For Jehovah Elohim is a sun and shield Jehovah will give grace and glory; no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.
Commentary for this Verse
This one verse says three things about God: what He is, what He gives, and what He will not hold back. It closes a psalm about longing for God's house. Commentators find in it the shape of a believer's whole life, and a condition tied to the last promise.
God Himself as Sun and Shield
One commentator moves the reader past the two pictures to the Person behind them.
Andrew MillerThe great truth for the heart is not just the thought of having "a sun and shield" as our light and protection in this world, but rather, who the sun and shield is. Not, observe, what, but who the sun and shield is. The LORD God is your sun and shield! There is no sunshine like the beams of His countenance and no shelter like the shadow of His wing.
Another writer looks at what this rare image points to.
Numerical Bible Notes"The LORD God is a sun and shield" — not a sun that smiles, but one that shields… This image is found nowhere else in Scripture. It must remind us of the One in whom God has shown Himself — the One in whom the glory of the Light has clothed a body, to become for us the Light of the day. Who can resist the thought that Christ is deliberately set before us here?
Two Different Shields in One Psalm
Earlier in the psalm the word "shield" appears again, and the two uses are not identical.
The Christian's Friend"Behold our shield, O God; look on the face of Your Anointed." Behold not ourselves, but Christ, who is our shield. So we treat "the face of Your Anointed," not God Himself, as the shield… Verse 11 is different. There it is what the LORD God is — He is both a sun and shield. Only remember this: Christ, God's Anointed, is the Jehovah of the Jews.
Grace and Glory
The gift comes in two words. Neither half has a limit.
The Christian's FriendHe will give grace for all the journey. We can never be in circumstances of any kind — of trial, sorrow, or temptation — for which His grace will not be enough. And notice, He will give it… As James also says, He gives more grace — always more. It is grace upon grace out of His endless fulness, like wave flowing in after wave… Then, too, He will give glory at the end — the very same glory He Himself has received from the Father.
Time stands between grace and glory. The verse's last line fills that gap.
Hamilton SmithAt the start of our journey grace sought and found us, at the end glory awaits us. Between the grace at the start and the glory at the end, "No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly."
What "No Good Thing" Covers
The promise does not mean God grants every prayer.
George DavisonHow we need to think over this phrase — "no good thing." Looking back on our path, we may remember desires that God did not grant. Yet we can thank Him. If we had gained the thing we had set our hearts on, it would have done us harm and not good. We have examples of this very thing in the Scriptures. Elijah once asked God to grant that he might die, but instead of this, God took him to heaven in a whirlwind.
Poverty, then, is not evidence that the promise has failed.
F. B. HoleDo you say, "I am a poor man"? Well, it may be good for you. A little more money might have wrecked you spiritually. He will give you what is good. He will hold back nothing that is for your spiritual good. He will hold back nothing that will bring you gain in the day that is coming. The Lord will give all that is really good to the one who walks uprightly — that is, to the one who walks in the fear of God.
The Upright Walk as Capacity
The last line ties the promise to a condition. One writer explains why God holds things back.
The Christian's FriendThe Lord has to hold back many things from us because of the state we are in. So, as we learn here, how much we can receive depends on our walk. He always wants to give us good things. So we need to work at keeping an upright walk, so that nothing hinders our receiving His gifts of blessing.
One writer sums that walk up: "To walk uprightly is to walk before Him, by Him and for Him" (Andrew Miller).
Summary
- Who — Ask not what the sun and shield are, but who: light and shelter are a Person, not a provision.
- Grace — Grace comes first and covers the whole journey; no trial exists for which it runs short.
- Glory — Glory comes last, and it is the very glory Christ received from the Father.
- Between — Between grace at the start and glory at the end sits this promise: no good thing held back. Even the prayers God refuses are refused for our good.
- Capacity — An upright walk does not change God's heart to give; it enlarges what we can receive.