14
May the Lord give you increase more and more,
You and your children.
15
May you be blessed by the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.
My Thoughts
As I was reading and putting together this post, these scriptures came to me:
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Hebrews 13:8 NKJV
The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.” Isaiah 40:8 NKJV
The scripture from Psalm 115:14-15 expresses a blessing from the Lord, promising continual increase for individuals and their children, emphasizing both physical and spiritual growth. It highlights God’s omnipotence as the creator of heaven and earth, contrasting Him with earthly idols. The commentaries explore the depth of this blessing, noting that it signifies an increase in wisdom, grace, and joy. Ultimately, it reassures believers that trusting in the Lord brings abundant blessings and a legacy for future generations. The Lord is the same yesterday, today, and forever and His word stands forever…….Bill
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Commentaries:
Matthew Henry
It is promised (v. 14), The Lord shall increase you. Whom God blesses he increases; that was one of the earliest and most ancient blessings, Be fruitful and multiply. God’s blessing gives an increase in number, building up the family-increase in wealth, adding to the estate, and honor-especially an increase in spiritual blessings, with the increasings of God. He will bless you with the increase of knowledge and wisdom, of grace, holiness, and joy; those are blessed indeed whom God thus increases, who are made wiser and better, and fitter for God and heaven. It is promised that this shall be,
(1.) A constant continual increase: “He shall increase you more and more; so that, as long as you live, you shall be still increasing, till you come to perfection, as the shining light,” Prov. 4:18.
(2.) A hereditary increase: “You and your children; you in your children.” It is a comfort to parents to see their children increasing in wisdom and strength. There is a blessing entailed upon the seed of those that fear God even in their infancy. For (v. 15), You are blessed of the Lord, you and your children are so; all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord has blessed, Isa. 59:9. Those that are the blessed of the Lord have encouragement enough to trust in the Lord, as their help and shield, for it is he that made heaven and earth; therefore his blessings are free, for he needs not any thing himself; and therefore they are rich, for he has all things at command for us if we fear him and trust in him. He that made heaven and earth can doubtless make those happy that trust in him, and will do it.
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Charles Spurgeon
The LORD shall increase you more and more, you and your children.” Just as in Egypt, he multiplied the people exceedingly, so will he increase the number of his saints upon the earth; not only shall the faithful be blessed with converts, and so with a spiritual seed; but those who are their spiritual children shall become fruitful also, and thus the multitude of the elect shall be accomplished; God shall increase the people, and shall increase the joy. Even to the end of the ages the race of true believers shall be continued, and shall increasingly multiply in number and in power. The first blessing upon mankind was, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth:” and it is this blessing which God now pronounces upon them that fear him. Despite the idols of philosophy and sacramentarianism, the truth shall gather its disciples, and fill the land with its defenders.
“Ye are blessed of the LORD which made heaven and earth.” This is another form of the blessing of Melchizedek: “Blessed be Abram of the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth:” and upon us through our great Melchizedek this same benediction rests. It is an omnipotent blessing, conveying to us all that an Almighty God can do, whether in heaven or on earth. This fulness is infinite, and the consolation which it brings is unfailing: he that made heaven and earth can give us all things while we dwell below, and bring us safely to his palace above. Happy are the people upon whom such a blessing rests; their portion is infinitely above that of those whose only hope lies in a piece of gilded wood, or an image of sculptured stone.
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Enduring Word
May the LORD give you increase more and more: In the world of ancient Israel, many looked to the idols of the nations for fertility and the prosperity of their fields, their flocks, and their families. In giving this blessing to those of us who fear and trust the LORD, the psalmist recognized Yahweh as the true source of such blessing, extending even to our children. (Guzik)
May you be blessed by the LORD, who made heaven and earth: Once again in this psalm, Yahweh is exalted above the idols of the nations. He alone has made heaven and earth. (Guzik)
i. “If he blesseth, poverty cannot starve thee, sickness cannot kill thee, toil cannot wear thee out, sorrow cannot consume thee, life cannot allure thee, death cannot slay thee, hell cannot enclose thee.” (CHS)
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Albert Barnes
The Lord shall increase you more and more – He will increase your numbers and your power. We may suppose that the people were greatly diminished by the captivity and that on their return to their country their number was comparatively small. This promise of a great increase was in accordance with the cherished wishes of the Hebrew people, and with the repeated promises which God had made to their fathers. Compare Genesis 15:5; Genesis 22:17; Genesis 32:12.
You and your children – The blessing shall be not only on you, but it shall go down to future generations,
Ye are blessed of the Lord – Blessed in your present comforts and mercies; blessed in his promises in regard to the time to come; blessed in the prospects which are before you.
Which made heaven and earth – The true God; the great Creator of all things. It was not the blessing of a creature – man or angel – it was the blessing of the living God.
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John Gill
The Lord shall increase you more and more,…. The Word of the Lord, as the Targum, shall do it; in a temporal sense, with a numerous posterity, with riches, wealth, and honor; and in a spiritual sense, with an addition of spiritual blessings; with renewed instances of divine layout: with an increase of the gifts and graces of the Spirit of God, as faith, hope, love, joy, patience, humility, and other graces; and with more knowledge of God and Christ, and of divine and spiritual things.
You and your children; not only they that feared the Lord of the present generation, but those that should succeed them, and be as they were, a seed to serve the Lord, and who should be accounted to him for a generation.
You are blessed of the Lord,…. The Arabic version reads it, “we are blessed”; with temporal and with spiritual blessings; being the beloved of the Lord, chosen of him; whose sins are pardoned, whose persons are justified by the righteousness of Christ; who are put among the children of God, and are heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; regenerated by his Spirit, favored with communion with God, and wrought up to some degree of conformity to Christ, and shall ever be with him.
Which made heaven and earth; and so able to bless with all kind of blessings, both heavenly and earthly; and from whom all help and assistance may be hoped for, and who may be trusted and confided in: and this, it may be, is observed to distinguish him from the idols of the Gentiles, who made not the heavens and the earth; and who are not able to bless, nor give the least relief to any of their votaries.
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The Pulpit Commentaries
The Lord shall increase you more and more. This was the original blessing bestowed on Abraham (Genesis 13:16; Genesis 17:4-6), and continually reiterated (Genesis 18:18; Genesis 22:17; Genesis 28:14, etc.). It is much dwelt upon by Isaiah (Isaiah 49:8-12, Isaiah 49:18-23; Isaiah 54:1-3; Isaiah 60:3-12, etc.). The main fulfillment of the promise was through the conversion of the Gentiles, who, when converted, became the true “Israel of God.” But, even apart from this, the lineal descendants of Abraham have “increased more and more,” to an extent which is most extraordinary. You and your children. You yourselves shall increase, but your children shall yet more increase. The multiplying would begin at once but would be greater and more striking afterward.
Ye are the blessed of the Lord which made heaven and earth; i.e. of the true Lord and God, the Creator of all things, visible and invisible.
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A. R. Fausset
14. The Lord shall increase you more and more, you and your children—(Deut. 1:11.) The Hebrew is literally, ‘The Lord shall add upon you, upon you and upon your children.’ There is an allusion to the name Joseph, the same Hebrew, Gen. 30:24, “She called his name Joseph (i. e., adding), and said, the Lord shall add to me another son.” To this Joab alludes, 2 Sam. 24:3 (Isa. 26:15). The words, “you and your children,” imply that the increase was to begin at that time, just after the return from Babylon; but that the full increase is reserved for the days of Israel’s final glory with Messiah (Isa. 66:7–13).
15. Ye are blessed of the Lord which made heaven and earth—alluding to Melchizedek’s blessing upon Abraham, the first father of Israel, the heir of Abraham’s blessing, “Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth” (Gen. 14:19). As being the ‘Maker of heaven and earth,’ He is infinitely rich in power to make His people “blessed,” however many be their troubles, and however strong their enemies. On the contrary, “The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens” (Jer. 10:11).
A. R. Fausset, A Commentary, Critical, Experimental, and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments: Job–Isaiah, vol. III (London; Glasgow: William Collins, Sons, & Company, Limited, n.d.), 354.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 1:11 (KJV )
11 (The Lord God of your fathers make you a thousand times so many more as ye are, and bless you, as he hath promised you!)
Psalm 134:3 (KJV )
3 The Lord that made heaven and earth
Bless thee out of Zion.
Psalm 121:2 (KJV )
2 My help cometh from the Lord,
Which made heaven and earth.
Acts 2:39 (KJV )
39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
Acts 14:15 (KJV )
15 And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein:
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KJV W/Strongs Bible
115:14 The LORD 3068 shall increase 3254 8686 you more and more, you and your children 1121.
115:15 Ye [are] blessed 1288 8803 of the LORD 3068 which made 6213 8802 heaven 8064 and earth 776.
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Geneva Bible 1560
Psalm 115:14-15
14 The Lord will increase his graces toward you, even toward you and toward your children.
15 Ye are blessed of the Lord, which (i) made the heaven and the earth.
(i) And therefore does still govern and continue all things therein.
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Closing Thoughts
“The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.”
Numbers 6:24-26 NKJV
Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.” John 6:27 NKJV
Jeremiah 18: NKJV
1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: 2 “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.” 3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the wheel. 4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make. 5 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 6 “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?” says the Lord. “Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel! 7 The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, 8 if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it. 9 And the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it, 10 if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it.
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