John Gill's Bible Commentary Ver. 7. The memory of the just [is] blessed , etc.] Men to whom he has been useful, either in temporals or spirituals, bless him, or wish all blessings to him while alive, whenever they make mention of his name; and after death they speak well of him, and pronounce him blessed; for such are had in everlasting remembrance; the memory of them is sweet and precious; their name is famous and valuable, and always spoken of with honour and commendation; (see <19B206> Psalm 112:6). The Jewish writers take it for a command, and render it, “let the memory of the just be blessed”; and say, that he that transgresses it breaks an affirmative precept; they make an abbreviation of the word by the initial letters, and join them to the names of their celebrated men; but the name of the wicked shall rot ; shall be forgotten, be buried in oblivion, and never mentioned: and though they may call their houses, lands, and cities, by their own names, in order to transmit their memory to posterity; yet these, by one means or another, are destroyed, and their memorials perish with them; (see Ecclesiastes 8:10 Psalm 49:11 9:6); and if their names are mentioned after they are gone, it is with detestation and abhorrence, as things putrefied are abhorred; so they leave an ill savour behind them, when the good name of the righteous is as precious ointment, ( Ecclesiastes 7:1). It is a saying of Cicero f266 , that “the life of the dead lies in the memory of the living.”
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 7 - Both the just and the wicked must die; but between their souls there is a vast difference.
Original Hebrew זכר2143 צדיק6662 לברכה1293 ושׁם8034 רשׁעים7563 ירקב׃7537
