(11) Thou crownest.--Better, hast crowned. We generally connect the idea of completion with this metaphor, but the original thought in the Hebrew word, as in the Greek ?????, is probably to encompass. Comp. the Latin corono in Lucretius, 2:802--
"Sylva coronat aquas ingens nemus omne."
All "the circle of the golden year" had been attended by Divine goodness. The meaning seems to be that God had made a year which was naturally prosperous still more abundant.
Paths.--The root from which the Hebrew word is formed means to roll, or revolve, and it often means the track made by a wheel. This idea may be present since God is often represented in Hebrew poetry as riding on a chariot of clouds, generally with the association of wrath and destruction (Psalm 18:10; Psalm 68:4), but here, with the thought of plenty and peace following on His track, as in the Latin poet--
"Te fugiunt venti, te nubila c?li
Adventumque tuum, tibi suaves d?dala tellus
Submittit flores, tibi rident aequora ponti
Placatumque ridet diffuso lumine c?lum."
LUCRETIUS, i. 6.
But it is more natural to give the word the meaning revolutions, and to think of the blessings brought by the "seasons as they roll."
Fatness.--A cognate accusative to the word "drop" used absolutely in the next verse. (Comp. Proverbs 3:20.)
Verse 11. - Thou crownest the year with thy goodness. As God had begun, so he goes on to the "crowning" of the whole. And thy paths drop fatness. As he moves about, visiting the earth (ver. 9), there drop from him fertility and abundance.
65:6-13 That Almighty strength which sets fast the mountains, upholds the believer. That word which stills the stormy ocean, and speaks it into a calm, can silence our enemies. How contrary soever light and darkness are to each other, it is hard to say which is most welcome. Does the watchman wait for the morning? so does the labourer earnestly desire the shades of evening. Some understand it of the morning and evening sacrifices. We are to look upon daily worship, both alone and with our families, to be the most needful of our daily occupations, the most delightful of our daily comforts. How much the fruitfulness of this lower part of the creation depends upon the influence of the upper, is easy to observe; every good and perfect gift is from above. He who enriches the earth, which is filled with man's sins, by his abundant and varied bounty, can neither want power nor will to feed the souls of his people. Temporal mercies to us unworthy creatures, shadow forth more important blessings. The rising of the Sun of righteousness, and the pouring forth of the influences of the Holy Spirit, that river of God, full of the waters of life and salvation, render the hard, barren, worthless hearts of sinners fruitful in every good work, and change the face of nations more than the sun and rain change the face of nature. Wherever the Lord passes, by his preached gospel, attended by his Holy Spirit, his paths drop fatness, and numbers are taught to rejoice in and praise him. They will descend upon the pastures of the wilderness, all the earth shall hear and embrace the gospel, and bring forth abundantly the fruits of righteousness which are, through Jesus Christ, to the glory of the Father. Manifold and marvellous, O Lord, are thy works, whether of nature or of grace; surely in loving-kindness hast thou made them all.
Thou crownest the year with thy goodness,.... The whole circling year, from one end of it to the other; particularly that season of it when the harvest is gathered in; the seed being sown, the earth watered, the springing of it blessed, and the corn brought to perfection, the year is crowned with a plentiful harvest: this may denote the acceptable year of the Lord, the year of the redeemed, the whole Gospel dispensation, Isaiah 61:2; in certain seasons and periods of which there have been great gatherings of souls to Christ; at the first of it multitudes were converted in Judea, and in the Gentile world, which were the first fruits of the Spirit; and in all ages there have been more or less instances of this kind; and in the latter day there will be a large harvest, when the Jews will be converted, and the fulness of the Gentiles brought in;
and thy paths drop fatness; the heavens, as Jarchi interprets it; or the clouds, as Kimchi; which are the chariots and horses of God, in which he rides, and are the dust of his feet, Psalm 104:3, Nahum 1:3; and these drop down rain upon the earth, and make it fat and flourishing; and may mystically design the administration of the Gospel, and the administration of ordinances; which are the paths in which the Lord goes forth to his people, and directs them to walk in, and in which he meets them with a fulness of blessings, and satisfies them as with marrow and fatness.
"Sylva coronat aquas ingens nemus omne."
All "the circle of the golden year" had been attended by Divine goodness. The meaning seems to be that God had made a year which was naturally prosperous still more abundant.
Paths.--The root from which the Hebrew word is formed means to roll, or revolve, and it often means the track made by a wheel. This idea may be present since God is often represented in Hebrew poetry as riding on a chariot of clouds, generally with the association of wrath and destruction (Psalm 18:10; Psalm 68:4), but here, with the thought of plenty and peace following on His track, as in the Latin poet--
"Te fugiunt venti, te nubila c?li
Adventumque tuum, tibi suaves d?dala tellus
Submittit flores, tibi rident aequora ponti
Placatumque ridet diffuso lumine c?lum."
LUCRETIUS, i. 6.
But it is more natural to give the word the meaning revolutions, and to think of the blessings brought by the "seasons as they roll."
Fatness.--A cognate accusative to the word "drop" used absolutely in the next verse. (Comp. Proverbs 3:20.)
and thy paths drop fatness; the heavens, as Jarchi interprets it; or the clouds, as Kimchi; which are the chariots and horses of God, in which he rides, and are the dust of his feet, Psalm 104:3, Nahum 1:3; and these drop down rain upon the earth, and make it fat and flourishing; and may mystically design the administration of the Gospel, and the administration of ordinances; which are the paths in which the Lord goes forth to his people, and directs them to walk in, and in which he meets them with a fulness of blessings, and satisfies them as with marrow and fatness.