Psalms 36:8

They shall be abundantly satisfied - ירוין yirveyun, they shall be saturated, as a thirsty field is by showers from heaven. Inebriaduntur, they shall be inebriated - Vulgate. That sal be drunken of the plenteuoste of thi house. - Old Psalter. This refers to the joyous expectation they had of being restored to their own land, and to the ordinances of the temple.

Of the river of thy pleasures - נחל אדניך nachal adaneycha, (or עדנך edencha, as in four MSS)., the river of thy Eden. They shall be restored to their paradisaical estate; for here is a reference to the river that ran through the garden of Eden, and watered it; Genesis 2:10. Or the temple, and under it the Christian Church, may be compared to this Eden; and the gracious influences of God to be had in his ordinances, to the streams by which that garden was watered, and its fertility promoted.

They shall be abundantly satisfied - Margin, "watered." That is, all who thus put their trust in the mercy of God. The Hebrew word - רוה râvâh - means to drink to the full; to be satisfied, or sated with drink; or to be satisfied or filled with water, as the earth or fields after an abundant rain: Isaiah 34:7; Psalm 65:10. The state referred to by the word is that of one who was thirsty, but who has drunk to the full; who feels that his desire is satisfied:

(a) He has found that which is adapted to his wants, or which meets his needs, as water does the wants of one who is a thirst;

(b) He has found this "in abundance."

There is no lack, and he partakes of it in as large measure as he chooses. So the weary and thirsty traveler, when he finds in the desert a "new and untasted spring," finds that which he needs, and drinks freely; and so the sinner - the dying man - the man who feels that there is nothing in the world that can satisfy him:

(1) finds in the provisions of the gospel that which exactly meets the needs of his nature, and

(2) he finds it in abundance.

With the fatness - The word used here means properly "fatness" or "fat:" Judges 9:9. Then it means "fat food," or "sumptuous food," Job 36:16; Isaiah 55:2; Jeremiah 31:14. It is connected here with the word "drink," or "drink in," because this kind of food was "sucked" in at the mouth, and the mode of partaking of it resembled the act of drinking. Gesenius. The allusion is the same as that which so often occurs in the Scriptures, where the provisions of salvation are represented as a "feast," or where the illustration is drawn from the act of eating or drinking.

Of thy house - Furnished by thy house, or in the place of public worship. God is represented as the Head or Father of a family, and as providing for the wants of his children. Compare Psalm 23:6; Psalm 27:4.

And thou shalt make them drink - In allusion to the provisions of salvation considered as adapted to satisfy the needs of the thirsty soul.

Of the river - The abundance. Not a running fountain; not a gentle bubbling rivulet; not a stream that would soon dry up; but a "river," large; full; overflowing; inexhaustible.

Of thy pleasures - Furnishing happiness or pleasure such as "thine" is. The pious man has happiness of the same "kind" or "nature" as that of God. It is happiness in holiness or purity; happiness in doing good; happiness in the happiness of others. It is in this sense that the friend of God partakes of His pleasure or happiness. Compare 2 Peter 1:4. The following things, therefore, are taught by this verse:

(1) that God is happy;

(2) that religion makes man happy;

(3) that his happiness is of the same "kind" or "nature" as that of God;

continued...

36:8 Satisfied - Who trust in thee, as he now said. Fatness - With those delightful provisions, which thou hast prepared for them in heaven.The river - Which denotes both their plenty, and their perpetuity.