The Sweet Sleep of the Righteous: Security and Rest in Yahweh

Proverbs 3:24 promises not mere slumber, but sleep sweetened by the righteous man's covenant with Adonai. Joseph S. Exell (1887) distinguished between natural rest—the common privilege of thousands—and the particular rest of the good, which flows from freedom from fear.

The body's demand for rest is morally necessary; to withhold it approaches spiritual suicide. Yet the righteous man lies down unafraid of bodily danger, accidents, and calamities that plague the wicked in darkness. Fire, robbery, and storm terrify the ungodly; but the good man knows that "He that keepeth Israel will neither slumber nor sleep" (Psalm 121:4). The powers of evil cannot destroy beyond what serves Elohim's merciful designs.

Moreover, the righteous overcome the fear of death itself. Closing one's eyes in slumber means uncertainty about which world one may wake in—yet the good man can rest because Christ is his portion in both.

Sweet sleep arrives through three avenues: First, duties attempted in faith, though imperfectly executed. Second, the sense of Divine forgiveness—no unpardoned sin can press a healthy pillow. Third, charitable thoughts toward all mankind, cultivating dispositions that minister to holy charity.

Exell concludes: you must share the laboring Christian's struggles with sin and contest with the world to inherit his rest. Sleep is sweet to the laboring man; it is sweeter still to the laboring Christian.