Better is the little of the righteous than the abundance of many who are wicked.
The faithful see the world in chaos: the godless prosper while the pious suffer, which tempts us to think God either absent or indifferent. This psalm strengthens us against that very temptation by declaring their felicity cursed and fleeting, while God's care for His own never fails, even in calamity.
AI summary
Commenting on Psalm 37:1-40
A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked. This is a fine proverb. The little of one good man is contrasted with the riches of many wicked, and so the expression is rendered the more forcible. There is more happiness in the godly dinner of herbs than in the stalled ox of profane rioters.
In these verses we have, I. The foregoing precepts inculcated; for we are so apt to disquiet ourselves with needless fruitless discontents and distrusts that it is necessary there should be precept upon precept, and line upon line, to suppress them and arm us against them. 1.
Commenting on Psalm 37:7-20