For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.
Ver. 2. For length of days.] A sweet mercy, and generally desired. Psa 34:12 Short life is reckoned as a curse, Psa 89:47 yet in some cases it is a blessing. 1Ki 14:13 Isa 57:1 Wκυμοροι οι θεοφιλεις - God taketh away his from the evil to come, a as, when there is a fire in a house or town, men carry out their jewels; but then God makes them up in his cabinet. "They do enter into peace"; their souls go to heaven; "they rest in their beds"; Isa 57:2 their bodies rest sweetly and safely in the grave till the resurrection of the just. And is not this far better than the longest life here? Length of days may prove a curse, when it brings shame, sorrow, &c., as it did to Cain, Ham, &c.
And peace shall they add to thee.] Without which to live is nothing else but to lie dying. Rebecca, for want of this, was weary of her life; so was Elijah when he sat under the juniper tree. "All the days of the afflicted are evil." Pro 15:15 Sυνοικουσι, ου συμβιουσι; they dwell together; they do not live together, said Themistocles of married folk that agree not. Non ille diu vixit, sed diu fuit, said Seneca of one. And again, Non multum navigavit, sed multum iactatus est; He was tossed much up and down, but sailed not far, as being driven about by contrary winds.
Shall they add to thee.] Multiplicem pacem significat, saith one. "Peace, peace," as in Isaiah 26:3; that is, a multiplied peace; with God, with one's self, with others; or a renewed continued peace, today, tomorrow, and every day; or a perfect, sheer, pure peace.
a Oν φιλει φεος, θνησκει νεος. - Dion. Prus. Orat. 28.