Tehilim Perek 127

Hello everybody, in today’s NachDaily we’re discussing Tehilim chapter 127, a short perek in the Shir Ha’amalos.

Dovid had a deep desire to build the Beis Hamikdash, but Nosson Hanavi told him that his son, Shlomo, was destined to do it. Although Dovid didn’t build the Beis Hamikdash, he gives advice in this chapter as to how to go about it.

The Radak adds that Dovid foresaw that his son would marry the daughter of Paroh on the same day as the inauguration. The perek was also written as a warning to Shlomo.

The chapter relates that although we actually physically build the Beis Hamkdash, without Hashem’s help the entire process would be futile

The perek ends by relating the joy of having proper children, who are likened to “arrows in the hands of the warrior.” The youthful parent has the energy and strength to guide his children properly, and they will ultimately give him pleasure and pride in their accomplishments.

What is the connection between these two parts of the perek? The first part talks about the building of the Beis Hamikdash while the second talks about raising children.

Both the building of the Beis Hamikdash and the building of a family [raising children] take a tremendous amount of effort. Dovid warns us not to attribute our achievements to the amount of energy we put in. Both our success in building the Beis Hamikdash and raising our children are from God.

Dovid warned Shlomo not to be haughty for building God’s house, as without His help it could not have been built.

I often see, as a social worker, that people take a great deal of pride in their children. They should. But at the same we must recognize that if our children came out “good,” it’s because Hashem wanted it that way! Don’t be judgmental or look down at others.

When parents begin to understand that it’s not completely up to them to make everything happen for their children, they can relax somewhat and enjoy them more. Many parents feel a tremendous amount of pressure in raising their kids because they think that everything is in their hands.

Dovid tells us that it’s not really up to us how they turn out. It’s up to Hashem. To an extent, we can loosen up and enjoy our children because Hashem’s in the picture.

Thank you for listening, and have a wonderful day.