inquiries, or offered suggestions that seemed to savor of pride or ambition, he had been conscious that this was not so, but that he had known his proper place, and had kept it. The sentiment here is, that religion produces a child-like spirit; that it disposes all to know and keep their right place; that to whatever inquiries or suggestions it may lead among the young, it will tend to keep them modest and humble; and that whatever suggestions one in early life may be disposed to make, they will be connected with a spirit that is humble, gentle, and retiring. Religion produces self-control, and is inconsistent with a proud, an arrogant, and an ambitious spirit.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

2.If I have not set, etc. He here employs a figure which appropriately explains what he meant, and likens himself to a weaned child; by which is intended, that he dismissed all the anxieties which disquiet the man of ambition, and was willing to be satisfied with small things. This assertion, which some might be inclined to disbelieve, he makes with an oath, expressed in that particular form of which I have elsewhere taken notice, in which the imprecation is not directly brought forward, but left to be understood, to teach us caution in the use of God’s name. ⁽¹²⁴⁾ As to the words, to set his soul like a child, is as if he had said, that he would frame it into such a likeness. And this with the view, as he declares, of composing himself to silence. For דוממתי domaintee, is formed from דום dum, and has the active sense of reducing to silence. The quiet of soul he alludes to is opposed to those tumultuous desires by which many cause disquietude to themselves, and are the means of throwing the world into agitation. The figure of childhood is elsewhere used in another sense, to convey reprehension. (Isaiah 28:9.)

“Whom shall I teach knowledge? them that are weaned from the milk? and drawn from the breasts?”

where the Prophet censures the people for their slowness of apprehension, and being as incapable of profiting by instruction as infants. In the passage now before us, what is recommended is that simplicity of which Christ spake,

“Unless ye become like this little child, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of God.” ⁽¹²⁵⁾ (Matthew 18:3)

The vain desires with which men are carried away originate in their seeking to be wise and careful above what is necessary. David adds accordingly, my soul over me is quieted, not as expressing the language of self-confidence, but speaking as if his soul lay sweetly and peacefully on his bosom, undisturbed by inordinate desires. He contrasts the wayward and tumultuous agitation which prevails in those of a discontented spirit, with the peace which reigns in the man who abides in the calling of the Lord. From the verse with which the Psalm closes, we see the reason why David asserted his having undertaken nothing in the spirit of a carnal ambition. He calls upon Israel to hope in the Lord, words which must have been abrupt had it not deeply concerned the common safety of the Church, to know that he sat upon the throne of the kingdom by Divine appointment, in which case the faithful would be certain of the bestowment of the promised blessing. Our hope is of the right kind when we cherish humble and sober views of ourselves, and neither wish nor attempt anything without the leading and approbation of God.

(124) “אם-לא, A formula of swearing which may be translated surely or indeed. I have surely so disposed and disciplined my soul as to remove it from any longing after great things, from any ambitious tendencies.” — Phillips.

(125) Of all explanations the best is that of considering the comparison to consist between the humbleness and simplicity of the Psalmist’s mind, and that of a little child, in whom there does not exist a sufficient consciousness to create an ambition for any worldly object. The comparison is not with יונק, a suckling; for it has a longing after the mother’s breast, and, therefore, such a comparison would not be appropriate. The same, indeed, may be said of a child who has only just been weaned; for, in that stage, how often does it cry and mourn after that of which it has been deprived, and the possession of which was just before its chief pleasure? We therefore conclude, that the comparison is intended to be with a child who has been weaned a sufficient time to have forgotten its infantile nutriment, and who is not conscious of any particular desires or cravings, and quietly resigns itself to its mother’s care and training. — Phillips.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Psalms 131:1-3

LORD, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things that are too high for me. Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child. Let Israel hope in the LORD from henceforth and for ever ( Psalms 131:1-3 ).

Lord, I am just a simple person. I am not complex. I don't try to deal with those matters that are above me or beyond my capacities in order that I might look sophisticated or wise or whatever. God, You know I'm just a simple person. My heart isn't haughty. I'm not... I don't look loftily at people as though I am something. I know, God, the truth about myself. I know I am nothing. I'm just like a child, Lord, like a nursing child. My hope is in You forever. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

1. A model of humility 131:1-2

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Psalms 131

In just a few words, David spoke of his humble trust in the Lord and his hope in Him. These are remarkable statements for a powerful king to have written. This is an individual psalm of confidence that became a psalm of ascent.

"In this brief psalm, he [David] tells us the essentials of a life that glorifies God and accomplishes His work on earth." [Note: Ibid., p. 352.]

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

David had stopped being self-assertive and restless. Rather than constantly seeking self-gratification, he now rested in his lot. The ability to rest and be quiet, rather than struggling for what we want, is a sign of maturity as well as humility.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Surely I have behaved and quieted myself,.... Or "my soul" o; behaved quietly and peaceably towards all men, even his inferiors in Saul's court and elsewhere, and had given no tokens of a restless, turbulent, and ambitious spirit; as well as behaved patiently under all his troubles and afflictions, reproaches and calumnies: or "if I have not" p, being in the form of an oath or imprecation, as Kimchi and Aben Ezra observe; if I have not thus behaved, let it come to me so and so, or let me be as a weaned child. Noldius renders it by way of interrogation, "have I not composed and quieted myself?" c. The Targum is,

"if I have not put the hand to the mouth, and caused my soul to be silent, until it heard the words of the law''

as a child that is weaned of his mother: and, for the further confirmation of it, it is added,

my soul [is] even as a weaned child; innocent and harmless, had no more ill designs against Saul than a weaned child; humble, meek, and lowly, and had no more aspiring and ambitious views than such an one; like that, weaned from the world, the riches, honours, pleasures, and profits of it; as well as from nature, from self, from his own righteousness, and from all dependence on it; and as a child that is weaned from the breast wholly depends on its nurse for sustenance, so did he wholly depend upon God, his providence, grace, and strength; and as to the kingdom, he had no more covetous desires after it than a weaned child has to the breast, and was very willing to wait the due time for the enjoyment of it. The Targum,

"as one weaned on the breasts of its mother, I am strengthened in the law.''

This is to be understood not of a child while weaning, when it is usually peevish, fretful, and froward; but when weaned, and is quiet and easy in its mother's arms without the breast.

o נפשי "animam meam", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, c. p אם לא "si non", Montanus "male sit mihi si non", Tigurine version.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

A song of degrees of David.

      1 LORD, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me.   2 Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child.   3 Let Israel hope in the LORD from henceforth and for ever.

      Here are two things which will be comforts to us:--

      I. Consciousness of our integrity. This was David's rejoicing, that his heart could witness for him that he had walked humbly with his God, notwithstanding the censures he was under and the temptations he was in.

      1. He aimed not at a high condition, nor was he desirous of making a figure in the world, but, if God had so ordered, could have been well content to spend all his days, as he did in the beginning of them, in the sheep-folds. His own brother, in a passion, charged him with pride (1 Samuel 17:28), but the charge was groundless and unjust. God, who searches the heart, knew, (1.) That he had no conceited opinion of himself, or his own merits: Lord, my heart is not haughty. Humble saints cannot think so well of themselves as others think of them, are not in love with their own shadow, nor do they magnify their own attainments or achievements. The love of God reigning in the heart will subdue all inordinate self-love. (2.) That he had neither a scornful nor an aspiring look: "My eyes are not lofty, either to look with envy upon those that are above me or to look with disdain upon those that are below me." Where there is a proud heart there is commonly a proud look (Proverbs 6:17), but the humble publican will not so much as lift up his eyes. (3.) That he did not employ himself in things above his station, in things too great or too high for him. He did not employ himself in studies too high; he made God's word his meditation, and did not amuse himself with matters of nice speculation or doubtful disputation, or covet to be wise above what is written. To know God and our duty is learning sufficiently high for us. He did not employ himself in affairs too great; he followed his ewes, and never set up for a politician; no, nor for a soldier; for, when his brethren went to the wars, he staid at home to keep the sheep. It is our wisdom, and will be our praise, to keep within our sphere, and not to intrude into things which we have not seen, or meddle with that which does not belong to us. Princes and scholars must not exercise themselves in matters too great, too high, for men: and those in a low station, and of ordinary capacities, must not pretend to that which is out of their reach, and which they were not cut out for. Those will fall under due shame that affect undue honours.

      2. He was well reconciled to every condition that God placed him in (Psalms 131:2; Psalms 131:2): I have behaved and quieted myself as a child that is weaned of his mother. As he had not proudly aimed at the kingdom, so, since God had appointed him to it, he had not behaved insolently towards any, nor been restless in his attempts to get the crown before the time set; but, (1.) He had been as humble as a little child about the age of a weanling, as manageable and governable, and as far from aiming at high things; as entirely at God's disposal as the child at the disposal of the mother or nurse; as far from taking state upon him, though anointed to be king, or valuing himself upon the prospect of his future advancement, as a child in the arms. Our Saviour has taught us humility by this comparison (Matthew 18:3); we must become as little children. (2.) He had been as indifferent to the wealth and honour of this world as a child is to the breast when it is thoroughly weaned from it. I have levelled and quieted myself (so Dr. Hammond reads it) as a child that is weaned. This intimates that our hearts are naturally as desirous of worldly things as the babe is of the breast, and in like manner relish them, cry for them, are fond of them, play with them, and cannot live without them. But, by the grace of God, a soul that is sanctified, is weaned from those things. Providence puts wormwood upon the breast, and that helps to wean us. The child is perhaps cross and fretful while it is in the weaning and thinks itself undone when it has lost the breast. But in a day or two it is forgotten; the fret is over, and it accommodates itself well enough to a new way of feeding, cares no longer for milk, but can bear strong meat. Thus does a gracious soul quiet itself under the loss of that which it loved and disappointment in that which it hoped for, and is easy whatever happens, lives, and lives comfortably, upon God and the covenant-grace, when creatures prove dry breasts. When our condition is not to our mind we must bring our mind to our condition; and then we are easy to ourselves and all about us; then our souls are as a weaned child.

      II. Confidence in God; and this David recommends to all Israel of God, no doubt from his own experience of the benefit of it (Psalms 131:3; Psalms 131:3): Let Israel hope in the Lord, and let them continue to do so henceforth and for ever. Though David could himself wait patiently and quietly for the crown designed him, yet perhaps Israel, the people whose darling he was, would be ready to attempt something in favour of him before the time; and therefore endeavours to quiet them too, and bids them hope in the Lord that they should see a happy change of the face of affairs in due time. Thus it is good to hope and quietly to wait for the salvation of the Lord.