Psalm 92:14

They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing;

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(14) They shall still bring forth.—Literally, Still shall they sprout in hoary age, sappy and green shall they be, alluding to the great fruitfulness of the date palm, and to the fact that to the very last this fruitfulness continues.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

92:7-15 God sometimes grants prosperity to wicked men in displeasure; yet they flourish but for a moment. Let us seek for ourselves the salvation and grace of the gospel, that being daily anointed by the Holy Spirit, we may behold and share the Redeemer's glory. It is from his grace, by his word and Spirit, that believers receive all the virtue that keeps them alive, and makes them fruitful. Other trees, when old, leave off bearing, but in God's trees the strength of grace does not fail with the strength of nature. The last days of the saints are sometimes their best days, and their last work their best work: perseverance is sure evidence of sincerity. And may every sabbath, while it shows forth the Divine faithfulness, find our souls resting more and more upon the Lord our righteousness.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

They shall still bring forth fruit in old age - As a tree that is carefully planted and cultivated may be expected to live long, and to bear fruit even when it is old. It is true that such a tree may be cut down; or that it may be blown down by winds and tempests; or that it may be unproductive, but as a general rule, and as laying the foundation of a reasonable hope, such a tree may be expected to live long, and to produce fruit even when it is old. So of one devoted early to God, and trained up under the influences of religion. The care, the culture, the habits of temperance, of industry, of moderation, and of sobriety so formed, are favorable to length of days, and lay the foundation for usefulness when old age comes. An aged man should be useful. He should feel that whatever wisdom he may possess as the result of long study and experience, belongs to God and to truth; that one great reason for sparing him is that he may be useful; that the world needs the benefit of his counsel and his prayers; that his life is lengthened out not for his own ease or enjoyment, but that virtue and piety may be extended in the world by all the influence which he can bring to bear upon it in advanced years. It may be added that, as a matter of fact, those who are thus trained and are thus preserved, are useful in old age. No one thus spared need be useless; perhaps almost none are. There is something appropriate for old men to do, as there is for the young and the middle-aged; and it should be the object of an aged Christian to find out what that is, and to do it. The word rendered "old age means literally grey or hoary hair."

They shall be fat - The meaning is, that they shall be vigorous, or have the appearance of vigor and health.

And flourishing - Margin, as in Hebrew, "green." This image is taken from a tree, as if it were still green in old age, or gave no indications of decay.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

12-14. The vigorous growth, longevity, utility, fragrance, and beauty of these noble trees, set forth the life, character, and destiny of the pious;

Matthew Poole's Commentary

When their natural strength decayeth, it shall be renewed; their last days shall be their best days, wherein as they shall grow in grace, so they shall increase in comfort and blessedness.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

They shall still bring forth fruit in old age,.... Being thus planted and watered, they shall not only bring forth the fruits of righteousness, but shall continue, and go on to do so, and even when they are grown old; contrary to all other trees, which, when old, cease bearing fruit; but so do not the righteous; grace is often in the greatest vigour when nature is decayed; witness Abraham, Job, David, Zachariah, and Elisabeth, and good old Simeon, who went to the grave like shocks of corn, fully ripe:

they shall be fat and flourishing; or "green", full of sap and moisture, abound with green leaves and precious fruit; or, in other words, abound in grace, and be fruitful in every good work: being ingrafted into the true olive, the church of God, they partake of the root and fatness of it; having a place in the house of the Lord, they are satisfied with the goodness and fatness thereof, and are made to drink of the river of divine pleasure; and being in the courts of the Lord, where a feast of fat things is provided for them, they eat and feed, and so thrive and flourish; the allusion is to fat and flourishing palm trees (g).

(g) "Praeferat Herodis palmetis pinguibus----". Horat. Ep. l. 2. Ep. 2. v. 148.

Geneva Study Bible

They shall still bring forth fruit in old {i} age; they shall be fat and flourishing;

(i) The children of God will have a power above nature and their age will bring forth fresh fruit.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

14. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age, like the palm-tree. Doughty (Arabia Deserta, i. 286) speaks of palms 90 feet high and 200 years old, in the oasis of Teyma. They shall be full of sap and green (R.V.), like the olive (Jdg 9:9).

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 14. - They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; i.e. "even when they are old, they shall still bring forth fruit" - they shall still glorify God by their good works. They shall be fat and fiourishing; literally, fat and green. The metaphor of ver. 12 is still kept up. Psalm 92:14

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The soil in which the righteous are planted or (if it is not rendered with the lxx πεφυτευμένοι, but with the other Greek versions μεταφυτευθέντες) into which they are transplanted, and where they take root, a planting of the Lord, for His praise, is His holy Temple, the centre of a family fellowship with God that is brought about from that point as its starting-point and is unlimited by time and space. There they stand as in sacred ground and air, which impart to them ever new powers of life; they put forth buds (הפריח as in Job 14:9) and preserve a verdant freshness and marrowy vitality (like the olive, 52:10, Judges 9:9) even into their old age (נוּב of a productive force for putting out shoots; vid., with reference to the root נב, Genesis, S. 635f.), cf. Isaiah 65:22 : like the duration of the trees is the duration of my people; they live long in unbroken strength, in order, in looking back upon a life rich in experiences of divine acts of righteousness and loving-kindness, to confirm the confession which Moses, in Deuteronomy 32:4, places at the head of his great song. There the expression is אין עול, here it is אין עלתה בּו. This ‛ôlātha, softened from ‛awlātha - So the Ker - with a transition from the aw, au into ô, is also found in Job 5:16 (cf. עלה equals עולה Psalm 58:3; Psalm 64:7; Isaiah 61:8), and is certainly original in this Psalm, which also has many other points of coincidence with the Book of Job (like Psalm 107, which, however, in Psalm 107:42 transposes עלתה into עולה).