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Psalm 128 reads as follows from the King James version of the Bible: 1 Blessed is every one that feareth the LORD; that walketh in his ways. 2 For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee. 3 Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table. 4 Behold, that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the LORD. 5 The LORD shall bless thee out of Zion: and thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life. 6 Yea, thou shalt see thy children's children, and peace upon Israel. The first interpretation might be that she is flowering children, but there is a second interpretation as to the meaning of fruitful vine which is spiritually important. The fruitful vine is a presence through which there is an outgrowth of wisdom, prosperity and happiness that affects not only the vine itself but the outer environment of the vine and in her cases her families and husband's happiness is part of this outgrowth. This outgrowth of her wisdom could also have resonated more widely into the greater world or in the future world as people can pray for future generations now. This outgrowth might be of more than one fruit, such fruits as kindness, generosity, practical works, strength, hope, help and understanding might be within the course by routing through one person who is considered the fruitful vine through which these elements of goodness flow outward and onward. Again this elements could also have been the subject of her outpouring of generous prayers, wise prayers, kind prayers, that could also have been for future as well as current generations. The vine can be extensive. Fruits may survive into the far future either through results of her prayers and reach of her ministry into the future, or through the generations of her progeny. This psalm shows how so much good can come about from the actions of one person. In this sense anybody young, old, male or female, rich or poor can be a fruitful vine through which there is an outgrowth of wisdom, happiness, and prosperity not only for themselves but for others both close and afar. Close in time or far away in the future of time, close in proximity or to the ends of the earth through outreaches such as prayer or other ministries of communicating these wonderful gifts of the Lord. . This is one of the valuable contributions that the imaging of this psalm presents. The happiness, wisdom and prosperity routes through the ways and in the times one, in individual, in ways that has effects at home or into the far reaches of time and space.. This could be through their prayer efforts and other efforts on the spiritual front, which brings about effects to the wider world according to this psalm of peace, prosperity, happiness and wisdom. Yet this wisdom is sourced or fruitful nature is sourced not elsewhere, but right within the gifts of the individual through the concurrent aid and actions of the Holy Spirit in conjunction with these gifts involved within the fruitful, not fruitless vine. Proverbs Chapter 31 speaks of the wise woman with a particular emphasis from verse 26 on her wisdom and advice. 26 She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness. From the book of Sirach in the King James Bible Chapter 24 it says reading from verse 12 through verse 32, “12: And I took root in an honourable people, even in the portion of the Lord's inheritance. 13: I was exalted like a cedar in Libanus, and as a cypress tree upon the mountains of Hermon. 14: I was exalted like a palm tree in En-gaddi, and as a rose plant in Jericho, as a fair olive tree in a pleasant field, and grew up as a plane tree by the water. 15: I gave a sweet smell like cinnamon and aspalathus, and I yielded a pleasant odour like the best myrrh, as galbanum, and onyx, and sweet storax, and as the fume of frankincense in the tabernacle. 16: As the turpentine tree I stretched out my branches, and my branches are the branches of honour and grace. 17: As the vine brought I forth pleasant savour, and my flowers are the fruit of honour and riches. 18: I am the mother of fair love, and fear, and knowledge, and holy hope: I therefore, being eternal, am given to all my children which are named of him. 19: Come unto me, all ye that be desirous of me, and fill yourselves with my fruits. 20: For my memorial is sweeter than honey, and mine inheritance than the honeycomb. 21: They that eat me shall yet be hungry, and they that drink me shall yet be thirsty. 22: He that obeyeth me shall never be confounded, and they that work by me shall not do amiss. 23: All these things are the book of the covenant of the most high God, even the law which Moses commanded for an heritage unto the congregations of Jacob. 24: Faint not to be strong in the Lord; that he may confirm you, cleave unto him: for the Lord Almighty is God alone, and beside him there is no other Saviour. 25: He filleth all things with his wisdom, as Phison and as Tigris in the time of the new fruits. 26: He maketh the understanding to abound like Euphrates, and as Jordan in the time of the harvest. 27: He maketh the doctrine of knowledge appear as the light, and as Geon in the time of vintage. 28: The first man knew her not perfectly: no more shall the last find her out. 29: For her thoughts are more than the sea, and her counsels profounder than the great deep. 30: I also came out as a brook from a river, and as a conduit into a garden. 31: I said, I will water my best garden, and will water abundantly my garden bed: and, lo, my brook became a river, and my river became a sea. 32: I will yet make doctrine to shine as the morning, and will send forth her light afar off. 33: I will yet pour out doctrine as prophecy, and leave it to all ages for ever. 34: Behold that I have not laboured for myself only, but for all them that seek wisdom. In this beautifully poetic passage on wisdom we also see the imagery of the vine and of fruits and the flowering of these fruits both for the benefits of the vine itself and many others.. Verse 30 Is key in that it shows how wisdom can go through a conduit, in the case of this psalm, the fruitful vine of the wife who is considered the focal point of all the good things happening in the psalm which include prosperity, the happiness of others, and the very peace of Jerusalem. With this there can be the time of new fruits mentioned in verse 25, with abounding understanding mentioned in verse 26. A time of new fruits is all about more good things to come, to look for to, more good blessings and gifts on down the road, and light from afar which is also imaged in proverbs where it says the woman will bring things to her household from afar in Proverbs Chapter 26 verse 14 which says, . 14She is like the merchants' ships; she bringeth her food from afar. Verse 25 says, 25: Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come. This gels with verse 29 in this passage from Sirach which talks about strength There is a widening interpretation of the fruitful vine. First in the woman who has children, but there is a second wider view is the woman of wisdom from whom many good gifts go forth. Then it is the possibility that any person of any situation and any era can potentially be this fruitful vine, acting as a conduit of wisdom within all and varied good fruits both for themselves and many others in the wider world.
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