Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Psalms 65:12

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Psalms 65:12. The pastures of the wilderness — Even the places which are not cultivated have their sufficiency of moisture, so as to render them proper places of pasturage for cattle. The terms wilderness and desert, in the Sacred Writings, mean, in general, places not inhabited and uncultivated, though abounding with timber, bushes, and herbage.

The little hills rejoice — Literally, The hills gird themselves with exultation. The metaphor appears to be taken from the frisking of lambs, bounding of kids, and dancing of shepherds and shepherdesses, in the joy-inspiring summer season.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Psalms 65:0 Praise for harvest, fields and flocks

As they approach God, the worshippers are aware of their failures through sin. They realize that forgiveness is necessary before they can enjoy fulness of fellowship with God in his house (1-4). They recall his great acts, both in the events of history and in the natural creation, and see these as a reason for all people, from east to west, to shout for joy (5-8).
Coming closer to home, the worshippers see God’s provision in the well-watered ground, the flowing streams, the full harvest and the flourishing countryside before them (9-10). They view the scene as if God is driving through the land in his chariot to inspect its richness; and the pastures, harvest and flocks join in joyously shouting their welcome to their divine provider (11-13).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

PRAISING GOD FOR AN ABUNDANT HARVEST

“Thou waterest its furrows abundantly; Thou settest the ridges thereof: Thou makest it soft with showers; Thou blessest the springing thereof. Thou crownest the year with thy goodness; And thy paths drop fatness. They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness; And the hills are girded with joy. The pastures are clothed with flocks; The valleys also are covered over with grain; They shout for joy, they also sing.”

The theme here is not so much, “Thank God for a bountiful harvest,” as it is, “Thank God for making this planet so that it would feed God’s human creation.” The fertile fields, the sun, the rain, grain itself (a gift of God) -all these are due solely to the built-in, created characteristics of the earth. God has arranged this planet so that it will give man bread.

Back of the loaf is the flour, And back of the flour the mill;
And back of the mill is the wheat
That waveth on yonder hill;
And back of the hill is the sun
And the shower and the Father’s will.

Leupold mentioned half a dozen so-called “interpretations” of this psalm: “(1) that it was written for some great festival, (2) or after a drought had been averted, (3) or as a liturgical piece for the congregation, (4) or as a reference to a sickness from which the writer had recovered.”H. C. Leupold, p. 472. He then added that, “All such approaches stand upon too insecure a footing and should not dominate the trend of interpretation.”Ibid.

Perhaps the most glaring example of false interpretations is that favored by some of the radical critics who try to associate this psalm with the pagan annual festival of “The Enthronement of Yahweh.” This interpretation is loaded with the superstition and magic of Babylonian mythology; and we do not believe that the religion of the Old Covenant was tainted with any such nonsense.

“The wilderness… the hills… the pastures… the valleys” Yes, the crops are mentioned here also; but these words speak of the earth itself as being the provider for man’s needs, being designed so to do by the loving Father in heaven. We think the emphasis on “that bountiful harvest” usually mentioned in discussion of these verses is simply misplaced. Of course, there was a bountiful harvest; but that is not the point here. The point is, “Where did they get it?” It came from God’s providential arrangement of the mountains, the seas, the wilderness, the hills, the pastures, the valleys, the sun and the rains, as well as giving men the seeds that produced the grain.

“They shout, they also sing” Hills, valleys, and pastures do not literally shout and sing for joy. These are metaphors of what men should do. “All this rejoicing is because of the goodness of God”The New Bible Commentary, Revised, p. 490.

Delitzsch pointed out that, “These closing words lock themselves as it were with the beginning of the psalm, speaking of the joyous shouting and singing that continue even to the present time.”F. Delitzsch, Vol. V-B, p. 231. This also indicates that the “bountiful harvest” evident in the last paragraph should be understood, not as the `big thing’ celebrated here, except in the sense that it is the “end result” of God’s providential arrangement of the entire planet.

We consider the following lines from Leupold as a fitting conclusion of this wonderful psalm. “We venture the claim that Psalms 65:13 is the most eloquent and beautiful description of the blessings that God bestows upon fields and meadows to be found anywhere in such brief compass.”H. C. Leupold, p. 477.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness - The waste places, or the waste parts of the land; the uncultivated places, the places of rocks and sands. The word wilderness in the Scriptures does not mean, as with us, a tract of country covered with trees, but a place of barren rocks or sands - an uncultivated or thinly inhabited region. See the notes at Matthew 3:1; notes at Isaiah 35:1. In those wastes, however, there would be valleys, or places watered by springs and streams that would afford pastures for flocks and herds. Such are the “pastures of the wilderness” referred to here. God’s passing along those valleys would seem to “drop,” or distil, fertility and beauty, causing grass and flowers to spring up in abundance, and clothing them with luxuriance.

And the little hills rejoice on every side - Margin, as in Hebrew, are girded with joy. That is, Joyful, happy scenes surround them; or, they seem to be full of joy and happiness. The valleys and the hills alike seem to be made glad. The following remarks of Professor Hackett (“Illustrations of Scripture,” p. 30), will explain this passage. “Another peculiarity of the desert is that, though the soil is sandy, it rarely consists, for successive days together, of mere sand; it is interspersed, at frequent intervals, with clumps of coarse grass and low shrubs, affording very good pasturage, not only for camels, the proper tenants of the desert, but for sheep and goats. The people of the villages on the borders of the desert are accustomed to lead forth their flocks to the pastures found there. We frequently passed on our way shepherds so employed; and it was interesting to observe as a verification of what is implied in the Saviour’s statement Matthew 25:33, that the sheep and goats were not kept distinct, but intermixed with one another. The shepherds not only frequent the parts of the desert near their places of abode, but go often to a considerable distance from them; they remain absent for weeks and months, only changing their station from time to time, as their needs in respect to water and herbage may require. The incident related of Moses shows that the pastoral habits of the people were the same in his day: ‘Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the further part of the desert, even to Horeb,’ Exodus 3:1. It is of the desert in this sense, as supplying to some extent the means of pasturage, that the prophet Joel speaks in Joel 1:19; Joel 2:22. The psalmist also says Psalms 65:12-13, with the same reference:

Thou crownest the year with thy goodness,

And thy paths drop fatness;

They drop fatness on the pastures of the wilderness.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Psalms 65:1-13

Psalms 65:1-13 is another psalm of David and this psalm looks forward to the glorious Kingdom Age when Jesus is reigning upon the earth. And so this is a prophetic psalm, going on in to the next age that is fast approaching.

Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Zion: and unto thee shall the vow be performed. O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come ( Psalms 65:1-2 ).

"Every knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord, to the glory of God the Father" ( Philippians 2:10-11 ). "Unto thee all flesh shall come."

Iniquities prevail against me: as for our transgressions, thou shalt purge them away. Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causes to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple. By terrible things ( Psalms 65:3-5 )

And the word terrible here is an old English word that has lost or changed its meaning through time, so that now terrible to us has a whole different implications than it had when it was first translated. The word would better be translated now in our English word as awesome. So, because we think of terrible of something that is horrible and all, it doesn't give us the true idea of the Hebrew word. So wherever you read terrible, "His terrible acts," if you would translate that, "His awesome," it'll give you a much better indication of the Hebrew.

By awesome things in righteousness will you answer us, O God of our salvation; who art the confidence of all of the ends of the earth, and of them that are afar off upon the sea: Which by his strength setteth fast the mountains: being girded with power: Which stilleth the noise of the seas, and the noise of their waves, and the tumult of the people. They also that dwell in the uttermost parts are afraid at thy tokens: thou makest the outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice. Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it: thou greatly enrichest it with a river of God, which is full of water: thou preparest them corn, when thou hast so provided for it. When thou waterest the ridges thereof abundantly: thou settlest the furrows thereof: thou makest it soft with showers: thou blessed the springing thereof. You crowned the year with thy goodness; and thy paths dropped fatness. They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness: and the little hills rejoice on every side. The pastures are clothed with flocks; and the valleys also are covered over with corn; they shall shout for joy, they also sing ( Psalms 65:5-13 ).

So the glorious Kingdom Age when the earth again is bringing forth abundantly to the glory of God. When Christ is reigning there in Zion and praise is being offered unto Him in the courts of His holy temple there in Jerusalem. How God, by His awesome work, has brought righteousness upon the earth, and now is filling the earth with fruit. The kingdom has come. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Psalms 65

This communal song of thanksgiving celebrates God blessing His people with a bountiful land (cf. Psalms 66-68). Other communal or community psalms of thanksgiving are 66, 107, 118, 124, and 129. The element that distinguishes a communal psalm of thanksgiving from an individual psalm of thanksgiving is "the use of plural pronouns or some other clear indicator that the congregation of Israel, rather than the individual, has gone through the crisis." [Note: Bullock, p. 163.] David explained that God hears prayer and atones for sin. This results in bounty for His people. God also helps them by His supernatural power.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

3. God’s bounty 65:9-13

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

David pictured the earth richly plentiful with God’s blessing on fields and flocks, and he personified it as rejoicing in His goodness.

In spite of man’s sin, God blesses his environment with many good things so people can prosper and rejoice (common grace). God delights to bless all people (Matthew 5:45). He is a good, as well as a great, God. [Note: See Allen, And I . . ., pp. 198-213.]

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

They drop [upon] the pastures of the wilderness,.... As well as upon the ploughed land, and turn them into a fruitful field; which may denote the Gentile world, whither the Gospel was sent by Christ, and preached by his apostles; and whose doctrines dropped as the rain, and prospered to the thing whereunto they were sent, and made this wilderness as the garden of God;

and the little hills rejoice on every side; or "joy girds the hills"; or "they are girded with joy" r; or "gird themselves with joy", as the Targum; being covered on all sides with grass, herbs, and trees: these may denote the churches of Christ, and little hills of Sion, who rejoice when the interest of Christ flourishes, Psalms 68:14.

r וגיל גבעות תחגרנה "collesque exultatione accinguntur", Tigurine version, Junius Tremellius, Piscator so Ainsworth; "accinxerunt se", Pagninus; "accingent se", Montanus.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      6 Which by his strength setteth fast the mountains; being girded with power:   7 Which stilleth the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves, and the tumult of the people.   8 They also that dwell in the uttermost parts are afraid at thy tokens: thou makest the outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice.   9 Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it: thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water: thou preparest them corn, when thou hast so provided for it.   10 Thou waterest the ridges thereof abundantly: thou settlest the furrows thereof: thou makest it soft with showers: thou blessest the springing thereof.   11 Thou crownest the year with thy goodness; and thy paths drop fatness.   12 They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness: and the little hills rejoice on every side.   13 The pastures are clothed with flocks; the valleys also are covered over with corn; they shout for joy, they also sing.

      That we may be the more affected with the wonderful condescensions of the God of grace, it is of use to observe his power and sovereignty as the God of nature, the riches and bounty of his providential kingdom.

      I. He establishes the earth and it abides, Psalms 119:90. By his own strength he setteth fast the mountains (Psalms 65:6; Psalms 65:6), did set them fast at first and still keeps them firm, though they are sometimes shaken by earthquakes.

      Hence they are called everlasting mountains,Habakkuk 3:6. Yet God's covenant with his people is said to stand more firmly than they, Isaiah 54:10.

      II. He stills the sea, and it is quiet, Psalms 65:7; Psalms 65:7. The sea in a storm makes a great noise, which adds to its threatening terror; but, when God pleases, he commands silence among the waves and billows, and lays them to sleep, turns the storm into a calm quickly, Psalms 107:29. And by this change in the sea, as well as by the former instance of the unchangeableness of the earth, it appears that he whose the sea and the dry land are is girded with power. And by this our Lord Jesus gave a proof of his divine power, that he commanded the winds and waves, and they obeyed him. To this instance of the quieting of the sea he adds, as a thing much of the same nature, that he stills the tumult of the people, the common people. Nothing is more unruly and disagreeable than the insurrections of the mob, the insults of the rabble; yet even these God can pacify, in secret ways, which they themselves are not aware of. Or it may be meant of the outrage of the people that were enemies to Israel, Psalms 2:1. God has many ways to still them and will for ever silence their tumults.

      III. He renews the morning and evening, and their revolution is constant, Psalms 65:8; Psalms 65:8. This regular succession of day and night may be considered, 1. As an instance of God's great power, and so it strikes an awe upon all: Those that dwell in the uttermost parts of the earth are afraid at thy signs or tokens; they are by them convinced that there is a supreme deity, a sovereign monarch, before whom they ought to fear and tremble; for in these things the invisible things of God are clearly seen; and therefore they are said to be set for signs,Genesis 1:14. Many of those that dwell in the remote and dark corners of the earth were so afraid at these tokens that they were driven to worship them (Deuteronomy 4:19), not considering that they were God's tokens, undeniable proofs of his power and godhead, and therefore they should have been led by them to worship him. 2. As an instance of God's great goodness, and so it brings comfort to all: Thou makest the outgoings of the morning, before the sun rises, and of the evening, before the sun sets, to rejoice. As it is God that scatters the light of the morning and draws the curtains of the evening, so he does both in favour to man, and makes both to rejoice, gives occasion to us to rejoice in both; so that how contrary soever light and darkness are to each other, and how inviolable soever the partition between them (Genesis 1:4), both are equally welcome to the world in their season. It is hard to say which is more welcome to us, the light of the morning, which befriends the business of the day, or the shadows of the evening, which befriend the repose of the night. Does the watchman wait for the morning? So does the hireling earnestly desire the shadow. Some understand it of the morning and evening sacrifice, which good people greatly rejoiced in and in which God was constantly honoured. Thou makest them to sing (so the word is); for every morning and every evening songs of praise were sung by the Levites; it was that which the duty of every day required. We are to look upon our daily worship, alone and with our families, to be both the most needful of our daily occupations and the most delightful of our daily comforts; and, if therein we keep up our communion with God, the outgoings both of the morning and of the evening are thereby made truly to rejoice.

      IV. He waters the earth and makes it fruitful. On this instance of God's power and goodness he enlarges very much, the psalm being probably penned upon occasion either of a more than ordinarily plentiful harvest or of a seasonable rain after long drought. How much the fruitfulness of this lower part of the creation depends upon the influence of the upper is easy to observe; if the heavens be as brass, the earth is as iron, which is a sensible intimation to a stupid world that every good and perfect gift is from above, omnia desuper--all from above; we must lift up our eyes above the hills, lift them up to the heavens, where the original springs of all blessings are, out of sight, and thither must our praises return, as the first-fruits of the earth were in the heave-offerings lifted up towards heaven by way of acknowledgment that thence they were derived. All God's blessings, even spiritual ones, are expressed by his raining righteousness upon us. Now observe how the common blessing of rain from heaven and fruitful seasons is here described.

      1. How much there is in it of the power and goodness of God, which is here set forth by a great variety of lively expressions. (1.) God that made the earth hereby visits it, sends to it, gives proof of his care of it, Psalms 65:9; Psalms 65:9. It is a visit in mercy, which the inhabitants of the earth ought to return in praises. (2.) God, that made it dry land, hereby waters it, in order to its fruitfulness. Though the productions of the earth flourished before God had caused it to rain, yet even then there was a mist which answered the intention, and watered the whole face of the ground,Genesis 2:5; Genesis 2:6. Our hearts are dry and barren unless God himself be as the dew to us and water us; and the plants of his own planting he will water and make them to increase. (3.) Rain is the river of God, which is full of water; the clouds are the springs of this river, which do not flow at random, but in the channel which God cuts out for it. The showers of rain, as the rivers of water, he turns which way soever he pleases. (4.) This river of God enriches the earth, which without it would quickly be a poor thing. The riches of the earth, which are produced out of its surface, are abundantly more useful and serviceable to man than those which are hidden in its bowels; we might live well enough without silver and gold, but not without corn and grass.

      2. How much benefit is derived from it to the earth and to man upon it. (1.) To the earth itself. The rain in season gives it a new face; nothing is more reviving, more refreshing, than the rain upon the new-mown grass,Psalms 72:6. Even the ridges of the earth, off which the rain seems to slide, are watered abundantly, for they drink in the rain which comes often upon them; the furrows of it, which are turned up by the plough, in order to the seedness, are settled by the rain and made fit to receive the seed (Psalms 65:10; Psalms 65:10); they are settled by being made soft. That which makes the soil of the heart tender settles it; for the heart is established with that grace. Thus the springing of the year is blessed; and if the spring, that first quarter of the year, be blessed, that is an earnest of a blessing upon the whole year, which God is therefore said to crown with his goodness (Psalms 65:11; Psalms 65:11), to compass it on every side as the head is compassed with a crown, and to complete the comforts of it as the end of a thing is said to crown it. And his paths are said to drop fatness; for whatever fatness there is in the earth, which impregnates its productions, it comes from the out-goings of the divine goodness. Wherever God goes he leaves the tokens of his mercy behind him (Joel 2:13; Joel 2:14) and makes his path thus to shine after him. These communications of God's goodness to this lower world are very extensive and diffusive (Psalms 65:12; Psalms 65:12): They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness, and not merely upon the pastures of the inhabited land. The deserts, which man takes no care of and receives no profit from, are under the care of the divine Providence, and the profits of them redound to the glory of God, as the great benefactor of the whole creation, though not immediately to the benefit of man; and we ought to be thankful not only for that which serves us, but for that which serves any part of the creation, because thereby it turns to the honour of the Creator. The wilderness, which makes not such returns as the cultivated grounds do, receives as much of the rain of heaven as the most fruitful soil; for God does good to the evil and unthankful. So extensive are the gifts of God's bounty that in them the hills, the little hills, rejoice on every side, even the north side, that lies most from the sun. Hills are not above the need of God's providence; little hills are not below the cognizance of it. But as, when he pleases, he can make them tremble (Psalms 114:6), so when he pleases he can make them rejoice. (2.) To man upon the earth. God, by providing rain for the earth, prepares corn for man, Psalms 65:9; Psalms 65:9. As for the earth, out of it comes bread (Job 28:5), for out of it comes corn; but every grain of corn that comes out of it God himself prepared; and therefore he provides rain for the earth, that thereby he may prepare corn for man, under whose feet he has put the rest of the creatures and for whose use he has fitted them. When we consider that the yearly produce of the corn is not only an operation of the same power that raises the dead, but an instance of that power not much unlike it (as appears by that of our Saviour, John 12:24), and that the constant benefit we have from it is an instance of that goodness which endures for ever, we shall have reason to think that it is no less than a God that prepares corn for us. Corn and cattle are the two staple commodities with which the husbandman, who deals immediately in the fruits of the earth, is enriched; and both are owing to the divine goodness in watering the earth, Psalms 65:13; Psalms 65:13. To this it is owing that the pastures are clothed with flocks, Psalms 65:13; Psalms 65:13. So well stocked are the pastures that they seem to be covered over with the cattle that are laid in them, and yet the pasture not overcharged; so well fed are the cattle that they are the ornament and the glory of the pastures in which they are fed. The valleys are so fruitful that they seem to be covered over with corn, in the time of harvest. The lowest parts of the earth are commonly the most fruitful, and one acre of the humble valleys is worth five of the lofty mountains. But both corn-ground and pasture-ground, answering the end of their creation, are said to shout for joy and sin, because they are serviceable to the honour of God and the comfort of man, and because they furnish us with matter for joy and praise: as there is no earthly joy above the joy of harvest, so there was none of the feasts of the Lord, among the Jews, solemnized with greater expressions of thankfulness than the feast of in-gathering at the end of the year,Exodus 23:16. Let all these common gifts of the divine bounty, which we yearly and daily partake of, increase our love to God as the best of beings, and engage us to glorify him with our bodies, which he thus provides so well for.