Psalms 126:5 - Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. The sowing answers, to the humble beginnings of the second temple, "the day of small things" (Zechariah 4:10). The poor sower at times masts with trials in sowing which move him even to tears, as he knows his all depends on the venture, and that produce is uncertain. But the joyful harvest compensates him for all his toils. He had sown in anxiety, through the disappearance of the rain-streams; but these re-appear, so he joyfully reaps an abundant crop. What sometimes happens in the sowing and reaping of the natural crop, always comes to pass in the spiritual world. Believers who sow the seed of any good work in tears, through discouragements, are sure, by the Lord's turning again the blessing to them, to reap in joy. Compare Ezra 6:16; Ezra 6:22 for the fulfillment in the case of the restored Jews and their often interrupted work of building the temple. Compare Proverbs 21:1, which seems to have been in the view of our Psalmist (Psalms 126:4: cf. also Nehemiah 8:9-17; Nehemiah 12:42-43: cf. Jeremiah 31:9; Jeremiah 31:14; Jeremiah 31:17 as to the future aspect of the psalm-namely, the final restoration of Israel).