Psalm 112:6

EXPOSITION

Verse 6. Surely he shall not be moved for ever. God has rooted and established him so that neither men nor devils shall sweep him from his place. His prosperity shall be permanent, and not like that of the gambler and the cheat, whose gains are evanescent: his reputation shall be bright and lustrous from year to year, for it is not a mere pretence; his home shall be permanent, and he shall not need to wander from place to place as a bird that wanders from her nest; and even his memory shall be abiding, for a good man is not soon forgotten, and the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance. They are of a most ancient family, and not mushrooms of an hour, and their grand old stock shall be found flourishing when all the proud houses of ungodly men shall have faded into nothing. The righteous are worth remembering, their actions are of the kind which record themselves, and God himself takes charge of their memorials. None of us likes the idea of being forgotten, and yet the only way to avoid it is to be righteous before God.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

Verse 6. What doth the text say?

The righteous (that is the bountiful) shall be in everlasting remembrance. God remembers our good deeds, when he rewards them (as he does our prayers, when he hears them). If to remember, then, be to reward, an everlasting reward is our everlasting remembrance ... Now in those who are to be partakers of mercy, the divine wisdom requires this congruity, that they be such as have been ready to show mercy to others. -- Joseph Mede, 1586-1638.

Verse 6. The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance. The stately and durable pyramids of Egypt have not transmitted to posterity even the names of those buried in them. And what has even embalming done, but tossed them about, and exposed them to all the world as spectacles to the curious, of meanness, or horror? But the piety of Abraham, of Jacob, of David and Samuel, of Hezekiah, Josiah and others, is celebrated to this very day. So when pyramids shall sink, and seas cease to roll, when sun and moon and stars shall be no more, "the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance." --John Dun, 1790.

HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS

Verse 6.

1. In this life the Christian is,

a. Steadfast; b. Calm; c. Unconquerable: and

1. When this life is over his memory is,

a. Beloved; b. Influential; c. Perpetual.

Verse 6.

1. The character of the righteous is eternal: "surely," etc.
2. His influence upon others is eternal: "shall be had," etc. --G.R.