Blessings [are] upon the head of the just,.... That seeks for righteousness, not by the works of the law, but by faith; that lives by faith upon the righteousness of Christ, and is justified by it, made, accounted, and reckoned just through it; and, in consequence of his faith, does justly, and lives soberly, righteously, and godly: upon his "head", who is Christ, blessings are; for he is "the head of every [such] man", 1Co 11:3; not the pope of Rome, but Christ, is head of the church; he is the representative and federal head of all the elect, both in eternity and time; he is a political head to them, as a king is to his subjects; an economical one, as the husband is the head of the wife, a father the head of his family, and a master the head of his servants; and he is in such sense a head to them as a natural head is to its body; he is of the same nature with them, superior to them, a perfect, only, everliving, and everlasting head.
Upon him all the blessings of grace and goodness are; his people are blessed with them in him, their head, Eph 1:3; and from him they descend to them, the members of his body, just as the oil on Aaron's head ran down his beard to the skirts of his garments.
So in an ancient writing of the Jews , this passage being mentioned, it is asked, Who is the head of the righteous? The answer is, the middle pillar; by whom they seem to mean a middle person, the Mediator, the Messiah.
Or else, a part being put for the whole, the meaning is, that blessings are upon the persons of righteous ones, as the word is used in Pr 11:26; the Targum renders it,"the heads of the righteous.''All covenant blessings, spiritual ones, such as are blessings indeed, solid and substantial, irreversible, and for ever; particularly a justifying righteousness, from whence they are denominated just; pardon of sin, peace of soul, every sanctifying grace, the blessing of adoption, and a right to eternal life: these being said to be on the "head" of them, may denote that they come from above, and descend in a way of grace upon them; that they are visible and manifest; that they reside, continue, and remain upon them; that they are as an ornament and crown unto them; and that they are a security of them that no wrath and vengeance can fall upon them.
The Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Arabic versions, read, "the blessing of the Lord [is] upon the head of the just"; and such are all the blessings before mentioned;but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked; that is, either his violent dealings are open and manifest, and are a scandal to him, as well as entail a curse on him; or rather the fruit and effect of his violence and oppression, the punishment due thereunto, is so righteously inflicted on him, that his mouth is stopped, and he has not one word to say against the just judgments of God upon him, for his violent usage of men, whether here or hereafter; see Ps 107:42.
Some render the words, "the mouth of the wicked covereth violence" ; palliates and excuses it, and calls it by another name; or hides and conceals that which is in the heart, and does not utter it; see Pr 10:18.
The Targum is,"in the mouth of the wicked rapine is covered;''as a sweet morsel under their tongue, though in the end bitterness. Tikkune Zohar. Correct. 47. fol. 87. 2.