| Back to Home Page | Back to Book Index
|
Psalm One
Hundred Nineteen
PREFACE.
At
length I am able to present to the Christian public another part of "The
Treasury of David." It has demanded longer labour than its predecessors,
but that labour has been freely given to it; and to the utmost of my ability I
have kept the volume up to the level of those which have gone before. In the
production of this exposition I had far rather be long than lax; for I know by
experience the disappointment which comes to readers when, after a promising
beginning, they see a serious declension towards the end. The general
acceptance given to this Commentary has placed me under a heavy obligation to
do my best even to the end. Towards that end I am still proceeding with all
possible diligence, and it is with great pleasure that I look forward to the
speedy issue of the seventh and last volume of the work. Many labours distract
me from this favourite employment, but I hope to press on with more speed than
of late, if my life be spared. It would be imprudent to make too sure of that,
for the most fragile Venice glass is not more brittle than human life:
"The
spider's most attenuated thread
Is cord, is cable, to the tender film
Which holds our soul in life."
I
have been all the longer over this portion of my task because I have been
bewildered in the expanse of the One Hundred and Nineteenth Psalm, which makes
up the bulk of this volume. Its dimensions and its depth alike overcame me. It
spread itself out before me like a vast, rolling prairie, to which I could see
no bound, and this alone created a feeling of dismay. Its expanse was unbroken
by a bluff or headland, and hence it threatened a monotonous task, although the
fear has not been realized. This marvellous poem seemed to me a great sea of
holy teaching, moving, in its many verses, wave upon wave; altogether without
an island of special and remarkable statement to break it up. I confess I
hesitated to launch upon it. Other psalms have been mere lakes, but this is the
main ocean. It is a continent of sacred thought, every inch of which is fertile
as the garden of the Lord: it is an amazing level of abundance, a mighty
stretch of harvest fields. I have now crossed the great plain for myself, but
not without persevering, and, I will add, pleasurable, toil. Several great
authors have traversed this region and left their tracks behind them, and so
far the journey has been all the easier for me; but yet to me and to my helpers
it has been no mean feat of patient authorship and research. This great Psalm
is a book in itself: instead of being one among many psalms, it is worthy to be
set forth by itself as a poem of surpassing excellence. Those who have never
studied it may pronounce it commonplace, and complain of its repetitions; but
to the thoughtful student it is like the great deep, full, so as never to be
measured; and varied, so as never to weary the eye. Its depth is as great as
its length; it is mystery, not set forth as mystery, but concealed beneath the
simplest statements; may I say that it is experience allowed to prattle, to
preach, to praise, and to pray like a child prophet in his own father's house?
My
venerable friend, Mr. Rogers, has been spared to help me with his admirable
suggestions; but Mr. Gibson, who so industriously translated from the Latin
authors, has fallen asleep, leaving behind him copious notes upon the rest of
the psalms. Aid in the homiletical department has been given me by several of
the ministers who were educated at the Pastors' College, and their names are
duly appended to the hints and skeletons which they have supplied. In this
department the present volume is believed to be superior to the former ones.
May it prove to be really useful to my brethren, and my desire is fulfilled. I
know so well the use of a homiletic hint when the mind is in search for a
subject that I have felt peculiar pleasure in supplying my readers with a full
measure of such helps.
In
hunting up rare authors, and making extracts from them, Mr. Keys has rendered
me great assistance, and I am also a debtor to others who have cheerfully
rendered me service when I have sought it. Burdened with the care of many
institutions, and the oversight of a singularly large church, I cannot do such
justice to my theme as I could wish. Learned leisure would be far more accurate
than my busy pen can ever hope to be. If I had nothing else to think of, I
would have thought of nothing else, and undivided energies could have accomplished
what spare strength can never perform. Hence, I am glad of help; so glad, that
I am happy to acknowledge it. Not in this thing only, but in all other labours,
I owe in the first place all to God, and secondarily, very, very much to those
generous friends who find a delight in making my efforts successful.
Above
all, I trust that the Holy Spirit has been with me in writing and compiling
these volumes, and therefore I expect that he will bless them both to the
conversion of the unrenewed and to the edification of believers. The writing of
this book has been a means of grace to my own heart; I have enjoyed for myself
what I have prepared for my readers. The Book of Psalms has been a royal
banquet to me, and in feasting upon its contents I have seemed to eat angels'
food. It is no wonder that old writers should call it, -- the school of
patience, the soul's soliloquies, the little Bible, the anatomy of conscience,
the rose garden, the pearl island, and the like. It is the Paradise of
devotion, the Holy Land of poesy, the heart of Scripture, the map of
experience, and the tongue of saints. It is the spokesman of feelings which
else had found no utterance. Does it not say just what we wished to say? Are
not its prayers and praises exactly such as our hearts delight in? No man needs
better company than the Psalms; therein he may read and commune with friends
human and divine; friends who know the heart of man towards God, and the heart
of God towards man; friends who perfectly sympathize with us and our sorrows, friends
who never betray or forsake. Oh, to be shut up in a cave with David, with no
other occupation but to hear him sing, and to sing with him! Well might a
Christian monarch lay aside his crown for such enjoyment, and a believing
pauper find a crown in such felicity.
It
is to be feared that the Psalms are by no means so prized as in earlier ages of
the Church. Time was when the Psalms were not only rehearsed in all the
churches from day to day, but they were so universally sung that the common
people knew them, even if they did not know the letters in which they were
written. Time was when bishops would ordain no man to the ministry unless he
knew "David" from end to end, and could repeat each psalm correctly;
even Councils of the Church have decreed that none should hold ecclesiastical
office unless they knew the whole psalter by heart. Other practices of those
ages had better be forgotten, but to this memory accords an honourable record.
Then, as Jerome tells us, the labourer, while he held the plough, sang
Hallelujah; the tired reaper refreshed himself with the psalms, and the
vinedresser, while trimming the vines with his curved hook, sang something of
David. He tells us that in his part of the world, psalms were the Christian's
ballads; could they have had better? They were the love songs of the people of
God; could any others be so pure and heavenly? These sacred hymns express all
modes of holy feeling; they are fit both for childhood and old age: they
furnish maxims for the entrance of life, and serve as watchwords at the gates
of death. The battle of life, the repose of the Sabbath, the ward of the
hospital, the guest chamber of the mansion, the church, the oratory, yea, even
heaven itself may be entered with psalms.
My
next portion will continue the Pilgrim Psalms, of which we have five in the
present volume. I have been sorry to make a break in these golden steps. I
would rather have presented the glittering ascent as a whole, that all might
see at a glance "the stairs of the City of David at the ascent of the
wall;" but as the books must divide somewhere, and there was no more
convenient place, I have been compelled to separate these Songs of the Steps,
or "Songs on the high key", as Luther calls them. It was impossible
to cut the great psalm in two, and it is a far less evil to separate the
members of a group. I hope the arrangement will not cause serious inconvenience
to anyone; nor prevent the student's meditating upon each Song of Degrees, not
only as it sparkles as a separate star, but as it shines in its own
constellation.
Finally,
when I reach the last psalm, it is my firm conviction that I shall find no
truer closing words for myself than those of Bishop Horne, which I take liberty
here to quote, using them as if they were my own, since they admirably express
my present feelings and past experiences: --
"And
now, could the author flatter himself that anyone would take half the pleasure
in reading the following exposition which he hath taken in writing it, he would
not fear the loss of his labour. The employment detached him from the bustle
and hurry of life, the din of politics, and the noise of folly. Vanity and
vexation flew for a season, care and disquietude came not near his dwelling. He
arose fresh as the morning to his task; the silence of the night invited him to
pursue it; and he can truly say, that food and rest were not preferred before
it. Every psalm improved infinitely upon his acquaintance with it, and no one
gave him uneasiness but the last; for then he grieved that his work was done.
Happier hours than those which have been spent on these meditations on the
songs of Zion he never expects to see in this world. Very pleasantly did they
pass, and they moved smoothly and swiftly along; for when thus engaged, he
counted no time. The meditations are gone, but have left a relish and a
fragrance upon the mind, and the remembrance of them is sweet."
Reader,
I am,
Thine to serve,
for Christ's sake,
C.H. Spurgeon.
WESTWOOD,
September, 1882.
PSALM
119 OVERVIEW
Title. There is no
title to this Psalm, neither is any author's name mentioned. It is THE LONGEST
PSALM, and this is a sufficiently distinctive name for it. It equals in bulk
twenty-two psalms of the average length of the Songs of Degrees. Nor is it long
only; for it equally excels in breadth of thought, depth of meaning, and height
of fervour. It is like the celestial city which lieth four square, and the
height and the breadth of it are equal. Many superficial readers have imagined
that it harps upon one string, and abounds in pious repetitions and
redundancies; but this arises from the shallowness of the reader's own mind:
those who have studied this divine hymn, and carefully noted each line of it,
are amazed at the variety and profundity of the thought. Using only a few words,
the writer has produced permutations and combinations of meaning which display
his holy familiarity with his subject, and the sanctified ingenuity of his
mind. He never repeats himself; for if the same sentiment recurs it is placed
in a fresh connection, and so exhibits another interesting shade of meaning.
The more one studies it the fresher it becomes. As those who drink the Nile
water like it better every time they take a draught, so does this Psalm become
the more full and fascinating the oftener you turn to it. It contains no idle
word; the grapes of this cluster are almost to bursting full with the new wine
of the kingdom. The more you look into this mirror of a gracious heart the more
you will see in it. Placid on the surface as the sea of glass before the
eternal throne, it yet contains within its depths an ocean of fire, and those
who devoutly gaze into it shall not only see the brightness, but feel the glow
of the sacred flame. It is loaded with holy sense, and is as weighty as it is
bulky. Again and again have we cried while studying it, "Oh the
depths!" Yet these depths are hidden beneath an apparent simplicity, as
Augustine has well and wisely said, and this makes the exposition all the more
difficult. Its obscurity is hidden beneath a veil of light, and hence only
those discover it who are in thorough earnest, not only to look on the word,
but, like the angels, to look into it.
The
Psalm is alphabetical. Eight stanzas commence with one letter, and then another
eight with the next letter, and so the whole Psalm proceeds by octonaries quite
through the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Besides which, there are
multitudes of appositions of sense, and others of those structural formalities
with which the oriental mind is pleased, -- formalities very similar to those
in which our older poets indulged. The Holy Spirit thus deigned to speak to men
in forms which were attractive to the attention and helpful to the memory. He
is often plain or elegant in his manner, but he does not disdain to be quaint
or formal if thereby his design of instruction can be the more surely reached.
He does not despise even contracted and artificial modes of speech, if by their
use he can fix his teaching upon the mind. Isaac Taylor has worthily set forth
the lesson of this fact: -- "In the strictest sense this composition is
conditioned; nevertheless in the highest sense is it an utterance of spiritual
life; and in thus finding these seemingly opposed elements, intimated
commingled as they are throughout this Psalm, a lesson full of meaning is
silently conveyed lo those who shall receive it -- that the conveyance of the
things of God to the human spirit is in no way damaged or impeded, much less is
it deflected or ciliated by its subjugation to loose modes of utterance which
most of all bespeak their adaptation to the infancy and the childlike capacity
of the recipient."
AUTHOR.
The fashion among modern writers is, as far as possible, to take ever? Psalm
from David. As the critics of this school are usually unsound in doctrine and
unspiritual in tone, we gravitate in the opposite direction, from a natural
suspicion of everything which comes from so unsatisfactory a quarter. We
believe that David wrote this Psalm. It is Davidic in tone and expression, and
it tallies with David's experience in many interesting points. In our youth our
teacher called it "David's pocket book", and we incline to the
opinion then expressed that here we have the royal diary written at various
times throughout a long life. No, we cannot give up this Psalm to the enemy.
"This is David's spoil". After long reading an author one gets to
know his style, and a measure of discernment is acquired by which his
composition is detected even if his name be concealed; we feel a kind of
critical certainty that the hand of David is in this thing, yea, that it is
altogether his own.
Subject. The one theme
is the word of the Lord. The Psalmist sets his subject in many lights, and
treats of it in divers ways, but he seldom omits to mention the word of the
Lord in each verse under some one or other of the many names by which he knows
it; and even if the name be not there, the subject is still heartily pursued in
every stanza. He who wrote this wonderful song was saturated with those books
of Scripture which he possessed. Andrew Bonar tells of a simple Christian in a
farmhouse who had meditated the Bible through three times. This is precisely
what this Psalmist had done, -- he had gone past reading into meditation. Like
Luther, David had shaken every fruit tree in God's garden, and gathered golden
fruit therefrom. "The most," says Martin Boos, "read their
Bibles like cows that stand in the thick grass, and trample under their feet
the finest flowers and herbs." It is to be feared that we too often do the
like. This is a miserable way of treating the pages of inspiration. May the
Lord prevent us from repeating that sin while reading this priceless Psalm.
There
is an evident growth in the subject matter. The earlier verses are of such a
character as to lend themselves to the hypothesis that the author was a young
man, while many of the later passages could only have suggested themselves to
age and wisdom. In every portion, however, it is the fruit of deep experience,
careful observation, and earnest meditation. If David did not write in there
must have lived another believer of exactly the same order of mind as David,
and he must have addicted himself to Psalmody with equal ardour, and have been
an equally hearty lover of Holy Writ.
Our
best improvement of this sacred composition will come through getting our minds
into intense sympathy with its subject. In order to this, we might do well to
commit it to memory. Philip Henry's daughter wrote in her diary, "I have
of late taken some pains to learn by heart Psalm 119, and have made some
progress therein." She was a sensible, godly woman. Having done this, we
should consider the fulness, certainty, clearness, and sweetness of the word of
God, since by such reflections we are likely to be stirred up to a warm
affection for it. What favoured beings are those to whom the Eternal God has
written a letter in his own hand and style. What ardour of devotion, what
diligence of composition can produce a worthy eulogium for the divine
testimonies? If ever one such has fallen from the pen of man it is this 119th
Psalm, which might well be called the holy soul's soliloquy before an open
Bible.
This
sacred ode is a little Bible, the Scriptures condensed, a mass of Bibline, Holy
Writ rewritten in holy emotions and actions. Blessed are they who can read and
understand these saintly aphorisms; they shall find golden apples in this true
Hesperides, and come to reckon that this Psalm, like the whole Scripture which
it praises, is a pearl island, or, better still, a garden of sweet flowers.
NOTES
RELATING TO THE PSALM AS A WHOLE
Eulogium
upon the whole Psalm. -- This Psalm shines and shows itself among the rest,
Velut inter
ignes
Luna minores. {1}
a
star in the firmament of the Psalms, of the first and greatest magnitude. This
will readily appear if you consider either the manner it is composed in, or the
matter it is composed of. The manner it is composed in is very elegant. The
matter it is composed of is very excellent.
Eulogium.
This Psalm is called the Alphabet of Divine Love, the Paradise of all the
Doctrines, the Storehouse of the Holy Spirit, the School of Truth, also the
deep mystery of the Scriptures, where the whole moral discipline of all the
virtues shines brightly. And as all moral instruction is delightsome, therefore
this Psalm, because excelling in this kind of instruction, should be called
delightsome, inasmuch as it surpasses the rest. The other Psalms, truly, as
lesser stars shine somewhat; but this burns with the meridian heat of its full
brightness, and is wholly resplendent With moral loveliness. Johannes Paulus
Palanterius, 1600.
Eulogium.
In our German version it has the appropriate inscription, "The Christian's
golden A B C of the praise, love, power, and use of the Word of God."
Franz Delitzsch, 1871.
Eulogium.
It is recorded of the celebrated St. Augustine, who among his voluminous works
left a Comment on the Book of Psalms, that he delayed to comment on this one
till he had finished the whole Psalter; and then yielded only to the long and
vehement urgency of his friends, "because", he says, "as often
as I essayed to think thereon, it always exceeded the powers of my intent
thought and the utmost grasp of my faculties". While one ancient father
{2} entitles this Psalm "the perfection of teaching and instruction";
another {3} says that "it applies an all containing medicine to the varied
spiritual diseases of men -- sufficing to perfect those who long for perfect
virtue, to rouse the slothful, to refresh the dispirited, and to set in order
the relaxed"; to which might be added many like testimonies of ancient and
modern commentators on it. William De Burgh, 1860.
Eulogium.
In proportion as this Psalm seemeth more open, so much the more deep doth it
appear to me; so that I cannot show how deep it is. For in others, which are
understood with difficulty, although the sense lies hid in obscurity yet the
obscurity itself appeareth; but in this, not even this is the case; since it is
superficially such, that it seemeth not to need an expositor, but only a reader
and listener. Augustine, 354-480.
Eulogium.
In Matthew Henry's "Account of the Life and Death of his father, Philip
Henry," he says: "Once, pressing the study of the Scriptures, he
advised us to take a verse of this Psalm every morning to meditate upon, and so
go over the Psalm twice in the year; and that, saith he, will bring you to be
in love with all the rest of the Scriptures." He often said, "All
grace grows as love to the word of God grows."
{1}
And like the moon, the feebler fires among, "Conspicuous shines." --
Horace.
{2}
St. Hilary.
{3}
Theodoret.
Eulogium.
It is strange that of all the pieces of the Bible which my mother taught me,
that which cost me most to learn, and which was to my child's mind most
repulsive -- the 119th Psalm -- has now become of all the most precious to me
in its overflowing and glorious passion of love for the law of God. John
Ruskin, in "Fors Clavigera".
Eulogium.
This Psalm is a prolonged meditation upon the excellence of the word of God,
upon its effects, and the strength and happiness which it gives to a man in
every position. These reflections are interspersed with petitions, in which the
Psalmist, deeply feeling his natural infirmity, implores the help of God for
assistance to walk in the way mapped out for him in the divine oracles. In
order to be able to understand and to enjoy this remarkable Psalm, and that we
may not be repelled by its length and by its repetitions, we must have had, in
some measure at least, the same experiences as its author, and, like him, have
learned to love and practise the sacred word. Moreover, this Psalm is in some
sort a touchstone for the spiritual life of those who read it. The sentiments
expressed in it perfectly harmonise with what the historical books and other
Psalms teach concerning David's obedience and his zeal for God's glory. There
are, however, within it words which breathe so elevated a piety, that they can
have their full sense and perfect truthfulness only in the mouth of Him of whom
the prophet king was the type. From the French of Armand de Mestral, 1856.
Eulogium.
The 119th Psalm has been spoken of by a most distinguished living rationalistic
critic (Professor Reuss) as "not poetry at all, but simply a litany -- a
species of chaplet." Such does not seem to be the opinion of the angels of
God, and of the redeemed spirits, when that very poem supplies With the
language of praise -- the paean of victory, "Just and true are thy
ways" (Revelation
15:3); the cry of the angel of the waters, "Thou art righteous,
O Lord!" (Revelation
16:5); the voice of much people in heaven, "True and righteous
are his judgments" (Revelation
19:2); what is this but the exclamation of him, whoever he may have
been, who wrote the Psalm -- "Righteous art thou, O Lord, and upright are
thy judgments" (Psalms
119:137). William Alexander, in "The Quiver", 1880.
Incident.
In the midst of a London season; in the stir and turmoil of a political crisis,
1819; William Wilberforce writes in his Diary -- "Walked from Hyde Park
Corner repeating the 119th Psalm in great comfort". William Alexander, in
"The Witness of the Psalms". 1877.
Incident.
George Wishart, the chaplain and biographer of "the great Marquis of
Montrose," as he was called, would have shared the fate of his illustrious
patron but for the following singular expedient. When upon the scaffold, he
availed himself of the custom of the times, which permitted the condemned to
choose a Psalm to be sung. He selected the 119th Psalm, and before two thirds
of the Psalm had been sung, a pardon arrived, and his life was preserved. It
may not be out of place to add that the George Wishart, Bishop of Edinburgh,
above referred to, has been too often confounded with the godly martyr of the
same name who lived and died a century previously. We only mention the incident
because it has often been quoted as a singular instance of the providential
escape of a saintly personage; whereas it was the very ingenious device of a
person who, according to Woodrow, was more renowned for shrewdness than for
sanctity. The length of this Psalm was sagaciously employed as the means of
gaining time, and, happily, the expedient succeeded. C.H.S.
Alphabetical
Arrangement. It is observed that the 119th Psalm is disposed according to the
letters of the Hebrew alphabet, perhaps to intimate that children, when they
begin to learn their alphabet, should learn that Psalm. Nathanael Hardy,
1618-1670.
Alphabetical
Arrangement. True it is that the verses indeed begin not either with the
English or yet the Latin letters, but with the Hebrew, wherein David made and
wrote this Psalm. The will and purpose of the Holy Ghost is to make us to feel
and understand that the doctrine herein contained is not only set down for
great clerks which have gone to school for ten or twenty years; but also for
the most simple; to the end none should pretend any excuse of ignorance. From
Calvin's Twenty-two Sermons upon the 119th Psalm, 1580.
Alphabetical
Arrangement. There may be something more than fancy in the remark, that
Christ's name, "the Alpha and Omega" -- equivalent to declaring him
all that which every letter of the alphabet could express -- may have had a
reference to the peculiarity of this Psalm, -- a Psalm in which (with the
exception of Psalms
119:84,122, exceptions that make the rule more marked) every verse
speaks of God's revelation of himself to man. Andrew A. Bonar, 1859.
Alphabetical
Arrangement: Origen says it is alphabetical because it contains the elements or
principles of all knowledge and wisdom; and that it repeats each letter eight
times, because eight is the number of perfection.
Alphabetical
Arrangement. That the unlearned reader may understand what is meant by the
Psalm being alphabetical, we append the following specimen upon the section
Aleph:
A blessing is
on them that are undefiled in the way
and walk in the law of Jehovah;
A blessing is on them that keep his testimonies,
and seek him with their whole heart;
Also on them that do no wickedness,
but walk in his ways.
A law hast thou given unto us,
that we should diligently keep thy commandments.
Ah! Lord, that my ways were made so direct
that I might keep thy statutes!
And then shall I not be confounded.
While I have respect unto all thy commandments.
As for me, I will thank thee with an unfeigned heart,
when I shall have learned thy righteous judgments.
An eye will I have unto thy ceremonies,
O forsake me not utterly. --From "The Psalms Chronologically Arranged By
Four Friends". 1867.
EXPOSITION
Verse
2. Blessed are they that keep his testimonies. What! A second
blessing? Yes, they are doubly blessed whose outward life is supported by an
inward zeal for God's glory. In the first verse we had an undefiled way, and it
was taken for granted that the purity in the way was not mere surface work, but
was attended by the inward truth and life which comes of divine grace. Here
that which was implied is expressed. Blessedness is ascribed to those who
treasure up the testimonies of the Lord: in which is implied that they search
the Scriptures, that they come to an understanding of them, that they love
them, and then that they continue in the practice of them. We must first get a
thing before we can keep it. In order to keep it well we must get a firm grip
of it: we cannot keep in the heart that which we have not heartily embraced by
the affections. God's word is his witness or testimony to grand and important
truths which concern himself and our relation to him: this we should desire to
know; knowing it, we should believe it; believing it, we should love it; and
loving it, we should hold it fast against all comers. There is a doctrinal
keeping of the word when we are ready to die for its defence, and a practical
keeping of it when we actually live under its power. Revealed truth is precious
as diamonds, and should be kept or treasured up in the memory and in the heart
as jewels in a casket, or as the law was kept in the ark; this however is not
enough, for it is meant for practical use, and therefore it must be kept or
followed, as men keep to a path, or to a line of business. If we keep God's
testimonies they will keep us; they will keep us right in opinion, comfortable
in spirit, holy in conversation, and hopeful in expectation. If they were ever
worth having, and no thoughtful person will question that, then they are worth
keeping; their designed effect does not come through a temporary seizure of
them, but by a persevering keeping of them: "in keeping of them there is
great reward."
We
are bound to keep with all care the word of God, because it is his testimonies.
He gave them to us, but they are still his own. We are to keep them as a
watchman guards his master's house, as a steward husbands his lord's goods, as
a shepherd keeps his employer's flock. We shall have to give an account, for we
are put in trust with the gospel, and woe to us if we be found unfaithful. We
cannot fight a good fight, nor finish our course, unless we keep the faith. To
this end the Lord must keep us: only those who are kept by the power of God
unto salvation will ever be able to keep his testimonies. What a blessedness is
therefore evidenced and testified by a careful belief in God's word, and a
continual obedience thereunto. God has blessed them, is blessing them, and will
bless them for ever. That blessedness which David saw in others he realized for
himself, for in Psalms
119:168 he says, "I have kept thy precepts and thy
testimonies," and in Ps 119:54-56 he traces his joyful songs and happy
memories to this same keeping of the law, and he confesses, "This I had
because I kept thy precepts." Doctrines which we teach to others we should
experience for ourselves.
And
that seek him with the whole heart. Those who keep the Lord's testimonies are
sure to seek after himself. If his word is precious we may be sure that he
himself is still more so. Personal dealing with a personal God is the longing
of all those who have allowed the word of the Lord to have its full effect upon
them. If we once really know the power of the gospel we must seek the God of
the gospel. "O that I knew where I might find HIM," will be our
wholehearted cry. See the growth which these sentences indicate: first, in the
way, then walking in it, then finding and keeping the treasure of truth, and to
crown all, seeking after the Lord of the way himself. Note also that the
further a soul advances in grace the more spiritual and divine are its
longings: an outward walk does not content the gracious soul, nor even the
treasured testimonies; it reaches out in due time after God himself, and when
it in a measure finds him, still yearns for more of him, and seeks him still.
Seeking
after God signifies a desire to commune with him more closely, to follow him
more fully, to enter into more perfect union with his mind and will, to promote
his glory, and to realize completely all that he is to holy hearts. The blessed
man has God already, and for this reason he seeks him. This may seem a
contradiction: it is only a paradox.
God
is not truly sought by the cold researches of the brain: we must seek him with
the heart. Love reveals itself to love: God manifests his heart to the heart of
his people. It is in vain that we endeavour to comprehend him by reason; we
must apprehend him by affection. But the heart must not be divided with many
objects if the Lord is to be sought by us. God is one, and we shall not know
him till our heart is one. A broken heart need not be distressed at this, for
no heart is so whole in its seeking after God as a heart which is broken,
whereof every fragment sighs and cries after the great Father's face. It is the
divided heart which the doctrine of the text censures, and strange to say, in
scriptural phraseology, a heart may be divided and not broken, and it may be
broken but not divided; and yet again it may be broken and be whole, and it
never can be whole until it is broken. When our whole heart seeks the holy God
in Christ Jesus it has come to him of whom it is written, "as many as
touched Him were made perfectly whole."
That
which the Psalmist admires in this verse he claims in the tenth, where he says,
"With my whole heart have I sought thee." It is well when admiration
of a virtue leads to the attainment of it. Those who do not believe in the
blessedness of seeking the Lord will not be likely to arouse their hearts to
the pursuit, but he who calls another blessed because of the grace which he
sees in him is on the way to gaining the same grace for himself.
If
those who seek the Lord are blessed, what shall be said of those who actually
dwell with him and know that he is theirs?
"To those
who fall, how kind thou art!
How good to those who seek I
But what to those who find? Ah! this
Nor tongue nor pen can show:
The love of Jesus -- what it is,
None but his loved ones know."
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
2. The doubling of the sentence, Blessed... Blessed, in the
first verse and second, is to let us see the certainty of the blessing
belonging to the godly. The word of God is as true in itself when it is once spoken,
as when it is many times repeated: the repetition of it is for confirmation of
our weak faith. That which Isaac spake of Jacob, -- "I have blessed him,
and he shall be blessed," is the most sure decree of God upon all his
children. Satan would fain curse Israel, by the mouth of such as Balaam was;
but he shall not be able to curse, because God hath blessed. William Cowper.
Verse
2. Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek
him with the whole heart. In the former verse a blessed man is described by the
course of his actions, "Blessed are the undefiled in the way": in
this verse he is described by the frame of his heart. Thomas Manton.
Verse
2. Keep his testimonies. The careful keeping in mind of
God's testimonies is blessedness; for though there is a keeping of them in
conversation mentioned in the former verse, here another thing is intimated
diverse from the former; he that keepeth this plant or holy seed so that the
devil cannot take it out of his heart, he is happy. The word here used
signifieth such a careful custody as that is wherewith we use to keep tender
plants. Paul Bayne.
Verse
2. Testimonies. The notion by which the word of God is
expressed is "testimonies"; whereby is intended the whole declaration
of God's will in doctrines, commands, examples, threatenings, promises. The
whole word is the testimony which God hath deposed for the satisfaction of the
world about the way of their salvation. Now because the word of God branches
itself into two parts, the law and the gospel, this notion may be applied to
both. First, to the law, in regard whereof the ark was called "the ark of
the testimony" (Exodus
25:16), because the two tables were laid up in it. The gospel is also
called the testimony, "the testimony of God concerning his Son."
"To the law, and to the testimony" (Isaiah 8:20);
where testimony seems to be distinguished from the law. The gospel is so called,
because therein God hath testified how a man shall be pardoned, reconciled to
God, and obtain a right to eternal life. We need a testimony in this case,
because it is more unknown to us. The law was written upon the heart, but the
gospel is a stranger. Natural light will discern something of the law, and pry
into matters which are of a moral strain and concernment; but evangelical
truths are a mystery, and depend upon the mere testimony of God concerning his
Son. Thomas Manton.
Verse
2. Testimonies. The word of God is called his testimony, not
only because it testifies his will concerning his service, but also his favour
and goodwill concerning his own in Christ Jesus. If God's word were no more
than a law, yet were we bound to obey it, because we are his creatures; but
since it is also a testimony of his love, wherein as a father he witnesseth his
favour towards his children, we are doubly inexcusable if we do not most
joyfully embrace it. William Cowper.
Verse
2. Blessed are they... that seek him with the whole heart.
He pronounces "blessed" not such as are wise in their own conceit, or
assume a sort of fantastical holiness, but those who dedicate themselves to the
covenant of God, and yield obedience to the dictates of his law, Farther, by
these words, he tells us that God is by no means satisfied with mere external
service, for he demands the sincere and honest affection of the heart. And
assuredly, if God be the sole Judge and Disposer of our life, the truth must
occupy the principal place in our heart, because it is not sufficient to have
our hands and feet only enlisted in his service. John Calvin, 1509-1564.
Verse
2. The whole heart. Whosoever would have sound happiness
must have a sound heart. So much sincerity as there is, so much blessedness
there will be; and according to the degree of our hypocrisy, will be the
measure of our misery. Richard Greenham, 1531-1591.
Verse
2-3. Observe the verbs seek, do, walk, all making up the
subject to whom the blessedness belongs. Henry Hammond, 1605-1660.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
2. -- Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him
with the whole heart.
No
one conducts this quest aright who is not prompted to or sustained in it by the
gracious Spirit.
(a) Blessedness
in the bitterness of penitence. The
door handle touched by him drops of myrrh. The rising sun
sends kindling beams upon the highest peaks.
(b) Blessedness in the happy findings of salvation and
adoption.
(c) Blessedness
in the perpetual pursuit. --William Anderson, of Reading, 1882.
Verse
2. -- The double blessing.
Verse
2. -- That seek him with the whole heart.
(a) By studying
them.
(b) By keeping to them.
Verse
2. -- Seeking for God.
(a) He sought
God with the heart. Only the heart can find
God. Sight fails.
"The
scientific method" fails. All reason fails. Only love
and trust can succeed. Love sees much where all other
perception finds nothing. Faith generally goes with
discovery, and nowhere so much as in finding God.
(b) He sought
God with all his heart.
(2)
Half heartedness shows contempt for God.
(3)
God will not reveal himself to half heartedness. It would be putting the
highest premium possible upon indifference.
(b) The
earnestness of the souls search for God becomes, in
itself, a plea with God that he will be found of us. God,
who loves importunity in prayer, loves it no less when it
takes the form of searching with all the heart. He who
seeks with all the heart finds special encouragement to
pray: "Let me not wander from thy commandments." --F.G. Marchant.
Verse
2. -- That seek him. We must remember six conditions required in
them who would seek the Lord rightly.
Verse
2,4-5,8. -- Blessed are they that keep. "Thou hast commanded; us to
keep." "O that my ways were directed to keep." "I will
keep." Blessedness of keeping God's precepts -- displayed (Psalms 119:2),
commanded (Psalms
119:4), for (Psalms
119:5), resolved upon (Psalms 119:8).
-- C.A.D.
EXPOSITION
Verse
3. They also do no iniquity. Blessed indeed would those men be of
whom this could be asserted without reserve and without explanation: we shall
have reached the region of pure blessedness when we altogether cease from sin.
Those who follow the word of God do no iniquity, the rule is perfect, and if it
be constantly followed no fault will arise. Life, to the outward observer, at
any rate, lies much in doing, and he who in his doings never swerves from
equity, both towards God and man, has hit upon the way of perfection, and we
may be sure that his heart is right. See how a whole heart leads to the
avoidance of evil, for the Psalmist says, "That seek him with the whole
heart. They also do no iniquity." We fear that no man can claim to be
absolutely without sin, and yet we trust there are many who do not designedly,
wilfully, knowingly, and continuously do anything that is wicked, ungodly, or
unjust. Grace keeps the life righteous as to act even when the Christian has to
bemoan the transgressions of the heart. Judged as men should be judged by their
fellows, according to such just rules as men make for men, the true people of
God do no iniquity: they are honest, upright, and chaste, and touching justice
and morality they are blameless. Therefore are they happy.
They
walk in his ways. They attend not only to the great main highway of the law,
but to the smaller paths of the particular precepts. As they will perpetrate no
sin of commission, so do they labour to be free from every sin of omission. It
is not enough to them to be blameless, they wish also to be actively righteous.
A hermit may escape into solitude that he may do no iniquity, but a saint lives
in society that he may serve his God by walking in his ways. We must be
positively as well as negatively right: we shall not long keep the second
unless we attend to the first, for men will be walking one way or another, and
if they do not follow the path of God's law they will soon do iniquity. The
surest way to abstain from evil is to be fully occupied in doing good. This
verse describes believers as they exist among us: although they have their
faults and infirmities, yet they hate evil, and will not permit themselves to
do it; they love the ways of truth, right and true godliness, and habitually
they walk therein. They do not claim to be absolutely perfect except in their
desires, and there they are pure indeed, for they pant to be kept from all sin,
and to be led into all holiness.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
3. They also do no iniquity. If it be demanded here, How is
it that they who walk in God's ways work no iniquity? Is there any man who
lives, and sins not? And if they be not without sin, how then are they to be
blessed? The answer is, as the apostle says of our knowledge, "We know but
in part": so is it true of our felicity on earth, we are blessed but in a
part. It is the happiness of angels that they never sinned; it is the happiness
of triumphant saints, that albeit they have been sinners, yet now they sin no
more; but the happiness of saints militant is, that our sins are forgiven us;
and that albeit sin remains in us, yet it reigns not over us; it is done in us,
but not by our allowance: "I do the evil which I would not."
"Not I, but sin that dwells in me," Romans 7:17.
To
the doing of iniquity, these three things must concur; first, a purpose to do
it; next, a delight in doing it; thirdly, a continuance in it; which three in
God's children never concur; for in sins done in them by the old man, the new
man makes his exceptions and protestations against them. It is not I, says he;
and so far is he from delighting in them, that rather his soul is grieved with
them; even as Lot, dwelling among the Sodomites, was vexed by hearing and
seeing their unrighteous deeds. In a word, the children of God are rather
sufferers of sin against their wills than actors of it with their wills: like
men spiritually oppressed by the power of their enemy; for which they sigh and
cry unto God. "Miserable man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body
of this death?" And in this sense it is that the apostle saith, "He
who is born of God sinneth not" (1 John 3:9).
William Cowper.
Verse
3. They also do no iniquity. The blessedness of those who
walk in the law: they do - - or have done -- no wickedness: but walk -- or have
always walked -- in his ways. Throughout the Psalm it may be noticed that
sometimes the present tense is employed indicating present action: sometimes
the perfect to indicate past and present time: Ps 119:10-11,13-14,21,
51-61,101-102,131,145,147. The Speaker's Commentary, 1873.
Verse
3. They also do no iniquity. That is, they make not a trade
and common practice thereof. Slip they do, through the infirmity of the flesh,
and subtlety of Satan, and the allurements of the world; but they do not
ordinarily and customably go forward in unlawful and sinful courses. In that
the Psalmist setteth down this as a part (and not the least part neither) of
blessedness, that they work none iniquity, which walk in his ways: the doctrine
to be learned here is this, that it is a marvellous great prerogative to be
freed from the bondage of sin. Richard Greenham.
Verse
3. They do no iniquity. All such as are renewed by grace,
and reconciled to God by Christ Jesus; to these God imputeth no sin to
condemnation, and in his account they do no iniquity. Notable is that which is
said of David, "He kept my commandments, and followed me with all his
heart, and did that only which was right in mine eyes" (1 Kings 14:8).
How can that be? We may trace David by his failings, they are upon record
everywhere in the word; yet here a veil is drawn upon them; God laid them not
to his charge. There is a double reason why their failings are not laid to
their charge. Partly, because of their general state, they are in Christ, taken
into favour through him, and "there is no condemnation to them that are in
Christ" (Romans
8:1), therefore particular errors and escapes do not alter their
condition; which is not to be understood as if a man should not be humbled, and
ask God pardon for his infirmities; no, for then they prove iniquities and they
will lie upon record against him. It was a gross fancy of the Valentinians, who
held that they were not defiled with sin, whatsoever they committed; though
base and obscene persons, yet still they were as gold in the dirt. No, no, we
are to recover ourselves by repentance, to sue out the favour of God. When
David humbled himself, and had repented, then saith Nathan, "The Lord hath
put away thy sin" (2 Samuel 12:13).
Partly, too, because their bent and habitual inclination is to do otherwise.
They set themselves to comply with God's will, to seek and serve the Lord,
though they are clogged with many infirmities. A wicked man sinneth with
deliberation and delight, his bent is to do evil, he makes "provision for
lusts" (Romans
13:14), and "serves" them by a voluntary subjection (Titus 3:3).
But those that are renewed by grace are not "debtors" to the flesh,
they have taken another debt and obligation, which is to serve the Lord (Romans 8:12).
Partly,
too, because their general course and way is to do otherwise. Everything works
according to its form; the constant actions of nature are according to the
kind. So the new creature, his constant operations are according to grace. A
man is known by his custom, and the course of his endeavours shows what is his
business. If a man be constantly, easily, frequently carried away to sin, it
discovers the habit of his soul, and the temper of his heart. Meadows may be
overflowed, but marsh ground is drowned with every return of the tide. A child
of God may be occasionally carried away, and act contrary to the inclination of
the new nature; but when men are drowned and overcome by the return of every
temptation, it argues a habit of sin.
And
partly, because sin never carries sway completely, but it is opposed by
dislikes and resistances of the new nature. The children of God make it their
business to avoid all sin, by watching, praying, mortifying: "I said I
will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue" (Psalms 39:1),
and thus there is a resistance of the sin. God hath planted graces in their
hearts, the fear of his Majesty, that works a resistance; and therefore there
is not a full allowance of what they do. This resistance sometimes is more
strong, then the temptation is overcome: "How can I do this wickedness,
and sin against God?" (Genesis 39:9).
Sometimes it is more weak, and then sin carries it, though against the will of
the holy man: "The evil which I hate, that do I" (Romans 7:15,18).
It is the evil which they hate; they protest against it; they are like men
which are oppressed by the power of the enemy. And then there is a remorse
after the sin: David's heart smote him. It grieves and shames them that they do
evil. Tenderness goes with the new nature: Peter sinned foully, but he went out
and wept bitterly. Thomas Manton.
Verse
3. They that have mortified their sins live in the contrary
graces. Hence it is that the Psalmist saith, that they work no iniquity,
but walk in thy paths. First, they crucify all their sins, "they do no
iniquity": secondly, as they do no iniquity, so they follow all the ways
of God, contrary to that iniquity: as they give up all the ways of sin, so they
take up all the ways of grace. It is a rule in divinity, that grace takes not away
nature that is, grace comes not to take away a man's affections, but to take
them up. William Fenner, 1600-1640.
Verse
3. They walk in his ways. It reproves those that rest in
negatives. As it was said of a certain emperor, he was rather not vicious than
virtuous. Many men, all their religion runs upon nots: "I am not as this
publican" (Luke
18:11). That ground is naught, though it brings not forth briars and
thorns, if it yields not good increase. Not only the unruly servant is cast
into hell, that beat his fellow servant, that ate and drank with the drunken;
but the idle servant that wrapped up his talent in a napkin. Meroz is cursed,
not for opposing and fighting, but for not helping (Judges 5:23).
Dives did not take away food from Lazarus, but he did not give him of his
crumbs. Many will say, I set up no other gods; aye, but dost thou love,
reverence, and obey the true God? For if not, thou dost fail in the first
commandment. As to the second, thou sayest, I abhor idols; but dost thou
delight in ordinances? I do not swear and rend the name of God by cursed oaths;
aye, but dost thou glorify God, and honour him? I do not profane the Sabbath;
but dost thou sanctify it? Thou dost not plough and dance; but thou art idle,
and toyest away the Sabbath. Thou dost not wrong thy parents; but dost thou
reverence them? Thou dost not murder; but dost thou do good to thy neighbour?
Thou art no adulterer; but dost thou study temperance and a holy sobriety in
all things? Thou art no slanderer; but art thou tender of thy neighbour's
honour and credit, as of thy own? Usually men cut off half their bill, as the
unjust steward bade his lord's debtor set down fifty when he owed a hundred. We
do not think of sins of omission. If we are not drunkards, adulterers, and
profane persons, we do not think what it is to omit respect to God, and
reverence for his holy Majesty. Thomas Manton.
Verse
3. They walk in his ways. Not in those of his enemies, nor
even in their own. Joseph Addison Alexander, 1860.
Verse
3. They walk in his ways. Habitually, constantly,
characteristically. They are not merely honest, upright, and just in their
dealings with men; but they walk in the ways of God; they are religious. Albert
Barnes, 1798- 1870.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
3. -- They also do no iniquity. They work no iniquity
Verse
3. -- The relation between negative and positive virtue. Or with
God the best preventive of iniquity.
EXPOSITION
Verse
4. Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently. So that
when we have done all we are unprofitable servants, we have done only that
which it was our duty to have done, seeing we have our Lord's command for it.
God's precepts require careful obedience: there is no keeping them by accident.
Some give to God a careless service, a sort of hit or miss obedience, but the
Lord has not commanded such service, nor will he accept it. His law demands the
love of all our heart, soul, mind, and strength; and a careless religion has
none of these. We are also called to zealous obedience. We are to keep the
precepts abundantly: the vessels of obedience should be filled to the brim, and
the command carried out to the full of its meaning. As a man diligent in
business arouses himself to do as much trade as he can, so must we be eager to
serve the Lord as much as possible. Nor must we spare pains to do so, for a
diligent obedience will also be laborious and self denying. Those who are
diligent in business rise up early and sit up late, and deny themselves much of
comfort and repose. They are not soon tired, or if they are they persevere even
with aching brow and weary eye. So should we serve the Lord. Such a Master
deserves diligent servants; such service he demands, and will be content with
nothing less. How seldom do men render it, and hence many through their
negligence miss the double blessing spoken of in this Psalm.
Some
are diligent in superstition and will worship; be it ours to be diligent in
keeping God's precepts. It is of no use travelling fast if we are not in the
right road. Men have been diligent in a losing business, and the more they have
traded the more they have lost: this is bad enough in commerce, we cannot
afford to have it so in our religion.
God
has not commanded us to be diligent in making precepts, but in keeping them.
Some bind yokes upon their own necks, and make bonds and rules for others: but
the wise course is to be satisfied with the rules of holy Scripture, and to
strive to keep them all, in all places, towards all men, and in all respects.
If we do not this, we may become eminent in our own religion, but we shall not
have kept the command of God; nor shall we be accepted of him.
The
Psalmist began with the third person: he is now coming near home, and has
already reached the first person plural, according to our version; we shall
soon hear him crying out personally and for himself. As the heart glows with
love to holiness, we long to have a personal interest in it. The word of God is
a heart affecting book, and when we begin to sing its praises it soon comes
home to us, and sets us praying to be ourselves conformed to its teachings.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
4. Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently.
It is not a matter adiaforoj, and left to the discretion of men, either to
hear, or to neglect sacred discourses, theological readings, and expositions of
the Sacred Book; but God has commanded, and not commanded cursorily when
speaking of another matter, but dam, earnestly and greatly he has commanded us
to keep his precepts. There should be infixed in our mind the words found in Deuteronomy 6:6,
"My words shall be in thy heart:" in Matthew 17:5,
"Hear ye him." in John 5:39,
"Search the Scriptures." Above all things, students of theology
should remember the Pauline rule in 1Ti 3:, "Give attention to
reading." Solomon Gesner.
Verse
4. Thou hast commanded us, etc. Hath God enjoined us to
observe his precepts so exceedingly carefully and diligently? Then let nothing
draw us therefrom, no, not in the least circumstance; let us esteem nothing
needless, frivolous, or superfluous, that we have a warrant for out of his
word; nor count those too wise or precise that will stand resolutely upon the
same: if the Lord require anything, though the world should gainsay it, and we
be derided and abused for the doing of it, yet let us proceed still in the course
of our obedience. Richard Greenham.
Verse
4. Diligently. For three causes should we keep the
commandments of the Lord with diligence: first, because our adversary that
seeks to snare us by the transgression of them is diligent in tempting, for he
goes about, night and day, seeking to devour us; next, because we ourselves are
weak and infirm, by the greater diligence have we need to take heed to
ourselves; thirdly, because of the great loss we sustain by every vantage Satan
gets over us; for we find by experience, that as a wound is sooner made than it
is healed, so guiltiness of conscience is easily contracted, but not so easily
done away. William Cowper.
Verse
4. Diligently. In this verse he reminds the reader how well
he knew that this study of the divine law must necessarily be severe,
(earnest), since God has commanded that it should be observed diligently; that
is, with the profoundest study; as that which alone is good, and as everything
is good which it commands. Antonio Brucioli, 1534.
Verse
4. The word translated "diligently," doth signify
in the original tongue wonderful much, so that the words go thus: "Thou
hast commanded to keep thy precepts wonderful much." Richard Greenham.
Verse
4-5. Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently, Psalms 119:4;
this is God's imperative. O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes! Psalms 119:5;
this should be our optative. Thomas Adams, 1614.
Verse
4-5. It is very observable concerning David, that when he
prayeth so earnestly, O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes, he
premises this as the reason, Thou hast commanded us to keep thy statutes
diligently, thereby intimating that the ground of his obedience to God's
precepts was the stamp of divine authority enjoining him. To this purpose it is
that he saith in Psalms
119:94, I have sought thy precepts, thereby implying that what he
sought in his obedience was the fulfilling of God's will. Indeed, that only and
properly is obedience which is done intuitu voluntatis divinae, with a respect
to and eye upon the divine will. As that is only a divine faith which believeth
a truth, not because of human reason but divine revelation, so that only is a
true obedience which conforms to the command, not because it may consist with
any selfish ends, but because it carrieth in it an impression of Christ's authority.
Nathanael Hardy.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
4. --
Verse
4. -- The supplementary commandment. God having ordained moral law,
supplements it with a commandment prescribing the manner keeping it. Hence:
Verse
4. -- Not only is service commanded, but the manner of it.
Heartiess, care, perseverance required, because without these it will not be
uniform, or victorious over difficulty.
Verse
4. -- How to obey: "Diligently."
Verse
4-6. -- A willing recognition (Psalms 119:4).
An ardent as (Psalms
119:5). A happy consequence (Psalms 119:6).
--W. D.
EXPOSITION
Verse
5. O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes! Divine
commands should direct us in the subject of our prayers. We cannot of ourselves
keep God's statutes as he would have them kept, and yet we long to do so: what
resort have we but prayer? We must ask the Lord to work our works in us, or we
shall never work out his commandments. This verse is a sigh of regret because
the Psalmist feels that he has not kept the precepts diligently, it is a cry of
weakness appealing for help to one who can aid, it is a request of bewilderment
from one who has lost his way and would fain be directed in it, and it is a
petition of faith from one who loves God and trusts in him for grace.
Our
ways are by nature opposed to the way of God, and must be turned by the Lord's
direction in another direction from that which they originally take or they
will lead us down to destruction. God can direct the mind and will without
violating our free agency, and he will do so in answer to prayer; in fact, he
has begun the work already in those who are heartily praying after the fashion
of this verse. It is for present holiness that the desire arises in the heart.
O that it were so now with me: but future persevering holiness is also meant,
for he longs for grace to keep henceforth and for ever the statutes of the
Lord.
The
sigh of the text is really a prayer, though it does not exactly take that form.
Desires and longings are of the essence of supplication, and it little matters
what shape they take. "O that" is as acceptable a prayer as "Our
Father."
One
would hardly have expected a prayer for direction; rather should we have looked
for a petition for enabling. Can we not direct ourselves? What if we cannot
row, we can steer. The Psalmist herein confesses that even for the smallest
part of his duty he felt unable without grace. He longed for the Lord to
influence his will, as well as to strengthen his hands. We want a rod to point
out the way as much as a staff to support us in it.
The
longing of the text is prompted by admiration of the blessedness of holiness,
by a contemplation of the righteous man's beauty of character, and by a
reverent awe of the command of God. It is a personal application to the
writer's own case of the truths which he had been considering. "O that my
ways," etc. It were well if all who hear and read the word would copy this
example and turn all that they hear into prayer. We should have more keepers of
the statutes if we had more who sighed and cried after the grace to do so.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
5. In tracing the connection of this verse with the preceding,
we cannot forbear to remark how accurately the middle path is preserved, as
keeping us at an equal: distance from the idea of self sufficiency to keep the
Lord's statutes, and self justification in neglecting them. The first attempt
to render spiritual obedience will quickly convince us of our utter
helplessness. We might as soon create a world as create m our hearts one pulse
of spiritual life. And yet our inability does not cancel our obligation. It is
the weakness of a heart that "cannot be subject to the law of God,"
for no other reason than because it is "carnal," and therefore
"enmity against God." Our inability is our sin, our guilt, our
condemnation, and instead of excusing our condition, stops our mouth, and
leaves us destitute of any plea of defence before God. Thus our obligation
remains in full force. We are bound to obey the commands of God, whether we can
or not. What, then, remains for us, but to return the mandate to heaven,
accompanied with an earnest prayer, that the Lord would write upon our hearts
those statutes to which he requires obedience in his word? Thou hast commanded
us to keep thy statutes diligently. We acknowledge, Lord, our obligation, but
we feel our impotency. Lord, help us; we look unto thee. O that my ways were
directed to keep thy statutes. Charles Bridges, 1849.
Verse
5. O that, etc. In the former verse the prophet David
observes the charge which God gives, and that is, that his commandments be diligently
kept: here, then, he observes his own weakness and insufficiency to discharge
that great duty, and therefore, as one by the spirit desirous to discharge it,
and yet by the flesh not able to discharge it, he breaketh out into these
words, O that my ways were directed, etc. Much like unto a child that being
commanded to take up some great weight from the ground, is willing to do it,
though not able to do it: or a sick patient advised to walk many turns in his
chamber, finds a desire in his heart, though inability in his body to do that
which he is directed unto. Richard Greenham.
Verse
5. O that my ways, etc. It is the use and duty of the people
of God to turn precepts into prayers. That this is the practice of God's
children appeareth: "Turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the
Lord my God" (Jeremiah
31:18). God had said, "Turn you, and you shall live," and
they ask it of God, "Turn us," as he required it of them. It was
Austin's prayer, Da quod jubes, et jube quod vis, "Give what thou
requirest, and require what thou wilt." It is the duty of the saints; for,
1st, It suits with the Gospel covenant, where precepts and promises go hand in
hand; where God giveth what he commandeth, and worketh all our works in us and
for us. They are not conditions of the covenant only, but a part of it. What
God hath required at our hands, that we may desire at his hands. God is no
Pharaoh, to require brick where he giveth no straw. Lex jubet, gracia juvat.
The articles of the new covenant are not only put into the form of precepts,
but promises. The law giveth no strength to perform anything, but the Gospel
offereth grace. Secondly, Because, by this means, the ends of God are
fulfilled. Why doth God require what we cannot perform by our own strength? He
doth it,
Verse
5. O that, etc. The whole life of a good Christian is an
holy desire, saith Augustine; and this is always seconded with endeavour,
without the which, affection is like Rachel, beautiful, but barren. John Trapp.
Verse
5. O that my ways were directed, etc. The original word !wk,
kun, is sometimes rendered to establish, and, accordingly, it may seem as if
the prophet were soliciting for himself the virtue of perseverance. I am rather
inclined to understand it as signifying to direct for, although God is plainly
instructing us in his law, the obtuseness of our understanding and the
perversity of our hearts constantly need the direction of his Spirit. John
Calvin.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
5. -- The prayer of the gracious.
Verse
5. --
(a) To
understand the divine precepts.
(b) To keep them. --G. R.
Verse
5. -- Longing to obey.
EXPOSITION
Verse
6. Then shall I not be ashamed. He had known shame, and here he
rejoices in the prospect of being freed from it. Sin brings shame, and when sin
is gone, the reason for being ashamed is banished. What a deliverance this is,
for to some men death is preferable to shame!
When
I have respect unto all thy commandments. When he respects God he shall respect
himself and be respected. Whenever we err we prepare ourselves for confusion of
face and sinking of heart: if no one else is ashamed of me I shall be ashamed
of myself if I do iniquity. Our first parents never knew shame till they made
the acquaintance of the old serpent, and it never left them till their gracious
God had covered them with sacrificial skins. Disobedience made them naked and
ashamed. We, ourselves, will always have cause for shame till every sin is
vanquished, and every duty is observed. When we pay a continual and universal
respect to the will of the Lord, then we shall be able to look ourselves in the
face in the looking glass of the law, and we shall not blush at the sight of
men or devils, however eager their malice may be to lay somewhat to our charge.
Many
suffer from excessive diffidence, and this verse suggests a cure. An abiding
sense of duty will make us bold, we shall be afraid to be afraid. No shame in
the presence of man will hinder us when the fear of God has taken full
possession of our minds. When we are on the king's highway by daylight, and are
engaged upon royal business, we need ask no man's leave. It would be a
dishonour to a king to be ashamed of his livery and his service; no such shame
should ever crimson the cheek of a Christian, nor will it if he has due
reverence for the Lord his God. There is nothing to be ashamed of in a holy
life; a man may be ashamed of his pride, ashamed of his wealth, ashamed of his
own children, but he will never be ashamed of having in all things regarded the
will of the Lord his God.
It
is worthy of remark that David promises himself no immunity from shame till he
has carefully paid homage to all the precepts. Mind that word "all,"
and leave not one command out of your respect. Partial obedience still leaves
us liable to be called to account for those commands which we have neglected. A
man may have a thousand virtues, and yet a single failing may cover him with
shame.
To
a poor sinner who is buried in despair, it may seem a very unlikely thing that
he should ever be delivered from shame. He blushes, and is confounded, and
feels that he can never lift up his face again. Let him read these words:
"Then shall I not be ashamed." David is not dreaming, nor picturing
an impossible case. Be assured, dear friend, that the Holy Spirit can renew in
you the image of God, so that you shall yet look up without fear. O for
sanctification to direct us in God's way, for then shall we have boldness both
towards God and his people, and shall no more crimson with confusion.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
6. Then shall I not be ashamed. No one likes to be ashamed
or to blush: therefore all things which bring shame after them must be avoided:
Ezra 9:6 Jeremiah 3:25 Daniel 9:7,9.
As the workman keeps his eye fixed on his pattern, and the scholar on the copy
of his writing master; so the godly man ever and anon turns his eyes to the
word of his God. Martin Geier.
Verse
6. There is a twofold shame; the shame of a guilty conscience;
and the shame of a tender conscience. The one is the merit and fruit of
sin; the other is an act of grace. This which is here spoken of is to be
understood not of a holy self loathing, but a confounding shame. Thomas Manton.
Verse
6. Then shall I not be ashamed, etc. Then shall I have
confidence both towards God and man, and mine own soul, when I can pronounce of
myself that my obedience is impartial, and uniform, and universal, no secret
sin reserved for my favour, no least commandment knowingly or willingly
neglected by me. Henry Hammond.
Verse
6. Then shall I not be ashamed, etc. You ask, Why is he not
ashamed who has respect unto all the commandments of God? I answer, the sense
is, as if he had said, The commandments of God are so pure and excellent, that
though thou shouldest regard the whole and each one of them most attentively,
thou wouldest not find anything that would cause thee to blush. The laws of
Lycurgus are praised; but they permitted theft. The statutes of Plato are
praised; but they commended the community of wives. "The law of the Lord
is perfect, converting the soul:" Psalms 19:7.
It is a mirror, reflecting the beautiful light of the stars on him who looks
into it. Thomas Le Blanc.
Verse
6. The blessing here spoken of is freedom from shame in looking
unto all the commandments. If God hear prayer, and establish the soul in
this habit of keeping the commandments, there will be yet this further blessing
of being able to look unto every precept without shame. Many men can look at
some commandments without shame. Turning to the ten commandments, the honest
man feels no shame as he gazes on the eighth, the pure man is free from
reproach as he reads the seventh, he who is reverent and hates blasphemy is not
rebuked by the thought that he has violated the third, while the filial spirit
rather delights in than shuns the fifth. So on with the remainder. Most men
perhaps can look at some of the precepts with comparative freedom from reproof.
But who can so look unto them all? Yet this, also, the godly heart aspires to.
In this verse we find the Psalmist consciously anticipating the truth of a word
in the New Testament: "He that offends in one point is guilty of
all." Frederick G. Marchant.
Verse
6. Ashamed. I can bear scorpion's stings, tread fields of
fire, In frozen gulfs of cold eternal lie; Be tossed aloft through tracts of
endless void, But cannot live in shame. Joanna Baillie, 1762-1851.
Verse
6. When I have respect unto all thy commandments. Literally,
"In my looking at all thy commandments." That is, in his regarding
them; in his feeling that all were equally binding on him; and in having the
consciousness that he had not intentionally neglected, violated, or disregarded
any of them. There can be no true piety except where a man intends to keep ALL
the commands of God. If he makes a selection among them, keeping this one or
that one, as may be most convenient for him, or as may be most for his
interest, or as may be most popular, it is full proof that he knows nothing of
the nature of true religion. A child has no proper respect for a parent if he
obeys him only as shall suit his whim or his convenience; and no man can be a
pious man who does not purpose, in all honesty, to keep ALL, the commandments
of God; to submit to his will in everything. Albert Barnes.
Verse
6. All thy commandments. There is the same reason for
obedience to one command as another, -- God's authority, who is the Lawgiver (James 2:11);
and therefore when men choose one duty and overlook others, they do not so much
obey the will of God, as gratify their own humours and fancies, pleasing Him
only so far as they can please themselves too; and this is not reasonable; we
never yield him a "reasonable service," but when it is universal.
Edward Veal (1632-1708), in "The Morning Exercises."
Verse
6. All thy commandments. A partial obedience will never
satisfy a child of God. The exclusion of any commandment from its supreme
regard in the heart is the brand of hypocrisy. Even Herod could "do many
things," and yet one evil way cherished, and therefore unforsaken, was
sufficient to show the sovereign power of sin undisturbed within. Saul slew all
the Amalekites but one; and that single exception in the path of universal
obedience marked the unsoundness of his profession, cost him the loss of his
throne, and brought him under the awful displeasure of his God. And thus the
foot, or the hand, or the right eye, the corrupt unmortified members, bring the
whole body to hell. Reserves are the canker of Christian sincerity. Charles
Bridges.
Verse
6. Unto all thy commandments. Allow that any of God's
commandments may be transgressed, and we shall soon have the whole decalogue
set aside. Adam Clarke, 1760-1832.
Verse
6. Many will do some good, but are defective in other
things, and usually in those which are most necessary. They cull out the
easiest and cheapest parts of religion, such as do not contradict their lusts
and interests. We can never have sound peace till we regard all. Then shall I
not be ashamed when I have respect unto all thy commandments. Shame is fear of
a just reproof. This reproof is either from the supreme or the deputy judge.
The supreme judge of all our actions is God. This should be our principal care,
that we may not be ashamed before him at his coming, nor disapproved in the
judgment. But there is a deputy judge which every man has in his own bosom. Our
consciences do acquit or condemn us as we are partial or sincere in our duty to
God, and much depends on that. 1 John
3:20-21, "For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our
heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have
we confidence toward God." Well, then, that our hearts may not reprove or
reproach us, we should be complete in all the will of God. Alas, otherwise you
will never have evidence of your sincerity. Thomas Manton.
Verse
6. Such is the mercy of God in Christ to his children, that
lie accepts their weak endeavours, joined with sincerity and perseverance in
his service, as if they were a full obedience... O, who would not serve such a
Lord? You hear servants sometimes complain of their masters as so rigid and
strict, that they can never please them; no, not when they do their utmost: but
this cannot be charged upon God. Be but so faithful as to do thy best, and God
is so gracious that he will pardon thy worst. David knew this gospel indulgence
when he said, Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy
commandments, when my eye is to all thy commandments. The traveller hath his
eye on or towards the place he is going to, though he be as yet short of it;
there he would be, and he is putting on all he can to reach it: so stands the
saint's heart to all the commands of God; he presseth on to come nearer and
nearer to full obedience; such a soul shall never be put to shame. William
Gurnall, 1617-1679.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
6. -- See "Spurgeon's Sermons," No. 1443: "A Clear
Conscience."
Verse
6. -- Holy confidence the offspring of universal obedience.
Verse
6. -- The armour of proof.
(a) Before the
criticising world.
(b) In the court of conscience.
(c) At the
throne of grace.
(d) In the day
of judgment.
(a) The world's
shafts.
(b) The rebukes
of conscience.
(c) It
paralyses our prayers
(d) It dares
not appear for us at the bar of God.
(b) Our mighty
plea in prayer.
(c) Our triumphant
vindication in the judgment day. --C. A.D.
Verse
6. -- Topic: -- Self respect depends on respect for one greater
than self. --W. D.
EXPOSITION
Verse
7. I will praise thee. From prayer to praise is here, a long or a
difficult journey. Be sure that he who prays for holiness will one day praise
for happiness. Shame having vanished, silence is broken, and the formerly
silent man declares, "I will praise thee." He cannot but promise
praise while he seeks sanctification. Mark how well he knows upon what head to
set the crown. "I will praise thee." He would himself be
praiseworthy, but he counts God alone worthy of praise. By the sorrow and shame
of sin he measures his obligations to the Lord who would teach him the art of
living so that he should clean escape from his former misery.
With
up righteous of heart. His heart would be upright if the Lord would teach him,
and then it should praise its teacher. There is such a thing as false and
feigned praise, and this the Lord abhors; but there is no music like that which
comes from a pure soul which standeth in its integrity. Heart praise is
required, uprightness in that heart, and teaching to make the heart upright. An
upright heart is sure to bless the Lord, for grateful adoration is a part of
its uprightness; no man can be right unless he is upright towards God, and this
involves the rendering to him the praise which is his due.
When
I shall have learned thy righteous judgments. We must learn to praise, learn
that we may praise, and praise when we have learned. If we are ever to learn,
the Lord must teach us, and especially upon such a subject as his judgments,
for they are a great deep. While these are passing before our eyes, and we are
learning from them, we ought to praise God, for the original is not, "when
I have learned," but, "in my learning." While yet I am a scholar
I will be a chorister: my upright heart shall praise thine uprightness, my
purified judgment shall admire thy judgments. God's providence is a book full
of teaching, and to those whose hearts are right it is a music book, out of
which they chant to Jehovah's praise. God's word is full of the record of his
righteous providence, and as we read it we feel compelled to burst forth into
expressions of holy delight and ardent praise. When we both read of God's
judgments and become joyful partakers in them, we are doubly moved to song --
song in which there is neither formality, nor hypocrisy, nor lukewarmness, for
the heart is upright in the presentation of its praise.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
7. I will praise thee... when I shall have learned, etc.
There is no way to please God entirely and sincerely until we have learned both
to know and do his will. Practical praise is the praise God looks after. Thomas
Manton.
Verse
7. I will praise thee. What is the matter for which he
praises God? It is that he has been taught something of him and by him amongst
men. To have learned any tongue, or science, from some school of philosophy,
bindeth us to our alma mater. We praise those who can teach a dog, a horse,
this or that; but for us ass colts to learn the will of God, how to walk
pleasing before him, this should be acknowledged of us as a great mercy from
God. Paul Bayne.
Verse
7. Praise thee...when I shall have learned, etc. But when
doth David say that he will be thankful? Even when God shall teach him. Both
the matter and the grace of thankfulness are from God. As he did with Abraham,
he commanded him to worship by sacrifice, and at the same time gave him the
sacrifice: so doth he with all his children; for he gives not only good things,
for which they should thank him, but in like manner grace by which they are
able to thank him. William Cowper.
Verse
7. When, I shall have learned. By learning he means his
attaining not only to the knowledge of the word, but the practice of it. It is
not a speculative light, or a bare notion of things: "Every man therefore
that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me" (John 6:45). It
is such a learning as the effect will necessarily follow, such a light and
illumination as doth convert the soul, and frame our hearts and ways according
to the will of God. For otherwise, if we get understanding of the word, nay, if
we get it imprinted in our memories, it will do us no good without practice.
The best of God's servants are but scholars and students in the knowledge and
obedience of his word. For saith David, "When I shall have learned."
The professors of the Christian religion were primitively called disciples or
learners: to plhqoj twn maqhtwn; "the multitude of the disciples" (Acts 6:2.)
Thomas Manton.
Verse
7. Learned thy righteous judgments. We see here what David
especially desired to learn, namely, the word and will of God: he would ever be
a scholar in this school, and sought daily to ascend to the highest form; that
learning to know, he might remember; remembering, might believe; believing,
might delight; delighting might admire; admiring, might adore; adoring, might
practise; and practising, might continue in the way of God's statutes. This
learning is the old and true learning indeed, and he is best learned in this
art, who turneth God's word into good works. Richard Greenham.
Verse
7. Judgments of thy righteousness are the decisions concerning
right and wrong which give expression to and put in execution the righteousness
of God. Franz Delitzsch.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
7. -- The best of praise, the best of learning, the best of
blendings, viz., praise and holiness.
Verse
7. --
Verse
7. -- Learning and praising.
Verse
7. --
EXPOSITION
Verse
8. I will keep thy statutes. A calm resolve. When praise calms down
into solid resolution it is well with the soul. Zeal which spends itself in
singing, and leaves no practical residuum of holy living, is little worth:
"I will praise" should be coupled with "I will keep." This
firm resolve is by no means boastful, like Peter's "though I should die
with thee, yet will I not forsake thee," for it is followed by a humble
prayer for divine help,
O
forsake me not utterly. Feeling his own incapacity, he trembles lest he should
be left to himself, and this fear is increased by the horror which he has of
falling into sin. The "I will keep" sounds lightly enough now that
the humble cry is heard with it. This is a happy amalgam: resolution and
dependence. We meet with those who to all appearance humbly pray, but there is
no force of character, no decision in them, and consequently the pleading of
the closet is not embodied in the life: on the other band, we meet with
abundance of resolve attended with an entire absence of dependence upon God,
and this makes as poor a character as the former. The Lord grant us to have
such a blending of excellences that we may be "perfect and entire, wanting
nothing."
This
prayer is one which is certain to be heard, for assuredly it must be highly
pleasing to God to see a man set upon obeying his will, and therefore it must
be most agreeable to him to be present with such a person, and to help him in
his endeavours. How can he forsake one who does not forsake his law?
The
peculiar dread which tinges this prayer with a sombre hue is the fear of utter forsaking.
Well may the soul cry out against such a calamity. To be left, that we may
discover our weakness, is a sufficient trial: To be altogether forsaken would
be ruin and death. Hiding the face in a little wrath for a moment brings us
very low: an absolute desertion would land us ultimately in the lowest hell.
But the Lord never has utterly forsaken his servants, and he never will,
blessed be his name. If we long to keep his statutes he will keep us; yea, his
grace will keep us keeping his law.
There
is rather a descent from the mount of benediction with which the first verse
began to the almost wail of this eighth verse, yet this is spiritually a
growth, for from admiration of goodness we have come to a burning longing after
God and communion with him, and an intense horror lest it should not be
enjoyed. The sigh of Psalms
119:5 is now supplanted by an actual prayer from the depths of a
heart conscious of its undesert, and its entire dependence upon divine love.
The two, "I wills" needed to be seasoned with some such lowly
petition, or it might have been thought that the good man's dependence was in
some degree fixed upon his own determination. He presents his resolutions like
a sacrifice, but he cries to heaven for the fire.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
8. This verse, being the last of this portion, is the result
of his meditation concerning the utility and necessity of the keeping the law
of God there take notice:
In
the prayer more is intended than is expressed. "O forsake me not", he
means, strengthen me in this work; and if thou shouldest desert me, yet but for
a while, Lord, not for ever; if in part, not in whole. Four points we may
observe hence:
Verse
8 (with 7). I will keep thy statutes, etc. The resolution to
"keep the Lord's statutes" is the natural result of having
"learned his righteous judgments." And on this point David illustrates
the inseparable and happy union of "simplicity" of dependence, and
"godly sincerity" of obedience. Instantly upon forming his
resolution, he recollects that the performance of it is beyond the power of
human strength, and therefore the next moment he follows it with prayer: I will
keep thy statutes; O forsake me not utterly. Charles Bridges.
Verse
8. I will. David setteth a personal example of holiness. If
the king of Israel keep God's statutes, the people of Israel wilt be ashamed to
neglect them. Caesar was wont to say, Princes must not say, Ite, go ye, without
me; but, Venite, come ye, along with me. So said Gideon (Judges 5:17):
"As ye see me do, so do ye." R. Greenham.
Verse
8. Forsake me not utterly. There is a total and a partial
desertion. Those who are bent to obey God may for a while, and in some degree,
be left to themselves. We cannot promise ourselves an utter immunity from
desertion; but it is not total. We shall find for his great name's sake,
"The Lord will not forsake his people" (1 Samuel 12:22),
and, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee" (Hebrews 13:5).
Not utterly, yet in part they may be forsaken. Elijah was forsaken, but not as
Ahab: Peter was forsaken in part, but not as Judas, who was utterly forsaken,
and made a prey to the Devil. David was forsaken to be humbled and bettered;
but Saul was forsaken utterly to be destroyed. Saith Theophylact, God may
forsake his people so as to shut out their prayers, (Psalms 80:4),
so as to interrupt the peace and joy of their heart, and abate their strength,
so that their spiritual life may be much at a stand, and sin may break out, and
they may fall foully; but they are not utterly forsaken. One way or other, God
is still present; present in light sometimes when he is not present in strength,
when he manifests the evil of their present condition, so as to make them mourn
under it; and present in awakening their desires, though not in giving them
enjoyment. As long as there is any esteem of God, he is not yet gone; there is
some light and love yet left, manifested by our desires of communion with him.
Thomas Manton.
Verse
8. Forsake me not utterly. The desertions of God's elect are
first of all partial, that is, such as wherein God doth not wholly forsake
them, but in some part. Secondly, temporary, that is, for some space of time,
and never beyond the compass of this present life. "For a moment (saith
the Lord in Esay) in mine anger I hid my face from thee for a little season,
but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy
Redeemer." And to this purpose David, well acquainted with this matter,
prayeth, "Forsake me not overlong." This sort of desertions, though
it be but for a time, yet no part of a Christian man's life is free from them;
and very often taking deep place in the heart of man, they are of long
continuance. David continued in his dangerous fall about the space of a whole
year before he was recovered. Luther confesseth of himself, that, after his
conversion, he lay three years in desperation. Common observation in such like
cases hath made record of even longer times of spiritual forsaking. Richard
Greenham.
Verse
8. O forsake me not utterly. This prayer reads like the
startled cry of one who was half afraid that he had been presumptuous in
expressing the foregoing resolve. He desired to keep the divine statutes, and
like Peter he vowed that he would do so; but remembering his own weakness, he
recoils from his own venturesomeness, and feels that he must pray. I have made
a solemn vow, but what if I have uttered it in my own strength? What if God
should leave me to myself? He is filled with terror at the thought. He breaks
out with an "O." He implores and beseeches the Lord not to test him
by leaving him even for an instant entirely to himself. To be forsaken of God
is the worst ill that the most melancholy saint ever dreams of. Thank God, it
will never fall to our lot; for no promise can be more express than that which
saith, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." This promise does
not prevent our praying, but excites us to it. Because God will not forsake his
own, therefore do we cry to him in the agony of our feebleness, "O forsake
me not utterly." C. H. S.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
8. --
Verse
8. --
(a) Filial
submission. I deserve it occasionally.
(b) Filial confidence. "Not utterly."
Verse
8. -- O forsake me not utterly. Divine desertion deprecated.
(a) Sovereign
forsaking. Sovereignty is not arbitrariness
or capriciousness: perhaps its right definition is
mysterious kingly love; unknown now, but justified when
revealed.
(b) Vicarious forsaking.
(c) Forsaking
on account of sin. David, Jonah, and Peter.
The seven churches of Asia; the Jews. But to know what
"utter" both in regard to degree and time means, we must go
to hell. Like one trembling on the very verge of hell, he
prays. Like belated traveller, in vast wood and surrounded
by beasts of prey, sighs at day's departure. Like the watch
on the raft seeing the sail that he has shouted himself
hoarse to stop fading away in the sky line.
EXPOSITION
Verse
9. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? How shall he
become and remain practically holy? He is but a young man, full of hot
passions, and poor in knowledge and experience; how shall he get right, and
keep right? Never was there a more important question for any man; never was
there a fitter time for asking it than at the commencement of life. It is by no
means an easy task which the prudent young man sets before him. He wishes to
choose a clean way, to be himself clean in it, to cleanse it of any foulness
which may arise in the future, and to end by showing a clear course from the
first step to the last; but, alas, his way is already unclean by actual sin
which he has already committed, and he himself has within his nature a tendency
towards that which defileth. Here, then, is the difficulty, first of beginning
aright, next of being always able to know and choose the right, and of
continuing in the right till perfection is ultimately reached: this is hard for
any man, how shall a youth accomplish it? The way, or life, of the man has to
be cleansed from the sins of his youth behind him, and kept clear of the sins
which temptation will place before him: this is the work, this is the
difficulty.
No
nobler ambition can lie before a youth, none to which he is called by so sure a
calling; but none in which greater difficulties can be found. Let him not,
however, shrink from the glorious enterprise of living a pure and gracious
life; rather let him enquire the way by which all obstacles may be overcome.
Let him not think that he knows the road to easy victory, nor dream that he can
keep himself by his own wisdom; he will do well to follow the Psalmist, and
become an earnest enquirer asking how he may cleanse his way. Let him become a
practical disciple of the holy God, who alone can teach him how to overcome the
world, the flesh, and the devil, that trinity of defilers by whom many a
hopeful life has been spoiled. He is young and unaccustomed to the road, let
him not be ashamed often to enquire his way of him who is so ready and so able
to instruct him in it.
Our
"way" is a subject which concerns us deeply, and it is far better to
enquire about it than to speculate upon mysterious themes which rather puzzle
than enlighten the mind. Among all the questions which a young man asks, and
they are many, let this be the first and chief: "Wherewithal shall I
cleanse my way?" This is a question suggested by common sense, and pressed
home by daily occurrences; but it is not to be answered by unaided reason, nor,
when answered, can the directions be carried out by unsupported human power. It
is ours to ask the question, it is God's to give the answer and enable us to
carry it out.
By
taking heed thereto according to thy word. Young man, the Bible must be your
chart, and you must exercise great watchfulness that your way may be according
to its directions. You must take heed to your daily life as well as study your
Bible, and you must study your Bible that you may take heed to your daily life.
With the greatest care a man will go astray if his map misleads him; but with
the most accurate map he will still lose his road if he does not take heed to
it. The narrow way was never hit upon by chance, neither did any heedless man
ever lead a holy life. We can sin without thought, we have only to neglect the
great salvation and ruin our souls; but to obey the Lord and walk uprightly
will need all our heart and soul and mind. Let the careless remember this.
Yet
the "word" is absolutely necessary; for, otherwise, care will darken
into morbid anxiety, and conscientiousness may become superstition. A captain
may watch from his deck all night; but if he knows nothing of the coast, and
has no pilot on board, he may be carefully hastening on to shipwreck. It is not
enough to desire to he right; for ignorance may make us think that we are doing
God service when we are provoking him, and the fact of our ignorance will not
reverse the character of our action, however much it may mitigate its
criminality. Should a man carefully measure out what he believes to be a dose
of useful medicine, he will die if it should turn out that he has taken up the
wrong vial, and has poured out a deadly poison: the fact that he did it
ignorantly will not alter the result. Even so, a young man may surround himself
with ten thousand ills, by carefully using an unenlightened judgment, and
refusing to receive instruction from the word of God. Wilful ignorance is in
itself wilful sin, and the evil which comes of it is without excuse. Let each
man, whether young or old, who desires to be holy have a holy watchfulness in
his heart, and keep his Holy Bible before his open eye. There he will find
every turn of the road marked down, every slough and miry place pointed out,
with the way to go through unsoiled; and there, too, he will find light for his
darkness, comfort for his weariness, and company for his loneliness, so that by
its help he shall reach the benediction of the first verse of the Psalm, which
suggested the Psalmist's enquiry, and awakened his desires.
Note
how the first section of eight verses has for its first verse, "Blessed
are the undefiled in the way." and the second section runs parallel to it,
with the question, "Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?"
The blessedness which is set before us in a conditional promise should be
practically sought for in the way appointed. The Lord saith, "For this
will I be enquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them."
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
The
eight verses alphabetically arranged:
Whole
eight verses, 9-16. Every verse in the section begins with b, a house. The
subject of the section is, The Law of Jehovah purifying the Life. Key word, xkz
(zacah), to be pure, to make pure, to cleanse. F. G. Marchant.
Verse
9. Whole verse. In this passage there is,
In
the question, there is the person spoken of, "a young man," and his
work, "Wherewithal shall he cleanse his way?" In this question there
are several things supposed.
That
which is enquired after is, What remedy there is against it? What course is to
be taken? So that the sum of the question is this: How shall a man that is
impure, and naturally defiled with sin, be made able, as soon as he cometh to
the use of reason, to purge out that natural corruption, and live a holy and pure
life to God? The answer is given: "By taking heed thereto according to thy
word." Where two things are to be observed.
Verse
9. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? etc.
Aristotle, that great dictator in philosophy, despaired of achieving so great
an enterprise as the rendering a young man capable of his hqika akroamata,
"his grave and severe lectures of morality"; for that age is light
and foolish, yet headstrong and untractable. Now, take a young man all in the
heat and boiling of his blood, in the highest fermentation of his youthful
lusts; and, at all these disadvantages, let him enter that great school of the
Holy Spirit, the divine Scripture, and commit himself to the conduct of those
blessed oracles; and he shall effectually be convinced, by his own experience,
of the incredible virtue, the vast and mighty power, of God's word, in the
success it hath upon him, and in his daily progression and advances in heavenly
wisdom. John Gibbon (about 1660) in "The Morning Exercises."
Verse
9. A young man. A prominent place -- one of the twenty-two
parts -- is assigned to young men in the 119th Psalm. It is meet that it should
be so. Youth is the season of impression and improvement, young men are the
future props of society, and the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of
wisdom, must begin in youth. The strength, the aspirations, the unmarred
expectations of youth, are in requisition for the world; O that they may be
consecrated to God. John Stephen, in "The Utterances of the 119
Psalm," 1861.
Verse
9. For young man, in the Hebrew the word is r[g naar, i.e.,
"shaken off"; that is to say, from the milder and more tender care of
his parents. Thus Mercerus and Savailerius. Secondly, naar may be rendered
"shaking off"; that is to say, the yoke, for a young man begins to
cast off the maternal, and frequently the paternal, yoke. Thomas Le Blanc.
Verse
9. Cleanse his way. The expression does not absolutely
convey the impression that the given young man is in a corrupt and
discreditable way which requires cleansing, though this be true of all men
originally: Isaiah
53:6. That which follows makes known that such could not be the case
with this young man. The very inquiry shows that his heart is not in a corrupt
state. Desire is present, direction is required. The inquiry is -- How shall a
young man make a clean way -- a pure line of conduct -- through this defiling
world? It is a question, I doubt not, of great anxiety to every convert whose
mind is awakened to a sense of sin -- how he shall keep clear of the sin, avoid
the loose company, and rid himself of the wicked pleasures and practices of
this enslaving world. And as he moves on in the line of integrity -- many
temptations coming in his way, and much inward corruption rising up to control
him -- how often will the same anxious inquiry arise: Ro 7:24. It is only in a
false estimate of one's own strength that any can think otherwise, and the
spirit of such false estimate will be brought low. How felt you, my young
friends, who have been brought to Christ, in the day of your resolving to be
his? But for all such anxiety there seems to be an answer in the text.
By
taking heed thereto according to thy word. It is not that young men in our day
require information: they require the inclination. In the gracious young man
there are both, and the word that began feeds the proper motives. The awful
threatenings and the sweet encouragements both more him in the right direction.
The answer furnished to this anxious inquiry is sufficiently plain and
practical. He is directed to the word of God for all direction, and we might
say, for all promised assistance. Still the matter presented in this light does
not appear to me to bring out the full import of the passage. The inquiry to me
would seem to extend over the whole verse. (This opinion is confirmed by the
quotation which follows from Cowles.) There is required the cleansing that his
way be according to the Divine Word. The enquiry is of the most enlarged
comprehension, and will be made only by one who can say that he has been
honestly putting himself in the way, as the young man in Psalms
119:10-11; and it can be answered only by the heart that takes in
all the strength provided by the blessed God, as is expressed here in Psalms 119:12.
The Psalmist makes the inquiry, he shows how earnestly he had sought to be in
the right way, and immediately he finds all his strength in God. Thus he
declares how he has been enabled to do rightly, and how he will do rightly in
the future. John Stephen.
Verse
9. Instead of question and answer both in this one verse,
the Hebrew demands the construction with question only, leaving the answer to
be inferred from the drift of the entire Psalm -- thus: Wherewithal shall a
young man cleanse his way to keep it according to thy word? This translation
gives precisely the force of the last clause. Hebrew punctuation lacks the
interrogation point, so that we have no other clue but the form of the sentence
and the sense by which to decide where the question ends. Henry Cowles, 1872.
Verse
9. His way. xra, orach, which we translate way here,
signifies a track, a rut, such as is made by the wheel of a cart or chariot. A
young sinner has no broad beaten path; he has his private ways of offence, his
secret pollutions; and how shall he be cleansed from these? how can he be saved
from what will destroy mind, body, and soul? Let him hear what follows; the
description is from God.
Verse
9. By taking heed, etc. I think the words may be better
rendered and supplied thus, by observing what is according to thy word; which
shows how a sinner is to be cleansed from his sins by the blood of Christ, and
justified by his righteousness, and be clean through his word; and also how and
by whom the work of sanctification is wrought in the heart, even by the Spirit
of God, by means of the word, and what is the rule of a man's walk and
conversation: he will find the word of God to be profitable, to inform in the
doctrines of justification and pardon, to acquaint him with the nature of
regeneration and sanctification; and for the correction and amendment of his
life and manners, and for his instruction in every branch of manners: 2 Timothy 3:16.
John Gill, 1697-1771.
Verse
9. By taking heed. There is an especial necessity for this
"Take heed," because of the proneness of a young man to
thoughtlessness, carelessness, presumption, self confidence. There is an
especial necessity for "taking heed," because of the difficulty of
the way. "Look well to thy goings"; it is a narrow path. "Look
well to thy goings"; it is a new path. "Look well to thy
goings"; it is a slippery path. "Look well to thy goings"; it is
an eventful path. James Harrington Evans, 1785-1849.
Verse
9. According to thy word. God's word is the glass which
discovereth all spiritual deformity, and also the water and soap which washes
and scours it away. Paul Bayne.
Verse
9. According to thy word. I do not say that there are no
other guides, no other fences. I do not say that conscience is worth nothing,
and conscience in youth is especially sensitive and tender; I do not say that
prayer is not a most valuable fence, but prayer without taking heed is only
another name for presumption: prayer and carelessness can never walk hand in
hand together; and I therefore say that there is no fence nor guard that can so
effectually keep out every enemy as prayerful reading of the word of God,
bringing every solicitation from the world or from companions, every suggestion
from our own hearts and passions, to the test of God's word: -- What says the
Bible? The answer of the Bible, with the teaching and enlightenment of the Holy
Spirit, will in all the intricacies of our road be a lamp unto our feet and a
light unto our path. Barton Bouchier.
Verse
9. Thy word. The word is the only weapon (like Goliath's
sword, none to equal this), for the hewing down and cutting off of this
stubborn enemy, our lusts. The word of God can master our lusts when they are
in their greatest pride: if ever lust rageth at one time more than another, it
is when youthful blood boils in our veins. Youth is giddy, and his lust is hot
and impetuous: his sun is climbing higher still, and he thinks it is a great
while to night; so that it must be a strong arm that brings a young man off his
lusts, who hath his palate at best advantage to taste sensual pleasure. The
rigour of his strength affords him more of the delights of the flesh than
crippled age can expect, and he is farther from the fear of death's gunshot, as
he thinks, than old men who are upon the very brink of the grave, and carry the
scent of the earth about them, into which they are suddenly to be resolved.
Well, let the word of God meet this young gallant in all his bravery, with his
feast of sensual delights before him, and but whisper a few syllables in his
car, give his conscience but a prick with the point of its sword, and it shall make
him fly in as great haste from them all, as Absalom's brethren did from the
feast when they saw Amnon their brother murdered at the table. When David would
give the young man a receipt to cure him of his lusts, how he may cleanse his
whole course and way, he bids him only wash in the waters of the word of God.
William Gumall.
Verse
9. The Scriptures teach us the best way of living, the
noblest way of suffering, and the most comfortable way of dying. John Flavel,
1627-1691.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Outlines
Upon Keywords of The Psalm, by Pastor C. A. Davis
Verse
9-16. -- Sanctification by the word, declared generally (Psalms 119:9);
sought personally (Psalms
119:10-12); published to others (Psalms 119:13);
personally rejoiced in (Psalms
119:14-16).
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
9. --
Verse
9. -- In the word of God, when applied to the heart by the Spirit
of God, there is,
Verse
9. The word of God provides for the cleansing of the way.
Verse
9. -- The Psalmist's rules for the attainment of holiness deduced
from his own experience.
�h Reduce all this to practice (Psalms 119:11): "That I
might not sin against thee."
�h Bless God for what he has given (vet.
12): "Blessed art thou," etc.
�h Ask more (Psalms 119:12): Teach me thy
statute,.
�h Be ready to communicate his knowledge to
others (Psalms 119:13):
"With my lips have I declared."
�h Let it have a due effect on thy own
heart (Psalms 119:14):
"I have rejoiced," etc.
�h Meditate frequently upon them (Psalms 119:15): "I will
meditate," etc.
�h Deeply reflect on them (Psalms 119:16): "I will
have respect," etc. As food undigested will not nourish the body, so the
word of God not considered with deep meditation and reflection will not feed
the soul.
�h Having pursued the above course he
should continue in it, and then his happiness would be secured (Psalms 119:16): "I will
not forget thy word: I will (in consequence) delight myself in thy
statutes." --Adam Clarke.
Verse
9. -- A question and answer for the young. The Bible is a book for
young people. Here it intimates,
Verse
9. -- A word to the young.
(b) His
immature judgment.
(c) His inexperience.
(d) His rash
self sufficiency.
(e) His light
companions, and,
(f) His general
heedlessness.
(a) Of his evil
propensities.
(b) Of his
companions.
(c) Of his
pursuits.
(d) Of the
tendencies of all he does.
(b) Its
examples.
(c) Its
motives.
(d) Its
warnings.
(e) Its
allurements. --C.A.D.
EXPOSITION
Verse
10. With my whole heart have I sought thee. His heart had gone after
God himself: he had not only desired to obey his laws, but to commune with his
person. This is a right royal search and pursuit, and well may it be followed
with the whole heart. The surest mode of cleansing the way of our life is to
seek after God himself, and to endeavour to abide in fellowship with him. Up to
the good hour in which he was speaking to his Lord, the Psalmist had been an
eager seeker after the Lord, and if faint, he was still pursuing. Had he not
sought the Lord he would never have been so anxious to cleanse his way.
It
is pleasant to see how the writer's heart turns distinctly and directly to God.
He had been considering an important truth in the preceding verse, but here he
so powerfully feels the presence of his God that he speaks to him, and prays to
him as to one who is near. A true heart cannot long live without fellowship
with God.
His
petition is founded on his life's purpose: he is seeking the Lord, and he prays
the Lord to prevent his going astray in or from his search. It is by obedience
that we follow after God, hence the prayer,
O
let me not wander from thy commandments; for if we leave the ways of God's
appointment we certainly shall not find the God who appointed them. The more a
man's whole heart is set upon holiness the more does he dread falling into sin;
he is not so much fearful of deliberate transgression as of inadvertent
wandering: he cannot endure a wandering look, or a rambling thought, which
might stray beyond the pale of the precept. We are to be such wholehearted
seekers that we have neither time nor will to be wanderers, and yet with all
our wholeheartedness we are to cultivate a jealous fear lest even then we
should wander from the path of holiness.
Two
things may be very like and yet altogether different: saints are
"strangers" -- "I am a stranger in the earth" (Psalms 119:19),
but they are not wanderers: they are passing through an enemy's country, but
their route is direct; they are seeking their Lord while they traverse this
foreign land. Their way is hidden from men; but yet they have not lost their
way.
The
man of God exerts himself, but does not trust himself: his heart is in his
walking with God: but he knows that even his whole strength is not enough to
keep him right unless his King shall be his keeper, and he who made the
commands shall make him constant in obeying them: hence the prayer, "O let
me not wander." Still, this sense of need was never turned into an
argument for idleness; for while he prayed to be kept in the right road he took
care to run in it with his whole heart seeking the Lord.
It
is curious again to note how the second part of the Psalm keeps step with the
first; for where Psalms
119:2 pronounces that man to be blessed who seeks the Lord with his
whole heart, the present verse claims the blessing by pleading the character:
With my whole heart have I sought thee.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
10. With my whole heart have I sought thee. There are very
few of us that are able to say with the prophet David that we have sought God
with our whole heart; to wit, with such integrity and pureness that we have not
turned away from that mark as from the most principal thing of our salvation.
John Calvin.
Verse
10. With my whole heart have I sought thee. Sincerity is in
every expression; the heart is open before God. The young man can so speak to
the Searcher of hearts... Let us consider the directness of this kind of
converse with God. We use round about expressions in drawing nigh to God. We
say, With my whole heart would I seek thee. We are afraid to be direct... See
how decided in his conscious acting is the young man before you, how open and
confiding he is, and such you will find to be the characteristic of his pious
mind throughout the varied expressions unfolded in this Psalm. Here he declares
to the Omniscient One that he had sought him with all his heart. He desired to
realize God in everything. John Stephen.
Verse
10 (first clause). God alone sees the heart; the heart alone sees God. John
Donne, 1573-1631.
Verse
10. O let me not wander from thy commandments. David after he
had protested that he sought God with his whole heart, besought God that he
would not suffer him to decline from his commandments. Hereby let us see what
great need we have to call upon God, to the end he may hold us with a mighty
strong hand. Yea, and though he hath already mightily put to his healing hand,
and we also know that he hath bestowed upon us great and manifest graces; yet
this is not all: for there are so many vices and imperfections in our nature,
and we are so feeble and weak that we have very great need daily to pray unto
him, yea, and that more and more, that he will not suffer us to decline from
his commandments. John Calvin.
Verse
10. The more experience a man hath in the ways of God, the
more sensible is he of his own readiness to wander insensibly, by ignorance and
inadvertency, from the ways of God; but the young soldier dares run hazards,
ride into his adversary's camp, and talk with temptation, being confident he
cannot easily go wrong; he is not so much in fear as David who here cries, O
let me not wander. David Dickson, 1583-1662.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
10. --
Verse
10. -- The believer's two great solicitudes.
Verse
10. -- Sincerity not self sufficiency.
EXPOSITION
Verse
11. When a godly man sues for a favour from God he should carefully
use every means for obtaining it, and accordingly, as the Psalmist had asked to
be preserved from wandering, he here shows us the holy precaution which he had
taken to prevent his falling into sin.
Thy
word have I hid in mine heart. His heart would be kept by the word because he
kept the word in his heart. All that he had of the word written, and all that had
been revealed to him by the voice of God, -- all, without exception, he had
stored away in his affections, as a treasure to be preserved in a casket, or as
a choice seed to be buried in a fruitful soil: what soil more fruitful than a
renewed heart, wholly seeking the Lord? The word was God's own, and therefore
precious to God's servant. He did not wear a text on his heart as a charm, but
he hid it in his heart as a rule. He laid it up in the place of love and life,
and it filled the chamber with sweetness and light. We must in this imitate
David, copying his heart work as well as his outward character. First, we must
mind that what we believe is truly God's word; that being done, we must hide or
treasure it each man for himself; and we must see that this is done, not as a
mere feat of the memory, but as the joyful act of the affections.
That
I might not sin against thee. Here was the object aimed at. As one has well
said, -- Here is the best thing -- "thy word"; hidden in the best
place, -- "in my heart;" for the best of purposes, -- "that I
might not sin against thee." This was done by the Psalmist with personal
care, as a man carefully hides away his money when he fears thieves, -- in this
case the thief dreaded was sin. Sinning "against God" is the believer's
view of moral evil; other men care only when they offend against men. God's
word is the best preventive against offending God, for it tells us his mind and
will, and tends to bring our spirit into conformity with the divine Spirit. No
cure for sin in the life is equal to the word in the seat of life, which is the
heart. There is no hiding from sin unless we hide the truth in our souls.
A
very pleasant variety of meaning is obtained by laying stress upon the words
"thy" and "thee." He speaks to God, he loves the word
because it is God's word, and he hates sin because it is sin against God
himself. If he vexed others, he minded not so long as he did not offend his
God. If we would not cause God displeasure we must treasure up his own word.
The
personal way in which the man of God did this is also noteworthy: "With my
whole heart have I sought thee." Whatever others might choose to do he had
already made his choice and placed the Word in his innermost soul as his
dearest delight, and however others might transgress, his aim was after
holiness: "That I might not sin against thee." This was not what he
purposed to do, but what he had already done: many are great at promising, but
the Psalmist had been true in performing: hence he hoped to see a sure result.
When the word is hidden in the heart the life shall be hidden from sin.
The
parallelism between the second octave and the first is still continued. Psalms 119:3
speaks of doing no iniquity, while this verse treats of the method of not
sinning. When we form an idea of a blessedly holy man (Psalms 119:3)
it becomes us to make an earnest effort to attain unto the same sacred innocence
and divine happiness, and this can only be through heart piety founded on the
Scriptures.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
11. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin
against thee. There laid up in the heart the word has effect. When young men
only read the letter of the Book, the word of promise and instruction is
deprived of much of its power. Neither will the laying of it up in the mere
memory avail. The word must be known and prized, and laid up in the heart; it
must occupy the affection as well as the understanding; the whole mind requires
to be impregnated with the word of God. Revealed things require to be seen.
Then the word of God in the heart -- the threatenings, the promises, the
excellencies of God's word -- and God himself realized, the young man would be
inwardly fortified; the understanding enlightened, conscience quickened -- he
would not sin against his God. John Stephen.
Verse
11. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin
against thee. In proportion as the word of the King is present in the heart,
"there is power" against sin (Ec 8:4). Let us use this means of
absolute power more, and more life and more holiness will be ours. Frances
Ridley Havergal, 1836-1879.
Verse
11. Thy word have I hid in mine heart. It is fit that the
word, being "more precious than gold, yea, than much fine gold," a
peerless pearl, should not be laid up in the porter's lodge only -- the outward
ear; but even in the cabinet of the mind. Dean Boys, quoted by James Ford.
Verse
11. Thy word have I hid in mine heart. There is great
difference between Christians and worldlings. The worldling hath his treasures
in jewels without him; the Christian hath them within. Neither indeed is there
any receptacle wherein to receive and keep the word of consolation but the
heart only. If thou have it in thy mouth only, it shall be taken from thee; if
thou have it in thy book only, Thou shalt miss it when thou hast most to do
with it; but if thou lay it up in thy heart, as Mary did the words of the
angel, no enemy shall ever be able to take it from thee, and thou shalt find
it's comfortable treasure in time of thy need. William Cowper.
Verse
11. Thy word have I hid in mine heart. This saying, to hide,
imports that David studied not to be ambitious to set forth himself and to make
a glorious show before men; but that he had God for a witness of that secret
desire which was within him. He never looked to worldly creatures; but being
content that he had so great a treasure, he knew full well that God who had
given it him would so surely and safely guard it, as that it should not be laid
open to Satan to be taken away. Saint Paul also declareth unto us (1Ti 1:19)
that the chest wherein this treasure must be hid is a good conscience. For it
is said, that many being void of this good conscience have lost also their
faith, and have been robbed thereof. As if a man should forsake his goods and
put them in hazard, without shutting a door, it were an easy matter for thieves
to come in and to rob and spoil him of all; even so, if we leave at random to
Satan the treasures which God hath given us in his word, without it be hidden
in this good conscience, and in the very bottom of, our heart as David here
speaketh, we shall be spoiled thereof. John Calvin.
Verse
11. Thy word have I hid in mine heart. -- Remembered,
approved, delighted in it. William Nicholson on (1671), in "David's Harp
Strung and Tuned."
Verse
11. Thy word. The saying, thy oracle; any communication from
God to the soul, whether promise, or command, or answer. It means a direct and
distinct message, while "word" is more general, and applies to the
whole revelation. This is the ninth of the ten words referring to the
revelation of God in this Psalm. James G. Murphy, 1875.
Verse
11. In my heart. Bernard observes, bodily bread in the
cupboard may he eaten of mice, or moulder and waste: but when it is taken down
into the body, it is free from such danger. If God enable thee to take thy soul
food into thine heart, it is free from all hazards. George Swinnock, 1627-1673.
Verse
11. That I might not sin against thee. Among many excellent
virtues of the word of God, this is one: that if we keep it in our heart, it
keeps us from sin, which is against God and against ourselves. We may mark it
by experience, that the word is first stolen either out of the mind of man, and
the remembrance of it is away; or at least out of the affection of man; so that
the reverence of it is gone, before that a man can be drawn to the committing
of a sin. So long as Eve kept by faith the word of the Lord, she resisted
Satan; but from the time she doubted of that, which God made most certain by
his word, at once she was snared. William Cowper.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
11. -- The best thing, in the best place, for the best of purposes.
EXPOSITION
Verse
12. Blessed art thou, O LORD. These are words of adoration arising
out of an intense admiration of the divine character, which the writer is
humbly aiming to imitate. He blesses God for all that he has revealed to him,
and wrought in him; he praises him with warmth of reverent love, and depth of
holy wonder. These are also words of perception uttered from a remembrance of
the great Jehovah's infinite happiness within himself. The Lord is and must be
blessed, for he is the perfection of holiness; and this is probably the reason
why this is used as a plea in this place. It is as if David had said -- I see
that in conformity to thyself my way to happiness must lie, for thou art
supremely blessed; and if I am made in my measure like to thee in holiness, I
shall also partake in thy blessedness.
No
sooner is the word in the heart than a desire arises to mark and learn it. When
food is eaten, the next thing is to digest it; and when the word is received
into the soul, the first prayer is -- Lord, teach me its meaning.
Teach
me thy statutes; for thus only can I learn the way to be blessed. Thou art so
blessed that I am sure thou wilt delight in blessing others, and this boon I
crave of thee that. I may be instructed in thy commands. Happy men usually
rejoice to make others happy, and surely the happy God will willingly impart
the holiness which is the fountain of happiness. Faith prompted this prayer and
based it, not upon anything in the praying man, but solely upon the perfection
of the God to whom he made supplication. Lord, thou art blessed, therefore
bless me by teaching me.
We
need to be disciples or learners -- "teach me;" but what an honour to
have God himself for a teacher: how bold is David to beg the blessed God to
teach him! Yet the Lord put the desire into his heart when the sacred word was
hidden there, and so we may be sure that he was not too bold in expressing it.
Who would not wish to enter the school of such a Master to learn of him the art
of holy living? To this Instructor we must submit ourselves if we would
practically keep the statutes of righteousness. The King who ordained the
statutes knows best their meaning, and as they are the outcome of his own
nature he can best inspire us with their spirit. The petition commends itself
to all who wish to cleanse their way, since it is most practical, and asks for
teaching, not upon recondite lore, but upon statute law. If we know the Lord's
statutes we have the most essential education.
Let
us each one say, "Teach me thy statutes." This is a sweet prayer for
everyday use. It is a step above that of Psalms 119:10,
"O let me not wander," as that was a rise beyond that of Psalms 119:8,
"O forsake me not utterly." It finds its answer in Psalms
119:98-100: "Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser
than mine enemies," etc.: but not till it had been repeated even to the
third time in the "Teach me" of Psalms
119:33,66, all of which I beg my reader to peruse. Even after this
third pleading the prayer occurs again in so many words in Psalms
119:124,139, and the same longing conics out near the close of the
Psalm in Psalms
119:171 -- "My lips shall utter praise when thou hast taught me
thy statutes."
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
12. Blessed art thou, O Lord: teach me thy statutes. This
verse contains a prayer, with the reason of the prayer. The prayer is,
"Teach me thy statutes"; the reason, moving him to seek this, ariseth
of a consideration of that infinite good which is in God. He is a blessed God,
the fountain of all felicity, without whom no welfare or happiness can be to
the creature. And for this cause David earnestly desiring to be in fellowship
and communion with God, which he knows none can attain unto unless he be taught
of God to know God's way and walk in it; therefore, I say, he prayeth the more
earnestly that the Lord would teach him his statutes. Oh that we also could
wisely consider this, that our felicity stands in fellowship with God. William
Cowper.
Verse
12. In this verse we have two things,
Again,
-- Teach me that I may know wherein to seek my blessedness and happiness, even
in thy blessed self; and that I may know how to come by the enjoyment of thee,
so that I may be blessed in thee. Further, -- Thou art blessed originally, the
Fountain of all blessing; thy blessedness is an everlasting fountain, a full
fountain; always pouring out blessedness: O, let me have this blessing from
thee, this drop from the fountain. William Wisheart, in "Theologia, or,
Discourses of God," 1716.
Verse
12. Since God is blessed, we cannot but desire to learn his
ways. If we see any earthly being happy, we have a great desire to learn out
his course, as thinking by it we might be happy also. Every one would sail with
that man's wind who prospereth; though in earthly things it holdeth not alway:
yet a blessed God cannot by any way of his bring to other than blessedness.
Thus, he who is blessedness itself, he will be ready to communicate his ways to
other: the most excellent things are most communicative. Paul Bayne.
Verse
12. Teach me. He had Nathan, he had priests to instruct him,
himself was a prophet; but all their teaching was nothing without God's
blessing, and therefore he prays, "Teach me." William Nicholson.
Verse
12. Teach me. These words convey more than the simple
imparting of knowledge, for he said before he had such, when he said he hid
God's words in his heart; and in Ps 119:7 he said he "had learned the
judgments of his justice": it includes grace to observe his law. Robert
Bellarmine, 1542-1621.
Verse
12. Teach me. If this were practised now, to join prayer with
hearing, that when we offer ourselves to be taught of men, we would there with
send up prayer to God, before preaching, in time of preaching and after
preaching, we would soon prove more learned and religious than we are. William
Cowper.
Verse
12. Teach me thy statutes. Whoever reads this Psalm with
attention must observe in it one great characteristic, and that is, how
decisive are its statements that in keeping the commandments of God nothing can
be done by human strength; but that it is he who must create the will for the
performance of such duty. The Psalmist entreats the Lord to open his eyes that
he may behold the wondrous things of the law, to teach him his statutes, to
remove from him the way of lying, to incline his heart unto his testimonies,
and not to covetousness, to turn away his eyes from beholding vanity, and not
to take the word of truth utterly out of his mouth. Each of these petitions
shows how deeply impressed he was of his entire helplessness as regarded
himself, and how completely dependent upon God he felt himself for any
advancement he could hope to make in the knowledge of the truth. All his
studies in the divine law, all his aspirations after holiness of life, he was
well assured could never meet with any measure of success, except by the grace
of God preventing and cooperating, implanting in him a right desire, and acting
as an infallible guide, whereby alone he would be enabled to arrive at the propel
sense of Holy Scripture, as welt as to correct principles of action in his
daily walk before God and man. George Phillips, 1846.
Verse
12. Teach me thy statutes. If it be asked wily the Psalmist
entreats to be taught, when he has just before been declaring his knowledge,
the answer is that he seeks instruction as to the practical working of those
principles which he has learnt theoretically. Michael Ayguan (1416), in Neale
and Littledale.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
12. -- The blessedness of God, and the mode of entering into it.
Verse
12. --
Verse
12. --
(a) God doth
teach us outwardly; by his ordinances, by the
ministry of men.
(b) Inwardly; by the inspiration and work of the Holy
Ghost.
Verse
12. -- Desire for Divine Teaching excited by the Recognition of
Divine Blessedness.
EXPOSITION
Verse
13. With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth. The
taught one of Psalms
119:12 is here a teacher himself. What we learn in secret we are to
proclaim upon the housetops. So had the Psalmist done. As much as he had known
he had spoken. God has revealed many of his judgments by his mouth, that is to
say, by a plain and open revelation; these it is out duty to repeat, becoming,
as it were, so many exact echoes of his one infallible voice. There are
judgments of God which are a great deep, which he does not reveal, and with
these it will be wise for us not to intermeddle. What the Lord has veiled it
would be presumption for us to uncover; but, on the other hand, what the Lord
has revealed it would be shameful for us to conceal. It is a great comfort to a
Christian in time of trouble when in looking back upon his past life he can
claim to have done his duty by the word of God. To have been, like Noah, a
preacher of righteousness, is a great joy when the floods are rising, and the
ungodly world is about to be destroyed. Lips which have been used in
proclaiming God's statutes are sure to be acceptable when pleading God's
promises. If we have had such regard to that which cometh out of God's mouth
that we have published it far and wide, we may rest quite as assured that God
will have respect unto the prayers which come out of our mouths.
It
will be an effectual method of cleansing a young man's way if he addicts
himself continually to preaching the gospel. He cannot go far wrong in judgment
whose whole soul is occupied in setting forth the judgments of the Lord. By
teaching we learn; by training the tongue to holy speech we master the whole
body; by familiarity with the divine procedure we are made to delight in
righteousness; and thus in a threefold manner our way is cleansed by our
proclaiming the way of the Lord.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
13. With my lips have I declared, etc. Above all, be careful
to talk of that to others which you do daily learn yourself, and out of the
abundance of your heart speak of good things unto men. Richard Greenham.
Verse
13. Having hid the purifying word in his heart, the Psalmist
will declare it with his lips; and as it is so pure throughout, he will declare
all in it, without exception. When the fountain of the heart is purified, the
streams from the lips will be pure also. The declaring lips of the Psalmist are
here placed in antithesis to the mouth of Jehovah, by which the judgments were
originally pronounced. F. G. Marchant.
Verse
13. As the consciousness of having communicated our knowledge and
our spiritual gifts is a means of encouragement to seek a greater measure,
so it is an evidence of the sincerity and fruitfulness of what knowledge we
have: Teach me thy statutes. With my lips have I declared all the judgments of
thy mouth. David Dickson.
Verse
13. With my lips, etc. The tongue is a most excellent member
of the body, being well used to the glory of God and the edification of others;
and yet it cannot pronounce without help of the lips. The Lord hath made the
body of man with such marvellous wisdom, that no member of it can say to
another, I have no need of thee; but such is man's dulness, that he observes
not how useful unto him is the smallest member in the body, till it be taken
from him. If our lips were clasped for a time, and our tongue thus shut up, we
would esteem it a great mercy to have it loosed again; as that cripple, when he
found the use of his feet, leaped for joy and glorified God. William Cowper.
Verse
13. Declared all the judgments. He says in another place (Psalms 36:6),
"Thy judgments are like a great deep." As the apostle says (Romans
11:33-34), "O the depth of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how
unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out. For who hath
known the mind of the Lord?" If the judgments are unsearchable, how then
says the prophet, "I have declared all the judgments of thy mouth"?
We answer, -- peradventure there are judgments of God which are not the
judgments of his mouth, but of his heart and hand only.
We
make a distinction, for we have no fear that the sacred Scripture weakens
itself by contradictions. It has not said, The judgments of his mouth are a
great deep; but "Thy judgments." Neither has the apostle said, The
unsearchable judgments of his mouth: but "His unsearchable judgments."
We may regard the judgments of God, then, as those hidden ones which he has not
revealed to us; but the judgments of his mouth, those which he has made known,
and has spoken by the mouth of the prophets. Ambrose, 340-397.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
13. -- Speech fitly employed. It is occupied with a choice subject,
a full subject, a subject profitable to men, and glorifying to God.
EXPOSITION
Verse
14. I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies. Delight in the
word of God is a sure proof that it has taken effect upon the heart, and so is
cleansing the life. The Psalmist not only says that he does rejoice, but that
he has rejoiced. For years it had been his joy and bliss to give his soul to
the teaching of the word. His rejoicing had not only arisen out of the word of
God, but out of the practical characteristics of it. The Way was as dear to him
as the Truth and the Life. There was no picking and choosing with David, or if
indeed he did make a selection, he chose the most practical first.
As
much as in all riches. He compared his intense satisfaction with God's will
with that of a man who possesses large and varied estates, and the heart to
enjoy them. David knew the riches that come of sovereignty and which grow out
of conquest; he valued the wealth which proceeds from labour, or is gotten by
inheritance: he knew "all riches." The gracious king had been glad to
see the gold and silver poured into his treasury that he might devote vast
masses of it to the building of the Temple of Jehovah upon Mount Zion. He
rejoiced in all sorts of riches consecrated and laid up for the noblest uses,
and yet the way of God's word had given him more pleasure than even these.
Observe that his joy was personal, distinct, remembered, and abundant. Wonder
not that in the previous verse he glories in having spoken much of that which
he had so much enjoyed: a man may well talk of that which is his delight.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
14. I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, etc. The
Psalmist saith not only, "I have rejoiced in thy testimonies," but,
"in the way of thy testimonies." Way is one of the words by which the
law is expressed. God's laws are ways that lead us to God; and so it may be
taken here, "the way which thy testimonies point out, and call me
unto"; or else his own practice, as a man's course is called his way; his
delight was not in speculation or talk, but in obedience and practice: "in
the way of thy testimonies." He tells us the degree of his joy, as much as
in all riches: "as much," not to show the equality of these things,
as if we should have the same affection for the world as for the word of God;
but "as much," because we have no higher comparison. This is that
which worldlings dote upon, and delight in; now as much as they rejoice in
worldly possessions, so much do I rejoice in the way of thy testimonies. For I
suppose David doth not compare his own delight in the word, with his own
delight in wealth; but his own choice and delight, with the delight and choice
of others. If he had spoken of himself both in the one respect and in the
other, the expression was very high. David who was called to a crown, and in a
capacity of enjoying much in the world, gold, silver, land, goods, largeness of
territory, and a compound of all that which all men jointly, and all men
severally do possess; yet was more pleased in the holiness of God's ways, than
in all the world: "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the
whole world, and lose his own soul?" (Mark 8:36).
Thomas Manton.
Verse
14. The way of thy testimonies. The testimony of God is his
word, for it testifies his will; the "way" of his testimony is the
practice of his word, and doing of that which he hath declared to be his will,
and wherein he hath promised to show us his love. David found not this
sweetness in hearing, reading, and professing the word only; but in practising
of it: and in very deed, the only cause why we find not the comfort that is in
the word of God is that we practise it not by walking in the way thereof. It is
true, at the first it is bitter to nature, which loves carnal liberty, to
render itself as captive to the word: laboriosa virtutis via, and much pains
must be taken before the heart be subdued; but when it is once begun, it
renders such joy as abundantly recompenses all the former labour and grief.
William Cowper.
Verse
14. Riches are acquired with difficulty, enjoyed with
trembling, and lost with bitterness. Bernard, 1091-1157.
Verse
14. A poor, good woman said, in time of persecution, when
they took away the Christian's Bibles, "I cannot part with my Bible; I
know not how to live without it." When a gracious soul has heard a
profitable sermon, he says, "Methinks it does me good at heart; it is the
greatest nourishment I have": I have rejoiced in the way of thy
testimonies, as much as in all riches. Oliver Heywood, 1629-1702.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
14. -- Practical religion, the source of a comfort surpassing riches.
It gives a man ease of mind, independence of carriage, weight of influence, and
other matters supposed to arise out of wealth.
Verse
14. --
2.. The rejoicing
in that subject.
(a) In its
inward peace.
(b) In its external consequences.
Verse
14. -- The two scales of the balance. Whatever riches are good for,
God's testimonies are good for.
EXPOSITION
Verse
15. I will meditate in thy precepts. He who has an inward delight in
anything will not long withdraw his mind from it. As the miser often returns to
look upon his treasure, so does the devout believer by frequent meditation turn
over the priceless wealth which he has discovered in the book of the Lord. To
some men meditation is a task; to the man of cleansed way it is a joy. He who
has meditated will meditate; he who saith, "I have rejoiced," is the
same who adds, "I will meditate." No spiritual exercise is more
profitable to the soul than that of devout meditation; why are many of us so
exceeding slack in it? It is worthy of observation that the preceptory part of
God's word was David's special subject of meditation, and this was the more
natural because the question was still upon his mind as to how a young man
should cleanse his way. Practical godliness is vital godliness.
And
have respect unto thy ways, that is to say, I will think much about them so as
to know what thy ways are; and next; I will think much of them so as to have
thy ways in great reverence and high esteem. I will see what thy ways are
towards me that I may be filled with reverence, gratitude, and love; and then I
will observe what are those ways which thou hast prescribed for me, thy ways in
which thou wouldest have me follow thee; these I would watch carefully that I
may become obedient, and prove myself to be a true servant of such a Master.
Note
how the verses grow more inward as they proceed: from the speech of Psalms 119:13
we advanced to the manifested joy of Psalms 119:14,
and now we come to the secret meditation of the happy spirit. The richest
graces are those which dwell deepest.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
15. I will meditate in thy precepts, etc. All along David had
shown what he had done; now, what he will do. Psalms 119:10,
"I have sought"; Psalms 119:11,
"I have hid"; Ps 119:12, "I have declared"; Psalms 119:14,
"I have rejoiced." Now in the two following verses he doth engage
himself to set his mark towards God for time to come. "I will meditate in
thy precepts," etc. We do not rest upon anything already done and past,
but continue the same diligence unto the end. Here is David's hearty resolution
and purpose, to go on for time to come. Many will say, Thus I have done when I
was young, or had more leisure and rest; in that I have meditated and
conferred. You must continue still in a holy course. To begin to build, and
leave unfinished, is an argument of folly. Thomas Manton.
Verse
15. I will meditate in thy precepts. Not only of thy precepts
or concerning them, but in them, while engaged in doing them. Joseph Addison
Alexander.
Verse
15. I will. See this "I will" repeated again and
again (Psalms
119:48,78). In meditation it is hard (sometimes at least) to take
off our thoughts from the pre-engagements of other subjects, and apply them to
the duty. But it is harder to become duly serious in acting in it, harder yet
to dive and ponder; and hardest of all to continue in an abode of thoughts, and
dwell long enough, and after views to make reviews, to react the same thinking,
to taste things over and over, when the freshness and newness is past, when by
long thinking the things before us seem old. We are ready to grow dead and flat
in a performance except we stir up ourselves often in it. It is hard to hold on
and hold up, unless we hold up a wakeful eye, a warm affection, a strong and
quick repeated resolution; yea, and without often lifting up the soul to Christ
for fresh recruits of strength to hold on. David, that so excellent artist in
this way, saith he will meditate, he often saith he will. Doubtless, he not
only said "I will" when he was to make his entrance into this hard
work; but likewise for continuance in it, to keep up his heart from flagging,
till he well ended his work. It is not the digging into the golden mine, but
the digging long, that finds and fetches up the treasure. It is not the diving
into the sea, but staying longer, that gets the greater quantity of pearls. To
draw out the golden thread of meditation to its due length till the spiritual
ends be attained, this is a rare and happy attainment. Nathanael Ranew, 1670.
Verse
15. I will meditate. How much our "rejoicing in the
testimonies" of God would be increased by a more habitual meditation upon
them! This is, however, a resolution which the carnal mind can never be brought
to make, and to which the renewed mind through remaining depravity is often sadly
reluctant. But it is a blessed employment, and will repay a thousand fold the
difficulty of engaging the too backward heart in the duty. Charles Bridges.
Verse
15. Meditation is of that happy influence, it makes the mind
wise, the affections warm, the soul fat and flourishing, and the conversation
greatly fruitful. Nathanael Ranew.
Verse
15. Meditate in, thy precepts. Study the Scriptures. If a
famous man do but write an excellent book, O how we do long to see it! Or
suppose I could tell you that there is in France or Germany a book that God
himself wrote, I am confident men may draw all the money out of your purses to
get that book. You have it by you: O that you would study it! When the eunuch
was riding in his chariot, he was studying the prophet Isaiah. He was not angry
when Philip came and, as we would have thought, asked him a bold question:
"Understandest thou what thou readest?" (Acts 8:27-30);
he was glad of it. One great end of the year of release was, that the law might
be read (Deuteronomy
31:9-13). It is the wisdom of God that speaks in the Scripture (Luke 11:49);
therefore, whatever else you mind, really and carefully study the Bible. Samuel
Jacomb (1629-1659), in The Morning Exercises.
Verse
15. I will have respect. The one is the fruit of the other:
"I will meditate"; and then, "I will have respect."
Meditation is in order to practice; and if it be right, it will beget a respect
to the ways of God. We do not meditate that we may rest in contemplation, but
in order to obedience: "Thou shalt meditate in the book of the law day and
night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written
therein" (Joshua
1:8). Thomas Manton.
Verse
15. And have respect unto thy ways. -- As an archer hath to
his mark. John Trapp.
Verse
15. Respect unto thy ways. It is not without a peculiar
pleasure, when travelling, that we contemplate the splendid buildings, the
gardens, the fortifications, or the fine art galleries. But what are all these
sights to the contemplation of the ways of God, which he himself has traversed,
or has marked out for man? And what practical need there is that we consider
the way, for else we shall be as a sleepy coachman, not carefully observant of
the road, who may soon upset himself and his passengers. Martin Geier.
Verse
15. Thy ways. David's second internal action concerning the
word is consideration; where mark well, how by a most proper speech he calls
the word of God the ways of God; partly, because by it God comes near unto men,
revealing himself to them, who otherwise could not be known of them; for he
dwells in light inaccessible; and partly, because the word is the way which
leads men to God. So then, because by it God cometh down to men, and by it men
go up unto God, and know how to get access to him, therefore is his word called
his way. William Cowper.
Verse
15-16. The two last verses of this section present to us a threefold
internal action of David's soul toward the word of God; first, meditation;
secondly, consideration; thirdly, delectation: every one of these proceeds from
another, and they mutually strengthen one another. Meditation brings the word
to the mind; consideration views it and looks at length into it, whereof is
bred delectation. That which comes into the mind, were it never so good, if it
be not considered, goes as it came, leaving neither instruction nor joy; but
being once presented by meditation, if it be pondered by consideration, then it
breeds delectation, which is the perfection of godliness, in regard of the
internal action. William Cowper.
EXPOSITION
Verse
16. I will delight myself in thy statutes. In this verse delight
follows meditation, of which it is the true flower and outgrowth. When we have
no other solace, but are quite alone, it will be a glad thing for the heart to
turn upon itself, and sweetly whisper, "I will delight myself. What if no
minstrel sings in the hall, I will delight myself. If the time of the singing
of birds has not yet arrived, and the voice of the turtle is not heard in our
land, yet I will delight myself." This is the choicest and noblest of all
rejoicing; in fact, it is the good part which can never be taken from us; but
there is no delighting ourselves with anything below that which God intended to
be the soul's eternal satisfaction. The statute book is intended to be the joy
of every loyal subject. When the believer once peruses the sacred pages his
soul burns within him as he turns first to one and then to another of the royal
words of the great King, words full and firm, immutable and divine.
I
will not forget thy word. Men do not readily forget that which they have
treasured up, that which they have meditated on (Psalms 119:15),
and that which they have often spoken of (Psalms 119:13).
Yet since we have treacherous memories it is well to bind them well with the
knotted cord of "I will not forget."
Note
how two "I wills" follow upon two "I haves." We may not
promise for the future if we have altogether failed in the past; but where
grace has enabled us to accomplish something, we may hopefully expect that it
will enable us to do more.
It
is curious to observe how this verse is moulded upon Psalms 119:8:
the changes are rung on the same words, but the meaning is quite different, and
there is no suspicion of a vain repetition. The same thought is never given
over again in this Psalm; they are dullards who think so. Something in the
position of each verse affects its meaning, so that even where its words are
almost identical with those of another the sense is delightfully varied. If we
do not see an infinite variety of fine shades of thought in this Psalm we may
conclude that we are colour blind; if we do not hear many sweet harmonies, we
may judge our ears to be dull of hearing, but we may not suspect the Spirit of
God of monotony.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
16. I will delight myself, etc. He protested before that he
had great delight in the testimonies of God: now he saith he will still delight
in them. A man truly godly, the more good he doth, the more he desires,
delights and resolves to do. Temporisers, on the contrary, who have but a show
of godliness, and the love of it is not rooted in their heart, how soon are
they weary of well doing! If they have done any small external duty of
religion, they rest as if they were fully satisfied, and there needed no more
good to be done by them. True religion is known by hungering and thirsting
after righteousness, by perseverance in well doing, and an earnest desire to do
more.
But
to this he adds that he will not forget the word. The graces of the Spirit do
every one fortify and strengthen another; for ye see meditation helps
consideration. Who can consider of that whereof he thinks not? Consideration
again breeds delectation; and as here ye see, delectation strengthens memory:
because he delights in the word he will not forget the word; and memory again
renews meditation. Thus every grace of the Spirit helps another; and by the
contrary, one of them neglected, works a wonderful decay of the remnant.
William Cowper.
Verse
16 I will delight myself When righteousness, from a matter of constraint
becomes a matter of choice, it instantly changes its whole nature, and rises to
a higher moral rank than before. The same God whom it is impossible to
move by law's authority, moves of his own proper and original inclination
in the very path of the law's righteousness. And so, we, in proportion as we
are like unto God, are alive to the virtues of that same law, to the terror of
whose severities we are altogether dead. We are no longer under a schoolmaster;
but obedience is changed from a thing of force into a thing of freeness. It is
moulded to a higher state and character than before. We are not driven to it by
the God of authority. We are drawn to it by the regards of a now willing heart
to all moral and all spiritual excellence. Thomas Chalmers, 1780-1847.
Verse
16. Meditation must not be a dull, sad, and dispirited thing:
not a driving like the chariots of the Egyptians when their wheels were taken
off, but like the chariots of Amminadib (Song of Solomon 6:12)
that ran swiftly. So let us pray, -- Lord, in meditation make me like the
chariots of Amminadib, that my swift running may evidence my delight in
meditating. Holy David makes delight such an ingredient or assistant here, that
sometimes he calls the exercise of meditation by the name of
"delight," speaking in the foregoing verse of this meditation,
"I will meditate of thy precepts," and in Psalms 119:16,
I will delight myself in thy statutes; which is the same with meditation, only
with superadding the excellent qualification due meditation should have; the
name of delight is given to meditation because of its noble concomitant -- holy
joy and satisfaction. Nathanael Ranew.
Verse
16. Delight myself. The word is very emphatic: [f[tfa,
eshtaasha, I will skip about and jump for joy. Adam Clarke.
Verse
16. I will not forget. Delight prevents forgetfulness: the
mind will run upon that which the heart delighteth in; and the heart is where
the treasure is (Matthew
6:21). Worldly men that are intent upon carnal interests, forget the
word, because it is not their delight. If anything displeases us, we are glad
if we can forget it; it is some release from an inconvenience, to take off our
thoughts from it; but it doubles the contentment of a thing that we are
delighted in, to remember it, and call it to mind. In the outward school, if a
scholar by his own averseness from learning, or by the severity and imprudence
of his master, hath no delight in his book, all that he learns is lost and
forgotten, it goeth in at one ear, and out at the other: but this is the true
art of memory, to cause them to delight in what they learn. Such instructions
as we take in with sweetness, they stick with us, and run in our minds night
and day. So saith David here, I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not
forget thy word. Thomas Manton.
Verse
16. Forget. I never yet heard of a covetous old man, who had
forgotten where he had buried his treasure. Cicero de Senectute.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
16. --
EXPOSITION
Verse
17-24. In this section the trials of the way appear to be manifest to
the Psalmist's mind, and he prays accordingly for the help which will meet his
case. As in the last eight verses he prayed as a youth newly come into the
world, so here he pleads as a servant and a pilgrim, who growingly finds
himself to be a stranger in an enemy's country. His appeal is to God alone, and
his prayer is specially direct and personal. He speaks with the Lord as a man
speaketh with his friend.
Verse
17. Deal bountifully with thy servant. He takes pleasure in owning
his duty to God, and counts it the joy of his heart to be in the service of his
God. Out of his condition he makes a plea, for a servant has some hold upon a
master; but in this case the wording of the plea shuts out the idea of legal
claim, since he seeks bounty rather than reward. Let my wage be according to
thy goodness, and not according to my merit. Reward me according to the
largeness of thy liberality, and not according to the scantiness of my service.
The hired servants of our Father have all of them bread enough and to spare,
and he will not leave one of his household to perish with hunger,. If the Lord
will only treat us as he treats the least of his servants we may be well
content, for all his true servants are sons, princes of the blood, heirs of
life eternal. David felt that his great needs required a bountiful provision,
and that his little desert would never earn such a supply; hence he must throw
himself upon God's grace, and look for the great things he needed from the
great goodness of the Lord. He begs for a liberality of grace, after the
fashion of one who prayed, "O Lord, thou must give me great mercy or no
mercy, for little mercy will not serve my turn."
That
I may live. Without abundant mercy he could not live. It takes great grace to
keep a saint alive. Even life is a gift of divine bounty to such undeserving
ones as we are. Only the Lord can keep us in being, and it is mighty grace
which preserves to us the life which we have forfeited by our sin. It is right
to desire to live, it is meet to pray to live, it is just to ascribe prolonged
life to the favour of God. Spiritual life, without which this natural life is
mere existence, is also to be sought of the Lord's bounty, for it is the noblest
work of divine grace, and in it the bounty of God is gloriously displayed. The
Lord's servants cannot serve him in their own strength, for they cannot even
live unless his grace abounds towards them.
And
keep thy word. This should be the rule, the object, and the joy of our life. We
may not wish to live and sin; but we may pray to live and keep God's word.
Being is a poor thing if it be not well being. Life is only worth keeping while
we can keep God's word; indeed, there is no life in the highest sense apart
from holiness: life while we break the law is but a name to live.
The
prayer of this verse shows that it is only through divine bounty or grace that
we can live as faithful servants of God, and manifest obedience to his
commands. If we give God service it must be because he gives us grace. We work
for him because he works in us. Thus we may make a chain out of the opening
verses of the three first octaves of this Psalm: Psalms 119:1
blesses the holy man, Psalms
119:9 asks how we can attain to such holiness, and Psalms 119:17
traces such holiness to its secret source, and shows us how to seek the
blessing. The more a man prizes holiness and the more earnestly he strives
after it, the more will he be driven towards God for help therein, for he will
plainly perceive that his own strength is insufficient, and that he cannot even
so much as live without the bounteous assistance of the Lord his God.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
17. Deal bountifully with thy servant, etc. These words might
be -- Render unto thy servant, or upon thy servant. A deep signification seems
to be here involved. The holy man will take the responsibility of being dealt
with, not certainly as a mere sinful man, but as a man placing himself in the
way appointed for reconciliation. Such we find to be the actual case, as you
read in Psalms
119:16, in the Part immediately preceding -- "I will delight
myself in thy statutes; I will not forget thy word." Now, the statutes of
the Lord referred preeminently to the sacrifices for sin, and the cleansing for
purifications that were prescribed in the Law. You have to conceive of the man
of God as being in the midst of the Levitical ritual, for which you find him
making all preparations: 1 Chronicles 22-24. Placing himself, therefore, upon
these, he would pray the Lord to deal with him according to them; or, as we, in
New Testament language, would say, -- placing himself on the great atonement,
the believer would pray the Lord to deal with him according to his standing in
Christ, which would be in graciousness or bounty. For if the Lord be just to
condemn without the atonement, he is also just to pardon through the atonement;
yea, he is just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. John
Stephen.
Verse
17. Deal bountifully, etc. O Lord, I am constantly resolved
to obey and adhere to thy known will all the days of my life: O make me those
gracious returns which thou hast promised to all such. Henry Hammond.
Verse
17. Deal bountifully... that I may keep thy word, etc. A
faithful servant should count his by past service richly rewarded by being
employed yet more in further service, as this prayer teacheth; for David
entreats that he may live and keep God's word. David Dickson.
Verse
17. Bountifully. And indeed, remembering what a poor, weak,
empty, and helpless creature the most experienced believer is in himself, it is
not to be conceived that anything short of a bountiful supply of grace can
answer the emergency. Charles Bridges.
Verse
17. Thy servant. That he styles himself so frequently the
servant of God notes the reverent estimation he had of his God, in that he
accounts it more honourable to be called the servant of God who was above him
than the king of a mighty, ancient, and most famous people that were under him.
And indeed, since the angels are styled his ministers, shall men think it a
shame to serve him? and especially since he of his goodness hath made them our
servants, "ministering spirits" to us? Should we not joyfully serve
him who hath made all his creatures to serve us, and exempted us from the
service of all other, and hath only bound us to serve himself? William Cowper.
Verse
17. That I may live. As a man must "live" in order
to work, the first petition is, that God would "deal with his
servant," according to the measure of grace and mercy, enabling him to
"live" the life of faith, and strengthening him by the Spirit of
might in the inner man. George Horne, 1730-1792.
Verse
17. That I may live, and keep thy word. David joins here two
together, which whosoever disjoins cannot be blessed. He desires to live; but
so to live that he may keep God's word. To a reprobate man, who lives a rebel
to his Maker, it had been good (as our Saviour said of Judas) that he had never
been born. The shorter his life is, the fewer are his sins and the smaller his
judgments. But to an elect man, life is a great benefit; for by it he goes from
election to glorification, by the way of sanctification. The longer he lives,
the more good he doth, to the glory of God, the edification of others, and
confirmation of his own salvation; making it sure to himself by wrestling and
victory in temptations, and perseverance in well doing. William Cowper.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Outlines
Upon Keywords of the Psalm, By Pastor C. A. Davis.
Verse
17-24. -- Divine bounties desired. Life, for godly service (Psalms 119:17).
Illumination (Psalms
119:18). Guidance homeward for the stranger ("thy
commandments") (Psalms
119:19-20), and, glancing at the proud who err from this guidance (Psalms 119:21),
the Psalmist prays for removal of the "reproach" entailed by fidelity
to God (Psalms
119:22-24).
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
17. --
Verse
17. -- We are here taught,
EXPOSITION
Verse
18. Open thou mine eyes. This is a part of the bountiful dealing
which he has asked for; no bounty is greater than that which benefits our
person, our soul, our mind, and benefits it in so important an organ as the
eye. It is far better to have the eyes opened than to be placed in the midst of
the noblest prospects and remain blind to their beauty.
That
l may behold wondrous things out of thy law. Some men can perceive no wonders
in the gospel, but David felt sure that there were glorious things in the law:
he had not half the Bible, but he prized it more than some men prize the whole.
He felt that God had laid up great bounties in his word, and he begs for power
to perceive, appreciate, and enjoy the same. We need not so much that God
should give us more benefits, as the ability to see what he has given.
The
prayer implies a conscious darkness, a dimness of spiritual vision, a
powerlessness to remove that defect, and a full assurance that God can remove
it. It shows also that the writer knew that there were vast treasures in the
word which he had not yet fully seen, marvels which he had not yet beheld,
mysteries which he had scarcely believed. The Scriptures teem with marvels; the
Bible is wonder land; it not only relates miracles, but it is itself a world of
wonders. Yet what are these to closed eyes? And what man can open his own eyes,
since he is born blind? God himself must reveal revelation to each heart.
Scripture needs opening, but not one half so much as our eyes do: the veil is
not on the book, but on our hearts. What perfect precepts, what precious
promises, what priceless privileges are neglected by us because we wander among
them like blind men among the beauties of nature, and they are to us as a
landscape shrouded in darkness!
The
Psalmist had a measure of spiritual perception, or he would never have known
that there were wondrous things to be seen, nor would he have prayed,
"open thou mine eyes"; but what he had seen made him long for a
clearer and wider sight. This longing proved the genuineness of what he possessed,
for it is a test mark of the true knowledge of God that it causes its possessor
to thirst for deeper knowledge.
David's
prayer in this verse is a good sequel to Psalms 119:10,
which corresponds to it in position in its octave: there he said, "O let
me not wander," and who so apt to wander as a blind man? and there, too,
he declared, "with my whole heart have I sought thee," and hence the
desire to see the object of his search. Very singular are the interlacings of
the boughs of the huge tree of this Psalm, which has many wonders even within
itself if we have opened eyes to mark them.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
18. Open thou mine eyes. Who is able to know the secret and hidden
things of the Scriptures unless Christ opens his eyes? Certainly, no one; for
"No man knoweth the Son but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father
save the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him." Wherefore, as
suppliants, we draw near to him, saying, "Open thou mine eyes," etc.
The words of God cannot be kept except they be known; neither can they be known
unless the eyes shall be opened, - - hence it is written, "That I may live
and keep thy word"; and then, "Open thou mine eyes." Paulus
Palanterius.
Verse
18. Open thou mine eyes. "What wilt thou that I shall do
unto thee?" was the gracious inquiry of the loving Jesus to a poor longing
one on earth. "Lord! that I may receive my sight," was the instant
answer. So here, in the same spirit, and to the same compassionate and loving
Lord, does the Psalmist pray, "Open thou mine eyes"; and both in this
and the preceding petition, "Deal bountifully with thy servant," we
see at once who prompted the prayer. Barton Bouchier.
Verse
18. Open thou mine eyes. If it be asked, seeing David was a
regenerate man, and so illumined already, how is it that he prays for the
opening of his eyes? The answer is easy: that our regeneration is wrought by
degrees. The beginnings of light in his mind made him long for more; for no man
can account of sense, but he who hath it. The light which he had caused him to
see his own darkness; and therefore, feeling his wants, he sought to have them
supplied by the Lord. William Cowper.
Verse
18. Open thou mine eyes. The saints do not complain of the
obscurity of the law, but of their own blindness. The Psalmist doth not say,
Lord make a plainer law, but, Lord open mine eyes: blind men might as well
complain of God, that he doth not make a sun whereby they might see. The word is
"a light that shineth in a dark place" (2 Peter 1:19).
There is no want of light in the Scripture, but there is a veil of darkness
upon our hearts; so that if in this clear light we cannot see, the defect is
not in the word, but in ourselves.
The
light which they beg is not anything besides the word. When God is said to
enlighten us, it is not that we should expect new revelations, but that we may
see the wonders in his word, or get a clear sight of what is already revealed.
Those that vent their own dreams under the name of the Spirit, and divine
light, they do not give you mysteria, but monstra, portentous opinions; they do
not show you the wondrous things of God's law, but the prodigies of their own
brain; unhappy abortives, that die as soon as they come to light. "To the
law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is
because there is no light in them" (Isaiah 8:20).
The light which we have is not without the word, but by the word.
The
Hebrew phrase signifieth "unveil mine eyes." There is a double work,
negative and positive. There is a taking away of the veil, and an infusion of
light. Paul's cure of his natural blindness is a fit emblem of our cure of
spiritual blindness: "Immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been
scales: and he received sight forthwith" (Acts 9:18).
First, the scales fall from our eyes, and then we receive sight. Thomas Manton.
Verse
18. The Psalmist asks for no new revelation. It was in God's
hand to give this, and he did it in his own time to those ancient believers;
but to all of them at every time there was enough given for the purposes of
life. The request is not for more, but that he may employ well that which he
possesses. Still better does such a form of request suit us, to whom life and
immortality have been brought to light in Christ. If we do not find sufficient
to exercise our thoughts with constant freshness, and our soul with the
grandest and most attractive subjects, it is because we want the eye sight. It
is of great importance for us to be persuaded of this truth, that there are
many things in the Bible still to be found out, and that, if we come in the
right spirit, we may be made discoverers of some of them. These things disclose
themselves, not so much to learning, though that is not to be despised, as to
spiritual sight, to a humble, loving heart.
And
this at least is certain, that we shall always find things that are new to
ourselves. However frequently we traverse the field, we shall perceive some
fresh golden vein turning up its glance to us, and we shall wonder how our eyes
were formerly holden that we did not see it. It was all there waiting for us,
and we feel that more is waiting, if we had the vision. There is a great Spirit
in it that holds deeper and even deeper converse with our souls.
This
further may be observed, that the Psalmist asks for no new faculty. The eyes
are there already, and they need only to be opened. It is not the bestowal of a
new and supernatural power which enables a man to read the Bible to profit, but
the quickening of a power he already possesses. In one view it is supernatural,
as God is the Author of the illumination by a direct act of his Spirit; in
another it is natural, as it operates through the faculties existing in a man's
soul. God gives "the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of
Christ, that the eyes of man's understanding may be enlightened." (Eph
1:17) It is important to remember this also, for here lies our responsibility,
that we have the faculty, and here also is the point at which we must begin
action with the help of God. A man will never grow into the knowledge of God's
word by idly waiting for some new gift of discernment, but by diligently using
that which God has already bestowed upon him, and using at the same time all
other helps that lie within his reach. There are men and books that seem,
beyond others, to have the power of aiding insight. All of us have felt it in
the contact of some affinity of nature which makes them our best helpers; the
kindred clay upon the eyes by which the great Enlightener removes our blindness
(John
9:6). Let us seek for such, and if we find them let us employ them
without leaning on them. Above all, let us give our whole mind in patient,
loving study to the book itself, and where we fail, at any essential part, God
will either send his evangelist Philip to our aid (Acts 8:26-40)
or instruct us himself. But it is only to patient, loving study that help is
given. God could have poured all knowledge into us by easy inspiration, but it
is by earnest search alone that it can become the treasure of the soul.
But
if so, it may still be asked what is the meaning of this prayer, and why does
the Bible itself insist so often on the indispensable need of the Spirit of God
to teach? Now there is a side here as true as the other, and in no way
inconsistent with it. If prayer without effort would be presumptuous, effort
without prayer would be vain. The great reason why men do not feel the power
and beauty of the Bible is a spiritual one. They do not realize the grand evil
which the Bible has come to cure, and they have not a heart to the blessings
which it offers to bestow. The film of a fallen nature, self maintained, is
upon their eyes while they read: "The eyes of their understanding are
darkened, being alienated from the life of God" (Ephesians 4:18).
All the natural powers will never find the true key to the Bible, till the thoughts
of sin and redemption enter the heart, and are put in the centre of the Book.
It is the part of the Father of lights, by the teaching of his Spirit, to give
this to the soul, and he will, if it humbly approaches him with this request.
Thus we shall study as one might a book with the author at hand, to set forth
the height of his argument, or as one might look on a noble composition, when
the artist breathes into us a portion of his soul, to let us feel the centre of
its harmonies of form and colour. Those who have given to the Bible thought and
prayer will own that these are not empty promises. John Ker, in a Sermon
entitled, "God's Word Suited to Man's Sense of Wonder," 1877.
Verse
18. O let us never forget; that the wonderful things contained in
the divine law can neither be discovered nor relished by the "natural man,"
whose powers of perception and enjoyment are limited in their range to the
objects of time and sense. It is the divine Spirit alone who can lighten the
darkness of our sinful state, and who can enable us to perceive the glory, the
harmony, and moral loveliness which everywhere shine forth in the pages of
revealed truth. John Morison, 1829.
Verse
18. Uncover my eyes and I will look -- wonders out of thy law.
The last clause is a kind of exclamation after his eyes have been uncovered.
This figure is often used to denote inspiration or a special divine
communication. "Out of thy law," i.e., brought out to view, as if
from a place of concealment. Joseph Addison Alexander.
Verse
18. Wondrous things. Many were the signs and miracles which
God wrought in the midst of the people of Israel, which they did not
understand. What was the reason? Moses tells us expressly what if was:
"Yet the Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive and eyes to see, and
ears to hear, unto this day" (Deuteronomy 29:4).
They had sensitive eyes and ears, yea, they had a rational heart or mind; but
they wanted a spiritual ear to hear, a spiritual heart or mind to apprehend and
improve those wonderful works of God; and these they had not, because God had
not given them such eyes, ears, and hearts. Wonders without grace cannot open
the eyes fully; but grace without wonders can. And as man hath not an eye to see
the wonderful works of God spiritually, until it is given; so, much less hath
he an eye to see the wonders of the word of God till it be given him from
above; and therefore David prays, Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold
wondrous things out of thy law. And if the wondrous things of the law are not
much seen till God give an eye, then much less are the wondrous things of the
Gospel. The light of nature shows us somewhat of the Law; but nothing of the
Gospel was ever seen by the light of nature. Many who have seen and admired
some excellencies in the Law could never see, and therefore have derided, that
which is the excellency of the Gospel, till God had opened their heart to
understand. Joseph Caryl, 1602-1673.
Verse
18. "The word is very nigh" unto us; and, holding
in our hand a document that teems with what is wonderful, the sole question is,
"Have we an eye to its marvels, a heart for its mercies?" Here is the
precise use of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit puts nothing new into the Bible; he
only so enlightens and strengthens our faculties, that we can discern and
admire what is there already. It is not the telescope which draws out that rich
sparkling of stars on the blue space, which to the naked eye seem points of
light, and untenanted: it is not the microscope which condenses the business of
a stirring population into the circumference of a drop of water, and clothes
with a thousand tints the scarcely discernible wing of the ephemeral insect.
The stars are shining in their glory, whether or no we have the instruments to
penetrate the azure; and the tiny tenantry are carrying on their usual
concerns, and a rich garniture still forms the covering of the insect, whether
or no the powerful lens has turned for us the atom into a world, and
transformed the almost imperceptible down into the sparkling plumage of the
bird of paradise. Thus the wonderful things are already in the Bible. The
Spirit who indited them at first brings them not as new revelations to the
individual; but, by removing the mists of carnal prejudice, by taking away the
scales of pride and self sufficiency, and by rectifying the will, which causes
the judgment to look at truth through a distorted medium, -- by influencing the
heart, so that the affections shall no longer blind the understanding, -- by
these and other modes, which might be easily enumerated, the Holy Ghost enables
men to recognize what is hid, to perceive beauty and to discover splendour
where all before had appeared without form and comeliness; and thus brings
round the result of the Bible, in putting on the lip the wonderful prayer which
he had himself inspired: Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things
out of thy law. Henry Melvill, 1798- 1871.
Verse
18. The wondrous things seem to be the great things of an eternal
world -- he had turned his enquiring eyes upon the wonders of nature, sun,
moon, and stars, mountains, trees, and rivers. He had seen many of the wonders
of art; but now, he wanted to see the spiritual wonders contained in the Bible.
He wanted to know about God himself in all his majesty, purity, and grace. He
wanted to learn the way of salvation by a crucified Redeemer, and the glory
that is to follow.
Open
mine eyes. -- David was not blind -- his eye was not dim. He could read the
Bible from end to end, and yet he felt that he needed more light. He felt that
he needed to see deeper, to have the eyes of his understanding opened. He felt
that if he had nothing but his own eyes and natural understanding, he would not
discover the wonders which he panted to see. He wanted divine teaching -- the
eye salve of the Spirit; and therefore he would not open the Bible without this
prayer, "Open thou mine eyes." Robert Murray Macheyne, 1813-1843.
Verse
18. Wondrous things. Wherefore useth he this word
"wondrous"? It is as if he would have said, Although the world taketh
the law of God to be but a light thing, and it seemeth to be given but as it
were for simple souls and young children; yet for all that there seemeth such a
wisdom to be in it, as that it surmounts all the wisdom of the world, and that
therein lie hid wonderful secrets. John Calvin.
Verse
18. Thy law. That which is the object of the understanding
prayed for, that in the knowledge whereof the Psalmist would be illuminated, is
hrwt. The word signifies instruction; and being referred unto God, it is his
teaching or instruction of us by the revelation of himself, the same which we
intend by the Scripture. When the books of the Old Testament were completed
they were, for distinction's sake, distributed into hrwt, ~ybwtk, and ~yaybg,
or the "Law," the "Psalms," and the "Prophets," Luke 24:44.
Under that distribution Torah signifies the five books of Moses. But whereas
these books of Moses were, as it were, the foundation of all future revelations
under the Old Testament, which were given in the explication thereof, all the
writings of it were usually called "the Law," Isaiah 8:20.
By the law, therefore, in this place, the Psalmist understands all the books
that were then given unto the church by revelation for the rule of its faith
and obedience. And that by the law, in the Psalms, the written law is intended,
is evident from the first of them, wherein he is declared blessed who
"meditates therein day and night," Ps 1:2; which hath respect unto
the command of reading and meditating on the books thereof in that manner, Joshua 1:8.
That, therefore, which is intended by this word is the entire revelation of the
will of God, given unto the church for the rule of its faith and obedience --
that is, the holy Scripture.
In
this law there are twalpg "wonderful things." alp signifies to be
"wonderful," to be "hidden," to be "great" and
"high;" that which men by the use of reason cannot attain unto or
understand (hence twalpg are things that have such an impression of divine
wisdom and power upon them as that they are justly the object of our
admiration); that which is too hard for us as Deuteronomy 17:8,
rkr $mm alpy yk -- "If a matter be too hard for thee," hid from thee.
And it is the name whereby the miraculous works of God are expressed, Psalms 77:11
78:11. Wherefore, these "wonderful things of the law" are those
expressions and effects of divine wisdom in the Scripture which are above the
natural reason and understanding of men to find out and comprehend. Such are
the mysteries of divine truth in the Scripture, especially because Christ is in
them, whose name is" Wonderful," Isaiah 9:6;
for all the great and marvellous effects of infinite wisdom meet in him. John
Owen, 1616-1683.
Verse
18. Wondrous things. There are promises in God's word that no
man has ever tried, to find. There are treasures of gold and silver in it that
no man has taken the pains to dig for. There are medicines in it for the want
of a knowledge of which hundreds have died. It seems to me like some old
baronial estate that has descended to a man (who lives in a modern house) and
thinks it scarcely worth while to go and look into the venerable mansion. Year
after year passes away and he pays no attention to it, since he has no
suspicion of the valuable treasures it contains, till, at last, some man says
to him, "Have you been up in the country to look at that estate?" He
makes up his mind that he will take a look at it. As he goes through the porch
he is surprised to see the skill that has been displayed in its construction:
he is more and more surprised as he goes through the halls. He enters a large
room, and is astonished as he beholds the wealth of pictures on the walls,
among which are portraits of many of his revered ancestors. He stands in
amazement before them. There is a Titian, there a Raphael, there is a
Correggio, and there is a Giorgione. He says, "I never had any idea of
these before." "Ah," says the steward, "there is many
another thing that you know nothing about in the castle," and he takes him
from room to room and shows carved plate, and wonderful statues, and the man
exclaims, "Here I have been for a score of years the owner of this estate,
and have never before known what things were in it." But no architect ever
conceived of such an estate as God's word, and no artist, or carver, or
sculptor, ever conceived of such pictures, and carved dishes, and statues as
adorn its apartments. It contains treasures that silver, and gold, and precious
stones are not to be mentioned with. Henry Ward Beecher, 1872.
Verse
18. That I may behold wondrous things. The great end of the
Word of God in the Psalmist's time, as now, was practical; but there is a
secondary use here referred to, which is worthy of consideration, -- its power
of meeting man's faculty of wonder. God knows our frame, for he made it, and he
must have adapted the Bible to all its parts. If we can show this, it may be
another token that the book comes from Him who made man... That God has
bestowed upon man the faculty of wonder we all know. It is one of the first and
most constant emotions in our nature. We can see this in children, and in all
whose feelings are still fresh and natural. It is the parent of the desire to
know, and all through life it is urging men to enquire. John Ker.
Verse
18. Wondrous things out of thy law. In 118 we had the
"wondrous" character of redemption; in 119 we have the
"wonders" (Psalms
119:18,27,129), of God's revelation. William Kay, 1871.
Verse
18-19. When I cannot have Moses to tell me the meaning, saith
Saint Augustine, give me that Spirit that thou gavest to Moses. And this is
that which every man that will understand must pray for: this David prayed for;
-- Open thou mine eyes that I may see the wonders of the Law; and (Psalms 119:19)
hide not thy commandments from me. And Christ saith, "If you, being evil,
can give good gifts to your children; how much more shall your heavenly Father
give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" so that then we shall see the
secrets of God. Richard Stock, (1626).
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
18. --
Verse
18. -- The hidden wonders of the gospel. There are many hidden
things in nature; many in our fellow men; so there are many in the Bible. The
things of the Bible are hidden because of the blindness of Man.
(b) of hell, as
its desert;
(c) of One ready to save;
(d) of perfect
pardon;
(e) of God's
love:
(f) of all
sufficient grace;
(g) of heaven.
(a) I cannot
open them.
(b) My dearest
friends cannot.
(c) Only thou
canst. "Lord, I pray thee, now open them."
Many seek to stop such praying. Be like Bartimaeus who
"cried so much the more."
(a) The joy of
a cured blind man when he is about to behold,
for the first time, the beauties of nature.
(b) The joy of
the spiritually healed when they begin
"looking unto Jesus."
(c) The
personal character of the joy: "Open thou mine eyes,
that I may behold." I have hitherto had to see through the
eyes of others. I would depend on other eyes no longer.
The glad anticipation of Job: "Whom I shall see for
myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another." --Frederick G.
Marchant, 1882.
Verse
18. -- God's word suited to man's sense of wonder.
Verse
18. -- Wondrous sights for opened eyes.
EXPOSITION
Verse
19. I am a stranger in the earth. This is meant for a plea. By
divine command men are bound to be kind to strangers, and what God commands in
others he will exemplify in himself. The Psalmist was a stranger for God's
sake, else had he been as much at home as worldlings are: he was not a stranger
to God, but a stranger to the world, a banished man so long as he was out of
heaven. Therefore he pleads,
Hide
not thy commandments from me. If these are gone, what have I else? Since
nothing around me is mine, what can I do if I lose thy word? Since none around
me know or care to know the way to thyself, what shall I do if I fail to see
thy commands, by which alone I can guide my steps to the land where thou
dwellest? David implies that God's commands were his solace in his exile: they
reminded him of home, and they showed him the way thither, and therefore he
begged that they might never be hidden from him, by his being unable either to
-- understand them or to obey them. If spiritual light be withdrawn the command
is hidden, and this a gracious heart greatly deprecates. What would be the use
of opened eyes if the best object of sight were hidden from their view? While
we wander here we can endure all the ills of this foreign land with patience if
the word of God is applied to our hearts by the Spirit of God; but if the
heavenly things which make for our peace were hid from our eyes we should be in
an evil case, -- in fact, we should be at sea without a compass, in a desert
without a guide, in an enemy's country without a friend.
This
prayer is a supplement to "open thou mine eyes", and, as the one
prays to see, the other deprecates the negative of seeing, namely, the command
being hidden, and so out of sight. We do well to look at both sides of the
blessing we are seeking, and to plead for it from every point of view. The
prayers are appropriate to the characters mentioned: as he is a servant he asks
for opened eyes that his eyes may ever be towards his Lord, as the eyes of a
servant should be; as a stranger he begs that he may not be strange to the way
in which he is to walk towards his home. In each case his entire dependence is
upon God alone.
Note
how the third of the second octave (11) has the same keyword as this third of
the third octave: "Thy word have I hid," "Hide not thy
commandments from me." This invites a meditation upon the different senses
of hiding in and hiding from.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
19. I am a stranger in the earth. David had experience of
peace and war, of riches and poverty, of pleasure and woe. He had been a
private and public person; a shepherd, a painful calling; a soldier, a bloody
trade; a courtier, an honourable slavery, which joins together in one the lord
and the parasite, the gentleman and the drudge; and he was a king, -- a
glorious name, filled up with fears and cares. All these he had passed through,
and found least rest when he was at the highest, less content on the throne
than in the sheepfolds. All this he had observed and laid up in his memory, and
this his confession is an epitome and brief of all; and in effect he telleth
us, that whatsoever he had seen in this his passage, whatsoever he had enjoyed,
yet he found nothing so certain as this, -- that he had found nothing certain,
nothing that he could abide with or would abide with him, but that he was still
as a passenger and "stranger in the earth." Anthony Farindon,
1596-1658.
Verse
19. I am a stranger in the earth, etc. As a sojourner, he
hath renounced the world, which is therefore become his enemy; as "a
stranger" he is fearful of losing his way; on these accounts he requests
that God would compensate the loss of earthly comforts by affording the light
of heaven; that he would not "hide his commandments," but show and
teach him those steps, by which he may ascend toward heaven, rejoicing in hope
of future glory. George Horne, 1730-1792.
Verse
19. I am a stranger in the earth. This confession from a
solitary wanderer would have had little comparative meaning; but in the mouth
of one who was probably surrounded with every source of worldly enjoyment, it
shows at once the vanity of "earth's best joys," and the heavenly
tendency of the religion of the Bible. Charles Bridges.
Verse
19. I am a stranger in the earth, etc.
Verse
19. I am a stranger in the earth, etc. When a child is born,
it is spoken of sometimes under the designation of "a little
stranger!" Friends calling will ask if, as a privilege, they may "see
the little stranger." A stranger, indeed! come from far. From the
immensities. From the presence, and touch, and being of God! And going -- into
the immensities again -- into, and through all the unreckonable ages of
duration.
But
the little stranger grows, and in a while begins to take vigorous root. He
works, and wins, and builds, and plants, and buys, and holds, and, in his own
feeling, becomes so "settled" that he would be almost amused with
anyone who should describe him as a stranger now.
And
still life goes on, deepening and widening in its flow, and holding in itself
manifold and still multiplying elements of interest. Increasingly the man is
caught by these -- like a ship, from which many anchors are cast into the sea.
He strives among the struggling, rejoices with the gay, feels the spur of
honour, enters the race of acquisition, does some hard and many kindly things
by turns; multiplies his engagements, his relationships, his friends, and then
-- just when after such preparations, life ought to be fully beginning, and
opening itself out into a great restful, sunny plain -- lo! the shadows begin
to fall, which tell, too surely, that it is drawing fast to a close. The voice,
which, soon or late, everyone must hear, is calling for "the little
stranger," who was born not long ago, whose first lesson is over, and who
is wanted now to enter by the door called death, into another school. And the
stranger is not ready. He has thrown out so many anchors, and they have taken
such a fast hold of the ground that it will be no slight matter to raise them.
He is settled. He has no pilgrim's staff at hand; and his eye, familiar enough
with surrounding things, is not accustomed to the onward and ascending way,
cannot so well measure the mountain altitude, or reckon the far distance. The
progress of time has been much swifter than the progress of his thought. Alas!
he has made one long mistake. He has "looked at the things which are
seen," and forgotten the things which are not seen. And "the things
which are seen" are temporal, and go with time into extinction; while
"those which are not seen, are eternal." And so there is hurry, and
confusion, and distress in the last hours, and in the going away. Now, all this
may be obviated and escaped, thoroughly, if a man will but say -- I am a
stranger in the earth: hide not thy commandments from me. Alexander Raleigh, in
"The Little Sanctuary, and other Meditations." 1872.
Verse
19. I am a stranger in the earth, etc. In the law, God
recommends strangers to the care and compassion of his people; now David
returns the arguments to him, to persuade him to deal kindly with him. Robert
Leighton, 1611-1684.
Verse
19. In the earth. He makes no exception here; the whole earth
he acknowledged a place of his pilgrimage. Not only when he was banished among
the Moabites and Philistines was he a stranger; but even when he lived
peaceably at home in Canaan, still he thinks himself a stranger. This
consideration moved godly Basil to despise the threatening of Modestus, the
deputy of Valens the emperor, when he braved him with banishment. Ab exilii
metu liber sum, unam hominum cognoscens esse patram, paradisum omnem autem terram
commune naturae exilium. And it shall move us to keep spiritual sobriety in the
midst of pleasures, if we remember that in our houses, at our own fireside, and
in our own beds, we are but strangers, from which we must shortly remove, to
give place to others. William Cowper.
Verse
19. Hide not thy commandments from me. The manner of David's
reasoning is this. I am here a stranger and I know not the way, therefore,
Lord, direct me. The similitude is taken from passengers, who coming to an
uncouth country where they are ignorant of the way, seek the benefit of a
guide. But the dissimilitude is here: in any country people can guide a
stranger to the place where he would be; but the dwellers of the earth cannot
show the way to heaven; and therefore David seeks no guide among them, but
prays the Lord to direct him. William Cowper.
Verse
19. Hide not thy commandments from me. There is a hiding of
the word of God when means to hear it explained by preachers are wanting; and
there is a hiding of the comfortable and lively light of the Spirit, who must
quicken the word into us. From both those evils we may, and we should, pray to
be saved. David Dickson.
EXPOSITION
Verse
20. My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto thy judgments
at all times. True godliness lies very much in desires. As we are not what we
shall be, so also we are not what we would be. The desires of gracious men
after holiness are intense, -- they cause a wear of heart, a straining of the
mind, till it feels ready to snap with the heavenly pull. A high value of the
Lord's commandment leads to a pressing desire to know and to do it, and this so
weighs upon the soul that it is ready to break in pieces under the crush of its
own longings. What a blessing it is when all our desires are after the things
of God. We may well long for such longings.
God's
judgments are his decisions upon points which else had been in dispute. Every
precept is a judgment of the highest court upon a point of action, an
infallible and immutable decision upon a moral or spiritual question. The word
of God is a code of justice from which there is no appeal.
"This is
the Judge which ends the strife
Where wit and reason fail;
Our guide through devious paths of life,
Our shield when doubts assail." Watts.
David
had such reverence for the word, and such a desire to know it, and to be
conformed to it, that his longings caused him a sort of heart break, which he
here pleads before God. Longing is the soul of praying, and when the soul longs
till it breaks, it cannot be long before the blessing will be granted. The most
intimate communion between the soul and its God is carried on by the process
described in the text. God reveals his will, and our heart longs to be
conformed thereto. God judges, and our heart rejoices in the verdict. This is
fellowship of heart most real and thorough.
Note
well that our desire after the mind of God should be constant; we should feel
holy longings "at all times." Desires which can be put off and on
like our garments are at best but mere wishes, and possibly they are hardly
true enough to be called by that name, -- they are temporary emotions born of
excitement, and doomed to die when the heat which created them has cooled down.
He who always longs to know and do the right is the truly right man. His
judgment is sound, for he loves all God's judgments, and follows them with
constancy. His times shall be good, since he longs to be good and to do good at
all times.
Remark
how this fourth of the third eight chimes with the fourth of the fourth eight.
"My soul breaketh"; "my soul melteth." There is surely some
recondite poetic art about all this, and it is well for us to be careful in
studying what the psalmist was so careful in composing.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
20. My soul breaketh, etc. Here is a protestation of that
earnest desire he had to the obedience of the word of God; he amplifies it two
ways: first, it was no light motion, but such as being deeply rooted made his
heart to break when he saw that he could not do in the obedience thereof what
he would. Next, it was no vanishing motion, like the morning dew; but it was
permanent, omni tempore, he had it at all times. William Cowper.
Verse
20. My soul breaketh for the longing, as one that with
straining breaks a vein. William Gurnall.
Verse
20. My soul breaketh, etc. This breaking is by rubbing,
chafing, or crushing. The spirit was so fretted with its yearning desire after
the things which Jehovah had spoken, that it was broken as by heavy friction.
The "longing" to find out and follow the hidden wonders was almost
unbearable. This longing continued with the Psalmist "at all times,"
or "in every season." Prosperity could not make him forget it;
adversity could not quench it. In sickness or health, in happiness or sadness, in
company or alone, nothing overcame that longing. "The wondrous
things" were so wonderful, and still so hidden. To see a little of
"the beauty of the Lord" is to get to know how much there is which we
fail to see, and thus to long more than ever. He who pursues ardently the
wonders of the word of the Lord, will never set that longing at rest as long as
he remains "in the earth." It is only when we shall "be like
him," and "shall see him as he is," that we shall cry, "Enough,
Lord!" "I shall be satisfied when I awake in thy likeness." F.
G. Marchant.
Verse
20. My soul breaketh for the longing. For the earnest desire.
"That it hath unto thy judgments at all times." Thy law; thy
commands. This was a constant feeling. It was not fitful, or spasmodic. It was
the steady, habitual state of the soul on the subject. He had never seen enough
of the beauty and glory of the law of God to feel that all the wants of his
nature were satisfied, or that he could see and know no more; he had seen and
felt enough to excite in him an ardent desire to be made fully acquainted with
all that there is in the law of God. Albert Barnes.
Verse
20. My soul breaketh for the longing, etc. The desire after
God's appointments becomes painfully intense. A longing -- an intense longing
-- for the judgments of the Lord -- at all times. These are the particulars of
his breaking soul. His whole mind is toward the things of God. He prays that he
may behold the wondrous things of Jehovah's law, and that he may not hide his
commandments from him; and here his soul breaks for longing towards his
judgments at all times. The state of the Psalmist's mind would not lead us here
to suppose that he was awaiting the manifestation of the Lord's judgments in
vindicating his cause against ungodly men, or that he was longing for
opportunity of fulfilling all the deeds of righteousness towards his fellow
men; for this he was doing to the utmost. Evidently he is intent upon the
ordinances of religion, which were called "judgments" in reference to
the solemn sanctions with which they were enjoined. The man of God so longed to
join with the Lord's people in these, that his heart was ready to break with
desire, as he was forced from place to place in the wilderness. The renewed
heart is here. Another might long to be delivered from persecution, to be at
rest, to be restored to home, relations, and comfort. The man of God could not
but desire those natural enjoyments; but, over all, his holy mind longed with
ardour for the celebration of Jehovah's worship. John Stephen.
Verse
20. Thy judgments. God's judgments are of two sorts: first,
his commands; so called because by them right is judged and discerned from
wrong. Next, his plagues executed upon transgressors according to his word.
David here refers to the first. Let men who have not the like of David's
desire, remember, that they whose heart cannot break for transgressing God's
word because they love it, shall find the plagues of God to bruise their body
and break their heart also. Let us delight in the first sort of these
judgments, and the second shall never come upon us. William Cowper.
Verse
20. Mark that word, at all times. Bad men have their good
moods, as good men have their bad moods. A bad man may, under gripes of
conscience, a smarting rod, the approaches of death, or the fears of hell, or
when he is sermon sick, cry out to the Lord for grace, for righteousness, for
holiness; but he is the only blessed man that hungers and thirsts after
righteousness at all times. Thomas Brooks, 1608-1680.
Verse
20. At all times. Some prize the word in adversity, when they
have no other comfort to live upon; then they can be content to study the word
to comfort them in their distresses; but when they are well at ease, they
despise it. But David made use of it "at all times;" in prosperity,
to humble him; in adversity, to comfort him; in the one, to keep him from
pride; in the other, to keep him from despair; in affliction, the word was his
cordial; in worldly increase, it was his antidote; and so at all times his
heart was carried out to the word either for one necessity or another. Thomas
Manton.
Verse
20. At all times. How few are there even among the servants
of God who know anything of the intense feeling of devotion here expressed! O
that our cold and stubborn hearts were warmed and subdued by divine grace, that
we might be ready to faint by reason of the longing which we had "at all
times" for the judgments of our God. How fitful are our best feelings! If
today we ascend the mount of communion with God, tomorrow we are in danger of
being again entangled with the things of earth. How happy are they whose hearts
are "at all times" filled with longings after fellowship with the
great and glorious object of their love! John Morison, 1829.
Verse
20. If you read the lives of good men, who have been, also,
intellectually great, you will be struck, I think, even to surprise, a
surprise, however, which will not be unpleasant, to find them, at the close of
life, in their own estimation so ignorant, so utterly imperfect, so little the
better of the long life lesson. Dr. Chalmers, after kindling churches and
arousing nations to their duties, summed up his own attainments in the word
"desirousness," and took as the text that best described his inner
state, that passionate, almost painful cry of David, My soul breaketh for the
longing that it hath unto thy judgments. But how grand was the attainment! To
be in old age as simple as a little child before God! To be still learning at
threescore years and ten! How beautiful seem the great men in their simplicity!
Alexander Raleigh, in "The Little Sanctuary," 1872.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
20. --
Verse
20. -- One of the best tests of character and prophecies of what a
man will be, are his longings.
(b) He
intensely desired to know its contents.
(c) He wishes to feed upon God's word.
(d) He longed
to obey it.
(e) He longed
to feel the power of God's judgments in his own
heart.
(a) They
constitute a living experience.
(b) The
expression used in the text represents a humble
sense of imperfection.
(c) It
indicates an advanced experience.
(d) It is an
experience which we may term a bitter sweet.
(e) These
longings may become very wearying to a man's
soul.
(a) God is at
work in your soul.
(b) The result
of God's work is very precious.
(c) It is
leading on to something more precious.
(d) The desire
itself is doing you good.
(e) It makes
Christ precious. See "Spurgeon's Sermons," No.
1586: "Holy Longings."
EXPOSITION
Verse
21. Thou hast rebuked the proud that are cursed. This is one of
God's judgments: he is sure to deal out a terrible portion to men of lofty
looks. God rebuked Pharaoh with sore plagues, and at the Red Sea "In the
foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O Lord." In the
person of the naughty Egyptian he taught all the proud that he will certainly
abase them. Proud men are cursed men: nobody blesses them, and they soon become
a burden to themselves. In itself, pride is a plague and torment. Even if no
curse came from the law of God, there seems to be a law of nature that proud
men should be unhappy men. This led David to abhor pride; he dreaded the rebuke
of God and the curse of the law. The proud sinners of his day were his enemies,
and he felt happy that God was in the quarrel as well as he.
Which
do err from thy commandments. Only humble hearts are obedient, for they alone
will yield to rule and government. Proud men's looks are high, too high to mark
their own feet and keep the Lord's way. Pride lies at the root of all sin: if
men were not arrogant they would not be disobedient.
God
rebukes pride even when the multitudes pay homage to it, for he sees in it
rebellion against his own majesty, and the seeds of yet further rebellions. It
is the sum of sin. Men talk of an honest pride; but if they were candid they
would see that it is of all sins the least honest, and the least becoming in a
creature, and especially in a fallen creature: yet so little do proud men know
their own true condition under the curse of God, that they set up to censure
the godly, and express contempt for them, as may be seen in the next verse.
They are themselves contemptible, and yet they are contemptuous towards their
betters. We may well love the judgments of God when we see them so decisively
levelled against the haughty upstarts who would fain lord it over righteous
men; and we may well be of good under the rebukes of the ungodly since their
power to hurt us is destroyed by the Lord himself. "The Lord rebuke
thee" is answer enough for all the accusations of men or devils.
In
the fifth of the former octave the Psalmist wrote, "I have declared all
the judgments of thy mouth," and here he continues in the same strain,
giving a particular instance of the Lord's judgments against haughty rebels. In
the next two portions the fifth verses deal with lying and vanity, and pride is
one of the most common forms of those evils.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
21. Thou hast rebuked the proud that are cursed. If the proud
escape here, as sometimes they do, hereafter they shall not; for, "the
proud man is an abomination to the Lord"; Proverbs 16:5.
God cannot endure him; Psalms
101:5. And what of that? Tu perdes superbos, Thou shalt destroy the
proud. The very heathens devised the proud giants struck with thunder from
heaven. And if God spared not the angels, whom he placed in the highest
heavens, but for their pride threw them down headlong to the nethermost hell,
how much less shall he spare the proud dust and ashes of the sons of men, but
shall cast them from the height of their earthly altitude to the bottom of that
infernal dungeon! "Humility makes men angels; pride makes angels
devils;" as that father said: I may well add, makes devils of men.
Alazoneiaj outij ekfeugei dikhn, says the heathen poet, Menander; "Never
soul escaped the revenge of pride," never shall escape it. So sure as God
is just, pride shall not go unpunished. I know now we are all ready to call for
a bason, with Pilate, and to wash our hands from this foul sin. Honourable and
beloved, this vice is a close one; it will cleave fast to you; yea, so close
that ye can hardly discern it from a piece of yourselves: this is it that
aggravates the danger of it. For, as Aquinas notes well, some sins are more
dangerous propter vehementiam impugnationis, "for the fury of their
assault"; as the sin of anger: others for their correspondence to nature;
as the sins of lust: other, propter latentiam sui, "for their close
skulking" in our bosom; as the sin of pride. Oh, let us look seriously
into the corners of our false hearts, even with the lanthorn of God's law, and
find out this subtle devil; and never give peace to our souls till we have
dispossessed him. Down with your proud plumes, O ye glorious peacocks of the
world: look upon your black legs, and your snake like head: be ashamed of your
miserable infirmities: else, God will down with them and yourselves in a fearful
vengeance. There is not the holiest of us but is this way faulty: oh, let us be
humbled by our repentance, that we may not be brought down to everlasting
confusion: let us be cast down upon our knees, that we may not be cast down
upon our faces. For God will make good his own word, one way; "A man's
pride shall bring him low." Joseph Hall, 1574- 1656.
Verse
21. Thou hast rebuked the proud. Let the histories of Cain,
Pharaoh, Haman, Nebuchadnezzar, and Herod, exhibit the proud under the rebuke
and curse of God. He abhors their persons and their offerings: he "knows
them afar off": he "resisteth them": "he scattereth them in
the imaginations of their hearts." Yet more especially hateful are they in
his sight, when cloaking themselves under a spiritual garb, -- "which say,
Stand by thyself, come not near to me: for I am holier than thou. These are a
smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day." David and Hezekiah are
instructive beacons in the church, that God's people, whenever they give place
to the workings of a proud heart, must not hope to escape his rebuke.
"Thou wast a God that forgavest them, though thou tookest vengeance on
their inventions:" Psalms
99:8. Charles Bridges.
Verse
21. Thou hast rebuked the proud. David addeth another reason
whereby he is more enflamed to pray unto God and to address himself unto him to
be taught in his word; to wit, when he seeth that he hath so, "rebuked the
proud." For the chastisement and punishments which God layeth upon the
faithless and rebellious should be a good instruction for us; as it is said
that God hath executed judgment, and that the inhabitants of the land should
learn his righteousness. It is not without cause that the prophet Isaiah also
hath so said; for he signifieth unto us that God hath by divers and sundry
means drawn us unto him, and that chiefly when he teacheth us to fear his
majesty. For without it, alas, we shall soon become like unto brute beasts: if
God lay the bridle on our necks, what license we will give unto ourselves
experience very well teacheth us. Now God seeing that we are so easily brought
to run at random, sendeth us examples, because he would bring us to walk in
fear and carefully. John Calvin.
Verse
21. The proud. This is a style commonly given to the wicked;
because as it is our oldest evil, so is it the strongest and first that strives
in our corrupt nature to carry men to transgress the bounds appointed by the
Lord. From the time that pride entered into Adam's heart, that he would be
higher than God had made him, he spared not to eat of the forbidden tree. And
what else is the cause of all transgression, but that man's ignorant pride will
have his will preferred to the will of God. William Cowper.
Verse
21. The proud. Peter speaks of the proud, as if they did
challenge God like champions, and provoke him like rebels, so that unless he
did resist them, they would go about to deprive him of his rule, as Korah,
Dathan, and Abiram undermined Moses. Nu 16:1-33.
For
so the proud man saith, I will be like the highest, Isaiah
14:12-15, and, if he could, above the highest too. This is the
creature that was taken out of the dust, Genesis 2:7,
and so soon as he was made, he opposed himself against that majesty which the
angels adore, the thrones worship, the devils fear, and the heavens obey. How
many sins are in this sinful world! and yet, as Solomon saith of the good wife,
Proverbs
31:29, "Many daughters have done virtuously, but you surmount
them all"; so may I say of pride, many sins have done wickedly, but you
surmount them all; for the wrathful man, the prodigal man, the lascivious man,
the surfeiting man, the slothful man, is rather an enemy to himself than to
God; but the proud man sets himself against God, because he doth against his
laws; he maketh himself equal with God, because he doth all without God, and
craves no help of him; he exalteth himself above God, because he will have his
own will though it be contrary to God's will. As the humble man saith, Not unto
us, Lord, not unto us, but to thy name give the glory, Psalms 115:1;
so the proud man saith, Not unto Him, not unto Him, but unto us give the glory.
Like unto Herod which took the name of God, and was honoured of all but the
worms, and they showed that he was not a god, but a man, Acts 12:21.
Therefore proud men may be called God's enemies, because as the covetous pull
riches from men, so the proud pull honour from God. Beside, the proud man hath
no cause to be proud, as other sinners have; the covetous for riches, the
ambitious for honour, the voluptuous for pleasure, the envious for wrong, the
slothful for ease; but the proud man hath no cause to be proud, but pride
itself, which saith, like Pharaoh, "I will not obey," Ex 5:2. Henry
Smith, 1560-1591.
Verse
21. Proud that are cursed. -- Proud men endure the curse of
never having friends; not in prosperity, because they know nobody; not in
adversity, because then nobody knows them. John Whitecross, in "Anecdotes
illustrative of the Old Testament."
Verse
21. This use of God's judgments upon others must we make to
ourselves; first, that we may be brought to acknowledge our deserts, and so
may fear; and, next, that we may so behold his justice upon the proud that we
may have assurance of his mercy to the humble. This is hard to flesh and blood;
for some can be brought to rejoice at the destruction of others, and cannot
fear; and others, when they are made to fear, cannot receive comfort. But those
which God hath joined together let us not separate: therefore let us make these
uses of God's judgments. Richard Greenham.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
21. --
Verse
21. --
(a) By neglect;
or,
(b) By abuse of them.
(a) Rebuke.
(b) Condemnation. --G.R.
EXPOSITION
Verse
22. Remove from me reproach and contempt. These are painful things
to tender minds. David could bear them for righteousness sake, but they were a
heavy yoke, and he longed to be free from them. To be slandered, and then to be
despised in consequence of the vile accusation, is a grievous affliction. No
one likes to be traduced, or even to be despised. He who says, "I care
nothing for my reputation," is not a wise man, for in Solomon's esteem,
"a good name is better than precious ointment." The best way to deal
with slander is to pray about it: God will either remove it, or remove the
sting from it. Our own attempts at clearing ourselves are usually failures; we
are like the boy who wished to remove the blot from his copy, and by his
bungling made it ten times worse. When we suffer from a libel it is better to
pray about it than go to law over it, or even to demand an apology from the
inventor. O ye who are reproached, take your matters before the highest court,
and leave them with the Judge of all the earth. God will rebuke your proud
accuser; be ye quiet and let your advocate plead your cause.
For
I have kept thy testimonies. Innocence may justly ask to be cleared from
reproach. If there be truth in the charges alleged against us what can we urge
with God? If, however, we are wrongfully accused our appeal has a locus standi
in the court and cannot be refused. If through fear of reproach we forsake the
divine testimony we shall deserve the coward's doom; our safety lies in
sticking close to the true and to the right. God will keep those who keep his
testimonies. A good conscience is the best security for a good name; reproach
will not abide with those who abide with Christ, neither will contempt remain
upon those who remain faithful to the ways of the Lord.
This
verse stands as a parallel both in sense and position to Psalms 119:6,
and it has the catchword of "testimonies," by which it chimes with Psalms 119:14.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
22. Remove from me reproach and contempt. Here David prays
against the reproach and contempt of men; that they might be removed, or, as
the word is, rolled from off him. This intimates that they lay upon him, and
neither his greatness nor his goodness could secure him from being libelled and
lampooned: some despised him and endeavoured to make him mean, others
reproached him and endeavoured to make him odious. It has often been the lot of
those that do well to be ill spoken of. It intimates, that this burden lay
heavy upon him. Hard words indeed and foul words break no bones, and yet they
are very grievous to a tender and ingenuous spirit: therefore David prays,
Lord, "remove" them from me, that I may not be thereby either driven
from any duty, or discouraged in it. Matthew Henry
Verse
22. Remove from me reproach and contempt, etc. In the words
(as in most of the other verses) you have, --
First,
for the request, Remove from me reproach and contempt; the word signifies, Roll
from upon me, let it not come at me, or let it not stay with me. And then the
argument: for I have kept thy testimonies. The reason may be either thus:
The
points from hence are many.
EXPOSITION
Verse
23. Princes also did sit and speak against me. David was high game,
and the great ones of the earth went a hawking after him. Princes saw in him a
greatness which they envied, and therefore they abused him. On their thrones
they might have found something better to consider and speak about, but they
turned the seat of judgment into the seat of the scorner. Most men covet a
prince's good word, and to be spoken ill of by a great man is a great
discouragement to them, but the Psalmist bore his trial with holy calmness.
Many of the lordly ones were his enemies, and made it their business to speak
ill of him: they held sittings for scandal, sessions for slander, parliaments
of falsehood, and yet he survived all their attempts upon him.
But
thy servant did meditate in thy statutes. This was brave indeed. He was God's
servant, and therefore he attended to his Master's business; he was God's
servant, and therefore felt sure that his Lord would defend him. He gave no
heed to his princely slanderers, he did not even allow his thoughts to be
disturbed by a knowledge of their plotting in conclave. Who were these
malignants that they should rob God of his servant's attention, or deprive the
Lord's chosen of a moment's devout communion. The rabble of princes were not
worth five minutes' thought, if those five minutes had to be taken from holy
meditation. It is very beautiful to see the two sittings: the princes sitting
to reproach David, and David sitting with his God and his Bible, answering his
traducers by never answering them at all. Those who feed upon the word grow
strong and peaceful, and are by God's grace hidden from the strife of tongues.
Note
that in the close of the former octave he had said, "I will
meditate," and here he shows how he had redeemed his promise, even under
great provocation to forget it. It is a praiseworthy thing when the resolve of
our happy hours is duly carried out in our seasons of affliction.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
23. Princes also did sit, under the shadow of justice, and
speak against me. Now this was a great temptation to David, that he was not
only mocked and scorned at the taverns and inns, being there blazoned by dissolute
jesters and scoffers, and talked of in the streets and market places; but even
in the place of justice (which ought to be holy); it could not therefore be
chosen but that they also would utterly defame and slander him, and condemn him
to be, as it were, a most wicked and cursed man. When David then did see that
he was thus unjustly entreated and handled, he makes his complaint unto God,
and says, "O Lord, the princes and governors themselves do sit and speak
evil against me; and yet for all that I have kept thy testimonies." Here
in sum we are to gather out of this place, that if it so fall out, when we have
walked uprightly and in a good conscience? that we are falsely slandered, and
accused of this and that whereof we never once thought; yet ought we to bear
all things patiently; for let us be sure of that, that we are not better than
David, whatever great protestation of our integrity and purity we may dare to
make. John Calvin.
Verse
23 But thy servant did meditate in thy statutes. As husbandmen,
when their ground is overflowed by waters, make ditches and water furrows to
carry it away; so, when our minds and thoughts are overwhelmed with trouble, it
is good to divert them to some other matter. But every diversion will not
become saints, it must be a holy diversion: "In the multitude of my
thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul" (Psalms 94:19).
The case was the same with that of the text, when the throne of iniquity
frameth mischief by a law; as you shall see here, when he had many perplexed
thoughts about the abuse of power against himself. But now where lay his ease
in diversion? Would every diversion suit his purpose? No; "Thy
comforts," -- comforts of God's allowance, of God's providing, comforts
proper to saints. Wicked men in trouble run to their pot and pipe, and games
and sports, and merry company, and so defeat the providence rather than improve
it: but David, who was God's servant, must have God's comforts. So, elsewhere,
when his thoughts were troubled about the power of the wicked: "I went
into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end" (Psalms 73:17).
He goeth to divert his mind by the use of God's ordinances, and so cometh to be
settled against the temptation. Thomas Manton.
Verse
23. But thy servant did meditate in thy statutes. -- Perceive
here the armour by which David fights against his enemy. Arma justi quibus
omnes adversariorum repellit impetus, his weapons are the word and player. He
renders not injury for injury, reproach for reproach. It is dangerous to fight
against Satan or his instruments with their own weapons; for so they shall
easily overcome us. Let us fight with the armour of God -- the exercises of the
word and prayer: for a man may peaceably rest in his secret chamber, and in
these two see the miserable end of all those who are enemies to God's children
for God's sake. William Cowper.
Verse
23. Thy statutes. It is impossible to live either Christianly
or comfortable without the daily use of Scripture. It is absolutely necessary
for our direction in all our ways before we begin them, and when we have ended
them, for the warrant of our approbation of them, for resolving of our doubts,
and comforting us in our griefs. Without it our conscience is a blind guide,
and leadeth us in a mist of ignorance, error, and confusion. Therein we hear
God speaking to us, declaring his good will to us concerning our salvation, and
the way of our obedience to meet him in his good will. What book can we read
with such profit and comfort? For matter, it is wisdom: for authority, it is
divine and absolute: for majesty, God himself under common words and letters
expressing an unspeakable power to stamp our heart. Where shall we find our
minds so enlightened, our hearts so deeply affected, our conscience so moved,
both for casting us down and raising us up? I cannot find in all the books of
the world, such an one speak to me, as in Scripture, with so absolute a
conquest of all the powers of my soul.
Contemners
of Scripture lack food for their souls, light for their life and weapons for
their spiritual warfare; but the lovers of Scripture have all that furniture.
Therein we hear the voice of our Beloved, we smell the savour of his ointments,
and have daily access unto the art of propitiation. If in our knowledge we
desire divinity, excellency, antiquity, and efficiency, we cannot find it, but
in God's word alone. It is the extract of heavenly wisdom, which Christ the
eternal Word brought out of the bosom of his Father. William Struther, 1633.
Verse
23-24. The two last verses of this section contain two protestations
of David's honest affection to the word. The first is, that albeit he was
persecuted and evil spoken of, and that by great and honourable men of the
world, such as Saul, and Abner, and Ahithophel; yet did he still meditate in
the statutes of God. It is a hard temptation when the godly are troubled by any
wicked men; but much harder when they are troubled by men of honour and
authority. And that, first, by reason of their place: the greater power they
have, the greater peril to encounter with their displeasure; therefore said
Solomon, "The wrath of a king is as messengers of death." Next,
because authorities and powers are ordained by God, not for the terror of the
good, but of the evil: Romans
13:3. And therefore it is no small grief to the godly, when they
find them abused to a contrary end: that where a ruler should be to good men
like rain to the fields new mown, he becomes a favourer of evil men and a
persecutor of the good. Then justice is turned into wormwood; that which should
bring comfort to such as fear God, is abused to oppress them. And therefore it
should be accounted a great benefit of God, when he gives a people good and
religious rulers. William Cowper.
Verse
23, 51. If the 119th Psalm came from the pen of David, as
multitudes believe, then I do not wonder that many have connected its
composition with his residence in the school of the prophets of Naioth. The
calm in which he then found himself, and the studies which he then prosecuted,
might well have led his musings in the direction of that alphabetic code, while
there are in it not a few expressions which, to say the least, may have
particular reference to the dangers out of which he had so recently escaped,
and by which he was still threatened. Such, for example, are the following:
"Princes also did sit and speak against me": but thy servant did
meditate in thy statutes. "The proud have had me greatly in derision: yet
have I not declined from thy law." William M. Taylor, in "David, King
of Israel; his Life and its Lessons." 1880.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
23. -- Meditation.
EXPOSITION
Verse
24. Thy testimonies also are my delight and my counsellors. They
were not only themes for meditation, but "also" sources of delight
and means of guidance. While his enemies took counsel with each other the holy
man took counsel with the testimonies of God. The fowlers could not drive the
bird from its nest with all their noise. It was their delight to slander and
his delight to meditate. The words of the Lord serve us for many purposes; in
our sorrows they are our delight, and in our difficulties they are our guide;
we derive joy from them and discover wisdom in them. If we desire to find
comfort in the Scriptures we must submit ourselves to their counsel, and when
we follow their counsel it must not be with reluctance but with delight. This
is the safest way of dealing with those who plot for our ruin; let us give more
heed to the true testimonies of the Lord than to the false witness of our foes.
The best answer to accusing princes is the word of the justifying King.
In Psalms 119:16
David said, "I will delight in thy statutes," and here he says
"they are my delight": thus resolutions formed in God's strength come
to fruit, and spiritual desires ripen into actual attainments. O that it might
be so with all the readers of these lines.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
24. Thy testimonies also are my delight and my counsellors.
His delight and his counsellors, that is, his delight because his counsellors;
his counsellors, and therefore his delight. We know how delightful it is to any
to have the advantage of good counsel, according to the perplexities and
distractions in which they may be. "Ointment and perfume rejoice the
heart: so doth the sweetness of a man's friend by hearty counsel," says
Solomon, Proverbs
27:9. Now this is the sweetness of Divine communion, and of
meditation on God and his word; it employs a man with seasonable counsel, which
is a very great refreshment to us. T. Horton, 1673.
Verse
24. Thy testimonies also are my delight, etc. Those that
would have God's testimonies to be their delight, must make them for their
counsellors and be advised by them: and let those that take them for their
counsellors in close walking, take them for their delight in comfortable
walking. Matthew Henry.
Verse
24. Thy testimonies also are my delight and my counsellors.
What could we want more in a time of difficulty than comfort and direction
David had both these blessings. As the fruit of his "meditation in the
Lord's statutes," in his distress they were his "delight"; in
his seasons of perplexity they were his "counsellors," directing his
behaviour in the perfect way. Charles Bridges.
Verse
24. My counsellors. In the Hebrew it is, "the men of my
counsel," which is fitly mentioned; for he had spoken of princes sitting
in council against him. Princes do nothing without the advice of their Privy
Council; a child of God hath also his Privy Council, God's testimonies. On the
one side there was Saul and his nobles and counsellors; on the other side there
was David and God's testimonies. Now, who was better furnished, think you, they
to persecute and trouble him, or David how to carry himself under this trouble?
Alphonsus, king of Arragon, being asked who were the best counsellors?
answered, "The dead (meaning books), which cannot flatter, but do without
partiality declare the truth." Now of all such dead counsellors, God's
testimonies have the preeminence. A poor, godly man, even then when he is deserted
of all, and hath nobody to plead for him, he hath his senate, and his council
of state about him, the prophets and apostles, and "other holy men of God,
that spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." A man so furnished, is
never less alone than when alone; for he hath counsellors about him that tell
him what is to be believed or done; and they are such counsellors as cannot
err, as will not flatter him, nor applaud him in any sin, nor discourage or
dissuade him from that which is good, whatever hazard it expose him to. And
truly, if we be wise, we should choose such counsellors as these: "Thy
testimonies are the men of my counsel." Thomas Manton.
Verse
24. My counsellors. See here a sentence worthy to be weighed
of us, when David calleth the commandments of God his "counsellors."
For, in the first place, he meaneth that he might scorn all the wisdom of the
most able and most expert men in the world, since he was conducted by the word
of God, and governed thereby. In the second place, he meaneth that when he shall
be so governed by the word of God, he would not only be truly wise, but that it
would be as if he had all the wisdom of all the men in the world, yea, and a
great deal more. John Calvin.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
24. --
EXPOSITION
Verse
25-32. Here, it seems to me, we have the Psalmist in trouble bewailing
the bondage to earthly things in which he finds his mind to be held. His soul
cleaves to the dust, melts for heaviness, and cries for enlargement from its
spiritual prison. In these verses we shall see the influence of the divine word
upon a heart which laments its downward tendencies, and is filled with mourning
because of its deadening surroundings. The word of the Lord evidently arouses
prayer (Psalms 119:25-29), confirms choice (Psalms
119:30), and inspires renewed resolve (Psalms
119:32): it is in all tribulation whether of body: or mind the
surest source of help.
This
portion has 'D' for its alphabetical letter: it sings of Depression, in the
spirit of Devotion, Determination, and Dependence.
Verse
25. My soul cleaveth unto the dust. He means in part that he was
full of sorrow; for mourners in the east cast dust on their heads, and sat in
ashes, and the Psalmist felt as if these ensigns of woe were glued to him, and
his very soul was made to cleave to them because of his powerlessness to rise
above his grief. Does he not also mean that he felt ready to die? Did he not
feel his life absorbed and fast held by the grave's mould, half choked by the
death dust? It may not be straining the language if we conceive that he also
felt and bemoaned his earthly mindedness and spiritual deadness. There was a
tendency in his soul to cling to earth which he greatly bewailed. Whatever was
the cause of his complaint, it was no surface evil, but an affair of his inmost
spirit; his soul cleaved to the dust; and it was not a casual and accidental
falling into the dust, but a continuous and powerful tendency, or cleaving to
the earth. But what a mercy that the good man could feel and deplore whatever
there was of evil in the cleaving! The serpent's seed can find their meat in
the dust, but never shall the seed of the woman be thus degraded. Many are of
the earth earthy, and never lament it; only the heaven born and heaven soaring
spirit pines at the thought of being fastened to this world, and bird limed by
its sorrows or its pleasures.
Quicken
thou me according to thy word. More life is the cure for all our ailments. Only
the Lord can give it. He can bestow it, bestow it at once, and do it according
to his word, without departing from the usual course of his grace, as we see it
mapped out in the Scriptures. It is well to know what to pray for, -- David
seeks quickening: one would have thought that he would have asked for comfort
or upraising, but he knew that these would come out of increased life, and
therefore he sought that blessing which is the root of the rest. When a person
is depressed in spirit, weak, and bent towards the ground, the main thing is to
increase his stamina and put more life into him; then his spirit revives, and
his body becomes erect. In reviving the life, the whole man is renewed. Shaking
off the dust is a little thing by itself, but when it follows upon quickening,
it is a blessing of the greatest value; just as good spirits which flow from
established health are among the choicest of our mercies. The phrase,
"according to thy word," means -- according to thy revealed way of
quickening thy saints. The word of God shows us that he who first made us must
keep us alive, and it tells us of the Spirit of God who through the ordinances
pours fresh life into our souls; we beg the Lord to act towards us in this his
own regular method of grace. Perhaps David remembered the word of the Lord in Deuteronomy
32:39, where Jehovah claims both to kill and to make alive, and he
beseeches the Lord to exercise that life giving power upon his almost expiring
servant. Certainly, the man of God had not so many rich promises to rest upon
as we have, but even a single word was enough for him, and he right earnestly
urges "according to thy word." It is a grand thing to see a believer
in the dust and yet pleading the promise, a man at the grave's mouth crying,
"quicken me," and hoping that it shall be done.
Note
how this first verse of the 4th octonary tallies with the first of the
"Quicken me." While in a happy third (17). -- "That I may
live"... "Quicken me." While in a happy state he begs for
bountiful dealing, and when in a forlorn condition he prays for quickening.
Life is in both cases the object of pursuit: that he may have life, and have it
more abundantly.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
The
eight verses alphabetically arranged:
Verse
25. My soul cleaveth unto the dust. The Hebrew word for
"cleaveth" signifies "is joined," "has adhered,"
"has overtaken," "has taken hold," "has joined
itself." Our soul is a polypus: as the polypus readily adheres to the
rocks, so does the soul cleave to the earth; and hardly can it be torn from the
place to which it has once strongly attached itself. Though thy soul be now
more perfect, and escaping from the waters of sin has become a bird of heaven,
be not careless; earthly things are birdlime and glue; if you rub the wings
against these thou wilt be held, and joined to the earth. Thomas Le Blanc.
Verse
25. My soul cleaveth unto the dust, etc. The word rendered
"cleaveth" means to be glued to; to stick fast. It has the sense of
adhering firmly to anything, so that it cannot easily be separated from it. The
word "dust" here may mean either the earth, and earthly things,
considered as low, base, unworthy, worldly; or it may mean the grave, as if he
were near to that, and in danger of dying. De Wette understands it in the
latter sense. Yet the word cleave would hardly suggest this idea; and the force
of that word would be better represented by the idea that his soul, as it were,
adhered to the things of earth, that it seemed to be so fastened to them -- so
glued to them that it could not be detached from them; that his affections were
low, earthly, grovelling, so as to give him deep distress, and lead him to cry
to God for Life and strength that he might break away from them. Albert Barnes.
Verse
25. My soul cleaveth unto the dust, etc. The first clause
seems intended to suggest two consistent but distinct ideas, that of deep
degradation, as in Psalms 44:25, and that of death, as in Psalms
22:29. The first would be more obvious in itself, and in connection
with the parallel referred to; but the other seems to be indicated as the
prominent idea by the correlative petition for quickening in the last clause.
"Quicken," i.e., save me alive, or restore me to life, the Hebrew
word being a causative of the verb to live. Joseph Addison Alexander.
Verse
25. My soul cleaveth to the dust, etc. In this verse, David
hath a complaint; "My soul cleaveth to the dust"; and a prayer;
Quicken thou me according to thy word. The prayer, being well considered, shall
teach us the meaning of the complaint; that it was not, as some think, any hard
bodily estate which grieved him, but a very sore spiritual oppression (as I may
call it), bearing down his soul; that where he should have mounted up toward
heaven, he was pressed down to the earth, and was so clogged with earthly
cogitations, or affections, or perturbations, that he could not mount up. His
particular temptation he expresses not; for the children of God many times are
in that estate that they cannot tell their own griefs, and sometimes so
troubled, that it is not expedient, albeit they might, to express them to
others.
And
hereof we learn, how that which the worldling counts wisdom, to the Christian
is folly; what is joy to the one, is grief to the other. The joy of a worldling
is to cleave unto the earth; when he gripes it surest, he thinks himself
happiest, for it is his portion: to take heed to his worldly affairs, and have
his mind upon them (in his estimation) is only wisdom. For the serpent's curse
is upon him, he creeps on the earth, and licks the dust all the days of his
life. This is the miserable condition of the wicked, that even their heavenly
soul is become earthly. Qui secundum corporis appetentiam vivit caro est, etiam
anima eorum caro est; as the Lord spake of those who perished in the Deluge,
that they were but flesh, no spirit in them; that is, no spiritual or heavenly
motion.
But
the Christian, considering that his soul is from above, sets his affection also
on those things which are above: he delights to have his conversation in
heaven; and it is a grief to him when he finds his motions and affections drawn
down and entangled with the earth. His life is to cleave to the Lord; but it is
death to him when the neck of his soul is bowed down to the yoke of the world.
William Cowper.
Verse
25. My soul cleaveth to the dust. "Look up now to the
heavens." So once spake the Lord to Abraham his friend, and he speaketh
thus to us also. Alas! why must it be so always that, when we come to know
ourselves even but a little, we are constantly answering with the mournful
sigh, "My soul cleaveth to the dust"? Ah! that is indeed the deepest
pain of a soul which has already tasted that the Lord is merciful, when,
although desiring to soar on high, it sadly feels how impossible it is to rise.
There is much hidden pain in every heart of man even in the spiritual life; but
what can deeper grieve us than the perception that we are chained as with
leaden weights to things concerning which we know that they may weary but
cannot satisfy us? Nay, we could never have supposed, when we first, heard the
Psalm of the Good Shepherd, that it could issue from a heart that panteth after
God so often and so bitterly; we could never have imagined that it could become
so cold, so dry, so dark within a heart which at an earlier period had tasted
so much of the power of that which is to come. Have we not formerly, with this
same Psalm, been able to vaunt, "I have rejoiced in the way of thy
testimonies, as much as in all riches"? But afterwards, but now perhaps...
Oh sad hours, when the beams of the sun within seem quenched, and nothing but a
blond red disc remains! The fervency of the first love is cooled; earthly cares
and sins have, as it were, attached a leaden plummet to the wings of the soul
which, God knows, would fain soar upwards. We would render thanks, and scarce
can pray; we would pray, and scarce can sigh. Our treasure is in heaven, but
our soul cleaves to the earth; at least earth cleaves on all sides so to it,
and weighs it down, that the eye merely sees the clouds, the tongue can but
breathe forth complaints. Ah, so completely can the earth fetter us, that the
heavens appear to be only a problem, and our old man is like the Giant of
Mythology, who, cast to the ground in the exhausting combat, receives by
contact with his mother earth fresh strength. Oh, were it otherwise! Shall it
not at last, at last be altered?
Dost
thou really desire it, thou who out of the depths of thy soul so complainest,
and canst scarcely find more tears to bewail the sorrow of thy heart? Well is
it for thee if the pain thou sufferest teach thee to cry to God: "Quicken
thou me, according to thy word." Yea, this is the best comfort for him who
too well knows what it is to be bowed together with pain; this is the only hope
for a heart which almost sinks in still despair. There is an atmosphere of
life, high above this dust which streams to us from every side, and penetrates
even the darkest dungeon. There is a spring of life by which the weary soul may
be refreshed; and the entrance to this spring stands open, in spite of all the
clouds of dust which obscure this valley of shadows here. There is a power of
life which can even so completely make an end of our dead state, that we shall
walk again before the face of the Lord in the land of the living, and, instead
of uttering lamentation, we shall bear a song of praise upon our lips. Does not
the Prince of life yet live in order also to repeat to us, "Awake and
rejoice, thou that dwellest in the dust;" and the Spirit, that bloweth
whither he listeth, can, will, shall he not in his own good time, with his
living breath, blow from our wings the dust that cleaveth to them? But, indeed,
even the gnawing pain of the soul over so much want of spirituality and dulness
is ever an encouraging sign that the good work is begun in our hearts: that
which is really dead shivers no more at its own cold. "My soul cleaveth to
the dust," sayest thou, with tears? thus wouldest thou not speak except that
already a higher hand between the soul and this dust had cleft a hollow which
was unknown to it before. No one has less cause for despair than he who has
lost hope in himself, and really learns to seek in God that, which he deeply
feels, he least of all can give himself.
Yes,
this is the way from the deepest pain to procure the best consolation; the
humble, earnest, persevering player, that he who lives would also give life to
our souls, and continue to increase it, till freed from all dryness and
deadness of spirit, and uprooted from the earth, we ascend to the eternal mount
of light, where at last we behold all earthly clouds beneath us. This the God
of life alone can work; but he is willing -- nay, we have his own word as
pledge, that he promises and bestows on us true life. Only, let us not forget
that he who will quicken us "according" to his word, also performs
this through his word. Let us then draw from out the eternally flowing
fountain, and henceforth leave it unconditionally to him, how he will listen to
our cry, even though he lead us through dark paths! Even through means of death
God can quicken us and keep us alive. Lo, we are here; Lord, do with us as
seemeth good to thee! Only let our souls live, that they may praise thee, here
and eternally! J. J. Van Oosterzee (1817-1882), in "The Year of
Salvation."
Verse
25. Cleaveth to the dust. Is weighed down by the flesh which
itself is dust. James G. Murphy.
Verse
25. The dust, is the place of the afflicted, the wounded, and
the dead. Quicken me, viz., to life, peace, and joy. A. R. Fausset.
Verse
25. Quicken thou me, etc. Seeing he was alive, how prays he
that God would quicken him? I answer, -- The godly esteem of life, not
according to that they have in their body, but in their soul. If the soul lacks
the sense of mercy, and a heavenly disposition to spiritual things, they lament
over it, as a dead soul: for sure it is, temporal desertions are more heavy to
the godly than temporal death. According to thy word. This is a great faith,
that where in respect of his present feeling he found himself dead, yet he
hopes for life from God, according to his promise. Such was the faith of
Abraham, who under hope, believed above hope. And truly, many times are God's
children brought to this estate, that they have nothing to uphold them but the
word of God; no sense of mercy, no spiritual disposition; but on the contrary,
great darkness, horrible fears and terrors. Only they are sustained by looking
to the promise of God, and kept in some hope that he will restore them to life
again, because it is his praise to finish the work which he begins. William
Cowper.
Verse
25. Quicken thou me. This phrase occurs nine times, and only
in this Psalm. It is of great importance, as it expresses the spiritual change
by which a child of Adam becomes a child of God. Its source is God; the
instrument by which it is effected is the word, Ps 119:50. James G. Murphy.
Verse
25 Quicken thou me according to thy word. Where there is life
there will be the endeavour to rise -- the believer will not lie prone in his
aspirations after God. From the lowest depths the language of faith is
heard ascending to God most high, who performeth all things for the believer.
The true child cannot but look towards the loving Father, who is the Almighty,
All sufficient One. Have you not found it so? But will you mark the
intelligence that shines around the believer's prayer? He prays that the Lord
may quicken him according to his word. The word may be regarded in the light of
the standard after which he is to be fashioned; or the Psalmist may have in
view the requirements contained in the word regarding the believer's progress;
or he may be thinking of the promises found therein in behalf of the poor and
needy when they apply. Indeed, all these significations may be wrapped up in
the one expression -- "according to thy word" -- the standard of
perfection, the requirements of the word, -- the promises concerning it. The
great exemplar of the believer is Christ, -- of old it was the Christ of
prophecy. Then the requirements of the Lord's will were scattered through the
word. The Psalmist, however, may be dwelling upon the large promises which the
Lord hath given towards the perfecting of his people. You see after what the
spiritual nature aspires. It is quite enough to the natural man or the
formalist that he be as the generally well behaved and esteemed among
professors -- the spiritual man aspires beyond -- he aspires after being
quickened according to God's word. Judge of yourselves. John Stephen.
Verse
25. Quicken thou me according to thy word. By thy providence
put life into my affairs, by thy grace put life into my affections; cure me of
my spiritual deadness, and make me lively in my devotion. Matthew Henry.
Verse
25. Quicken thou me according to thy word, Albeit the Lord
suffer his own to lie so long low in their heavy condition of spirit, that they
may seem dead; yet by faith in his word he keepeth in them so much life as doth
furnish unto them prayer to God for comfort: "Quicken thou me according to
thy word." David Dickson.
Verse
25 Quicken thou me. To whom shall the godly fly when life faileth but to that
Wellspring of all life? Even as to remove cold the next way is to draw near the
fire, so to dispel any death, the next way is to look to him who is our root,
by whom we live this natural life. All preservatives and restoratives are
nothing, all colleges of physicians are vanity, if compared with him. Other
things which have not life, give life as the instruments of him who is life, as
fire burneth being the instrument of heat. "When heart and flesh fail, God
is the strength of my heart." As a man can let a fire almost go out which
had been kindled, and then blow it up, and by application of new fuel make it
blaze as much as ever: so can God deal with this flame of life which he hath
kindled. Paul Bayne.
Verse
25. According to thy word. The word removes deadness of
conscience and hardness. Is not this word a hammer to soften the heart, and is
not this the immortal seed by which we are begotten again? Therefore David,
finding his conscience in a dead frame, prayed, "My soul cleaveth to the
dust; quicken thou me according to thy word." The word is the first thing
by which conscience is purified and set right. John Sheffield, in "A Good
Conscience the Strongest Hold," 1650.
Verse
25. According to thy word. What word doth David mean? Either
the general promises in the books of Moses or Job; which intimate deliverance
to the faithful observers of God's law, or help to the miserable and
distressed; or some particular promise given to him by Nathan, or others.
Chrysostom saith, "Quicken me according to thy word: but it is not a word
of command, but a word of promise." Mark here, -- he doth not say secundum
meritum meum, but, secundum verbum tuum; the hope, or that help which we expect
from God, is founded upon his word; there is our security, in his promises, not
in our deserving: Prommittendo se fecit debitorem, etc.
When
there was so little Scripture written, yet David could find out a word for his
support. Alas! in our troubles and afflictions, no promise comes to mind. As in
outward things, many that have less live better than those that have abundance;
so here, now Scripture is so large, we are less diligent, and therefore, though
we have so many promises, we are apt to faint, we have not a word to bear us
up. This word did not help David, till he had lain so long under this heavy
condition, that he seemed dead. Many, when they have a promise, think presently
to enjoy the comfort of it. No, waiting and striving are first necessary. We
never relish the comfort of the promises till the creatures have spent their
allowance, and we have been exercised. God will keep his word, and yet we must
expect to be tried.
In
this his dead condition, faith in God's word kept him alive. When we have least
feeling, and there is nothing left us, the word will support us: "And
being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was
about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb: he staggered
not at the promise of God through unbelief but was strong in faith, giving
glory to God" (Romans 4:19-20). One way to get comfort is to
plead the promise of God in prayer, Chirographa tua injiciebat tibi Domine,
show him his handwriting; God is tender of his word. These arguments in prayer,
are not to work upon God, but ourselves. Thomas Manton
Verse
25. One does not wonder at the fluctuations which occur in the
feelings and experience of a child of God -- at one time high on the mountain,
near to God and communing with God, at another in the deep and dark valley.
All, more or less, know these changes, and have their sorrowing as well as
their rejoicing seasons. When we parted with David last, what was he telling us
of his experience? that God's testimonies were his delight and his counsellors;
but now what a different strain! all joy is darkened, and his soul cleaveth to
the dust. And there must have been seasons of deep depression and despondency
in the heart of David -- given as a fugitive and wanderer from his home, hunted
as a partridge upon the mountains, and holding, as he himself says, his life
continually in his hands. Yet I think in this portion of the Psalm there is
evidence of a deeper abasement and sorrow of heart than any mere worldly
suffering could produce. He had indeed said, "I shall one day perish by
the hand of Saul"; but, even in that moment of weak and murmuring faith,
he knew that he was God's anointed one to sit on the throne of Israel. But,
here there is indication of sin, of grievous sin which had laid his soul low in
the dust; and I think the petition in Psalms
119:29 gives us some clue to what that sin had been: "Remove me
from the way of lying." Had David -- you may well ask in wonder -- had
David ever lied? had he ever deviated from the strait and honourable path of
truth I am afraid we must own that he had at one time gone so near the confines
of a falsehood, that he would be but a poor casuist and a worse moralist who
should attempt to defend the Psalmist from the imputation. We cannot read the
27th chapter of the 1st of Samuel without owning into what a sad tissue of
equivocation and deceit David was unhappily seduced. Well might his soul cleave
to the dust as he reviewed that period of his career; and though grace did for
him what it afterwards did for Peter, and he was plucked as a brand out of the
burning, yet one can well imagine that like the Apostle afterwards, when he
thought thereon he wept, and that bitterly. Barton Bouchier.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Outlines
Upon Keywords of the Psalm, By Pastor C. A. Davis.
Verse
25-32. -- Quickening. Prayed for with confession (Psalms 119:25-26). When obtained shall be talked
of (Psalms 119:27). Desired for the sake of strength
(Psalms 119:28), of truthfulness (Psalms 119:29-31), and of activity (Psalms
119:32).
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
25. --
Verse
25. -- Quicken thou me, etc.
(a) Because of
the deadening influence of the world. "Thy
soul cleaveth," etc.
(b)
The influence of vanity (see Psalms
119:37).
(c)
Because we are surrounded by deceivers (see Psalms 119:87-88).
(d)
Because of the effect of seasons of affliction upon us (see Psalms
119:7).
(a) Because of
what you are -- a Christian; life seeks more
life.
(b) Because of what you ought to be.
(c) Because of
what we shall be.
(d)
In order to obedience (see Psalms
119:88).
(e)
For your comfort (Psalms 119:107,50).
(f)
As the best security against the attacks of enemies (Psalms 119:87-88).
(g)
To invigorate our memories (Psalms
119:93).
(h) Consider
(as a motive to seek this quickening) the
terrible consequences of losing spiritual life; or, in
other words, lacking it in its manifest display.
(a) It must be
by the Lord himself. "Quicken me, O Lord."
(b)
By the turning of the eyes (Psalms
119:37).
(c)
By the word (Psalms 119:50).
(d)
By the precepts (Psalms 119:93).
(e)
By affliction (Psalms 119:107).
(f) By divine
comforts.
(a) Our
necessity (Psalms 119:107, etc.).
(b)
Our earnest desire (Psalms 119:40).
(c)
Appeal to God's righteousness (Psalms
119:40).
(d)
To his lovingkindness (Psalms 119:88,149,156).
(e)
The plea in the text: "according to thy word" (Psalms 119:28,107). See "Spurgeon's
Sermons," No. 1350: "Enlivening and Invigorating."
EXPOSITION
Verse
26. I have declared my ways. Open confession is good for the soul.
Nothing brings more ease and more life to a man than a frank acknowledgment of
the evil which has caused the sorrow and the lethargy. Such a declaration
proves that the man knows his own condition, and is no longer blinded by pride.
Our confessions are not meant to make God know our sins, but to make us know
them.
And
thou heardest me. His confession had been accepted; it was not lost labour; God
had drawn near to him in it. We ought never to go from a duty till we have been
accepted in it. Pardon follows upon penitent confession, and David felt that he
had obtained it. It is God's way to forgive our sinful way when we from our
hearts confess the wrong.
Teach
me thy statutes. Being truly sorry for his fault, and having obtained full
forgiveness, he is anxious to avoid offending again, and hence he begs to be
taught obedience. He was not willing to sin through ignorance, he wished to
know all the mind of God by being taught it by the best of teachers. He pined
after holiness. Justified men always long to be sanctified. When God forgives
our sins we are all the more fearful of sinning, again. Mercy, which pardons
transgression, sets us longing for grace which prevents transgression. We may
boldly ask for more when God has given us much; he who has washed out the past
stain will not refuse that which will preserve us from present and future
defilement. This cry for teaching is frequent in the Psalm; in Psalms
119:12 it followed a sight of God, here it follows from a sight of
self. Every experience should lead us thus to plead with God.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
26. I have declared my ways, etc. This verse contains a
prayer, with a reason after this form: -- O Lord, I have oft before declared
unto thee the whole state and course of my life, my wanderings, my wants, my
doubts, my griefs: I hid nothing from thee, and thou, according to my necessity,
didst always hear me: therefore now, Lord, I pray thee to teach me; by thy
light illuminate me that I may know thy statutes and receive grace to walk in
them. This is a good argument in dealing with the Lord, -- I have gotten many
mercies and favourable answers from thee; therefore, Lord, I pray thee to give
me more; for whom he loves, he loves to the end; and where he begins to show
mercy he ceaseth not till he crown his children with mercy. And so gracious is
he Lord, that he esteems himself to be honoured as oft as we give him the
praise that we have found comfort in him, and therefore come to seek more.
Next,
it is to be marked how he saith, I have declared my ways, and thou heardest me:
these two go well together, Mercy and Truth: truth in the heart of man
confessing; mercy in God, hearing and forgiving: happy is the soul wherein
these two meet together. Many there are who are destitute of this comfort; they
cannot say, God hath heard me, and all because they deal not plainly and truly
with the Lord in declaring their ways unto him. William Cowper.
Verse
26. I have declared my ways. In Psalms
119:59 he thinketh upon his ways, that is, his inward imperfections
and outward aberrations from the strait and straight ways of God; and here he
is not ashamed to declare them, that is, to acknowledge and confess that all
this came upon him because he was forgetful to do God's will. Note the
connection between this and the previous verse: My soul clave unto the dust,
because I clave not to thee. --Richard Greenham.
Verse
26. I have declared my ways. ytdrm, sipparti, "I have
remembered my ways"; I have searched them out; I have investigated them.
And that he had earnestly prayed for pardon of what was wrong in them, is
evident; for he adds, Thou heardest me. Adam Clarke.
Verse
26. I have declared my ways, etc. Him whom thou hast heard in
humble confessing of his sins, him thou must teach thy statutes. The saints lay
open to God what they find, both good and evil seeking deliverance, supply,
strengthening, directing: even as sick patients tell to their doctor both what
good and what otherwise they perceive; or as clients lay bare their case to
their counsel.
Declared.
As if he had read them out of a book. The saints know their ways. A man that
hath light with him seeth the way, and can tell you all about it; another is in
darkness and knoweth nothing: the one taketh observation of his course, the
other doth not.
Thou
hast heard me. God's goodness is seen in his hearing what we lay open before
him. If great ones let a poor man tell his tale at large we count it honourable
patience; but it is God's glory to hear our wants, our weakness through sin,
the invincibleness of our evils, our utter impotency in ourselves even to seek
redress. That mode of procedure would lose the favour of man, but it winneth
favour with God. The more humbly we confess all our wants, the more confident
we may be that God will hear us. He teacheth the humble, for the humble scholar
will give to his master the honour of that he learns.
I
have rehearsed (said with myself) my ways; and "thou hast beard my private
confession." I have declared to others what my way is, and "thou hast
heard me" so discoursing; wherefore teach me, seeing I communicate what I
receive. It is a plea derived from his carefulness to learn, and from the use
he had made of that he had learned. The godly, like candles, light each other.
Paul Bayne.
Verse
26. I have declared my ways. They that would speed with God,
should learn this point of Christian ingenuity, unfeignedly to lay open their
whole case to him. That is, to declare what they are about, the nature of their
affairs, the state of their hearts, what of good or evil they find in
themselves, their conflicts, supplies, distresses, hopes; this is declaring our
ways -- the good and evil we are conscious of. As a sick patient will tell the
physician how it is with him, so should we deal with God, if we would find
mercy. This declaring his ways may be looked upon,
First,
By his "ways" may be meant his businesses or undertakings: I have
still made them known to thee, committing them to the direction of thy
providence; and so it is an act of faith and dependence, consulting with God,
and acquainting him with all our desires.
Secondly,
By his "ways" may be meant, all his straits, sorrows, and dangers;
and so this declaration is an act of holy friendship, when a man comes as one
friend to another, and acquaints God with his whole state, lays his condition
before the Lord, in hope of pity and relief.
Thirdly,
By "ways" is meant temptations and sins; and so this declaring is an
act of spiritual contrition or brokenness of heart. Sins are properly our ways,
as Ezekiel 18:25. Thomas Manton.
Verse
26-30. The way of thy precepts. My ways. The way of lying. The
way of truth. Here should be noticed the two contrasts by which the Prophet
teaches what must be shunned both in life and in doctrine, and what embraced.
The first respects the life of Christians, as the Prophet sets the way of God's
commandments over against his own ways, Psalms 119:26-27; and respecting these he
confesses that they have pressed him down to the dust and have greatly
distressed him; but respecting those he declares that they have again raised
him up. He means by his own ways a depraved nature, carnal desire, and the
carnal mind which is enmity against God, Romans
8:7; but by the ways of the Lord he denotes the will of God
expressed in the Word. Therefore the boastings of the papists of the perfect
obedience of the renewed are empty: for David, assured by having been renewed,
complains bitterly and with many tears that his soul, under the intolerable
weight of sins, had been brought down to the dust of death and almost
suffocated; but that God had heard his prayers and brought him back to the way
of his commandments. We, here, also, gather that in this life all the saints
experience the wrestling and contest of the flesh and the spirit, so that they
are continually compelled to mourn that their flesh turns them aside from the
way of the Lord into the by paths of sin: just as Paul cries out, "I see
another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, etc. O wretched
man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" Romans 7:23-24.
The
second contrast concerneth the doctrine; for David opposes the way of lying to
the way of truth. We are taught by this contrast that we should eschew false
doctrine, and steadfastly adhere to divine truth. To this applies the precept
of Paul, Eph 4:25. "Wherefore, having put away the lie, speak truth each
one with his neighbour." Further, we learn, if we hate our own ways, i.e.,
confess our sins to the Lord, and, trusting in the Mediator, pray for
forgiveness, that God is wont to hear and mercifully to forgive our sins; as it
is written, 1 John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness." Solomon Gesner.
Verse
26. Thou heardest me. Past answers to prayer should encourage
us to come the more boldly to the throne of grace. -- Jacob never forgot the
night he spent at Bethel. William S. Plumer.
Verse
26. Teach me thy statutes. The often repetition of this one
thing in this Psalm argues,
Verse
26. Teach me. We can never do without teaching, even in old
age. Unless the Spirit of God teaches us we learn in vain. Martin Geier.
Verse
26-27. Here is David's earnest desire for the continuance of that
intimacy that had been between him and his God; not by visions and voices from
heaven, but by the Word and Spirit in an ordinary way: "Teach me thy
statutes," that is, "make me to understand the way of thy
precepts." When he knew God had heard his declaration of his ways, he doth
not say, Now, Lord, tell me my lot, and let me know what the event will be;
but, Now, Lord, tell me my duty, let me know what thou wouldest have me to do
as the case stands. Note, Those that in all their ways acknowledge God, may
pray in faith that he will direct their steps in the right way. And the surest
way of keeping up our communion with God is, by learning his statutes, and
walking diligently in the way of his precepts. Matthew Henry.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
26. -- Confession. Absolution. Instruction.
Verse
26. --
EXPOSITION
Verse
27. Make me to understand the way of thy precepts. Give me a deep
insight into the practical meaning of thy word; let me get a clear idea of the
tone and tenor of thy law. Blind obedience has but small beauty; God would have
us follow him with our eyes open. To obey the letter of the word is all that
the ignorant can hope for; if we wish to keep God's precepts in their spirit we
must come to an understanding of them, and that can be gained nowhere but at
the Lord's hands. Our understanding needs enlightenment and direction: he who
made our understanding must also make us understand. The last sentence was, "teach
me thy statutes," and the words, "make me to understand," are an
instructive enlargement and exposition of that sentence: we need to be so
taught that we understand what we learn. It is to be noted that the Psalmist is
not anxious to understand the prophecies, but the precepts, and he is not
concerned about the subtleties of the law, but the commonplaces and everyday
rules of it, which are described as "the way of thy precepts."
So
shall I talk of thy wondrous works. It is ill talking of what we do not
understand. We must be taught of God till we understand, and then we may hope
to communicate our knowledge to others with a hope of profiting them. Talk
without intelligence is mere talk, and idle talk; but the words of the
instructed are as pearls which adorn the ears of them that hear. When our heart
has been opened to understand, our lips should be opened to impart knowledge;
and we may hope to be taught ourselves when we feel in our hearts a willingness
to teach the way of the Lord to those among whom we dwell.
Thy
wondrous works. Remark that the clearest understanding does not cause us to
cease from wondering at the ways and works of God. The fact is that the more we
know of God's doings the more we admire them, and the more ready we are to
speak upon them. Half the wonder in the world is born of ignorance, but holy
wonder is the child of understanding. When a man understands the way of the
divine precepts he never talks of his own works, and as the tongue must have
some theme to speak upon, he begins to extol the works of the all perfect Lord.
Some
in this place read "meditate" or "muse" instead of
"talk"; it is singular that the words should be so near of kin, and
yet it is right that they should be, for none but foolish people will talk
without thinking. If we read the passage in this sense, we take it to mean that
in proportion as David understood the word of God he would meditate upon it
more and more. It is usually so; the thoughtless care not to know the inner
meaning of the Scriptures, while those who know them best are the very men who
strive after a greater familiarity with them, and therefore give themselves up
to musing upon them.
Observe
the third verse of the last eight (19), and see how the sense is akin to this.
There he was a stranger in the earth, and here he prays to know his way; there,
too, he prayed that the word might not be hid from himself, and here he
promises that he will not hide it from others.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
27. Make me to understand. Natural blindness is an obstinate
disease, and hardly cured: therefore again and again we had need to pray,
"Open mine eyes"; "Teach me thy statutes"; Make me to
understand the way of thy precepts. Our ignorance is great even when it is
cured in part. The clouds of temptation and carnal affection cause it to return
upon us, so that we know not what we know. Therefore he cries, "open my
eyes; cause me to understand." Yea, the more we know the more is our
ignorance discovered to us: "Surely I am more brutish than any man, and
have not the understanding of a man. I neither learned wisdom, nor have the
knowledge of the holy" (Proverbs
30:2-3). "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but
now mine eye seeth thee; wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and
ashes" (Job 42:5-6). Alas, a poor, little, hearsay
knowledge availeth not; they abhor themselves when they have more intimate acquaintance.
None so confident as a young professor that knoweth a few truths, but in a weak
and imperfect manner: the more we know indeed, the more sensible we are of our
ignorance, and how liable to this mistake and that, so that we dare not trust
ourselves for an hour. Thomas Mantels.
Verse
27. Understated the way... so shall I talk. We can talk with
a better grace of God's "wondrous works," the wonders of providence,
and especially the wonders of redeeming love, when we understand the way of
God's precepts, and walk in that way. Matthew Henry
Verse
27. The way of they precepts. He desireth that God would,
partly by his Spirit, partly by his ministers, partly by affliction, partly by
study and labour, make him to have a right and sound understanding, not only of
his statutes, but of the way of his statutes, that is, after what sort and
order he may live and direct his life, according to those things which God hath
commanded him in his law. Learn here how hard a thing it is for man overweening
himself in his own wisdom, to know God's will till God make him to know.
Richard Greenham.
Verse
27. So shall I talk of thy wondrous works. He that is
sensible of the wondrous things that are in God's word? will be talking of
them.
(b)
For the edification of others: "And thou, being converted, strengthen thy
brethren" (Luke 22:32). True grace is communicative as
fire, etc.
(c) For our own
profit. He that useth his knowledge shall
have more. Whereas, on the contrary, full breasts, if
not sucked, become dry. In the dividing, the loaves
increased. All gifts, but much more spiritual, which are
the best, are improved by exercise. Thomas Manton.
Verse
27. So shall I talk, etc. Desire of knowledge should not be
for satisfying of curiosity, or for ostentation, or for worldly gain, but to
edify ourselves and others in wisdom... Thy wondrous works. The works of
creation, redemption and providence, either set down in Scripture, or observed
in our own experience, transcend our capacity, and cannot but draw admiration
from them that see them well. David Dickson.
Verse
27. So shall I talk. It is a frequent complaint with
Christians, that they are straitened in religious conversation, and often feel
unable to speak "to the use of edifying, that they may minister grace to
the hearers," Ephesians 4:29. Here, then, is the secret
disclosed, by which we shall be kept from the danger of dealing in unfelt
truths, for "out of the abundance of the heart our mouths shall
speak," Matthew 12:34. Seek to have the heart searched,
cleansed, filled with the graces of the Spirit. Humility, teachability,
simplicity, will bring light unto the understanding, influence the heart,
"open the lips," and unite every member that we have in the service
and praise of God. Charles Bridges.
Verse
27. I shall talk of. There is a close affinity between all
the duties of religion. The same word is rendered pray, meditate, and talk of.
We think of God's excellent majesty; we cry to him in humble prayer; we study
his word until our souls are filled with gladness and admiration; and then how
can we but talk of his wondrous works? William S. Plumer.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
27. --
Verse
27. -- Education for the ministry.
EXPOSITION
Verse
28. My soul melteth for heaviness. He was dissolving away in tears.
The solid strength of his constitution was turning to liquid as if molten by
the furnace heat of his afflictions. Heaviness of heart is a killing thing, and
when it abounds it threatens to turn life into a long death, in which a man
seems to drop away in a perpetual drip of grief. Tears are the distillation of
the heart; when a man weeps he wastes away his soul. Some of us know what great
heaviness means, for we have been brought under its power again and again, and
often have we felt ourselves to be poured out like water, and near to being
like water spilt upon the ground, never again to be gathered up. There is one
good point in this downcast state, for it is better to be melted with grief
than to be hardened by impenitence.
Strengthen
thou me according unto thy word. He had found out an ancient promise that the
saints shall be strengthened, and here he pleads it. His hope in his state of
depression lies not in himself, but in his God; if he may be strengthened from
on high he will yet shake off his heaviness and rise to joy again. Observe how
he pleads the promise of the word, and asks for nothing more than to be dealt
with after the recorded manner of the Lord of mercy. Had not Hannah sung,
"He shall give strength unto his King, and exalt the horn of his
anointed"? God strengthens us by infusing grace through his word: the word
which creates can certainly sustain. Grace can enable us to bear the constant
fret of an abiding sorrow, it can repair the decay caused by the perpetual tear
drip, and give to the believer the garment of praise for the spirit of
heaviness. Let us always resort to prayer in our desponding times, for it is
the surest and shortest way out of the depths. In that prayer let us plead
nothing but the word of God; for there is no plea like a promise, no argument
like a word from our covenant God.
Note
how David records his inner soul life. In Psalms
119:20 he says, "My soul breaketh;" in Psalms
119:25, "My soul cleaveth to the dust;" and here, "My
soul melteth." Further on, in Psalms
119:81, he cries, "My soul fainteth;" in Psalms 119:109, "My soul is continually in my
hand;" in Psalms 119:167, "My soul hath kept thy
testimonies;" and lastly, in Psalms 119:175, "Let my soul live." Some people do
not even know that they have a soul, and here is David all soul. What a
difference there is between the spiritually living and the spiritually dead.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
28. My soul melteth for heaviness. In the original the word
signifies, "droppeth away." The Septuagint hath it thus: "My
soul fell asleep through weariness." Probably by a fault of the
transcribers, putting one word for another. My soul droppeth. It may relate
Verse
28. My soul melteth. The oldest versions make it mean to
slumber (LXX enustaqen, Vulg. dormitavit), which would make the clause
remarkably coincident with Luke
22:45. Joseph Addison Alexander.
Verse
28. Heaviness. There is nothing may comfort a natural man but
David had it; yet cannot all these keep him from that heaviness whereunto, as
witnesseth S. Peter, the children of God are subject in this life, through
their manifold temptations. The men of the world are so far from this
disposition, that if they have health and wealth, they marvel what it is should
make a man heavy: they are not acquainted with the exercise of a feeling
conscience; they know not the defects of the spiritual life, and are not
grieved at them: being dead in sin they feel not that they want life; all their
care is to eat and drink and make merry. But miserable are they; for in their
best estate they are as oxen fed for the slaughter. Woe be to them who laugh
now, they shall mourn; but blessed are they who mourn now, for they shall be
comforted. William Cowper.
Verse
28. Strengthen thou me according unto thy word. Strengthen me
to do the duties, resist the temptations, and bear up under the burdens of an
afflicted state, that the spirit may not fail. Matthew Henry.
Verse
28. Strengthen thou me according unto thy word. What is that
word which David pleaded? "As thy days, so shall thy strength be," Deuteronomy
33:25. "Will he plead against me," said Job, "with
his great power? No; but he will put strength in me," Job
23:6. Charles Bridges.
Verse
28. Strengthen thou me. Gesenius translates this, "Keep
me alive." Thus, ygmyq, in this verse, answers to ygyx, in the first
verse. This prayer for new strength, or life, is an entreaty that the waste of
life through tears might be restored by the life giving word. Frederick G.
Marchant.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
28. -- Heaviness, its cause, curse, and cure.
EXPOSITION
Verse
29. Remove from me the way of lying. This is the way of sin, error,
idolatry, folly, self righteousness, formalism, hypocrisy. David would not only
be kept from that way, but have it kept from him; he cannot endure to have it
near him, he would have it swept away from his sight. He desired to be right
and upright, true and in the truth; but he feared that a measure of falsehood
would cling to him unless the Lord took it away, and therefore he earnestly
cried for its removal. False motives may at times sway us, and we may fall into
mistaken notions of our own spiritual condition before God, which erroneous
conceits may be kept up by a natural prejudice in our own layout, and so we may
be confirmed in a delusion, and abide under error unless grace comes to the
rescue. No true heart can rest in a false view of itself; it finds no
anchorage, but is tossed to and fro till it gets into the truth and the truth
into it. The true born child of heaven sighs out and cries against a lie,
desiring to have it taken away as much as a man desires to be set at a distance
from a venomous serpent or a raging lion.
And
grant me thy law graciously. He is in a gracious state who looks upon the law
itself as a gift of grace. David wishes to have the law opened up to his
understanding, engraved upon his heart, and carried out in his life; for this
he seeks the Lord, and pleads for it as a gracious grant. No doubt he viewed this
as the only mode of deliverance from the power of falsehood: if the law be not
in our hearts the lie will enter. David would seem to have remembered those
times when, according to the eastern fashion, he had practised deceit for his
own preservation, and he saw that he had been weak and erring on that point;
therefore he was bowed down in spirit and begged to be quickened and delivered
from transgressing in that manner any more. Holy men cannot review their sins
without tears, nor weep over them without entreating to be saved from further
offending.
There
is an evident opposition between falsehood and the gracious power of God's law.
The only way to expel the lie is to accept the truth. Grace also has a clear
affinity to truth: no sooner do we meet with the sound of the word
"graciously" than we hear the footfall of truth: "I have chosen
the way of truth." Grace and truth are ever linked together, and a belief
of the doctrines of grace is a grand preservative from deadly error.
In
the fifth of the preceding octave (Psalms
119:21) David cries out against pride, and here against lying --
these are much the same thing. Is not pride the greatest of all lies?
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
29. -- It says, Remove from me the way, and not me from the
way; because that way of iniquity is within us, for we are born children of
wrath, and the passions innate in us run to the he, and make the wretched way
of crimes in our souls. Thomas Le Blanc.
Verse
29. Remove from me the way of lying. Here he acknowledgeth
that although he were already exercised in the law of God and in his knowledge,
and that although he were a prophet to teach others, nevertheless he was
subject to a number of wicked thoughts and imaginations which might always
wickedly lead him from the right way, except God had held him with his mighty
and strong hand. And this is a point which we ought here rightly to note; for
we see how men greatly abuse themselves. When any of us shall have had a good
beginning, we straightway think that we are at the highest; we never bethink us
to pray any more to God, when once he hath showed us favour enough to serve our
turns; but if we have done any small deed, we by and by lift up ourselves and
wonder at our great virtues, thinking straightway that the Devil can win no
more of us. This foolish arrogancy causeth God to let us go astray, so that we
fall mightily, yea, that we break both arms and legs, and are in great hazard
of breaking our necks. I speak not now of our natural body, but of our soul.
Let us look upon David himself; for he it is that hath made proof hereof. It
came to pass that he villainously and wickedly erred when he took Bathsheba the
wife of his subject, Uriah, to play the whoremonger with her, that he was the
cause of so execrable a murder, yea, and that of many; for he did as much as in
him lay, to cause the whole army of the Lord and all the people of Israel to be
utterly overthrown. See, then, the great negligence and security into which
David fell; and see also wherefore he saith, "Alas, my good God, I beseech
thee so to guide me, that I may forsake the way of lying." John Calvin.
Verse
29. Lying. A sin that David, through diffidence, fell into
frequently. See 1 Samuel 21:2,8, where he roundly telleth three
or four lies; and the like he did, 1 Samuel 27:8,10: this evil he saw by himself,
and here prayeth against it. John Trapp.
Verse
29. The way of lying, etc. Lying ways are all ways, except
the ways of God's commandments: reason, sense, example, custom, event,
deceivable lusts, these tell a man he is safe, or that he shall repent of them,
and take no hurt in the end, and they promise ease and blessedness, but perform
it not. Such as desire to obey God must be kept from evil ways: we are not so
sanctified but that temptation will injure our graces. As a fire in kindling,
not thoroughly alight, may be quenched by a little water, so may our holiness
be damped by temptation. We find within us a proneness to false ways, as
candles new blown out are soon blown in again. Therefore as burnt children
dread the fire, so do we fear the way of lying. God doth not suffer temptations
to come into the presence of some; and in others God maketh the heart averse
from sin when the temptation is present. We must come out of the ways of sin,
ere we can walk in the ways of God. Paul Bayne.
Verse
29. The way of lying. The whole life of sin is a lie from
beginning to end. The word "lying" occurs eight times in this Psalm.
William S. Plumer.
Verse
29. The way of lying. By the way of lying is to be understood
all that is in man's nature, not agreeable to the word, whether it be counsels,
or conclusions of the heart, or external actions; and it is called a lying way,
because nature promises a good to be gotten by sin which man shall not find in
it. William Cowper.
Verse
29. The way of lying. The prophet here desireth to be
confirmed by God against all corruptions in doctrine, and disorder of
conversation, which Satan by his witty and wily instruments doth seek to set
abroach in the world. These are called "the way of lying."
Verse
29. Grant me thy law graciously. He opposes the law of God to
the way of lying. First, because it is the only rule of all truth, both in
religion and manners: that which is not agreeable to it is but a lie which
shall deceive men. Secondly, it destroys and shall at length utterly destroy
all contrary errors. As the rod of Aaron devoured the rods of the enchanters:
so the word, which is the rod of the mouth of God, shall, in the end, eat up
and consume all untruths whatsoever. Thirdly, according to the sentence of this
word, so shall it be unto every man; it deceives none. Men shall find by
experience it is true: he who walks in a way condemned by the word, shall come
to a miserable end. And, on the contrary, it cannot but be well with them who
live according to this rule. William Cowper.
Verse
29. Grant me thy law graciously. David had ever the book of
the law; for every king of Israel was to have it always by him, and the Rabbis
say, written with his own hand. But, "Grant me thy law graciously;"
that is, he desires he might have it not only written by him, but upon him, to
have it imprinted upon his heart, that he might have a heart to observe and
keep it. That is the blessing he begs for, "the law"; and this is
begged "graciously," or upon terms of grace, merely according to
thine own favour, and good pleasure. Here is, --
In
the first clause you have his malady, David had been enticed to a course of
lying. In the second we have his remedy, and that is the law of God. Thomas
Manton.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
29. -- The way of lying.
Verse
29-30. --
EXPOSITION
Verse
30. I have chosen the way of truth. As he abhorred the way of lying,
so he chose the way of truth: a man must choose one or the other, for there
cannot be any neutrality in the case. Men do not drop into the right way by
chance; they must choose it, and continue to choose it, or they will soon
wander from it. Those whom God has chosen in due time choose his way. There is
a doctrinal way of truth which we ought to choose, rejecting every dogma of
man's devising; there is a ceremonial way of truth which we should follow,
detesting all the forms which apostate churches have invented; and then there
is a practical way of truth, the way of holiness, to which we must adhere
whatever may be our temptation to forsake it. Let our election be made, and
made irrevocably. Let us answer to all seducers, "I have chosen, and what
I have chosen I have chosen." O Lord, by thy grace lead us with a hearty
free will to choose to do thy will; thus shall thine eternal choice of us bring
forth the end which it designs.
Thy
judgments have I laid before me What he had chosen he kept in mind, laying it
out before his mind's eye. Men do not become holy by a careless wish: there
must be study, consideration, deliberation, and earnest enquiry, or the way of
truth will be missed. The commands of God must be set before us as the mark to
aim at, the model to work by, the road to walk in. If we put God's judgments
into the background we shall soon find ourselves departing from them.
Here
again the sixth stanzas of the third and fourth octaves ring out a similar
note. "I have kept thy testimonies" (Psalms
119:22), and "Thy judgments have I laid before me." This
is a happy confession, and there is no wonder that it is repeated.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
30. I have chosen the way of truth. Here you have the working
of a gracious soul. This is more than sitting and hearing the word -- having no
objection to what you hear. Such hearing is all that can be affirmed of the
generality of gospel hearers, except we add, that none are more ready to be
caught by false and easy ways of salvation, for they assent to all they hear.
The man of God strikes a higher and more spiritual note -- he goes into the
choice of the thing; he chooses the way of truth; and he cannot but choose it;
it is the bent of his renewed nature, the effect indeed of all he has been
pleading. How act we? The way of truth is all that God has revealed concerning
his Son Jesus. The willing heart chooses this way, and all of it; the
bitterness of it, the self denial of it, as well as the comfort of it; a
Saviour from sin as well as a Saviour from hell; a Saviour whose Spirit can
lead from prayerlessness to godliness, from idleness upon the Sabbath day to a
holy keeping of that day, from self seeking to the seeking of Christ, from
slack, inconsistent conduct to a careful observance of all the Lord's will.
Where God's people meet, there such will delight to be. O for such to abound
among us! John Stephen.
Verse
30. I have chosen the way of truth. Religion is not a matter
of chance, but of choice. Have we weighed things in the balance, and, upon
mature deliberation, made an election, -- "We will have God upon any
terms" Have we sat down and reckoned the cost, -- or what religion must
cost us, -- the parting with our lusts; and what it may cost us, - - the
parting with our lives? Have we resolved, through the assistance of grace, to
own Christ when the swords and staves are up? and to sail with him, not only in
a pleasure boat, but in a man of war? This choosing God speaks him to be ours:
hypocrites profess God out of worldly design, not religious choice. Thomas
Watson, in "The Morning Exercises."
Verse
30. I have chosen the way of truth. The choice which David
makes here of God's truth proceeds from that choice and election whereby the
Lord before all time made choice of David, in Christ, to be one of his elect.
For as it is true of love, "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but
that he loved us" -- we could never have loved him, if first he had not
loved us; so it is true of election; if he before time had not chosen us to be
his people, we could never in time have chosen him to be our God. And this I
mark in them who love the word of God, and delight in it, who can say out of a
good heart, that the Lord is their portion and the joy of their soul: this is a
sure seal of their election, imprinted by the finger of God in their heart.
William Cowper.
Verse
30. In all our religious exercises, let deliberation precede
our resolution, and consideration usher in determination. David did so; and
therefore he says here, I have chosen the way of truth: thy judgments have I
laid before me. Indeed, he cannot but resolve upon, and make choice of, the way
of piety, who layeth before him the goodness, the rectitude and pleasantness of
the way. When the prodigal considereth with himself how well his father's
servants fared, he thinketh of, yea, determines to go home: "I will arise
and go to my father." Abraham Wright, 1661.
Verse
30. I have chosen. No man ever served the Lord but he first
made choice of him to be his Master. Every man when he comes to years of
discretion, so as to be master of himself, advises with himself what course he
shall take, whether he will serve God or the world. Now all the saints of God
have made this distinct choice; we will serve the Lord, and no other. Moses
when both stood before him, the pleasures of Egypt on the one hand, and God and
his people with their afflictions on the other, he chose the latter before the
former, Hebrews 11:25. So David saith he did, I have
chosen the way of truth: thy judgments have I laid before me; for to choose,
is, when a thing lies before a man, and he considers and takes it. So Joshua,
"I and my house will serve the Lord." John Preston, (1587-1628) in
"The Golden Sceptre held forth to the Humble." 1638.
Verse
30. Truth. There are three kinds of truth; truth in heart,
truth in word, truth in deed (2
Kings 20:3 Zechariah 8:16 Hebrews
10:22). Ayguan. From "The Preacher's Storehouse," by J. E.
Vaux.
Verse
30. Thy judgments. God's word is called his judgment, because
it discerns good from evil; and is not a naked sentence; but, as it points out
evil, so it pronounces plagues against it, which shall be executed according to
the sentence thereof. William Cowper.
Verse
30-31. I have chosen; I have stuck. The choosing Christian is
likely to be the sticking Christian; when those that are Christians by chance
tack about if the wind turn. Matthew Henry.
Verse
30. Thy judgments have I laid before me. The solid
consideration that God's word is God's decree or judgment may guard a believer
against men's terrors and allurements, and fix him in his right choice, as
here. David Dickson.
Verse
30. Thy judgments have I laid before me. Men that mean to
travel the right way will lay before them a map: so David, as his will had
resolved upon the ways of truth, so he setteth before his eyes the map of the
law, which did manifest this unto him, as the ship man hath his card with the
compass. Paul Bayne.
EXPOSITION
Verse
31. I have stuck unto thy testimonies, -- or I have cleaved, for the
word is the same as in Psalms 119:25. Though cleaving to the dust of
sorrow and of death, yet he kept fast hold of the divine word. This was his
comfort, and his faith stuck to it, his love and his obedience held on to it,
his heart and his mind abode in meditation upon it. His choice was so heartily
and deliberately made that he stuck to it for life, and could not be removed
from it by the reproaches of those who despised the way of the Lord. What could
he have gained by quitting the sacred testimony? Say rather, what would he not
have lost if he had ceased to cleave to the divine word? It is pleasant to look
back upon past perseverance and to expect grace to continue equally steadfast
in the future. He who has enabled us to stick to him will surely stick to us.
O
LORD, put me not to shame. This would happen if God's promises were
unfulfilled, and if the heart of God's servant were suffered to fail. This we
have no reason to fear, since the Lord is faithful to his word. But it might
also happen though the believer's acting in an inconsistent manner, as David
had himself once done, when he fell into the way of lying, and pretended to be
a madman. If we are not true to our profession we may be left to reap the fruit
of our folly, and that will be the bitter thing called "shame." It is
evident from this that a believer ought never to be ashamed, but act the part
of a grave man who has done nothing to be ashamed of in believing his God, and
does not mean to adopt a craven tone in the presence of the Lord's enemies. If
we beseech the Lord not to put us to shame, surely we ought not ourselves to be
ashamed without cause.
The
prayer of this verse is found in the parallel verse of the next section (Psalms
119:39): "Turn away my reproach which I fear." It is
evidently a petition which was often on the Psalmist's heart. A brave heart is
more wounded by shame than by any weapon which a soldier's hand can wield.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
31. I have stuck unto thy testimonies. It is not a little
remarkable, that while the Psalmist says (Psalms
119:25), "My soul cleaveth to the dust," he should say
here, "I have cleaved unto thy testimonies"; for it is the same
original word in both verses. The thing is altogether compatible with the
experience of the believer. Within there is the body of indwelling sin, and
within there is the undying principle of divine grace. There is the contest
between them "the flesh lusteth a against the spirit and the spirit
against the flesh" (Galatians 5:17), and the believer is constrained
to cry out, "O wretched man that I am" (Romans
7:24). It is the case; and all believers find it so. While the soul
is many times felt cleaving to the dust, the spirit strives to cleave unto
God's testimonies. So the believer prays, Cause that I be not put to shame. And
keeping close to Christ, brethren, you shall not be put to shame, world without
end. John Stephen.
Verse
31. I have stuck unto thy testimonies. He adhered to them
when momentary interests might have dictated a different line of conduct, when
unbelief would have been ready to shrink from the path of duty, when outward
appearances were greatly discouraging to fidelity, when all were ready to
deride his preposterous determination. John Morison.
Verse
31. I have stuck. True godliness evermore wears upon her head
the garland of perseverance. William Cowper.
Verse
31. Put me not to shame. Forasmuch as David, in a good
conscience, endeavoured to serve God, he craves that the Lord would not
confound him. This is two ways done; either when the Lord forsakes his
children, so that in their trouble they feel not his promised comforts, and
great confusion of mind and perturbation is upon them; or otherwise when he
leaves them as a prey to their enemies, who scorn them for their godly and
sincere life, and exult over them in their time of trouble; when they see that
all their prayer and other exercises of religion cannot keep them out of their
enemies' hands. "He trusted in God: let him deliver him." From this
shame and contempt he desires the Lord would keep him, and that he should never
be like unto them, who, being disappointed of that wherein they trusted, are
ashamed. William Cowper.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
31. -- Reasons for sticking to the Divine testimonies.
Verse
31. -- A wholesome mixture.
EXPOSITION
Verse
32. I will run the way of thy commandments. With energy,
promptitude, and zeal he would perform the will of God, but he needed more life
and liberty from the hand of God.
When
thou shalt enlarge my heart. Yes, the heart is the master; the feet soon run
when the heart is free and energetic. Let the affections be aroused and eagerly
set on divine things, and our actions will be full of force, swiftness, and
delight. God must work in us first, and then we shall will and do according to
his good pleasure. He must change the heart, unite the heart, encourage the
heart, strengthen the heart, and enlarge the heart, and then the course of the
life will be gracious, sincere, happy, and earnest; so that from our lowest up
to our highest state in grace we must attribute all to the free favour of our
God. We must run; for grace is not an overwhelming force which compels
unwilling minds to move contrary to their will: our running is the spontaneous leaping
forward of a mind which has been set free by the hand of God, and delights to
show its freedom by its bounding speed.
What
a change from Psalms 119:25 to the present, from cleaving to the
dust to running in the way. It is the excellence of holy sorrow that it works
in us the quickening for which we seek, and then we show the sincerity of our
grief and the reality of our revival by being zealous in the ways of the Lord.
For
the third time an octave closes with, "I will." These "I
wills" of the Psalms are right worthy of being each one the subject of
study and discourse.
Note
how the heart has been spoken of up to this point: "whole heart" (2),
"uprightness of heart" (7), "hid in mine heart" (11),
"enlarge my heart." There are many more allusions further on, and
these all go to show what heart work David's religion was. It is one of the
great lacks of our age that heads count for more than hearts, and men are far
more ready to learn than to love, though they are by no means eager in either
direction.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
32. I will run in the way of thy commandments when, etc. You
must remember that the speaker, the Psalmist, is not an unconverted man, but
one who had long before been brought under the dominion of religion. He is not,
therefore, soliciting the first entrance, but the after and multiplied workings
of a principle of grace; and he states his desire in an expression which is
singularly descriptive of the outgoing of an influence from the heart over the
rest of the man. His wish is that his heart might be enlarged; and this wish
amounted to a longing that the whole of himself might act in unison with the
heart, so that he might become, as it were, all heart, and thus the heart in
the strictest sense be enlarged, through the spreading of itself over body and
soul, expanding itself till it embraced all the powers of both. If there be the
love of God in the heart, then gradually the heart, possessed and actuated by
so noble and stirring a principle, will bring over to a lofty consecration all
the energies, whether mental or corporeal, and will be practically the same as
though the other departments of man were thus the result turned into heart, and
he became, according to the phrase which we are accustomed to employ when
describing a character of unwonted generosity and warmth, "all
heart." So that the desire after an enlarged heart you may fairly consider
tantamount to a desire that every faculty might be brought into thorough
subjection to God, and that just as God himself is love -- love being rather
the Divine essence than a Divine attribute, and therefore love mingling itself
with all the properties of Godhead, so the man having love in the heart might
become all heart, the heart throwing itself into all his capacities, pervading
but not obliterating the characteristics of his nature. And exactly in
accordance with this view of the enlargement of heart which the Psalmist
desired is the practical result which was to follow on its attainment. He was
already walking in the way of God's commandments; but what he proposed to
himself was the running that way: I will run the way of thy commandments, when
thou shalt enlarge my heart. A quickened pace, a more rapid progress, a greater
alacrity, a firmer constancy, a more resolute and unflinching obedience, these
were the results which the Psalmist looked for from the enlargement of his
heart. And truly if all the faculties of mind and body be dedicated to God,
with a constant and vigorous step will man press on in the way that leadeth to
heaven. So long as the dedication is at best only partial, the world retaining
some fraction of its empire, notwithstanding the setting up of the kingdom of
God, there can be nothing but a slow and impeded progress, a walking
interrupted by repeated halting, if not backslidings, by much of loitering, if
not of actual retreat; but if the man be all heart, then he will be all life,
all warmth, all zeal, all energy, and the consequence of this complete
surrender to God will be exactly that which is prophetically announced by
Isaiah: "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they
shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they
shall walk, and not faint." Henry Melvill, 1798-1871.
Verse
32. I will run. By running is meant cheerful, ready, and
zealous observance of God's precepts: it is not go, or walk, but run. They that
would come to their journey's end, must run in the way of God's commandments. It
notes a speedy or a ready obedience, without delay. We must begin with God
betimes. Alas! when we should be at the goal, we have many of us scarce set
forth. And it notes earnestness; when a man's heart is set upon a thing, he
thinks he can never do it soon enough. And this is running, when we are
vehement and earnest upon the enjoyment of God and Christ in the way of
obedience. And it notes again, that the heart freely offereth itself to God.
This
running is the fruit of effectual calling. When the Lord speaks of effectual
calling, the issue of it is running; when he speaks of the conversion of the
Gentiles, "Nations that know not thee shall run unto thee"; and,
"Draw me, and we will run after thee." When God draws there is a
speedy, earnest motion of the soul.
This
running, as it is the fruit of effectual calling, so it is very needful; for
cold and faint motions are soon overborne by difficulty and temptation:
"Let us run with patience the race that is set before us" (Hebrews
12:1). When a man hath a mind to do a thing, though he be hindered
and jostled, he takes it patiently, he goes on and cannot stay to debate the
business. A slow motion is easily stopped, whereas a swift one bears down that
which opposeth it; so is it when men run and are not tired in the service of
God. Last of all, the prize calls for running: "So run that ye may
obtain" (1 Corinthians 9:24). Thomas Manton.
Verse
32. I will run. It was not the walking, "the way of
God's commandments," but the running "the way of God's
commandments," to which David aspired. The text has no connection with the
case of one who habitually pursues the opposite path; it has exclusive
reference to the pace at which the line of duty is to be traversed... It may
not unnaturally excite surprise, that "the sweet singer of Israel" --
he who was emphatically declared to be "a man after God's own heart"
-- should, nevertheless, in the words of the text, seem to imply that he was
not yet "running the way of God's commandments." But, dear brethren,
the greater an individual's comparative holiness, the more intense will be his
longing for absolute holiness. To others, David might appear to be speeding
marvellously along the path of life; and yet he himself deemed his movements to
be far less rapid. It is humility was one of the evidences of his holiness.
Hugh B. Moffat, 1871.
Verse
32. I will run the way. His intended course in this way he expresses
by running. It is good to be in this way even in the slowest motions; love will
creep where it cannot walk. But if thou art so indeed, then thou wilt long for
a swifter motion; if thou do but creep, creep on, desire to be enabled to go.
If thou goest, but yet haltingly and lamely, yet desire to be strengthened to
walk straight; and if thou walkest, let not that satisfy thee, desire to run.
So here, David did walk in this way; but he earnestly wishes to mend his pace;
he would willingly run, and for that end he desires an enlarged heart.
Some
dispute and descant too much whether they go or no, and childishly tell their
steps, and would know at every step whether they advance or no, and how much
they advance, and thus amuse themselves, and spend the time of doing and going
in questioning and doubting. Thus it is with many Christians; but it were a
more wise and comfortable way to be endeavouring onwards, and if thou make
little progress, at least to be desiring to make more; to be praying and
walking, and praying that thou mayest walk faster, and that in the end thou
mayest run, not satisfied with anything attained. Yet by that dissatisfaction
we must not be so dejected as to sit down, or to stand still, but rather we
must be excited to go on. Robert Leighton.
Verse
32. Enlarged my heart, or dilated it, namely, with joy. It is
obvious to remark the philosophical propriety with which this expression is
applied: since the heart is dilated, and the pulse by consequence becomes
strong and full, from the exultation of joy as well as of pride. (See Parkhurst
on bxr.) Richard Mant.
Verse
32. Thou wilt enlarge my heart. God would enlarge the very
seat of life, and thus give his weak servant more strength; such strength that
he need no longer lie prone on the dust struggling to arise; but strength to
enable him to run in the way of truth. Thus, he who prays, "O Lord, put me
not to shame," finds for himself the truth of an earlier song: "They
looked unto him, and were lightened, and their faces were not ashamed." Frederick
G. Marchant.
Verse
32. Enlarge my heart. It is said of Solomon, that he had
"a large heart, (the same word that is used here,) as the sand of the sea
shore:" that is a vast, comprehensive spirit, that could fathom much of
nature, both its greater and lesser things. Thus, I conceive, the enlargement
of the heart comprises the enlightening of the understanding. There arises a
clearer light there to discern spiritual things in a more spiritual manner; to
see the vast difference betwixt the vain things the world goes after, and the
true solid delight that is in the way of God's commandments; to know the false
blush of the pleasures of sin, and what deformity is under that painted mask,
and not be allured by it; to have enlarged apprehensions of God, his
excellency, and greatness and goodness; how worthy he is to be obeyed and
served; this is the great dignity and happiness of the soul; all other
pretensions are low and poor in respect of this. Here then is enlargement to
see the purity and beauty of his law, how just and reasonable, yea, how
pleasant and amiable it is; that his commandments are not grievous, that they
are beds of spices; the more we walk in them, still the more of their fragrant
smell and sweetness we find. Robert Leighton.
Verse
32. Narrow is the way unto life, but no man can run in it
save with widened heart. Prosper, of Aquitaine, (403-463), quoted by Neale and
Littledale.
Verse
32. Enlarged. Surely a temple for the great God (such as our
hearts should be) should be fair and ample. If we would have God dwell in our
hearts, and shed abroad his influences, we should make room for God in our
souls, by a greater largeness of faith and expectation. The rich man thought of
enlarging his barns, when his store was increased upon him (Luke 12:16-21), so should we stretch out the
curtains of Christ's tent and habitation, have larger expectations of God, if
we would receive more from him. The vessels failed before the oil failed. We
are not straitened in God, but in ourselves; by the scantiness of our thoughts,
we do lot make room for him, nor greaten God: "My soul doth magnify the
Lord" (Luke 1:46). Faith doth greaten God. How can we
make God greater than he is? As to the declarative being, we can have greater
and larger apprehensions of his greatness, goodness, and truth.
Verse
32 My heart. The great Physician knows at once where to look for the cause,
when he sees anything amiss in the outward life of his people. He well knows
that all spiritual disease is heart disease, and it is the heart remedies that
he must apply. At one time, our Physician sees symptoms which are violent in
their nature; at another, he sees symptoms of languor and debility; but he
knows that both come from the heart; and so, it is upon the heart that he
operates, when he is about to perform a cure.
The
strong action of the heart in all holy things comes from the blessed operation
of the Spirit upon it; then only can we "run" the way of God's
commandments, when he has enlarged our heart.
Heartiness
in action is the subject to which the reader's attention is here directed, and
it is one of considerable importance.
There
are many believers, who for want of enlargement of heart are occupying a poor
position in the church of God. They are trusting to Jesus for life eternal, and
he will doubtless not disappoint them; he will be true to his word, that
"he that believeth shall be saved;" but they are still, alas! to a
deplorable degree, shut up in self; they have contracted hearts; still do they
take narrow views of God's claim, and their own privileges, and the position in
which they are set in the world and however much they might be said to stand,
or sit, or walk in the way of God's commandments, they cannot be said to
"run" in it. Running is a strong and healthy action of the body; it
requires energy, it is an exercise that needs a sound heart; none can run in
the way of God's commandments, except in strength and vigour imparted by him.
The running Christians are comparatively few; walking and sitting Christians
are comparatively common; but the running Christian is so uncommon as often to
be thought almost mad.
Let
us, for the sake of order, classify our observations on this subject under the
following heads:
Verse
32. Disquiets of heart unfit us for duty, by hindering our
activity in the prosecution of duty. The whole heart, soul, and strength should
be engaged in all religious services; but these troubles are as clogs and
weights to hinder motion. Joy is the dilatation of the soul, and widens it for
anything which it undertakes; but grief contracts the heart, and narrows all
the faculties. Hence doth David beg an "enlarged heart," as the
principle of activity: I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt
enlarge my heart; for what else can be expected when the mind is so distracted
with fear and sorrow, but that it should be uneven, tottering, weak, and
confused? so that if it do set itself to anything, it acts troublesomely,
drives on heavily, and doth a very little with a great deal ado; and yet, the
unfitness were less, if that little which it can do were well done; but the
mind is so interrupted in its endeavours that sometimes in prayer the man
begins, and then is presently at a stand, and dares not proceed, his words are
swallowed up, "he is so troubled that he cannot speak" Psalms
77:4. Richard Gilpin, (1625-1699), in "Daemonologia
Sacra."
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
32. -- The Fettered Racer set free.
Verse
32.
Verse
32. -- The text will give us occasion to speak,
Verse
32. --
(a) Where it
lies -- in the heart.
(b) Whence it comes: "When thou shalt," etc.
(c) What it
does -- enlarges the heart. --G.R.
EXPOSITION
Verse
33-40. A sense of dependence and a consciousness of extreme need
pervade this section, which is all made up of prayer and plea. The former eight
verses trembled with a sense of sin, quivering with a childlike sense of
weakness and folly, which caused the man of God to cry out for the help by
which alone his soul could be preserved from falling back into sin.
Verse
33. Teach me, O LORD, the way of thy statutes. Child like, blessed
words, from the lips of an old, experienced believer, and he a king, and a man
inspired of God. Alas, for those who will never be taught. They dote upon their
own wisdom; but their folly is apparent to all who rightly judge. The Psalmist
will have the Lord for his teacher; for he feels that his heart will not learn
of any less effectual instructor. A sense of great slowness to learn drives us
to seek a great teacher. What condescension it is on our great Jehovah's part
that he deigns to teach those who seek him. The lesson which is desired is
thoroughly practical; the holy man would not only learn the statutes, but the
way of them, the daily use of them, their tenor, spirit, direction, habit,
tendency. He would know that path of holiness which is hedged in by divine law,
along which the commands of the Lord stand as sign posts of direction and mile
stones of information, guiding and marking our progress. The very desire to
learn this way is in itself an assurance that we shall be taught therein, for
he who made us long to learn will be sure to gratify the desire.
And
I shall keep it unto the end. Those who are taught of God never forget their
lessons. When divine grace sets a man in the true way he will be true to it.
Mere human wit and will have no such enduring influence: there is an end to all
perfection of the flesh, but there is no end to heavenly grace except its own
end, which is the perfecting of holiness in the fear of the Lord. Perseverance
to the end is most certainly to be predicted of those whose beginning is in
God, and with God, and by God; but those who commence without the Lord's
teaching soon forget what they learn, and start aside from the way upon which
they professed to have entered. No one may boast that he will bold on his way
in his own strength, for that must depend upon the continual teaching of the
Lord: we shall fall like Peter, if we presume on our own firmness as he did. If
God keeps us we shall keep his way; and it is a great comfort to know that it
is the way with God to keep the feet of his saints. Yet we are to watch as if
our keeping of the way depended wholly on ourselves; for, according to this
verse, our perseverance rests not on any force or compulsion, but on the
teaching of the Lord, and assuredly teaching, whoever be the teacher, requires
learning on the part of the taught one: no one can teach a man who refuses to
learn. Earnestly, then, let us drink in divine instruction, that so we may hold
fast our integrity, and to life's latest hour follow on in the path of
uprightness! If we receive the living and incorruptible seed of the word of God
we must live: apart from this we have no life eternal, but only a name to live.
The
"end" of which David speaks is the end of life, or the fulness of
obedience. He trusted in grace to make him faithful to the utmost, never
drawing a line and saying to obedience, "Hitherto shalt thou go, but no
further." The end of our keeping the law will come only when we cease to
breathe; no good man will think of marking a date and saying, "It is
enough, I may now relax my watch, and live after the manner of men." As
Christ loves us to the end, so must we serve him to the end. The end of divine
teaching is that we may persevere to the end.
The
portions of eight show a relationship still. GIMEL, begins with prayer for
life, that he may keep the word (Psalms
119:17); DALETH cries for more life, according to that word (Psalms
119:25); and now HE opens with a prayer for teaching, that he may
keep the way of God's statutes. If a keen eye is turned upon these verses a
closer affinity will be discerned.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Upon
this Octonary the Notes furnished by Mr. Marchant, one of the Tutors of the
Pastors' College, are so excellent that we give them entire.
SECTION h HE.
SUBJECT:
THE LAW OF JEHOVAH TO BE SET BEFORE THE EYES, THE WIND, THE FEET, AND THE
HEART.
Key
phrase: dtrma drk[l ~qh. Set up before thy servant thy word (Psalms
119:38).
Verse
33. THE WORD SET UP BEFORE THE EYES. Teach me; literally,
"point out," "indicate to me." hry, as used here, means
"to send out the hand," especially in the sense of pointing out.
Hence "to show,", "to indicate," "to teach." The
Psalmist here prays for direction in its more superficial form: Many paths were
before his eyes leading down to death: one path was before him, leading unto
life. He here asks to be shown which is Jehovah's way. If the Lord will ever
show his eyes which way is the right way, then he will keep it unto the end.
Here is light wanted for the eyes. As the Indian pursues his trail with
unerring eye and unfaltering step, so, watching for every deviation which might
take us astray, we should pursue the way which leadeth unto life.
Verse
33-40. In this Octonarius, now and again, the same prayer is
repeated, of which several times mention has before been made. For he prays
that he may be divinely taught, governed, strengthened, and defended against
the calumnies, reproaches, and threatenings of his enemies. And the prayer is
full of the most ardent longings, which is manifest from the same resolve being
so frequently repeated. For the more he knows the ignorance, obscurity, doubts,
and the imbecility of the human mind, and sees how men are impelled by a slight
momentum, so that they fall away from the truth and embrace errors repugnant to
the divine word, or fall into great sins, the more ardently and strongly does
he ask in prayer that he may be divinely taught, governed, and strengthened,
lest he should cast away acknowledged truth, or plunge himself into wickedness.
And by his example he teaches that we, also, against blindness born with us,
and the imbecility of our flesh, and also against the snares and madness of
devils should fortify ourselves with those weapons; namely, with the right
study and knowledge of the divine Word, and with constant prayer. For if so
great a man, who had made such preeminent attainments, prayed for this, how
much more ought they to do so, who are but novices and ignorant beginners. This
is the sum of this Octonarius. D. H. Mollerus.
Verse
33-40. In this part, nine times does the Psalmist send up his
petition to his God, and six of these he accompanies with a reason for being
heard... These petitions are the utterances of a renewed heart; the man of God
could not but give utterance to them -- such was the new refining process that
had taken place upon him... The outline runs thus: -- Petitions are offered for
Instruction (Psalms 119:33) and Understanding (Psalms
119:34), and likewise for Spiritual Ability (Psalms
119:35) and Inclination (Psalms
119:36). These are followed by petitions for Exemption from the
Spirit of Vanity (Psalms 119:37), and for Divine Quickening (Psalms
119:37). The Lord is besought to make good his Word of Promise to
his servant (Psalms 119:38), and to deliver him from Feared
Reproach. Last of all, the man of God places his prayer for quickening upon the
ground of the Divine Righteousness (Ps 119:40). May the Divine Spirit teach us
to compare ourselves with what we find here, as we would see the salvation of
our God! John Stephen.
Verse
33-40. -- I observe that in this one octonary which is not to be
found in any of the rest, namely, that in every several verse there is a
several prayer. In the first whereof he prays to be taught, and then promises
to take in that which God shall teach him. He had before resolved to run in
this way; but he felt forthwith his own natural aberrations, and therefore he
cometh to this guide to be taught. Richard Greenham.
Verse
33. Teach me, O LORD, the way of thy statutes, etc.
Instruction from above is necessary for the children of God, while they
continue in this world. The more we know, the more we shall desire to know; we
shall beg a daily supply of grace, as well as of bread; and a taste of
"the cluster of Eshcol" will make us long after the vintage of Canaan
(Numbers 13:23). Religion is the art of holy
living, and then only known when it is practised; as he is not a master of
music who can read the notes which compose it, but he who has learnt to take a
lesson readily from the book, and play it on his instrument; after which the
pleasure it affords will be sufficient motive for continuing so to do. George
Horne.
Verse
33. Teach me, O LORD, the way of thy statutes, etc. In the
sincerity of your hearts go to God for his teaching. God is pleased with the
request. "Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy
people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this
thy so great a people? And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked
this thing" (1 Kings 3:9,10). Oh, beg it of God, for these
three reasons --
Verse
33. Teach me, O LORD, etc. "He who is his own
pupil," remarks S. Bernard, "has a fool for his master." A
soldier who enters on a march does not settle for himself the order of his
going, nor begin the journey at his own will, nor yet choose pleasant short
cuts, lest he should fall out of rank, away from the standards, but gets the
route from his general, and keeps to it; advances in a prescribed order, walks
armed, and goes straight on to the end of his march to find there the supplies
provided by the commissariat. If he goes by any other road, he gets no rations,
and finds no quarters ready, because the general's orders are that all things
of this kind shall be prepared for those who follow him, and turn not aside to
the right hand or the left. And thus he who follows his general does not break
down, and that for good reasons; for the general consults not for his own
convenience, but for the capability of his whole army. And this, too, is
Christ's order of march, as he leads his great host out of the spiritual Egypt
to the eternal Land of Paradise. Ambrose, quoted by Neale and Littledale.
Verse
33. Teach me, O LORD, the way, etc. It should never be forgotten,
as this fifth section teaches us, that there is a way marked out by God's own
appointment for all his people to walk in, and in which to persevere. Others
lay down a path each for himself, and keeping to it think they are safe. David
did not trust to anything of this kind; he was only desirous of being found in
the way of God's ordinance, and to be so taught of God as to keep it to the
end; or as the original reads, keep it the end, the end of his profession, the
salvation of his soul. W. Wilson.
Verse
33. Teach me, O LORD, the way of thy statutes; and I shall
keep it, etc. If thou continue a teacher of me, saith David, I shall continue a
servant to thee. Perseverance cannot be unless continual light and grace be
furnished to us from the Lord. As the tree which hath not sap at the root may
flourish for a while, but cannot continue; so a man, whose heart is not watered
with the dew of God's grace continually, may for a time make a fair show of
godliness, but in the end he will fall away, We bear not the root, but the root
bears us: let us tremble and fear. If we abide not in our Lord, we become
withered branches, good for nothing but the fire. Let us alway pray that he
would ever abide with us, to inform us by his light, and lead us by his power,
in that way which may bring us to himself. William Cowper.
Verse
33. Statutes, from a word signifying to mark, trace out,
describe and ordain; because they mark out our way, describe the line of
conduct we are to pursue, and order or ordain what we are to observe. Adam
Clarke.
Verse
33. God's "statutes" declare his authority and power of
giving us laws. Matthew Pool, 1624-1679.
Verse
33. Unto the end, or, by way of return, or reward, or
gratitude to thee; God's mercy in teaching being in all reason to be rewarded
or answered by our observing and taking exact care of what he teaches. Or else
by analogy with Psalms 19:11, where the keeping his commandments
brings great reward with it: it may here be rendered bq[ (understanding the
preposition l) for the reward, meaning the present joy of it, Psalms
119:32, not excluding the future crown. H. Hammond.
Verse
33. Unto the end. Quite through; the Hebrew is, to the heel.
The force of the words seems to be, "Quite through, from head to
foot." Zachary Mudge, 1744.
Verse
33-34. Unto the end. He will be no temporizer; he will keep it
"to the end." He will be no hypocrite; he will keep it "with his
whole heart." Adam Clarke.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Outlines
Upon Keywords of the Psalm, By Pastor C. A. Davis.
Verse
33-40. -- Faithfulness secured by divine in working. Prayer for divine
teaching, understanding, constraint, and control of heart and eyes, to ensure
persevering and wholehearted faithfulness (Psalms 119:33-37). The Psalmist, thus
established in the word, prays for the establishment of the word to himself (Psalms
119:38); deprecates the reproach of unfaithfulness (Psalms
119:39); and enforces the whole prayer by the vehemence of the
desire which prompts it (Psalms
119:40).
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
33. -- In this prayer for grace observe,
Verse
33. -- The superior efficacy of divine teaching: it secures holy
practice and insures its perpetuity.
Verse
33-34. -- Light from above.
(b) Men need
light to understand the beauties of the right
way. Such beauties line the way of truth on either hand,
but only the God taught mind appreciates them. Even Jesus,
who is the way, the truth, and the life, is as a root out
of a dry ground, till the mind is taught of the Lord. Sin
is the cause of this blindness. The farther any man walks
in the way of sin, the less can he see of the beauties of
holiness.
(b) Will be
freely given. "Who giveth to all men
liberally." "Ask, and it shall be given."
(c) Will be amply sufficient. "I shall keep it unto the
end." "I shall keep Thy law." To see is to follow.
Verse
33-35. -- Alpha and Omega.
Verse
33-36. -- Human Dependence on Divine help.
EXPOSITION
Verse
34. Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law. This is the
same prayer enlarged, or rather it is a supplement which intensifies it. He not
only needs teaching, but the power to learn: he requires not only to
understand, but to obtain an understanding. How low has sin brought us; for we
even lack the faculty to understand spiritual things, and are quite unable to
know them till we are endowed with spiritual discernment. Will God in very deed
give us understanding? This is a miracle of grace. It will, however, never be
wrought upon us till we know our need of it; and we shall not even discover
that need till God gives us a measure of understanding to perceive it. We are
in a state of complicated ruin, from which nothing but manifold grace can
deliver us. Those who feel their folly are by the example of the Psalmist
encouraged to pray for understanding: let each man by faith cry, "Give me
understanding." Others have had it, why may it not come to me? It was a
gift to them; will not the Lord also freely bestow it upon me?
We
are not to seek this blessing that we may be famous for wisdom, but that we may
be abundant in our love to the law of God. He who has understanding will learn,
remember, treasure up, and obey the commandment of the Lord. The gospel gives
us grace to keep the law; the free gift leads us to holy service; there is no
way of reaching to holiness but by accepting the gift of God. If God gives, we
keep; but we never keep the law in order to obtaining grace. The sure result of
regeneration, or the bestowal of understanding, is a devout reverence for the
law and a resolute keeping of it in the heart. The Spirit of God makes us to
know the Lord and to understand somewhat of his love, wisdom, holiness, and
majesty; and the result is that we honour the law and yield our hearts to the
obedience of the faith.
Yea,
I shall observe it with my whole heart. The understanding operates upon the
affections; it convinces the heart of the beauty of the law, so that the soul
loves it with all its powers; and then it reveals the majesty of the lawgiver,
and the whole nature bows before his supreme will. An enlightened judgment
heals the divisions of the heart, and bends the united affections to a strict
and watchful observance of the one rule of life. He alone obeys God who can
say, "My Lord, I would serve thee, and do it with all my heart"; and
none can truly say this till they have received as a free grant the inward
illumination of the Holy Ghost. To observe God's law with all our heart at all
times is a great grace, and few there be that find it; yet it is to be had if
we will consent to be taught of the Lord.
Observe
the parallel of Psalms 119:2 and Psalms
119:10 where the whole heart is spoken of in reference to seeking,
and in Psalms 119:58 in pleading for mercy; these are
all second verses in their octonaries. The frequent repetition of the phrase
shows the importance of undivided love: the heart is never whole or holy till
it is whole or united. The heart is never one with God till it is one within
itself.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
34. THE WORD SET BEFORE THE MIND. Give me understanding. The
word used here refers to mental comprehension, as distinguished from the mere
direction, or pointing out, asked for in the previous verse. Here the prayer
is, "Make me to discern," "Cause me to perceive," i.e.,
with the understanding "Faith cometh by hearing and hearing, by the word
of God." The outer senses must first see the way, then the mind must
understand it, then, with faith and love, the heart should follow it. Thus,
too, the Psalmist, if God will cause him to understand the law, will keep it
with all his heart. Still, the heart is prone to lean to things earthly and
sinful, and divine help has presently to be invoked for that also.
Verse
34. Give me understanding. The Psalmist goes to the root of
the matter; he is taught to do so by the Spirit of all teaching. He would not
merely be taught, as a master would teach, but he would have his mind remoulded
and informed as only the Creator could do. The words imply as much. "Give
me understanding" -- make me to understand. Not merely did he want to know
a thing -- the general nature of it; but he wished to understand the beginning,
the outgoing and the end of it. He wanted to attain the power of distinction
between right and wrong -- spiritual discernment that so he might discern the
right, and, at the same time, all that was contrary to it; he wanted
understanding, that so he might know, and discern, and prize the truth, the
true way of God, carefully avoiding all that would be aside from it. John
Stephen.
Verse
34. Give me understanding. This is that which we are indebted
to Christ for; for "the Son of God is come, and hath given us an
understanding" (1 John 5:20). Matthew Henry.
Verse
34. Understanding. The understanding is the pilot and guide
of the whole man; that faculty which sits at the stern of the soul: but as the
most expert guide may mistake in the dark, so may the understanding, when it
wants the light of knowledge. "Without knowledge the mind cannot be
good" (Proverbs 19:2); nor the life good; nor the
external condition safe (Ephesians
4:18). "My people are destroyed for the lack of knowledge"
(Hosea 4:6).
It
is ordinary in Scripture to set profaneness, and all kinds of miscarriages,
upon the score of ignorance. Diseases in the body have many times their rise
from distempers in the head; and exorbitance in practice, from errors in the
judgment. And, indeed, in every sin, there is something both of ignorance and
error at the bottom: for did sinners truly know what they do in sinning, we
might say of every sin what the Apostle speaks concerning that great sin,
"Had they known him, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory"
(1 Corinthians 2:8). Did they truly know that
every sin is a provoking the Lord to jealousy, a proclaiming war against
heaven, a crucifying the Lord Jesus afresh, a treasuring up wrath afresh unto
themselves against the day of wrath; and that if ever they be pardoned, it must
be at no lower a rate than the price of his blood -- it were scarce possible
but sin, instead of alluring, should affright, and instead of tempting, scare.
From the "Recommendatory Epistle prefixed to the Westminster Confession
and Catechisms."
Verse
34. My whole heart. The whole man is God's by every kind of
right and title; and therefore, when he requireth the whole heart, he doth but
require that which is his own. God gave us the whole by creation, preserveth
the whole, redeemeth the whole, and promises to glorify the whole. If we had
been mangled in creation we would have been troubled; if born without hands or
feet. If God should turn us off to ourselves to keep that part to ourselves
which we reserved from him, or if he should make such a division at death, take
a part to heaven, or if Christ had bought part: "Ye are bought with a
price: therefore glorify God iri your body, and in your spirit, which are
God's" (1 Corinthians 6:20). If you have had any good
work upon you, God sanctified the whole in a gospel sense, that is every part:
"And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole
spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ" (1 Thessalonians 5:23). Not only conscience, but
will and affections, appetite and body. And you have given all to him for his
use: "I am my beloved's"! not a part, but the whole. He could not
endure Ananias that kept back part of the price; all is his due. When the
world, pleasure, ambition, pride, desire of riches, unchaste love, desire a
part in us, we may remember we have no affections to dispose of without God's
leave. It is all his, and it is sacrilege to rob or detain any part from God.
Shall I alienate that which is God's to satisfy the world, the flesh, and the
Devil? Thomas Manton.
Verse
34, 35. Give me understanding. Make me to go. The understanding
which he seeks leads to going, and is sought to that end. God's teaching begets
obedience; he showeth us the path of life, and he maketh us to go in it. It is
such instruction as giveth strength, that excites the sluggish will, and
breaketh the force of corrupt inclinations; it removeth sluggish will and the
darkness which corruption and sin have brought upon the mind, and maketh us
pliable and ready to obey; yea, it giveth not only the will, but the deed; in
short, it engages us in a watchful, careful, uniform, and constant obedience.
Thomas Manton.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
34. -- The influence of the understanding upon the heart, and the
united power of understanding and heart over the life.
Verse
34. -- Seeing and loving.
EXPOSITION
Verse
35. Make me to go in the path of thy commandments; for therein do I
delight. "To will is present with me; but how to perform that which good I
find not." Thou hast made me to love the way, now make me to move in it.
It is a plain path, which others are treading through thy grace; I see it and
admire it; cause me to travel in it. This is the cry of a child that longs to
walk, but is too feeble; of a pilgrim who is exhausted, yet pants to be on the
march; of a lame man who pines to be able to run. It is a blessed thing to
delight in holiness, and surely he who gave us this delight will work in us the
yet higher joy of possessing and practising it. Here is our only hope; for we
shall not go in the narrow path till we are made to do so by the Maker's own
power. O thou who didst once make me, I pray thee make me again: thou hast made
me to know; now make me to go. Certainly I shall never be happy till I do, for
my sole delight lies in walking according to thy bidding.
The
Psalmist does not ask the Lord to do for him what he ought to do for himself:
he wishes himself to "go" or tread in the path of the command. He
asks not to be carried while he lies passive; but to be made "to go."
Grace does not treat us as stocks and stones, to be dragged by horses or
engines, but as creatures endowed with life, reason, will, and active powers,
who are willing and able to go of themselves if once made to do so. God worketh
in us, but it is that we may both will and do according to his good pleasure.
The holiness we seek after is not a forced compliance with command, but the
indulgence of a whole hearted passion for goodness, such as shall conform our
life to the will of the Lord. Can the reader say, "therein do I delight"?
Is practical godliness the very jewel of your soul, the coveted prize of your
mind? If so, the outward path of life, however rough, will be clean, and lead
the soul upward to delight ineffable. He who delights in the law should not
doubt but what he will be enabled to run in its ways, for where the heart
already finds its joy the feet are sure to follow.
Note
that the corresponding verse in the former eight (Psalms
119:35) was "Make me to understand," and here we have
"Make me to go." Remark the: order, first understanding and then
going; for a clear understanding is a great assistance towards practical
action.
During
the last few octaves the fourth has been the heart verse: see Ps 119:20,28, and
now Psalms 119:36. Indeed in all the preceding
fourths great heartiness is observable. This also marks the care with which
this sacred song was composed.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
35. THE WORD SET BEFORE THE FEET. The word ygkwddh is from
drd "to tread with the feet," "to trample." Hence,
"Make me to go," alludes here to the very act of walking in the
divine way, in distinction from mere perception of the way with the eyes and
with the understanding. It is in this matter of practical walking that the
actual difficulties of the way seem to come more forcibly into sight; hence we
no longer have $dd used (as in Psalms
119:33) which may mean a broad open way, but Bytg, which (says
Gesenius) "never denotes a public and royal road, such as was raised up
and formed by art, but always a footpath." So the younger Buxtorf renders
the word by Semita. When the feet really come to tread it, the way of truth is
ever found to be "the narrow way."
Verse
35. Make me to go in the path of thy commandments. David, in
the former verses, had begged for light, now for strength to walk according to
this light. We need not only light to know our way, but a heart to walk in it.
Direction is necessary because of the blindness of our minds; and the effectual
impulsions of grace are necessary because of the weakness of our hearts. It
will not answer our duty to have a naked notion of truths, unless we embrace
and pursue them. So, accordingly, we need a double assistance from God; the
mind must be enlightened, the will moved and inclined. The work of a Christian
lies not in depth of speculation, but in the height of practice. The excellency
of Divine grace consisteth in this, -- That God doth first teach what is to be
done, and then make us to do whet is taught: "Make me to go in the path of
thy commandments." Thomas Marten.
Verse
35. The path of thy commandments. They are termed "the
paths," because paths are narrow, short, straight, clean passages for
people on foot only, and not for horses and carriages; and such is the way of
the Lord, as compared with that of the flesh and of the world, all the ways of
which are broad, filthy, and crooked, trodden by the brute beasts, the type of
carnal, animal man. He assigns a reason for being heard when he says, For this
same I have desired; because, through God's grace, I have chosen this path, and
desired to walk in it, and it is only meet that he who gives the will should
give the grace to accomplish, as St. Paul says, "Who worketh in you both
to will and to do." Robert Bellarmine.
Verse
35. The path is "the path of thy commandments." Not
any new way, but the old and pathed way wherein all the servants of God have
walked before him, and for which the Grecians (as Euthymius notes) called it
tribon quasi viam tritam. But howsoever this way be pathed, by the walking and
treading of many in it, yet he acknowledgeth it is but one, yea, and a narrow
and difficult path to keep, and therefore seeks he to be guided into it.
William Cowper.
Verse
35. The path. It is a "path" not a public road; a
path where no beast goes, and men seldom. Adam Clarke.
Verse
35, 37. The path. Thy way: The Hindus call panth or way the line
of doctrine of any sect followed, in older to attain to mukti, or deliverance
from sin. Way signifies the chief means to an end, and is applied to the
Scriptures, Psalms 119:27, to God's counsels, to God's
works. This spiritual way is --
Verse
35-36. Therein do I delight. Incline my heart unto thy
testimonies. A child of God hath not the bent of his heart so perfectly fixed
towards God but it is ever and anon returning to its old bent and bias again.
The best may find that they cannot keep their affections as loose from the
world when they have houses, and lands, and all things at their will, as they
could when they are kept low and bare. The best may find that their love to
heavenly things is on the wane as worldly things are on the increase. It is
reported of Pius Quintus that he should say of himself that, when he first
entered into orders, he had some hopes of his salvation; when he came to be a
cardinal, he doubted of it; but since he came to be pope, he did even almost
despair. Many may find a very great change in themselves, much decay of zeal
for God's glory, and love to and relish of God's word, and mindfulness of
heavenly things, as it fares better with them in the world. Now it is good to
observe this before the mischief increaseth. Look, as jealousy and caution are
necessary to prevent the entrance and ginning of this mischief, so observation
is necessary to prevent the increase of it. When the world doth get too deep an
interest in our hearts, when it begins to insinuate and entice us from God, and
weaken our delight in the ways of God and zeal for his glory, then we need
often to tell you how it is for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Thomas Manton.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
35. -- The prayer of a child, and the delight of a child. Or, Our
pleasure in holiness a plea for grace.
Verse
35. --
EXPOSITION
Verse
36. Incline my heart unto thy testimonies. Does not this prayer
appear to be superfluous, since it is evident that the Psalmist's heart was set
upon obedience? We are sure that there is never a word to spare in Scripture.
After asking for active virtue it was meet that the man of God should beg that
his heart might be in all that he did. What would his goings be if his heart
did not go? It may be that David felt a wandering desire, an inordinate leaning
of his soul to worldly gain, -- possibly it even intruded into his most devout
meditations, and at once he cried out for more grace. The only way to cure a
wrong leaning is to have the soul bent in the opposite direction. Holiness of
heart is the cure for covetousness. What a blessing it is that we may ask the
Lord even for an inclination. Our wills are free, and yet without violating
their liberty, grace can incline us in the right direction. This can be done by
enlightening the understanding as to the excellence of obedience, by
strengthening our habits of virtue, by giving us an experience of the sweetness
of piety, and by many other ways. If any one duty is irksome to us it behooves
us to offer this player with special reference thereto: we are to love all the
Lord's testimonies, and if we fail in any one point we must pay double
attention to it. The learning of the heart is the way in which the life will
lean: hence the force of the petition, "Incline my heart." Happy
shall we be when we feel habitually inclined to all that is good. This is not
the way in which a carnal heart ever leans; all its inclinations are in
opposition to the divine testimonies.
And
not to covetousness. This is the inclination of nature, and grace must put a
negative upon it. This vice is as injurious as it is common; it is as mean as
it is miserable. It is idolatry, and so it dethrones God; it is selfishness,
and so it is cruel to all in its power; it is sordid greed, and so it would
sell the Lord himself for pieces of silver. It is a degrading, grovelling,
hardening, deadening sin, which withers everything around it that is lovely and
Christlike. He who is covetous is of the race of Judas, and will in all
probability turn out to be himself a son of perdition. The crime of covetousness
is common, but very few will confess it; for when a man heaps up gold in his
heart, the dust of it blows into his eyes, and he cannot see his own fault. Our
hearts must have some object of desire, and the only way to keep out worldly
gain is to put in its place the testimonies of the Lord. If we are inclined or
bent one way, we shall be turned from the other: the negative virtue is most
surely attained by making sure of the positive grace which inevitably produces
it.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
36. THE WORD SET BEFORE THE HEART. Incline my heart unto thy
testimonies. It is nothing for the eyes to see, for the mind to understand, nor
even for the feet to be made to go in the way of truth, if the heart be not
inclined thereunto also. It is with the heart that man believeth unto
righteousness. To be without love is, according to 1 Corinthians 13:1-3, to be without everything.
Thus
the sense of these four methodical petitions in this section is as follows:
Make me to see, make me to understand, make me to go in, and make me to love to
go in, the beaten and narrow path of thy testimonies. So far as I gather,
Luther gives almost the exact sense of the foregoing exposition; for he
translates the opening words of Psalms
119:33- 36 by terms signifying respectively, "Point out to
me," "Explain to me," "Lead me," and "Incline
(bend, slope) my heart," etc.
Verse
36. Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to
covetousness. We must be convinced that covetousness, I mean that our
covetousness, is vice; for it holds something of a virtue, of frugality, which
is not to that which one hath: and this makes us entertain thoughts that it is
no vice; and we often say that it is good to be a little worldly; a little
covetousness we like well; which shows that we do not indeed and in heart, hold
it to be a sin. For if sin be naught, a little of sin cannot be good. As good say,
a little poison were good, so it be not too much. And so we find, that men will
rate at their children for spending, and are ready to turn them of doors, if
they be given unto waste; but if they be near and pinching then we like that
too much; and I scarce know a man who doth use to call upon his children that
they spare not, save not. I know youth is rather addicted the other way, and is
more subject to waste and consume, by that the natural heat is quick and active
in them; and therefore there is more fear and danger that they prove prodigal
and turn and therefore the more may be said and done that way to youth. But the
thing I press is, that in case we see our children in their youth to begin to
be covetous and worldly, we call them good husbands, and are but too to see it
so, and are too much pleased with them for it. Little do think that worldliness
is a most guilty sin in respect of God, and hurtful in respect of men. Hark
what the word of God saith of it, Ephesians
5:5: It is idolatry, and idolatry is the first sin of the first
table. It is the root of all evils, 1
Timothy 6:10. There is no evil but a worldly man do it to save his
purse. Thus David: "Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to
covetousness": he saith not, this or that testimony, but (as including all
the laws of God) he saith "testimonies"; to show us covetousness
draws us away, not from some only, but from all God's commandments. So St.
Paul: where covetousness is, there are "many lusts," 1
Timothy 6:9, and "many sorrows," 1
Timothy 6:10. "It drowns men in perdition and
destruction," 1 Timothy 6:9. And the Greek word signifies such
a drowning as is almost past all hope and recovery. It is the bane all society:
men cry out of it, because they would have none covetous, rich but themselves.
A hater he is of mankind; he hates all poor, they would beg something of him;
and all rich, because they have which he would have. A covetous man would have
all that all have. Thus speaks a noble father (Chrysostom). Such believe not
the word, they trust neither nor man. For he that trusts not God, cannot trust
man. It robs God that confidence we should have in him, and dependence we owe
unto him it turns a man from all the commandments. Hence the prophet prays God
to turn his heart to his commandments, "and not to covetousness." For
not only we ought not, but as the phrase is, "we cannot serve God
mammon," Luke 16:13. Richard Capel, in "Tentations:
their Danger, Cure." 1655.
Verse
36. Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to
covetousness. Without a restraining hand the heart is prone to turn aside into
the byways of petty love of pelf. The remedy must be from above. Heavenly aid
is therefore sought. Henry Law.
Verse
36. Incline my heart. Were we naturally and spontaneously
inclined to the righteousness of the law, there would be no occasion for the
petition of the Psalmist, "Incline my heart." It remains, therefore,
that our hearts are full of sinful thoughts, and wholly rebellious until God by
his grace change them. John Calvin.
Verse
36. Incline my heart. In the former verses David had asked
understanding and direction to know the Lord's will; now he asketh an
inclination of heart to do the Lord's will. The understanding needs not only to
be enlightened, but the will to be moved and changed. Man's heart is of its own
accord averse from God and holiness, even then when the wit is most refined,
and the understanding is stocked and stored with high notions about it:
therefore David doth not only say, "Give me understanding," but,
"Incline my heart." We can be worldly of ourselves, but we cannot be
holy and heavenly of ourselves; that must be asked of him who is the Father of lights,
from whom cometh down every good and perfect gift. They that plead for the
power of nature, shut out the use of prayer. But Austin hath said well, Naturn
vera confessione non falsa defersione opus habet: we need rather to confess our
weakness, than defend our strength. Thus doth David, and so will every broken
hearted Christian that hath had an experience of the inclinations of his own
soul, he will come to God, and say, Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and
not to covetousness. Thomas Manton.
Verse
36. Incline. Then shall I not decline. James G. Murphy.
Verse
36. Unto thy testimonies. The contrast is most striking.
There are the divine testimonies on the one hand, and there is
"covetousness" on the other. God stands on one side, the world on the
other. The renewed man chooses between the two; he does not require long to
think, and God is his choice. John Stephen.
Verse
36. Not to covetousness. He prays in particular that his
heart may be diverted from covetousness, which is not only an evil, but as
saith the Apostle, "the root of all evil." David here opposes it as
an adversary to all the righteousness of God's testimonies: it inverts the
order of nature, and makes the heavenly soul earthly. It is a handmaid of all
sins; for there is no sin which a covetous man will not serve for his gain. We
should beware of all sins, but specially of mother sins. William Cowper.
Verse
36. Covetousness, or rather, "gain unjustly
acquired."... The Hebrew word [ck can only mean plunder, rapine, unjust
gain. J. J. Stewart Perowne.
Verse
36. Covetousness. S. Bonaventura, on our Psalm, says
Covetousness must be hated, shunned, put away: must be hated, because it
attacks the life of nature: must be shunned, because it hinders the life of
grace: must be put away, because it obstructs the life of glory. Clemens
Alexandrinus says that covetousness is the citadel of the vices, and Ambrose
says that it is the loss of the soul. Thomas Le Blanc.
Verse
36. Covetousness. I would observe to the reader, and desire
him duly and seriously to consider, that although this commandment, "Thou
shalt not covet," is placed the last in number, yet it is too often the
first that is broken, man's covetous heart leading the van in transgression.
William Crouch, in "The Enormous Sin of Covetousness detected," 1709.
Verse
36. Covetousness is an immoderate desire of riches, in which
these vices concur. First, An excessive love of riches, and the fixing of our
hearts upon them. Secondly, A resolution to become rich, either by lawful or
unlawful means, 1 Timothy 6:9. Thirdly, Too much haste in
gathering riches, joined with impatience of any delay, Proverbs 28:20,22, 20:21.
Fourthly,
An insatiable appetite, which can never be satisfied; but when they have too
much, they still desire more, and have never enough, Ecclesiastes
4:8. Like the horseleech, Proverbs
30:15; the dropsy, and hell itself, Proverbs
27:20. Fifthly, Miser like tenacity, whereby they refuse to
communicate their goods, either for the use of others, or themselves. Sixthly,
Cruelty. Proverbs 1:18-19, exercised both in their
unmercifulness and oppression of the poor. Covetousness is a most heinous vice;
for it is idolatry, and the root of all evil, Colossians
3:5 1 Timothy 6:10; a pernicious thorn, that stifles
all grace and chokes the seed of the word, Matthew
13:22, and pierceth men through with many sorrows, 1
Timothy 6:10, and drowns them in destruction and perdition. James
Usher, 1580-1655.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
36. -- Holiness a cure for covetousness.
Verse
36,112. -- The Cooperation of the Divine and the Human in Salvation.
EXPOSITION
Verse
37. Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity. He had prayed about
his heart, and one would have thought that the eyes would so surely have been
influenced by the heart that there was no need to make them the objects of a
special petition; but our author is resolved to make assurance doubly sure. If
the eyes do not see, perhaps the heart may not desire: at any rate, one door of
temptation is closed when we do not even look at the painted bauble. Sin first
entered man's mind by the eye, and it is still a favourite gate for the
incoming of Satan's allurements: hence the need of a double watch upon that
portal. The prayer is not so much that the eyes may be shut as "turned
away"; for we need to have them open, but directed to right objects.
Perhaps we are now gazing upon folly, we need to have our eyes turned away; and
if we are beholding heavenly things we shall be wise to beg that our eyes may
be kept away from vanity. Why should we look on vanity? -- it melts away as a
vapour. Why not look upon things eternal? Sin is vanity, unjust gain is vanity,
self conceit is vanity, and, indeed, all that is not of God comes under the
same head. From all this we must turn away. It is a proof of the sense of
weakness felt by the Psalmist and of his entire dependence upon God that he
even asks to have his eyes turned for him; he meant not to make himself
passive, but he intended to set forth his own utter helplessness apart from the
grace of God. For fear he should forget himself and gaze with a lingering
longing upon forbidden objects, he entreats the Lord speedily to make him turn
away his eyes, hurrying him off from so dangerous a parley with iniquity. If we
are kept from looking on vanity we shall be preserved from loving iniquity.
And
quicken thou me in thy way. Give me so much life that dead vanity may have no
power over me. Enable me to travel so swiftly in the road to heaven that I may
not stop long enough within sight of vanity to be fascinated thereby. The
prayer indicates our greatest need, -- more life in our obedience. It shows the
preserving power of increased life to keep us from the evils which are around
us, and it, also, tells us where that increased life must come from, namely,
from the Lord alone. Vitality is the cure of vanity. When the heart is full of
grace the eyes will be cleansed from impurity. On the other hand, if we would
be full of life as to the things of God we must keep ourselves apart from sin
and folly, or the eyes will soon captivate the mind, and, like Samson, who
could slay his thousands, we may ourselves be overcome through the lusts which
enter by the eye.
This
verse is parallel to Psalms 119:21,29 in the previous eights:
"rebuke," "remove," "turn away"; or
"proud," "lying," "vanity."
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
37. Turn away mine eyes, etc. Literally, "Make mine eyes
to pass from seeing vanity;" as though he would pray, Whatever is of
vanity, make me to pass without seeing it. The sentiment is strikingly like
that in our Lord's prayer: "Lead us not into temptation." Having
prayed for what he wanted to see, the Psalmist here prays for the hiding of
what he would not see.
Verse
37. Turn away mine eyes, etc. Having prayed for his heart, he
now prayeth for his eyes also. Omnia a Deo petit, docens, illum omnia efficere.
By the eyes oftentimes, as by windows, death enters into the heart; therefore
to keep the heart in a good estate three things are requisite, First, careful
study of the senses, specially of the eyes; for it is a righteous working of the
Lord, ut qui exteriori oculo negligenter utitur, intertori non injuste caecetur
that he who negligently useth the external eye of his body, should punished
with blindness in the internal eye of his mind. And for this cause Nazianzen,
deploring the calamities of his soul, wished that a door might set before his
eyes and ears, to close them when they opened to anything that is not good;
malis autem sua sponte uturumque clauderetur. The second thing is, a subduing
of the body by discipline. And the third is, continuance in prayer. William
Cowper.
Verse
37. Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity. Notice that he
does not say, I will turn away mine eyes; but, "Turn away mine eyes."
This shows that it is not possible for us sufficiently to keep our by our own
caution and diligence; but there must be divine keeping. For, first,
wheresoever in this world you turn yourself provocations to are met with.
Secondly, with the unwary, and with far different the persons, the eyes, the
servants of a corrupt heart, wander after the things which are the vanities.
Thirdly, before you are aware, the evil contracted through eyes creeps in to
the inmost recesses of the heart, and casts in the seeds perdition. This the
Psalmist himself had experienced, not without greatest trouble both of heart
and condition. Wolfgang Musculus, 1563.
Verse
37. Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity. It may seem
strange prayer of David, to say, "Turn away mine eyes from seeing
vanity;" as though God meddled with our looking; or that we had not power
in selves to cast our eyes upon what objects we list. But is it not, that we
delight in, we delight to look upon? and what we love, we love to seeing? and
so to pray to God, that our eyes may not see vanity; is as much as to pray for
grace, that we be not in love with vanity. For, vanity hath of itself so
graceful an aspect, that it is not for a natural man to leave looking upon it;
unless the fairer aspect of God's grace draw our eyes from vanity, to look upon
itself; which will always naturally looking upon the fairest. And as David here
makes his prayer in the particular, against temptations of prosperity, so
Christ teacheth us to make prayer in the general, against the temptations, both
of prosperity adversity, and very justly. For many can bear the temptations of
one who are quickly overcome by temptations of the other kind. So David could
bear persecution without murmuring, but when he came to prosperity could not
turn away his eyes from vanity. Sir Richard Baker.
Verse
37. Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity. An ugly object
loses much of its deformity when we look often upon it. Sin follows the general
law, and is to be avoided altogether, even in its contemplation, we would be
safe. A man should be thankful in this world that he eyelids; and as he can
close his eyes, so he should often do it. Albert Barnes.
Verse
37. Turn away, then quicken, etc. The first request is for
the removing the impediments of obedience, the other for the addition of new
degrees of grace. These two are fitly joined, for they have a natural influence
upon one another; unless we turn away our eyes from vanity, we shall soon
contract deadness of heart. Nothing causeth it so much as an inordinate liberty
in carnal vanities; when our affections are alive to other things, they are
dead to God, therefore the less we let loose our hearts to these things, the
more lively and cheerful in the work of obedience. On the other side, the more
the rigour of grace is renewed, and the habits of it quickened into actual
exercise, the more is sin mortified and subdued. Sin dieth, and our senses are
restored to their proper use. Thomas Manton.
Verse
37. Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity. That sin may
be avoided we must avoid whatsoever leads to or occasions it. As this caused Job
(Job 31:1) to covenant strongly with his eyes, so
it caused David to pray earnestly about his eyes. "Turn away mine eyes (or
as the Hebrew may be rendered, make them to pass), from beholding vanity."
The eye is apt to make a stand, or fix itself, when we come in view of an
ensnaring object; therefore it is our duty to hasten it away, or to pray that
God would make it pass off from it... He that feareth burning must take heed of
playing with fire: he that feareth drowning must keep out of deep waters. He
that feareth the plague must not go into an infected house. Would they avoid
sin who present themselves to the opportunities of it? Joseph Caryl.
Verse
37. Turn away mine eyes. Lest looking cause liking and
lusting: 1 John 2:16. In Hebrew the same word signifieth
both an eye and a fountain; to show that from the eye, as from a fountain,
floweth much mischief; and by that window Satan often winds himself into the
soul. This David found by experience, and therefore prays here, "Turn
away," transfer, make to pass "mine eyes," etc. He knew the
danger of irregular glancing and inordinate gazing. John Trapp.
Verse
37. Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity. It is a most
dangerous experiment for a child of God to place himself within the sphere of
seductive temptations. Every feeling of duty, every recollection of his own
weakness, every remembrance of the failure of others, should induce him to
hasten to the greatest possible distance from the scene of unnecessary conflict
and danger. John Morison.
Verse
37. Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity. From gazing at
the delusive mirages which tempt the pilgrim to leave the safe highway. William
Kay.
Verse
37. Is it asked -- "What will most effectually turn my eyes
from vanity?" Not the seclusion of contemplative retirement -- not the
relinquishment of our lawful connexion with the world -- but the transcendent
beauty of Jesus unveiled to our eyes, and fixing our hearts. Charles
Bridges.
Verse
37. Turn away mine eyes, etc. The fort royal of your souls is
in danger of a surprise while the outworks of your senses are unguarded. Your
eyes, which may be floodgates to pour out tears, should not be casements to let
in lusts. A careless eye is an index to a graceless heart. Remember, the whole
world died by a wound in the eye. The eyes of a Christian should be like
sunflowers, which are opened to no blaze but that of the sun. William Seeker,
1660.
Verse
37. Vanity, in Hebrew usage, has often special reference to
idols and the accompaniments of idol worship. The Psalmist prays that he may
never be permitted even to see such tempting objects. Henry Cowles.
Verse
37. Quicken thou me. Every saint is very apt to be a sluggard
in the way and work of God. "Quicken me," says one of the chiefest
and choicest of saints, "in thy way"; and it is as much as if he
should say in plain terms, "Ah, Lord! I am a dull jade, and have often
need of thy spur, thy Spirit." This prayer of David seems proof enough to
this point; but if you desire farther confirmation, I shall produce an argument
instar omnium, "that none shall dare to deny, nor be able to
disapprove"; and that is drawn from the topic of your own experience; and
this is argumentum lugubre, like a funeral anthem, "very sad and
sorrowful." Do you not feel and find, to the grief of your own souls,
that, whereas you should weep as if you wept not, rejoice as if you rejoiced
not, and buy as if you possessed not; inverso ordine, "inverting this
order," you weep for losses as if you would weep out your eyes; you
rejoice in temporal comforts as if you were in heaven; and you buy as if it
were for ever and a day (Psalms
49:11). But e contrario, "on the contrary," you pray as if
you prayed not; hear as if you heard not; work for God as' if you worked not.
Now, we know, experto credas, ("You may yield credence to that of which
you have made trial.") a man that sticks fast in a ditch needs no reason
to prove he is in, but remedies to pull him out. Your best course will be to
propose the case how you may get rid of this unwelcome guest, spiritual sloth:
it is a case we are all concerned in, Asini aures quis non habet ("where
is the man who hath not the ears of an ass?") Every man and mortal hath
some of the ass's dulness and sloth in him. Simmons, in "The Morning
Exercises," 1661.
Verse
37. Quicken thou me. Another quickening ordinance is prayer.
How often doth David pray for quickening grace? five or six times in one Psalm.
He begins many a prayer with a heavy heart, and before he hath done he is full
of life. Therefore, pray much, because all life is from God, and he quickens
whom he will. Only let me add this caution, before I let this pass, -- Be sure
thy understanding and affection go along together in every ordinance, and in
every part of the ordinance, as thou wouldst have it a quickening ordinance.
Matthew Lawrence, in "The Use and Practice of Faith," 1657.
Verse
37. Thy way, by way of emphasis, in opposition to and
exaltation of, above, all other ways. There is a fourfold way:
Verse
37-38. Prayer is nothing but the promise reversed, or God's word
formed into an argument, and retorted by faith upon God again. Know, Christian,
thou hast law on thy side. Bills and bonds must be paid. David prays against
the sins of a wanton eve and a dead heart: Turn away mine eyes from beholding
vanity; and quicken thou me in thy way; and see how he urges his argument in
the next words, -- Stablish thy word unto thy servant. A good man is as good as
his word, and will not a good God be so? But where finds David such a word for
help against these sins? Surely in the covenant. It is in the magna charta. The
first promise held forth thus much, -- "The seed of the woman shall bruise
the serpent's head." William Gumall.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
37. -- Quicken thou me in thy way. This brief prayer --
Verse
37. -- Here is,
Verse
37. -- David prays,
EXPOSITION
Verse
38. Stablish thy word unto thy servant. Make me sure of thy sure
word: make it sure to me and make me sure of it. If we possess the spirit of
service, and yet are troubled with sceptical thoughts we cannot do better than
pray to be established in the truth. Times will arise when every doctrine and
promise seems to be shaken, and our mind gets no rest: then we must appeal to
God for establishment in the faith, for he would have all his servants to be
well instructed and confirmed in his word. But we must mind that we are the
Lord's servants, for else we shall not long be sound in his truth. Practical
holiness is a great help towards doctrinal certainty: if we are God's servants
he will confirm his word in our experience. "If any man will do his will,
he shall know of the doctrine"; and so know it as to be fully assured of
it. Atheism in the heart is a horrible plague to a God fearing man, it brings
more torment with it than can well be described; and nothing but a visitation
of grace can settle the soul after it has been violently assailed thereby.
Vanity or falsehood is bad for the eyes, but it is even worse when it defiles
the understanding and casts a doubt upon the word of the living God.
Who
is devoted to thy fear, or simply -- "to thy fear." That is, make
good thy word to godly fear: wherever it exists; strengthen the whole body of
reverent men. Stablish thy word, not only to me, but to all the godly ones
under the sun. Or, again, it may mean -- "Stablish thy word to thy
fear," namely, that men may be led to fear thee; since a sure faith in the
divine promise is the fountain and foundation of godly fear. Men will never
worship a God in whom they do not believe. More faith will lead to more godly
fear. We cannot look for the fulfilment of promises in our experience unless we
live under the influence of the fear of the Lord: establishment in grace is the
result of holy watchfulness and prayerful energy. We shall never be rooted and
grounded in our belief unless we daily practise what we profess to believe.
Full assurance is the reward of obedience. Answers to prayer are given to those
whose hearts answer to the Lord's command. If we are devoted to God's fear we
shall be delivered from all other fear. He has no fear as to the truth of the
word who is filled with fear of the Author of the word. Scepticism is both the
parent and the child of impiety; but strong faith both begets piety and is
begotten of it. We commend this whole verse to any devout man whose tendency is
to scepticism: it will be an admirable prayer for use in seasons of unusually
strong misgivings.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
38. Stablish thy word unto thy servant. In view of the
exposition of the previous verses of the section this would be more correctly
rendered, "Hold up thy word before thy servant;" i.e., hold it up to
my eyes, to my mind, to my steps, and to my heart. Make all that is vain to
pass, so that I see it not; but let thy word be so set up before my whole being
that I shall always see it, and thus, by it, see my way to thee.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
38. Stablish thy word unto thy servant, etc. -- Well, but
here is a strange thing -- a man who is a true "servant of God,"
"devoted to his fear," praying for what he surely must already have,
else how could he be a servant? or be living in Jehovah's fear? He seems to
assume, clearly and without any doubt, his own personal consecration, and then
he prays for that which must surely be, at least in considerable measure,
assumed and comprehended in the very idea of a true personal consecration.
Unless God's word is made sure to a man he will never become his servant. If he
is his servant, why should he pray, "Stablish thy word"? Why, too,
should he say in Psalms 119:35, "Make me to go in the path
of thy commandments; for therein do I delight"? "Therein do I
delight. It is the way of my choice, of my joy!" And yet, "Make me to
go in it," as if I were unwilling. This apparent contradiction or
discrepancy is easily solved in a true experience, and can be, in fact, solved
in no other way. Is not this the very condition of many and many a one?
"Stablished," yet moved; "devoted," yet uncertain;
"serving" God truly, yet looking and longing for clearer warrant, and
higher sanction, and more inward grace, to make the service better;
"believing," yet crying, sometimes, "with tears, Help thou mine
unbelief!" Alexander Raleigh.
Verse
38. Stablish thy word unto thy servant. Why doth David pray
thus, "Stablish thy word to me;" since God's word is most certain and
so stable in itself that it cannot be more so? (2
Peter 1:19). "We have a more sure," or a more stable,
"word of prophecy," as the word signifies. How can the word be more
stable than it is? I answer, it is sure in regard of God from whom it comes,
and in itself. In regard of the things propounded it cannot be more or less
stable, it cannot be fast and loose: but in regard of us, it may be more or
less established. And that two ways, --
First,
By the inward assurance of the Spirit, by which our faith is increased. Great
is the weakness of our faith, as appears by our fears, doubts, distrusts, so
that we need to be assured more and more. We need say with tears as he doth in
the gospel: "Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief" (Mark
9:24); and to cry out with the apostles, "Lord, increase our
faith" (Luke 17:5). There is none believeth so, but he
may yet believe more. And in this sense the word is more established, when we
are confirmed in the belief of it, and look upon it as sure ground for faith to
rest upon. Secondly, By actual performance, when the promise is made good to
us. Every event which falls out according to the word is a notable testimony of
the truth of it, and a seal to confirm and strengthen our faith. Three ways may
this be made good.
Verse
38. Stablish thy word unto thy servant. Confirm it; make it
seem firm and true; let not my mind be vacillating or sceptical in regard to
thy truth. This seems to be a prayer against the influence of doubt and
scepticism; a prayer that doubts might not be suffered to spring up in his
mind, and that the objections and difficulties of scepticism might have no
place there. There is a class of men whose minds are naturally sceptical and
unbelieving, and for such men such a prayer is peculiarly appropriate. For none
can it be improper to pray that the word of God may always seem to them to be
true; that their minds may never be left to the influence of doubt and
unbelief. Albert Barnes.
Verse
38. Who is devoted to thy fear. The word may be rendered
either which or who; as relating either to thy word or to thy servant.
Now
this is added as a true note and description of God's servants, as being a main
thing in religion, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom"
(Psalms 11:10), it is the first in point of
order, and it is the first thing when we begin to be wise, to think of God, to
have awful thoughts of God, it is a chief point of wisdom, the great thing that
makes us wise to salvation. And it is added as an argument of prayer, "O
Lord, let thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to
fear thy name" (Nehemiah 1:11). The more any are given to the
fear of God, the more assurance they have of God's love, and of his readiness
to hear them at the throne of grace. Thomas Manton.
Verse
38. Who is devoted to thy fear. He who hath received from the
Lord grace to fear him may be bold to seek any necessary good thing from him;
because the fear of God hath annexed the promises of all other blessings with
it. William Cowper.
Verse
38. He that chooses God, devotes himself to God as the
vessels of the sanctuary were consecrated and set apart from common to holy
uses, so he that has chosen God to be his God, has dedicated himself to God,
and will no more be devoted to profane uses. Thomas Watson.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
38. -- Confirmation. What? "Thy word established." To
whom? "Unto thy servant." Why? "Who is devoted," etc.
Verse
38. -- Fear of God evidences itself,
Verse
38. -- The four kinds of fear.
EXPOSITION
Verse
39. Turn away my reproach which I fear. He feared just reproach,
trembling lest he should cause the enemy to blaspheme through any glaring
inconsistency. We ought to fear this, and watch that we may avoid it.
Persecution in the form of calumny may also be prayed against, for it is a sore
trial, perhaps the sorest of trials to men of sensitive minds. Many would
sooner bear burning at the stake than the trial of cruel mockings. David was
quick tempered, and he probably had all the greater dread of slander because it
raised his anger, and he could hardly tell what he might not do under great
provocation. If God turns away our eyes from falsehood, we may also expect that
he will turn away falsehood from injuring our good name. We shall be kept from
lies if we keep from lies.
For
thy judgments are good. Therefore he is anxious that none may speak evil of the
ways of God through hearing an ill report about himself. We mourn when we are
slandered; because the shame is cast rather upon our religion than ourselves.
If men would be content to attribute evil to us, and go no further, we might
bear it, for we are evil; but our sorrow is that they cast a slur upon the word
and character of God, who is so good, that there is none good in comparison
with him. When men rail at God's government of the world it is our duty and
privilege to stand up for him, and openly to declare before him, "thy
judgments are good"; and we should do the same when they assail the Bible,
the gospel, the law, or the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. But we must take
heed that they can bring no truthful accusation against us, or our testimony
will be so much wasted breath.
This
prayer against reproach is parallel to Psalms
119:31, and in general to many other of the seventh verses in the
octaves, which usually imply opposition from without and a sacred satisfaction
within. Observe the things which are good: "thy judgments are good;"
"thou art good and doest good" (Ps 119:68); "good for me to have
been afflicted" (Psalms 119:71); "teach me good
judgment" (Ps 119:66).
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
39. Turn away my reproach which I fear. "Cause to pass
my reproach which I feared." This also, like the vanity spoken of in Psalms
119:37, the Psalmist prays that he may not see. He would have the
gaze of his whole manhood bent only on the word. The reproach which he feared
is that to which he had already referred in Psalms
119:21- 22, and perhaps again in Psalms
119:31. The proud had erred from the commandments, and had inherited
rebuke; it was the reproach and shame which were theirs that the Psalmist would
have to be turned aside, so that they should not be seen. For thy judgments are
good. This is given as a reason why the reproach should be thus turned aside.
The proud had thought lightly and contemptuously on the divine judgments, hence
their reproach; the Psalmist held those judgments to be good, and thus hoped
that he might not see reproach.
Verse
39. Turn away my reproach, etc. In these words you have,
First,
for the request. "Turn away," roll from upon me, so it signifies. He
was clothed with reproach; now roll from me "my reproach." Some think
he means God's condemnatory sentence, which would turn to ills reproach, or
some remarkable rebuke from God, because of his sin. Rather, I think, the
reproach of his enemies; and he calls it "my reproach," either as
deserved by himself, or as having personally lighted upon him, the reproach
which was like to be his lot and portion in the world, through the malice of
his enemies: "the reproach which I fear," that is, which I have cause
to expect, and am sensible of the sad consequences of it.
Secondly,
for the reason by which this is enforced: "for thy judgments are
good." There are different opinions about the form of this argument. Some
take the reason thus: Let me not suffer reproach for adhering to thy word, thy
word which is so good. But David doth not speak here of suffering reproach for
righteousness' sake, but such reproach as was likely to befall him because of
his own infirmities and failings. Reproaches for righteousness' sake are to be
"rejoiced in;" but he saith, this I "fear," and therefore I
suppose this doth not hit the reason. Neither do I accept the other sense, --
Why should I be looked upon as an evil doer as long as I keep thy law, and
observe thy statutes? Others judge badly of me, but I appeal to thy good
judgment.
By
"judgments" we may understand God's dealings. Thou dost not deal with
men according to their desert. Thy dispensations are kind and gracious. Better
still: by "judgments" are meant the ways, statutes, and ordinances of
God called judgments, because all our words, works, thoughts are to be judged
according to the sentence of the word: now these, it is a pity they should
suffer in my reproach and ignominy. This is that I fear more than anything else
that can happen to me. I think the reason will better run thus: Lord, there is
in thy law, word, covenant, many promises to encourage thy people, and
therefore rules to provide for the due honour and credit of thy people. Thomas
Manton.
Verse
39. Turn away my reproach. In the Hebrew it is, "Take
away my rebuke"; as if he should have said, O Lord, I may commit some such
evil against thy good law, yea, some such notorious transgression, as may tend
to my shame; I beseech thee, take it away. Or else he meaneth, I have already,
O Lord, by divers sins, and by name through adultery and murder brought shame
and rebuke upon myself among men; I entreat thee to remove this shame and
rebuke.
Out
of the first exposition we learn, First, that the godly are subject unto
notorious sins. Secondly, that those sins will cause shame in them, though the
wicked will not be ashamed. Thirdly, that God only can take away this shame.
Fourthly, that we may pray for the removing of shame even amongst men,
especially that which may bring with it some dishonour to God. Fifthly, that
the godly are most jealous over themselves. Sixthly, the way to avoid sin is
ever to be afraid lest we should sin.
Out
of the second exposition note, that the remembrance of our former sins must
draw out of us prayers unto God, that for them we may not be rebuked in
displeasure in this life, nor confounded and abashed in the life to come.
Richard Greenham.
Verse
39. My reproach is the reproach which the world casts on the God
fearing. This is dreaded as a great temptation to apostasy. James G.
Murphy.
Verse
39. For thy judgments are good. One would have expected him
to say -- For thou art merciful -- Cause my reproach which I fear to pass over
from me, for thou art merciful. No, he does not add this as his present reason,
but "Thy judgments are good." We should catch the meaning at once,
were the words these -- For thy judgments are awful -- "Turn away my
reproach which I fear," for thy judgments are awful. But as the words are
-- "For thy judgments are good," we find he verily takes refuge in
the "judgments" -- viz., that the Lord would vindicate him against
all the unjust judgments of men; and as to judgment with God, since he took
refuge in the atonement which the Lord had appointed, the Lord would vindicate
him there also. John Stephen.
Verse
39. For thy judgments are good. The judgments of the wicked
are bad judgments, but the judgments of God are good; I pray against those, I
appeal, to these: I fear the one, I approve the other. Now the judgments which
God pronounces in his word, be they threatenings in the law, or consolations in
the Gospel, yea, and those also which he executeth in the world, whether upon
the godly or godless, they must needs be good.
Verse
39. The "reproach" which the poet fears in this verse
is not the reproach of confessing, but of denying God. Franz Delitzsch.
Verse
39. For thy judgments are good. This reason shows he feared
God's rebuke. Man's "reproach" comes from a corrupt judgment, he
condemns where God will absolve, I pass not for it; but I know thy rebuke is
always deserved, "for thy judgments are good." William Nicholson.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
39. --
Verse
39. -- The reproach of inconsistency.
EXPOSITION
Verse
40. Behold, I have longed after thy precepts. He can at least claim
sincerity. He is deeply bowed down by a sense of his weakness and need of
grace; but he does desire to be in all things conformed to the divine will.
Where our longings are, there are we in the sight of God. If we have not
attained perfection, it is something to have hungered after it. He who has
given us to desire, will also grant us to obtain. The precepts are grievous to
the ungodly, and therefore when we are so changed as to long for them we have
clear evidence of conversion, and we may safely conclude that he who has begun
the good work will carry it on.
Quicken
me in thy righteousness. Give me more life wherewith to follow thy righteous
law; or give me more life because thou hast promised to hear prayer, and it is
according to thy righteousness to keep thy word. How often does David plead for
quickening! But never once too often. We need quickening every hour of the day,
for we are so sadly apt to become slow and languid in the ways of God. It is
the Holy Spirit who can pour new life into us; let us not cease crying to him.
Let the life we already possess show itself by longing for more.
The
last verses of the octaves have generally exhibited an onward look of resolve,
hope, and prayer. Here past fruits of grace are made the plea for further
blessing. Onward in the heavenly life is the cry of this verse.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
40. Behold, I have longed after, etc. This is given as a more
intense form of the statement which he had just made, that he esteemed the
judgments to be good. They were so good that he longed after them. Blot only
so, but he desired to long after them even more. Thus he prays for even more
life and rigour in pursuing the path which they pointed out -- Quicken me in
thy righteousness. He who really longs after divine truth, mourns that he does
not long more. When the heart has no love, thee mind has no light, and can only
judge the precepts erroneously. "The pure in heart" see better with
the mind than can the impure. "Unto the upright there ariseth light in the
darkness." Love so enlarges discernment that he who really loves often
finds that his judgment of the blessedness of truth has outstripped even his
longing for it. Hence it is the quick who cry, "Quicken me"; it is
those who have living desires who pray for yet more life in the way of
righteousness.
Verse
40. I have longed after thy precepts. We are sometimes
unconsciously led to "long" after the promises, more than "after
the precepts" of God; forgetting that it is our privilege and safety to
have an equal regard to both -- to obey his precepts in dependence on his
promises, and to expect the accomplishment of the promises in the way of
obedience to the precepts. Charles Bridges.
Verse
40. Precepts, from a word which means to place in trust, mean
something entrusted to man, "that which is committed to thee";
appointments of God, which consequently have to do with the conscience, for
which man is responsible, as an intelligent being. The precepts are not so
obviously apprehended as the law and the testimonies. They must be sought out.
"Behold, my desire is for thy precepts" (Psalms
119:40). "Thy precepts I seek" (Psalms
119:45). "Thy precepts I have sought" (Psalms
119:94)... They are a law of liberty: "And I will walk at
liberty: for I seek thy precepts" (Psalms
119:45). John Jebb.
Verse
40. Quicken me in thy righteousness. He said before,
"Quicken me in thy word," here, "in thy righteousness"; all
is one; for the word of God is the righteousness of God, in which is set down
the will of righteousness. In this the prophet desires to be quickened, that
is, to be confirmed, that in cheerfulness and gladness of spirit he might rely
upon the word of God. Richard Greenham.
Verse
40. Quicken me in thy righteousness. The petition is for
liveliness in the knowledge and practice of holiness, according to the tenor of
God's word and by its operation on the heart. If any prefer by
"righteousness" to understand the faithfulness or justice of God,
whereby he has bound himself to give grace to those who trust in him, there is
no objection to such an interpretation. It is in fact implied in the others.
Whoever can truly use the language of this verse is regenerate. Before renewing
grace the law was a dead letter. It was more; it was a hated letter. The carnal
mind is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. A sinner desires
no restraint from the divine precepts. William S. Plumer.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
40. --
EXPOSITION
In
these verses holy fear is apparent and prominent. The man of God trembles lest
in any way or degree the Lord should remove his favour from him. The eight
verses are one continued pleading for the abiding of grace in his soul, and it
is supported by such holy arguments as would only suggest themselves to a
spirit burning with love to God.
Verse
41. Let thy mercies come also unto me, O LORD. He desires mercy as
well as teaching, for he was guilty as well as ignorant. He needed much mercy
and varied mercy, hence the request is in the plural. He needed mercy from God
rather than from man, and so he asks for "thy mercies." The way
sometimes seemed blocked, and therefore he begs that the mercies may have their
way cleared by God, and may "come" to him. He who said, "Let
there be light," can also say, "Let there be mercy." It may be
that under a sense of unworthiness the writer feared lest mercy should be given
to others, and not to himself; he therefore cries, "Bless me, even me
also, O my Father." Viewed in this light the words are tantamount to our
well known verse
"Lord, I
hear of showers of blessing
Thou art scattering, full and free;
Showers, the thirsty land refreshing;
Let some droppings fall on me,
Even me." Elizabeth Codner, 1860.
Lord,
thine enemies come to me to reproach me, let thy mercies come to defend me;
trials and troubles abound, and labours and sufferings not a few approach me;
Lord, let thy mercies in great number enter by the same gate, and at the same
hour; for art thou not the God of my mercy?
Even
thy salvation. This is the sum and crown of all mercies -- deliverance from all
evil, both now and for ever. Here is the first mention of salvation in the
Psalm, and it is joined with mercy: "By grace are ye saved"...
Salvation is styled "thy salvation," thus ascribing it wholly to the
Lord: "He that is our God is the God of salvation." What a mass of
mercies are heaped together in the one salvation of our Lord Jesus! It includes
the mercies which spare us before our conversion, and lead up to it. Then comes
calling mercy, regenerating mercy, converting mercy, justifying mercy,
pardoning mercy. Nor can we exclude from complete salvation any of those many mercies
which are needed to conduct the believer safe to glory. Salvation is an
aggregate of mercies incalculable in number, priceless in value, incessant in
application, eternal in endurance. To the God of our mercies be glory, world
without end.
According
to thy word. The way of salvation is described in the word, salvation itself is
promised in the word, and its inward manifestation is wrought by the word; so
that in all respects the salvation which is in Christ Jesus is in accordance
with the word. David loved the Scriptures, but he longed experimentally to know
the salvation contained in them: he was not satisfied to read the word, he
longed to experience its inner sense. He valued the field of Scripture for the
sake of the treasure which he had discovered in it. He was not to be contented
with chapter and verse, he wanted mercies and salvation.
Note
that in the first verse of HE (Psalms
119:33) the Psalmist prayed to be taught to keep God's word, and
here in VAU he begs the Lord to keep his word. In the first case he longed to
come to the God of mercies, and here he would have the Lord's mercies come to
him: there he sought grace to persevere in faith, and here he seeks the end of
his faith, even the salvation of the soul.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
41-48. This commences a new portion of the Psalm, in which each
verse begins with the letter Vau, or v. There are almost no words in Hebrew
that begin with this letter, which is properly a conjunction, and hence in each
of the verses in this section the beginning of the verse is in the original a
conjunction, -- vau. Albert Barnes.
Verse
41-48. This whole section consists of petitions and promises.
The petitions are two; Psalms 119:41,43. The promises are six. This,
among many, is a difference between godly men and others: all men seek good
things from God, but the wicked so seek that they give him nothing back again,
nor yet will promise any sort of return. Their prayers must be unprofitable,
because they proceed from love of themselves, and not of the Lord. If so be
they obtain that which is for their necessity, they care not to give to the
Lord that which is for his glory: but the godly, as they seek good things, so
they give praise to God when they have gotten them, and return the use of
things received, to the glory of God who gave them. They love not themselves
for themselves, but for the Lord; what they seek from him they seek it for this
end, that they may be the more able to serve him. Let us take heed unto this;
because it is a clear token whereby such as are truly religious are
distinguished from counterfeit dissemblers. William Cowper.
Verse
41. Let thy mercies come also unto me. The way was blocked up
with sins and difficulties, yet mercy could clear all, and find access to him,
or make its own way: "Let it come," that is, let it be performed or
come to pass, as it is rendered: "Now let thy words come to pass" (Judges
13:12) -- Hebrew, "Let it come." Here we read, let it come
home to me, for my comfort and deliverance. David elsewhere saith,
"Goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life" (Psalms
23:6); go after him, find him out in his wanderings. So, "What
shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits toward me?" (Psalms
116:12). They found their way to him though shut up with sins and
dangers. Thomas Manton.
Verse
41. Let thy mercies come also unto me, O Lord. The mercies of
God everywhere meet the man whom God quickens (Psalms
119:40). David understood that God blesses the soul, the body, the
household, the ordinances, and all things else that belong to his servants; the
whole of which blessing is flora mercy, without merit, bestowed largely,
wonderfully, etc. Martin Geier.
Verse
41. Let thy mercies come also unto me, O LORD, etc. Ministers
of the Word and students of Theology are reminded by this prayer that they
ought not only to preach to others the true way of attaining everlasting salvation,
but that they should also with earnest prayers cry unto God that they might
themselves be made partakers of the Divine mercies, and receive "the end
of their faith, the salvation of their souls." Paul, indeed, was greatly
anxious respecting this matter, and was constrained to write, that he kept his
body under, and brought it into subjection, lest after preaching to others he
should himself be a castaway. Solomon Gesner.
Verse
41. Thy mercies. Thy word. We should consider here the way in
which the Prophet seeks salvation from God. In this prayer he conjoins two
things, as those which uphold his confidence, viz., the mercy of God and his
Word. These are to the man of faith the two strongest pillars of his hope.
Wolfgang Musculus.
Verse
41. Even thy salvation, etc. It is not any sort of delivery
by any means, which the servant of God being in straits doth call for, or
desire, but such a deliverance as God will allow, and be pleased to give in a
holy way. "Let thy salvation come." As the word of promise is the
rule of our petition, so is it a pawn of the thing promised, and must be held
fast till the performance come: "Let thy mercies come also unto me, O
LORD, even thy salvation, according to thy word"; and this is one reason
of the petition. David Dickson.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Outlines
Upon Keywords of the Psalm, By Pastor C. A. Davis.
Verse
41-48. -- Promised mercies. Desired (Psalms
119:41), as an answer to "him that reproacheth" (Psalms 119:42-43); as a means of faithfulness (Psalms
119:44); liberty (Psalms
119:45); boldness (Psalms
119:46); delight (Psalms
119:47), and eager longing (Psalms
119:48).
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
41. -- See "Spurgeon's Sermons," No. 1524: "Your
Personal Salvation."
Verse
41. --
Verse
41. -- Even me.
Verse
41. --
--W.W.
Verse
41-43. -- A Comprehensive Prayer.
EXPOSITION
Verse
42. So shall I have wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me.
This is an unanswerable answer. When God, by granting us salvation, gives to
our prayers an answer of peace, we are ready at once to answer the objections
of the infidel, the quibbles of the sceptical, and the sneers of the
contemptuous. It is most desirable that revilers should be answered, and hence
we may expect the Lord to save his people in order that a weapon may be put into
their hands with which to rout his adversaries. When those who reproach us are
also reproaching God, we may ask him to help us to silence them by sure proofs
of his mercy and faithfulness.
For
I trust in thy word. His faith was seen by his being trustful while under
trial, and he pleads it as a reason why he should be helped to beat back
reproaches by a happy experience. Faith is our argument when we seek mercies
and salvation; faith in the Lord who has spoken to us in his word. "I
trust in thy word" is a declaration more worth the making than any other;
for he who can truly make it has received power to become a child of God, and
so to be the heir of unnumbered mercies. God hath more respect to a man's trust
than to all else that is in him; for the Lord hath chosen faith to be the hand
into which he will place his mercies and his salvation. If any reproach us for
trusting in God, we reply to them with arguments the most conclusive when we
show that God has kept his promises, heard our prayers, and supplied our needs.
Even the most sceptical are forced to bow before the logic of facts.
In
this second verse of this eight the Psalmist makes a confession of faith, and a
declaration of his belief and experience. Note that he does the same in the
corresponding verses of the sections which follow. See Psalms
119:50, "Thy word hath quickened me"; Ps 119:58, "I
entreated thy favour"; Psalms
119:66, "I have believed thy commandments"; Ps 119:74,
"I have hoped in thy word." A wise preacher might find in these a
series of experimental discourses.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
42. So shall I have, etc. I shall have something by which I
may reply to those who calumniate me. So the Saviour replied to the suggestions
of the tempter almost wholly by passages of Scripture (Matthew 4:4,7,10); and so, in many cases, the
best answer that can be given to reproaches on the subject of religion will be
found in the very words of Scripture. A man of little learning, except that
which he has derived from the Bible, may often thus silence the cavils and
reproaches of the learned sceptic; a man of simple hearted, pure piety, with no
weapon but the word of God, may often thus be better armed than if he had all
the arguments of the schools at his command. Comp. Ephesians
6:17. Albert Barnes.
Verse
42. So shall I have wherewith to answer, etc. When the heart
realizes assured salvation, it is supplied with abundant answers to those who
sneer at the delights of faith. Henry Law.
Verse
42. So shall I have wherewith to answer, etc. Hugo Cardinalis
observeth that there are three sorts of blasphemers of the godly, -- the
devils, heretics, and slanderers. The devil must be answered by the internal
word of humility; heretics by the external word of wisdom; slanderers by the
active word of a good life. Richard Greenham.
Verse
42. So shall I have, etc. For I should give them a short
answer, and a true one, -- that I trust in thy word; I put my confidence in
thee, who canst make good thy promises, because thou art omnipotent; and wilt, because
thou art merciful. William Nicholson.
Verse
42. So shall I have wherewith to answer, etc. This follows
the phrase, "according to thy word." Christians should learn from the
example of David what to oppose to the reproaches and false accusations of the
enemies of the truth. Nothing is done by railing; but weapons should be taken
from the word of God; and these are strong through faith in God for the
overturning of both the Devil himself and his instruments. For truly with
weapons of this kind the Saviour himself discomfited Satan in the wilderness (Matthew
4:1-11); and Paul (Ephesians 6:10-18) puts on himself, and commends
to the Christian soldier, the girdle of Divine truth, the breastplate of
righteousness, the shoes of the Gospel, the shield of faith, and the sword of
the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Solomon Gessler.
Verse
42. Wherewith to answer, etc. It is not forbidden to
believers, modestly and fully, to answer those that reproach them, and to rebut
the lie. See Proverbs 26:5 27:11. But to be able to answer
them is received as a blessing from God. Martin Geier.
Verse
42-43. In Psalms 119:42 there is a play upon the two
senses of the term "word," thus: "and I will answer my
revilers a word, for I have trusted in thy word." Having trusted in thy
word of promise, I shall have a word of reply to make to them when thou shalt
graciously hear this prayer. Take not thy word of truth (i.e., of promise) out
of my mouth; let me have it still to speak of before my enemies and to rest
upon for my own soul. If God were to fail in fulfilling his word of promise, it
would, in the sense here contemplated, be quite taken out of his mouth. Henry
Cowles.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
42. -- Faith's answer to reproach found in the fact that she trusts
God's word.
Verse
42-43,. 47. -- Faith, hope, and love. "I trust." "I have
hoped." "I have loved." Faith warring, hope testifying, love
obeying.
EXPOSITION
Verse
43. And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth. Do not
prevent my pleading for thee by leaving me without deliverance; for how could I
continue to proclaim thy word if I found it fail me? such would seem to be the
run of the meaning. The word of truth cannot be a joy to our mouths unless we
have an experience of it in our lives, and it may be wise for us to be silent
if We cannot support our testimonies by the verdict of our consciousness. This
prayer may also refer to other modes by which we may be disabled from speaking
in the name of the Lord: as, for instance, by our falling into open sin, by our
becoming depressed and despairing, by our labouring under sickness or mental
aberration, by our finding no door of utterance, or meeting with no willing
audience. He who has once preached the gospel from his heart is filled with
horror at the idea of being put out of the ministry; he will crave to be
allowed a little share in the holy testimony, and will reckon his dumb Sabbaths
to be days of banishment and punishment.
For
I have hoped in thy judgments. He had expected God to appear and vindicate his
cause, that so he might speak with confidence concerning his faithfulness. God
is the author of our hopes, and we may most fittingly entreat him to fulfil
them. The judgments of his providence are the outcome of his word; what he says
in the Scriptures he actually performs in his government; we may therefore look
for him to show himself strong on the behalf of his own threatenings and
promises, and we shall not look in vain.
God's
ministers are sometimes silenced through the sins of their people, and it
becomes them to plead against such a judgment; better far that they should
suffer sickness or poverty than that the candle of the gospel should be put out
among them, and that thus they should be left to perish without remedy. The
Lord save us, who are his ministers, from being made the instruments of
inflicting such a penalty. Let us exhibit a cheerful hopefulness in God, that
we may plead it in prayer with him when he threatens to close our lips.
In
the close of this verse there is a declaration of what the Psalmist had done in
reference to the word of the Lord, and in this the thirds of the octaves are
often alike. See Psalms 119:35, "therein do I delight";
Psalms 119:43, "I have hoped in thy
judgments"; Psalms 119:51, "yet have I not declined
from thy law"; Psalms 119:59, "I turned my feet to thy
testimonies"; and Psalms 119:67,83,99, etc. These verses would
furnish an admirable series of meditations.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
43. Take not the word of truth, etc. It is well known that
men do, when persecution threatens, either altogether deny the truth, or weakly
and lukewarmly confess it; but lest this should happen to him, David therefore
prays here, O Lord, take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth, i.e.,
make me, with an intrepid spirit, always to confess the avowed truth boldly and
manfully. In the Hebrew text it is dak d[, "very," "very
much," or, as Augustine renders it, "wholly and altogether"; and
he thinks that David prayed for this, that, if through human weakness it should
happen to him to fall, and at some time or other not steadfastly to confess the
word, yet that God would not allow him to continue in that sit,, but again restore
and establish him; and he illustrates this by the example of Peter. Further,
David adds the reason which has impelled him thus to pray: Because I have for,
and even with great desire, as the Hebrew verb lhy signifies, "thy
judgments," with which in the last day thou wilt openly pass sentence on
heretics, fanatics, and all tyrants. Solomon Gesner.
Verse
43. Take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth. The
word is taken out of the mouth, when it is said to the sinner, Wherefore dost
thou declare thy statutes? And eloquence itself becomes dumb if the conscience
be evil. The birds of heaven come and take the word out of thy mouth, even as
they took the seed of the word from off the rock lest it should bring forth
fruit. Ambrose.
Verse
43. The word is also taken out of our mouth when in strong
temptations all things, as it were, fail, neither can we discover where we
may make a stand: Psalms 69:2. Martin Geier.
Verse
43. Take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth.
Sometimes we are afraid to speak for the Saviour, lest we should incur the
charge of hypocrisy. At other times we are ashamed to speak, from the absence
of that only constraining principle -- "the love of Christ." And thus
"the word of truth is taken out of our mouths." Often have we wanted
a word to speak for the relief of the Lord's tempted people, and have not been
able to find it; so that the recollection of precious lost opportunities may
well give utterance to the prayer -- "Take not the word of truth utterly
out of my mouth." Not only do not take it out of my heart; but let it be
ready in my mouth for a confession of my Master. Some of us know the painful
trial of the indulgence of worldly habits and conversation, when a want of
liberty of spirit has hindered us from standing up boldly for our God. We may
perhaps allege the plea of bashfulness or judicious caution in excuse for
silence; which however, in many instances, we must regard as a self deceptive
covering for the real cause of restraint -- the want of apprehension of the
mercy of God to the soul. Charles Bridges.
Verse
43. Take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth. Oh,
what service can a dumb body do in Christ's house! Oh, I think the word of God
is imprisoned also! Oh, I am a dry tree! Alas, I can neither plant nor water!
Oh, if my Lord would make but dung of me, to fatten and make fertile his own
corn ridges in Mount Zion! Oh, if I might but speak to three or four herd boys
of my worthy Master, I would be satisfied to be the meanest and most obscure of
all the pastors in this land, and to live in any place, in any of Christ's
basest out houses! But he saith, "Sirrah, I will not send you; I have no
errands for you there away." My desire to serve him is sick of jealousy,
lest he be unwilling to employ me... I am very well every way, all praise to
him in whose books I must stand for ever as his debtor! Only my silence pains
me. I had one joy out of heaven, next to Christ my Lord, and that was to preach
him to thiss faithless generation; and they have taken that from me. It was to
me as the poor man's one eye, and they have put out that eye. Samuel
Rutherford.
Verse
43. For I have hoped in thy judgments, the word ~mpfm,
judgment, signifieth either the law, or the execution of the sentence thereof.
Verse
43-44. Lord, let me have the word of truth in "my
mouth" that I may commit that sacred depositum to the rising generation (2
Timothy 2:22), and by them it may be transmitted to succeeding ages;
so shall "thy law" be kept "for ever and ever," i.e., from
one generation to another, according to that promise (Isaiah
59:21): "My words in thy mouth shall not depart out of the
mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed." Matthew
Henry.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
43. -- How the true preacher could be silenced, and his plea that he
may not be so.
EXPOSITION
Verse
44. So shall I keep thy law continually for ever and ever. Nothing
more effectually binds a man to the way of the Lord than an experience of the
truth of his word, embodied in the form of mercies and deliverances. Not only
does the Lord's faithfulness open our mouths against his adversaries, but it
also knits our hearts to his fear, and makes our union with him more and more
intense. Great mercies lead us to feel an inexpressible gratitude which,
falling to utter itself in time, promises to engross eternity with praises. To
a heart on flame with thankfulness, the "always, unto eternity and
perpetuity," of the text will not seem to be redundant; yea, the hyperbole
of Addison in his famous verse will only appear to be solid sense: --
"Through
all eternity to thee
A joyful song I will raise;
But oh! eternity's too short
To utter all thy praise." Addison.
God's
grace alone can enable us to keep his commandments without break and without
end; eternal love must grant us eternal life, and out of this will come
everlasting obedience. There is no other way to ensure our perseverance in
holiness but by the word of truth abiding in us, as David prayed it might abide
with him.
The
verse begins with "So," as did Psalms
119:42. When God grants his salvation we are so favoured that we
silence our worst enemy and glorify our best friend. Mercy answereth all
things. If God doth but give us salvation we can conquer hell and commune with
heaven, answering reproaches and keeping the law, and that to the end, world
without end.
We
may not overlook another sense which suggests itself here. David prayed that
the word of truth might not be taken out of his mouth, and so would he keep
God's law: that is to say, by public testimony as well as by personal life, he
would fulfil the divine will, and confirm the bonds which bound him to his Lord
for ever. Undoubtedly the grace which enables us to bear witness with the mouth
is a great help to ourselves as well as to others: we feel that the vows of the
Lord are upon us, and that we cannot run back.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
44. So shall I keep thy law continually, etc. The Lord's
keeping our heart in faith, and our mouth and outward man in the course of
confession and obedience, is the cause of our perseverance. David Dickson.
Verse
44. So shall I keep. Mark, the promise of obedience is
brought in by way of argument; "So shall I keep," "so,"
that is, this will encourage me, this will enable me.
First,
The granting of his requests would give him encouragement: when God answers our
hope and expectation, gratitude should excite and quicken us to give all manner
of obedience. If he will give us a heart, and a little liberty to confess his
name, and serve him, we should not be backward or uncertain, but walk closely
with him.
Secondly,
This would give him assistance and strength. If God do daily give assistance,
we shall stand; if not, we fall and falter; this will be a means of his
perseverance, not only to engage and oblige him, but to help him to hold on to
the end.
Then
mark the consistency of this obedience, "Continually, and for ever and
ever." David would not keep it for a fit, or for a few days, or a year,
but always, even to the end of his life. Here are three words to the same
sense: "continually," "for ever," "and ever." And
the Septuagint expresses it thus: "I shall keep thy law always, and for
ever, and for ever, and ever;" four words there. This heaping of words is
not in vain.
Verse
44. So shall I keep thy law continually. That is, if thou
wilt not take the word of thy truth out of my mouth, "I will alway keep
thy law." "Yea, unto age, and age of age:" he showeth what is
meant by alway. For sometimes by "alway" is meant, as long as we live
here; but this is not, "unto age, and age of age." For it is better
thus translated than as some copies have, "to eternity, and to age of
age," since they could not say, and to eternity of eternity. That law
therefore should be understood, of which the apostle saith, "Love is the
fulfilling of the law." For this will be kept by the saints, from whose
mouth the word of truth is not taken, that is, by the church of Christ herself,
not only during this world, that is, until this world is ended; but for another
world which is styled world without end. For we shall not there receive the
commandments of the law, as here, to keep them, but we shall keep the fulness
of the law itself without any fear of sinning; for we shall love God the more
fully when we shall have seen him; and our neighbour too; for "God will be
all in all"; nor will there be room for any false suspicion concerning our
neighbour, where no man will be hidden to any. Augustine.
Verse
44. Continually, for ever and ever. The language of this
verse is very emphatic. Perfect obedience will constitute a large proportion of
heavenly happiness to all eternity; and the nearer we approach to it on earth,
the more we anticipate the felicity of heaven. Note in Bagster's Comprehensive
Bible.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
44. -- The perpetuity of gracious living. On what it is conditioned:
"So." How entirely it is consistent with free agency: "I
keep." How continuous it is, and how eternal.
Verse
44. -- Heaven begun below.
EXPOSITION
Verse
45. And I will walk at liberty: for I seek thy precepts. Saints find
no bondage in sanctity. The Spirit of holiness is a free spirit; he sets men at
liberty and enables them to resist every effort to bring them under subjection.
The way of holiness is not a track for slaves, but the King's highway for
freemen, who are joyfully journeying from the Egypt of bandage to the Canaan of
rest. God's mercies and his salvation, by teaching us to love the precepts of
the word, set us at a happy rest; and the more we seek after the perfection of
our obedience the more shall we enjoy complete emancipation from every form of
spiritual slavery. David at one time of his life was in great bondage through
having followed a crooked policy. He deceived Achish so persistently that he
was driven to acts of ferocity to conceal it, and must have felt very unhappy
in his unnatural position as an ally of Philistines, and captain of the body
guard of their king. He must have feared lest through his falling into the
crooked ways of falsehood the truth would no longer be on his tongue, and he
therefore prayed God in some way to work his deliverance, and set him at
liberty from such slavery. By terrible things in righteousness did the Lord
answer him at Ziklag: the snare was broken, and he escaped.
The
verse is united to that which goes before, for it begins with the word
"And," which acts as a hook to attach it to the preceding verses. It
mentions another of the benefits expected from the coming of mercies from God.
The man of God had mentioned the silencing of his enemies (Psalms
119:42), power to proceed in testimony (Psalms
119:43), and perseverance in holiness; now he dwells upon liberty,
which next to life is dearest to all brave men. He says, "I shall
walk," indicating his daily progress through life; "at liberty,"
as one who is out of prison, unimpeded by adversaries, unencumbered by burdens,
unshackled, allowed a wide range, and roaming without fear. Such liberty would
be dangerous if a man were seeking himself or his own lusts; but when the one
object sought after is the will of God, there can be no need to restrain the
searcher. We need not circumscribe the man who can say, "I seek thy
precepts." Observe, in the preceding verse he said he would keep the law;
but here he speaks of seeking it. Does he not mean that he will obey what he
knows, and endeavour to know more? Is not this the way to the highest form of
liberty, -- to be always labouring to know the mind of God and to be conformed
to it? Those who keep the law are sure to seek it, and bestir themselves to
keep it more and more.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
45. I will walk at liberty. Wherever God pardons sin, he
subdues it (Micah 7:19). Then is the condemning power of sin
taken away, when the commanding power of it is taken away. If a malefactor be
in prison, how shall he know that his prince hath pardoned him? If a jailer
come and knock off his chains and fetters, and lets him out of prison, then he
may know he is pardoned: so, how shall we know God hath pardoned us? If the
fetters of sin be broken off, and we walk at liberty in the ways of God, this
is a blessed sign we are pardoned. Thomas Watson.
Verse
45. I will walk at liberty: for I seek thy precepts. As he
who departs from confessing of God's truth doth cast himself in straits, in
danger and bonds; so he that beareth out the confession of the truth doth walk
as a free man; the truth doth set him free. David Dickson.
Verse
45. I will walk at liberty: for I seek thy precepts. When the
Bible says that a man led by the Spirit is not under the law, it does not mean
that he is free because he may sin without being punished for it; but it means
that he is free because being taught by God's Spirit to love what his law
commands he is no longer conscious of acting from restraint. The law does not
drive him, because the Spirit leads him... There is a state, brethren, when we
recognize God, but do not love God in Christ. It is that state when we admire
what is excellent, but are not able to perform it. It is a state when the love
of good comes to nothing, dying away in a mere desire. That is a state of
nature, when we are under the law, and not converted to the love of Christ. And
then there is another state, when God writes his law upon our hearts by love
instead of fear. The one state is this, "I cannot do the things that I
would;" the other state is this, "I will walk at liberty, for I seek
thy commandments." Frederick William Robertson, 1816-1853.
Verse
45. I will walk at liberty. The Psalmist's mind takes in the
enlargement of his position. A little while ago, and he felt like a man
straitened -- hemmed in by rocks, in a narrow dangerous pass who could not make
his way out. You know the characteristics of Canaan, and you can easily
conceive of the position of a traveller exploring his dreaded way through one
of the mountain passes. The traveller before us has attained to tread upon
secure ground. Now, all at once, favoured of the Most High, and conscious of
being in his way, he finds himself in a spacious place, and he walks at large:
"And I will walk at liberty; for I seek thy precepts." He had made
diligent enquiry into all that the Lord had enjoined, and seeking conformity
thereto, he felt that he could walk with comfort. He recreates himself in his
spiritual emancipation. The secret evil doer of fair profession cannot know
this spiritual liberty at all. As long as a man finds himself to be wrong, and
especially a man of a tender conscience, he feels hampered on all sides,
depressed in mind, and evilly circumstanced. To what expansion of mind does a
man awake when he becomes conscious of being in the appointed way of God! And
he is actually at liberty; for the good providence of God is around him, and
his grace supports him. John Stephen.
Verse
45. He who goes the beaten and right path will have no brambles
hit him across the eyes. Saxon proverb.
Verse
45-48. Five things David promises himself here in the strength of
God's grace.
Verse
45-48. In these four verses he explains, seriatim, in what the
observance of the law consists; a thing he promised, when he said in fourth
verse of this division, that he would observe God's law in his in his words, in
his mind, and in his acts; and the prophet seems all once, as having been
heard, to have changed his mode of speaking, for says, "And I walked at
large." When God's mercy visited me, I did walk in the narrow ways of
fear, but in the wide one of love; that is to say, observed the law willingly,
joyfully, with all the affections of my heart, "because I have sought
after thy commandments" as a thing of great and most important to come at;
"and I spoke" openly and fearlessly on the justice of his most holy
law, even "before kings, and I was not ashamed" and I constantly
turned the law in my mind, and made its mysteries the subject of my meditation,
"and I lifted up my hands," to carry out his high and sublime
commands; that is, his extremely perfect and arduous commands. Finally, in all
manner of ways, in heart, mind, word, and "I was exercised in thy
justifications." Robert Bellarmine.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
45-47. -- Liberty of walk. Liberty of speech. Liberty of heart.
Verse
45-48. -- The true freeman enjoys --
Verse
45-48. -- Five things the Psalmist promises himself here in the
strength of God's grace.
EXPOSITION
Verse
46. I will speak of thy testimonies also before kings, and will not
be ashamed. This is part of his liberty; he is free from fear of the greatest,
proudest, and most tyrannical of men. David was called to stand before kings
when he was an exile; and afterwards, when he was himself a monarch, he knew
the tendency of men to sacrifice their religion to pomp and statecraft; but it
was his resolve to do nothing of the kind. He would sanctify politics, and make
cabinets know that the Lord alone is governor among the nations. As a king he
would speak to kings concerning the King of kings. He says, "I will
speak": prudence might have suggested that his life and conduct would be
enough, and that it would be better not to touch upon religion in the presence
of royal personages who worshipped other gods, and claimed to be right in so
doing. He had already most fittingly preceded this resolve by the declaration,
"I will walk," but he does not make his personal conduct an excuse
for sinful silence, for he adds, "I will speak." David claimed
religious liberty, and took care to use it, for he spoke out what he believed,
even when he was in the highest company. In what he said he took care to keep
to God's own word, for he says, "I will speak of thy testimonies." No
theme is like this, and there is no way of handling that theme like keeping
close to the book, and using its thought and language. The great hindrance to
our speaking upon holy topics in all companies is shame, but the Psalmist will
"not be ashamed"; there is nothing to be ashamed of, and there is no
excuse for being ashamed, and yet many are as quiet as the dead for fear some
creature like themselves should be offended. When God gives grace, cowardice
soon vanishes. He who speaks for God in God's power, will not be ashamed when
beginning to speak, nor while speaking, nor after speaking; for his theme is
one which is fit for kings, needful to kings, and beneficial to kings. If kings
object, we may well be ashamed of them, but never of our Master who sent us, or
of his message, or of his design in sending it.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
46. I will speak of thy testimonies also before kings. In
words he seems to believe that he is in possession of that which he formerly
prayed for. He had said, "Take not the word of truth out of my
mouth," and now, as if he had obtained what he requested, he rises up, and
maintains that he would not be dumb, even were he called upon to speak in
presence of kings. He affirms that he would willingly stand forward vindication
of the glory of God in the face of the whole world. John Calvin.
Verse
46. I will speak of thy testimonies also before kings. The
terror of kings and of men in power is an ordinary hindrance of free confession
God's truth in time of persecution; but faith in the truth sustained in heart
by God is able to bring forth a confession at all hazards. David Dickson.
Verse
46. I will speak of thy testimonies also before kings. Before
came to the crown kings were sometimes his judges, as Saul and Achish: but if
he were called before them to give a reason of the hope that was in: him, he
would speak of God's testimonies, and profess to build his hope upon them, and
make them his council, his guard, his crown, his all. We must never be afraid
to own our religion, though it should expose us to the wrath of kings, but
speak of it as that which we will live and die by, like the three children
before Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel 3:16 Acts
4:20. After David came to the crown kings were sometimes his
companions, they visited him, and he returned their visits; but he did not, in
complaisance to them, talk of everything but religion for fear of affronting
them, and making his converse uneasy to them: no, God's testimonies shall be
the principal subject of his discourse with the kings, not only to show that he
was not ashamed of his religion, but to instruct them in it, and bring them
over to it. It is good for kings to hear of God's testimonies, and it will adorn
the conversation of princes themselves to speak of them. Matthew Henry.
Verse
46. I will speak of thy testimonies also before kings. Men of
greatest holiness have been men of greatest boldness; witness Nehemiah, the
three children, Daniel, and all the holy prophets and apostles: Proverbs
23:1, "The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous
are bold as a lion," yea, as a young lion, as the Hebrew has it, one that
is in his hot blood and fears no colours, and that is more bold than any
others. Holiness made Daniel not only as bold as a lion, but also to daunt the
lions with his boldness. Luther was a man of great holiness, and a man of great
boldness: witness his standing out against all the world; and when the emperor
sent for him to Worms, and his friends dissuaded him from going, as sometimes
Paul's did him, "Go," said he, "I will surely go, since I am
sent for, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; yea, though I knew that there
were as many devils in Worms to resist me as there be tiles to cover the
houses, yet I would go." And when the same author and his associates were
threatened with many dangers from opposers on all hands, he lets fall this
heroic and magnanimous speech: "Come, let us sing the 46th Psalm, and then
let them do their worst." Latimer was a man of much holiness, counting the
darkness and profaneness of those times wherein he lived, and a man of much
courage and boldness; witness his presenting to King Henry the Eighth, for a
New Year's gift, a New Testament, wrapped up in a napkin, with this posie or
motto about it; "Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge." Thomas
Brooks.
Verse
46. Note that in this verse we are taught to shun four vices.
First, overmuch silence: hence he says, "I will speak." Secondly,
useless talkativeness: "of thy testimonies." The Hebrew doctors say
that ten measures of speaking had descended to the earth, -- that nine had been
carried off by the women, but one left for all the rest of the world.
Hieronymus rightly exhorts all Christians: "Consecrate thy mouth to the
Gospel: be unwilling to open it with trifles or fables." Thirdly, we are
taught to shun cowardice: "before kings." For, as it is said (Proverbs
29:25), "The fear of man bringeth a snare." Fourthly, and
lastly, we are taught to shun cowardly bashfulness: "and will not be
ashamed." Thomas Le Blanc.
Verse
46. I will not be ashamed. That is, I shall not be cast down
from my position or my hope; I shall not be afraid; nor will I, from fear of
danger or reproach, shun or renounce the confession; nor shall I be overcome by
terrors or threats. D. H. Mollerus.
Verse
46-48. In these three last verses David promises a threefold duty of
thankfulness. First, the service of his tongue. Next, the service of his
affections. Thirdly, the service of his actions. A good conscience renders
always great consolation; and an honest life makes great boldness to speak
without fear or shame, as ye see in David towards Saul, in Elias to Ahab, in
Paul to Agrippa, to Festus, and to Felix. William Cowper.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
46-48. -- Lips, heart, and hands.
Verse
46. --
EXPOSITION
Verse
47. And I will delight myself in thy commandments, which I have
loved. Next to liberty and courage comes delight. When we have done our duty,
we find a great reward in it. If David had not spoken for his Master before
kings, he would have been afraid to think of the law which he had neglected;
but after speaking up for his Lord he feels a sweet serenity of heart when
musing upon the word. Obey the command, and you will love it; carry the yoke,
and it will be easy, and rest will come by it. After speaking of the law the
Psalmist was not wearied of his theme, but he retired to meditate upon it; he
discoursed and then he delighted, he preached and then repaired to his study to
renew his strength by feeding yet again upon the precious truth. Whether he
delighted others or not when he was speaking, he never failed to delight
himself when he was musing on the word of the Lord. He declares that he loved
the Lord's commands, and by this avowal he unveils the reason for his delight
in them: where our love is, there is our delight. David did not delight in the
courts of kings, for there he found places of temptation to shame, but in the
Scriptures he found himself at home; his heart was in them, and they yielded
him supreme pleasure. No wonder that he spoke of keeping the law, which he
loved; Jesus says, "If a man love me, he will keep my words." No
wonder that he spoke of walking at liberty, and speaking boldly, for true love
is ever free and fearless. Love is the fulfilling of the law; where love to the
law of God reigns in the heart the life must be full of blessedness. Lord, let
thy mercies come to us that we may love thy word and way, and find our whole
delight therein.
The
verse is in the future, and hence it sets forth, not only what David had done,
but what he would do; he would in time to come delight in his Lord's command.
He knew that they would neither alter, nor fail to yield him joy. He knew also
that grace would keep him in the same condition of heart towards the precepts
of the Lord, so that he should throughout his whole life take a supreme delight
in holiness. His heart was so fixed in love to God's will that he was sure that
grace would always hold him under its delightful influence.
All
the Psalm is fragrant with love to the word, but here for the first time love
is expressly spoken of. It is here coupled with delight, and in Psalms 119:165 with "great peace." All the verses
in which love declares itself in so many words are worthy of note. See Ps
119:47,97,113,119,127,140,159,163,165,167.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
47. I will delight myself in thy commandments. It is but poor
comfort to the believer to be able to talk well to others upon the ways of God,
and even to "bear the reproach" of his people, when his own heart is
cold, insensible, and dull. He longs for "delight" in these ways; and
he shall delight in them. Charles Bridges.
Verse
47. He who would preach boldly to others must himself
"delight" in the practice of what he preacheth. If there be in us
a new nature, it will "love the commandments of God" as being
congenial to it; on that which we love we shall continually be
"meditating," and our meditation will end in action; we shall
"lift up the hands which hang down" (Hebrews
12:12), that they may "work the works of God whilst it is day,
because the night cometh when no man can work" (John
9:4). George Horne.
Verse
47. Thy commandments, which I have loved. On the word
"loved," the Carmelite quotes two sayings of ancient philosophers,
which he commends to the acceptance of those who have learnt the truer
philosophy of the Gospel. The first is Aristotle's answer to the question of
what profit he had derived from philosophy: "I have learnt to do without
constraint that which others do from fear of the law." The second is a
very similar saying of Aristippus: "If the laws were lost, all of us would
live as we do now that they are in force." And for us the whole verse is
summed up in the words of a greater Teacher than they: "If a man love me,
he will keep my words": John
14:23. Neale and Littledale.
Verse
47-48. What is in the word a law of precept, is in the heart a
law of love; what is in the one a law of command, is in the other a law of liberty
"Love is the fulfilling of the law," Galatians
5:14. The law of love in the heart, is the fulfilling the law of God
in the Spirit. It may well be said to be written in the heart, when a man doth
love it. As we say, a beloved thing is in our hearts, not physically, but
morally, as Calais was said to be in Queen Mary's heart. They might have looked
long enough before they could have found there the map of the town; but grief
for the loss of it killed her. It is a love that is inexpressible. David
delights to mention it in two verses together: I will delight myself in thy
commandments, which I have loved. My hands also will I lift up unto thy
commandments, which I have loved, and often in the Psalm resumes the assertion.
Before the new creation, there was no affection to the law: it was not only a
dead letter, but a devilish letter in the esteem of a man: he wished it razed
out of the world, and another more pleasing to the flesh enacted. He would be a
law unto himself; but when this is written within him, he is so pleased with
the inscription, that he would not for all the world be without that law, and
the love of it; whereas what obedience he paid to it before was out of fear,
now out of affection; not only because of the authority of the lawgiver, but of
the purity of the law itself. He would maintain it with all his might against
the power of sin within, and the powers of darkness without him. He loves to
view this law; regards every lineament of it, and dwells upon every feature
with delightful ravishments. If his eye be off, or his foot go away, how doth
he dissolve in tears, mourn and groan, till his former affection hath recovered
breath, and stands upon its feet! Stephen Charnock.
EXPOSITION
Verse
48. My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments, which I have
loved. He will stretch out towards perfection as far as he can, hoping to reach
it one day; when his hands hang down he will cheer himself out of languor by
the prospect of glorifying God by obedience; and he will give solemn sign of
his hearty assent and consent to all that his God commands. The phrase
"lift up my hands" is very full of meaning, and doubtless the sweet
singer meant all that we can see in it, and a great deal more. Again he
declares his love; for a true heart loves to express itself; it is a kind of
fire which must send forth its flames. It was natural that he should reach out
towards a law which he delighted in, even as a child holds out its hands to
receive a gift which it longs for. When such a lovely object as holiness is set
before us, we are bound to rise towards it with our whole nature, and till that
is fully accomplished we should at least lift up our hands in prayer towards
it. Where holy hands and holy hearts go, the whole man will one day follow.
And
I will meditate in thy statutes. He can never have enough of meditation upon
the mind of God. Loving subjects wish to be familiar with their sovereign's
statutes, for they are anxious that they may not offend through ignorance.
Prayer with lifted hands, and meditation with upward glancing eyes will in
happy union work out the best inward results. The prayer of Psalms
119:41 is already fulfilled in the man who is thus struggling upward
and studying deeply. The whole of this verse is in the future, and may be
viewed not only as a determination of David's mind, but as a result which he
knew would follow from the Lord's sending him his mercies and his salvation.
When mercy comes down, our hands will be lifted up; when God in favour thinks
upon us, we are sure to think of him. Happy is he who stands with hands
uplifted both to receive the blessing and to obey the precept; he shall not
wait upon the Lord in vain.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
48. My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments, etc.
The duty that David promises God here, is the service of his actions, that he
will lift up his hands to the practice of God's commandments. The kingdom of
God is not in word, but in power; we are the disciples of that Master, who
first began to do and then to teach. But now the world is full of mutilated
Christians; either they want an ear and cannot hear God's word, or a tongue and
cannot speak of it; or if they have both, they want hands and cannot practise
it. William Cowper.
Verse
48. My hands also will I lift up. To lift up the hands is
taken variously, and it signifies:
Perhaps
all these may be accommodated to the present passage; for it is possible to be
either,
Verse
48. My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments; vowing obedience
to them: Genesis 14:22. William Kay.
Verse
48. My hands also will I lift up. I will present every victim
and sacrifice which the law requires. I will make prayer and supplication before
thee, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting. Adam Clarke.
Verse
48. My hands also will I lift up. Aben Ezra explains, (and
perhaps rightly,) that the metaphor, in this place, is taken from the action of
those who receive any one whom they are glad or proud to see. Daniel Cresswell,
1776-1844.
Verse
48. I will lift up my hands in admiration of thy precepts,
"And meditate on thy statutes." W. Green, in "A New Translation
of the Psalms," 1762.
Verse
48. To lift up the hand is a gesture importing readiness, and
special intention in doing a thing. My hands (saith David) also will I lift up
unto thy commandments; as a man that is willing to do a thing and addresses
himself to the doing of it, lifts up his hand; so a godly man is described as
lifting up his hand to fulfil the commands of God. Joseph Caryl.
Verse
48. Thy commandments. By commandments he understandeth the
word of God, yet it is more powerful than so; it is not, I have loved thy word;
but, I have loved that part of thy word that is thy "commandments,"
the mandatory part. There are some parts of the will and word of God that even
ungodly men will be content to love. There is the promissory part; all men
gather and catch at the promises, and show love to these. The reason is clear;
there is pleasure, and profit, and gain, and advantage in the promises; but a
pious soul doth not only look to the promises, but to the commands. Piety looks
on Christ as a Lawgiver, as well as a Saviour, and not only on him as a
Mediator, but as a Lord and Master; it doth not only live by faith, but it
liveth by rule; it makes indeed the promises the stay and staff of a
Christian's life, but it makes the commandments of God the level. A pious heart
knows that some command is implied in the qualification and condition of every
promise; it knows that as for the fulfilling of the promises, it belongs to
God; but the fulfilling of the commands belongs to us. Therefore it looks so,
upon the enjoying of that which is promised that it will first do that which is
commanded. There is no hope of attaining comfort in the promise but in keeping
of the precept; therefore he pitches the emphasis, "I have loved thy
word," that is true, and all thy word, and this part, the mandatory part:
"I have loved thy commandments."
Observe
the number, "thy commandments"; it is plural, that is, all thy
commandments without exception; otherwise even ungodly men will be content to
love some commandments, if they may choose them for themselves. Richard
Holdsworth (1590-1649), in "The Valley of Vision."
Verse
48. Which I love, or have loved, as in Psalms
119:47, the terms of which are studiously repeated with a fine
rhetorical effect, which is further heightened by the and at the beginning,
throwing both verses, as it were, into one sentence. As if he had said: I will
derive my happiness from thy commandments, which I love and have loved, and to
these commandments, which I love and have loved, I will lift up my hands and
heart together. Joseph Addison Alexander.
Verse
48. I will meditate. It is in holy meditation on the word of
God that all the graces of the Spirit are manifested. What is the principle of
faith but the reliance of the soul upon the promises of the word? What is the sensation
of godly fear but the soul trembling before the threatenings of God? What is
the object of hope but the apprehended glory of God? What is the excitement of
desire or love but longing, endearing contemplations of the Saviour, and of his
unspeakable blessings? So that we can scarcely conceive of the influences of
grace separated from spiritual meditation in the word. Charles Bridges.
Verse
48. The Syriac has an addition to Psalms
119:48, which I am surprised has not been noticed. The addition
is, "and I will glory in thy faithfulness." Dathe in a note says, THE
SEVENTY seem to have read some such addition, although not exactly the same.
Edward Thomas Gibson, 1819-1880.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
48. --
Verse
48. --
Verse
48. -- Religion engaged the whole manhood of David: hands, heart,
head.
(a) Taking an
oath of allegiance to God's word.
Ge 14:22 Ezekiel
20:28. To receive its doctrines, obey its
precepts, regard its warnings, uphold its honour.
(b) Imploring a blessing upon God's word. le+9:22"> 9:22 ">Genesis 48:14;
Le 9:22 ;
Le 9:22 Luke
24:50. That its light might spread:
"Fly abroad, thou mighty gospel;" that its influence may become
universal.
(a) This
accounts for uplifted hands. He had loved the word
himself. Religion is inward first, then outward. We must
love it before we are anxious to spread it.
(b) But what
accounts for the loyal heart? The word had
brought him salvation, yielded him sustenance, afforded him
guidance. We love the world for its joyous effects upon
ourselves.
(a) Devout
meditation the best employment.
(b) The Word of
God affords a grand field for it.
(c) To meditate
in it learn to love it: "have loved," "will
meditate." --H.W.
Verse
48. --
EXPOSITION
This
octrain deals with the comfort of the word. It begins by seeking the main
consolation, namely, the Lord's fulfilment of his promise, and then it shows
how the word sustains us under affliction, and makes us so impervious to
ridicule that we are moved by the harsh conduct of the wicked rather to horror
of their sin than to any submission to their temptations. We are then shown how
the Scripture furnishes songs for pilgrims, and memories for night watchers;
and the psalm concludes by the general statement that the whole of this
happiness and comfort arises out of keeping the statutes of the Lord.
Verse
49. Remember the word unto thy servant. He asks for no new promise,
but to have the old word fulfilled. He is grateful that he has received so good
a word, he embraces it with all his heart, and now entreats the Lord to deal
with him according to it. He does not say, "remember my service to
thee," but "thy word to me." The words of masters to servants
are not always such that servants wish their lords to remember them; for they
usually observe the faults and failings of the work done, in as much as it does
not tally with the word of command. But we who serve the best of masters are
not anxious to have one of his words fall to the ground, since the Lord will so
kindly remember his word of command as to give us grace wherewith we may obey,
and he will couple with it a remembrance of his word of promise, so that our
hearts shall be comforted. If God's word to us as his servants is so precious,
what shall we say of his word to us as his sons?
The
Psalmist does not fear a failure in the Lord's memory, but he makes use of the
promise as a plea, and this is the form in which he speaks, after the manner of
men when they plead with one another. When the Lord remembers the sins of his
servant, and brings them before his conscience, the penitent cries, Lord,
remember thy word of pardon, and therefore remember my sins and iniquities no
more. There is a world of meaning in that word "remember," as it is
addressed to God; it is used in Scripture in the most tender sense, and suits
the sorrowing and the depressed. The Psalmist cried, "Lord, remember
David, and all his afflictions": Job also prayed that the Lord would
appoint him a set time, and remember him. In the present instance the prayer is
as personal as the "Remember me" of the thief, for its essence lies
in the words -- "unto thy servant." It would be all in vain for us if
the promise were remembered to all others if it did not come true to ourselves;
but there is no fear, for the Lord has never forgotten a single promise to a
single believer.
Upon
which thou hast caused me to hope. The argument is that God, having given grace
to hope in the promise, would surely never disappoint that hope. He cannot have
caused us to hope without cause. If we hope upon his word we have a sure basis:
our gracious Lord would never mock us by exciting false hopes. Hope deferred
maketh the heart sick, hence the petition for immediate remembrance of the
cheering word. Moreover, it the hope of a servant, and it is pot possible that
a great and good master would disappoint his dependent; if such a master's word
were not kept could only be through an oversight, hence the anxious cry,
"Remember Our great Master will not forget his own servants, nor disappoint
the expectation which he himself has raised: because we are the Lord's, and
endeavour to remember his word by obeying it, we may be sure that he think upon
his own servants, and remember his own promise by making good."
This
verse is the prayer of love fearing to be forgotten, of humility conscious of
insignificance and anxious not to be overlooked, of trembling lest the evil of
its sin should overshadow the promise, of a desire longing for the blessing,
and of holy confidence which feels that that is wanted is comprehended in the
word. Let but the Lord remember his promise, and the promised act is as good as
done.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
49. -- Remember the word unto thy servant, etc. Those that
make God's promises their portion, may with humble boldness make them their
plea. God gave the promise in which the Psalmist hoped, and the hope by which
he embraced the promise. -- Matthew Henry.
Verse
49. -- Remember the word unto thy servant, etc. When we hear
any promise in the word of God, let us turn it into a prayer. God's promises
are his bonds. Sue him on his bond. He loves that we should wrestle with him by
his promises. Why, Lord, thou hast made this and that promise, thou canst not
deny thyself, thou canst not deny thine own truth; thou canst not cease to be
God, and thou canst as well cease to be God, as deny thy promise, that is
thyself. "Lord, remember thy word." "I put thee in mind of thy
promise, whereon thou hast caused me to hope." If I be deceived, thou hast
deceived me. Thou hast made these promises, and caused me to trust in thee, and
"thou never fullest those that trust in thee, therefore keep thy word to
me." --Richard Sibbes.
Verse
49. -- Remember the word unto thy servant, etc. God promises
salvation before he giveth it, to excite our desire of it, to exercise our
faith, to prove our sincerity, to perfect our patience. For these purposes he
seemeth sometimes to have forgotten his word, and to have deserted those whom
he had engaged to succour and relieve; in which case he would have us, as it
were, to remind him of his promise, and solicit his performance of it. The
Psalmist here instructs us to prefer our petition upon these grounds; first,
that God cannot prove false to his own word: "Remember thy word;" secondly,
that he will never disappoint an expectation which himself hath raised:
"upon which thou hast caused me to hope." --George Horne.
Verse
49,52,55. -- Remember. "I remembered." As David beseeches
the Lord to remember his promise, so he protests, in Psalms
119:52, that he remembered the judgments of God, and was comforted;
and in Psalms 119:55, that he remembered the name of
the Lord in the night. It is but a mockery of God, to desire him to remember
his promise made to us, when we make no conscience of the promise we have made
to him. But alas, how often we fail in this duty, and by our own default,
diminish that comfort we might have of God's promises in the day of our
trouble. --William Cowper.
Verse
49. -- Thy servant. Be sure of your qualification; for David
pleadeth here, partly as a servant of God, and partly as a believer. First,
"Remember the word unto thy servant;" and then, "upon which thou
hast caused me to hope." There is a double qualification: with respect to
the precept of subjection, and the promise of dependence. The precept is before
the promise. They have right to the promises, and may justly lay hold upon
them, who are God's servants; they who apply themselves to obey his precepts,
these only can rightly apply his promises to themselves. None can lay claim to
rewarding grace but those who are partakers of sanctifying grace. Make it clear
that you are God's servants, and then these promises which are generally
offered are your own, no less than if your name were inserted in the promise,
and written in the Bible. --Thomas Manton.
Verse
49. -- Thou hast caused me to hope. Let us remember, first,
that the promises made to us are of God's free mercy; that the grace to
believe, which is the condition of the promise, is also of himself; for
"faith is the gift of God"; thirdly, that the arguments by which he
confirms our faith in the certainty of our salvation are drawn from himself,
not from us. --William Cowper.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Outlines
Upon Keywords of the Psalm, By Pastor C. A. Davis.
Verse
49-56. -- Hope in affliction. It arises from God's word (Psalms
119:49). It produces comfort (Psalms
119:50), even in trouble caused by the wicked (Psalms 119:51-53). It gladdens the believer's
pilgrimage and his holy night seasons (Psalms 119:54-56).
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
49. --
Verse
49. -- The word of hope.
EXPOSITION
Verse
50. This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened
me. He means, -- Thy word is my comfort, or the fact that thy word has brought
quickening to me is my comfort. Or he means that the hope which had given him
was his comfort, for God had quickened him thereby ever may be the exact sense,
it is clear that the Psalmist had affliction -- affliction peculiar to himself,
which he calls "my affliction"; that he had comfort in it, -- comfort
specially his own, for he styles it "my comfort"; and that he knew
what the comfort was, and where it came from, for exclaims -- "this is my
comfort". The worldling clutches his money bag and says, "this is my
comfort"; the spendthrift points to his gaiety, shouts, "this is my
comfort"; the drunkard lifts his glass, and sings, "this is my
comfort"; but the man whose hope comes from God feels the giving power of
the word of the Lord, and he testifies, "this is my fort." Paul said,
"I know whom I have believed." Comfort is desirable all times; but
comfort in affliction is like a lamp in a dark place. Some unable to find
comfort at such times; but it is not so with believers, their Savour has said
to them, "I will not leave you comfortless." have comfort and no
affliction, others have affliction and no comfort; the saints have comfort in
their affliction.
The
word frequently comforts us by increasing the force of our inner "this is
my comfort; thy word hath quickened me." To quicken the is to cheer the
whole man. Often the near way to consolation is sanctification and
invigoration. If we cannot clear away the fog, it may be to rise to a higher
level, and so to get above it. Troubles which weigh down while we are half dead
become mere trifles when we are full of Thus have we often been raised in
spirit by quickening grace, and the thing will happen again, for the Comforter
is still with us, the Consolation of Israel ever liveth, and the very God of
peace is evermore our Father. Looking back upon our past life there is one
ground of comfort as to state -- the word of God has made us alive, and kept us
so. We were but we are dead no longer. From this we gladly infer that if the
had meant to destroy he would not have quickened us. If we were only hypocrites
worthy of derision, as the proud ones say, he would not revived us by his
grace. An experience of quickening is a fountain of cheer.
See
how this verse is turned into a prayer in Psalms 119:107. "Quicken me, O Lord, according unto thy
word." Experience teaches us how to pray, and furnishes arguments in
prayer.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
50. -- This is my comfort, etc. The word of promise was
David's comfort, because the word had quickened him to receive comfort. The
original is capable of another modification of thought -- "This is my
consolation that thy word hath quickened me." He had the happy experience
within him; he felt the reviving, restoring, life giving power of the word, as
he read, as he dwelt upon it, as he meditated therein, and as he gave himself
up to the way of the word. The believer has all God's unfailing promises to
depend upon, and as he depends he gains strength by his own happy experiences
of the faithfulness of the word. --John Stephen.
Verse
50. -- My comfort. "Thy word." God hath given us
his Scriptures, his word; and the comforts that are fetched from thence are
strong ones, because they are his comforts, since they come from his word. The
word of a prince comforts, though he be not there to speak it. Though it be by
a letter, or by a messenger, yet he whose word it is, is one that is able to
make his word good. He is Lord and Master of his word. The word of God is
comfortable, and all the reasons that are in it, and that are deduced from it,
upon good ground and consequence, are comfortable, because it is God's word.
Those comforts in God's word, and reasons from thence, are wonderful in
variety. There is comfort from the liberty of a Christian, that he hath free
access to the throne of grace; comfort from the prerogatives of a Christian,
that he is the child of God, that he is justified, that he is the heir of heaven,
and such like; comforts from the promises of grace, of the presence of God, of
assistance by his presence. --Richard Sibbes.
Verse
50. -- Comfort. 'Nechamah', consolation; whence the name of
Nehemiah was derived. The word occurs only in Job
6:9.
Verse
50. -- Comfort. The Hebrew verb rendered 'to comfort'
signifies, first, to repent, and then to comfort. And certainly the sweetest
joy is from the surest tears. Tears are the breeders of spiritual joy. When
Hannah had wept, she went away, and was no more sad. The bee gathers the best
honey from the bitterest herbs. Christ made the best wine of water.
Gospel
comforts are, first, unutterable comforts, 1
Peter 1:8; Philippians 4:4. Secondly, they are real, John
14:27; all others are but seeming comforts, but painted comforts.
Thirdly, they are holy comforts, Isaiah
64:5 Psalms 138:5; they flow from a Holy Spirit, and
nothing can come from the Holy Spirit but that which is holy. Fourthly, they
are the greatest and strongest comforts, Ephesians
6:17. Few heads and hearts are able to bear them, as few heads are
able to bear strong wines. Fifthly, they reach to the inward man, to the soul, 2
Thessalonians 2:17, the noble part of man. "My soul rejoiceth
in God my Saviour." Our other comforts only reach the face; they sink not so
deep as the heart. Sixthly, they are the most soul filling and soul satisfying
comforts, Psalms 16:11 Song
of Solomon 4:3. Other comforts cannot reach the soul, and therefore
they cannot fill nor satisfy the soul. Seventhly, they comfort in saddest
distresses, in the darkest night, and in the most stormy day, Psalms
94:19 Hebrews 3:7-8. Eighthly, they are everlasting, 2
Thessalonians 2:16. The joy of the wicked is but as a glass, bright
and brittle, and evermore in danger of breaking; but the joy of the saints is
lasting. --Thomas Brooks.
Verse
50. -- Thy word hath quickened me. It is a reviving comfort
which quickeneth the soul. Many times we seem to be dead to all spiritual
operations, our affections are damped and discouraged; but the word of God puts
life into the dead, and relieveth us in our greatest distresses. Sorrow worketh
death, but joy is the life of the soul. Now, when dead in all sense and
feeling, "the just shall live by faith" (Hebrews
4:4), and the hope wrought in us by the Scriptures is "a lively
hope" (1 Peter 1:8). Other things skin the wound but
our sore breaketh out again, and runneth; faith penetrates into the inwards of
a man, doth good to the heart; and the soul revives by waiting upon God, and
gets life and strength. -- Thomas Manton.
Verse
50. -- Thy word hath quickened me. Here, as is evident from
the mention of "affliction" -- and indeed throughout the psalm -- the
verb "quicken" is used not merely in an external sense of
"preservation from death" (Hupfeld), but of "reviving the
heart," "imparting fresh courage," etc. --J.J. Stewart Perowne.
Verse
50. -- Thy word hath quickened me. It made me alive when I
was dead in sin; it has many a time made me lively when I was dead in duty; it
has quickened me to that which is good, when. I was backward and averse to it;
and it has quickened me in that which is good, when I was cold and indifferent.
--Matthew Henry.
Verse
50. -- (Second Clause). Adore God's distinguishing grace, if
you have felt the power and authority of the word upon your conscience; if you
can say as David, "Thy word hath quickened me." Christian, bless God
that he has not only given thee his word to be a rule of holiness, but his
grace to be a principle of holiness. Bless God that he has not only written his
word, but sealed it upon thy heart, and made it effectual. Canst thou say it is
of divine inspiration, because thou hast felt it to be of lively operation? Oh
free grace! That God should send out his word, and heal thee; that he should
heal thee and not others! That the Same Scripture which to them is a dead
letter, should be to thee a savour of life. -- Thomas Watson.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
50. -- Each man has his own affliction and his own consolation.
Quickened piety the best comfort. The word the means of it.
Verse
50. --
EXPOSITION
Verse
51. The proud have had me greatly in derision. Proud men never love
gracious men, and as they fear them they veil their fear under a pretended
contempt. In this case their hatred revealed itself in ridicule, and that
ridicule was loud and long. When they wanted sport they made sport of David
because he was God's servant. Men must have strange eyes to be able to see a
farce in faith, and a comedy in holiness; yet it is sadly the case that men who
are short of wit can generally provoke a broad grin by jesting at a saint.
Conceited sinners make footballs of godly men. They call it roaring fun to
caricature a faithful member of "The Holy Club"; his methods of
careful living are the material for their jokes about "the
Methodist"; and his hatred of sin sets their tongues wagging at long faced
Puritanism, and straitlaced hypocrisy. If David was greatly derided, we may not
expect to escape the scorn of the ungodly. There are hosts of proud men still
upon the lace of the earth, and if they find a believer in affliction they will
be mean enough and cruel enough to make jests at his expense. It is the nature
of the son of the bondwoman to mock the child of the promise.
Yet
have I not declined from thy law. Thus the deriders missed their aim: they
laughed, but they did not win. The godly man, so far from turning aside from
the right way, did not even slacken his pace, or in any sense fall off from his
holy habits. Many would have declined, many have declined, but David did not do
so. It is paying too much honour to fools to yield half a point to them. Their
unhallowed mirth will not harm us if dogs pay no attention to it, even as the
moon suffers nothing from the dogs that bay at her. God's law is our highway of
peace and safety, and those who would laugh us out of it wish us no good.
From
Psalms 119:61 we note that David was not
overcome by the spoiling of his goods any more than by these cruel mockings.
See also Psalms 119:157, where the multitude of
persecutors and enemies were baffled in their attempts to make him decline from
God's ways.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
51. -- The proud have had me greatly in derision. The saints
of God have complained of this in all ages: David of his busy mockers; the
abjects jeered him. Job was disdained of those children whose fathers he would
have scorned to set with the dogs of his flock, Job
30:1. Joseph was nicknamed a dreamer, Paul a babbler, Christ himself
a Samaritan, and with intent of disgrace a carpenter...Michal was barren, yet
she hath too many children, that scorn the habit and exercises of holiness.
There cannot be a greater argument of a foul soul, than the deriding of
religious services. Worldly hearts can see nothing in those actions, but folly
and madness; piety hath no relish, but is distasteful to their palates.
--Thomas Adams.
Verse
51. -- The proud, etc. Scoffing proceedeth from pride. Proverbs
3:34 1 Peter 5:5. --John Trapp.
Verse
51. -- Greatly. The word notes "continually," the
Septuagint translates it by afczra, the vulgar Latin by "usque
valde", and "usque longe". They derided him with all possible
bitterness; and day by day they had their scoffs for him, so that it was both a
grievous and a perpetual temptation. --Thomas Manton.
Verse
51. -- Derision. David tells that he had been jeered for his
religion, but yet he had not been jeered out of his religion. They laughed at
him for his praying and called it cant, for his seriousness and called it
mopishness, for his strictness and called it needless preciseness. --Matthew
Henry.
Verse
51. -- It is a great thing in a soldier to behave well under
fire; but it is a greater thing for a soldier of the cross to be unflinching in
the day of his trial. It does not hurt the Christian to have the dogs bark
at him. --William S. Plumer.
Verse
50-51. -- The life and rigour infused into me by the promise which
"quickened me," caused me "not to decline from thy
law," even though "the proud did iniquitously altogether"; doing
all in their power, through their jeering at me, to deter me from its
observance. --Robert Bellarmine.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
51. -- The proud man's contumely, and the gracious man's constancy.
Verse
51. -- Fidelity in the face of contempt.
EXPOSITION
Verse
52. I remembered thy judgments of old, O Lord; and have comforted
myself. He had asked the Lord to remember, and here he remembers God and his
judgments. When we see no present display of the divine power it is wise to
fall back upon the records of former ages, since they are just as available as
if the transactions were of yesterday, seeing the Lord is always the same. Our
true comfort must be found in what our God works on behalf of truth and right,
and as the histories of the olden times are full of divine interpositions it is
well to be thoroughly acquainted with them. Moreover, if we are advanced in
years we have the providence of our early days to review, and these should by
no means be forgotten or left out of our thoughts. The argument is good and
solid: he who has shown himself strong on behalf of his believing people is the
immutable God, and therefore we may expect deliverance at his hands. The
grinning of the proud will not trouble us when we remember how the Lord dealt
with their predecessors in by gone periods; he destroyed them at the deluge, he
confounded them at Babel, he drowned them at the Red Sea, he drove them out of
Canaan: he has in all ages bared his arm against the haughty, and broken them as
potters' vessels. While in our own hearts we humbly drink of the mercy of God
in quietude, we are not without comfort in seasons of turmoil and derision; for
then we resort to God's justice, and remember how he scoffs at the scoffers:
"He that sitteth in the heavens doth laugh, the Lord doth have them in
derision."
When
he was greatly derided the Psalmist did not sit down in despair, but rallied
his spirits He knew that comfort is needful for strength in service, and for
the endurance of persecution, and therefore he comforted himself. In doing this
he resorted not so much to the sweet as to the stern side of the Lord's
dealings, and dwelt upon his judgments. If we can find sweetness in the divine
justice, how much more shall we perceive it in divine love and grace. How
thoroughly must that man be at peace with God who dan find comfort, not only in
his promises, but in his judgments. Even the terrible things of God are
cheering to believers. They know that nothing is more to the advantage of all
God's creatures than to be ruled by a strong hand which will deal out justice.
The righteous man, has no fear of the ruler's sword, which is only a terror to
evil doers. When the godly man is unjustly treated he finds comfort in the fact
that there is a Judge of all the earth who will avenge his own elect, and
redress the ills of these disordered times.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
52. -- I remember thy judgments of old. It is good to have a
number of examples of God's dealings with his servants laid up in the
storehouse of a sanctified memory, that thereby faith may be strengthened in
the day of affliction; for so are we here taught. -- David Dickson.
Verse
52. -- I remembered thy judgments. He remembered that at the
beginning Adam, because of transgression of the divine command, was cast out
from dwelling in Paradise; and that Cain, condemned by the authority of the
divine sentence, paid the price of his parricidal crime; that Enoch, caught up
to heaven because of his devotion, escaped the poison of earthly wickedness:
that Noah, because of righteousness the victor of the deluge, became the
survivor of the human race; that Abraham, because of faith, diffused the seed
of his posterity through the whole earth; that Israel, because of the patient
bearing of troubles, consecrated a believing people by the sign of his own
name; that David himself, because of gentleness, having had regal honour
conferred, was preferred to his elder brothers. --Ambrose.
Verse
52. -- I remembered, etc. Jerome writes of that religious
lady Paula, that she had got most of the Scriptures by heart. We are bid to
have the "word dwell in" us: Colossians
3:16. The word is a jewel that adorns the hidden man; and shall we
not remember it? "Can a maid forget her ornaments?" (Jeremiah
4:32). Such as have a disease they call lienteria, in which the meat
comes up as fast as they eat it, and stays not in the stomach, are not
nourished by it. If the word stays not in the memory, it cannot profit. Some
can better remember a piece of news than a line of Scripture: their memories
are like those ponds, where frogs live, but fish die. --Thomas Watson in
"The Morning Exercises."
Verse
52. -- I remembered thy judgments, and have comforted myself.
A case of conscience may be propounded: how could David be comforted by God's
judgments, for it seemeth a barbarous thing to delight in the destruction of
any? it is said, "He that is glad at calamities shall not be
unpunished" (Proverbs 17:5).
(b)
Their derision and mocking of godliness ceaseth, they do no longer vex and
pierce the souls of the godly, saying, "Aha, aha" (Psalms
40:15); it is as a wound to their heart when they say, "Where
is thy God?" (Psalms 42:10). Judgment slayeth this evil.
(c)
The impediments and hindrances of worshipping and serving God are taken away:
when the nettles are rooted up, the corn hath the more room to grow.
(c)
Opportunity of molesting God's servants is taken away, and they are prevented
from afflicting the church by their oppressions; and so way is made for the
enlarging of Christ's kingdom.
(d)
Thereby also God's justice is manifested: When it goeth well with the
righteous, the city rejoiceth: "and when the wicked perish, there is
shouting" (Proverbs 11:10); "The righteous also shall
see, and fear, and shall laugh at him: lo, this is the man that made not God
his strength" (Psalms 52:6-7); rejoice over Babylon, "ye
holy apostles and prophets, for God hath avenged you on her" (Revelation
18:20). When the word of God is fulfilled, surely then we may
rejoice that his justice and truth are cleared. --Thomas Mardon.
Verse
52. -- The word "mishphatim",
"judgments," is used in Scripture either for laws enacted, or
judgments executed according to those laws. The one may be called the judgments
of his mouth, as, "Remember his marvellous works that he hath done; his
wonders, and the judgments of his mouth"
(Psalms
105:5), the other, the judgments of his hand. As both will bear the
name of judgments, so both may be said to be "of old." His decrees
and statutes which have an eternal equity in them, and were graven upon the
heart of man in innocency, may well be said to be of old: and because from the
beginning of the world God hath been punishing the wicked, anti delivering the
godly in due time, his judiciary dispensations may be said to be so also, The
matter is not much, whether we interpret it of either his statutes or decrees,
for they both contain matter of comfort, and we may see the ruin of the wicked
in the word, if we see it not in providence. Yet I rather interpret it of those
righteous acts recorded in Scripture, which God as a just judge hath executed
in all ages, according to the promises and threaten this annexed to his laws.
Only in that sense I must note to you, judgments imply his mercies in the
deliverance of his righteous servants, as well as his punishments on the
wicked: the seasonable interpositions of his relief for the one in their
greatest distresses, as well as his just vengeance on the other notwithstanding
their highest prosperities. --Thomas Manton.
Verse
52,55. -- I remembered thy judgments, "thy name in the
night." Thomas Fuller thus writes in his "David's Heartie
Repentance": --
"For
sundry duties he did dayes deride. Making exchange of worke his recreation; For
prayer he set the precious morne aside. The midday he bequeathed to meditation:
Sweete sacred stories he reserved for night. To reade of Moses' meeknes,
Sampson's might: These were his joy, these onely his delight."
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
52. -- Comfort derived from a review of the ancient doings of the
Lord towards the wicked and his people.
Verse
52. --
Verse
52. -- Sweet water from a dark well.
EXPOSITION
Verse
53. Horror hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that
forsake thy law. He was horrified at their action, at the pride which led them
to it, and at the punishment which would be sure to fall upon them for it. When
he thought upon the ancient judgments of God he was filled with terror at the
fate of the godless; as well he might be. Their laughter had not distressed
him, but he was distressed by a foresight of their overthrow. Truths which were
amusement to them caused amazement to him. He saw them utterly turning away
from the law of God, and leaving it as a path forsaken and over grown from want
of traffic, and this forsaking of the law filled him with the most painful
emotions: he was astonished at their wickedness, stunned by their presumption,
alarmed by the expectation of their sudden overthrow, amazed by the terror of
their certain doom.
See
Psalms 119:106,158, and note the tenderness
which combined with all this. Those who are the firmest believers in the
eternal punishment of the wicked are the most grieved at their doom. It is no
proof of tenderness to shut one's eyes to the awful doom of the ungodly.
Compassion is far better shown in trying to save sinners than in trying to make
things pleasant all round. Oh that we were all more distressed as we think of
the portion of the ungodly in the lake of fire! The popular plan is to shut
your eyes and forget all about it, or pretend to doubt it; but this is not the
way of the faithful servant of God.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
53. -- Horror hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked.
I have had clear views of eternity; have seen the blessedness of the godly, in
some measure; and have longed to share their happy state; as well as been
comfortably satisfied that through grace I shall do so; but, oh, what anguish
is raised in my mind, to think of an eternity for those who are without Christ,
for those who are mistaken, and who bring their false hopes to the grave with
them! The sight was so dreadful I could by no means bear it: my thoughts
recoiled, and I said, (under a more affecting sense than ever before,)
"Who can dwell with everlasting burnings?" --David Brainerd,
1718-1747.
Verse
53. -- Horror hath taken hold upon me, etc. Oh who can
express what the state of a soul in such circumstances is! All that we can
possibly say about it gives but a very feeble, faint representation of it; it
is inexpressible and inconceivable; for who knows the power of God's anger?
How
dreadful is the state of those that are daily and hourly in danger of this
great wrath and infinite misery! But this is the dismal case of every soul in
this congregation that has not been born again, however moral and strict, sober
and religious, they may otherwise be. Oh that you would consider it, whether
you be young or old! There is reason to think, that there are many in this
congregation now hearing this discourse, that will actually be the subjects of
this very misery to all eternity. We know not who they are, or in what seats
they sit, or what thoughts they now have. It may be are now at ease, and hear
all these things without much disturbance, are now flattering themselves that
they are not the persons, promising themselves that they shall escape. If we
knew that there was one person, and but one, in the whole congregation, that
was to be the subject of misery, what an awful thing would it be to think of!
If we knew who was, what an awful sight would it be to see such a person! How
might the rest of the congregation lift up a lamentable and bitter cry over
But, alas! instead of one, how many is it likely will remember this discourse
in hell! --Jonathan Edwards, in a Sermon entitled, "Sinners in the Hands
of an angry God."
Verse
53. -- Horror. hp[lz, zilaphah, properly signifies the
pestilential burning wind called by the Arabs simoon (see Psalms
11:6); and is here used in a figurative sense for the most horrid
mental distress; and strongly marks the idea the Psalmist had of the
corrupting, pestilential, and destructive nature of sin. --Note in Bagster's
Comprehensive Bible.
Verse
53. -- Horror. The word for "horror" signifieth
also a tempest or storm. Translations vary; some read it, as Junius, "a
storm overtaking one"; Ainsworth, "a burning horror hath seized
me," and expounds it a storm of terror and dismay. The Septuagint, aqnmia
katece me, "faintness and dejection of mind hath possessed me"; our
own translation, "I am horribly afraid"; all translations, as well as
the original word, imply a great trouble of mind, and a vehement commotion;
like a storm, it was matter of disquiet and trembling to David. --Thomas
Manton.
Verse
53. -- Because of the wicked that forsake thy law. David
grieved, not because he was himself attacked; but because the law of God was
forsaken; and he bewailed the condemnation of those who so did, because they
are lost to God. Just as a good father in the madness of his son, when he is
ill used by him, mourns not his own but the misery of the diseased; and he
grieves at the contumely, not because it is cast on himself, but because the
diseased person knows not what he does in his madness: so a good man, when he
sees a sinner neither reverence nor honour the grey hairs of a parent, that to
his face he can insult him, that he does not know in the madness of sinning
what unbecoming and shameful things he does, grieves for him as one on the
point of death, laments him as one despaired of by the physicians. As a good
physician in the first place advises, then, even if he receive hard words,
though he be beaten, nevertheless as the man is ill he bears with him; and if
he be cursed he does not leave; and any medicine that may be applied he does
not refuse; nor does he go away as from a stubborn fellow, but strives with all
diligence to heal him as one that has deserved well from him, exercising not
only the skill of science but also benignity of disposition. Even so, a
righteous man, when he is treated with contempt, does not turn away, but when
he is calumniated he regards it as madness, not as depravity; and desires
rather to apply his own remedy to the wound, and sympathises, and grieves not
for himself but for him who labours under an incurable disease. --Ambrose.
Verse
53. -- The wicked that forsake thy law; not only transgress the
law of the Lord, as every man does, more or less; but wilfully and
obstinately despise it, and cast it behind their backs, and live in a continued
course of disobedience to it; or who apostatize from the doctrine of the word
of God; wilfully deny the truth, after they have had a speculation knowledge of
it, whose punishment is very grievous (Hebrews 10:26-29); and now partly because of the
daring impiety of wicked men, who stretch out their hands against God, and
strengthen themselves against the Almighty, and run upon him, even on the thick
bosses of his bucklers: because of the shocking nature of their sin, the sad
examples thereby set to others, the detriment they are to themselves, and the
dishonour they bring to God I and partly because of the dreadful punishment
that shall be inflicted on them here, and especially hereafter, when a horrible
tempest of wrath will come upon them. Hence such trembling seized the Psalmist:
and often so it is, that good men tremble more for the wicked than they do for
themselves: see Psalms 119:120. --John Gill.
Verse
54. -- Thy statutes have been my songs. The Psalmist
rejoiced, doubtless, as the good do now,
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
53. -- The sensations of godly men at the sight of sinners: horror
at their crime, their perseverance in it, their rejection of grace, and their
end.
Verse
53. -- Horror stricken.
EXPOSITION
Verse
54. Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage.
Like others of God's servants, David knew that he was not at home in this
world, but a pilgrim through it, seeking a better country. He did not, however,
sigh over this fact, but he sang about it. He tells us nothing about his
pilgrim sighs, but speaks of his pilgrim songs. Even the palace in which he
dwelt was but "the house of his pilgrimage," the inn at which he
rested, the station at which he halted for a little while. Men are wont to sing
when they come to their inn, and so did this godly sojourner; he sang the songs
of Zion, the statutes of the great King. The commands of God were as well known
to him as the ballads of his country, and they were pleasant to his taste and
musical to his ear. Happy is the heart which finds its joy in the commands of
God, and makes obedience its recreation. When religion is set to music it goes
well. When we sing in the ways of the Lord it shows that our hearts are in
them. Ours are pilgrim psalms, songs of degrees; but they are such as we may
sing throughout eternity; for the statutes of the Lord are the psalmody of
heaven itself.
Saints
find horror in sin, and harmony in holiness. The wicked shun the law, and the
righteous sing of it. In past days we have sung the Lord's statutes, and in
this fact we may find comfort in present affliction. Since our songs are so
very different from those of the proud, we may expect to join a very different
choir at the last, and sing in a place far removed from their abode.
Note
how in the sixth verses of their respective octaves we often find resolves to
bless God, or records of testimony. In Psalms
119:46 it is, "I will speak," and in Psalms
119:2, "I will give thanks," while here he speaks of
songs.
Verse
54. -- Thy statutes have been my songs. In the early ages it was
customary to versify the laws, that the people might learn them by heart, and
sing them. -- Williams.
Verse
54. -- Thy statutes have been my songs. God's statutes are here his
"songs," which give him spiritual refreshing, sweeten the hardships
of the pilgrimage: and measure and hasten his steps. --Franz Delitzsch.
Verse
54. -- Songs. Travellers sing to deceive the tediousness of the way;
so did David; and hereby he solaced himself under that horror which he speaks
of in verse Psalms 119:53. Great is the comfort that cometh
in by singing of Psalms with grace in our hearts. -- John Trapp.
Verse
54. -- "Songs."
"Such
songs have power to quiet
The restless pulse of care,
And come like the benediction
That follows after prayer."
"And
the night shall be filled with music, And the cares that infest the day Shall
fold their tents like the Arabs, And as silently steal away." --Henry
Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882).
Verse
54. -- Songs in the house of my pilgrimage. Wherefore is everything
like warmth in religion branded with the name of enthusiasm? Warmth is expected
in the poet, in the musician, in the scholar, in the lover and even in the
tradesman it is allowed, if not commended -- why then is it condemned in the
concerns of the soul -- a subject which, infinitely above all others, demands
and deserves all the energy of the mind? Would a prisoner exult at the
proclamation of deliverance, and is the redeemed sinner to walk forth from his
bondage, unmoved, unaffected, without gratitude or joy? No, "Ye shall go
out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall
break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap
their hands." Shall the condemned criminal feel I know not what emotions,
when instead of the execution of the sentence he receives a pardon? and is the
absolved transgressor to be senseless and silent? No. "Being justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we
have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of
the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: and not
only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have
now received the atonement."
Other
travellers are accustomed to relieve the tediousness of their journey with a
song. The Israelites, when they repaired from the extremities of the country
three times a year to Jerusalem to worship, had songs appointed for the
purpose, and travelled singing as they went. And of the righteous it is said,
"They shall sing in the ways of the Lord. The redeemed of the Lord shall
return, and come to Zion with songs; and everlasting joy shall be upon their
heads." --William Jay.
Verse
54. -- Songs in the house of my pilgrimage. See how the Lord in his
wise dispensation attempers himself to our infirmities. Our life is subject to
many changes, and God by his word hath provided for us also many instructions
and remedies. Every cross hath its own remedy, and every state of life its own
instruction. Sometimes our grief is so great that we cannot sing; then let us
pray: sometimes our deliverance so joyful that we must break out in
thanksgiving; then let us sing. "If any man among you be afflicted, let
him pray; if he be merry, let him sing." Prayers for every cross, and
psalms for every deliverance, hath God by his own Spirit penned for us; so that
now we are more than inexcusable if we fail in this duty. --William Cowper.
Verse
54. -- In the house of my pilgrimage. According to the original,
"the house of my pilgrimages"; that is, whatever places I have
wandered to during Saul's persecution of me. --Samuel Burder.
Verse
54. -- In the house of my pilgrimage. Natablus expounds this of his
banishment amongst the Philistines; that when he was put from his native
country and kindred, and all other comforts failed him, the word of the Lord
furnished matter of joy to him. And indeed, the banishment of God's servants
may cast them far from their .kindred and acquaintance; but it chaseth them
nearer to the Lord, and the Lord nearer to them. Proof of this in Jacob, when
he was banished, and lay without, all night in the fields, he found a more
familiar presence of God than he did when he slept in the tent with father and
mother.
But
we may rather, with Basil, refer it to the whole time of David's mortal life:
"oranera vitam suam peregrinationera vocare arbitror". So Jacob
acknowledgeth to Pharaoh, that his life was a pilgrimage; and Abraham and Isaac
dwelt in the world as strangers.
S.
Peter therefore teacheth us as pilgrims to abstain from the lusts of the flesh;
and S. Paul, to use this world as if we used it not; for the fashion thereof
goeth away. Many ways are we taught this lesson; but slow are we to learn it.
Alas, what folly is this, that a man should desire to dwell in the earth, when
God calleth him to be a citizen of heaven! Yet great is the comfort we have of
this, that the houses wherein we lodge upon earth are but houses of our
pilgrimage. The faithful Israelites endured their bondage in Egypt the more
patiently, because they knew they were to be delivered from it. If the houses
of our servitude were eternal mansions, how lamentable were our condition! But
God be thanked, they are but way faring cottages, and houses of our pilgrimage.
Such a house was the womb of our mother: if we had been enclosed there for
ever, what burden had it been to her, what bondage to ourselves! Such a house
will be the grave; of the which we must all say with Job, "The grave shall
be my house, and I shall make my bed in the dark." If we were there to
abide for ever, how comfortless were our estate. But, God be praised, our
mansion house is above; and the houses we exchange here on earth are but the
houses of our pilgrimage; and happy is he who can so live in the world as
esteeming himself in his own house, in his own bed, yea, in his own body, to be
but a stranger, in respect of his absence from the Lord. --William Cowper.
Verse
54. -- My pilgrimage. If men have been termed pilgrims, and life a
journey, then we may add that the Christian pilgrimage far surpasses all others
in the following important particulars: -- in the goodness of the road, in the
beauty of the prospects, in the excellence of the company, and in the vast
superiority of the accommodation provided for the Christian traveller when he
has finished his course. --H.G. Salter, in "The Book of
Illustrations", 1840.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
54. -- Here is --
Verse
54. -- The cheerful pilgrim.
Verse
54. -- See "Spurgeon's Sermons," No. 1652: "The
Singing Pilgrim."
EXPOSITION
Verse
55. I have remembered thy name, O LORD, in the night. When others
slept I woke to think of thee, thy person, thy actions, thy covenant, thy name,
under which last term he comprehends the divine character as far as it is
revealed. He was so earnest after the living God that he woke up at dead of
night to think upon him. These were David's Night Thoughts. If they were not
Sunny Memories they were memories of the Sun of Righteousness. It is well when
our memory furnishes us with consolation, so that we can say with the Psalmist,
-- Having early been taught to know thee, I had only to remember the lessons of
thy grace, and my heart was comforted. This verse shows not only that the man
of God had remembered, but that he still remembered the Lord his God. We are to
hallow the name of God, and we cannot do so if it slips from our memory.
And
have kept thy law. He found sanctification through meditation; by the thoughts
of the night he ruled the actions of the day. As the actions of the day often
create the dreams of the night, so do the thoughts of the night produce the
deeds of the day. If we do not keep the name of God in our memory we shall not
keep the law of God in our conduct. Forgetfulness of mind leads up to
forgetfulness of life.
When
we hear the night songs of revellers we have in them sure evidence that they do
not keep God's law; but the quiet musings of gracious men are proof positive
that the name of the Lord is dear to them. We may judge of nations by their
songs, and so we may of men; and in the case of the righteous, their singing
and their thinking are both indications of their love to God: whether they lift
up their voices, or sit in silence, they are still the Lord's. Blessed are the
men whose "night thoughts" are memories of the eternal light; they
shall be remembered of their Lord when the night of death comes on. Reader, are
your thoughts in the dark full of light, because full of God? Is his name the
natural subject of your evening reflections? Then it will give a tone to your
morning and noonday hours. Or do you give your whole mind to the fleeting cares
and pleasures of this world? If so, it is little wonder that you do not live as
you ought to do, No man is holy by chance. If we have no memory for the name of
Jehovah we are not likely to remember his commandments: if we do not think of
him secretly we shall not obey him openly.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
55. -- I have remembered thy name, O Lord, in the night, etc.
As the second Clause of the verse depends on the first, I consider the whole
verse as setting forth one and the same truth; and, therefore, the prophet
means that he was induced, by the remembrance he had of God, to keep the law.
Contempt of the law originates in this, that few have any regard for God; and
hence, the Scripture, in condemning the impiety of men, declares that they have
forgotten God (Psalms 1:22 78:11; 106:21.) The word
"night" is not intended by him to mean the remembering of God merely
for a short time, but a perpetual remembrance of him; he, however, refers to
that season in particular, because then almost all our senses are overpowered
with sleep. "When other men are sleeping, God occurs to my thoughts during
my sleep." He has another reason for alluding to the night season -- that
we may be apprised, that though there was none to observe him, and none to put
him in remembrance of it; yea, though he was shrouded in darkness, yet he was
as solicitous to cherish the remembrance of God as if he occupied the most
public and conspicuous place. --John Calvin.
Verse
55. -- I have remembered thy name in the night, and therefore
I "have kept thy law" all day. --Matthew Henry.
Verse
55. -- I have remembered thy name, O Lord, in the night. This
verse contains a new protestation of his honest affection toward the word of
God. Wherein, first, let us mark his sincerity; he was religious not only in
public, but in private; for private exercises are the surest trials of true
religion. In public, oftentimes hypocrisy carries men to simulate that which
they are not; it is not so in the private devotion; for then, either doth a
man, if he make no conscience of God's worship, utterly neglect it, because
there is no eye of man to see him; or otherwise if he be indeed religious, even
in private he presents his heart to God, seeking it to be approved by him; for
his "praise is not of man, but of God."
Again,
this argues his fervency in religion: for as elsewhere he protests that he
loved the word more than his appointed food; so here he protests that he gave
up his night's rest that he might meditate in the word. But now, so far is zeal
decayed in professors, that they will not forego their superfluities, far less
their needful refreshment, for love of the word of God. --William Cowper.
Verse
55. -- Thy name, O Lord. The "name" of the Lord is
his character, his nature, his attributes, the manifestations he hath made of
his holiness, his wisdom, goodness and truth. --John Stephen.
Verse
55. -- In the night. First, that is, continually, because he
remembered God in the day also. Secondly, sincerely, because he avoided the
applause of men. Thirdly, cheerfully, because the heaviness of natural sleep
could not overcome him. All these show that he was intensely given to the word;
as we see men of the world will take some part of the night for their delights.
And in that he did keep God's testimonies in the night, he showeth that he was
the same in secret that he was in the light; whereby he condemned all those
that will cover their wickedness with the dark. Let us examine ourselves whether
we have broken our sleeps to call upon God, as we have to fulfil our pleasures.
-- Richard Greenham.
Verse
55. -- In the night. Pastor Harms of Hermansburg used to
preach and pray and instruct his people for nine hours on the Sabbath. And then
when his mind was utterly exhausted, and his whole body was thrilling with
pain, and he seemed almost dying for the want of rest, he could get no sleep.
But he used to say that he loved to lie awake all night in the silence and
darkness and think of Jesus. The night put away everything else from his
thoughts, and left his heart free to commune with the One whom his soul most
devoutly loved, and who visited and comforted his weary disciple in the night
watches. And so God's children have often enjoyed rare seasons of communion
with him in the solitude of exile, in the deep gloom of the dungeon, in the
perpetual night of blindness, and at times when all voices and instructions
from the world have been most completely cut off, and the soul has been left
alone with God. --Daniel March, in "Night unto Night." 1880.
Verse
55. -- In the night. There is never a time in which it is not
proper to turn to God and think on his name. In the darkness of midnight, in
the darkness of mental depression, in the darkness of outward providence, God
is still a fitting theme. --William S. Plumer.
Verse
55. -- The night.
"Dear
night! this world's defeat;
The stop to busy fools; Care's check and curb;
The day of spirits, my soul's calm retreat
Which none disturb!
Christ's progress, and his prayer time;
The hours to which high heaven doth chime."
"God's silent, searching flight;
When my Lord's head is filled with dew, and all
His locks are wet with the clear drops of night;
His still, soft call;
His knocking time; the soul's dumb watch,
When spirits their fair kindred catch." --Henry Vaughan, 1621-1695.
Verse
55. -- And have kept thy law; though imperfectly, yet
spiritually, sincerely, heartily, and from a principle of love and gratitude,
and with a view to the glory of God, and without mercenary, sinister ends.
--John Gill.
Verse
55. -- And have kept thy law. Hours of secret fellowship with
God must issue in the desire of increased conformity to his holy will. It is
the remembrance of God that leads to the keeping of his laws, as it is
forgetfulness of God that fosters every species of transgression. --John
Morison.
Verse
55. -- And have kept. The verb is in the future, and perhaps
is better so rendered, thus making it the expression of a solemn, deliberate
purpose to continue his obedience. - -William S. Plumer.
Verse
55-56. -- He that delights to keep God's law, God will give him
more grace to keep it, according to that remarkable text, "I have
remembered thy name, O Lord, in the night, and have kept thy law. This I had,
because I kept thy precepts." What had David for keeping God's precepts?
He had power to keep his law; that is, to grow and increase in keeping of it.
As the prophet (Hosea 6:8) speaks of the knowledge of God:
"Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord"; that is, if
we industriously labour to know God, we shall have this reward, to be made able
to know him more. So may I say of the grace of God: he that delights to keep
God's law shall have his reward, -- to be enabled to keep it more perfectly. A
true delight in God's word is grace increasing. Grace is the mother of all true
joy (Isaiah 32:17), and joy is as the daughter, and
the mother and daughter live and die together. --Edmund Calamy (1600-1666), in
"The Godly Man's Ark."
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
55,49. -- "Remember." "I have remembered."
Verse
55. -- Night memories. Day duties. How they act and react upon each other.
Verse
55. -- Dark nights. Bright memories. Right results. --C.A.D.
Verse
55. --
EXPOSITION
Verse
56. This I had, because I kept thy precepts. He had this comfort,
this remembrance of God, this power to sing, this courage to face the enemy,
this hope in the promise, because he had earnestly observed the commands of
God, and striven to walk in them. We are not rewarded for our works, but there
is a reward in them. Many a comfort is obtainable only by careful living: we
can surely say of such consolations, "This I had because I kept thy
precepts." How can we defy ridicule if we are living inconsistently? how
can we comfortably remember the name of the Lord if we live carelessly? It may
be that David means that he had been enabled to keep the law because he had
attended to the separate precepts: he had taken the commands in detail, and so
had reached to holiness of life. Or, by keeping certain of the precepts he had
gained spiritual strength to keep others: for God gives more grace to those who
have some measure of it, and those who improve their talents shall find
themselves improving. It may be best to leave the passage open just as our
version does; so that we may say of a thousand priceless blessings, "these
came to us in the way of obedience." All our possessions are the gifts of
grace, and yet some of them come in the shape of reward; yet even then the
reward is not of debt, but of grace. God first works in us good works, and then
rewards us for them.
Here
we have an apt conclusion to this section of the psalm, for this verse is a
strong argument for the prayer with which the section commenced. The sweet
singer had evidence of having kept God's precepts, and therefore he could the
more properly beg the Lord to keep his promises. All through the passage we may
find pleas, especially in the two remembers. "I have remembered thy
judgments," and "I have remembered thy name"; "Remember thy
word unto thy servant."
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
56. -- This I had, because I kept thy precepts. As sin is a
punishment of sin, and the wicked waxeth ever worse and worse; so godliness is
the recompense of godliness. The right use of one talent increaseth more, and
the beginnings of godliness are blessed with a growth of godliness. David's
good exercises here held him in memory of his God, and the memory of God made
him more godly and religious. --William Cowper.
Verse
56. -- This I had, etc. The Rabbins have an analogous saying,
-- The reward of a precept is a precept, or, A precept draws a precept. The
meaning of which is, that he who keeps one precept, to him God grants, as if by
way of reward, the ability to keep another and more difficult precept. The
contrary to this is that other saying of the Rabbins, that the reward of a sin
is a sin; or, Transgression draws transgression. --Simon de Muis, 1587-1644.
Verse
56. -- This I had, that is, this happened to me, etc. I
experienced many evils and adversities; but, on the other hand, I drew sweetest
consolations from the word, and I was crowned with many blessings from God.
Others
thus render it, This is my business, This I care for and desire, to keep thy
commandments; i.e., to hold fast the doctrine incorrupt with faith and a good
conscience. - -D.H. Mollerus.
Verse
56. -- This I had, etc. I had the comfort of keeping thy law
because I kept it. God's work is its own wages. --Matthew Henry.
Verse
56. -- This I had, etc. What is that? This comfort I had,
this supportation I had in all my afflictions, this consolation I had, this
sweet communion with God I had. Why? "Because I kept thy precepts," I
obeyed thy will. Look, how much obedience is yielded to the commands of God, so
much comfort doth flow into the soul: God usually gives in comforts
proportionably to our obedience. O the sweet, soul satisfying consolation a
child of God finds in the ways of God, and in doing the will of God, especially
when he lies on his deathbed; then it will be sweeter to him than honey and the
honeycomb; then will he say with good king Hezekiah, when he lay upon his
deathbed, "Lord, remember how I have walked before thee in truth, and with
a perfect heart, and have done that which was good in thy sight." O the
sweet satisfaction that a soul shall find in God, when he comes to appear
before God! --James Nalton, 1664.
Verse
56. -- This I had, etc. Or, "This was my consolation,
that I kept thy precepts;" which is nearly the reading of the Syriac, and
renders the sense more complete. --Note in Bagster's Comprehensive Bible.
Verse
56. -- This I had, etc. When I hear the faithful people of
God telling of his love, and saying -- "This I had," must I not, if
unable to join their cheerful acknowledgment, trace it to my unfaithful walk,
and say -- "This I had not" -- because I have failed in obedience to
thy precepts; because I have been careless and self indulgent; because I have
slighted thy love; because I have "grieved thy Holy Spirit," and
forgotten to "ask for the old paths, that I might walk therein, and find
rest to my soul" Jeremiah 6:16. --Charles Bridges.
Verse
56. -- David saith indefinitely, "This I had"; not
telling us what good or privilege it was; only in the general, it was some
benefit that accrued to him in this life. He doth not say, This I hope for;
but, "This I had;" and therefore he doth not speak of the full reward
in the life to come. In heaven we come to receive the full reward of obedience;
but a close walker, that waiteth upon God in an humble and constant obedience,
shall have sufficient encouragement even in this life. Not only he shall be
blessed, but he is blessed; he hath something on hand as well as in hope: as
David saith in this the 119th Psalm, not only he shall be blessed, but he is
blessed; as they that travelled towards Zion, they met with a well by the way:
"Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also
filleth the pools" (Psalms 84:6). In a dry and barren wilderness,
through which they were to pass, they were not left wholly comfortless, but met
with a well or a cistern; that is, they had some comfort vouchsafed to them
before they came to enjoy God's presence in Zion; some refreshments they had by
the way. As servants, that, besides their wages, have their veils; so, besides
the recompense of reward hereafter, we have our present comforts and supports
during our course of service, which are enough to counterbalance all worldly
joys, and outweigh the greatest pleasures that men can expect in the way of
sin. In the benefits that believers find by walking with God in a course of
obedience every one can say, "This I had, because I kept thy
precepts." --Thomas Manton.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
56. -- The gains of godliness; or, what a man gets through holy
living.
Verse
56. --
EXPOSITION
In
this section the Psalmist seems to take firm hold upon God himself;
appropriating him (Psalms 119:57), crying out for him (Psalms
119:58), returning to him (Psalms
119:59), solacing himself in him (Psalms 119:61-62), associating with his people (Psalms
119:63), and sighing for personal experience of his goodness (Psalms
119:64). Note how the first verse of this octave is linked to the
last of the former one, of which indeed it is an expanded repetition.
"This I had because I kept thy precepts. Thou art my portion, O Lord: I
have said that I would keep thy words."
Verse
57. Thou art my portion, O LORD. A broken sentence. The translators
have mended it by insertions, but perhaps it had been better to have left it
alone, and then it would have appeared as an exclamation, -- "My portion,
O Lord!" The poet is lost in wonder while he sees that the great and
glorious God is all his own! Well might he be so, for there is no possession
like Jehovah himself. The form of the sentence expresses joyous recognition and
appropriation, -- "My portion, O Jehovah!" David had often seen the
prey divided, and heard the victors shouting over it; here he rejoices as one
who seizes his share of the spoil; he chooses the Lord to be his part of the
treasure. Like the Levites, he took God to be his portion, and left other
matters to those who coveted them. This is a large and lasting heritage, for it
includes all, and more than all, and it outlasts all; and yet no man chooses it
for himself until God has chosen and renewed him. Who that is truly wise could
hesitate for a moment when the infinitely blessed God is set before him to be
the object of his choice? David leaped at the opportunity, and grasped the
priceless boon. Our author here dares exhibit the title deeds of his portion
before the eye of the Lord himself, for he addresses his joyful utterance
directly to God whom he boldly calls his own. With much else to choose from,
for he was a king, and a man of great resources, Ire deliberately turns from
all the treasures of the world, and declares that the Lord, even Jehovah, is
his portion.
I
have said that I would keep thy words. We cannot always look back with comfort
upon what we have said, but in this instance David had spoken wisely and well.
He had declared his choice: he preferred the word of God to the wealth of
worldlings. It was his firm resolve to keep -- that is, treasure up and observe
-- the words of his God, and as he had aforetime solemnly expressed it in the
presence of the Lord himself, so here he confesses the binding obligation of
his former vow. Jesus said, "If a man love me, he will keep my words,"
and this is a case which he might have quoted as an illustration; for the
Psalmist's love to God as his portion led to his keeping the words of God.
David took God to be his Prince as well as his Portion. He was confident as to
his interest in God, and therefore he was resolute in his obedience to him.
Full assurance is a powerful source of holiness. The very words of God are to
be stored up; for whether they relate to doctrine, promise, or precept, they
are most precious. When the heart is determined to keep these words, and has
registered its purpose in the court of heaven, it is prepared for all the
temptations and trials that may befall it; for, with God as its heritage, it is
always in good case.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
This
begins a new division of the Psalm, indicated by the Hebrew letter Cheth, which
may be represented in English by hh. -- Albert Barnes.
Verse
57-64. In this section David laboureth to confirm his faith, and
to comfort himself in the certainty of his regeneration, by eight properties of
a sound believer, or eight marks of a new creature. The first whereof is his
choosing of God for his portion. Whence learn,
Verse
57. Thou art my portion, O LORD. The sincerity of this claim
may be gathered, because he speaks by way of address to God. He doth not say
barely, "He is my portion"; but challengeth God to his face:
Thou
art my portion, O LORD. Elsewhere it is said, "The Lord is my portion,
saith my soul" (Lamentations 3:24). There he doth not speak it
by way of address to God, but he adds, "saith my soul"; but here to
God himself, who knows the secrets of the heart. To speak thus of God to God,
argues our sincerity, when to God's face we avow our trust and choice; as
Peter, "Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee"
(John 21:17). Thomas Manton.
Verse
57. Thou art my portion, O LORD. Luther counsels every
Christian to answer all temptations with this short saying, "Christianus
sum," I am a Christian; and I would counsel every Christian to answer all
temptations with this short saying, "The Lord is my portion." O
Christian, when Satan or the world shall tempt thee with honours, answer,
"The Lord is my portion"; when they shall tempt thee with riches,
answer, "The Lord is my portion"; when they shall tempt thee with
preferments, answer, "The Lord is my portion"; and when they shall
tempt thee with the favours of great ones, answer, "The Lord is my
portion"; yea, and when this persecuting world shall threaten thee with
the loss of thy estate, answer, "The Lord is my portion": and when
they shall threaten thee with the loss of thy liberty, answer, "The Lord
is my portion"; and when they shall threaten thee with the loss of
friends, answer, "The Lord is my portion"; and when they shall
threaten thee with the loss of life, answer, "The Lord is my
portion." O, sir, if Satan should come to thee with an apple, as once he
did to Eve, tell him that "the Lord is your portion"; or with a
grape, as once he did to Noah, tell him that "the Lord is your
portion"; or with a change of raiment, as once he did to Gehazi, tell him
that "the Lord is your portion"; or with a wedge of gold, as once he
did to Achan, tell him that "the Lord is your portion"; or with a bag
of money, as once he did to Judas, tell him that "the Lord is your
portion"; or with a crown, a kingdom, as once he did to Moses, tell him
that "the Lord is your portion." Thomas Brooks.
Verse
57. Thou art my portion, O LORD. God is all sufficient; get
him for your "portion", and you have all; then you have infinite
wisdom to direct you, infinite knowledge to teach you, infinite mercy to pity,
and save you, infinite love to care and comfort you, and infinite power to
protect and keep you. If God be yours, all his attributes are yours; all his
creatures, all his works of providence, shall do you good, as you have need of
them. He is an eternal, full, satisfactory portion. He is an ever living, ever
loving, ever present friend; and without him you are a cursed creature in every
condition, and all things will work against you. John Mason, --1694.
Verse
57. Thou art my portion, O LORD. If there was a moment in the
life of David in which one might feel inclined to envy him, it would not be in
that flush of youthful victory, when Goliath lay prostrate at his feet, nor in
that hour of even greater triumph, when the damsels of Israel sang his praise
in the dance, saying, "Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten
thousands"; it would not be on that royal day, when his undisputed claim
to the throne of Israel was acknowledged on every side and by every tribe; but
it would be in that moment when, with a loving and trustful heart, he looked up
to God and said, "Thou art my portion." In a later Psalm (142), which
bears with it as its title, "A prayer of David, when he was in the
cave," we have the very same expression: "I said, Thou art my refuge
and my portion in the land of the living." It adds immeasurably to such an
expression, if we believe it to have been uttered at a time when every other
possession and inheritance was taken from him, and the Lord alone was his
portion. --Barton Bouchier.
Verse
57. -- He is an exceedingly covetous fellow to whom God is not
sufficient; and he is an exceeding fool to whom the world is sufficient.
For God is all inexhaustible treasury of all riches, sufficing innumerable men;
while the world has mere trifles and fascinations to offer, and leads the soul
into deep and sorrowful poverty. --Thomas Le Blanc.
Verse
57. -- They who are without an ample patrimony in this life,
may make to themselves a portion in heavenly blessedness. --Solomon Gessler.
Verse
57. -- I have said that I would keep thy words. This he brings
in by way of proving that which he said in the former words. Many will say with
David, that God is their portion; but here is the point: how do they prove it?
If God were their portion, they would love him; if they loved him they would
love his word; if they loved his word they would live by it and make it the
rule of their life. --William Cowper.
Verse
57. -- I have said that I would keep thy words. He was
resolved to keep his commandments, lay up his promises, observe his ordinances,
profess and retain a belief in his doctrines. --John, Gill.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Outlines
Upon Keywords of the Psalm, By Pastor C. A. Davis.
Verse
57-64. -- The believer's portion. The Lord is the believer's portion (Psalms
119:57); heartily sought (Psalms 119:58-60); remaining though all else be
taken away (Psalms 119:61); causing joy even at midnight (Psalms
119:62), and the selection of congenial company (Ps 119:63-64).
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
57. --
(a) A clear
distinction made by the Psalmist between his
portion and that of the ungodly here and hereafter:
See Psalms 48:2.
(b) positive claim: "Thou art my portion, O LORD." This
"portion" is boundless, abiding, appropriate, satisfying,
elevating, all of grace.
(b) The link
between the portion possessed and the
resolution made.
(c) The work of
keeping God's words. Keep him who is the
Word -- Christ Jesus. Keep the word of the gospel --
doctrines, precepts, promises (kept in the heart to comfort
the believer). This blessed subject suggests a solemn
contrast. See the portion of that servant who did not keep
his Lord's word: Matthew 24:48-51. See "Spurgeon's
Sermons,"
No. 1372: "God our Portion, and his Word our Treasure."
Verse
57. (first clause). -- The believer's portion.
(a) A gift by
covenant: Hebrews 8:10-13.
(b) Involved in
joint heirship with Christ: Romans
8:17.
(c) Confirmed
by the experience of faith.
(a) Absolutely
good.
(b) Infinitely
precious.
(c)
Inexhaustibly full.
(d)
Everlastingly sure.
(b) Carry all
cares to him, and cast every burden on him.
(c) Refer every
temptation to the word of his law, and
every doubt to the word of his promise.
(d) Draw
largely upon his riches to meet every need as it
arises. --John Field, of Sevenoaks, 1882.
Verse
57-58. -- The believer's estate, profession, and petition.
EXPOSITION
Verse
58. I
intreated thy favour with my whole heart. A fully assured possession of God
does not set aside prayer, but rather urges us to it; he who knows God to be
his God will seek his face, longing for his presence. Seeking God's presence is
the idea conveyed by the marginal reading, "thy face," and this is
true to the Hebrew. The presence of God is the highest form of his favour, and
therefore it is the most urgent desire of gracious souls: the light of his
countenance gives us an antepast of heaven. O that we always enjoyed it! The
good man entreated God's smile as one who begged for his life, and the entire
strength of his desire went with the entreaty. Such eager pleadings are sure of
success; that which comes from our heart will certainly go to God's heart. The
whole of God's favours are ready for those who seek them with their whole
hearts.
Be
merciful unto me according to thy word. He has entreated favour, and the form
in which he most needs it is that of mercy, for he is more a sinner than
anything else. He asks nothing beyond the promise, he only begs for such mercy
as the word reveals. And what more could he want or wish for? God has revealed
such an infinity of mercy in his word that it would be impossible to conceive
of more. See how the Psalmist dwells upon favour and mercy, he never dreams of
merit. He does not demand, but entreat; for he feels his own unworthiness. Note
how he remains a suppliant, though he knows that he has all things in his God.
God is his portion, and yet he begs for a look at his face. The idea of any
other standing before God than that of an undeserving but favoured one never
entered his head. Here we have his "Be merciful unto me" rising with
as much intensity of humble pleading as if he still remained among the most
trembling of penitents. The confidence of faith makes us bold in prayer, but it
never teaches us to live without prayer, or justifies us in being other than
humble beggars at mercy's gate.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
58. --
I entreated thy favour, or; I seek thy face. To seek the face is to come
into the presence. Thus the Hebrews speak when desirous of expressing that
familiar intercourse to which God admits his people when he bids them make
known their requests. It is truly the same as speaking face to face with God.
--Franciscus Vatablus, 1545.
Verse
58. --
I entreated thy favour with my whole heart I have often remarked how graciously
and lovingly the Lord delights to return an answer to prayer in the very words
that have gone up before him, as if to assure us that they have reached his
ear, and been speeded back again from him laden with increase. "I
entreated thy favour with my whole heart." Hear the Lord's answer to his
praying people: "I will rejoice over them to do them good assuredly with
my whole heart and with my whole soul." --Barton Bouchier.
Verse
58. --
With my whole heart. The Hebrew expresses great earnestness and humility in
supplication. --A. R. Fausset.
Verse
58. --
With my whole heart. Prayer is chiefly a heart work. God heareth the heart
without the mouth, but never heareth the mouth acceptably without the heart. --
Walter Marshall.
Verse
58. --
Be merciful unto me, etc. He protested before that he sought the Lord with
his whole heart, and now he prayeth that he may find mercy. So indeed it shall
be; boldly may that man look for mercy at God's hand who seeks him truly. Mercy
and truth are wont to meet together, and embrace one another: where truth is in
the soul to seek, there cannot but be mercy in God to embrace. If truth be in
us to confess our sins and forsake them, we shall find mercy in God to pardon
and forgive them. --William Cowper.
Verse
58. --
According to thy word. He prayeth not for what he lusteth after, but for
that which the Lord promised; for St. James saith, "You pray and have
not," etc., and this is the cause, that we have not the thing we pray for,
because we pray not according to the word. His word must be the rule of our
prayers, and then we shall receive; as Solomon prayed and obtained. God hath
promised forgiveness of sins, the knowledge of his word, and many other
blessings. If we have these, let not our hearts be set on other things. --
Richard Greenham.
Verse
58. --
According to thy word. The Word of God may be divided into three parts;
into commandments, threatenings, and promises; and though a Christian must not
neglect the commanding and threatening word, yet if ever he would make the Word
a channel for Divine comfort, he must study the promising word; for the
promises are a Christian's magna charta for heaven. All comfort must be built upon
a Scripture promise, else it is presumption, not true comfort. The promises are
pabulum fidei, et anima fidei, the food of faith, and the soul of faith. As
faith is the life of a Christian, so the promises are the life of faith: faith
is a dead faith if it hath no promise to quicken it. As the promises are of no
use without faith to apply them, so faith is of no use without a promise to lay
hold on. --Edmund Calamy.
Verse
58. --
The rule and ground of confidence is, "according to thy word."
God's word is the rule of our confidence; for therein is God's stated course.
If we would have favour and mercy from God, it must be upon his own terms. God
will accept of us in Christ, if we repent, believe, and obey, and seek his
favour diligently: he will not deny those who seek, ask, knock. Many would have
mercy, but will not observe God's direction. We must ask according to God's
will, not without a promise, nor against a command. God is made a voluntary
debtor by his promise. These are notable props of faith, when we are encouraged
to seek by the offer, and urged to apply by the promise. We thrive no more in a
comfortable sense of God's love, because we take not this course. --Thomas
Manton.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
58.
-- The soul's sunshine.
Verse
58.
-- We may learn how a seeker may come to enjoy saving favour, by a careful
study of --
(a)
What he did: "I intreated." Heb. "I painfully sought
thy face." Earnest desire. Importunate supplication.
Painful sorrow for sin.
(b) How he did it: "With my whole heart." The intellect,
affections, will, all engaged and concentrating effort.
Otherwise, seeking is solemn trifling. This only worthy of
our purpose, pleasing to God, and successful.
(c)
The evidence that we are doing it. Frequent prayer,
searching the word, often enquiring. The first and main
business -- Giving up for Christ.
(a)
God's favour to be expected on the terms of mercy only.
(b)
Happily, this is a prayer every sinner can and should
use.
(c)
Blessedly true it is, that it never fails.
(a)
A plea that cannot be gainsaid is a great thing in an
entreaty.
(b)
The promise of God is just such a plea.
(c)
Seek it out, lay hold of it, and urge it. --J.F.
EXPOSITION
Verse
59. I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies.
While studying the word he was led to study his own life, and this caused a
mighty revolution. He came to the word, and then he came to himself, and this
made him arise and go to his Father. Consideration is the commencement of conversion:
first we think and then we turn. When the mind repents of ill ways the feet are
soon led into good ways; but there will be no repenting until there is deep,
earnest thought. Many men are averse to thought of any kind, and as to thought
upon their ways, they cannot endure it, for their ways will not bear thinking
of. David's ways had not been all that he could have wished them to be, and so
his thoughts were sobered over with the pale cast of regret; but he did not end
with idle lamentations, he set about a practical amendment; he turned and
returned, he sought the testimonies of the Lord, and hastened to enjoy once
more the conscious favour of his heavenly friend. Action without thought is
folly, and thought without action is sloth: to think carefully and then to act
promptly is a happy combination. He had entreated for renewed fellowship, and
now he proved the genuineness of his desire by renewed obedience. If we are in
the dark, and mourn an absent God, our wisest method will be not so much to
think upon our sorrows as upon our ways: though we cannot turn the course of
providence, we can turn the way of our walking, and this will soon mend
matters. If we can get our feet right as to holy walking, we shall soon get our
hearts right as to happy living. God will turn to his saints when they turn to
him; yea, he has already favoured them with the light of his face when they
begin to think and turn.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
59. -- I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy
testimonies. The transition which is made in the text from the occasion of this
alteration, "I thought on my ways," to the change itself, is very
lofty and elegant. He does not tell us that, after a review of them, he saw the
folly and danger of sin, the debasedness of its pleasures, and the poison of
its delights; or that, upon a search into God's law, he was convinced that what
he imagined so severe, rigid, and frightful before, was now all amiable and
lovely; no, but immediately adds, "I turned my feet unto thy
testimonies"; than which I can conceive nothing more noble or strong; for
it emphatically says, that there was no need to express the appearance his ways
had when once he thought upon them. What must be the consequence of his
deliberation was so plain, namely, that sin never prevails but where it is
masked over with some false beauties, and the inconsiderate, foolish sinner
credulously gives ear to its enchantments, and is not at pains and care to
enquire into them; for a deep, thorough search would soon discover that its
fairest appearances are but lying vanities, and that he who is captivated with
that empty show is in the same circumstances with a person in a dream, who can
please himself with his fancy only while asleep, and that his awakening out of it
no sooner or more certainly discovers the cheat, than a serious thinking upon
the ways of iniquity and rebellion against God will manifest the fatal madness
of men in ever pursuing them. --William Dunlop, 1692-1720.
Verse
59. -- I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy
testimonies. Some translate the original, I looked on both sides upon my ways,
I considered them every way, "and turned my feet unto thy
testimonies" I considered that I was wandering like a lost sheep, and then
I returned. --George Swinnock.
Verse
59. -- I thought on my ways, etc. The Hebrew word bct that is
here used for thinking, signifies to think on a man's ways accurately,
advisedly, seriously, studiously, curiously. This holy man of God thought
exactly and curiously on all his purposes and practices, on all his doings and
sayings, on all his words and works, and finding too many of them to be short
of the rule, yea, to be against the rule, he turned his feet to God's
testimonies; having found out his errors, upon a diligent search, a strict
scrutiny, he turned over a new leaf, and framed his course more exactly by
rule. O Christians, you must look as well to your spiritual wants as to your
spiritual enjoyments; you must look as well to your layings out as to your
layings up; you must look as well forward to what you should be, as backward to
what you are. Certainly that Christian will never be eminent in holiness that
hath many eyes to behold a little holiness, and never an eye to see his further
want of holiness. --Thomas Brooks.
Verse
59. -- I thought on my ways. The word signifies a fixed,
abiding thought. Some make it an allusion to those that work embroidery; that
are very exact and careful to cover the least flaw; or to those that cast
accounts. Reckon with yourselves, What do I owe? what am I worth? "I
thought" not only on my wealth, as the covetous man, Psalms
69:11; but "on my ways"; not what I have, but what I do;
because what we do will follow us into another world, when what we have must be
left behind. Many are critical enough in their remarks upon other people's ways
that never think of their own, but "let every man prove his own
work."
This
account which David here gives of himself may refer either to his constant
practice every day; he reflected on his ways at night, directed his feet to
God's testimonies in the morning, and what his hand found to do that was good
he did it without delay: or it may refer to his first acquaintance with God and
religion, when he began to throw off the vanity of childhood and youth, and to
remember his Creator; that blessed change was by the grace of God thus wrought.
Note,
Verse
59. -- I thought on my ways. Be frequent in this work of
serious consideration. If daily you called yourselves to an account, all acts
of grace would thrive the better. Seneca asked of Sextius, Quod hodie malum
sanasti? cui vitio obstitisti? You have God's example in reviewing every day's
work, and in dealing with Adam before he slept. The man that was unclean was to
wash his clothes at eventide. --Thomas Manton.
Verse
59. -- I thought on my ways, etc. Poisons may be made
curable. Let the thoughts of old sins stir up a commotion of anger and hatred.
We shiver in our spirits, and a motion in our blood, at the very thought of a
bitter potion we have formerly taken. Why may we not do that spiritually, which
the very frame and constitution of our bodies doth naturally, upon the calling
a loathsome thing to mind? The Romans' sins were transient, but the shame was
renewed every time they reflected on them: Romans
6:21, "Whereof ye are now ashamed." They reacted the
detestation instead of the pleasure: so should the reviving of old sins in our
memories be entertained with our sighs, rather than with joy. We should also
manage the opportunity, so as to promote some further degrees of our
conversion: "I thought or, my ways, and turned my feet unto thy
testimonies." There is not the most hellish motion, but we may strike some
sparks from it, to kindle our love to God, renew our repentance, raise our
thankfulness, or quicken our obedience. --Stephen Charnock.
Verse
59. -- And turned my feet unto thy testimonies. Mentioning
this passage, Philip Henry observed, that the great turn to be made in heart
and life is, from all other things to the word of God. Conversion turns us to
the word of God, as our touchstone, to examine ourselves, our state, our ways,
spirits, doctrines, worships, customs; as our glass, to dress by, James 1; as
our rule to walk and work by, Galatians
6:16; as our water, to wash us, Psalms
119:9; as our fire to warm us, Luke
24:32; as our food to nourish us, Job
23:12; as our sword to fight with, Ephesians 6:13-17; as our counsellor, in all our
doubts, Psalms 119:24; as our cordial, to comfort us; as
our heritage, to enrich us.
Verse
59. -- And turned my feet unto thy testimonies. No itinerary
to the heavenly city is simpler or fuller than the ready answer made by an
English prelate to a scoffer who asked him the way to heaven; "First turn
to the right, and keep straight on." --Neale and Littledale.
Verse
59. -- And turned. Turn to God, and he will turn to you; then
you are happy, though all the world turn against you. --John Mason.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
59. --
Verse
59. --
Verse
59. --
Verse
59. -- Thinking on our own ways. Enquire,
(a) Want of
courage.
(b) Occupied too much.
(c) Unpleasant,
and therefore the chief care of many is to
banish it.
(a) When
honestly engaged in.
(b) When
thoroughly carried out.
(c) When
Scripture is made the referee and standard.
(a) Turn us
from our own ways with shame and penitence.
(b) Turn us to
God's testimonies with earnestness,
reverence, and hopefulness. --J.F.
Verse
59. --
(a) That this
thought upon his ways caused the Psalmist
dissatisfaction is evident.
(b) Right
thinking upon our ways will suggest a practical
change.
(c) The
retrospect we take of our life should suggest that
any turn we make should be towards God: "Unto thy testimonies."
(d) Right
thinking also suggests that such a turning is
possible.
(a) Complete.
(b) Practical.
(c) Spiritual.
(d) Immediate.
(e) It must be
a divine work. See "Spurgeon's Sermons," No.
1181: "Thinking and Turning."
EXPOSITION
Verse
60. I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments. He made
all speed to get back into the royal road from which he had wandered, and to
run in that road upon the King's errands. Speed in repentance and speed in
obedience are two excellent things. We are too often in haste to sin; O that we
may be in a greater hurry to obey. Delay in sin is increase of sin. To be slow
to keep the commands is really to break them. There is much evil in a lagging
pace when God's command is to be followed. A holy alacrity in service is much
to be cultivated. It is wrought in us by the Spirit of God, and the preceding
verses describe the method of it: we are made to perceive and mourn our errors,
we are led to return to the right path, and then we are eager to make up for
lost time by dashing forward to fulfil the precept.
Whatever
may be the slips and wanderings of an honest heart, there remains enough of
true life in it to produce ardent piety when once it is quickened by the
visitations of God. The Psalmist entreated for mercy, and when he received it
he became eager and vehement in the Lord's ways. He had always loved them, and
hence when he was enriched with grace he displayed great vivacity and delight
in them. He made double speed; for positively he "made haste," and
negatively he refused to yield to any motive which suggested procrastination,
-- he "delayed not." Thus he made rapid advances and accomplished
much service, fulfilling thereby the vow which is recorded in Psalms
119:57: "I said that I would keep thy words." The commands
which he was so eager to obey were not ordinances of man, but precepts of the
Most High. Many are zealots to obey custom and society, and yet they are slack
in serving God. It is a crying shame that men should be served post haste, and
that God's work should have the go by, or be performed with dreamy negligence.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
60. -- I made haste, and delayed not, etc. Duty discovered
should instantly be discharged. There is peril attending every step which is
taken in the indulgence of any known sin, or in the neglect of any acknowledged
obligation. A tender conscience will not trifle with its convictions, lest the
heart should be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. It is unsafe, it is
unreasonable, it is highly criminal to hesitate to carry that reformation into
effect which conscience dictates. He who delays when duty calls may never have
it in his power to evince the sincerity of his contrition for past folly and
neglect. "I made haste," said the Psalmist, "and delayed not to
keep thy commandments"; that is, being fully convinced of the necessity
and excellency of obedience, I instantly resolved upon it, and immediately put
it into execution. --John Morison.
Verse
60. -- I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments.
We often hear the saying, "Second thoughts are best." This does not
hold in the religious life. In the context the Psalmist says, "I thought
on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies," that is, I did not
wait to think again. In religion it may be a deadly habit to take time to
reflect. Make haste. --Henry Melvill.
Verse
60. -- I made haste, and delayed not. When anyone is lawfully
called either to the study of theology, or to the teaching it in the church, he
ought not to hesitate, as Moses, or turn away, as Jonah; but, leaving all
things, he should obey God who calls him; as David says, "I made haste,
and delayed not." Matthew 4:20 Luke
9:62. --Solomon Gesner.
Verse
60. -- I made haste, and delayed not. Sound faith is neither
suspicious, nor curious; it believes what God says, without sight, without
examining. For since it is impossible for God to lie (for how should truth
lie?) it is fit his word be credited for itself's sake. It must not be examined
with hows and whys. That which the Psalmist says of observing the law, that
must the Christian say of receiving the gospel. ynhmhmnh al, "I disputed
not," saith David; I argued not with God. The word is very elegant in the
original tongue, derived in the Hebrew from the pronoun tm, which signifieth
quid. Faith reasons not with God, asketh no "quids", no
"quares", no "quomodos", no whats, no hows, no wherefores:
it moveth no questions. It meekly yields assent, and humbly says Amen to every
word of God. This is the faith of which our Saviour wondered in the centurion's
story. -- Richard Clerke, --1634.
Verse
60. -- I made haste, and delayed not. The original word,
which we translate "delayed not", is amazingly emphatic. thmhmth anw,
"velo hithmahmahti", I did not stand what what whating; or, as we
used to express the same sentiment, shilly shallying with myself: I was
determined, and so set out. The Hebrew word as well as the English, strongly
marks indecision of mind, positive action being suspended, because the mind is
so unfixed as not to be able to make a choice. --Adam Clarke.
Verse
60. -- Take heed of delays and procrastination, of putting it
off from day to day, by saying there will be time enough hereafter; it will be
time enough for me to look after heaven when I have got enough of the world; if
I do it in the last year of my life, in the last month of the last year, in the
last week of the last month, it will serve. O take heed of delays; this putting
off repentance hath ruined thousands of souls; shun that pit into which many
have fallen, shun that rock upon which many have suffered shipwreck; say with
David, "I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments."
--James Nalton, 1664.
Verse
60. -- I made haste, and delayed not, etc. In the verse
immediately preceding, the man of God speaks of repentance as the fruit of
consideration and self examining: "I thought on my ways, and turned my
feet unto thy testimonies." But when did he turn? for, though we see the
evil of our ways, we are naturally slow to get it redressed. Therefore David
did not only turn to God, but he did it speedily: we have an account of that in
this verse, "I made haste," etc. This readiness in the work of
obedience is doubly expressed; affirmatively, and negatively. Affirmatively,
"I made haste"; negatively, "I delayed not." This double
expression increaseth the sense according to the manner of the Hebrews; as,
"I shall not die, but live" (Psalms
118:17); that is, surely live; so here, "I made haste, and
delayed not;" that is, I verily delayed not a moment; as soon as he had
thought of his ways, and taken up the resolution to walk closely with God, he
did put it into practice. The Septuagint read the words thus, "I was
ready, and was not troubled or diverted by fear of danger." Indeed,
besides our natural slowness to good, this is one usual ground of delays; we
distract ourselves with fears; and, when God hath made known his will to us in
many duties, we think of tarrying till the times are more quiet, and favourable
to our practice, or till our affairs are in a better posture. A good
improvement may be made of that translation; but the words run better, as they
run more generally, with us, "I made haste, and delayed not," etc.
David
delayed not. When we dare not flatly deny, then we delay. Non vacat, that is
the sinner's plea, "I am not at leisure"; but, Non placet, there is
the reality. They which were invited to the wedding varnished their denial over
with an excuse (Matthew 22:5). Delay is a denial; for, if they
were willing, there would be no excuse. To be rid of importunate and
troublesome creditors, we promise them payment another time: though we know our
estate will be more wasted by that time, it is but to put them off: so this
delay and putting off of God is but a shift. Here is the misery, God always
comes unseasonably to a carnal heart. It was the devils that said, "Art
thou come hither to torment us before the time?" (Matthew
8:29). Good things are a torment to a carnal heart; and they always
come out of time. Certainly, that is the best time when the word is pressed
upon thy heart with evidence, light, and power, and when God treats with thee
about thine eternal peace. --Thomas Manton.
Verse
60. -- Delayed. Hithmahmah; the word used of Lot's lingering,
in Ge 19:16. --William Kay.
Verse
60. -- Delay in the Lord's errands is next to disobedience,
and generally springs out of it, or issues in it. "God commanded me to
make haste" (2 Chronicles 35:21). Let us see to it that we
can say, "I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments." --
Frances Ridley Havergal.
Verse
60. -- Avoid all delay in the performance of this great work of
believing in Christ. Until we have performed it we continue under the power
of sin and Satan, and under the wrath of God; and there is nothing between hell
and us besides the breath of our nostrils. It is dangerous for Lot to linger in
Sodom, lest fire and brimstone come down from heaven upon him. The manslayer
must fly with all haste to the city of refuge, lest the avenger of blood pursue
him, while his heart is hot, and slay him. We should make haste, and not delay
to keep God's commandments. --Walter Marshall.
Verse
60. -- If convictions begin to work, instantly yield to their
influence. If any worldly or sinful desire is touched, let this be the moment
for its crucifixion. If any affection is kindled towards the Saviour, give
immediate expression to its voice. If any grace is reviving, let it be called forth
into instant duty. This is the best, the only, expedient to fix and detain the
motion of the Spirit now striving in the heart; and who knoweth but the
improvement of the present advantage, may be the moment of victory over
difficulties hitherto found insuperable, and may open our path to heaven with
less interruption and more steady progress? --Charles Bridges.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
60. -- The dangers of delay. The reasons for prompt action.
Verse
60. -- A sermon to loiterers.
Verse
60. --
Verse
60. -- Procrastination considered in its most important application;
that is, to religion.
EXPOSITION
Verse
61.
The bands of the wicked have robbed me. Aforetime they derided him, and now
they have defrauded him. Ungodly men grow worse, aria become more and more
daring, so that they go from ridicule to robbery. Much of this bold opposition
arose from their being banded together: men will dare to do in company what
they durst not have thought of alone. When firebrands are laid together there
is no telling what a flame they will create. It seems that whole bands of men
assailed this one child of God, they are cowardly enough for anything; though
they could not kill him, they robbed him; the dogs of Satan will worry saints
if they cannot devour them. David's enemies did their utmost: first the
serpents hissed, and then they stung. Since words availed not, the wicked fell
to blows. How much the ungodly have plundered the saints in all ages, and how
often have the righteous borne gladly the spoiling of their goods!
But
I have not forgotten thy law. This was well. Neither his sense of injustice,
nor his sorrow at his losses, nor his attempts at defence diverted him from the
ways of God. He would not do wrong to prevent the suffering of wrong, nor do
ill to avenge ill. He carried the law in his heart, and therefore no disturbance
of mind could take him off from following it. He might have forgotten himself
if he had forgotten the law: as it was, he was ready to forgive and forget the
injuries done him, for his heart was taken up with the word of God. The bands
of the wicked had not robbed him of his choicest treasure, since they had left
him his holiness and his happiness.
Some
read this passage, "The bands of the wicked environ me." They hemmed
him in, they cut him off from succour, they shut up every avenue of escape, but
the man of God had his protector with him; a clear conscience relied upon the
promise, and a brave resolve stuck to the precept. He could not be either
bribed or bullied into sin. The cordon of the ungodly could not keep God from
him, nor him from God: this was because God was his portion, and none could
deprive him of it neither by force or fraud. That is true grace which can
endure the test: some are barely gracious among the circle of their friends,
but this man was holy amid a ring of foes.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
61. --
The bands of the wicked have robbed me. Two readings remain, either of
which may be admitted: The cords of the wicked have caught hold of me, or, The
companies of the wicked have robbed me. Whether we adopt the one or the other
of these readings, what the prophet intends to declare is, that when Satan
assailed the principles of piety in his soul, by grievous temptations, he
continued with undeviating steadfastness in the love, and practice of God's
law. Cords may, however, be understood in two ways; either, first, as denoting
the deceptive allurements by which the wicked endeavoured to get him entangled
in their society; or, secondly, the frauds which they practised to effect his
ruin. --John Calvin.
Verse
61. --
The bands of the wicked have robbed me. Some have it, "Cords of wicked
men have entwined me." Others, "Snares of wicked men surround
me." The meaning is that wicked men by their plots and contrivances had
beset him, as men would ensnare a wild beast in their toils. They might,
indeed, hem him round about in the wilderness, but they could not enthral the
free mind; he would still feel at liberty in spirit, he would not forget God's
law. --John, Stephen.
Verse
61. --
The bands of the wicked have robbed me. They set upon his goods, and
spoiled him of them, either by plunder in the time of war, or by fines and
confiscations under colour of law. Saul (it is likely) seized his effects;
Absalom his palace; the Amalekites rifled Ziklag. --Matthew Henry.
Verse
61. --
The friendship of the wicked must be shunned. First, because it binds us,
as they are bound together -- "bands of the wicked." Every sinner is
a gladiator with net and sword, going down into the arena, and endeavouring to
enmesh any one who comes near him. A second reason for shunning the friendship
of the wicked, which may be taken from the Hebrew word, is their cruelty and
barbarity: for not only do the wicked bind their friends, but they make a spoil
and a prey of them: "have robbed me." They are decoying thieves,
journeying with an unwary traveller, until they have led him into thick and
dark woods, where they strip him of heavenly riches. --Thomas Le Blanc.
Verse
61. --
The bands of the wicked have robbed me. Then said Christian to his fellow,
Now I call to remembrance that which was told me of a thing that happened to a
good man hereabout. The name of the man was Little Faith, but a good man, and
he dwelt in the town of Sincere. The thing was this; at the entering in of this
passage there comes down from Broadway gate a lane called Dead man's lane; so
called because of the murders that are commonly done there. And this Little
Faith going on pilgrimage, as we do now, chanced to sit down there and slept.
Now there happened, at that time, to come down that lane from Broadway gate
three sturdy rogues, and their names were Faint heart, Mistrust, and Guilt,
(three brothers,) and they espying Little Faith where he was came galloping up
with speed. Now the good man was just awaked from his sleep, and was getting up
to go on his journey. So they came all up to him, and with threatening language
bid him stand. At this, Little Faith looked as white as a cloud, and had
neither power to fight nor flee. Then said Faint heart, Deliver thy purse; but
he making no haste to do it, (for he was loath to lose his money,) Mistrust ran
up to him, and thrusting his hand into his pocket, pulled out thence a bag of
silver. Then he cried out, Thieves! Thieves! With that Guilt, with a great club
that was in his hand, struck Little Faith on the head, and with that blow
felled him flat to the ground, where he lay bleeding as one that would bleed to
death...The place where his jewels were they never ransacked, so those he kept
still; but, as I was told, the good man was much afflicted for his loss. For
the thieves got most of his spending money. That which they got not (as I said)
were jewels, also he had a little odd money left, but scarce enough to bring
him to his journey's end; nay, (if I was not misinformed,) he was forced to beg
as he went, to keep himself alive (for his jewels he might not sell). But beg,
and do what he could he went (as we say) with many a hungry belly, the most
part of the rest of the way. --John Bunyan.
Verse
61. --
Bands. Howsoever, to strengthen themselves in an evil course, the wicked go
together by bands and companies, yet shall it not avail them, nor hurt us.
Babel's builders; Moab, Ammon, Edom, conspiring in one, may tell us,
"Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not escape unpunished."
The wicked are like thorns before the fire; their multitude may well embolden
the flame, but cannot resist it. --William Cowper.
Verse
61. --
It is a salutary reflection to bear in mind, that thousands of spiritual
adversaries are ever watching to make us their prey. --John Morison.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
61.
--
EXPOSITION
Verse
62. At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee because of thy
righteous judgments. He was not afraid of the robbers; he rose, not to watch
his house, but to praise his God. Midnight is the hour for burglars, and there
were bands of them around David, but they did not occupy his thoughts; these
were all up and away with the Lord his God. He thought not of thieves, but of
thanks; not of what they would steal, but of what he would give to his God. A
thankful heart is such a blessing that it drives out fear and makes room for
praise. Thanksgiving turns night into day, and consecrates all hours to the
worship of God. Every hour is canonical to a saint.
The
Psalmist observed posture; he did not lie in bed and praise. There is not much
in the position of the body, but there is something, and that something is to
be observed whenever it is helpful to devotion and expressive of our diligence
or humility. Many kneel without praying, some pray without kneeling; but the
best is to kneel and pray: so here, it would have been no virtue to rise
without giving thanks, and it would have been no sin to give thanks without
rising; but to rise and give thanks is a happy combination. As for the season,
it was quiet, lonely, and such as proved his zeal. At midnight he would be
unobserved and undisturbed; it was his own time which he saved from his sleep,
and so he would be free from the charge of sacrificing public duties to private
devotions. Midnight ends one day and begins another, it was therefore meet to
give the solemn moments to communion with the Lord. At the turn of the night he
turned to his God. He had thanks to give for mercies which God had given: he
had on his mind the truth of Ps 119:57, "Thou art my portion," and if
anything can make a man sing in the middle of the night that is it.
The
righteous doings of the great Judge gladdened the heart of this godly man. His
judgments are the terrible side of God, but they have no terror to the
righteous; they admire them, and adore the Lord for them: they rise at night to
bless God that he will avenge his own elect. Some hate the very notion of
divine justice, and in this they are wide as the poles asunder from this man of
God, who was filled with joyful gratitude at the memory of the sentences of the
Judge of all the earth. Doubtless in the expression, "thy righteous
judgments," David refers also to the written judgments of God upon various
points of moral conduct; indeed, all the divine precepts may be viewed in that
light; they are all of them the legal decisions of the Supreme Arbiter of right
and wrong. David was charmed with these judgments. Like Paul, he could say,
"I delight in the law of God after the inward man." He could not find
time enough by day to study the words of divine wisdom, or to bless God for
them, and so he gave up his sleep that he might tell out his gratitude for such
a law and such a Lawgiver.
This
verse is an advance upon the sense of Psalms
119:52, and contains in addition the essence of Psalms
119:55. Our author never repeats himself: though he runs up and down
the same scale, his music has an infinite variety. The permutations and
combinations which may be formed in connection with a few vital truths are
innumerable.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
62. -- At midnight I will rise to give thanks. Though we
cannot enforce the particular observance upon you, yet there are many notable
lessons to be drawn from David's practice.
Verse
62. -- At midnight I will rise to give thanks. He had praised
God in the courts of the Lord's house, and yet he will do it in his bedchamber.
Public worship will not excuse us from secret worship. --Matthew Henry.
Verse
62. -- At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee. Was
he not ready also to praise God at midday? Certainly; but he says "at
midnight," that he may express the ardour and longing of his soul. We are
wont to assure our friends of our good will by saying that we will rise at
midnight to consult about their affairs. --Wolfgang Musculus.
Verse
62. -- At midnight I will rise to give thanks, etc. In these
words observe three things: --
Verse
62. -- At midnight I will rise to give thanks. Cares of this
world, impatience of wrongs, a bad conscience, keep awake the ungodly and
disturb their sleep (Rivetus); but what I awake for is to give thanks to thee.
--A. R. Faussett.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
62. --
Verse
62. -- Up in the night. Singing in the night. Reasons for such
singular conduct.
Verse
62. -- The nightingale.
EXPOSITION
Verse
63. I am a companion of all them that fear thee. The last verse
said, "I will," and this says, "I am." We can hardly hope
to be right in the future unless we are right now. The holy man spent his nights
with God and his days with God's people. Those who fear God love those who fear
him, and they make small choice in their company so long as the men are truly
God fearing. David was a king, and yet he consorted with "all" who
feared the Lord, whether they were obscure or famous, poor or rich. He was a
fellow commoner of the College of All saints.
He
did not select a few specially eminent saints and leave ordinary believers
alone. No, he was glad of the society of those who had only the beginning of
wisdom in the shape of "the fear of the Lord": he was pleased to sit
with them on the lower forms of the school of faith. He looked for inward godly
fear, but he also expected to see outward piety in those whom he admitted to
his society; hence he adds, and of them that keep thy precepts. If they would
keep the Lord's commands the Lord's servant would keep their company. David was
known to be on the godly side, he was ever of the Puritanic party: the men of
Belial hated him for this, and no doubt despised him for keeping such
unfashionable company as that of humble men and women who are straitlaced and
religious; but the man of God is by no means ashamed of his associates; so far
from this, he even glories to avow his union with them, let his enemies make
what they can of it. He found both pleasure and profit in saintly society: he
grew better by consorting with the good, and derived honour from keeping right
honourable company. What says the reader? Does he relish holy society? Is he at
home among gracious people? If so he may derive comfort from the fact. Birds of
a feather flock together. A man is known by his company. Those who have no fear
of God before their eyes seldom desire the society of saints; it is too slow,
too dull for them. Be this our comfort, that when we are let go by death we
shall go to our own company, and those who loved the saints on earth shall be
numbered with their in heaven.
There
is a measure of parallelism between this seventh of its octave and the seventh
or Teth (Psalms 119:71) and of Jod (Psalms
119:79); but, as a rule, the similarities which were so manifest in
earlier verses are now becoming dim. As the sense deepens, the artificial form
of expression is less regarded.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
63. -- I am a companion, etc. He said in the first verse of
this section that God was his portion; now he saith, that all the saints of God
are his companions. These two go together -- the love of God and the love of
his saints. He that loveth not his brother, made in God's image, whom he seeth,
how shall he love God whom he hath not seen? Seeing our goodness extends not to
the Lord; if it be showed to his saints and excellent ones upon earth, for his
sake, it shall be no small argument of our loving affection towards himself.
Godly
David, when Jonathan was dead, made diligent inquisition. Is there none of
Jonathan's posterity to whom I may show kindness for Jonathan's sake? and at
length he found a silly, lame Mephibosheth. So if we enquire diligently, is
there none upon earth to whom I may show kindness for Christ's sake who is in
heaven? We shall ever find some, to whom whatsoever we do shall be accepted as
done to himself.
His
great modesty is to be marked. He saith not, I am companion of all that follow
thee, but of all that fear thee. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. He
places himself among novices in humility, though he excelled ancients in piety.
-- William Cowper.
Verse
63. -- I am a companion of all them that fear thee. How weak
is human nature! Verily there are times when the presence of one so great as
the Almighty becomes oppressive, and we feel our need of one like ourselves to
sympathize with us. And there have been provided for us by the way many kind,
sympathizing friends, like Jesus. As we pass on, we get the human supports
which the Lord hath provided. We get them for fellowship too. --John Stephen.
Verse
63. -- I am a companion of all them that fear thee. Birds of
a feather will flock together. Servants of the same Lord, if faithful, will
join with their fellows, and not with the servants of his enemy. When a man
comes to an inn you may give a notable guess for what place he is bound by the
company he enquires after. His question, -- "Do you know of any travelling
towards London? I should be heartily glad of their company," will speak
his mind and his course. If he hear of any bound for another coast he regards
them not; but if he know of any honest passengers that are to ride in the same
road, and set out for the same city with himself he sends to them, and begs the
favour of their good company. This world is an inn, all men are in some sense
pilgrims and strangers, they have no abiding place here. Now the company they
enquire after, and delight in, whether those that walk in the "broad
way" of the flesh, or those who walk in the "narrow way" of the
Spirit, will declare whether they are going towards heaven or towards hell. A
wicked man will not desire the company of them who walk in a contrary way, nor
a saint delight in their society who go cross to his journey. "Can two
walk together except they be agreed?" The young partridges hatched under a
hen go for a time along with her chickens, and keep them company, scraping in
the earth together; but when they are grown up, and their wings fit for the
purpose, they mount up into the air, and seek for birds of their own nature. A
Christian, before his conversion, is brought up under the prince of darkness,
and walks in company with his cursed crew, according to the course of this
world; but when the Spirit changes his disposition, he quickly changes his
companions, and delights only in the saints that are on earth. --George Swinnock.
Verse
63. -- I am a companion of all them that fear thee.
This,
I say, is observable, the disparity of the persons: on the one side, David, on
the other, all the people of God. --Thomas Manton.
Verse
63. -- I am a companion, etc.: as if he would say, This is a
sign to me that I belong to thy family; because "I am the companion of all
those fearing thee" with a filial fear, and keeping "thy
precepts." --Paulus Palanterius.
Verse
63. -- A companion, properly is such an one as I do choose to
walk and converse with ordinarily in a way of friendship; so that company
keeping doth imply three things; first, it is a matter of choice, and therefore
relations, as such, are not properly said to be our companions; secondly, it
implies a constant walking and converse with another, and so it is expressed, Job
34:8 Proverbs 13:20. And, thirdly, this ordinary
converse or walking with another, must be in a way of friendship. --William
Bridge, 1600-1670.
Verse
63. -- Shun the company that shuns God, and keep the company
that God keeps. Look on the society of the carnal or profane as infectious, but
reckon serious, praying persons the excellent ones of the earth. Such will
serve to quicken you when and warm you when cold. Make the liveliest of God's
people your greatest intimates, and see that their love and likeness to Christ
be the great motive of your love to them, more than their love or likeness to
you. --John Willisor, 1680-1750.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
63. --
Verse
63. -- Of good and bad company. How to avoid the one, and improve
the other. See W. Bridge's Sermon, in his works, vol. v. p. 90. Tegg's edition,
1845.
Verse
63. -- The believer's choice of companions.
EXPOSITION
Verse
64.
The earth, O LORD, is full of thy mercy. David had been exiled, but he had
never been driven beyond the range of mercy, for he found the world to be
everywhere filled with it. He had wandered in deserts and hidden in caves, and
there he had seen and felt the lovingkindness of the Lord. He had learned that
far beyond the bounds of the land of promise and She race of Israel the love of
Jehovah extended, and in this verse he expressed that large hearted idea of God
which is so seldom seen in the modern Jew. How sweet it is to us to know that
not only is there mercy all over the world, but there is such an abundance of
it that the earth is "full" of it. It is little wonder that the
Psalmist, since he knew the Lord to be his portion, hoped to obtain a measure
of this mercy for himself, and so was encouraged to pray, teach me thy
statutes. It was to him the beau ideal of mercy to be taught of God, and taught
in God's own law. He could not think of a greater mercy than this. Surely he
who fills the universe with his grace will grant such a request as this to his
own child. Let us breathe the desire to the All merciful Jehovah, and we may be
assured of its fulfilment.
The
first verse of this eight is fragrant with full assurance and strong resolve,
and this last verse overflows with a sense of the divine fulness, and of the
Psalmist's personal dependence. This is an illustration of the fact that full
assurance neither damps prayer nor hinders humility. It would be no error if we
said that it creates lowliness and suggests supplication. "Thou art my
portion, O Lord," is well followed by "teach me"; for the heir
of a great estate should be thoroughly educated, that his behaviour may comport
with his fortune. What manner of disciples ought we to be whose inheritance is
the Lord of hosts? Those who have God for their Portion long to have him for
their Teacher. Moreover, those who have resolved to obey are the most eager to
be taught. "I have said that I would keep thy words" is beautifully
succeeded by "teach me thy statutes." Those who wish to keep a law
are anxious to know all its clauses and provisions lest they should offend
through inadvertence. He who does not care to be instructed of the Lord has
never honestly resolved to be holy.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
64. --
The earth, O LORD, is full of thy mercy. The humble and devoted servant of
God does not look with a jaundiced eye upon that scene through which he is
passing to his eternal home. Amidst many sorrows and privations, the necessary
fruits of sin, he beholds all nature and providence shining forth in the rich
expression of God's paternal benignity and mercy to the children of men. --John
Morison.
Verse
64. --
The earth, O LORD, is full of thy mercy. The molten sea, the shewbread, the
sweet incense, the smoke of the sacrifices, Aaron's breastplate, the preaching
of the cross, the keys of the kingdom of heaven: do not all these proclaim
mercy? Who could enter a sanctuary, search conscience, look up to heaven, pray
or sacrifice, call upon God, or think of the tree of life in the midst of the
paradise of God, if there were no mercy? Do not all visions, covenants,
promises, messages, mysteries, legal purifications, evangelical pacification,
confirm this? Yes, mercy is in the air which we breathe, the daily light which
shines upon us, the gracious rain of God's inheritance; it is the public spring
for all the thirsty, the common hospital for all the needy; all the streets of
the church are paved with these stones. What would become of the children if
there were not these breasts of consolation? How should the bride, the Lamb's
wife, be trimmed, if her bridegroom did not deck her with these habiliments?
How should Eden appear like the Garden of God, if it were not watered by these
rivers? It is mercy that takes us out of the womb, feeds us in the days of our
pilgrimage, furnishes us with spiritual provisions, closes our eyes in peace,
and translates us to a secure restingplace. It is the first petitioner's suit,
and the first believer's article, the contemplation of Enoch, the confidence of
Abraham, the burden of the Prophetic Songs, the glory of all the apostles, the
plea of the penitent, the ecstasies of the reconciled, the believer's hosannah,
the angel's hallelujah Ordinances, oracles, altars, pulpits, the gates of the
grave, and the gates of heaven, do all depend upon mercy. It is the load star
of the wandering, the ransom of the captive, the antidote of the tempted, the
prophet of the living, and the effectual comfort of the dying: -- there would
not be one regenerate saint upon earth, nor one glorified saint in heaven, if
it were not for mercy. -- From G. S. Bowes's "Illustrative
Gatherings," 1869.
Verse
64. The
earth, O LORD, is full of thy mercy.
"Why
bursts such melody from tree and bush,
The overflowing of each songster's heart,
So filling mine that it can scarcely hush
Awhile to listen, but would take its part?
It is but one song I hear where ever I rove,
Though countless be the notes, that God is Love.
"Why leaps the streamlet down the mountainside?
Hasting so swiftly to the vale beneath,
To cheer the shepherd's thirsty flock, or glide
Where the hot sun has left a faded wreath,
Or, rippling, aid the music of a grove?
Its own glad voice replies, that God is Love!"
"Is
it a fallen world on which I gaze?
Am I as deeply fallen as the rest,
Yet joys partaking, past my utmost praise,
Instead of wandering forlorn, unblessed?
It is as if an unseen spirit strove
To grave upon my heart, that God is Love!" Thomas Davis, 1864.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
64.
-- The sum and substance of this verse will be comprised in these five
propositions: --
Verse
64.
--
Verse
64.
-- The mercy of God in nature and his mercy as revealed in word.
EXPOSITION
In
this ninth section the verses all begin with the letter Teth. They are the
witness of experience, testifying to the goodness of God, the graciousness of
his dealings, and the preciousness of his word. Especially the Psalmist
proclaims the excellent uses of adversity, and the goodness of God in
afflicting him. The sixty-fifth verse is the text of the entire octave.
Verse
65. Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, O Lord, according unto
thy word. This is the summary of his life, and assuredly it is the sum of ours.
The Psalmist tells the Lord the verdict of his heart; he cannot be silent, he
must speak his gratitude in the, presence of Jehovah, his God. From the
universal goodness of God in nature, in Psalms
119:64, it is an easy and pleasant step to a confession of the
Lord's uniform goodness to ourselves personally. It is something that God has
dealt at all with such insignificant and under serving beings as we are, and it
is far more that he has dealt well with us, and so well, so wondrously well. He
hath done all things well: the rule has no exception. In providence and in
grace, in giving prosperity and sending adversity, in everything Jehovah hath
dealt well with us. It is dealing well on our part to tell the Lord that we
feel that he hath dealt well with us; for praise of this kind is specially
fitting and comely. This kindness of the Lord is, however, no chance matter: he
promised to do so, and he has done it according to his word. It is very precious
to see the word of the Lord fulfilled in our happy experience; it endears the
Scripture to us, and makes us love the Lord of the Scripture. The book of
providence tallies with the book of promise: what we read in the page of
inspiration we meet with again in the leaves of our life story. We may not have
thought that it would be so, but our unbelief is repented of now that we see
the mercy of the Lord to us, and his faithfulness to his word; henceforth we
are bound to display a firmer faith both in God and in his promise. He has
spoken well, and he has dealt well. He is the best of Masters; for it is to a
very unworthy and incapable servant that he has acted thus blessedly: does not
this cause us to delight in his service more and more? We cannot say that we have
dealt well with our Master; for when we have done all, we are unprofitable
servants; but as for our Lord, he has given us light work, large maintenance,
loving encouragement, and liberal wages. It is a wonder that he has not long
ago discharged us, or at least reduced our allowances, or handled us roughly;
yet we have had no hard dealings, all has been ordered with as much
consideration as if we had rendered perfect obedience. We have bad bread enough
and to spare, our livery has been duly supplied, and his service has ennobled
us and made us happy as kings. Complaints we have none. We lose ourselves in
adoring thanksgiving, and find ourselves again in careful thanks living.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
TETH.
-- In the original each stanza begins with 'T', and in our own version it is so
in all but Psalms 119:67,70, which can easily be made to do
so by reading, "Till I was afflicted," and "It is good for me
that I have been afflicted." --C.H.S.
Verse
65. -- Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, Lord.
Verse
65. -- Thou hast dealt well. If the children of God did but
know what was best for them, they would perceive that God did that which was
best for them. --John Mason.
Verse
65. -- Thou hast dealt well with thy servant. He knew that
God's gifts are without repentance, and that he is not weary of well doing, but
will finish the thing he hath begun; and therefore he pleads past favours.
Nothing is more forcible to obtain mercy than to lay God's former mercies
before him. Here are two grounds, First. If he dealt well with him when he was
not regenerate, how much more will he now? and Secondly, all the gifts of God
shall be perfectly finished, therefore he will go on to deal well with his
servant. Here is a difference between faith and an accusing conscience: the
accusing conscience is afraid to ask more, because it hath abused the former
mercies: but faith, assuring us that all God's benefits are tokens of his love
bestowed on us according to his word, is bold to ask for more. --Richard
Greenham.
Verse
65. -- Thou hast dealt well with thy servant. "No
doubt," said the late Rev. J. Brown, of Haddington, Scotland. "I have
met with trials as well as others; yet so kind has God been to me, that I think
if he were to give me as many years as I have already lived in the world, I
should not desire one single circumstance in my lot changed, except that I wish
I had less sin. It might be written on my coffin, `Here lies one of the cares
of Providence, who early wanted both father and mother, and yet never missed
them.'" -- Arvine's Anecdotes.
Verse
65. -- Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, O Lord,
according unto thy word. The expression, "according to thy word," is
so often repeated in this psalm, that we are apt to overlook it, or to give it
only the general meaning of "because of thy promise." But in reality
it implies much more. Had God dealt "well" with David according to
man's idea? If so, what mean such expressions as these -- "O forsake me
not utterly," (Psalms 119:8) -- "I am a stranger in the
earth," (Psalms 119:19) -- "My soul cleaveth unto
the dust," (Psalms 119:25) -- "My soul melteth for
heaviness," (Psalms 119:28) -- "Turn away my reproach
which I fear," (Psalms 119:39) -- "The proud have had me
greatly in derision," (Psalms
119:51) -- "Horror hath taken hold upon me" (Psalms
119:53)?
In
view of such passages as these, can it be said that God "dealt well"
with David, according to man's idea? David's experience was one of very great
and very varied trial. There is not a phase of our feelings in sorrow which
does not find ample expression in his psalms. And yet he says, "Thou hast
dealt well with thy servant, according to thy word."
How,
then, are we to interpret the expression, so often repeated here, in accordance
with the facts of David's spiritual life?
God
dealt well with him "according to his word," in the sense of dealing
with him according to what his word explained was the true good -- not
delivering him from all trial, but sending him such trial as he specially
required. He felt truly that God had dealt well with him when he could say (Psalms
119:67), "Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now have I
kept thy word." Again, (Psalms
119:71), "It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I
might learn thy statutes." Such dealing was hard for flesh and blood to
bear, but it was indeed "well," in the sense of accomplishing most
blessed results.
It
was "according to his word" too, in the sense of being in accordance
with his revealed manner of dealing with his people, who are chastened for
their profit.
Again,
God had "dealt well" with David according to his word or covenant;
the present fulfilment (even if in itself bitter) being a sure earnest of his
final perfecting of his work, and glorifying himself in the entire fulfilment
of his word, in the completed salvation of his servant.
According
to thy word, O Lord, thou hast dealt well with thy servant. Thy word is the
light and lamp that shows things in their true aspect, and teaches us to know
that all things work together for good to thy people; that thou doest all
things well. "Open thou mine eyes, O Lord, that I may see wondrous things
out of thy law." What can be more wonderful than such views to our eyes?
According
to thy word: not only "because of thy promise," but in such a manner
and measure as thy word declares. See how such an understanding of the
expression opens out the idea of "Be merciful to me according to thy
word" (Psalms 119:58). All the sweet promises and
declarations of God's infinite mercy rise before us, and make it a vast
request. Again, "Quicken thou me," and "strengthen thou me
according to thy word" -- up to the full measure of what thou hast
promised and provided for thy people. See the fulness in this view, of Psalms
119:76, "Let, I pray thee, thy merciful kindness be for my
comfort, according to thy word." Again, Psalms 119:169, "Give me understanding according to thy
word"; Psalms 119:170, "Deliver me according to
thy word." In each of these we are led to feel that the request includes
the thought of all that the word teaches on the subject.
Let
our prayer then for mercy, and strength, and comfort, and understanding, and
deliverance, ever be a prayer for these, in the full measure in which they are
revealed and promised in the word of God. --Mary B.M. Duncan (1825- 1865), in
"Under the Shadow."
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Outlines
Upon Keywords of the Psalm, By Pastor C. A. Davis.
Verse
65-72. -- The Lord's dealings. Gratefully acknowledged (Psalms
119:65), and their instructiveness still desired (Psalms
119:66), even affliction from him is "good" (Psalms 119:67-68), and with its beneficial
result is preferred to the prosperity of the wicked (Psalms 119:69-72).
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
65. -- The servant giving his master a character; or, tallying with
Scripture: two fruitful themes.
Verse
65. --
Verse
65. -- A servant's story.
(b) Though he
calls me "friend," I shall never cease
to call him "Master." --Richard Andrew Griffin, in "Stems and
Twigs."
EXPOSITION
Verse
66. Teach me good judgment and knowledge. Again he begs for
teaching, as in verse 64, and again he uses God's mercy as an argument. Since
God had dealt well with him, he is encouraged to pray for judgment to
appreciate the Lord's goodness. Good judgment is the form of goodness which the
godly man most needs and most desires, and it is one which the Lord is most
ready to bestow. David felt that he had frequently failed in judgment in the
matter of the Lord's dealings with him: from want of knowledge he had misjudged
the chastening hand of the heavenly Father, and therefore he now asks to be
better instructed, since he perceives the injustice which he had done to the
Lord by his hasty conclusions. He means to say -- Lord, thou didst deal well
with me when I thought thee hard and stern, be pleased to give me more wit,
that I may not a second time think so ill of my Lord. A sight of our errors and
a sense of our ignorance should make us teachable. We are not able to judge,
for our knowledge is so sadly inaccurate and imperfect; if the Lord teaches us
knowledge we shall attain to good judgment, but not otherwise. The Holy Ghost
alone can fill us with light, and set the understanding upon a proper balance:
let us ardently long for his teachings, since it is most desirable that we
should be no longer mere children in knowledge and understanding.
For
I have believed thy commandments. His heart was right, and therefore he hoped
his head would be made right. He had faith, and therefore he hoped to receive
wisdom. His mind had been settled in the conviction that the precepts of the
word were from the Lord, and were therefore just, wise, kind, and profitable;
he believed in holiness, and as that belief is no mean work of grace upon the
soul, he looked for yet further operations of divine grace. He who believes the
commands is the man to know and understand the doctrines and the promises. If
in looking back upon our mistakes and ignorance we can yet see that we heartily
loved the precepts of the divine will, we have good reason to hope that we are
Christ's disciples, and that he will teach us and make us men of good judgment
and sound knowledge. A man who has learned discernment by experience, and has
thus become a man of sound judgment, is a valuable member of a church, and the
means of much edification to others. Let all who would be greatly useful offer
the prayer of this verse: "Teach me good judgment and knowledge."
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
66. -- Teach me good judgment, etc. David, who discovered a
holy taste (Psalms 19:10 104:34 119:103) and recommended it
to others (Psalms 34:8), requests in our text to have it
increased. For the word rendered "judgment", properly signifies
taste, and denotes that relish for divine truth, and for the divine goodness
and holiness, which is peculiar to true saints. I propose therefore to consider
the nature and objects of that spiritual taste which is possessed by every
gracious soul, and which all true saints desire to possess in a still greater
degree.
The
original word, which is often applied to those objects of sense which are
distinguished by the palate, is here used in a metaphorical sense, as the
corresponding term frequently is in our own language. "Doth not the car
try words, and the mouth taste meat?" (John
12:11). Our translators in this place render it,
"judgment," which is nearly the same thing; yet as the terms are
applied among us, there is a difference between them. Taste is that which
enables a man to form a more compendious judgment. Judgment is slower in its
operations than taste; it forms its decisions in a more circuitous way. So we
apply the term taste to many objects of mental decision, to the beauty of a
poem, to excellence of style, to elegance of dress or of deportment, to
painting, to music, etc., in which a good taste will lead those who possess it,
to decide speedily, and yet accurately, on the beauty, excellence, and
propriety of the objects with which it has long been conversant without
laborious examination.
Just
so, true saints have a power of receiving pleasure from the beauty of holiness,
which shines forth resplendently in the word of God, in the divine character,
in the law, in the gospel, in the cross of Christ, in the example of Christ,
and in the conduct of all his true followers, so far as they are conformed to
his lovely image. I do not mean by this that they are influenced by a blind
instinct, for which they can assign no sufficient reason: the genuine feelings
of a true Christian can all of them be justified by the soundest reason: but
those feelings which were first produced by renewing grace, are so strengthened
by daily communion with God, and by frequent contemplation of spiritual things,
that they acquire a delicacy and readiness of perception, which no one can
possess who has never tasted how gracious the Lord is. You cannot touch, as it
were, a certain string, but the renewed heart must needs answer to it. Whatever
truly tends to exalt God, to bring the soul near to him, and to insure his
being glorified and enjoyed, will naturally attract the notice, excite the
affections, and influence the conduct of one who is born of God. "Sweeter
also than honey, and the honeycomb." "My meditation of thee shall be
sweet." "How sweet are thy words to my taste! sweeter than honey to
my mouth." "O taste and see that the Lord is good." --John Ryland,
1753-1825.
Verse
66. -- Teach me good judgment and knowledge, etc. Literally
it may be rendered thus, -- Teach me goodness, discernment and knowledge; for I
have believed or confided in thy commandments. In our system of divine things,
we might be inclined to place knowledge and discernment first, as begetting the
"goodness." But it is a well ascertained fact, that the intellectual
and moral powers are reciprocal -- that the moral also give strength to the
intellectual. Moreover, it is only the spiritual man that discerns the things
of God. The state of being spiritually minded, and also conversant with divine
things, gives a rigour and breadth to the intellect itself, that remarkably
appears in the lives of eminent men. And if you remark that some have been
eminent who were devoid of spiritual qualities, the reply might be -- How much
more eminent would they have been had they possessed these qualities. The
petition is, "Teach me goodness, discernment, and knowledge." The
principle of pleasing God may be within, and yet the mind may require to be
enlightened in all duty; and again, though all duty be known, we may require
spiritual discernment to see and feel it aright. --John Stephen.
Verse
66. -- Teach me good judgment. In a lecture of Sir John
Lubbock's on the fertilization of flowers by the agency of insects, a striking
distinction is noted in regard to this operation between beautiful and hideous
plants. Bees, it would appear, delight in pleasant odours and bright colours,
and invariably choose those plants which give pleasure to man. If we watch the
course of these insects on their visit to a garden, we shall observe them
settling upon the rose, the lavender, and all other similar agreeable flowers
of brilliant hues or sweet scent. In marked contrast with this is the conduct
of flies, which always show a preference for livid yellow or dingy red plants,
and those which possess an unpleasant smell. The bee is a creature of fine and
sensitive tastes. The fly is "a species of insectoid vulture,"
naturally turning to such vegetable food as resembles carrion. Let two plates
be placed on a lawn, at a little distance apart, the one containing that ill
scented underground fungus, the Stink horn, and the other a handful of moss
roses, and this difference will be immediately discerned. The foul odour and
unsightly fungus will soon be covered with flies, while the bees will resort to
the plate of roses. To this love of bees for fine colours and fragrant perfumes
we are indebted for our choicest flowers. For by taking the pollen dust of some
conspicuous flower to the stigma of another, they have by this union produced
the seed of a still richer variety. Thus, age after age, many blossoms have
been growing increasingly beautiful. On the other hand, strange to say, through
a similar process, a progress in the opposite direction has taken place in
those plants which are frequented by flies, and their unwholesome and repulsive
qualities have become intensified.
So
is it with the two great classes into which mankind may be divided -- the men
of this world, and the men of the next. While the purified affections of the
one centre continually on "whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things
are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever
things are of good report," so the earthward and vile affections of the
other fasten on corruption. Not more surely does the laborious bee fly from one
beautiful flower to another, than does the Christian seek of set purpose all
that is fairest, sweetest, and best on earth. His prayer is that of David, in
Ps 119:66, "Teach me good taste" (which is the literal translation);
and "if there be any virtue, and if there be any Praise," he thinks
on these things. --James Neil, in "Rays from the Realms of Nature",
1879.
Verse
66. -- Good judgment and knowledge. No blessings are more
suitable than "good judgment and knowledge" -- "knowledge"
of ourselves, of our Saviour, of the way of obedience -- and "good
judgment" to direct and apply this knowledge to some valuable end. These two
parts of our intellectual furniture have a most important connexion and
dependence upon each other. "Knowledge" is the speculative perception
of general truth. "Judgment" is the practical application of it to
the heart and conduct. --Charles Bridges.
Verse
66. -- For I have believed thy commandments. These words
deserve a little consideration, because believing is here joined to an unusual
object. Had it been, "for I have believed thy promises," or,
"obeyed thy commandments," the sense of the clause had been more
obvious to every vulgar apprehension. To believe commandments, sounds as harsh
to a common ear, as to see with the ear, and hear with the eye; but, for all
this, the commandments are the object; and of them he saith, not, "I have
obeyed"; but, "I have believed."
To
take off the seeming asperity of the phrase, some interpreters conceive that
"commandments" is put for the word in general; and so promises are
included, yea, they think, principally intended, especially those promises
which encouraged him to look to God for necessary things, such as good judgment
and knowledge are. But this interpretation would divert us from the weight and
force of these significant words. Therefore let us note, --
Verse
66. -- For I have believed thy commandments. The commandments
of God are not alone; but they have promises of grace on the right hand, and
threatenings of wrath on the left: upon both of these faith exercises itself,
and without such faith no one will be able to render obedience to God's
commands, --Wolfgang Musculus.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
66. --
Verse
66. -- The value of a good judgment to sound knowledge.
EXPOSITION
Verse
67. Before I was afflicted I went astray. Partly, perhaps, through
the absence of trial. Often our trials act as a thorn hedge to keep us in the
good pasture, but our prosperity is a gap through which we go astray. If any of
us remember a time in which we had no trouble, we also probably recollect that
then grace was low and temptation was strong. It may be that some believer
cries, "O that it were with me as in those summer days before I was
afflicted." Such a sigh is most unwise, and arises from a carnal love of
ease: the spiritual man who prizes growth in grace will bless God that those
dangerous days are over, and that if the weather be more stormy it is also more
healthy. It is well when the mind is open and candid, as in this instance:
perhaps David would never have known and confessed his own straying if he had
not smarted under the rod. Let us join in his humble acknowledgments, for
doubtless we have imitated him in his straying. Why is it that a little ease
works in us so much disease? Can we never rest without rusting? Never be filled
without waxing fat? Never rise as to one world without going down as to
another! What weak creatures we are to be unable to bear a little pleasure!
What base hearts are those which turn the abundance of God's goodness into an
occasion for sin.
But
now have I kept thy word. Grace is in that heart which profits by its
chastening. It is of no use to plough barren soil. When there is no spiritual
life affliction works no spiritual benefit; but where the heart is sound
trouble awakens conscience, wandering is confessed, the soul becomes again
obedient to the command, and continues to be so. Whipping will not turn a rebel
into a child; but to the true child a touch of the rod is a sure corrective. In
the Psalmist's case the medicine of affliction worked a change --
"but"; an immediate change -- "now"; a lasting change --
"have I" an inward change -- "have I kept"; a change
towards God -- "thy word." Before his trouble he wandered, but after it
he kept within the hedge of the word, and found good pasture for his soul the
trial tethered him to his proper place; it kept him, and then he kept God's
word. Sweet are the uses of adversity, and this is one of them, it puts a
bridle upon transgression and furnishes a spur for holiness.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
67. -- Before I was afflicted I went astray, etc. Not that he
wilfully, wickedly, maliciously, and through contempt, departed from his God;
this lie denies (Psalms 18:21); but through the weakness of the
flesh, the prevalence of corruption, and the force of temptation, and very much
through a careless, heedless, and negligent frame of spirit, he got out of the
right way, and wandered from it before he was well aware. The word is used of
erring through ignorance (Leviticus
5:18). This was in his time of prosperity, when, though he might
not, like Jeshurun, wax fat and kick, and forsake and lightly esteem the Rock
of his salvation; or fall into temptations and hurtful lusts, and err from the
faith, and be pierced with many sorrows; yet he might become inattentive to the
duties of religion, and be negligent of them, which is a common case. --John
Gill.
Verse
67. -- Before I was afflicted. The Septuagint and Latin
Vulgate, "Before I was humbled." The Hebrew word has the general
sense of being afflicted, and may refer to any kind of trial. --Albert Barnes.
Verse
67. -- Before I was afflicted. Prosperity is a more refined
and severe test of character titan adversity, as one hour of summer sunshine
produces greater corruption than the longest winter day. --Eliza Cook.
Verse
67. -- I was afflicted. God in wisdom deals with us as some
great person would do with a disobedient son, that forsakes his house, and
riots among his tenants. His father gives orders that they should treat him
ill, affront, and chase him from them, and all, that he might bring him back.
The same doth God: man is his wild and debauched son; he flies from the
commands of his father, and cannot endure to live under his strict and severe
government. He resorts to the pleasures of the world, and revels and riots
among the creatures. But God resolves to recover him, and therefore commands
every creature to handle him roughly. "Burn him, fire; toss him, tempests,
and shipwreck his estate; forsake him, friends; designs, fail him; children, be
rebellious to him, as he is to me; let his supports and dependencies sink under
him, his riches melt away, leave him poor, and despised, and destitute."
These are all God's servants, and must obey his will. And to what end is all
this, but that, seeing himself forsaken of all, he may at length, like the
beggared prodigal, return to his father? --Ezekiel Hopkins, 1633-1690.
Verse
67. -- I was afflicted. As men clip the feathers of fowls,
when they begin to fly too high or too far; even so doth God diminish our
riches, etc., that we should not pass our bounds, and glory too much of such
gifts. --Otho Wermullerus.
Verse
67. -- But now have I kept thy word.
Affliction
brings Man Home.
"Man like a silly sheep doth often stray,
Not knowing of his way,
Blind deserts and the wilderness of sin
He daily travels in;
There's nothing will reduce him sooner than
Afflictions to his pen.
He wanders in the sunshine, but in rain
And stormy weather hastens home again."
"Thou, the
great Shepherd of my soul, O keep
Me, my unworthy sheep
From gadding: or if fair means will not do it,
Let foul, then, bring me to it.
Rather then I should perish in my error,
Lord bring me back with terror;
Better I be chastised with thy rod
And Shepherd's staff, than stray from thee, my God."
"Though
for the present stripes do grieve me sore,
At last they profit more,
And make me to observe thy word, which I
Neglected formerly;
Let me come home rather by weeping cross
Than still be at a loss.
For health I would rather take a bitter pill,
Than eating sweet meats to be always ill." --Thomas Washbourne, 1606-1687.
Verse
67. -- From the countless throng before the throne of God and the
Lamb, we may yet hear the words of the Psalmist, "Before I was
afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word." There is many an
one who will say, "Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth" (John
5:17). One would tell you that his worldly undoing was the making of
his heavenly prospects; and another that the loss of all things was the gain of
All in All. There are multitudes whom God has afflicted with natural blindness
that they might gain spiritual sight; and those who under bodily infirmities
and diseases of divers sorts have pined and wasted away this earthly life,
gladly laying hold on glory, honour, and immortality instead. --William Garrett
Lewis, in "Westbourne Grove Sermons", 1872.
Verse
67. -- By affliction God separates the sin which he hates from
the soul which he loves. --John Mason.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
67. --
Verse
67. -- The restraining power of affliction
Verse
67,71,75. -- Affliction thrice viewed and thrice blessed. I
EXPOSITION
Verse
68. Thou art good, and doest good. Even in affliction God is good,
and does good. This is the confession of experience. God is essential goodness
in himself, and in every attribute of his nature he is good in the fullest
sense of the term; indeed, he has a monopoly of goodness, for there is none
good but one, that is God. His acts are according to his nature: from a pure
source flow pure streams. God is not latent and ill active goodness; he
displays himself by his doings, he is actively beneficent, he does good. How
much good he does no tongue can tell! How good he is no heart can conceive! It
is well to worship the Lord as the poet here does by describing him. Facts
about God are the best praise of God. All the glory we can give to God is to
reflect his own glory upon himself. We can say no more good of God than God is
and does. We believe in his goodness, and so honour him by our faith; we admire
that goodness, and so glorify him by our love; we declare that goodness, and so
magnify him by our testimony.
Teach
me thy statutes. The same prayer as before, backed with the same argument. He
prays, "Lord be good, and do good to me that I may both be good and do
good through thy teaching." The man of God was a learner, and delighted to
learn: he ascribed this to the goodness of the Lord, and hoped that for the
same reason he would be allowed to remain in the school and learn on till he
could perfectly practise every lesson. His chosen class book was the royal
statutes, he wanted no other. He knew the sad result of breaking those
statutes, and by a painful experience he had been led back to the way of
righteousness; and therefore he begged as the greatest possible instance of the
divine goodness that he might be taught a perfect knowledge of the law, and a
complete conformity to it. He who mourns that he has not kept the word longs to
be taught it, and he who rejoices that by grace he has been taught to keep it
is not less anxious for the like instruction to be continued to him.
In
verse 12, which is the fourth verse of Beth, we have much the same sense as in
this fourth verse of Teth.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
68. -- Thou art good, and doest good. There is a good God set
before us, that we may not take tip with any low pattern of goodness. He is
represented to us as all goodness. He is good in his nature; and his work is
agreeable to his nature; nothing is wanting to it, or defective in it. Nothing
can be added to it to make it better. Philo saith, w ontwl wn to prwtoon agaqoj:
the first being must needs be the first good. As soon as we conceive that there
is a God, we presently conceive that he is good, He is good of himself, good in
himself, goodness itself, and both the fountain and the pattern of all the good
that is in the creatures.
Verse
68. -- Thou art good and doest good. We should bless the Lord
at all times, and keep up good thoughts of God, on every occasion, especially
in the time of affliction. Hence we are commanded to glorify God in the fires (Isaiah
24:15); and this the three children did in the hottest furnace... I
grant, indeed, we cannot give thanks for affliction as affliction, but either
as it is the means of some good to us, or as the gracious hand of God is some
way remarkable therein toward us. In this respect there is no condition on this
side of hell but we have reason to praise God in it, though it be the greatest
of calamities. Hence it was that David, when he speaks of his affliction, adds
presently, "Thou art good, and doest good"; and he declares (Psalms
119:65), "Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, O Lord,
according unto thy word." Hence Paul and Silas praised God when they were
scourged and imprisoned. --John Willison, 1680-1750.
Verse
68. -- Thou art good. The blessed effects of chastisement, as
a special instance of the Lord's goodness, might naturally lead to an
acknowledgment of his general goodness, in his own character, and in his
unwearied dispensations of love. Judging in unbelieving haste of his
providential and gracious dealings, feeble sense imagines a frown, when the eye
of faith discerns a smile upon his face; and therefore in proportion as faith
is exercised in the review of the past, and the experience of the present, we
shall be prepared with the ascription of praise -- "Thou art good".
--Charles Bridges.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
68. -- The double plea for a choice blessing. The goodness of God
the hope of our ignorance.
Verse
68. -- Thou art good and doest good. The nature and work of God are
manifest in nature, providence, grace, and glory. They are morally good;
beneficially good; perfectly good; immeasurably good; immutably good;
experimentally good; satisfactorily good. -- W.J.
Verse
68. (first clause). -- A sermon on God's goodness.
EXPOSITION
Verse
69. The proud have forged a lie against me. They first derided him (Psalms
119:51), then defrauded him (Psalms
119:61), and now they have defamed him. To injure his character they
resorted to falsehood, for they could find nothing against him if they spoke
the truth. They forged a lie as a blacksmith beats out a weapon of iron, or
they counterfeited the truth as men forge false coin. The original may suggest
a common expression -- "They have patched up a lie against me." They
were not too proud to lie. Pride is a lie, and when a proud man utters lies
"he speaketh of his own." Proud men are usually the bitterest
opponents of the righteous: they are envious of their good fame and are eager
to ruin it. Slander is a cheap and handy weapon if the object is the
destruction of a gracious reputation; and when many proud ones conspire to
concoct, exaggerate, and spread abroad a malicious falsehood, they generally
succeed in wounding their victim, and it is no fault of theirs if they do not
kill him outright. O the venom which lies under the tongue of a liar! Many a
happy life has been embittered by it, and many a good repute has been poisoned
as with the deadliest drug. It is painful to the last degree to hear
unscrupulous men hammering away at the devil's anvil forging a new calumny; the
only help against it is the sweet promise, "No weapon that is formed
against thee shall prosper, and every tongue that riseth against thee in
judgment thou shalt condemn."
But
I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart. My one anxiety shall be to mind
my own business and stick to the commandments of the Lord. If the mud which is
thrown at us does not blind our eyes or bruise our integrity it will do us
little harm. If we keep the precepts, the precepts will keep us in the day of
contumely and slander. David renews his resolve -- "I will keep"; he
takes a new look at the commands, and sees them to be really the Lord's --
"thy precepts"; and he arouses his entire nature to the work --
"with my whole heart." When slanders drive us to more resolute and
careful obedience they work our lasting good; falsehood hurled against us may
be made to promote our fidelity to the truth, and the malice of men may
increase our love to God. If we try to answer lies by our words we may be
beaten in the battle; but a holy life is an unanswerable refutation of all
calumnies. Spite is balked if we persevere in holiness despite all opposition.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
69. -- The proud have forged a lie against me. If in the
present day the enemies of the truth in their lying writings rail against the
orthodox teachers in the Church, that is a very old artifice of the Devil,
since David complains that in his day it happened unto him. --Solomon Gesner.
Verse
69. -- The proud have forged a lie. They trim up lies with
shadows of truth and neat language; they have mints to frame their lies
curiously in, and presses to print their lies withal. --William Greenhill,
1591-1677.
Verse
69. -- The proud. Faith humbleth, and infidelity maketh
proud. Faith humbleth, because it letteth us see our sins, and the punishments
thereof, and that we have no dealing with God but through the mediation of
Christ; and that we can do no good, nor avoid evil, but by grace. But when men
know not this, then they think much of themselves, and therefore are proud.
Therefore all ignorant men, all heretics, and worldlings are proud. They that
are humbled under God's hands, are humble to men; but they that despise God do
also persecute his servants. --Richard Greenham.
Verse
69. -- Forged a lie. Vatablus translates it,
"coneinnarunt mendacta". So Tremellius: they have trimmed up lies. As
Satan can transform himself into an angel of light, so he can trim up his lies
under coverings of truth, to make them the more plausible unto men. And indeed
this is no small temptation, when lies made against the godly are trimmed up
with the shadows of truth, and wicked men cover their unrighteous dealings with
appearances of righteousness. Thus, not only are the godly unjustly persecuted,
but simple ones are made to believe that they have most justly deserved it. In
this case the godly are to sustain themselves by the testimony of a good
conscience. --William Cowper.
Verse
69. -- Forged. expresses the essential meaning of the Hebrew
word, but not its figurative form which seems to be that of sewing, analogous
to that of weaving, as applied to the same thing, both in Hebrew and in other
languages. We may also compare our figurative phrase, to patch up, which,
however, is not so much suggestive of artifice or skill as of the want of it.
The connection of the clauses is, that all the craft and malice of his enemies
should only lead him to obey God, with a more undivided heart than ever. --
Joseph Addison Alexander.
Verse
69. -- Forged. The metaphor may be like the Greek (raptein
doloul), from sewing or patching up: or, from smearing, or daubing (Delitzsch,
Moll, etc.), a wall, so as to hide the real substance. The Psalmist remains
true to God despite the falsehoods with which the proud smear and hide his true
fidelity. --The Speaker's Commentary.
Verse
69. -- A lie. Satan's two arms by which he wrestles against
the godly are violence and lies: where he cannot, or dare not, use violence,
there be sure he will not fail to fight with lies. And herein doth the Lord
greatly show his careful providence, in fencing his children against Satan's
malice and the proud brags of his instruments, in such sort, that their
proudest hearts are forced to forge lies; their malice being so great that they
must do evil; and yet their power so bridled that they cannot do what they
would. -- William Cowper.
Verse
69. -- I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart. Let the
word of the Lord come, let it come; and if we had six hundred necks, we would
submit them all to his dictates. -- Augustine.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
69. -- Wholehearted obedience the best solace under slander; the
best answer to it; and the best way of converting the slanderers.
EXPOSITION
Verse
70. Their heart is as fat as grease. They delight in fatness, but I
delight in thee. Their hearts, through sensual indulgence, have grown
insensible, coarse, and grovelling; but thou hast saved me from such a fate
through thy chastening hand. Proud men grow fat through carnal luxuries, and
this makes them prouder still. They riot in their prosperity, and fill their
hearts therewith till they become insensible, effeminate, and self indulgent. A
greasy heart is something horrible; it is a fatness which makes a man fatuous,
a fatty degeneration of the heart which leads to feebleness and death. The fat
in such men is killing the life in them. Dryden wrote,
"O souls!
In whom no heavenly fire is found,
Fat minds and ever grovelling on the ground."
In
this condition men have no heart except for luxury, their very being seems to
swim and stew in the fat of cookery and banqueting. Living on the fat of the
land, their nature is subdued to that which they have fed upon; the muscle of
their nature has gone to softness and grease.
But
I delight in thy law. How much better is it to joy in the law of the Lord than
to joy in sensual indulgences! This makes the heart healthy, and keeps the mind
lowly. No one who loves holiness has the slightest cause to envy the prosperity
of the worldling. Delight in the law elevates and ennobles, while carnal
pleasure clogs the intellect and degrades the affections. There is and always
ought to be a vivid contrast between the believer and the sensualist, and that
contrast is as much seen in the affections of the heart as in the actions of
the life: their heart is as fat as grease, and our heart is delighted with the
law of the Lord. Our delights are a better test of our character than anything
else: as a man's heart is, so is the man. David oiled the wheels of life with
his delight in God's law, and not with the fat of sensuality. He had his
relishes and dainties, his festivals and delights, and all these he found in
doing the will of the Lord his God. When law becomes delight, obedience is
bliss. Holiness in the heart causes the soul to eat the fat of the land. To
have the law for our delight will breed in our hearts the very opposite of the
effects of pride; deadness, sensuality, and obstinacy will be cured, and we
shall become teachable, sensitive, and spiritual. How careful should we be to
live under the influence of the divine law that we fall not under the law of
sin and death.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
70. -- Their heart is as fat as grease. The word fpj occurs
nowhere else in Scripture, but with the Chaldees fpj signifies to fatten, to
make fat; also to make stupid and doltish, because such the fat ofttimes are...
For this reason the proud, who are mentioned in the preceding verse, are
described by their fixed resolve in evil, because they are almost insensible;
as is to be seen in pigs, who pricked through the skin with a bodkin, and that
slowly, as long as the bodkin only touches the fat, do not feel the prick until
it reaches to the flesh. Thus the proud, whose great prosperity is elsewhere
likened to fatness, have a heart totally insusceptible, which is insensible to
the severe reproofs of the Divine word, and also to its holy delights and
pleasures, by reason of the affluence of carnal things; aye, more, is
altogether unfitted for good impulses; just as elsewhere is to be seen with fat
animals, how slow they are and unfit for work, when, on the contrary, those are
agile and quick which are not hindered by this same fatness. --Martin Geier.
Verse
70. -- Their heart is as fat as grease. This makes them --
Verse
70. -- Their heart is as fat as grease; but I delight in thy law;
as if he should say, My heart is a lean heart, a hungry heart, my soul
loveth and rejoiceth in thy word. I have nothing else to fill it but thy word,
and the comforts I have from it; but their hearts are fat hearts: fat with the
world, fat with lust: they hate the word. As a full stomach loatheth meat and
cannot digest it; so wicked men hate the word, it will not go down with them,
it will not gratify their lusts. --William Fenner.
Being
anxious to know the medical significance of fatty heart, I applied to an
eminent gentleman who is well known as having been President of the College of
Physicians. His reply shows that the language is rather figurative than
literal. He kindly replied to me as follows: --
There
are two forms of so called "fatty heart". In the one there is an
excessive amount of fatty tissue covering the exterior of the organ, especially
about the base. This may be observed in all cases where the body of the animal
is throughout over fat, as in animals fattened for slaughter. It does not
necessarily interfere with the action of the heart, and may not be of much
importance in a medical point of view. The second form is, however, a much more
serious condition. In this, the muscular structure of the heart, on which its
all important function, as the central propelling power, depends, undergoes a
degenerative change, by which the contractile fibres of the muscles are
converted into a structure having none of the properties of the natural fibres,
and in which are found a number of fatty, oily globules, which can be readily
seen by means of the microscope. This condition, if at all extensive, renders
the action of the heart feeble and irregular, and is very perilous, not infrequently
causing sudden death. It is found in connection with a general unhealthy
condition of system, and is evidence of general mal-nutrition. It is brought
about by an indolent, luxurious mode of living, or, at all events, by neglect
of bodily exercise and those hygienic rules which are essential for healthy
nutrition. It cannot, however, be said to be incompatible with mental rigour,
and certainly is not necessarily associated with stupidity. But the heart, in
this form of disease, is literally, "greasy", and may be truly
described as "fat as grease." So much for physiology and pathology.
May I venture on the sacred territory of biblical exegesis without risking the
charge of fatuousness. Is not the Psalmist contrasting those who lead an
animal, self indulgent, vicious life, by which body and mind are incapacitated
for their proper uses, and those who can run in the way of God's commandments,
delight to do his will, and meditate on his precepts? Sloth, fatness and
stupidity, versus activity, firm muscles, and mental rigour. Body versus mind.
Man become as a beast versus man retaining the image of God. --Sir James Risdon
Bennett, 1881.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
70. --
Verse
70. -- A fatty heart.
Verse
71. --
Verse
71. -- Affliction an instructor.
Verse
71. -- The school of affliction.
EXPOSITION
Verse
71. It is good for me that I have been afflicted. Even though the
affliction came from bad men, it was overruled for good ends: though it was bad
as it came from them, it was good for David. It benefited him in many ways, and
he knew it. Whatever he may have thought while under the trial, he perceived
himself to be the better for it when it was over. It was not good to the proud
to be prosperous, for their hearts grew sensual and insensible; but affliction
was good for the Psalmist. Our worst is better for us than the sinner's best.
It is bad for sinners to rejoice, and good for saints to sorrow. A thousand
benefits have come to us through our pains and griefs, and among the rest is
this -- that we have thus been schooled in the law.
That
I might learn thy statutes. These we have come to know and to keep by feeling
the smart of the rod. We prayed the Lord to teach us (Psalms
119:66), and now we see how he has already been doing it. Truly he has
dealt well with us, for he has dealt wisely with us. We have been kept from the
ignorance of the greasy hearted by our trials, and this, if there were nothing
else, is just cause for constant gratitude. To be larded by prosperity, is not
good for the proud; but for the truth to be learned by adversity is good for
the humble. Very little is to be learned without affliction. If we would be
scholars we must be sufferers. As the Latins say, "Experientia
docet", experience teaches. There is no royal road to learning the royal
statutes; God's commands are best read by eyes wet with tears.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
71. -- It is good for me, etc. I am mended by my sickness,
enriched by my poverty, and strengthened by my weakness, and with S. Bernard
desire, "Irasecaris mihi; Domine", O Lord, be angry with me For if
you chide me not, you consider me not; if I taste no bitterness, I have no
physic; if thou correct me not, I am not thy son. Thus was it with the great
grandchild of David, Manasseh, when he was in affliction, "He besought the
Lord his God": even that king's iron was more precious to him than his
gold, his jail a more happy lodging than his palace, Babylon a better school
than Jerusalem. What fools are we, then to frown upon our afflictions! These,
how crabbed soever, are our best friends. They are not indeed for our pleasure,
they are for our profit; their issue makes them worthy of a welcome. What do we
care how bitter that potion be that brings Health. -- Abraham Wright.
Verse
71. -- It is good for me that I have been afflicted. Saints
are great gainers by affliction, because "godliness", which is
"great gain", which is "profitable for all things", is more
powerful than before. The rod of correction, by a miracle of grace, like that of
Aaron's, buds and blossoms, and brings forth the fruits of righteousness, which
are most excellent. A rare sight it is indeed to see a man coming out of a bed
of languishing, or any other furnace of affliction, more like to angels in
purity, more like to Christ who was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate
from sinners; more like unto God himself, being more exactly righteous in all
his was, and more exemplarily holy in all manner of conversation. --Nathanael
Vincent, --1697.
Verse
71. -- It is good for me that I have been afflicted. If I
have no cross to bear today, I shall not advance heavenwards. A cross (that is
anything that disturbs our peace), is the spur which stimulates, and Without
which we should most likely remain stationary, blinded with empty vanities, and
sinking deeper into sin. A cross helps us onwards, in spite of our apathy and
resistance. To lie quietly on a bed of down, may seem a very sweet existence;
but, pleasant ease and rest are not the lot of a Christian: if he would mount higher
and higher, it must be by a rough road. Alas! for those who have no daily
cross! Alas! for those who repine and fret against it! --From "Gold
Dust", 1880.
Verse
71. -- It is good for me, etc. There are some things good but
not pleasant, as sorrow and affliction. Sin is pleasant, but unprofitable; and
sorrow is profitable, but unpleasant. As waters are purest when they are in
motion, so saints are generally holiest when in affliction. Some Christians
resemble those children who will learn their books no longer than while the rod
is on their backs. It is well known that by the greatest affliction the Lord
has sealed the sweetest instruction. Many are not bettered by the judgments
they see, when they are by the judgments they have felt. The purest gold is the
most pliable. That is the best blade which bends well without retaining its
crooked figure. --William Secker, 1660.
Verse
71. -- It is good for me, etc. Piety hath a wondrous virtue
to change all things into matter of consolation and joy. No condition in effect
can be evil or sad to a pious man: his very sorrows are pleasant, his
infirmities are wholesome, his wants enrich him, his disgraces adorn him, his
burdens ease him; his duties are privileges, his falls are the grounds of
advancement, his very sins (as breeding contrition, humility, circumspection,
and vigilance), do better and profit him: whereas impiety doth spoil every
condition, doth corrupt and embase all good things, doth embitter all the
conveniences and comforts of life. --Isaac Barrow, 1630-1677.
Verse
71. -- It is good for me that I have been afflicted. In Miss
E.J. Whately's very interesting Life of her Father, the celebrated Archbishop
of Dublin, a fact is recorded, as told by Dr. Whately, with reference to the
introduction of the larch tree into England. When the plants were first
brought, the gardener, hearing that they came from the south of Europe, and
taking it for granted that they would require warmth, -- forgetting that might
grow near the snow line, -- put them into a hothouse. Day by day they withered,
until the gardener in disgust threw them on a dung heap outside; there they
began to revive and bud, and at last grew into trees. They needed the cold.
The
great Husbandman often saves his plants by throwing them out into the cold. The
nipping frosts of trial and affliction are ofttimes needed, if God's larches
are to grow. It is under such discipline that new thoughts and feelings appear.
The heart becomes more dead to the world and self. From the night of sorrow
rises the morning of joy. Winter is the harbinger of spring. From the
crucifixion of the old man comes the resurrection of the new, as in nature life
is the child of death. "The night is the mother of the day, And winter of
the spring; And ever upon old decay, The greenest mosses spring." --James
Wareing Bardsicy, in Illustrated Texts and Texts Illustrated, 1876.
Verse
71. -- It is good for me that I have been afflicted. It is a
remarkable circumstance that the most brilliant colours of plants are to be
seen on the highest mountains, in spots that are most exposed to the wildest
weather. The brightest lichens and mosses, the loveliest gems of wild flowers,
abound far up on the bleak, storm scalped peak. One of the richest displays of
organic colouring I ever beheld was near the summit of Mount Chenebettaz, a
hill about 10,000 feet high, immediately above the great St. Bernard Hospice.
The whole face of an extensive rock was covered with a most vivid yellow
lichen, which shone in the sunshine like the golden battlement of an enchanted
castle. There, in that lofty region, amid the most frowning desolation, exposed
to the fiercest tempest of the sky, this lichen exhibited a glory of colour
such as it never showed in the sheltered valley. I have two specimens of the
same lichen before me while I write these lines, one from the great St.
Bernard, and the other from the wall of a Scottish castle, deeply embosomed
among sycamore trees; and the difference in point of form and colouring between
them is most striking. The specimen nurtured amid the wild storms of the
mountain peak is of a lovely primrose hue, and is smooth in texture and
complete in outline; while the specimen nurtured amid the soft airs and the
delicate showers of the lowland valley is of a dim rusty hue, and is scurfy in
texture, and broken in outline. And is it not so with the Christian who is
afflicted, tempest tossed, and not comforted? Till the storms and vicissitudes
of God's providence beat upon him again and again, his character appears marred
and clouded by selfish and worldly influences. But trials clear away the
obscurity, perfect the outlines of his disposition, and give brightness and
blessings to his piety. Amidst my list of blessings infinite Stands this the
foremost that my heart has bled; For all I bless thee, most for the severe.
--Hugh Macmillan.
Verse
71. -- That I might fear thy statutes. He speaks not of that
learning which is gotten by hearing or reading of God's word; but of the
learning which he had gotten by experience; that he had felt the truth and
comfort of God's word more effectual and lively in trouble than he could do
without trouble; which also made him more godly, wise, and religious when the
trouble was gone. --William Cowper.
Verse
71. -- That I might learn. "I had never known," said
Martin Luther's wife, "what such and such things meant, in such and such
psalms, such complaints and workings of spirit; I had never understood the
practice of Christian duties, had not God brought me under some
affliction." It is very true that God's rod is as the schoolmaster's
pointer to the child, pointing out the letter, that he may the better take
notice of it; thus he points out to us many good lessons which we should never
otherwise have learned. --From John Spencer's "Things New and Old,"
1658.
Verse
71. -- That I might learn. As prosperity blindeth the eyes of
men, even so doth adversity open them. Like as the salve that remedies the
disease of the eyes doth first bite and grieve the eyes, and maketh them to
water, but yet afterward the eyesight is clearer than it was; even so trouble
doth vex men wonderfully at the first, but afterwards it lighteneth the eyes of
the mind, that it is afterward more reasonable, wise and circumspect. For
trouble bringeth experience, and experience bringeth wisdom. -- Otho
Wermullerus, 1551.
Verse
71. -- Learn thy statutes. The Christian has reason to thank
God that things have not been accommodated to his wishes. When the mist of
tears was in his eyes, he looked into the word of God and saw magnificent
things. When Jonah came up from the depths of ocean, he showed that he had
learned the statutes of God. One could not go too deep to get such knowledge as
he obtained. Nothing now could hinder him from going to Nineveh. It is just the
same as though he had brought up from the deep an army of twelve legions of the
most formidable troops. The word of God, grasped by faith, was all this to him,
and more. He still, however, needed further affliction; for there were some
statutes not yet learned. Some gourds were to wither. He was to descend into a
further vale of humiliation. Even the profoundest affliction does not, perhaps,
teach us everything; a mistake we sometimes make. But why should we compel God
to use harsh measures with us? Why not sit at the feet of Jesus and learn
quietly what we need to learn? -- George Bowen, in "Daily
Meditations", 1873.
Verse
71. -- Statutes. The verb from which this word is formed
means to engrave or inscribe. The word means a definite, prescribed, written
law. The term is applied to Joseph's law about the portion of the priests in
Egypt, to the law about the passover, etc. But in this psalm it has a more
internal meaning; that moral law of God which is engraven on the fleshy tables
of the heart; the inmost and spiritual apprehension of his will; not so obvious
as the law and the testimonies, and a matter of more direct spiritual
communication than his precepts; the latter being more elaborated by the
efforts of the mind itself, divinely guided indeed, but perhaps more
instrumentally, and less passively, employed. They are continually spoken of as
things yet to be learned, either wholly or in part, not objectively apprehended
already, like God's law... They are learned, not suddenly, but by experience,
and through the means of trials mercifully ordained by God; lessons therefore
which are deeply engraven on the heart. "Good is it for me that I have
been in trouble, that I might learn thy statutes." "I have more
understanding than my teachers, because thy statutes I have observed."
--John Jebb.
EXPOSITION
Verse
72. The law of thy mouth. A sweetly expressive name for the word of
God. It comes from God's own mouth with freshness and power to our souls.
Things written are as dried herbs; but speech has a liveliness and dew about
it. We do well to look upon the word of the Lord as though it were newly spoken
into our ear; for in very truth it is not decayed by years, but is as forcible
and sure as though newly uttered. Precepts are prized when it is seen that they
come forth from the lips of our Father who is in heaven. The same lips which
spoke us into existence have spoken the law by which we are to govern that
existence. Whence could a law so sweetly proceed as from the mouth of our
covenant God? Well may we prize beyond all price that which comes from such a
source.
Is
better unto me than thousands of gold and silver. If a poor man had said this,
the world's witlings would have hinted that the grapes are sour, and that men
who have no wealth are the first to despise it; but this is the verdict of a
man who owned his thousands, and could judge by actual experience of the value
of money and the value of truth. He speaks of great riches, he heaps it up by
thousands, he mentions the varieties of its forms, -- "gold and
silver"; and then he sets the word of God before it all, as better to him,
even if others did not think it better to them. Wealth is good in some
respects, but obedience is better in all respects. It is well to keep the
treasures of this life; but far more commendable to keep the law of the Lord.
The law is better than gold and silver, for these may be stolen from us, but
not the word; these take to themselves wings, but the word of God remains;
these are useless in the hour of death, but then it is that the promise is most
dear. Instructed Christians recognize the value of the Lord's word, and warmly
express it, not only in their testimony to their fellow men, but in their
devotions to God. It is a sure sign of a heart which has learned God's statutes
when it prizes them above all earthly possessions; and it is an equally certain
mark of grace when the precepts of Scripture are as precious as its promises.
The Lord cause us thus to prize the law of his mouth.
See
how this portion of the psalm is flavoured with goodness. God's dealings are
good (Psalms 119:65), holy judgment is good (Psalms
119:66), affliction is good (Psalms
119:67), God is good (Psalms
119:68), and here the law is not only good, but better than the best
of treasure. Lord, make us good, through thy good word. Amen.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
72. -- The law of thy mouth is better unto me, etc. Highly
prize the Scriptures. Can he make a proficiency in any art, who doth slight and
deprecate it? Prize this book of God above all other books. St. Gregory calls the
Bible "the heart and soul of God." The rabbins say, that a mountain
of sense hangs upon every apex and title of Scripture. "The law of the
Lord is perfect": Psalms 19:7. The Scripture is the library of the
Holy Ghost; it is a pandect of divine knowledge, an exact model and platform of
religion. The Scripture contains in it the credenda, "the things which we
are to believe," and the agenda, "the things which we are to practise."
It is "able to make us wise unto salvation": 2
Timothy 3:15. The Scripture is the standard of truth, the judge of
controversies; it is the pole star to direct us to heaven: Isa 8:20. "The
commandment is a lamp": Proverbs
6:23. The Scripture is the compass by which the rudder of our will
is to be steered; it is the field in which Christ, the Pearl of price, is hid;
it is a rock of diamonds; it is a sacred collyrium, or eyesalve; it mends their
eyes that look upon it; it is a spiritual optic glass in which the glory of God
is resplendent; it is the panacy, or universal medicine for the soul. The
leaves of Scripture are like the "leaves of the tree of life, for the
healing of the nations": Revelation
22:2. The Scripture is both the breeder and feeder of grace. How is
the convert born, but by "the word of truth"? James
1:18. How doth he grow, but by "the sincere milk of the
word"? 1 Peter 2:2. The word written is the book out of
which our evidences for heaven are fetched; it is the sea mark which shows us
the rocks of sin to avoid; it is the antidote against error and apostasy, the
two edged sword which wounds the old serpent. It is our bulwark to withstand
the force of lust; like the Capitol of Rome, which was a place of strength and
ammunition. The Scripture is the "tower of David," wherein the
shields of our faith hang: Song
of Solomon 4:4. "Take away the word and you deprive us of the
sun," said Luther. The word written is above an angelic embassy, or voice
from heaven. "This voice which came from heaven we heard... We have also a
more sure Word": 2 Peter 1:18,19. O, prize the word written;
prizing is the way to profiting. If Caesar so valued his commentaries, that for
preserving them he lost his purple robe, how should we estimate the sacred
oracles of God? "I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my
necessary food." --Thomas Watson, in "The Morning Exercises".
Verse
72. -- The law of thy mouth is better unto me. The sacred
Scriptures are the treasures and pleasures of a gracious soul: to David they
were better than thousands of gold and silver. A mountain of transparent
pearls, heaped as high as heaven, is not so rich in treasure as these; hence
that good man chose these as his heritage for ever, and rejoiced in them as in
all riches. A covetous miser could not take such delight in his bags, nor a
young heir in a large inheritance, as holy David did in God's word.
The
word law comes from a root that signifies to try as merchants that search and
prove the wares that they buy and lay up; hence also comes the word for gems
and jewels that are tried, and found right. The sound Christian is the wise
merchant, seeking goodly pearls; he tries what he reads or hears by the
standard or touchstone of Scripture, and having found genuine truths he lays
them up to the great enriching of this supreme and sovereign faculty of the
understanding. --Oliver Heywood.
Verse
72. -- The word of God must be nearer to us than our friends,
dearer to us than our lives, sweeter to us than our liberty, and more pleasant
to us than all earthly comforts. -- John Mason.
Verse
72. -- One lesson, taught by sanctified affliction, is, the
love of God's word. "This is my comfort, in my affliction: thy word hath
quickened me." In reading a part of the one hundred and nineteenth psalm
to Miss Westbrook, who died, she said, "Stop, sir, I never said so much to
you before -- I never could; but now I can say, `The word of thy mouth, is
dearer to me, than thousands of gold and silver.' What can gold and silver do
for me by now?" --George Redford, in "Memoirs of the late Rev. John
Cooke", 1828.
Verse
72. -- Thousands of gold and silver. Worldly riches are
gotten with labour, kept with care, lost with grief. They are false friends,
farthest from us when we have most need of comfort; as all worldlings shall
find to be true in the hour of death. For then, as Jonah's gourd was taken from
him in a morning, when he had most need of it against the sun; so is it with
the comfort of worldlings. It is far otherwise with the word of God; for if we
will lay it up in our hearts, as Mary did, the comfort thereof shall sustain
us, when all other comfort shall fail us.
This
it is that makes us rich unto God, when our souls are storehouses, filled with
the treasures of his word. Shall we think it poverty to be scant of gold and
silver? "An ideo angelus pauperest, quia non habet jumenta", etc
(Chrysostom). Shall we esteem the angels poor, because they have not flocks of
cattle? or that S. Peter was poor, because he had not gold nor silver to give
unto the cripple? No, he had store of grace, by infinite degrees more excellent
than it.
Let
the riches of gold be left unto worldlings: these are not current: in Canaan,
not accounted of in our heavenly country. If we would be in any estimation
there, let us enrich our souls with spiritual graces, which we have in
abundance in the mines and treasures of the word of God. --William Cowper.
Verse
72. -- The Scripture is an ever overflowing fountain that cannot
be drawn dry, and an inexhausted treasure that cannot be emptied. To this
purpose tend those resemblances of the law made use of by David in this psalm,
and no less justly applicable to the gospel; it is not only better than
"gold and silver," which are things of value, but
"thousands", which implies abundance. In another verse he compares it
to all riches and great spoil, both which contain in them multiplex genus, all
sorts of valuable commodities, sheep, oxen, lands, houses, garments, goods,
moneys, and the like: thus are all sorts of spiritual riches, yea, abundance of
each sort, to be had in the gospel. And therefore the Greek fathers compare
Scripture verities to precious stones, and our Saviour to a pearl of great
price. A minister, in this respect, is called a merchant of invaluable jewels;
for, indeed, gospel truths are choice and excellent, as much worth as our
souls, as heaven, as salvation is. Nay, should I go higher, look what worth
there is in the riches of God's grace, the precious blood of Christ, that may
secondarily be applied to the gospel, which discovereth and offereth both to
us. --Abraham Wright.
Verse
72,127. -- When David saw how some make void the law of God, he
saith, "Therefore I love thy commandments above gold: yea, above fine
gold." As if he had said, I love thy law all the more because I see some
men esteem and reckon it as if it were dross, and throw it up as void and
antiquated, or taking the boldness, as it were, to repeal and make it void,
that they may set up their own lusts and vain imaginations. Because I see both
profane and superstitious men thus out of love with thy law, therefore my love
is more enfamed to it, "I love it above gold," which leads the most
of men away captives in the love of it; and I esteem it more than that which is
most esteemed by men, and gains men most esteem in this world, "fine
gold"; yea, as he said (Psalms
19:10) "more than much fine gold." --Joseph Caryl.
Verse
72. -- You that are gentlemen, remember what Hierom reports
of Nepotianus, a young gentleman of Rome, qui longs et assidua meditatione
Scripturarum pectus suum feterat bibliothecam Christi, who by long and
assiduous meditation of the Scriptures, made his breast the library of Christ.
Remember what is said of King Alfonsus, that he read over the Bible fourteen
times, together with such commentaries as those times afforded.
You
that are scholars, remember Cranmer and Ridley; the former learned the New
Testament by heart in his journey to Rome, the latter in Pembroke hall walks in
Cambridge. Remember what is said of Thomas a Kempis, -- that he found rest
nowhere nisi in angulo, cum libello, but in a corner with this Book in his
hand. And what is said of Beza, -- that when he was above fourscore years old
he could say perfectly by heart any Greek chapter in Paul's Epistles.
You
that are women, consider what Hierom saith of Paula, Eustochiam, and other
ladies, who were singularly versed in the Holy Scriptures.
Let
all men consider that hyperbolical speech of Luther, that he would not live in
Paradise without the Word; and with it he could live well enough in hell. This
speech of Luther must be understood cum grano salis. --Edmund Calamy.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
72. -- The advantages of riches far excelled by the blessings of the
word.
Verse
72. -- A valuation.
Verse
72. -- The word, better than gold and silver.
Verse
72. -- The law of thy mouth is better, etc.
EXPOSITION
We
have now come to the tenth portion, which in each stanza begins with Jod, but
it certainly does not treat of jots and titles and other trifles. Its subject
would seem to be personal experience and its attractive influence upon others.
The prophet is in deep sorrow, but looks to be delivered and made a blessing.
Endeavouring to teach, the Psalmist first seeks to be taught (verse 73),
persuades Himself that he will be well received (74), and rehearses the
testimony which he intends to bear (75). He prays for more experience (76, 77),
for the baffling of the proud (78), for the gathering together of the godly to
him (79), and for himself again that he may be fully equipped for his witness
bearing and may be sustained in it (80). This is the anxious yet hopeful cry of
one who is heavily afflicted by cruel adversaries, and therefore makes his
appeal to God as his only friend.
Verse
73. Thy hands have made me and fashioned me. It is profitable to
remember our creation, it is pleasant to see that the divine hand has had much
to do with us, for it never moves apart from the divine thought. It excites
reverence, gratitude, and affection towards God when we view him as our Maker,
putting forth the careful skill and power of his hands in our forming and
fashioning. He took a personal interest in us, making us with his own hands; he
was doubly thoughtful, for he is represented both as making and moulding us. In
both giving existence and arranging existence he manifested love and wisdom;
and therefore we find reasons for praise, confidence, and expectation in our
being and well being.
Give
me understanding, that I may learn thy commandments. As thou hast made me,
teach me. Here is the vessel which thou hast fashioned; Lord, fill it. Thou
hast given me both soul and body; grant me now thy grace that my soul may know
thy will, and my body may join in the performance of it. The plea is very
forcible; it is an enlargement of the cry, "Forsake not the work of thine
own hands." Without understanding the divine law and rendering obedience
to it we are imperfect and useless; but we may reasonably hope that the great
Potter will complete his work and give the finishing touch to it by imparting
to it sacred knowledge and holy practice. If God had roughly made us, and had
not also elaborately fashioned us, this argument would lose much of its force;
but surely from the delicate art and marvellous skill which the Lord has shown
in the formation of the human body, we may infer that he is prepared to take
equal pains with the soul till it shall perfectly bear his image.
A
man without a mind is an idiot, the mere mockery of a man; and a mind without
grace is wicked, the sad perversion of a mind. We pray that we may not be left
without a spiritual judgment: for this the Psalmist prayed in verse 66, and he
here pleads for it again; there is no true knowing and keeping of the
commandments without it. Fools can sin; but only those who are taught of God
can be holy. We often speak of gifted men; but he has the best gifts to whom
God has given a sanctified understanding wherewith to know and prize the ways
of the Lord. Note well that David's prayer for understanding is not for the
sake of speculative knowledge, and the gratification of his curiosity: he
desires an enlightened judgment that he may learn God's commandments, and so
become obedient and holy. This is the best of learning. A man may abide in the
College where this science is taught all his days, and yet cry out for ability
to learn more. The commandment of God is exceeding broad, and so it affords
scope for the most vigorous and instructed mind: in fact, no man has by nature
an understanding capable of compassing so wide a field, and hence the prayer,
"give me understanding"; -- as much as to say -- I can learn other
things with the mind I have, but thy law is so pure, so perfect, spiritual and
sublime, that I need to have my mind enlarged before I can become proficient in
it. He appeals to his Maker to do this, as if he felt that no power short of
that which made him could make him wise unto holiness. We need a new creation,
and who can grant us that but the Creator himself? He who made us to live must
make us to learn; he who gave us power to stand must give us grace to
understand. Let us each one breathe to heaven the prayer of this verse ere we
advance a step further, for we shall be lost even in these petitions unless we
pray our way through them, and cry to God for understanding.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
In
this section each verse begins with the Hebrew letter Jori, or i, the smallest
letter in the Hebrew alphabet, called in Matthew
5:18, jot; one jot or tittle shall in no wise pass from the law.
--Albert Barnes.
Verse
73-80. -- The usual account of this section, as given by the
medieval theologians, is that it is the prayer of man to be restored to his
state of original innocence and wisdom by being conformed to the image of
Christ. And this squares with the obvious meaning, which is partly a petition
for divine grace and partly an assertion that the example of piety and
resignation in trouble is attractive enough to draw men's hearts on towards
God, a truth set forth at once by the Passion, and by the lives of all those
saints who have tried to follow it. --Neale and Littledale.
Verse
73. -- Thy hands have made me and fashioned me, etc. This
verse hath a petition for understanding, and a reason with it: I am the
workmanship of thine hands, therefore give me understanding. There is no man
but favours the works of his hands. And shall not the. Lord much more love his
creatures, especially man, his most excellent creature? Whom, if ye consider
according to the fashion of his body, ye shall find nothing on earth more
precious than he; but in that which is not seen, namely, his soul, he is much
more beautiful. So you see, David's reasoning is very effectual; all one as if
he should say as he doth elsewhere, "Forsake not, O Lord, the work of
thine hands"; thou art my author and maker; thine help I seek, and the
help of none other.
No
man can rightly seek good things from God, if he consider not what good the
Lord hath already done to him. But many are in this point so ignorant, that
they know not how wonderfully God did make them; and therefore can neither
bless him, nor seek from him, as from their Creator and Conserver. But this
argument, drawn from our first creation, no man can rightly use, but he who is
through grace partaker of the second creation; for all the privileges of our
first creation we have lost by our fall. So that now by nature it is no comfort
to us, nor matter of our hope, that God did make us; but rather matter of our
fear and distrust, that we have mismade ourselves, have lost his image, and are
not now like unto that which God created us in the beginning. --William Cowper.
Verse
73. -- Thy hands have made me and fashioned me, etc. Mark
here two things: first, that in making his prayer for holy understanding, he
justly accuseth himself and all others of blindness, which proceeded not from
the Creator, but from man corrupted. Secondly, that even from his creation he
conceived hope that God would continue his work begun in him, because God
leaveth not his work, and therefore he begs God to bestow new grace upon him,
and to finish that which he had begun in him. --Thomas Wilcocks, 1586.
Verse
73. -- Hugo ingeniously notices in the different verbs of this
verse the particular vices to be shunned: ingratitude, when it is said,
"Thy hands have made me"; pride, "and fashioned me";
confidence in his own judgment, "give me understanding"; prying
inquisitiveness, "that I may learn thy commandments."
Verse
73. -- Thy hands. Hilary and Ambrose think that by the plural
"hands" is intimated that there is a more exact and perfect workmanship
in man, and as if it were with greater labour and skill he had been formed by
God, because after the image and likeness to God: and that it is not written
that any other thing but man was made by God with both hands, for he saith in
Isaiah, "Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth": Isa
48:13. --John Lorinus, 1569-1634.
This,
however, is an error, as Augustine notes; for it is written, "The heavens
are the work of thine hands." Psalms
102:25. --C.H.S.
Verse
73. -- Thy hands. Oh, look upon the wounds of thine hands,
and forget not the work of thine hands: so Queen Elizabeth prayed. --John
Trapp.
Verse
73. -- Some refer the verb hyhn, "made," to the
soul, yhnv, "fashioned," to the body. -- D.H. Mollerus.
Verse
73. -- Made me and fashioned me: give me understanding. The
greatness of God is no hindrance to his intercourse with us, for one special
part of the divine greatness is to be able to condescend to the littleness of
created beings, seeing that creaturehood must, from its very name, have this
littleness; inasmuch as God must ever be God, and man must ever be man: the
ocean must ever be the ocean, the drop must ever be the drop. The greatness of
God compassing our littleness about, as the heavens the earth, and fitting into
it on every side, as the air into all parts of the earth, is that which makes
the intercourse so complete and blessed: "In his hand is the soul of every
living thing, and the breath of all mankind" (Job
12:10). Such is his nearness to, such is his intimacy with, the
works of his hands. It is nearness, not distance, that the name Creator
implies; and the simple fact of his having made us is the assurance of his
desire to bless us and to hold intercourse with us. Communication between the
thing made and its maker is involved in the very idea of creation. "Thy
hands have made me and fashioned me: give we understanding, that I may learn
thy commandments." "Faithful Creator" is his name (1
Peter 4:19), and as such we appeal to him, "Forsake not the
work of thine own hands" (Psalms
138:8). -- Horatius Bonar, in "The Rent Veil", 1875.
Verse
73. -- Give we understanding, etc. The book of God is like
the apothecary's shop, there is no wound but therein is a remedy; but if a
stranger come unto the apothecary's shop, though all these things be there, vet
he cannot tell where they are, but the apothecary himself knoweth; so in the
Scriptures, there are cures for any infirmities; there is comfort against any
sorrows, and by conferring chapter with chapter, we shall understand them. The Scriptures
are not wanting to us, but we to ourselves; let us be conversant in them, and
we shall understand them, when great clerks who are negligent remain in
darkness. --Richard Stock.
Verse
73. -- Give me understanding. Let us pray unto God that he would
open our understandings, that as he hath given us consciences to guide us, so
also he would give eyes to these guides that they may be able to direct us
aright. The truth is, it is God only that can soundly enlighten our
consciences; and therefore let us pray unto him to do it. All our studying, and
hearing, and reading, and conferring will never be able to do it; it is only in
the power of him who made us to do it. He who made our consciences, he only can
give them this heavenly light of true knowledge and right understanding; and
therefore let us seek earnestly to him for it. --William Fenner, 1600-1640.
Verse
73. -- That I may learn thy commandments. That he might learn
them so as to know the sense and meaning of them, their purity and
spirituality; and so as to do them from a principle of love, in faith, and to
the glory of God: for it is not a bare learning of them by heart or committing
them to memory, nor a mere theory of them, but the practice of them in faith
and love, which is here meant. --John Gill.
Verse
73-74. -- From these verses, learn,
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Outlines
Upon Keywords of the Psalm, By Pastor C. A. Davis.
Verse
73-80. -- Natural and spiritual creation. The Psalmist prays to the
Creator for spiritual life or "understanding" (Psalms
119:73), he will then be welcomed by the spiritual (Psalms
119:74). He submissively receives affliction for spiritual training
(Psalms 119:75-77), deprecates the hostility of
the proud (Psalms 119:78), craves the company of the
spiritual (Psalms 119:79), and prays for heart soundness (Psalms
119:80).
Verse
73. --
EXPOSITION
Verse
74. They that fear thee will be glad when they see me: because I
have hoped in thy word. When a man of God obtains grace for himself he becomes
a blessing to others, especially if that grace has made him a man of sound
understanding and holy knowledge. God fearing men are encouraged when they meet
with experienced believers. A hopeful man is a God send when things are
declining or in danger. When the hopes of one believer are fulfilled his
companions are cheered and established, and led to hope also. It is good for
the eyes to see a man whose witness is that the Lord is true; it is one of the
joys of saints to hold converse with their more advanced brethren. The fear of
God is not a left handed grace, as some have called it; it is quite consistent
with gladness; for if even the sight of a comrade gladdens the God fearing, how
glad must they be in the presence of the Lord himself! We do not only meet to
share each others' burdens, but to partake in each others' joys, and some men
contribute largely to the stock of mutual gladness. Hopeful men bring gladness
with them. Despondent spirits spread the infection of depression, and hence few
are glad to see them, while those whose hopes are grounded upon God's word carry
sunshine in their faces, and are welcomed by their fellows. There are
professors whose presence scatters sadness, and the godly quietly steal out of
their company: may this never be the case with us.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
74. -- They that fear thee will be glad, etc. They who
"fear God" are naturally "glad when they see" and converse
with one like themselves; but more especially so, when it is one whose faith
and patience have carried him through troubles, and rendered him victorious
over temptations; one who hath "hoped in God's word," and hath not
been disappointed. Every such instance affords fresh encouragement to all
those, who, in the course of their warfare, are to undergo like troubles, and
to encounter like temptations. In all our trials let us, therefore, remember,
that our brethren, as well as ourselves, are deeply interested in the event,
which may either strengthen or weaken the hands of the multitudes. --George
Horne.
Verse
74. -- They that far thee will be glad when they see me, etc.
How comfortable it is for the heirs of promise to see one another, or meet
together: aspectus boni viri delectat, the very look of a good man is
delightful: it is a pleasure to converse with those that are careful to please
God, and fearful to offend him. How much affected they are with one another's
mercies: "they will be glad when they see me," since I have obtained
an event answerable to my hope. They shall come and look upon me as a monument
and spectacle of the mercy and truth of God. But what mercy had he received?
The context seemeth to carry it for grace to obey God's commandments; that was
the prayer immediately preceding, to be instructed and taught in God's law (Psalms
119:73). Now they will rejoice to see my holy behaviour, how I have
profited and glorified God in that behalf. The Hebrew writers render the
reason, "Because then I shall be able to instruct them in those statutes,
when they shall see me, their king, study the law of God." It may be
expounded of any other blessing or benefit God had given according to his hope;
and I rather understand it thus, they will be glad to see him sustained,
supported, and borne out in his troubles and sufferings. "They will be
glad when they shall see in me a notable example of the fruit of hoping in thy
grace." -- Thomas Manton.
Verse
74. -- Because I have hoped in thy word. And have not been
disappointed. The Vulgate rendereth it supersperavi, I have over hoped; and
then Aben Ezra glosses, "I have hoped in all thy decree"; even that
of afflicting me, as in the next verse. --John Trapp.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
74. --
Verse
74. -- Converse with a tried but steadfast believer is a source of
gladness to the children of God.
EXPOSITION
Verse
75. I know, O LORD, that thy judgments are right. He who would learn
most must be thankful for what he already knows, and be willing to confess it
to the glory of God. The Psalmist had been sorely tried, but he had continued
to hope in God under his trial, and now he avows his conviction that be had
been justly and wisely chastened. This he not only thought but knew, so that he
was positive about it, and spoke without a moment's hesitation. Saints are sure
about the rightness of their troubles, even when they cannot see the intent of
them. It made the godly glad to hear David say this,
And
that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me. Because love required severity,
therefore the Lord exercised it. It was not because God was unfaithful that the
believer found himself in a sore strait, but for just the opposite reason: it
was the faithfulness of God to his covenant which brought the chosen one under
the rod. It might not be needful that others should be tried just then; but it
was necessary to the Psalmist, and therefore the Lord did not withhold the
blessing. Our heavenly Father is no Eli: he will not suffer his children to sin
without rebuke, his love is too intense for that. The man who makes the
confession of this verse is already progressing in the school of grace, and is
learning the commandments. This third verse of the section corresponds to the
third of Teth (67), and in a degree to several other verses which make the
thirds in their octaves.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
75. -- I know, O LORD, that thy judgments are right. In very
early life the tree of knowledge seemed a very fine, a glorious tree in my
sight; but how many mistakes have I made upon that subject! And how many are
the mistakes which yet abound upon that which we are pleased to call knowledge,
in common speech. He that hath read the classics; he that hath dipped into
mathematical science; he that is versed in history, and grammar, and common
elocution; he that is apt and ready to solve some knotty question and versed in
the ancient lore of learning, is thought to be a man of knowledge; and so he
is, compared with the ignorant mass of mankind. But what is all this compared
with the knowledge in my text Knowledge of which few of the learned, as they
are called, have the least acquaintance with at all.
I
know -- What, David? What do you know? -- "I know, O Lord, that thy
judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me."
Fond
as I may yet be of other speculations, I would rather, much rather, possess the
knowledge of this man in this text, than have the largest acquaintance with the
whole circle of the sciences, as it is proudly called... I am apprehensive
that, in the first clause, the Psalmist speaks, in general: of the ordinances,
appointments, providence, and judgments of God; and the assertion is, he doth
know that they are right, that they are equitable, that they are wise, that
they are fair, and that they are not to be found fault with; and that though
men, through folly, bring themselves into distress, and then their hearts fret
against God. He was blessed with superior understanding. He excepts nothing:
"I know that all thy judgments are right." Then, in the latter part
of the text, he makes the matter personal. It might be said, it is an easy
thing for you so to think when you see the revolutions of kingdoms, the
tottering of thrones, the distresses of some mortals and the pains of others,
that they are all right. "Yes," saith he, "but I have the same
persuasion about all my own sorrows; I do know that in faithfulness thou hast
afflicted me." -- From a Sermon by John Martin, 1817.
Verse
75. -- I know, O LORD, that thy judgments are right, etc. The
text is in the form of an address to God. We often find this in David, that,
when he would express some deep feeling, or some point of spiritual experience,
he does so in this way -- addressing himself to God. Those who love God delight
to hold communion with him; and there are some feelings which the spiritual
mind finds peculiar comfort and pleasure in telling to God himself. "I
know, O LORD, that thy judgments are right." God orders all things, and
his "judgments" here mean his general orderings, decisions, dealings
-- not afflictions only, though including them. And when the Psalmist says,
"thy judgments," he means especially God's judgments towards him,
God's dealings with him, and thus all that had happened to him, or should
happen to him. For in the Psalmist's creed there was no such thing as chance.
God ordered all that befell him, and he loved to think so. He expresses a sure
and happy confidence in all that God did, and would do, with regard to him. He
trusted fully in God's wisdom, God's power, God's love. "I know thy
judgments are right" -- quite right, right in every way, without one
single point that might have been better, perfectly wise and good. He shows the
firmest persuasion of this. "I know," he says, not merely, "I
think." But these very words, "I know," clearly show that this
was a matter, of faith, not of sight. For he does not say, "I can see that
thy judgments are right," but "I know." The meaning plainly is,
"Though I cannot see all -- though there are some things in thy dealings
which I cannot fully understand -- yet I believe, I am persuaded, and thus I
know, O Lord, that thy judgments are right."
Thy
judgments. Not some of them, but all. He takes into view all God's dealings
with him, and says of them without exception, "I know, 0 LORD, that thy
judgments are right." When the things that happen to us are plainly for
our comfort and good, as many of them are, then we thankfully receive what God
thus sends to us, and own him as the Giver of all, and bless him for his
gracious dealing; and this is right. But all the faith required for this (and
some faith there is in it) is to own God as dealing with us, instead of
thanklessly receiving the gifts with no thought of the Giver. It is a far
higher degree of faith, that says of all God's dealings, even when seemingly
not for our happiness, "I know that thy judgments are right."
Yet
this is the meaning here, or certainly the chief meaning. For though the word
"judgments" does mean God's dealings of every kind, yet here the
words that follow make it apply especially to God's afflictive dealings, that
is, to those dealings of his that do not seem to be for our happiness; "I
know, O LORD, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast
afflicted me." The judgments which the Psalmist chiefly had in view, and
which he felt so sure were right, were not joys, but sorrows; not things
bestowed, but things taken away; those blessings in disguise, those veiled
mercies, those gifts clad in the garb of mourning, which God so often sends to
his children. The Psalmist knew, and knew against all appearance to the
contrary, that these judgments were "right." Whatever they might be
-- losses, bereavements, disappointments, pain, sickness -- they were right; as
right as the more manifest blessings which went before them; quite right,
perfectly right; so right that they could not have been better; just what were
best; and all because they were God's judgments. That one thing satisfied the Psalmist's
mind, and set every doubt at rest. The dealings in themselves he might have
doubted, but not him whose dealings they were. "Thy judgments." That
settled all. "And that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me." This
means that, in appointing trouble as his lot, God had dealt with him in
faithfulness to his word, faithfulness to his purposes of mercy, with a
faithful, not a weak love. He had sent him just what was most for his good,
though not always what was most pleasing; and in this he had shown himself
faithful. Gently and lovingly does the Lord deal with his children. He gives no
unnecessary pain; but that which is needful he will not withhold. --Francis
Bourdillon, 1881.
Verse
75. -- Thy judgments. There are judicia oris, and there are
judicia operis; the judgments of God's mouth, and the judgments of God's hands.
Of the former there is mention at verse 13: "With my lips have I declared
all the judgments of thy mouth." And by these "judgments" are
meant nothing else but the holy law of God, and his whole written word; which
everywhere? This psalm are indifferently called his "statutes," his
"commandments", his "precepts," his
"testimonies," his "judgments." And the laws of God are
therefore, amongst other reasons, called by the name of "judgments,"
because by them we come to have a right judgment whereby to discern between
good and evil. We could not otherwise with any certainty judge what was meet
for us to do, and what was needful for us to shun. A lege tua intellexi, at Psalms 119:104; "By thy law have I gotten
understanding." St. Paul confesseth (Romans 7), that he had never rightly
known what sin was if it had not been for the law; and he instances in that of
lust, which he had not known to be a sir, if the law had not said, "thou
shalt not covet." And no question but these "judgments," these
judicia oris, are all "right" too; for it were unreasonable to think
that God should make that a rule of right to us, which were itself not right.
We have both the name (that of "judgments;") and the thing too, (that
they are "right") in the 19th Psalm; where having highly commended
the law of God, under the several appellations of the "law,"
testimonies, statutes and commandments, verses 7 and 8, the prophet then
concludes under this name of "judgments," verse 9: "The
judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."
Besides
these judicia oris, which are God's judgments of directions, there are also
judicia operis, which are his judgments for correction. And these do ever
include aliquid paenale, something inflicted upon us by Almighty God, as it
were by way of punishment; something that breeds in us trouble or grief. The
apostle saith in Hebrews 12 that every chastening is grievous; and so it is,
more or less; or else it could be to us no punishment. And these, again, are of
two sort; yet not distinguished so much by the things themselves that are
inflicted, as by the condition of the persons on whom they are inflicted, and
especially by the affection and intention of God that inflicts them. For all,
whether public calamities that light upon whole nations, cities, or other
greater or lesser societies of men (such as are pestilences, famine, war,
inundations, unseasonable weather), and the like for private afflictions, that
light upon particular families or persons, (as sickness, poverty, disgrace,
injuries, death of friends, and the like;) all these, and whatsoever other of
either kind, may undergo a twofold consideration; in either of which they may
not unfitly be termed the judgments of God, though in different respects.
Now
we see the several sorts of God's judgments: which of all these may we think is
here meant? If we should take them all in, the conclusion would hold them, and
hold true too. Judicia oris, and judicia operis; public and private judgments;
those plagues wherewith in fury he punishes his enemies, and those rods
wherewith in mercy he correcteth his children: most certain it is they are all
"right." But yet I conceive those indicia oris not to be so properly
meant in this place; for the exegesis in the latter part of the verse (wherein
what are here called judgments ale there expounded by troubles) Seemeth to
exclude them, and to confine the text in the proper intent thereof to these
judicia operis only; but yet to all them of what sort soever; public or
private, plagues or corrections. Of all which he pronounces that they are
"right;" which is the predicate of the conclusion: "I know, O
Lord, that thy judgments are right." --Robert Sanderson.
Verse
75. -- Thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me. Mark the
emphasis: he doth not barely acknowledge that God was faithful, though or
notwithstanding he had afflicted him, but faithful in sending the afflictions.
Affliction and trouble are not only consistent with God's love plighted in the
covenant of grace; but they are parts and branches of the new covenant
administration. God is not only faithful notwithstanding afflictions, but
faithful in sending them. There is a difference between these two: the one is
like an exception to the rule, quae firmat regulam in non exceptis: the other
makes it a part of the rule, God cannot be faithful without doing all things
that tend to our good and eternal welfare. The conduct of his providence is one
part of the covenant engagement; as to pardon our sins, and sanctify us, and
give us glory at the last, so to suit his providence as our need and profit
require in the way to heaven. It is an act of his sovereign mercy which he hath
promised to his people, to use such discipline as conduces to their safety. In
short, the cross is not an exception to the grace of the covenant, but a part
of the grace of the covenant.
The
cause of all afflictions is sin, therefore justice must be acknowledged: their end
is repentance, and therefore faithfulness must be acknowledged. The end is not
destruction and ruin, so afflictions would be acts of justice, as upon the
wicked; but that we may be fit to receive the promises, and so they are acts of
faithfulness. --Thomas Mantel.
Verse
75. -- Thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me. That is, with
a sincere intention of doing me good. God thoroughly knows our constitution,
what is noxious to our health, and what may remedy our distempers; and
therefore accordingly disposes to us
Pro jucundis
aptissima quaeque
instead
of pleasant honey, he sometimes prescribes wholesome wormwood for us. We are
ourselves greatly ignorant of what is conducible to our real good, and, were
the choice of our condition wholly permitted to us, should make very foolish,
very disadvantageous elections.
We
should (be sure) all of us embrace a rich and plentiful estate; when as, God
knows, that would make us slothful and luxurious, swell us with pride and
haughty thoughts, encumber us with anxious cares and expose us to dangerous
temptations; would render us forgetful of ourselves and neglectful of him.
Therefore he wisely disposes poverty unto us; poverty, the mother of sobriety,
the nurse of industry, the mistress of wisdom; which will make us understand
ourselves and our dependence on him, and force us to have recourse unto his
help. And is there not reason we should be thankful for the means by which we
are delivered from those desperate mischiefs, and obtain these excellent
advantages?
We
should all (certainly) choose the favour and applause of man: but this, God
also knows, would corrupt our minds with vain conceit, would intoxicate our
fancies with spurious pleasure, would tempt us to ascribe immoderately to
ourselves, and sacrilegiously to deprive God of his due honour. Therefore he
advisedly suffers us to incur the disgrace and displeasure, the hatred and
contempt of men: that so we may place our glory only in the hopes of his
favour, and may pursue more earnestly the purer delights of a good conscience.
And doth not this part of divine providence highly merit our thanks?
We
would all climb into high places, not considering the precipices on which they
stand, nor the vertiginousness of our own brains: but God keeps us safe in the
humble valleys, allotting to us employments which we are more capable to
manage.
We
should perhaps insolently abuse power, were it committed to us: we should
employ great parts on unwieldy projects, as many do, to the disturbance of
others, and their own ruin: vast knowledge would cause us to over value
ourselves and contemn others: enjoying continual health, we should not perceive
the benefit thereof, nor be mindful of him that gave it. A suitable mediocrity
therefore of these things the divine goodness allots unto us, that we may
neither starve for want, nor surfeit with plenty.
In
fine, the advantages arising from afflictions are so many, and so great, that
it were easy to demonstrate that we have great reason, not only to be contented
with, but to rejoice in, and to be very thankful for, all the crosses and
vexations we meet with; to receive them cheerfully at God's hand, as the
medicines of our soul, and the condiments of our fortune; as the arguments of
his goodwill, and the instruments of virtue; as solid grounds of hope, and
comfortable presages of future joy unto us. --Isaac Barrow.
Verse
75. -- Thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me. When a father
disowns and banishes a child, he corrects him no more. So God may let one whom
he intends to destroy go unchastened; but never one with whom he is in
covenant. --William S. Plumer.
Verse
75. -- I know, O Lord, etc.
Yet, Lord, in
memory's fondest place
I shrine those seasons sad,
When, looking up, I saw thy face
In kind austereness clad.
I would not miss one sigh or tear,
Heart pang, or throbbing brow:
Sweet was the chastisement severe,
And sweet its memory now.
Yes! let the
fragrant scars abide,
Love tokens in thy stead,
Faint shadows of the spear pierced side.
And thorn encompassed Head.
And such thy
tender force be still,
When self would swerve or stray,
Shaping to truth the froward will
Along thy narrow way. --John Henry Newman, 1829.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
75. -- Experimental knowledge: positive, personal, glorifying to
God, consoling to the saints.
EXPOSITION
Verse
76. Let, I pray thee, thy merciful kindness be for my comfort,
according to thy word unto thy servant. Having confessed the righteousness of
the Lord, he now appeals to his mercy, and while he does not ask that the rod
may be removed, he earnestly begs for comfort under it. Righteousness and
faithfulness afford us no consolation if we cannot also taste of mercy, and,
blessed be God, this is promised us in the word, and therefore we may expect
it. The words "merciful kindness," are a happy combination, and
express exactly what we need in affliction: mercy to forgive the sin, and
kindness to sustain under the sorrow. With these we can be comfortable in the
cloudy and dark day, and without them we are wretched indeed; for these, therefore,
let us pray unto the Lord, whom we have grieved by our sin, and let us plead
the word of his grace as our sole reason for expecting his favour. Blessed be
his name, notwithstanding our faults we are still his servants, and we serve a
compassionate Master. Some read the last clause, "according to thy saying
unto thy servant"; some special saying of the Lord was remembered and
pleaded: can we not remember some such "faithful saying," and make it
the groundwork of our petitioning? That phrase, "according to thy
word," is a very favourite one; it shows the motive for mercy and the
manner of mercy. Our prayers are according to the mind of God when they are
according to the word of God.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
76. -- Let, I pray thee, thy merciful kindness be for my
comfort. In the former verse he acknowledged that the Lord had afflicted him;
now in this he prayeth the Lord to comfort him. This is strange that a man
should seek comfort at the same hand that strikes him: it is the work of faith;
nature will never teach us to do it. "Come, and let us return unto the
Lord; for he hath spoiled, and he will heal us: he hath wounded, and he will
bind us up." Again, we see that the crosses which God lays on his
children, are not to confound, not to consume them; only to prepare them for
greater consolations. With this David sustained himself against Shimei's
cursing; "The Lord will look on my affliction, and do me good for this
evil": with this our Saviour comforts his disciples; "Your mourning shall
be turned into joy." As the last estate of Job was better than his first;
so shall the Lord render more to his children at the last than now at the first
he takes from them: let us therefore bear his cross, as a preparative to
comfort. --William Cowper.
Verse
76. -- Let thy merciful kindness be for my comfort. Several
of the preceding verses have spoken of affliction (Psalms 119:67,71,75). The Psalmist now presents
his petition for alleviation under it. But of what kind? He does not ask to
have it removed. He does not "beseech the Lord, that it might depart from
him" 2 Corinthians 12:8. No. His repeated
acknowledgments of the supports vouchsafed under it, and the benefits he had
derived from it, had reconciled him to commit its measures and continuance to
the Lord. All that he needs, and all that he asks for, is a sense of his
"merciful kindness" upon his soul. Thus he submits to his justice in
his accumulated trials, and expects consolation under them solely upon the
ground of his free favour. --Charles Bridges.
Verse
76. -- Let thy merciful kindness, etc. Let me derive my
comfort and happiness from a diffusion of thy love and mercy, kdmh chasdecha,
thy exuberant goodness through my soul. --Adam Clarke.
Verse
76. -- According to thy word unto thy servant. If his promise
did not please him, why did he make it? If our reliance on the promise did not
please him, why did his goodness work it? It would be inconsistent with his
goodness to mock his creature, and it would be the highest mockery to publish
his word, and create a temper in the heart of his supplicant suited to his
promise, which he never intended to satisfy. He can as little wrong his
creature as wrong himself, and therefore he can never disappoint that faith
which after his own methods casts itself into the arms of his kindness, and is
his own workmanship, and calls him author. That goodness which imparted itself so
freely to the irrational creation will not neglect those nobler creatures that
put their trust in him. This renders God a fit object for trust and confidence.
--Stephen Charnock.
Verse
76. -- According to thy word. David had a particular promise
of a particular benefit; to wit, the kingdom of Israel. And this promise God
performed unto him; but his comfort stood not in it; for Saul before him had
the kingdom, but the promises of mercy belonged not to him, and therefore, when
God forsook him, his kingdom could not sustain him. But David here depends upon
the general promises of God's mercy made to his children; wherein he
acknowledgeth a particular promise of mercy made to him. For the general
promises of mercy and grace made in the gospel are by faith made particular to
every believer. --William Cowper.
Verse
76. -- Thy word unto thy servant. Here we may use the
eunuch's question: "Of whom speaketh the prophet this, of himself or of
some other man?" Of himself questionless, under the denomination of God's
servant. But then the question returneth, -- Is it a word of promise made to
himself in particular, or to God's servants in the general? Some say the
former, the promises brought to him by Nathan. I incline to the latter, and it
teacheth us these three truths: --
First.
That God's servants only are capable of the sweet effects of his mercy and the
comforts of his promises. Who are God's servants?
Secondly.
If we have the benefit of the promise, we must thrust in ourselves under one
title or other among those to whom the promise is made; if not as God's
children, yet as God's servants. Then the promise is as sure to us as if our
name were in it.
Thirdly.
All God's servants have common grounds of comfort: every one of God's servants
may plead with God as David doth. The comforts of the word are the common
portion of God's people. --Thomas Manton.
Verse
76. -- Thy word unto thy servant. Our Master has passed his
word to all his servants that he will be kind to them and they may plead it
with him. --Matthew Henry.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
76. -- Comfort.
Verse
76. --
EXPOSITION
Verse
77. Let thy tender mercies come unto me, that I may live. He was so
hard pressed that he was at death's door if God did not succour him. He needed
not only mercy, but "mercies," and these must be of a very gracious
and considerate kind, even "tender mercies," for he was sore with his
wounds. These gentle favours must be of the Lord's giving, for nothing less
would suffice; and they must "come" all the way to the sufferer's
heart, for he was not able to journey after them; all he could do was to sigh
out, "Oh that they would come." If deliverance did not soon come, he
felt ready to expire, and yet he told us but a verse or so ago that he hoped in
God's word: how true it is that hope lives on when death seems written on all
besides. A heathen said, "dum spiro spero," while I breathe I hope;
but the Christian can say, "dum expiro spero," even when I expire I
still expect the blessing. Yet no true child of God can live without the tender
mercy of the Lord; it; is death to him to be under God's displeasure. Notice,
again, the happy combination of the words of our English version. Was there
ever a sweeter sound than this -- "tender mercies"? He who has been
grievously afflicted, and yet tenderly succoured is the only man who knows the
meaning of such choice language.
How
truly we live when tender mercy comes to us. Then we do not merely exist, but
live; we are lively, full of life, vivacious, and vigorous. We know not what
life is till we know God. Some are said to die by the visitation of God, but we
live by it.
For
thy law is my delight. O blessed faith! He is no mean believer who rejoices in
the law even when its broken precepts cause him to suffer. To delight in the
word when it rebukes us, is proof that we are profiting under it. Surely this
is a plea which will prevail with God, however bitter our griefs may be; if we
still delight in the law of the Lord he cannot let us die, he must and will
cast a tender look upon us and comfort our hearts.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
77. -- Let thy tender mercies come unto me, that I may live.
If we mark narrowly we shall find that David here seeks another sort of mercy
than he sought before. For first he sought mercy to forgive his sins; then he
sought mercy to comfort him in his troubles; now he seeks mercy to live, and
sin no more. Alas, many seek the first mercy, of remission; and the second
mercy, of consolation in trouble, who are altogether careless of the third
mercy, to live well. It is a great mercy of God to amend thy life: where this
is not, let no man think he hath received either of the former. It is a great
mercy of God, which not only pardons evil that is done, but strengthens us also
to further good that we have not done; and this is the mercy which here David
seeks. --William Cowper.
Verse
77. -- Let thy tender mercies come unto me, etc. The mercies
of God are "tender mercies," they are the mercies of a father to his
children, nay, tender as the compassion of a mother over the son of her womb.
They "come unto" us, when we are not able to go to them. By them
alone we "live" the life of faith, of love, of joy and gladness. And
to such as "delight" in his law, God will grant these mercies, and
this life; he will give them pardon, and, by so doing, he will give them life
from the dead. --George Horne.
Verse
77. -- Let thy tender mercies, etc. Taking the more literal
rendering, the words express high confidence -- "Thy tender mercies shall
come unto me, and I shall live; for thy law is my delight." Had the
believer nothing but his own deserts to support his plea at the throne of
grace, he could never rise into this high confidence. He goes upon the
foundation of the divine goodness, manifested through the anointed One, and he
goes surely. --John Stephen.
Verse
77. -- Come. Coming to him notes a personal and effectual
application. First. A personal application, as in Psalms
119:41; "Let thy mercies come also unto me, O Lord, even thy
salvation, according to thy word." David would not be forgotten, or left
out or lost in the throng of mankind, when mercy was distributing the blessing
to them. Secondly. Effectual application: which signifieth,
First.
The removing of obstacles. Till there be a way made, the mercy of God cannot
come at us; for the way is barricaded and shut up by our sins: as the Lord
maketh a way for his anger (Psalms
78:50), by removing the hindrances, so the Lord maketh way for his
mercy, or mercy maketh way for itself, when it removeth the obstruction. Sin is
the great hindrance of mercy. We ourselves raise the mists and the clouds which
intercept the light of God's countenance; we build up the partition wall which
separates between God and us; yet mercy finds the way.
Secondly.
The obtaining the fruits of mercy...It is not enough to hear somewhat of God's
saving mercies; but we should beg that they may come unto us, be effectually
and sensibly communicated unto us, that we may have experience of them in our
own souls. A man that hath read of honey, or heard of honey, may know the
sweetness of it by guess and imagination; but a man that hath tasted of honey
knoweth the sweetness of it in truth: so, by reading and hearing of the grace
and mercy of God in Christ, we may guess that it is a sweet thing; but he that
hath had an experimental proof of the sweet effects and fruits of it in his own
heart perceives that all which is spoken of God's pardoning and comforting of
sinners is verified in himself. --Thomas Manton.
Verse
77. -- Thy law is my delight. A child of God, though he
cannot serve the Lord perfectly, yet he serves him willingly; his will is in
the law of the Lord; he is not a pressed soldier, but a volunteer. By the
beating of this pulse we may judge whether there be spiritual life in us or no.
David professes that God's law was his delight; he had his crown to delight in,
he had his music to delight in; but the love he had to God's law did drown all
other delights; as the joy of harvest and vintage exceeds the joy of gleaning.
-- Thomas Watson.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
77. --
Verse
77. -- Divine life -- it is born, sustained, increased, by God's
tender mercies. -- W.W
EXPOSITION
Verse
78. Let the proud be ashamed. He begged that the judgments of God
might no longer fall upon himself, but upon his cruel adversaries. God will not
suffer those who hope in his word to be put to shame, for he reserves that
reward for haughty spirits: they shall yet be overtaken with confusion, and
become the subjects of contempt, while God's afflicted ones shall again lift up
their heads. Shame is for the proud, for it is a shameful thing to be proud.
Shame is not for the holy, for there is nothing in holiness to be ashamed of.
For
they dealt perversely with me without a cause. Their malice was wanton, he had
not provoked them. Falsehood was employed to forge an accusation against him;
they had to bend his actions out of their true shape before they could assail
his character. Evidently the Psalmist keenly felt the malice of his foes. His
consciousness of innocence with regard to them created a burning sense of
injustice, and he appealed to the righteous Lord to take his part and clothe
his false accusers with shame. Probably he mentioned them as "the
proud," because he knew that the Lord always takes vengeance on proud men,
and vindicates the cause of those whom they oppress. Sometimes he mentions the
proud, and sometimes the wicked, but he always means the same persons; the
words are interchangeable: he who is proud is sure to be wicked, and proud
persecutors are the worst of wicked men.
But
I will meditate in thy precepts. He would leave the proud in God's hands, and
give himself up to holy studies and contemplations. To obey the divine precepts
we have need to know them, and think much of them. Hence this persecuted saint
felt that meditation must be his chief employment. He would study the law of
God and not the law of retaliation. The proud are not worth a thought. The
worst injury they can do us is to take us away from our devotions; let us
baffle them by keeping all the closer to our God when they are most malicious
in their onslaughts.
In
a similar position to this we have met with the proud in other octaves, and
shall meet them yet again. They are evidently a great plague to the Psalmist,
but he rises above them.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
78. -- Let the proud be ashamed, etc. Here is the just
recompense of his pride. He would fain have honour and preeminence, but God
will not give them unto him: he flies shame and contempt, but God shall pour
them upon him. "For they dealt perversely with me without a cause."
David complains of the wicked and false dealing of his enemies against him; and
his prayer is written to uphold us in the like temptation. For Satan is alway
like himself, hating them whom the Lord loveth. He can scarce be worse, lie can
never be better; and therefore with restless malice stirs he up all his cursed
instruments in whom he reigns, to persecute those who are loved and protected
of the Lord. "But I will meditate in thy precepts." David's enemies
fought against him with the weapons of the flesh, wickedness and falsehood: lie
withstands them by the armour of the Spirit; not meeting wickedness with
wickedness, and falsehood with falsehood. For if we fight against Satan with
Satan's weapons he will soon overcome us; but if we put upon us the complete
armour of God to resist him, he shall flee from us. --William Cowper.
Verse
78. -- Let the proud be ashamed. That is, that they may not
prosper or succeed in their attempts; for men are ashamed when they are
disappointed. All their endeavours for the extirpation of God's people are vain
and fruitless, and those things which they have subtilly devised, have not that
effect which they propounded unto themselves. "For they dealt perversely
with me without a cause." The Septuagint have it asikwf unjustly.
Ainsworth readeth, "With falsehood they have depraved me." It implies
two things: first, that they pretended a cause; but, secondly, David avouches his
innocency to God; and so, without any guilt of his, they accused, defamed,
condemned his actions, as is usual in such cases. When the proud are
troublesome and injurious to God's people the saints may boldly commend their
cause to God...The Lord may be appealed unto upon a double account; partly, as
he is an enemy to the proud, and as a friend to the humble (James
4:6 Ps 138:6); partly, as he is the portion of the afflicted and
oppressed (Psalms 140:12). When Satan stirreth up his
instruments to hate those whom the Lord loveth, the Lord will stir up his power
to help and defend them. Is not this a revengeful prayer? Answer, No. First.
Because those who pray it are seeking their own deliverance, that they may more
freely serve God by consequence. Indeed, by God's showing mercy to his people,
the pride of wicked ones is suppressed (Psalms 119:134); but mercy is the main object of the prayer.
Secondly.
As it concerneth his enemies, he expresses it in mild terms -- that they may
"be ashamed"; that is, disappointed, in their counsels, hopes,
machinations, and endeavours. And therefore it is not against the persons of
his enemies, but their plots and enterprises. In such cases shame and
disappointment may even do them good, They think to bring in the total
suppression of God's people, but that would harden them in their sins;
therefore God's people desire that he would not let their innocency be trampled
upon, but disappoint their adversaries, that the proud may be ashamed in the
failing of their attempts.
Thirdly.
The prayers of the righteous for the overthrow of the wicked, are a kind of
prophecies; so that, in praying, David doth in effect foretell, that such as
dealt perversely should soon be ashamed, since a good cause will not always be
oppressed: "But he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be
ashamed" (Isaiah 66:5).
Fourthly.
Saints have a liberty to imprecate vengeance, but such as must be used
sparingly and with great caution: "Let them be confounded and consumed
that are adversaries to my soul" (Psalms
71:13). Malicious enemies may be expressly prayed against. -- Thomas
Manton.
Verse
78. -- Let the proud be ashamed. This suggests a word to the
wicked. Take heed that by your implacable hatred to the truth and church of God
you do not engage her prayers against you. These imprecatory prayers of the
saints, when shot at the right mark, and duly put up, are murdering pieces, and
strike dead where they light. "Shall not God avenge his own elect, which
cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he
will avenge them speedily." Luke
18:7-8. They are not empty words -- as the imprecations of the
wicked poured into the air, and there vanishing with their breath -- but are
received into heaven, and shalt be sent back with thunder and lightning upon
the pates of the wicked. David's prayer unravelled Ahithopel's fine spun
policy, and twisted his halter for him. The prayers of the saints are more to
be feared -- as once a great person said and felt -- than an army of twenty
thousand men in the field. Esther's fast hastened Haman's ruin, and Hezekiah's
against Sennacherib brought his huge host to the slaughter, and fetched an
angel from heaven to do the execution in one night upon them. -- William
Gumall.
Verse
78. -- The proud. The wicked, especially the persecutors of
God's people, are usually characterized by this term in this psalm, "the
proud" (Psalms 119:51,69,122). Pride puts wicked men
upon being troublesome and injurious to the people of God. But why are the
persecutors and the injurious called "the proud"?
Verse
78. -- When any of you, says Caesarius, "is singing the
verse of the Psalm where it is said, Let the proud be put to shame, let him be
earnest to avoid pride, that he may escape everlasting shame." --William
Kay.
Verse
78. -- But I will meditate in thy precepts. He repeateth the
same thing often, and surely if the world could not contain the books that
might be written of Christ, and yet for our infirmity the Lord hath comprised
them in such a few books, and yet one thing in them is often repeated, it
showeth that the matter is weighty, and of us duly and often to be considered.
And again we are taught that this is a thing that none do so carefully look
unto as they ought. And he showeth that as his enemies sought by evil means to
hurt him; so he sought to keep a good conscience, that so they might not hurt
him. Then we must not set policy against policy nor cretizare rum Cretensibus;
but let us always tend to the word, and keep within the bounds of that, and
fight with the weapons that it lendeth us...If we would give over ourselves to
God and his word, and admit nothing but that which agreeth to the word, then
should we be made wiser than our enemies. --Richard Greenham.
Verse
78. -- I will meditate in thy precepts. The verb tyfa,
asiach, in the second clause of the verse, may be rendered, "I will speak of,"
as well as, "I will reiterate upon"; implying, that, when he had
obtained the victory, he would proclaim the goodness of God, which he had
experienced. To speak of God's statutes, is equivalent to declaring out of the
law how faithfully he guards his saints, how securely he delivers them, and how
righteously he avenges their wrongs. --John Calvin.
Verse
78. -- Meditate. Truths lie hid in the heart without efficacy
or power, till improved by deep, serious, and pressing thoughts...A sudden
carrying a candle through a room, giveth us not so full a survey of the object,
as when you stand a while beholding it. A steady contemplation is a great
advantage. --Thomas Manton.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
78. --
EXPOSITION
Verse
79. Let those that fear thee turn unto me, and those that have known
thy testimonies. Perhaps the tongue of slander had alienated some of the godly,
and probably the actual faults of David had grieved many more. He begs God to
turn to him, and then to turn his people towards him. Those who are right with
God are also anxious to be right with his children. David craved the love and sympathy
of gracious men of all grades, -- of those who were beginners in grace, and of
those who were mature in piety -- "those that fear thee," and
"those that have known thy testimonies." We cannot afford to lose the
love of the least of the saints, and if we have lost their esteem we may most
properly pray to have it restored. David was the leader of the godly party in
the nation, and it wounded him to the heart when he perceived that those who
feared God were not as glad to see him as aforetime they had been. He did not
bluster and say that if they could do without him, lie could very well do
without them; but he so deeply felt the value of their sympathy, that he made
it a matter of prayer that the Lord would turn their hearts to him again. Those
who are dear to God, and are instructed in his word, should be very precious in
our eyes, and we should do our utmost to be upon good terms with them.
David
has two descriptions for the saints, they are God fearing and God knowing. They
possess both devotion and instruction; they have both the spirit and the
science of true religion. We know some believers who are gracious, but not
intelligent; and, on the other hand, we also know certain professors who have
all head and no heart: he is the man who combines devotion with intelligence.
We neither care for devout dunces nor for intellectual icebergs. When fearing,
and knowing walk hand in hand they cause men to be thoroughly furnished unto
every good work. If these are my choice companions I may hope that I am one of
their order. Let such persons ever turn to me because they find in me congenial
company.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
79. -- Let those that fear thee turn unto me. Some think it
intimates that when David had been guilty of that foul sin in the murder of
Uriah, though he was a king, they that feared God grew strange to him, and
turned from him, for they were ashamed of him; this troubled him, and therefore
he prays, Lord, let them "turn to me" again. He desires especially
the company of those that were not only honest but intelligent, "that have
known thy testimonies," have good heads as well as good hearts, and whose
conversation will be edifying. It is desirable to have an intimacy with such.
--Matthew Henry.
Verse
79. -- Let those that fear thee turn unto me, etc. As he had
not his own flesh to fight against only, but the world also, so he did not only
himself fight, but he seeketh the help of others. When many see that religion
cannot be truly professed but danger will come of it, because many set
themselves against it, they flee from it, and go to the greater pair, which is
the wicked. If we will avoid this, let us join ourselves to God's children, and
they will help us with counsel and advice; for one may be strong when we are
weak, another may have counsel when we shall not know what to do; therefore by
them we shall be kept from many evil things. So Paul (2
Timothy 1:16), after he had complained of the wrong that many had done
unto him, he straightway giveth thanks for the family of Onesiphorus, which
refreshed him more than all his enemies could discourage him; so that he durst
oppose this one household to the whole rabble of the wicked. -- Richard
Greenham.
Verse
79. -- Let those that fear thee, etc. You must go to God and
beseech him to choose your company for you. Mark what David said and did; in Psalms
119:63 he saith, "I am a companion of all them that fear the
Lord"; yet in this verse he goes to God, and prayeth, saying, "Let
those that fear thee, O Lord, turn unto me, and those that have known thy
testimonies." As if he should say, "Of a truth, Lord, I am a
companion of all that do fear thee; but it is not in my power to bend their
hearts unto me; the hearts of all men are in thy hands", now therefore
"let those that fear thee turn unto me." So do you go to God, and say
likewise: Lord, do thou choose my company for me; oh, do thou bow and incline
their hearts to be my companions. --William Bridge.
Verse
79. -- Those that fear. "Those that have known.
"Fear and knowledge do make up a godly man. Knowledge without fear breeds
presumption; and fear without knowledge breeds superstition; and blind zeal, as
a blind horse, may be full of mettle, but is ever and anon stumbling. Knowledge
must direct fear, and fear must season knowledge; then it is a happy mixture
and composition. --Thomas Manton.
Verse
79. -- One great means to restore a good understanding among God's
people is prayer. David goeth to God about it: "Lord, let them turn to
me." The Lord governs hearts and interests, both are in his hands, and he
useth their alienation or reconciliation, either for judgment or mercy. God,
when he pleaseth, can divert from us the comfort of godly friends; and when he
pleaseth, he can bring them back again to us. The feet of God's children are
directed by God himself; if they come to us, it is a blessing of God; if not,
it is for a correction. He made Jacob and Laban meet peaceably (Genesis 30),
and in the next chapter, Jacob and Esau. --Thomas Manton.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
79. -- Restoration to church fellowship.
Verse
79. -- Select society.
EXPOSITION
Verse
80. Let my heart be sound in thy statutes; that I be not ashamed.
This is even more important than to be held in esteem by good men. This is the
root of the matter. If the heart be sound in obedience to God, all is well, or
will be well. If right at heart we are right in the main. If we be not sound
before God, our name for piety is an empty sound. Mere profession will fail,
and undeserved esteem will disappear like a bubble when it bursts; only
sincerity and truth will endure in the evil day. He who is right at heart has
no reason for shame, and he never shall have any; hypocrites ought to be
ashamed now, and they shall one day be put to shame without end; their hearts
are rotten, and their names shall rot. This eightieth verse is a variation of
the prayer of the seventy-third verse; there be sought sound understanding,
here he goes deeper, and begs for a sound heart. Those who have learned their
own frailty by sad experience, are led to dive beneath the surface, and cry to
the Lord for truth in the inward parts. In closing the consideration of these
eight verses, let us join with the writer in the prayer, "Let my heart be
sound in thy statutes."
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
80. -- Let my heart be sound. What is a sound heart? It notes
reality and solidity in grace. The Septuagint hath it, Let my heart be without
spot and blemish. It implies the reality of grace, opposed to the bare form of
godliness, or the fair shows of hypocrites, and the sudden and vanishing
motions of temporaries.
If
you would have me unfold what this sound heart is, there is required these four
things: --
Verse
80. -- Let my heart be sound. "A sound mind in a sound
body," was the prayer of a heathen, and his desire was according to the
extent of his knowledge; but a heart sound in God's statutes, sound to the very
core, with no speck, nor spot, nor wrinkle, nor any such thing, and like the
king's daughter, "all glorious within." this is what the Psalmist
prays for, this is what every child of God aims at, and prays for too, --
"Even as He is pure." -- Barton Bouchier.
Verse
80. -- Let my heart be sound.
True hearted,
wholehearted, faithful and loyal,
King of our lives, by thy grace will we be!
Under thy standard, exalted and royal,
Strong in thy strength, we will battle for thee!
True hearted, wholehearted! Fullest allegiance
Yielding henceforth to our glorious King;
Valiant endeavour and loving obedience
Freely and joyously now would we bring.
True hearted, Saviour,
thou knowest our story;
Weak are the hearts that we lay at thy feet,
Sinful and treacherous! yet for thy glory,
Heal them, and cleanse them from sin and deceit.
Wholehearted!
Saviour, beloved and glorious,
Take thy great power, and reign thou alone,
Over our wills and affections victorious,
Freely surrendered, and wholly thine own.
Half hearted!
false hearted! Heed we the warning!
Only the whole can be perfectly true;
Bring the whole offering, all timid thought scorning,
True hearted only if wholehearted too.
Half hearted!
Saviour, shall aught be withholden,
Giving thee part who has given us all?
Blessings outpouring, and promises golden
Pledging, with never reserve or recall.
Half hearted!
Master, shall any who know thee
Grudge thee their lives, who hast laid down thine own?
Nay; we would offer the hearts that we owe thee, --
Live for thy love and thy glory alone.
Sisters, dear
sisters, the call is resounding,
Will ye not echo the silver refrain,
Mighty and sweet, and in gladness abounding, --
"True hearted, wholehearted!" ringing again?
Jesus is with
us, his rest is before us,
Brightly his standard is waving above.
Brothers, dear brothers, in gathering chorus,
Peal out the watchword of courage and love!
Peal
out the watchword, and silence it never, Song of our spirits, rejoicing and
free! "True hearted, wholehearted, now and for ever, King of our lives, by
thy grace we will be!" Frances Ridley Havergal (1836-1879) in "Loyal
Responses."
Verse
80. -- Let my heart be sound, etc. This is a plain difference
between a sound heart and a false heart; in the receiving of Christ the sound
heart receives him as a favourite receives a prince, he gives up all to him,
and lets him have the command of all. A mere innkeeper entertains him that
comes next to him; he will take any man's money, and will give welcome to any
man; if it be the worst man that comes he cares not, for he loves gain above
all things. Not so the good heart; he welcomes Christ alone, and resigns up all
to Christ. Whatsoever is pleasing to Christ he will do it, and whatsoever comes
from Christ he will welcome. --Thomas Hooker (1586-1647) in "The Soules
Implantation."
Verse
80. -- Be sound. Heb. Be perfect; as the word from the same
root is rendered in Job 1:1. Dr. R. Young gives as the meaning of the word as
used by the Psalmist, whole, complete, plain.
Verse
80. -- Sound in thy statutes, etc. Though an orthodox creed
does not constitute true religion, yet it is the basis of it and it is a great
blessing to have it. --Nicolson, quoted by W. S. Plumer.
Verse
80. -- If you would be faithful to Christ, be sincere in your
profession of him, make David's prayer and desire to be yours: "Let my
heart be sound in thy statutes; that I be not ashamed." Religion which is
begun in hypocrisy will certainly end in apostasy, and this always carries with
it reproach and ignominy. --William Spurstowe (1666)
Verse
80. -- Ashamed. We may be ashamed either before God or men,
ourselves or others.
(b)
When we are summoned to appear before the tribunal of his justice. Many, now,
with a bold impudence, will obtrude themselves upon the worship of God, because
they see him not, and have not a due sense of his majesty; but the time will
come, when the most impudent and outbraving sinners will be astonished, even
then when the secrets of all hearts shall be laid open and made manifest, and
hidden things brought to light (1
Corinthians 4:5); and every one is to receive his judgment from God
according to what he hath done, either good or evil.
(2)
Before others. And so our shame may be occasioned by our scandals, or our
punishments; it is hard to say which is intended here. --Condensed from Manton.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
80. --
Verse
80. --
EXPOSITION
This
portion of the gigantic psalm sees the Psalmist in extremis. His enemies have
brought him to the lowest condition of anguish and depression; yet he is
faithful to the law and trustful in his God. This octave is the midnight of the
psalm, and very dark and black it is. Stars, however, shine out, and the last verse
gives promise of the dawn. The strain will after this become more cheerful; but
meanwhile it should minister comfort to us to see so eminent a servant of God
so hardly used by the ungodly: evidently in our own persecutions, no strange
thing has happened unto us.
Verse
81. My soul fainteth for thy salvation. He wished for no deliverance
but that which came from God: his one desire was for "thy salvation."
But for that divine deliverance he was eager to the last degree, -- up to the
full measure of his strength, yea, and beyond it till he fainted. So strong was
his desire that it produced prostration of spirit. He grew weary with waiting,
faint with watching, sick with urgent need. Thus the sincerity and the
eagerness of his desires were proved. Nothing else could satisfy him but
deliverance wrought out by the hand of God, his inmost mature yearned and pined
for salvation from the God of all grace, and he must have it or utterly fail.
But
I hope in thy word. Therefore he felt that salvation would come, for God cannot
break his promise, nor disappoint the hope which his own word has excited: yea,
the fulfilment of his word is near at hand when our hope is firm and our desire
fervent. Hope alone can keep the soul from fainting by using the smelling
bottle of the promise. Yet hope does not quench desire for a speedy answer to
prayer; it increases our importunity, for it both stimulates ardour and
sustains the heart under delays. To faint for salvation, and to be kept from
utterly failing by the hope of it, is the frequent experience of the Christian
man. We are "faint yet pursuing" hope sustains when desire exhausts.
While the grace of desire throws us down, the grace of hope lifts us up again.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
The
whole eight verses, 81-89. -- The eleventh letter, Caph, signifies the hollowed
hand. The expositors, however, looking only to the meaning curved, which is but
half of its import, explain the section as signifying the act of bowing down in
penitence, or as noting that the fathers of the Old Testament were like veteran
soldiers, stooping with years and toil, and bowed down yet further by the heavy
weight of the law, only removable by that coming of Christ for which they
prayed. Others extend the notion to the saints of the church, weighed down by
the sorrows and cares of this life, and therefore desiring to be dissolved and
to be with Christ. The true meaning is to be sought in the full interpretation
of the word; for the hand is hollowed either in order to retain something which
actually lies in it, or to receive something about to be placed in it by
another. Thus the hand may be God's, as the giver of bounty, or man's, as the
receiver of it; and the whole scope of the section, as a prayer for speedy
help, is that man holds out his hand as a beggar, supplicating the mercy of
God. --Jerome, Ambrose, and others, in Neale and Littledale.
Verse
81. -- My soul fainteth for thy salvation. The word here
rendered "fainteth" is the same that in Psalms
73:26 is translated "faileth": "My flesh and my heart
faileth". The idea is, that his strength gave way; he had such an intense
desire for salvation that he became weak and powerless. Any strong emotion may
thus prostrate us; and the love of God, the desire of his favour, the longing
for heaven, may be so intense as to produce this result. -- Albert Barnes.
Verse
81. -- My soul fainteth. Fainting is proper to the body, but
here it is ascribed to the soul; as also in many other places. The Apostle
saith, "Lest ye be wearied, and faint in your minds" (Hebrews
7:3); where two words are used, weariness and fainting, both taken
from the body. Weariness is a lesser, fainting is a higher degree of
deficiency: in weariness, the body requireth some rest or refreshment, when the
active power is weakened, and the vital spirits and principles of motion are
dulled; but, in fainting, the vital power is contracted, and retires, and leaveth
the outward parts lifeless and senseless. When a man is wearied, his strength
is abated; when he fainteth, he is quite spent. These things, by a metaphor,
are applied to the soul, or mind. A man is weary, when the fortitude of his
mind, his moral or spiritual strength, is broken, or begins to abate, when his
soul sits uneasy under sufferings; but when he sinks under the burden of
grievous, tedious, or long affliction, then he is said to faint, when all the
reasons and grounds of his comfort are quite spent, and he can hold out no
longer. --Thomas Manton.
Verse
81. -- My soul fainteth. What is this fainting but the lofty
state of raptured contemplation in which the strength of heavenly affections
weakens those of earth. Just as the ascent into the highest mountains causes a
new respiration, as when Daniel had a great vision from God, he tells us
"he fainted and was sick certain days." --E. Paxton Hood, 1871.
Verse
81. -- My soul fainteth for thy salvation; but I hope.
Believe under a cloud, and wait for him when there is no moonlight nor
starlight. Let faith live and breathe, and lay hold of the sure salvation of
God, when clouds and darkness are about you, and appearance of rotting in the
prison before you. Take heed of unbelieving hearts, which can father lies upon
Christ. Beware of "Doth his promise fail for evermore?" for it was a
man, and not God said it. Who dreameth that a promise of God can fail, fall a
swoon, or die? Who can make God sick, or his promises weak? When we are pleased
to seek a plea with Christ, let us plead that we hope in him. O stout word of
faith, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him!" O sweet epitaph,
written upon the gravestone of a departed believer, namely,
"I
died hoping, and my dust and ashes believe in life!" Faith's eyes, that
can see through a millstone, can see through a gloom of God, and under it read
God's thoughts of love and peace. Hold fast Christ in the dark; surely ye shall
see the salvation of God. Your adversaries are ripe and dry for the fire. Yet a
little while, and they shall go up in a flame; the breath of the Lord, like a
river of brimstone, shall kindle about them. -- Samuel Rutherford, 1600-1601.
Verse
81. -- For thy salvation. Understood in a higher sense, the
holy man longs for the coming of the Saviour in the flesh. --Cornelius Jansen.
Verse
81. -- Thy salvation. A believer in God, how afflicted so
ever lie be, seeketh not to be delivered but in a way allowed by God; "My
soul fainteth for thy salvation"; or, till thou deliver me in thy good
way. --David Dickson.
Verse
81. -- I hope in thy word. David knew where he moored his
ship. Hope without a promise is like an anchor without ground to helot by; but
David's hope fixed itself upon the divine word. --William Gurnall.
Verse
81. -- I hope in thy word: ie. I hope beyond anything I
understand, and beyond anything I can possibly do, and beyond anything I
deserve, and beyond all carnal and spiritual consolations, for I desire and
look for Thee only I seek Thee, not Thine: I long to hear "Thud word,"
that I may obey it in patience and meekness. --Le Blanc.
Verse
81,83. -- It is good in all times of persecution or affliction to
have an eve both on the promises and on the precepts; for the looking to the
promise doth encourage to hope, and the eyeing of tim precepts doth prove
the hope to be sound. The Psalmist hoped in the word (Psalms
119:81), and (Psalms
119:88), he forgot not the statutes. --David Dickson.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Outlines
Upon Keywords of the Psalm, By Pastor C. A. Davis.
Verse
81-88. -- Hope in depression. In the depression arising from mortal
frailness (Ps 119:81-81), and from unjust persecution (Psalms 119:85-87), the word of God is the source
of joy and comfort.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
81. -- Text suitable for a missionary sermon.
(b) Its wide
area.
(c) Its long continuance.
(d) The limited
character and effect of mission labour.
(e) The
opposing influences.
(a) Of the
intention, adaptation, and universal call of the
gospel.
(b) Of Christ's
commission to his church.
(c) Of the
compassionate character of the spiritually
enlightened, produced by their faith in the word.
(d) Of the
prophecies and promises. Thus, there is hope in
the word.
(b) In devoting
themselves, if possible, to the work.
(c) In free and
generous giving, to help on the work. --J.F.
Verse
81. -- My soul fainteth, etc. Men faint for health, provision, rest,
promotion, success, and in some instances for salvation. David fainted.
(a) From guilt:
"Deliver me from all my transgressions;"
"from blood guiltiness."
(b) From
defilement: "Create in me a clean heart." "Wash
me."
(c) From
formality: "Let the words of my mouth," etc.
(d) From
darkness: "Why hidest thou thyself?" "Lift up,"
etc. "Say unto my soul," etc.
(a) He talked
about it: "Time for thee to work, Lord."
(b) He prayed
for it: "Oh that the salvation," etc. "Let
thy work," etc. "God be merciful unto us:" "Save now, I
beseech thee."
(c) He laboured
for it: "I will make mention of thy
righteousness:" "I will teach transgressors thy ways." --W.J.
Verse
81. --
Verse
81. -- Salvation, in Scripture, hath divers acceptations: it is put
--
Verse
81. --
EXPOSITION
Verse
82. Mine eyes fail for thy word, saying, When wilt thou comfort me?
His eyes gave out with eagerly gazing for the kind appearance of the Lord,
while his heart in weariness cried out for speedy comfort. To read the word
till the eyes can no longer see is but a small thing compared with watching for
the fulfilment of the promise till the inner eyes of expectancy begin to grow
dim with hope deferred. We may not set times to God, for this is to limit the
Holy One of Israel; yet we may urge our suit with importunity, and make fervent
enquiry as to why the promise tarries. David sought no comfort except that
which comes from God; his question is, "When wilt thou comfort me?"
If help does not come from heaven it will never come at all: all the good man's
hopes look that way, he has not a glance to dart in any other direction. This
experience of waiting and fainting is well known by full grown saints, arid it
teaches them many precious lessons which they would never learn by any other
means. Among the choice results is this one -- that the body rises into
sympathy with the soul, both heart and flesh cry out for the living God, and
even the eyes find a tongue, "saying, When wilt thou comfort me?" It
must be an intense longing which is not satisfied to express itself by the
lips, but speaks with the eyes, by those eyes failing through intense watching.
Eyes can speak right eloquently; they use both mutes and liquids, and can
sometimes say more than tongues. David says in another place, "The Lord
hath heard the voice of my weeping" (Psalms
6:8). Specially are our eyes eloquent when they begin to fail with
weariness and woe. A humble eye lifted up to heaven in silent prayer may flash
such flame as shall melt the bolts which bar the entrance of vocal prayer, and
so heaven shall be taken by storm with the artillery of tears. Blessed are the
eyes that are strained in looking after God. The eyes of the Lord will see to
it that such eyes do not actually fail. How much better to watch for the Lord
with aching eyes than to have them sparkling at the glitter of vanity.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
82. -- Mine eyes fail for thy word. Has a mother promised to
visit her son or daughter? should she not be able to go, the remark of the son
or daughter will be: "Alas! my mother promised to come to me: how I have I
been looking for her? But a speck has grown on my eye. I cannot see, my eyes
have failed me"; that is, by looking so intensely for coming. --Joseph
Roberts.
Verse
82. -- Mine eyes fail for thy word. He was continuously
lifting eyes to heaven, looking for help from God. He was so perpetually this,
that at length the eyes themselves became dim.
When
wilt thou comfort me? He was saying this in his heart; he was saying this with
his mouth; he was saying the same thing with his eyes perpetually looking up to
heaven. -- Wolfgang Musculus.
Verse
82. -- For thy word. The children of God make more of a mise
than others do; and that upon a double account: partly, because value the
blessing promised; partly, because they are satisfied with assurance given by
God's word; so that, whereas others pass by these thin with a careless eye,
their souls are lifted up to the constant and earnest petition of the blessing
promised. It is said of the hireling, that he have his wages before the sun go
down, because he is poor and hath set heart upon it (Deuteronomy
24:15); or, as it is in the Hebrew, lifted up his to it, meaning
thereby both his desire and hope. He esteemeth his for it is the solace of his
labours, and the maintenance of his life; and assuredly expects it, upon the
promise and covenant of him who him who setteth him awork. So it is with the
children of God; they esteem the blessing promised, and God's word giveth them
good assurance that they do wait upon him in vain. --Thomas Manton
Verse
82. -- Saying, When. The same spirit of faith which teaches
man to cry earnestly, teaches him to wait patiently; for as it assures that
mercy is in the Lord's hand, so it assures him, it will come forth in Lord's
time. --John Mason, 1688.
Verse
82. -- When wilt thou comfort me? It is a customable manner of
God's working with his children, to delay the answer to their; prayers, and
to suspend the performance of his promises: not because he is unwilling to
give, but because he will have them better prepared to receive. Tardins dando
qued pettimus instantia nobis orationis indicit: he is slow to give that which
we seek, that we should not seek slowly, but may be awakened to instancy and
fervency in prayer, which he knows to be the service most acceptable unto him,
and most profitable unto ourselves. --William Cowper.
Verse
82. -- When wilt thou comfort me? Let us complain not of God,
but to God. Complaints of God give a vent to murmuring; but complaints to God,
to faith, hope, and patience. --Thomas Manton.
Verse
82. -- The prophet, to prevent it from being supposed that he
was too effeminate and faint hearted, intimates that his fainting was not
without cause. In asking God, "When wilt thou comfort me?" he shows,
with sufficient plainness, that he was for a long time, as it were, east off
and forsaken. --John Calvin.
Verse
82. -- When wilt thou comfort me? The people of God are sometimes
very disconsolate, and need comforting, through the prevalence of sin, the
power of Satan's temptations, the hiding of God's face, and a variety of
afflictions, when they apply to God for comfort, who only can comfort them, and
who has set times to do it; but they are apt to think it long, and inquire, as
David here, when it will be. --John Gill.
Verse
82. -- When wilt thou comfort me? A poor woman had been long time
questioning herself, and doubting of her salvation; when at last the Lord
made it good unto her soul that Christ was her own, then her minister said unto
her, The Lord will not always give his children a cordial, but he hath it ready
for them when they are fainting. --Thomas Hooker.
Verse
82. -- When wilt thou comfort me? Comfort is necessary because a
great part of our temptations lies in troubles, as well as allurements.
Sense of pain may discompose us as well as pleasure entice us. The world is a
persecuting as well as a tempting world. The flesh troubleth as well as
enticeth. The Devil is a disquieting as well as an ensnaring Devil. But yet
comfort, though necessary, is not so necessary as holiness: therefore, though
comfort is not to be despised, yet sincere love to God is to be preferred, and,
though it be not dispensed so certainly, so constantly, and in so high a
degree, in this world, we must be contented. The Spirit's comforting work is
oftener interrupted than the work of holiness; yet so much as is necessary to
enable us to serve God in this world, we shall assuredly receive. --Thomas
Manton.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
82. -- Answer to the enquiry -- When wilt thou comfort me?
Verse
82. --
Verse
82. -- The pleading of the eyes.
EXPOSITION
Verse
83. For I am become like a bottle in the smoke. The skins used for
containing wine, when emptied, were hung up in the tent, and when the place
reeked with smoke the skins grew black and sooty, and in the heat they became
wrinkled and worn. The Psalmist's face through sorrow had become dark and
dismal, furrowed and lined; indeed, his whole body had so sympathized with his
sorrowing mind as to have lost its natural moisture, and to have become like a
skin dried and tanned. His character had been smoked with slander, and his mind
parched with persecution; he was half afraid that he would become useless and
incapable through so much mental suffering, and that men would look upon him as
an old worn out skin bottle, which could hold nothing and answer no purpose.
What a metaphor for a man to use who was certainly a poet, a divine, and a
master in Israel, if not a king, and a man after God's own heart! It is little
wonder if we, commoner folk, are made to think very little of ourselves, and
are filled with distress of mind. Some of us know the inner meaning of this
simile, for we, too, have felt dinghy, mean, and worthless, only fit to be cast
away. Very black and hot has been the smoke which has enveloped us; it seemed
to come not alone from the Egyptian furnace, but from the bottomless pit; and
it had a clinging power which made the soot of it fasten upon us and blacken us
with miserable thoughts.
Yet
do I not forget thy statutes. Here is the patience of the saints and the
victory of faith. Blackened the man of God might be by falsehood, but the truth
was in him, and he never gave it up. He was faithful to his King when he seemed
deserted and left to the vilest uses. The promises came to his mind, and, what
was a still better evidence of his loyalty, the statutes were there too: he
stuck to his duties as well as to his comforts. The worst circumstances cannot
destroy the true believer's hold upon his God. Grace is a living power which
survives that which would suffocate all other forms of existence. Fire cannot
consume it, and smoke cannot smother it. A man may be reduced to skin and bone,
and all his comfort may be dried out of him, and yet he may hold fast his
integrity and glorify his God. It is, however, no marvel that in such a case
the eyes which are tormented with the smoke cry out for the Lord's delivering
hand, and the heart heated and faint longs for the divine salvation.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
83. -- A bottle in the smoke. Sleep was out of the question,
for I was...almost smothered with the smoke from a wood fire, for there was no
chimney. I was indeed "like a bottle in the smoke," turned black and
dried almost to cracking; for this was something of what the Psalmist had in
view. The bottles being of leather, and being hung up in rooms with large fires
of wood, and without chimneys, they became smoke-dried, shrivelled, and unfit
for use. --From "My Wanderings", by John Gadby, 1860.
Verse
83. -- Like a bottle in the smoke. The tent of a common Arab
is so smoky a habitation, that I consider the expression of a bottle in the
smoke, to be equivalent to that of a bottle in the tent of an Arab. There was a
fire, we find, in that Arab tent to which Bishop Peteeke was conducted when he
was going to Jerusalem. How smoky must such an habitation be, and how black all
its utensils! Le Bruyn in going from Aleppo to Standcroon was made sufficiently
sensible of this: for being obliged to pass a whole night in a hut of reeds, in
the middle of which there was a fire, to boil a kettle of meat that hung over
it, and to bake some bread among the ashes, he found the smoke intolerable, the
door being the only place by which it could get out of the hut.
To
the blackness of a goat skin bottle, in a tent, but to the meanness also of
such a drinking vessel, the Psalmist seems to refer, and it was a most natural
image for him to make use of, driven from among the vessels of silver and gold
in the palace of Saul, to live as the Arabs do and did, and consequently often
obliged to drink out of a smoked leather bottle. --Thomas Harmer, 1719-1788.
Verse
83. -- For I am become like a bottle in the smoke. A bottle
in the smoke has very little inflation, fatness, moisture, beauty. Thus God
wastes away, debases, and empties his people, while he exercises them with
tribulations and the disquiet of hoping and waiting. The glory and eagerness of
the flesh must be emptied, that the Divine gifts may find room, and the
remembrance of the commandments of God may be restrained, which cannot be well
kept in bottles which are swollen, inflated, and filled. -- Wolfgang Musculus.
Verse
83. -- A bottle in the smoke. One object amongst the ancients
of such exposure was to mellow the wine by the gradual ascent of the heat and
smoke from the fire over which the skin was suspended; and thus the words teach
us the uses of affliction in ripening and improving the soul. --Rosenmuller,
quoted in Neale and Littledale.
Verse
83. -- For I am become like a bottle in the smoke, etc. Satan
can afflict the body by the mind. For these two are so closely bound together
that their good and bad estate is shared between them. If the heart be merry
the countenance is cheerful, the strength is renewed, the bones do flourish
like an herb. If the heart be troubled, the health is impaired, the strength is
dried up, the marrow of the bones wasted, etc. Grief in the heart is like a
moth in the garment, it insensibly consumeth the body and disorders it. This
advantage of weakening the body falls into Satan's hands by necessary
consequence, as the prophet's ripe figs, that fell into the mouth of the eater.
And surely he is well pleased with it, as he is an enemy both to body and soul.
But it is a greater satisfaction to him, in that as he can make the sorrows of
the mind produce the weakness and sickness of the body; so can he make the
distemper of the body (by a reciprocal requital) to augment the trouble of the
mind. How little can a sickly body do? it disables a man for all services; he
cannot, oft pray, nor read, nor hear. Sickness takes away the sweetness and
comfort of religious exercises; this gives occasion for them to think the worst
of themselves; they think the soul is weary of the ways of God when the body
cannot hold out. -- Richard Gilpin, in "A Treatise of Satan's
Temptations," 1677.
Verse
83. -- Like a bottle in the smoke. In this did the afflicted
Psalmist find a striking emblem of his own spiritual state. He waited for the
Lord to come. In spirit he was dried up by pressure upon him; and he still
waited for the Lord to come, declaring his shrivelled condition. Perhaps his
outward man partook of the same sad qualities at this time... The outward
appearance of the man of God, to which he may be alluding, was, however, but
the semblance of his spiritual nature at this period, whatever may have been
the visible effects. David was exposed to the calumnious reports of evil minded
men, and to the hot persecution of relentless enemies, till the effect upon his
mind was such that his whole spiritual nature resembled, in his own mind, a
skin hung up in the smoke for a length of time. Not only was he shrivelled in
public estimation, but also in his own mind; not indeed because at this time,
and on the ground of the charges made against him, he felt that he deserved it;
but because so incessant and multifarious was the bitter invasion of his
spirit, that even with all his faith in God, he well nigh literally sunk under
it. The term given in our translation to the original would imply, that he bore
himself well notwithstanding --
For
I am become like a bottle in the smoke; yet do not forget thy statutes. Whereas
the words rendered more literally would convey the important all this happened
to him even while he was in the very way of duty: "I am become like a
bottle in the smoke -- I do not forget thy statutes." He was directly in
the way of the Lord's appointments for all salvation; yet trouble came. It is
sad when our spiritual man becomes shrivelled and dried up because of our
falling into sin, or because of guilty omissions; but here seems to be a
falling off of the spiritual man, and of the physical man, while the believer
is conscious that he is not forgetting the statutes of his gracious God. --John
Stephen.
Verse
83. -- Observe here the difference between the beauty and
strength of the body and of the soul: the beauty of the soul groweth fairer by
afflictions, whereas that of the body is blasted. David was a bottle
shrivelled and shrunk up; yet the holy frame of his soul was not altered; his
beauty was gone, but not his grace. --Thomas Manton.
Verse
83. -- I am become like a bottle in the frost (so the Seventy
translate it). When spiritual desires burn, carnal desires without doubt
cool: on this account followeth, "Since I am become like a bottle in the
frost I do not forget thy righteousnesses." Truly he desireth this mortal
flesh to be understood by the bottle, the heavenly blessing by the frost,
whereby the lusts of the flesh as it were by the binding of the frost become
sluggish: and hence it ariseth that the righteousnesses of God do not slip from
the memory, so long as we do not meditate apart from them; since what the
apostle saith (Romans 13:14) is brought to pass: "Make not
provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof." Therefore when he
had said, "For I have become like a bottle in the frost," he added,
"and I do not forget thy righteousnesses," that is, I forget them
not, because I have become such. For the fervour of lust had cooled, that the
memory of love might glow. --Augustine.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
83. --
Verse
83. -- A bottle in the smoke.
(a) From the
poverty of their condition.
(b) Our trials frequently result from our comforts.
(c) The
ministry hath much smoke with it.
(d) The poor
bottle in the smoke keeps there for a long
time, until it gets black.
(b) Trials
which are not felt are unprofitable trials. A
bottle in the smoke gets very black, becomes very useless,
in an empty bottle.
(b) Jesus Christ
was in the smoke with him, and the
statutes were in the smoke with him, too.
(c) The
statutes were in the soul, where the smoke does
not enter. --From "Spurgeon's Sermons." No. 71.
EXPOSITION
Verse
84. How many are the days of thy servant? I cannot hope to live long
in such a condition, thou must come speedily to my rescue, or I shall die.
Shall all my short life be consumed in such destroying sorrows? The brevity of
life is a good argument against the length of an affliction. Perhaps the
Psalmist means that his days seemed too many when they were spent in such
distress. He half wished that they were ended, and therefore he asked in
trouble, "How many are the days of thy servant?" Like a hired
servant, he had a certain term to serve, and he would not complain; but still
the time seemed long because his griefs were so heavy. No one knows the
appointed number of our days except the Lord, and therefore to him the appeal
is made that he would not prolong them beyond his servant's strength. It cannot
be the Lord's mind that his own servant should always be treated so unjustly;
there must be an end to it; when would it be?
When
wilt thou execute judgment on them that persecute me? He had placed his case in
the Lord's hands, and he prayed that sentence might be given and put into
execution. He desired nothing but justice, that his character might be cleared
and his persecutors silenced. He knew that God would certainly avenge Iris own
elect, but the day of rescue tarried, the hours dragged heavily along, and the
persecuted one cried day and night for deliverance.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
84. -- How many are the days of thy servant? etc. Some read
the two clauses apart, as if the first were a general complaint of the brevity
of human life, such as is to be met with in other Psalms, and more frequently
in the book of Job; and next, in their opinion, there follows a special prayer
of the Psalmist that God would take vengeance upon his enemies. But I rather
prefer joining the two clauses together, and limit both to David's afflictions;
as if it had been said, Lord, how long hast thou determined to abandon thy
servant to the will of the ungodly? when wilt thou set thyself in opposition to
their cruelty and outrage, in order to take vengeance upon them? The Scriptures
often use the word "days" in this sense... By the use of the plural
number is denoted a determinate portion of time, which, in other places, is
compared to the "days of an hireling": Job
14:6; Isaiah 16:14. The Psalmist does not, then,
bewail in general the transitory life of man, but he complains that the time of
his state of warfare in this world had been too long protracted; and,
therefore, he naturally desires that it might be brought to a termination. In
expostulating with God about his troubles, he does not do so obstinately, or
with a murmuring spirit; but still, in asking how long it will be necessary for
him to suffer, he humbly prays that God would not delay to succour him. --John
Calvin.
Verse
84. -- When wilt thou execute judgment on them that persecute me?
He declares that he does not doubt but that there will be at some period an end
to his afflictions, and that there will be a time in which his haters and
enemies will be judged and punished. He assumes the fact and therefore enquires
the date. Thus in the saints their very impatience of delay does itself prove
their confidence of future salvation and deliverance. -- Wolfgang Musculus.
Verse
84. -- When wilt thou execute judgment, etc. This is an
ordinary prayer, not against any certain persons, but rather generally against
God's enemies and their evil courses. For the Lord executeth judgment upon his
children for their conversion, as Paul (Acts 9), and upon the wicked for their
confusion. He prayeth against them that belonged not to God, and yet not so
much against their persons as their evil causes; and no otherwise against their
persons than as they are joined with the evil causes. Thus we may pray for the
confusion of God's enemies; otherwise we cannot. --R. Greenham.
Verse
84. -- In this verse there is none of the ten words used in
reference to God's law. -- Adam Clarke. Is not judgment one of them? --
C.H.S.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
84. -- A solemn question pointing to the shortness of life, the
severity of sorrow, the necessity of industry, the nearness of the reward.
EXPOSITION
Verse
85. The proud have digged pits for me, which are not after thy law.
As men who hunt wild beasts are wont to make pitfalls and snares, so did
David's foes endeavour to entrap him. They went laboriously and cunningly to
work to ruin him, "they digged pits"; not one, but many. If one would
not take him, perhaps another would, and so they digged again and again. One
would think that such haughty people would not have soiled their fingers with
digging; but they swallowed their pride in hopes of swallowing their victim.
Whereas they ought to have been ashamed of such meanness, they were conscious
of no shame, but, on the contrary, were proud of their cleverness; proud of
setting a trap for a godly man. "Which are not after thy law."
Neither the men nor their pits were according to the divine law: they were
cruel and crafty deceivers, and their pits were contrary to the Levitical law,
and contrary to the command which bids us love our neighbour. If men would keep
to the statutes of the Lord, they would lift the fallen out of the pit, or fill
up the pit so that none might stumble into it; but they would never spend a
moment in working injury to others. When, however, they become proud, they are
sure to despise others; and for this reason they seek to circumvent them, that
they may afterwards hold them up to ridicule. It was well for David that his
enemies were God's enemies, and that their attacks upon him had no sanction
from the Lord. It was also much to his gain that he was not ignorant of their
devices, for he was thus put upon his guard, and led to watch his ways lest he
should fall into their pits. While he kept to the law of the Lord he was safe,
though even then it was an uncomfortable thing to have his path made dangerous
by the craft of wanton malice.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
85. -- Pits. Hajji said he would tell me a tale or two about
crocodiles, and he would begin by telling me how they catch them sometimes. A
deep pit, he said, is dug by the side of the river, and then covered with doura
straw. The crocodiles fall into these pits, and cannot get out again... There
can be no doubt that formerly pits were dug for the crocodiles, as Hajji
described, as is the case still in some parts of the world or other animals. To
this custom allusion is made in Psalms
7:15 9:15 10:2 35:8 141:10 Proverbs
26:27 Ec 10:8: etc. "He made a pit and digged it, and is fallen
into the ditch which he made." Probably also this was the kind of pit
referred to in Exodus 21:33: "If a man shall dig a pit,
and not cover it"; i.e., not cover it effectually;" and an ass or an
ox fall therein," etc.
Prisoners
were sometimes shut up in pits, and left without water, literally to die of
thirst. What a dreadful death! It is said that nothing can be more terrible.
How dreadful must be their groans! --John Gadsby.
Verse
85. -- The proud have digged pits. It seems strange that a
proud man should be a digger of pits; but so it is; for pride for a time can
submit itself to gain a greater vantage over him whom it would tread under
foot. "The wicked is so proud that he seeks not God, yet he croucheth and
boweth, to cause heaps of the poor to fill by his might," Psalms 10:4,10. So proud Absalom abased himself to meanest
subjects that so he might prepare a way to usurpation over his king and father.
But mark, he saith not that he had fallen into the pits which his enemies had
digged. No, no: in God's righteous judgments, the wicked are snared in the work
of their own hands, while the good escape free. "He made a pit, and digged
it," and is fallen into the ditch which he made. His mischief shall return
upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate. Psalms 7:15-16. Thus Haman hanselled the gallows which he
raised for Mordecai; and Saul, when he thought by subtlety to slay David with
the Philistine's sword (when he sent him out to seek two hundred of their
foreskins in a dowry) was disappointed of his purpose; but he himself at length
was slain by the sword. --William Cowper.
Verse
85. -- Let men beware how they dig pits for others. All God's
word testifies against such wickedness. How many tests are invented simply for
the purpose of entangling men's consciences and furnishing ground for
persecution. --William S. Plumer.
Verse
85. -- Which are not after thy law. Hebrew, Not after thy
law. It may refer to the men or to the practice. The men walk not according to
thy law, and their fraudulent practices are not agreeable to thy law. The law
of God condemned pits for tame beasts: Exodus 21:33,84. Though it was lawful for
hunters to take wild beasts, yet they were to take heed that a tame beast fell
not therein, at their petal. --Thomas Manton.
Verse
85. -- Which are not after thy law. After God's law they
could not be while they were doing such things. Perhaps he refers to the deed
more than to the men "The proud have digged pits for me, which is not
after thy law" -- which is against thy law; and they would seem to do it because
it is against thy law -- delighting in wickedness as they do. Such men would
seem to imbibe the foul spirit which Milton ascribes to the fallen archangel:
"Evil, be thou my good." Obviously, however, the words contain this
sentiment, -- The proud have sought to overthrow me, because they are not
obedient to thy law. Hereupon he sets their conduct in the light of God's holy
commandments, that the comparison may be made: "All thy commandments are
faithful: they persecute me wrongfully." Whatever the Lord did was done in
truth; these men acted against his servant without cause, and in so doing they
also acted in defiance of his known will. --John Stephen.
Verse
85. -- The wicked have told me fables, but mot as thy law (So
the Septuagint). The special reason why he desires to be freed from the company
of the wicked is, because they always tempt the pious by relating the pleasures
of the world, which are nothing but fables, filthy, fleeting pleasures, more
fallacious than real -- nothing like the grand and solid pleasure that always
flows from a pious observance of the law of the Lord. -- Robert Bellarmine.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
85. -- Pits; or, the secret schemes of wicked men against the godly.
EXPOSITION
Verse
86.
All thy commandments are faithful. He had no fault to find with God's law, even
though he had fallen into sad trouble through obedience to it. Whatever the
command might cost him it was worth it; he felt that God's way might be rough,
but it was right; it might make him enemies, but still it was his best friend.
He believed that in the end God's command would turn out to his own profit, and
that he should be no loser by obeying it.
They
persecute me wrongfully. The fault lay with his persecutors, and neither with
his God nor with himself. He had done no injury to anyone, nor acted otherwise
than according to truth and justice; therefore he confidently appeals to his
God, and cries, "Help thou me." This is a golden prayer, as precious
as it is short. The words are few, but the meaning is full. Help was needed
that the persecuted one might avoid the snare, might bear up under reproach,
and might act so prudently as to baffle his foes. God's help is our hope.
Whoever may hurt us, it matters not so long as the Lord helps us; for if indeed
the Lord help us, none can really hurt us. Many a time have these words been
groaned out by troubled saints, for they are such as suit a thousand conditions
of need, pain, distress, weakness, and sin. "Help, Lord," will be a
fitting prayer for youth and age, for labour and suffering, for life and death.
No other help is sufficient, but God's help is all sufficient, and we cast
ourselves upon it without fear.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
86. --
All thy commandments are faithful. David setteth down here three points.
The one is that God is true; and after that he addeth a protestation of his
good conduct and guidance, and of the malice of his adversaries: thirdly, he
calleth upon God in his afflictions. Now as concerning the first, he showeth us
that although Satan to shake us, and in the end utterly to carry us away,
subtilly and cunningly goeth about to deceive us, we must, to the contrary,
learn how to know his ambushes, and to keep us from out of them. So often then
as we are grieved with adversity and affliction, where must we begin? See Satan
how he pitches his nets and layeth his ambushes to induce and persuade us to
come into them, what saith he? Dost thou not see thyself forsaken of thy God?
Where are the promises whereunto thou didst trust? Now here thou seest thyself
to be a wretched, forlorn creature. So then thou right well seest that God hath
deceived thee, and that the promises whereunto thou trustedst appertain nothing
at all unto thee. See here the subtlety of Satan. What is now to be done? We
are to conclude with David and say, yet God is true and faithful. Let us, I
say, keep in mind the truth of God as a shield to beat back whatsoever Satan is
able to lay unto our charge. When he shall go about to cause us to deny our
faith, when he shall lie about us to make us believe that God thinketh no more
of us, or else that it is in vain for us to trust unto his promises; let us
know the clean contrary and believe that it is very plain and sound truth which
God saith unto us. Although Satan casteth at us never so many darts, although
he have never so exceeding many devices against us, although now and then by
violence, sometimes with subtlety and cunning, it seemeth in very deed to us
that he should overcome us; nevertheless he shall never bring it to pass, for
the truth of God shall be made sure and certain in our hearts. -- John Calvin.
Verse
86. --
All thy commandments are faithful. The Hebrew is Faithfulness; that is to
say, they are true, sure, equal, infallible. "They have persecuted me
wrongfully:" no doubt for asserting God's truths and commands, and
adhering thereto. --John Trapp.
Verse
86. --
They persecute me wrongfully. There is a stress on the word falsely (or
wrongfully); for that is a true saying of a martyr saint, "The cause, not
the pain, makes the martyr." Wherefore the apostle teaches us, "Let
none of you suffer as a murderer or as a thief, or as an evil doer, or as a
busybody in other men's matters. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him
not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf." --Neale and
Littledale.
Verse
86. --
Help thou me. "God help me" is an excellent, comprehensive
prayer; it is a pity it should ever be used lightly and as a byword. --Matthew
Henry.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
86.
(last clause). -- A prayer for all occasions. See the many cases in which it is
used in Scripture.
EXPOSITION
Verse
87.
They had almost consumed me upon earth. His foes had almost destroyed him so as
to make him altogether fail. If they could they would have eaten him, or burned
him alive; anything so that they could have made a full end of the good man.
Evidently he had fallen under their power to a large extent, and they had so
used that power that he was well nigh consumed. He was almost gone from off the
earth; but almost is not altogether, and so he escaped by the skin of his
teeth. The lions are chained: they can rage no further than our God permits.
The Psalmist perceives the limit of their power: they could only touch his
earthly life and earthly goods. Upon earth they almost ate him up, but he had
an eternal portion which they could not even nibble at. "But I forsook not
thy precepts." Nothing could drive him from obeying the Lord. If we stick
to the precepts we shall be rescued by the promises. If ill usage could have
driven the oppressed saint from the way of right the purpose of the wicked
would have been answered, and we should have heard no more of David. If we are
resolved to die sooner than forsake the Lord, we may depend upon it that we shall
not die, but shall live to see the overthrow of them that hate us.
Verse
87.
-- Almost consumed. The lives of good men are full of narrow escapes. The
righteous are scarcely saved. Many a time their feet do almost slip. Yet he,
who has redeemed them, will not let them so fall that they can rise no more.
One of their greatest perils is, a temptation to use unlawful means for
terminating their trials. -- William S. Plumer.
Verse
87.
-- It should be noticed that he says "upon the earth:" for it shows,
that even if his enemies had taken away his life .on earth, he nevertheless
confidently looked for another life in heaven; and that already he had by faith
entered into heaven, and was living a heavenly life; so that if the life of the
body should be taken away, it was not to be regarded as an evil. They who live
such a life speedily recover from despair. --D.H. Mollerus.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
87.
--
Verse
87.
--
Verse
87.
-- Passing through fires, and the asbestos covering.
EXPOSITION
Verse
88. Quicken me after thy loving kindness. Most wise, most blessed
prayer! If we are revived in our own personal piety we shall be out of reach of
our assailants. Our best protection from tempters and persecutors is more life.
Lovingkindness itself cannot do us greater service than by making us to have
life more abundantly. When we are quickened we are able to bear affliction, to
baffle cunning, and to conquer sin. We look to the lovingkindness of God as the
source of spiritual revival, and we entreat the Lord to quicken us, not
according to our deserts, but after the boundless energy of his grace. What a
blessed word is this "loving kindness." Take it to pieces, and admire
its double force of love. "So shall I keep the testimony of thy
mouth." If quickened by the Holy Ghost we shall be sure to exhibit a holy
character. We shall be faithful to sound doctrine when the Spirit visits us and
makes us faithful. None keep the word of the Lord's mouth unless the word of
the Lord's mouth quickens them. We ought greatly to admire the spiritual
prudence of the Psalmist, who does not so much pray for freedom from trial as
for renewed life that he may be supported under it. When the inner life is
vigorous all is well. David prayed for a sound heart in the closing verse of
the last octave, and here he seeks a revived heart; this is going to the root
of the matter, by seeking that which is the most needful of all things. Lord,
let it be heart work with us, and let our hearts be right with thee.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
88. -- Quicken me after thy lovingkindness. Finally, the man
of God appears entreating to be quickened, that so he may be enabled to keep
the divine testimony... Here is a last resort, but it is a sure one. Let the
living principles of divine grace be imparted to the soul, and the believer
will be raised above dismay at the face of men. How does the spiritual mind
triumph over even the infirmities of the body! We may behold this from the
deathbed of the believer, and we may recall this in the lives and deaths of
many eminent ones. The man of pure mind goes right to the fountain of life. He
goes, with understanding, for he takes in the character in which the Lord hath
spoken of himself: "Quicken me after thy lovingkindness." All at once
he lays aside thought of his enemies; he is present with his God. His desire is
to rise into higher spiritual existence, that he may hold closer communion with
the Father of lights with whom there is no variableness. --John Stephen.
Verse
88. -- Quicken me, etc. He had prayed before, "Quicken
me in thy righteousness" (Psalms
119:40); but here "Quicken me after thy lovingkindness."
The surest token of God's goodwill towards us is his good work in us. --Matthew
Henry.
Verse
88. -- Quicken me. Many a time in this psalm doth David make
this petition; and it seems strange that so often he should acknowledge himself
a dead man, and desire God to quicken him. But so it is unto the child of God:
every desertion and decay of strength is a death. So desirous are they to live
unto God, that when they fail in it and find any inability in their souls to
serve God as they would, they account themselves but dead, and pray the Lord to
quicken them. --William Cowper.
Verse
88. -- The testimony of thy mouth. The title here given to
the directory of our duty -- "The testimony of God's mouth," gives
increasing strength to our obligations. Thus let every word we read or hear be
regarded as coming directly from the "mouth of God" (Joh 6:63). What
reverence what implicit submission does it demand! May it ever find us in the
posture of attention, humility, and faith! each one of us ready to say,
"Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth." --Charles Bridges.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
88. --
Verse
88. -- Quickening.
Verse
88. --
──
C.H. Spurgeon《The Treasury of David》
Verse
89. For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven. The strain is
more joyful, for experience has given the sweet singer a comfortable knowledge
of the word of the Lord, and this makes a glad theme. After tossing about on a
sea of trouble the Psalmist here leaps to shore and stands upon a rock.
Jehovah's word is not fickle nor uncertain; it is settled, determined, fixed,
sure, immovable. Man's teachings change so often that there is never time for
them to be settled; but the Lord's word is from of old the same, and will
remain unchanged eternally. Some men are never happier than when they are
unsettling everything and everybody; but God's mind is not with them. The power
and glory of heaven have confirmed each sentence which the mouth of the Lord
has spoken, and so confirmed it that to all eternity it must stand the same, --
settled in heaven, where nothing can reach it. In the former section David's
soul fainted, but here the good man looks out of self and perceives that the
Lord fainteth not, neither is weary, neither is there any failure in his word.
The
verse takes the form of an ascription of praise: the faithfulness and
immutability of God are fit themes for holy song, and when we are tired with
gazing upon the shifting scene of this life, the thought of the immutable
promise fills our mouth with singing. God's purposes, promises, and precepts
are all settled in his own mind, and none of them shall be disturbed. Covenant
settlements will not be removed, however unsettled the thoughts of men may
become; let us therefore settle it in our minds that we abide in the faith of
our Jehovah as long as we have any being.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
LAMED.
-- Ver. 89. -- Here the climax of the delineation of the suppliant's pilgrimage
is reached. We have arrived at the centre of the psalm, and the thread of the
connexion is purposely broken off. The substance of the first eleven strophes
has evidently been: "Hitherto hath the Lord brought me: shall it be that I
now perish?" To this the eleven succeeding strophes make answer, "The
Lord's word changeth not; and in spite of all evil foreboding, the Lord will
perfect concerning ms the work that he hath already begun." --Joseph
Francis Thruput, 1860.
Verse
89. -- For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven. These
words are usually rendered as making but one proposition; but the accent athnab
showeth there are two branches; the one asserting the eternity of God; the
other, the constancy and permanency of his word. Thus,
It
implies that as God is eternal, so is his word, and that it hath a fit
representation both in heaven and in earth: in heaven, in the constant motion
of the heavenly bodies; in earth, in the consistency and permanency thereof;
that as his word doth stand fast in heaven, so doth his faithfulness on earth,
where the afflictions of the godly seem to contradict it. -- Thomas Manton.
Verse
89. -- For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven. When
Job considers his body turned to dust and worms (Job 14:19,25), yet by faith he says, "My
Redeemer lives," etc. Even when patience failed in Job, yet faith failed
not. Though God kill all other graces and comforts, and my soul too, yet he shall
not kill my faith, says lie. If he separate my soul from my body, yet not faith
from my soul. And therefore the just lives by faith, rather than by other
graces, because when all is gone, yet faith remains, and faith remains because
the promise remains: "For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in
heaven." And this is the proper and principal meaning of this place.
--Matthew Lawrence.
Verse
89. -- For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven. If we
look at God's word of promise, as it is in our unsettled hearts, we dream that
it's as ready to waver as our hearts are; as the shadow of the sun and moon in
the water seems to shake as much as the water doth which it shines upon. Yet
for all this seeming shaking here below, the sun and moon go on m a steadfast
course in heaven. So the Psalmist tells us that however our hearts stagger at a
promise through unbelief, nay, and our unbelief makes us believe that the
promise often is shaken; yet God's word is settled, though not in our hearts,
yet "in heaven"; yea, and there "for ever," as settled as
heaven itself is; yea, more than so; for "heaven and earth may pass,"
but "not one jot or tittle of the law (and therefore of the gospel) shall
fail": Luke 16:17. --Anthony Tuckney, 1599-1670.
Verse
89. -- Settled. J. M. Good translates the verse as follows --
"For ever, O Jehovah, hath thy word given array to the heavens," and
observes that the Hebrew word bcb is a military term, and applies to arraying and
marshalling the divisions of an army in their proper stations when taking the
field. The hosts of heaven are here supposed to be arrayed or marshalled with a
like exact order; and to maintain for ever the relative duties imposed on them:
while the earth, like the heavens, has as established a march prescribed to it,
which it equally fulfils; for all are the servants of the great Creator; and
hence, as they change, produce the beautiful regularity of the seasons, the
rich returns of harvest, and daily declare the glory of the Lord.
Verse
89. -- In heaven. Whenever you look to heaven, remember that
within you have a God, who hath fixed his residence and shown his glory there,
and made it the seat both of his mercy and justice. You have also there a
Saviour who, after he had died for our sins, sat down at the right hand of
Majesty, to see his promises accomplished, and by his word to subdue the whole
world. There are angels that "do his commandment, hearkening to the voice
of his word": Psalms 103:20. There are glorified saints, who
see God face to face, and dwell with him for evermore, and came thither by the
same covenant which is propounded to us, as the charter of our peace and hope.
In the outer region of heaven we see the sun and moon, and all the heavenly
bodies, move in that fixed course and order wherein God hath set them; and will
God show his constancy in the course of nature, and be fickle and changeable in
the covenant of grace, wherein he hath disposed the order and method of his
mercies? --Thomas Manton.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
89, 91. -- In these verses there is affirmed to be an analogy between
the word of God and the works of God. It is said of his "word,"
that it is "settled in heaven," and that it sustains its faithfulness
from one generation to another. It is said of his "works," and more
especially of those that are immediately around us, even of the earth which we
inhabit, that as it was established at the first so it abideth afterwards. And
then, as if to perfect the assimilation between them, it is said of both in Psalms
119:91, "They continue this day according to thine ordinances:
for all are ray servants"; thereby identifying the sureness of that word
which proceeded from his lips, with the unfailing constancy of that Nature
which was formed and is upholden by his hands.
The
constancy of Nature is taught by universal experience, and even strikes the
popular eye as the most characteristic of those features which have been
impressed upon her. It may need the aid of philosophy to learn how unvarying
Nature is in all her processes -- how even the seeming anomalies can be traced
to a law that is inflexible -- how what appears at first to be the caprices of
her waywardness, are, in fact, the evolutions of a mechanism that never changes
-- and that the more thoroughly she is sifted and put to the test by the
interrogations of the curious, the more certainly will they find that she walks
by a rule which knows no abatement, and perseveres with obedient footstep in
that even course from which the eye of strictest scrutiny has never yet
detected one hair breadth of deviation. It is no longer doubted by men of
science, that every remaining semblance of irregularity in the universe is due,
not to the fickleness of Nature, but to the ignorance of man -- that her most
hidden movements are conducted with a uniformity as rigorous as Fate -- that
even the fitful agitations of the weather have their law and their principle --
that the intensity of every breeze, and the number of drops in every shower,
and the formation of every cloud, and all the occurring alternations of storm
and sunshine, and the endless shifting of temperature, and those tremulous
varieties of the air which our instruments have enabled us to discover but have
not enabled us to explain -- that still, they follow each other by a method of
succession, which, though greatly more intricate, is yet as absolute in itself
as the order of the seasons, or the mathematical courses of astronomy. This is
the impression of every philosophical mind with regard to Nature, and it is
strengthened by each new accession that is made to science...But there is enough
of patent and palpable regularity in Nature to give also to the popular mind
the same impression of her constancy. There is a gross and general experience
that teaches the same lesson, and that has lodged in every bosom a kind of
secure and steadfast confidence in the uniformity of her processes. The very
child knows and proceeds upon it. He is aware of an abiding character and
property in the elements around him, and has already learned as much of the
fire, and the water, and the food that he eats, and the firm ground that he
treads upon, and even of the gravitation by which he must regulate his postures
and his movements, as to prove that, infant though he be, he is fully initiated
in the doctrine, that Nature has her laws and her ordinances, and that she
continueth therein, and the proofs of this are ever multiplying along the
journey of human observation; insomuch that when we come to manhood, we read of
Nature's constancy throughout every department of the visible world. It meets
us wherever we turn our eyes...God has so framed the machinery of my
perceptions, as that I am led irresistibly to expect that everywhere events
will follow each other in the very train in which I have ever been accustomed
to observe them; and when God so sustains the uniformity of Nature, that in
every instance it is rigidly so, he is just manifesting the faithfulness of his
character. Were it otherwise, he would be practising a mockery on the
expectation which he himself had inspired. God may be said to have promised to
every human being that Nature will be constant -- if not by the whisper of an
inward voice to every heart, at least by the force of an uncontrollable bias
which he has impressed on every constitution. So that, when we behold Nature
keeping up its constancy, we behold the God of Nature keeping up his
faithfulness; and the system of visible things with its general laws, and its
successions which are invariable, instead of an opaque materialism to intercept
from the view of mortals the face of the Divinity, becomes the mirror which
reflects upon the truth that is unchangeable, the ordination that never
fails...And so it is, that in our text there are presented together, as if
there was a tie of likeness between them -- that the same God who is fixed as
to the ordinances of Nature, is faithful as to the declarations of his word;
and as all experience proves how firmly he may be trusted for the one, so is
there an argument as strong as experience, to prove how firmly he may be
trusted for the other. By his work in us he hath awakened the expectation of a
constancy in Nature, which he never disappoints. By his word to us, should he
awaken the expectation of a certainty in his declarations, this he will never
disappoint. It is because Nature is so fixed, that we apprehend the God of
Nature to be so faithful. He who never falsities the hope that hath arisen in
every bosom, from the instinct which he himself hath communicated, will never
falsify the hope that shall arise in any bosom from the express utterance of
his voice. Were he a God in whose hand the processes of nature were ever
shifting, then might we conceive him a God from whose mouth the proclamations
of grace had the like characters of variance and vacillation. But it is just
because of our reliance on the one that we feel so much of repose in our
dependence upon the other; and the same God who is so unfailing in the
ordinances of his creation, we hold to be equally unfailing in the ordinances
of his word. --Thomas Chalmers.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Outlines
Upon Keywords of the Psalm, By Pastor C. A. Davis.
Verse
89-96. -- The immutable word of God. Is enthroned in heaven (Psalms
119:89), and on earth (Psalms 119:90-91), is the salvation of the
believer in affliction (Psalms 119:92,94), His resource in danger (Psalms
119:95), and the embodiment of perfection (Psalms
119:96).
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
89-92. -- The Psalmist here tells us the prescription which soothed his
pains and sustained his spirits. Here we have strong consolation.
(a) The eternal
existence of God.
(b) The immutability of his word.
(c) The
faithfulness of the fulfilment of that word.
(d) The
perpetuity of the word in nature.
(e) The
perpetuity of the word in experience.
Verse
89. -- Eternal settlements, or, heavenly certainties.
Verse
89. -- God's eternal calm (in contrast with earth's mutations)
imaged in the starry heavens. --William Bickle Haynes, of Stafford, 1882.
Verse
89. -- Consider,
(a) A word is a
revealed thought. The Scriptures are just
this: the thoughts and purposes of God made intelligible to
man.
(b) But a
"word" also marks specially unity (it is one
word) and wholeness or completeness, a word, not a
syllable. The Scriptures are one and complete.
(a)
"Settled in heaven" before it came to earth; therefore
it could come as a continuous unfolding, through various
dispensations, without the shadow of hesitation or
contradiction manifest in it.
(b) Abides
"settled in heaven," for its central revelation;
the atonement is a completed fact, and Christ is now in
heaven a perfected Saviour; thus the word is unalterable.
(c) "For
ever settled in heaven." Not only because God in
heaven is of one mind and cannot be turned; but because
righteousness itself, the righteousness of heaven,
demands that an atonement by suffering shall be fully and
everlastingly answered by its due reward.
(a) If settled
in heaven, men on earth can never unsettle
it.
(b) The wicked
may not indulge a future hope arising from
any new dispensation beyond the grave; God's present word
to us cannot then be unsettled.
(c) The godly
may rely on a settled word amidst the
unsettled experiences and feelings incident to earth. --J.F.
EXPOSITION
Verse
90. Thy faithfulness is unto all generations. This is an additional
glory: God is not affected by the lapse of ages; he is not only faithful to one
man throughout his lifetime, but to his children's children after him, yea, and
to all generations so long as they keep his covenant and remember his
commandments to do them. The promises are ancient things, yet they are not worn
out by centuries of use, for the divine faithfulness endureth for ever. He who
succoured his servants thousands of years ago still shows himself strong on the
behalf of all them that trust in him. "Thou hast established the earth,
and it abideth." Nature is governed by fixed laws; the globe keeps its
course by the divine command, and displays no erratic movements: the seasons
observe their predestined order, the sea obeys the rule of ebb and flow, and
all things else are marshalled in their appointed order. There is an analogy
between the word of God and the works of God, and specially in this, that they
are both of them constant, fixed, and unchangeable. God's word which
established the world is the same as that which he has embodied in the
Scriptures; by the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and specially by him
who is emphatically THE WORD. When we see the world keeping its place and all
its laws abiding the same, we have herein assurance that the Lord will be
faithful to his covenant, and will not allow the faith of his people to be put
to shame. If the earth abideth the spiritual creation will abide; if God's word
suffices to establish the world surely it is enough for the establishment of
the individual believer.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
90. -- Thy faithfulness is unto all generations. As he
gathered, the certainty of God's word from the endurance of heaven, so now he
confirms it by considering the foundation of the earth. Since the foundation of
the earth, made by the word of God, abides sure, shall we not think that the
foundation of our salvation laid in Jesus Christ, is much more sure? Though the
creatures cannot teach us the way of our salvation (for that we must learn by
the word), yet do they confirm that which the word saith, "Thus saith the
LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon
and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves
thereof roar; the LORD of hosts is his name: If those ordinances depart from
before me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being
a nation before me for ever:" Jeremiah 31:85,36. As there Jeremy gathers the
stability of the church from the stability of the creatures; so here David
confirms the certainty of our salvation by the most certain and unchangeable
course of creation; and both of them are amplified by Christ Jesus:
"Heaven and earth may pass away, but one jot of God's word shall not fall
to the ground." Let us therefore be strengthened in faith and give glory
to God. --William Cowper.
Verse
90. -- Thou hast established the earth, and it abideth. Every
time we set foot on the ground, we may remember the stability of God's
promises, and it is also a confirmation of faith. Thus, --
Verse
90. -- It abideth. Creation is as the mother, and Providence
the nurse which preserveth all the works of God. God is not like man; for man,
when he hath made a work, cannot maintain it: he buildeth a ship, and cannot
save it from shipwreck; he edifies a house, but cannot keep it from decay. It
is otherwise with God; we daily see his conserving power, upholding his
creatures; which should confirm us that he will not cast us off, nor suffer us
to perish (since we are the works of his hands) if we so depend upon him, and
give him glory as our Creator, Conserver, and Redeemer. --William Cowper.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
90. -- The stability of the earth a present picture of everlasting
faithfulness.
Verse
90-91. -- Consider,
EXPOSITION
Verse
91. They continue this day according to thine ordinances. Because the
Lord has bid the universe abide, therefore it stands, and all its laws continue
to operate with precision and power. Because the might of God is ever present
to maintain them, therefore do all things continue. The word which spake all
things into existence has supported them till now, and still supports them both
in being and in well being. God's ordinance is the reason for the continued
existence of creation. What important forces these ordinances are! "For
all are thy servants." Created by thy word they obey that word, thus
answering the purpose of their existence, and working out the design of their
Creator. Both great things and small pay homage to the Lord. No atom escapes
his rule, no world avoids his government. Shall we wish to be free of the Lord's
sway and become lords unto ourselves? If we were so, we should be dreadful
exceptions to a law which secures the well being of the universe. Rather while
we read concerning all things else -- they continue and they serve, let us
continue to serve, and to serve more perfectly as our lives are continued. By
that word which is settled may we be settled; by that voice which establishes
the earth may we be established; and by that command which all created things
obey may we be made the servants of the Lord God Almighty.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
91. -- They continue this day according to thine ordinances,
etc. Which of the works of God are not pervaded by a beautiful order? Think of
the succession of day and night. Think of the revolution of the seasons. Think
of the stars as they walk in their majestic courses, -- one great law of
harmony "binding the sweet influence of the Pleiades,...and guiding
Arcturus with his sons": Job 38:31-32. Look upwards, amid the
magnificence of might, to that crowded concave, -- worlds piled on worlds, --
and yet see the calm grandeur of that stately march; -- not a discordant note
there to mar the harmony, though wheeling at an Inconceivable velocity in their
intricate and devious orbits! These heavenly sentinels all keep their appointed
watch towers. These Levites in the upper firmament, light their altar fires
"at the time of the evening incense," and quench them again, when the
sun, who is appointed to rule the day, walks forth from his chamber.
"These wait all upon thee": Psalms
104:27. "They continue this day according to thine ordinances:
for all are thy servants." --J.R. Macduff, in "Sunsets on the Hebrew
Mountains," 1862.
Verse
91. -- They continue this day according to thine ordinances.
Man may destroy a plant, but he is powerless to force it into disobedience to
the laws given it by the common Creator. "If," says one, "man would
employ it for his use, he must carefully pay attention to its wants and ways,
and bow his own proud will to the humblest grass at his feet. Man may forcibly
obstruct the path of a growing twig, but it turns quietly aside, and moves
patiently and irresistibly on its appointed way.". Do what he may, turf
wilt not grow in tile tropics, nor the palm bear its fruit in a cold climate.
Rice refuses to thrive out of watery swamps, or cotton to form its fleece of
snowy fibres where the rain can reach them. Some of the handsomest flowers in
the world, and stranger still, some of the most juicy and succulent plants with
which we are acquainted, adorn the arid and desolate sands of the Cape of Good
Hope, and wilt not flourish elsewhere. If you twist the branch of a tree so as
to turn the under surface of its leaves towards the sky, in a very little while
all those leaves will turn down and assume their appointed position. This
process will be performed sooner or later, according to the heat of the sun and
the flexibility of the leaves, but none the less it will surely take place. You
cannot induce the Sorrowful tree of India to bloom by day, or cause it to cease
all the year round from loading the night air with the rich perfume of its
orange like flowers. The philosopher need not go far to find the secret of
this. The Psalmist declares it when, speaking of universal nature, he traces
the true cause of its immutable order. God, he says, "hath established
them for ever and ever: He hath made a decree which shall not pass;" or,
as it is in the Prayer book version, "hath given them a law which shall
not be broken": Psalms 148:6. Truly is it said in another Psalms
114:91, "They continue this day according to thine ordinances:
for all are thy servants." Wilful man may dare to defy his Maker, and set
at nought his wise and merciful commands; but not so all nature besides. Well,
indeed, is it for us that his other works have not erred after the pattern of
our rebellion; that seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter,
day and night, with all their accompanying provision, have not ceased! To the
precepts imposed upon vegetation when first called into being on creation's
third day, it stilt yields implicit submission, and the most tender plant will
die rather than transgress. What an awful contrast to this is the conduct of
man, God's noblest work, endowed with reason and a never dying soul, yet too
often ruining his health, wasting and destroying his mental power, defiling his
immortal spirit, and, in a word, madly endeavouring to frustrate every purpose
for which he was framed. --James Neil, in "Rays from the Realms of
Nature," 1879.
Verse
91. -- All creatures punctually observe the law he hath implanted
on their nature, and in their several capacities acknowledge him their
sovereign; they move according to the inclinations he imprinted on them. The
sea contains itself in its bounds, and the sun steps not out of his sphere; the
stars march in their order: "They continue this day according to thine
ordinances: for all are thy servants." If he orders things contrary to
their primitive nature they obey him. When he speaks the word, the devouring fire
becomes gentle, and toucheth not the hair of the children he will preserve; the
hunger starved lions suspend their ravenous nature when so good a morsel as
Daniel is set before them; and the sun, which had been in perpetual motion
since its creation, obeys the writ of ease God sent in Joshua's time, and
stands still. --Stephen Charnock.
Verse
91. -- All are thy servants. We should consider how great is
that perversity by which man only, formed in the image of God, together with
reprobate angels, has fallen away from obedience to God; so that what is said
of all other creatures cannot be said of him, unless renewed by singular grace.
--Wolfgang Musculus.
Verse
91. -- All are thy servants. Since all creatures must serve
God, therefore we ought neither to use them for any other purpose, nor turn
them to the service of sin. The creature by the sin of our first parents has
been made subject to vanity, and groans, and longs to be delivered, Romans 8:
Christians, therefore, who use the creature and the world, should use as not
abusing, 1 Corinthians 7; but enjoy them with praise of the divine majesty and
goodness, 1 Timothy 4. --Solomon Gesner.
Verse
91. -- All are thy servants.
Say not, my
soul, "From whence
Can God relieve my care?
Remember that Omnipotence
Has servants everywhere." --Thomas T. Lynch, 1855.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
91. -- Our starry monitors. They teach us,
Verse
91. -- The service of nature.
EXPOSITION
Verse
92. Unless thy law had been my delights, I should then have perished
in mine affliction. That word which has preserved the heavens and the earth
also preserves the people of God in their time of trial. With that word we are
charmed; it is a mine of delight to us. We take a double and treble delight in
it, and derive a multiplied delight from it, and this stands us in good stead
when all other delights are taken from us. We should have felt ready to lie
down and die of our griefs if the spiritual comforts of God's word had not
uplifted us; but by their sustaining influence we have been borne above all the
depressions and despairs which naturally grow out of severe affliction. Some of
us can set our seal to this statement. Our affliction, if it had not been for divine
grace, would have crushed us out of existence, so that we should have perished.
In our darkest seasons nothing has kept us from desperation but the promise of
the Lord: yea, at times nothing has stood between us and self destruction save
faith in the eternal word of God. When worn with pain until the brain has
become dazed and the reason well nigh extinguished, a sweet text has whispered
to us its heart cheering assurance, and our poor struggling mind has reposed
upon the bosom of God. That which was our delight in prosperity has been our
light in adversity; that which in the day kept us from presuming has in the
night kept us from perishing. This verse contains a mournful supposition
"unless"; describes a horrible condition -- "perished in mine
affliction"; and implies a glorious deliverance, for he did not die, but
live to proclaim the honours of the word of God.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
92. -- Unless thy law had been my delights, etc. This text
sets out the great benefit and comfort which David found in the law of God in
the time of his affliction. It kept him from perishing: "Had not thy law
been my delights, I had perished in ray affliction"...David speaks this
(saith Musculus) of the distressful condition he was in when persecuted by
Saul, forced to fly to the Philistines, and sometimes to hide himself in the
rocks and caves of the earth. It is very likely (saith he) that he had the book
of God's law with him, by the reading of which he mitigated and allayed his
sorrows, and kept himself pure from communicating with the heathen in their
superstitions. The Greek scholiasts say that David uttered these words when
driven from Saul, and compelled to live among the Philistines, etc. For he
would have been allured to have communicated with them in their impieties had
he not carried about him the meditation of the word of God.
The
word of God delighted in is the afflicted saint's antidote against ruin and
destruction. The word of God is the sick saint's salve, the dying saint's
cordial, a precious medicine to keep God's people from perishing in time of
affliction. This upheld Jacob from sinking, when his brother Esau came
furiously marching to destroy him (Genesis
32:12). He pleaded, "And thou saidst, I will surely do thee
good," etc. Thus the promise of God supported him. This also upheld Joshua
and enabled him courageously to fight the Lord's battles, because God had said,
"He would never leave him nor forsake him" (Joshua
1:5). Melanethon saith that the Landgrave of Hesse told him at
Dresden that it had been impossible for him to have borne up under the manifold
miseries of so long an imprisonment, Nisi habuisset consolationem verbo divino
in suo corde, but for the comfort of the Scriptures in his heart. --Edmund
Catamy (1600-1666) in "The Godly Man's Ark."
Verse
92. -- Certainly the reading of most part of the Scriptures must
needs be a very comfortable thing; and I think a godly heart (disposed as it
ought to be) can hardly tell how to be sad while it does it. For what a
comfort is it for a man to read an earthly father's letters sent to him, though
they were written long ago? With what care do we keep such letters in our
chests? With how much delight do we ever and anon take them out and look upon
them? and with how much sorrow do we lose them? Is my love to my earthly father
so great, and shall my love to my heavenly Father be less? Can my heart choose
but rejoice and my bones flourish like an herb, as oft as I look upon my
Redeemer's last will and testament, whereby I know that he me so much and that
he doth so for me continually, and that I shall be ever with him.
How
is David ever and anon talking of his delight in the law of God, and in his
statutes and testimonies. It was to him instead of all other delights; standing
by him when all delights else left him; "Unless thy law had been my
delight (or, my very great delight), I should then have perished in mine affliction,"
Psalms 119:92. Let princes sit and speak against
him never so much; yet will he meditate in God's statutes, Psalms
119:23. Let him have never so many persecutors and enemies; yet will
he not decline from God's testimonies, Psalms 119:157. Let him be in a strange place, there shall
God's statutes be his song, Psalms
119:54. Let him be a stranger in the earth all his life; so that he
be not a stranger to God's commandments he cares not, Psalms
119:19. Although he should have never so much contempt cast upon
him, yet will he not forget God's precepts, Psalms 119:141. Although his soul should be continually in
his hand, yet that should not make him forget God's law. Yea, although he
became like a bottle in the smoke, yet will he not forget God's precepts, Psalms
119:83. And therefore was it that he rejoiced, because he had been
afflicted upon this account, that it made him learn God's statutes. He cared
for no other wealth. "Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for
ever: for they are the rejoicing of my heart," Ps 119:111. Neither cared
he much for life, but only to keep God's word, Psalms
119:17. Whatever he had said before, or meant to say next, he still
cries, "Teach me thy statutes," and, "I have longed for thy
precepts," &c.; or some such expression or other. He could not forbear
to speak of them, for they were still before him, Psalms
119:30. No wonder, then, that he meditated upon them so often, as he
saith he did. "O how I love thy law! it is my meditation all the
day," Psalms 119:97. And "Thy testimonies are my
meditation," Psalms 119:99. God's commandments were to David
sweeter in his mouth than honey, to talk and discourse of them, Psalms 119:103. --Zachary Bogan, 1653.
Verse
92. -- The persons to whose delight the word of God actually
conduces are the children of God, and none else. None but they are prepared
to take in the consolation of the word.
Verse
92. -- My delights. The word signifieth delights in the
plural number. Many were the sorrows of David's life; but against them all he
found as many comforts and delectations in God's word. With such variety of
holy wisdom hath God penned his word, that it hath convenient comfort for every
state of life, and therefore the children of God account nothing so dear as it;
they prefer it to their appointed food. --William Cowper.
Verse
92. -- Thy law...my delights...in mine affliction. I happened
to be standing in a grocer's shop one day in a large manufacturing town in the
west of Scotland, when a poor, old, frail widow came in to make a few
purchases. There never was, perhaps, in that town a more severe time of
distress. Nearly every loom was stopped. Decent and respectable tradesmen, who
had seen better days, were obliged to subsist on public charity. So much money
per day (but a trifle at most) was allowed to the really poor and deserving.
The poor widow had received her daily pittance, and she had now come into the
shop of the grocer to lay it out to the best advantage. She had but a few
coppers in her withered hands. Carefully did she expend her little stock -- a
pennyworth of this and the other necessary of life nearly exhausted all she had.
She came to the last penny, and with a singular expression of heroic
contentment and cheerful resignation on her wrinkled face, she said, "Now
I must buy oil with this, that I may see to read my Bible during these long
dark nights, for it is my only comfort now when every other comfort has gone
away." -- Alexander Wallace, in "The Bible and the Working
Classes," 1853.
Verse
92. -- This verse I may call a Perfume against the Plague; The
Sick Man's Salve; The Afflicted Man's Consolation; and a blessed Triumph,
in and over all troubles. -- Richard Greenham.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
92. -- The sustaining power of joy in God.
Verse
92. -- The word of God as a sustaining power amid the greater
sorrows of life.
(a) For want of
it, men have become drunkards to drown
their sorrows, have become suicides because life was
unbearable, have become broken and hopeless because they
had no strength to struggle against misfortune, have become
atheists in creed as, alas, they were before in practice;
all, in fact, become subject to sorrow's worst bitterness
and calamity's worst effects.
(b) Nothing can supply the place of God's word. Nature
throws no light on the mystery of suffering. Human
philosophy is at best cold comfort, and when most needed
most fails.
(a) In the
experience of those who have tried it.
(b) By the
character of its promises.
(c) By the
discovery it makes of a beneficent providence
working through calamity and sorrow.
(d) By the
revelation it gives of the pity of God and the
sympathy of Christ.
(e) By its
record of the "Man of sorrows," who through
suffering wrought out man's salvation, and entered into
glory.
(f) By its
teaching concerning the Incarnate Word; thus
showing a suffering God, which may well be a solace to
suffering men.
(g) By
displaying the glory of heaven and the eternal
felicity awaiting those who overcome through the blood of
the Lamb. --J.F.
Verse
92. -- The Godly Man's Ark; or, City of Refuge in the day of his
Distress. Discovered in divers (five) Sermons...By Edmund Calamy,
B.D...Eighteenth edition. 1709. 12mo.
Verse
92. -- We have here set before us by the Psalmist,
Verse
92. -- The life buoy. Under the form of the narrative of a
shipwrecked mariner, describe the experience of the soul struggling in the sea
of affliction; almost overwhelmed: yet buoyed up over each successive billow:
and finally saved by clinging to the Word of God. --C.A.D.
Verse
92. -- The Psalmist's shudder at recollected danger.
EXPOSITION
Verse
93. I will never forget thy precepts: for with them thou hast
quickened me. When we have felt the quickening power of a precept we never can
forget it. We may read it, learn it, repeat it, and think we have it, and yet
it may slip out of our minds; but if it has once given us life or renewed that
life, there is no fear of its falling from our recollection. Experience
teaches, and teaches effectually. How blessed a thing it is to have the
precepts written on the heart with the golden pea of experience, and graven on
the memory with the divine stylus of grace. Forgetfulness is a great evil in
holy things; we see here the man of God fighting against it, and feeling sure
of victory because he knew the life giving energy of the word in his own soul.
That which quickens the heart is sure to quicken the memory.
It
seems singular that he should ascribe quickening to the precepts, and yet it
lies in them and in all the words of the Lord alike. It is to be noted that
when the Lord raised the dead he addressed to them the word of command. He
said, "Lazarus, come forth," or "Maid, arise." We need not
fear to address gospel precepts to dead sinners, since by them the Spirit gives
them life. Remark that the Psalmist does not say that the precepts quickened
him, but that the Lord quickened him by their means: thus he traces the life
from tile channel to the source, and places the glory where it is due. Yet at
the same time he prized the instruments of the blessing, and resolved never to
forget them. He had already remembered them when he likened himself to a bottle
in the smoke, and now he feels that whether in the smoke or in the fire the
memory of the Lord's precepts shall never depart from him.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
93. -- I will never forget thy precepts, etc. Forgetfulness
must be striven against in every possible way, lest it should gradually creep
in, through ingratitude, old age, weakness of mind, or other overwhelming
cares. See Psalms 119:16,61,83. --Martin Geier.
Verse
93. -- I will never forget thy precepts, etc. This afflicted
good man is now comforted; his comfort came from his delight in God's law; he
thinks of it, he feels the force of it, and therefore to the end that he might
ever receive the like comforts, he will bind himself by a promise to the Lord
that he will never forget his precepts; adding a reason, namely, that they were
to him spirit and life.
With
them hast thou quickened me. Quickened he was, as he saith, by God, but yet
also by the word, soundly preached, savingly understood, and particularly
applied to the conscience. Thus then doth the power of Christ's death make us
to walk on in newness of life. No aqua vitae, or celestis like unto this, by
which we have inward peace of conscience, and an outward obedience to God's
commandments. David rejoiced in this blessing,, so ought we: we desire to be
ever quick, and cheerful to all good duties; it is only God, by his Spirit, in
the word, that can give it. --Richard Greenham.
Verse
93. -- With them thou hast quickened me. The quickening
Spirit delights to work by means of the word; but though the word be the means,
yet the benefit comes from God: "For with them thou hast quickened
me." Life comes, from the fountain of life. The gospel is a sovereign
plaster; but it is God's hand that must apply it, and make it stick; make it to
be peace, comfort, and quickening to our souls. There is a double quickening,
when, from dead, we are made living; or when, from cold, and sad, and heavy, we
are made lively...and so not only have life, but enjoy it more abundantly,
according to Christ's gracious promise (John
10:10); that they may be living, lively, kept still in rigour. Now,
this second quickening may be taken, either more largely, for the vitality of
grace; or, strictly, for actual comfort Largely taken; so God quickens by
increasing the life of: grace; either internally, by promising the life of
grace; or morally and externally, by promising the life of glory. More
strictly, his quickening may be taken for comfort and support in his
affliction; so it is likely to be taken here: he had said immediately before,
"Unless thy law had been my delights, I should then have perished in my
affliction"; and now, "I will never forget thy precepts, for with
them thou hast quickened me." It was great comfort and support to him; and
therefore he should prize the word as long as he lived. -- Thomas Manton.
Verse
93. -- Thou hast quickened me. Leave not off reading the
Bible till you find your hearts warmed. Read the word, not only as a history,
but labour to be affected with it. Let it not only inform you, but inflame you.
"Is not my word like a fire? saith the Lord": Jer 23:29. Go not from
the word till you can say as those disciples, "Did not our hearts burn
within us?" Luke 24:32. --Thomas Watson.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
93. -- Experience fixes the word upon the memory.
Verse
93. --
(a) The
precepts are worth remembering.
(b) Safety lies in remembering them.
(c) Fidelity to
God cannot be without remembering them.
(d) Not to
remember them is shameful ingratitude.
(b) A reason
appreciative of the benefit received:
"quickened."
(c) A reason
indicative of gratitude to God: "thou." --J.F.
Verse
93. -- Never forget; an often uttered phrase. Here golden.
Verse
93. --
(a) Used by God
in our regeneration:
Jas 1:18 Psalms
19:7.
(b) Used in our
liberation: John 8:32.
(c) Used in our
sanctification: John 17:7.
(a) Our past
obligations to it.
(b) Our present
dependence upon it.
(c) Our future
needs of it. --W.W.
EXPOSITION
Verse
94. I am thine, save me. A comprehensive prayer with a prevailing
argument. Consecration is a good plea for preservation. If we are conscious
that we are the Lord's we may be confident that he will save us. We are the
Lord's by creation, election, redemption, surrender, and acceptance; and hence
our firm hope and assured belief that he will save us. A man will surely save
his own child: Lord, save me. The need of salvation is better seen by the
Lord's people than by any others, and hence their prayer -- "save
me"; they know that only God can save them, and hence they cry to him
alone; and they know that no merit can be found in themselves, and hence they
urge a reason fetched from the grace of God, -- "I am thine."
"For I have sought thy precepts." Thus had he proved that he was the
Lord's. He might not have attained to all the holiness which he desired, but he
had studiously aimed at being obedient to the Lord, and hence he begged to be
saved even to the end. A man may be seeking the doctrines and the promises, and
yet be unrenewed in heart; but to seek the precepts is a sure sign of grace; no
one ever heard of a rebel or a hypocrite seeking the precepts. The Lord had
evidently wrought a great work upon the Psalmist, and he besought him to carry
it on to completion. Saving is linked with seeking, "save me, for I have
sought"; and when the Lord sets us seeking he will not refuse us the
saving. He who seeks holiness is already saved: if we have sought the Lord we
may be sure that the Lord has sought us, and will certainly save us.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
94. -- I am thine, save me. David, a man after God's own
heart, would be saved, but not after the manner of the men of this world, that
would be saved to be their own and to enjoy themselves at their own will; but
he in being saved would be God's, and at his disposing: "I am thine, save
me."
There
is a threefold strength in this argument.
Verse
94. -- I am thine. This is an excellent motive to draw from
the Lord help in trouble, - - "I am thine." Thine by creation, I was
made by thee; thine by adoption, I was assigned over to thee; thine by donation,
I was given to thee; thine by marriage, I was espoused to thee; thine by
redemption, I was purchased by thee; thine by stipulation, I have vowed myself
unto thee. --Richard Greenham.
Verse
94. -- For I have sought thy precepts. See here how David qualifies
his protestation: from his earnest affection to l he word of God, he proves
that he was God's man and not his own servant. It is not words, but affections
and actions which must prove us to be the Lord's. Tuus sum, quia id solum qued
tuum est quaesivi: I am thine because I sought nothing but that which is thine,
and how I might please thee. Mihi in tuis justificationibus est omne
poatrimonium: in the observance of thy precepts is all my patrimony. -- William
Cowper.
Verse
94. --
Verse
94 --
Verse
94. --
Verse
94. --
Verse
94. -- Multum in parvo.
Verse
94. --
Verse
94. -- The characteristics of personal religion.
Verse
94. -- The courage obedience gives.
(b) But the
assurance of being his cannot exist without
obedience; obedience proves the faith to ourselves;
satisfies us concerning grace received.
(c) Poor obedience always interferes with assurance.
(a) The
Christian's prayers are only of faith and offered
in faith.
(b) Yet
disobedience makes: him shrink from approaching God
in prayer, and renders him feeble in petitioning.
(c) Obedience
is humble but bold. The middle clause of the
text applies equally to the first and third clauses. --J.F.
EXPOSITION
Verse
95.
The wicked have waited for me to destroy me: but I will consider thy
testimonies. They were like wild beasts crouching by the way, or highway men
waylaying a defenceless traveller; but the Psalmist went on his way without
considering them, for he was considering something better, namely, the witness
or testimony which God has borne to the sons of men. He did not allow the
malice of the wicked to take him off from his holy study of the divine word. He
was so calm that he could "consider"; so holy that he loved to
consider the Lord's "testimonies"; so victorious over all their plots
that he did not allow them to drive him from his pious contemplations. If the
enemy cannot cause us to withdraw our thoughts from holy study, or our feet
from holy walking, or our hearts from holy aspirations, lie has met with poor
success in his assaults. The wicked are the natural enemies of holy men and
holy thoughts; if they could, they would not only damage us but destroy us, and
if they cannot do this today they will wait for further opportunities, ever
hoping that their evil designs may be compassed. They ave waited hitherto in
vain, and they will have to wait much longer yet; for if we are so unmoved that
we do not even give them a thought their hope of destroying us must be a very
poor one.
Note
the double waiting, -- the patience of the wicked who watch long and carefully
for an opportunity to destroy the godly, and then the patience of the saint who
will not quit his meditations, even to quiet his foes. See how the serpent's
seed lie in wait as an adder that biteth at the horse's heels; but see how the
chosen of the Lord live above their venom, and take no more notice of them than
if they had no existence.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
95. --
The wicked have waited for me to destroy me. Two things again he notes in
his enemies; diligence, in waiting all occasions whereby to do him evil; and
cruelty without mercy, for their purpose was to destroy him: wherein, still we
see how restless and insatiable is the malice of the wicked against the godly.
Daniel's preservation in the lions' den was a great miracle; but it is no less
a marvellous work of God, that the godly who are the flock of Christ, are daily
preserved in the midst of the wicked, who are but ravening wolves, and thirst
for the blood of the saints of God, having a cruel purpose in their heart if
they might perform it, utterly to destroy them. --William Cowper.
Verse
95. --
But I will consider thy testimonies. It was a grievous temptation to be
sought for to be given up to slaughter, but a greater mercy to consider God's
testimonies, even then when his life was sought for. Had it not been for the
consideration of God's testimonies, a thousand to one he had fallen away.
--Richard Greenham.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
95.
-- Wicked men patient in carrying out their evil designs. Good men patient in
considering the ways of the Lord.
Verse
95.
-- The hatred of the wicked towards the righteous.
(a)
Select Scriptural instances, beginning with Abel.
(b) Notice the persecutions of the church.
(c)
Treatment in the workshop.
(d)
Often in the home.
(e)
The contemptuous manner the "saints" are spoken of,
etc.
(a)
The enmity of the carnal heart to God.
(b)
The jealousy excited by the Christian's assurance of
eternal blessedness.
(c)
The consciousness of being rebuked by a holy life.
(d)
Excited to it by Satan.
(e)
The restless mischievousness of sin which, if it cannot
hinder holiness, will maliciously hurt its advocates.
(b)
Have the more watchful control over words and feelings.
(c)
Love your enemies.
(d)
Pray for those who hate you.
(e)
Do good to them on every opportunity.
(f)
Be thankful that you are among the hated and not the
haters.
(g)
Especially consider the holy testimony of Christ's
forbearing patience. --J.F.
Verse
95.
-- Waiting counter wrought by waiting.
--W.B.H.
Verse
95.
-- Immunity.
EXPOSITION
Verse
96. I have seen an end of all perfection. He had seen its limit, for
it went but a little way; he had seen its evaporation under the trials of life,
its detection under the searching glance of truth, its exposure by the
confession of the penitent. There is no perfection beneath the moon. Perfect
men, in the absolute sense of the word, live only in a perfect world. Some men
see no end to their own perfection, but this is because they are perfectly
blind. The experienced believer has seen an end of all perfection in himself,
in his brethren, in the best man's best works. It would be well if some who
profess to be perfect could even see the beginning of perfection, for we fear
they cannot have begun aright, or they would not talk so exceeding proudly. Is
it not the beginning of perfection to lament your imperfection? There is no
such thing as perfection in anything which is the work of man. "But thy
commandment is exceeding broad." When the breadth of the law is known the notion
of perfection in the flesh vanishes: that law touches every act, word, and
thought, and is of such a spiritual nature that it judges the motives, desires,
and emotions of the soul. It reveals a perfection which convicts us for
shortcomings as well as for transgressions, and does not allow us to make up
for deficiencies in one direction by special carefulness in others. The divine
ideal of holiness is far too broad for us to hope to cover all its wide arena,
and yet it is no broader than it ought to be. Who would wish to have an
imperfect law? Nay, its perfection is its glory; but it is the death of all
glorying in our own perfection. There is a breadth about the commandment which
has never been met to the full by a corresponding breadth of holiness in any
mere man while here below; only in Jesus do we see it fully embodied. The law
is in all respects a perfect code; each separate precept of it is far reaching
in its hallowed meaning, and the whole ten cover all, and leave no space
wherein to please our passions. We may well adore the infinity of divine
holiness, and then measure ourselves by its standard, and bow before the Lord
in all lowliness, acknowledging how far we fall short of it.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
96. -- I have seem an end of all perfection, etc. These words
are variously rendered and understood by interpreters, who in this variety do
very much conspire and agree in the same sense. The Chaldee Paraphrase renders
the words thus, "I have seen an end of all things about which I have
employed my care; but thy commandment is very large." The Syriac version
thus, "I have seen an end of all regions and countries" (that is, I
have found the compass of the habitable world to be finite and limited)
"but thy commandment is of a vast extent." Others explain it thus,
"I have seen an end of all perfection," that is, of all the things of
this world which men value and esteem at so high a rate; of all worldly wisdom
and knowledge, of wealth, and honour, and greatness, which do all perish and
pass away; "but thy law is eternal, and still abideth the same"; or,
as the Scripture elsewhere expresses it, "The word of the Lord endureth
for ever." --John Tillotson, 1630-1694.
Verse
96. -- I have seen an end of all perfection. Poor perfection
which one sees an end of! Yet such are all those things in this world which
pass for perfections. David in his time had seen Goliath, the strongest,
overcome; Asahel, the swiftest, overtaken; Ahithophel, the wisest, befooled;
Absalom, the fairest, deformed. --Matthew Henry.
Verse
96. -- I have seen an end of all perfection, etc. The
Psalmist's words offer us a double comfort and encouragement. We may read them
in two ways:
Read
in the first way, they suggest the animating thought, that our haunting
consciousness of imperfection springs from the bright and awful perfection of
the Law we are bent on obeying, of the ideal we have set before us. It is not
because we are worse than those who are without law, or who are a law unto
themselves, that we are restless and dissatisfied with ourselves; but because
we measure both ourselves and our fellows by the lofty standard of God's
commandment. It is because that commandment is so broad, that we cannot embrace
it; it is because it is so high, that we cannot attain to it; it is because it
is so perfect, that we cannot perfectly obey it.
But
we may read the verse in another way, and still derive comfort and
encouragement from it. We may say: "I have seen an end of all perfection
in myself, and in the world; but thy commandment is exceeding broad: that is
perfect, though I am imperfect, and in its perfection I find the promise of my
own." For shall God give a law for human life, and that law remain for
ever unfulfilled Impossible! "The gifts of God are without
repentance" -- irreversible, never to be lessened or withdrawn. His
purpose is not to be made of none effect by our weaknesses and sins. In the Law
he has shown us what he would have us to be. And shall we never become what lie
would have us to be? Can the Law remain for ever without any life that
corresponds to it and fulfils it? Nay, God will never take back the fair and
perfect ideal of human life depicted in his Law, never retract his purpose to
raise the life of man till it touches and fulfils its ideal. And so the very
Law which is our despair is our comfort also; for if that be perfect we must become
perfect; its perfection is the pledge of ours. --From "The
Expositor," 1876.
Verse
96. -- I have seen an end of all perfection. David's natural
eye had seen the end of many human perfections, and the eye of his
understanding saw the end of them all. He had seen some actually end, and he
saw that all must end. Adam did not continue in that perfection which had no
imperfection in it; how then shall any of his children continue in what is at
best an imperfect perfection? --Abraham Wright.
Verse
96. -- I have seen an end, etc. The laws of Lycurgus among
the Grecians, and of Numa among the Romans, had somewhat of good in them, but
not all; prohibited somewhat that was evil, but not all that was evil. But the
Christian religion is of a larger extent, both in its precepts and
prohibitions: "I have seen an end of all perfection: but thy commandment
is exceeding broad." A man with the eye of his body may behold an end of
many worldly perfections, of many fair estates, great beauties, large parts,
hopeful families; but a man with the eye of his soul (or by faith) may see an
end of all earthly perfections. He may see the world in a flame, and all its
pomp and pride, and glory, and gallantry, and crowns and sceptres, and riches,
and treasures, turned into ashes. He may see the heavens passing away like a
scroll, and the elements melting with fervent heat, and the earth, with the
things thereon, consumed; and all its perfections, which men dented so much on,
vanished into smoke and nothing. It is easy to see to the end of all terrene
perfections, but it is difficult, yea, impossible, to see to the end of divine
precepts: "But thy commandments are exceeding broad," of a vast
latitude, beyond our apprehension. They are so deep that none can fathom them, Psalms
36:6, so high that they are established in heaven, Psalms
114:48; so long that they endure for ever, 2 Peter 1; and so broad,
that none can measure them. They are not only "broad," but
"exceeding broad": higher than heaven, longer than the earth, broader
than the sea. "The commands of God reach the inward parts, the most secret
motions and retired recesses of the soul. They reach all the privy thoughts,
they pierce even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints
and marrow, and discern the thoughts and intents of the heart, Hebrews
4:12. They reach to all our actions; to those that seem smallest and
of less concernment, as well as to those that are greater and of more
concernment." --George Swinnock.
Verse
96. -- Thy commandment is exceeding broad. As there is more
mercy in the gospel than we are able to comprehend, so there is more holiness
in the law than we are able to comprehend. No man ever saw into the depths of
that righteousness. There is an infinite holiness in the law. "I have seen
an end of all perfection: but thy commandment is exceeding broad." He
speaks not in the concrete, I have seen an end of perfect things, but in the
abstract, "an end of perfection," I have come to the outside or to
the very bottom of all (a man may soon travel through all the perfections that
are in the world, and either see their end, or see that they end); "but
thy commandment is exceeding broad," that is, it is exceedingly broader
than any of these perfections; I cannot see the end of it, and I know it shall
never have an end. There is a vastness of purity and spiritualness in the law.
-- Joseph Caryl.
Verse
96. -- Thy commandment is exceeding broad. It is so by the
comprehensive applicableness of its grand, simple rules. "Thou shalt love
the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and soul, and strength, and thy neighbour
as thyself." It is so by the ample order of its special injunctions. Where
is there a spot without a signal of the divine will? It is so by laying an
authoritative hand on the first principles and origin from which any thing can
proceed, in human spirit and action; then it reaches to all things that do or
can proceed thence. It asserts a jurisdiction over all thought and inward
affection. All language is uttered under this same jurisdiction. All that the
world and each man is in action about. And even over what is not done it
maintains its authority, and pronounces its dictates and judgments. It is a
positive thing with respect to what is negative, omission, nonexistence Like
the divine government in the material world, over the wastes, deserts, and
barren sands. And from these spaces of nothing (as it were) it can raise up
substantial forms of evil, of sin, in evidence against men. As at the
resurrection men will rise from empty wastes, where it would not have been
suspected that any were concealed. Let a man look back on all his omissions,
and think what the divine law can raise from them against him. Thus the law in
its exceeding breadth, is vacant nowhere; it is not stretched to this wide
extent by chasms and void spaces. If a man could find one such, he might there
take his position for sin with impunity, if not with innocence. --John Foster,
1768- 1848.
Verse
96. -- Thy commandment is exceeding broad. In the popular
religious literature of the present times, the terms "broad" and
"free" are of frequent occurrence. The fascination that surrounds
them is enhanced by the use, at the same time, of their opposites,
"narrow" and "bigoted." By an adroit manipulation of these
terms and their equivalents, the heterodoxy of the day is labouring to stamp out
the doctrine and spirit of the evangelical faith, and to allure the Christian
multitude within the influence of the spreading rationalistic drift. Going to
the market where the heterodox wares are exhibited with labels so attractive,
the unsuspecting purchaser soon discovers that "their vine is of the vine
of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their
clusters are bitter." Is the time not come when the adherents of the true
faith should make an effort to wrest from their opponents the monopoly in the
use of these terms, which they seem desirous of establishing for themselves?
Those who, in the spirit of their Master, abide most closely by, and contend
most tenaciously for, the whole faith that has been delivered to the saints,
must be the most liberal minded and catholic; and those who forsake the
"old paths" must, in proportion to the extent of their departures,
become contracted in their mental grasp, and narrow in their soul. Is not the
Bible -- the whole Bible -- the only manual of Broad churchism in its truest
and highest sense? Is not the revelation of God's Son in us, the great soul
expanding power? "If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free
indeed." Must we not infer, from the words of Christ "Ye shall know
the truth, and the truth shall make you free," that the mind which
apprehends the truth is a home of mental liberty? Does not strict conformity of
the life to God's law produce real breadth of character? For "Thy
commandment is exceeding broad." Is not the gospel system the only true
Broad churchism -- "the perfect law of liberty"? Is not the believer
-- and the more so in proportion to the strength of his faith -- the only true
Broad churchman, "increasing with the increase of God," "filled
with all the fulness of God"? --James Kerr, in "The Modern Scottish
Pulpit," 1880.
Verse
96. -- Exceeding broad. Notwithstanding many things do show
the way of life to be narrow, yet unto the godly man it is a way of great
breadth; though not for sin, yet for duly and delight. He makes haste and
progress in it. --Robert Trail, 1642- 1716.
Verse
96. -- Take notice that the law, which is your mark, is
exceeding broad. And yet not the more easy to be hit; because you must aim to
hit it, in every duty of it, with a performance of equal breadth, or else you
cannot hit it at all. --Stephen Marshall.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
96. --
Verse
96. --
Verse
96. -- Perfectionism disproved by experience and inspiration.
--W.B.H.
Verse
96. -- Perfection -- perfect and imperfect.
EXPOSITION
Verse
97. O how love I thy law! It is a note of exclamation. He loves so
much that he must express his love, and in making the attempt he perceives that
it is inexpressible -- and therefore cries, "O how I love!" We not
only reverence but love the law, we obey it out of love, and even when it
chides us for disobedience we love it none the less. The law is God's law, and
therefore it is our love. We love it for its holiness, and pine to be holy; we
love it for its wisdom, and study to be wise; we love it for its perfection,
and long to be perfect. Those who know the power of the gospel perceive an
infinite loveliness in the law as they see it fulfilled and embodied in Christ
Jesus.
It
is my meditation all the day. This was both the effect of his love and the
cause of it. He meditated in God's word because he loved it, and then loved it
the more because he meditated in it. He could not have enough of it, so
ardently did he love it: all the day was not too long for his converse with it.
His main prayer, his noonday thought, his evensong were all out of Holy Writ;
yea, in his worldly business he still kept his mind saturated with the law of
the Lord. It is said of some men that the more you know them the less you
admire them; but the reverse is true of God's word. Familiarity with the word
of God breeds affection, and affection seeks yet greater familiarity. When
"thy law," and "my meditation" are together all the day,
the day grows holy, devout, and happy, and the heart lives with God. David
turned away from all else; for in the preceding verse he tells us that he had
seen an end of all perfection; but he turned in unto the law and tarried there
the whole day of his life on earth, growing henceforth wiser and holier even
sick of love, as the church saith (Song
of Solomon 2:5 5:8), she was sick of love towards Christ: so seemeth
the prophet to be sick of love towards the word of God. This word
"how," also imports a comparison, and notes a greater love in David
towards the word than towards riches or any other thing; in which respect he
saith afterward in this very Psalm (Psalms 119:127), that he loveth the Lord's commandments
"above gold, yea, above fine gold"; yea, as whosoever so loveth not
Christ, that in respect of Christ, and for Christ's sake, he forsaketh father,
and mother, and brethren, and sisters, wife and children, and his own life also
(much more riches and other things not to be compared to life) is not worthy of
him: so he that doth not love the word above all other things; yea, he that
hateth not all other things below here, ill respect of the word, is not worthy
of the word. Christ himself loved the word of God more than he loved any riches;
for did he not for the performance of the word submit himself to such want,
that the foxes had holes, and the birds had nests, but he had not whereon to
lay his head? and that, although he were the heir of all things, yet he was
ministered unto by certain women? He loved the word of God moro than he loved
his mother, brethren, and sisters...Yea, Christ loved the word of God more than
he loved his own life; for did he not lay down his life to fulfil the word of
God?...If Christ Jesus himself loved the word more than all other things, yea,
more than his life, which was more than the life of all angels, was there not
great reason why David should love it in like manner? Had not David as much
need of it as Christ?...
It
is my meditation. The noun "meditation" seemeth to be more than if he
had said only that he meditated. For he seemeth to mean that though he did
often think upon other matters, yet he made nothing his "meditation"
but that which he here speaketh of, and that this was his only, or his chief
and principal meditation and set study.
The
object of David's meditation is not only to be understood of the bare letter of
the word, as if he did always meditate of some text or other of the word before
written; but also of the matters contained in the word; as of the justice,
power, wisdom, mercy and goodness of God; of the frailty, corruption, and
wickedness that is in man naturally, of the sins that God forbiddeth, and of
the virtues that God commandeth in the word, and other the like. For he that
meditates of these things, though he meditate not of any one text of the word,
yet he may be truly said to meditate of the word.
All
the day. We are not to imagine that the prophet did nothing else but meditate
on the word; but this, first of all; that no day passed over his head wherein
he did not meditate on the word; yea, that he took every occasion of meditating
on the word. He was never weary of meditating. Though he had many other things
wherein to employ himself, yet he forgot not the meditation of the word. His
mind was not by any other employment alienated from the meditation of the word,
but the more thereby provoked thereunto. As a man that hath laboured never so
much one day in his calling, is not to be wearied thereby, but that he
laboureth afresh the next day, and so day after day: so was it with the prophet
touching this act of meditation. Secondly, when he saith he meditated on the
word continually, or all the day, he meaneth that he did nothing at any time of
the day without meditation on the word for doing thereof. Therefore we may
safely say that continual meditation of the word is more necessary than
continual praying, as being necessary before the doing of everything, and in
the very doing of everything; yea, even before the said duty of prayer, and in
the very act thereof, this work of meditation of the word is always necessary;
as without which, we know not either for what to pray, or in what sort and
manner to pray: it is God's word only that can and must teach us both what to
pray for and also how to pray. --Thomas Stoughton, in "Two Profitable
Treatises," 1616.
Verse
97. -- O how love I thy law! Who without love attempts anything in
the law of God, does it coldly, and quickly gives it up. For the mind cannot
give itself earnestly and perseveringly to things which are not loved. Only he
who loves the law makes it his meditation all the day. --Wolfgang Musculus.
Verse
97. -- O how love I thy law! Were I to enjoy Hezekiah's grant, and
to have fifteen years added to my life, I would be much more frequent in my
applications to the throne of grace. Were I to renew my studies, I would take
my leave of those accomplished trifles -- the historians, the orators, the
poets of antiquity -- and devote my attention to the Scriptures of truth. I
would sit with much greater assiduity at my Divine Master's feet, and desire to
know nothing but "Jesus Christ, and him crucified." This wisdom,
whose fruits are peace in life, consolation in death, and everlasting salvation
after death -- this I would trace -- this I would seek -- this I would explore
through the spacious and delightful fields of the Old and New Testament.
--James Hervey, 1714-1758.
Verse
97. -- This most precious jewel is to be preferred above all
treasure. If thou be hungry, it is meat to satisfy thee; if thou be thirsty, it
is drink to refresh thee; if thou be sick, it is a present remedy; if thou be
weak, it is a staff to lean unto; if thine enemy assault thee, it is a sword to
fight withal; if thou be in darkness, it is a lantern to guide thy feet; if
thou be doubtful of the way, it is a bright shining star to direct thee; if
thou be in displeasure with God, it is the message of reconciliation; if thou
study to save thy soul, receive the word engrafted, for that is able to do it:
it is the word of life. Whose loveth salvation will love this word, love to
read it, love to hear it; and such as will neither read nor hear it, Christ
saith plainly, they are not of God. For the spouse gladly heareth the voice of
the bridegroom; and "my sheep hear my voice," saith the Prince of
pastors (Joh 5:27). --Edwin Sundys, 1519-1587.
Verse
97. -- O how love I thy law! As faith worketh by love unto God, so
it worketh by love unto his word. Love me, love my word: love a king, love his
laws. So it did on David; so it should do on us: "O how love I thy
law!" saith David. "O how love I thy law!" should every one of
us say; not only because it is a good law, but chiefly because it is God's law.
--Richard Capel, 1586-1656.
Verse
97. -- O how love I thy law! He calls God himself to be judge of his
love to the word; witnessing thereby that it was no counterfeit love, but
complete and sincere love which he bore unto it. The like protestation was used
by S. Peter: "Thou knowest, O Lord, that I rove thee!" --William Cowper.
Verse
97. -- Thy law. In every one of these eight verses the Bible is
spoken of as the Lord's, as, indeed, all through the Psalm. Who is the author
of Scripture? God. What is the matter of Scripture? God; it was not fit that
any should write of God, but God himself. What is the end of Scripture? God.
Why was the Scripture written, but that we might everlastingly enjoy the
blessed God As Caesar wrote his own commentaries; so God, when there was none
above him of whom he could write, he wrote of himself; by histories, laws,
prophecies, and promises, and many other doctrines, hath he set himself forth
to be the Creator, Preserver, Deliverer, and Glorifier of mankind; and all this
is done in a perfect manner. --Thomas Manton.
Verse
97. -- It is my meditation. Holy Scripture is not a book for the
slothful: it is not a book which can be interpreted without, and apart from,
and by the deniers of, that Holy Spirit by whom it came. Rather is it a field,
upon the surface of which, if sometimes we gather manna easily and without
labour, and given, as it were, freely to our hands, yet of which also, many
portions are to be cultivated with pains and toil ere they will yield food for
the use of man. This bread of life also is to be eaten in the wholesome sweat
of our brow. --Richard Chenevix Trench, 1807-.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Outlines
Upon Keywords of the Psalm, By Pastor C. A. Davis.
Verse
97-104. -- The profitableness of holy meditation. Its theme -- "thy
law," (Psalms 119:97), its effect -- "wisdom"
(Psalms 119:98-100), practically shown in daily
life (Psalms 119:101-102), its sweetness (Psalms 119:103), and hallowing influence (Psalms 119:104).
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
97. --
Verse
97. -- Indescribable love and insatiable thought. The action and
reaction of affection and meditation.
Verse
97. --
Verse
97. -- Love to the law.
Verse
97. (first clause). -- Vehemency of love for God's word.
(a) Profound
reverence for the authority of the word.
(b) Admiration for its holiness.
(c) Jealousy.
For its honour; God's servant feels acute
pain when men show it any slight.
(d) Respect for
its wholeness; he would not divorce
precepts from promises, nor ignore a single statement in
it.
(e)
Indefatigability in its study.
(f) Eager
desire to obey it.
(g) Forwardness
in praising it.
(h) Activity in
spreading it abroad.
(a) The word
well deserves it.
(b) It is a
proof of true intelligence.
(c) It is not
less than a regard for our own interest
demands.
(b) It is
involved in that love to God which constitutes
the very essence of worship.
(c) It is
itself an act of homage, that a worshipper dare
not withhold. --J.F.
Verse
97-100. -- Spiritual wisdom.
EXPOSITION
Verse
98. Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine
enemies. The commands were his book, but God was his teacher. The letter can
make us knowing, but only the divine Spirit can make us wise. Wisdom is
knowledge put to practical use. Wisdom comes to us through obedience: "If
any man will do his will he shall know of the doctrine." We learn not only
from promise, and doctrine, and sacred history, but also from precept and
command; in fact, from the commandments we gather the most practical wisdom and
that which enables us best to cope with our adversaries. A holy life is the
highest wisdom and the surest defence. Our enemies are renowned for subtlety,
from the first father of them, the old serpent, down to the last cockatrice
that has been hatched from the egg; and it would be vain for us to try to be a
match with them in the craft and mystery of cunning, for the children of this
world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. We must go to
another school and learn of a different instructor, and then by uprightness we
shall baffle fraud, by simple truth we shall vanquish deep laid scheming, and
by open candour we shall defeat slander. A thoroughly straightforward man,
devoid of all policy, is a terrible puzzle to diplomatists; they suspect him of
a subtle duplicity through which they cannot see, while he, indifferent to
their suspicions, holds on the even tenor of his way, and baffles all their
arts. Yes, "honesty is the best policy." He who is taught of God has
a practical wisdom such as malice cannot supply to the crafty; while harmless
as a dove he also exhibits more than a serpent's wisdom.
For
they are ever with me. He was always studying or obeying the commandments; they
were his choice and constant companions. If we wish to become proficient we
must be indefatigable. If we keep the wise law ever near us we shall become
wise, and when our adversaries assail us we shall be prepared for them with
that ready wit which lies in having the word of God at our fingers' ends. As a
soldier in battle must never lay aside his shield, so must we never have the
word of God out of our minds; it must be ever with us.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
98. -- Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine
enemies. Now he praiseth the word for the singular profit and fruit which
he reaped by it; to wit, that he learned wisdom by it. And this he amplifies,
by comparing himself with three sorts of men; his enemies, his teachers, and
the ancients. And this he doth, not of vain glory (for bragging is far from him
who is governed by the Spirit of grace); but to commend the word of the Lord,
and to allure others to love it, by declaring to them what manifold good he
found in it.
Wiser
than mine enemies. But how can this be, seeing that our Saviour saith that the
men of this world are wiser in their own generation than the children of God?
The answer is, our Saviour doth not call worldlings wise men simply; but wiser
in their own generation; that is, wise in things pertaining to this life. Or as
Jeremy calls them, "wise to do evil"; and when they have so done,
wise to conceal and cloak it. All which in very deed is but folly; and
therefore David, who by the light of God's word saw that it was so, could not
be moved to follow their course. Well; there is a great controversy between the
godly and the wicked: either of them in their judgment accounts the other to be
fools; but it is the light of God's word which must decide it. --William
Cowper.
Verse
98. -- Wiser than mine enemies. They are wiser than their
enemies as to security against their attempts, and that enmity and opposition
that they carry on against them; they are far more safe by walking under the
convert of God's protection than their enemies can possibly be, who have all
manner of worldly advantages. A godly wise man is careful to keep in with God:
he is more prepared and furnished, can have a higher hope, more expectation of
success, than others have; or, if not, he is well enough provided for, though
all things fall out never so cross to his desires. As to success, who hath made
wiser provision, think you, he that hath made God his friend, or he that is borne
up with worldly props and dependencies? They that are guided by the Spirit of
God, or they that are guided by Satan those that make it their business to walk
with God step by step, or those that not only forsake him, but provoke him to
his face? Those that break with men, and keep in with God, or those that break
with God? Surely, a child of God hath more security by piety than his enemies
can have by secular policy, whereby they think to overreach and ruin him. The
safety of a child of God lieth in two things:
Verse
98. -- They are ever with me. The meaning of the last clause
is not merely "it is ever with me, but it is for ever to me," i.e,
mine, my inalienable, indefeasible possession. -- Joseph Addison Alexander.
Verse
98. -- They are ever with me. God gives knowledge to whom he
pleaseth; but those that meditate most, thrive most. This may imply also that
the word should be a ready help. Such as derive their wisdom from without
cannot have their counsellors always with them to give advice. But, when a man
hath gotten the word in his heart, he finds a ready help: he hath a seasonable
word to direct him in all difficulties, in all straits, and in all temptations,
to teach him what to do against the burden of the present exigence; to teach
him what to do and what to hope for. --Thomas Manton.
Verse
98. -- They are ever with me. A good man, wherever he goes,
carries his Bible along with him, if not in his hands, yet in his head and in
his heart. --Matthew Henry.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
98-100. -- Three sorts of men he mentions, "enemies,"
"teachers," "ancients"; the enemies excel in policy,
teachers in doctrine, and ancients in counsel; and yet by the word was David
made wiser than all these. Malice sharpens the wit of enemies, and teacheth
them the arts of opposition; teachers are furnished with learning because of
their office; and ancients grow wise by experience; yet David, by the study of
the word, excelled all these. --Thomas Manton.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
98. -- Constant communion with truth the student's road to
proficiency.
Verse
98-100. -- The truly wise man.
(b) Thy
testimonies.
(c) Thy precepts.
(a) The abiding
indwelling of the word: "ever with me,"
Ps
ps+119:98"> 119:98.
(b) Meditation
upon the word, Psalms 119:99.
(c) Obedience
to the word, Psalms 119:100.
(a) Wiser than
his enemies, whose wisdom was "not from
above, but earthly, sensual, devilish."
(b) Wiser than
his teachers, whose wisdom was "of this
world."
(c) Wiser than
the ancients, whose wisdom was that of
unsanctified age and experience. --W.H.J. Page, of Chelsea, 1882.
EXPOSITION
Verse
99. I
have more understanding than all my teachers. That which the Lord had taught
him had been useful in the camp, and now he finds it equally valuable in the
schools. Our teachers are not always to be trusted; in fact, we may not follow
any of them implicitly, for God holds us to account for our personal judgments.
It behooves us then to follow closely the chart of the Word of God, that we may
be able to save the vessel when even the pilot errs. If our teachers should be
in all things sound and safe, they will be right glad for us to excel them, and
they will ever be ready to own that the teaching of the Lord is better than any
teaching which they can give us. Disciples of Christ who sit at his feet are
often better skilled in divine things than doctors of divinity.
For
thy testimonies are my meditation. This is the best mode of acquiring
understanding. We may hear the wisest teachers and remain fools, but if we
meditate upon the sacred word we must become wise. There is more wisdom in the
testimonies of the Lord than in all the teachings of men if they were all
gathered into one vast library. The one book outweighs all the rest.
David
does not hesitate to speak the truth in this place concerning himself, for he
is quite innocent of self consciousness. In speaking of his understanding he
means to extol the law and the Lord, and not himself. There is not a grain of
boasting in these bold expressions, but only a sincere childlike desire to set
forth the excellence of the Lord's word. He who knows the truths taught in the
Bible will be guilty of no egotism if he believes himself to be possessed of
more important truth than all the agnostic professors buried and unburied.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
99. --
I have more understanding than all my teachers. Even where the preacher is
godly, partaker of that grace himself, whereof he is an ambassador to others,
it falls out oftentimes that greater measure of light and grace is communicated
by his ministry to another than is given to himself; as Augustine first
illuminated and converted by Ambrose did far excel, both in knowledge and
spiritual grace, him that taught him. And herein God wonderfully shows his
glory, that, whosoever be the instrument, he is the dispenser of light and
glory, giving more by the instrument than it hath in itself. And this is so far
from being to a godly teacher a matter of grief, that it is rather a matter of
glory. -- William Cowper.
Verse
99. --
I have more understanding than all my teachers. It is no reflection upon my
teachers, but rather an honour to them, for me to improve so as to excel them,
and no longer to need them. By meditation we preach to ourselves, and so we
come to understand more than our teachers, for we come to understand our
hearts, which they cannot. --Matthew Henry.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
99.
-- The surest way to excellence.
EXPOSITION
Verse
100. I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy
precepts. The men of old age, and the men of old time, were outdone by the
holier and more youthful learner. He had been taught to observe in heart and
life the precepts of the Lord, and this was more than the most venerable sinner
had ever learned, more than the philosopher of antiquity had so much as aspired
to know. He had the word with him, and so outstripped his foes; lie meditated
on it, and so outran his friends; he practised it, and so outshone his elders.
The instruction derived from Holy Scripture is useful in many directions,
superior from many points of view, unrivalled everywhere and in every way. As
our soul may make her boast in the Lord, so may we boast in his word.
"There is none like it: give it me," said David as to Goliath's
sword, and we may say the same as to the word of the Lord. If men prize
antiquity they have it here. The ancients are had in high repute, but what did
they all know compared with that which we perceive in the divine precepts?
"The old is better" says one: but the oldest of all is the best of
all, and what is that but the word of the Ancient of days
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
100. I understand...because l keep. Would we know the Lord?
Let us keep his commandments. "By thy precepts," saith David, that
is, by the observance of thy precepts, "I get understanding."
"If any man do my will" (saith our blessed Saviour, John
7:17), "he shall know my doctrine." boulei qeololoj
lenesqaiÌ taj entolaj fulasseà saith Nazienzen: Wouldst thou be a divine? do
the commandments; for action is (as it were) the basis of contemplation. It is
St. Gregory's observation concerning the two disciples who, whilst Christ
talked with them, knew him not; but in performing an act of hospitality towards
him, to wit, breaking bread with him, they knew him, that they were
enlightened, not by hearing him, but by doing divine precepts, Quisquis ergo
vult audita intelligere; festinet ea quae jam audire potuit, opere implere,
Whosoever therefore will understand, let him first make haste to do what he
heareth. -- Nathanael Hardy, 1618-1670.
Verse
100. -- I understand more than the ancients. The ordinary
answer of ignorant people is, "What! must we be wiser than our
forefathers?" And yet those same people would be richer than their
forefathers were. The maximum quod sic of a Christian is this, he must grow in
grace, till his head reach up to heaven, till grace is perfected in glory.
--Christopher Love, 1618-1651.
Verse
100. -- More than the ancients. Understanding gotten by the
precepts of the word is better than understanding gotten by long experience. It
is better in four regards. First, It is more exact. Our experience reacheth but
to a few things; but the word of God reacheth to all cases that concern true
happiness. The word is the result of God's wisdom, who is the Ancient of days;
therefore exceeds the wisdom of the ancients, or experience of any men, or all
men. Secondly, as it is more exact, so a more sure way of learning wisdom,
whereas experience is more uncertain. Many have much experience, yet have not a
heart to see and to gather wisdom from what they feel: Deuteronomy
29:2-4. Thirdly, it is a safer and cheaper way of learning, to learn
by rule, than to come home by weeping cross, and to learn wisdom by our own
smart. Experience is too expensive a way; and, if we had nothing else to guide
us, into how many thousand miseries should we run! Fourthly, it is shorter. The
way by age and experience is a long way; and so, for a long time, all a man's
younger age must needs be miserable and foolish. Now, here you may come betimes
to be wise by studying the word of God. It concerns a man, not only to be wise
at length, but to be wise betimes. The foolish virgins were wise too late: but
never were any wise too soon. -- Condensed from Thomas Manton.
Verse
100. -- If this way the Word of God were thus perfect in David's
time, what is it by the addition of so many parcels of Scripture since? If
it then gave wisdom to the simple (Psalms
14:7); if it made David, being brought up but as a shepherd, wiser
than his enemies, than his ancients, than his teachers; as an angel of God in
discerning right from wrong (1
Samuel 14:17); able to guide the people by the skilfulness of his
hands (Psalms 78:72); what kind of wisdom is there,
which we may not now gather from thence? What depth of natural philosophy have
we in Genesis and Job! What flowers of rhetoric in the prophets! What force of
logic in Saint Paul's epistles! what art of poetry in the psalms! What
excellent moral precepts, not only for private life, but for the regulation of
families and commonwealth in the Proverbs and Ecclesiastes! To which may be
added in a second rank as very useful, though apocryphal, the Book of Wisdom
and Ecclesiasticus. What reasonable and just laws have we in Leviticus and
Deuteronomy, which moved the great Ptolemy to hire the Septuagints to translate
them into Greek: what unmatchable antiquity, variety, and wonderful events, and
certainty of story, in the books of Moses, Joshua, the Judges, Samuel, the
Kings, and Chronicles, together with Ruth and Esther, Ezra and Nehemiah, and,
since Christ, in the sacred Gospels and Acts of the Apostles. And, lastly, what
profound mysteries have we in the prophecies of Ezekiel and Daniel, and the
Revelation of Saint John. But in this it infinitely exceeds the wisdom of all
human writings, that it is alone "able to make a man wise unto
salvation" (2 Timothy 3:15). Upon these considerations,
Charles the Fifth of France, surnamed The Wise, not only caused the Bible to be
translated into French, but was himself very studious in the Holy Scriptures.
And Alphonsus, King of Arragon, is said to have read over the whole Bible
fourteen several times, with Lyra's notes upon it; though he were otherwise
excellently well learned, yet was the law of God his delight, "more
desired of him than gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and
the honeycomb." -- George Hakewell, 1579-1649.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
100. -- Antiquity no security for truth as contrasted with
revelation: old age no proof of wisdom as contrasted with holy living: open
confession no evidence of boasting as contrasted with sullen pride.
Verse
100. -- Obedience the high road to understanding. --W.B.H.
Verse
100. -- Obedience the key of knowledge. John
7:17.
EXPOSITION
Verse
101. I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep
thy word. There is no treasuring up the holy word unless there is a casting out
of all unholiness: if we keep the good word we must let go the evil. David had
zealously watched his steps and put a check upon his conduct, -- he had
refrained his feet. No one evil way could entice him, for he knew that if he
went astray but in one road he had practically left the way of righteousness,
therefore he avoided every false way. The bypaths were smooth and flowery, but
he knew right well that they were evil, and so he turned his feet away, and
held on along the strait and thorny pathway which leads to God. It is a
pleasure to look back upon self conquests, -- "I have refrained," and
a greater delight still to know that we did this out of no mere desire to stand
well with our fellows, but with the one motive of keeping the law of the Lord.
Sin avoided that obedience may be perfected is the essence of this verse; or it
may be that the Psalmist would teach us that there is no real reverence for the
book where there is not carefulness to avoid every transgression of its
precepts. How can we keep God's word if we do not keep our own works from
becoming vile?
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
101 -- I have refrained my feet, etc. 1. We have
David's practice: "I have refrained my feet from every evil way." 2.
His end or motive: "That I might keep thy word;" that he might be
exact and punctual with God in a course of obedience.
First,
In his practice. You may note the seriousness of it: I have refrained my feet.
By the feet are meant the affections: "Keep thy foot when thou goest to
the house of God," Ecclesiastes 5:1. Our affections which are the
rigorous bent of the soul, do engage us to practice; therefore fitly resembled
by the feet, by which we walk to any place that we do desire: so that, "I
have refrained my feet," the meaning is, I keep a close and strict band
over my affections, that they might not lead me to sin. Then you may note the
extent of it; he doth not only say, I refrained from evil, but universally,
"from every evil way." But how could David say this in truth of
heart, if conscious of his offence in the matter of Uriah? Answer: This was the
usual frame and temper of his soul, and the course of his life; and such kind
of assertions concerning the saints are to be interpreted, voce et canatu,
licet non semper eventu. This was his errand and drift, his purpose and endeavour,
his usual course, though he had his failings.
Secondly,
What was his end and motive in this? That I might keep thy word; that I might
be exact and punctual with God in a course of obedience, and adhere to his word
universally, impartially. --Thomas Manton.
Verse
101. -- I have refrained my feet, etc. Where there is real
holiness, there is a holy hatred, detestation, and indignation against all
ungodliness and wickedness, and that upon holy accounts:" I have refrained
my feet from every evil way." But why? "That I may keep thy
word." "Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate
every false way;" Psalms 119:104. The good that he got by divine precepts
stirred up his hatred against every false way: Psalms 119:128, "Therefore I esteem all thy precepts
concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way." His high
esteem of every precept raised up in him a holy indignation against every evil
way. A holy man knows that all sin strikes at the holiness of God, the glory of
God, the nature of God, the being of God, and the law of God; and therefore his
heart rises against all; he looks upon every sin as the Scribes and Pharisees
that accused Christ; and as that Judas that betrayed Christ; and as that Pilate
that condemned Christ; and as those soldiers that scourged Christ; and as those
spears that pierced Christ; and therefore his heart cries out for justice upon
all. --Thomas Brooks.
Verse
101. -- Refrained...that I might keep. By doing what is right
we come both to know right and to be better able to do it. --"Plain
Commentary."
Verse
101. -- I have refrained my feet, etc. The word
"refrained" warns us that we are naturally borne by our feet into the
path of every kind of sin, and are hurried along it by the rush of human
passions, so that even the wise and understanding need to check, recall, and
retrace their steps, in order that they may keep God's word, and not become
castaways. And further note that the Hebrew verb here translated
"refrained" is even stronger in meaning, and denotes "I
fettered, or imprisoned, my feet," whereby we may learn that no light
resistance is enough to prevent them from leading us astray. --Agellius and
Genebrardus, in Neale and Littledale.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
101. -- Self restraint needful to piety.
EXPOSITION
Verse
102. I have not departed from thy judgments: for thou hast taught me.
They are well taught whom God teaches. What we learn from the Lord we never
forget. God's instruction has a practical effect -- we follow his way when he
teaches us; and it has an abiding effect, -- we do not depart from holiness.
Read this verse in connection with the preceding and you get the believer's
"I have," and his "I have not": he is good both positively
and negatively. What he did, namely, "refrained his feet," preserved
him from doing that which otherwise he might have done, namely, "departed
from thy judgments." He who is careful not to go an inch aside will not
leave the road. He who never touches the intoxicating cup will never be drunk.
He who never utters an idle word will never be profane. If we begin to depart a
little we can never tell where we shall end. The Lord brings us to persevere in
holiness by abstinence from the beginning of sin; but whatever be the method he
is the worker of our perseverance, and to him be all the glory.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
102. -- By "misphallim", "judgments," is
meant God's law; for thereby he will judge the world. And the word
"departed not" intimates both his exactness and constancy: his
exactness, that he did not go a hair's breadth from his direction; "Ye
shall observe to do therefore as the Lord your God hath commanded you: ye shall
not turn aside to the right hand or to the left" (Deuteronomy
5:32); and his constancy is implied in it, for then we are said to
depart from God and his law, when we fall off from him in judgment and
practice. Jer 32:40. --Thomas Manton.
Verse
102. -- Thou hast taught me. God teacheth two ways: --
This teaching
is the ground of constancy, because,
Verse
102. -- For thou hast taught me. Lest it should seem that
David ascribed the praise of godliness to himself, or that it came from any
goodness in him that he did refrain his feet from every evil way, he gives here
all the glory to God, protesting, that because God did teach him, therefore he
declined not. Wherefrom we learn, that if at any time we stand, or if when we
have fallen we rise and repent, it is ever to be imputed to God that teacheth
us; for there is no evil so abominable, but it would soon become plausible to
us, if God should leave us to ourselves. David was taught by his ordinary
teachers, and he did reverence them; but that he profited by them he ascribes
unto God. Paul may plant, and Apollos water; God must give the increase.
--William Cowper.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
102. -- Divine teaching necessary to secure perseverance, and
effectual to that end.
Verse
102. -- Consider, --
(a) Right path.
(b) Clean path.
(c) Pleasant
path.
(d) Safe path.
(e) The end --
eternal glory.
(a) Persecution
would drive from it.
(b) Pleasures
would allure from it.
(c) The flesh
would weary in it.
(d) But the true
believer determines to hold on his way to
the end.
(e) And
carefully watches his steps lest they depart.
(b) The choice
property of this teaching is, not only that
it makes wise, but that it captivates the soul, strengthens
it, and holds it to a holy obedience. --J.F.
EXPOSITION
Verse
103. How sweet are thy words into my taste. He had not only heard the
words of God, but fed upon them: they affected his palate as well as his ear.
God's words are many and varied, and the whole of them make up what we call
"the word": David loved them each one, individually, arid the whole
of them as a whole; he tasted an indescribable sweetness in them. He expresses
the fact of their sweetness, but as he cannot express the degree of their
sweetness he cries, "How sweet!" Being God's words they were divinely
sweet to God's servant; he who put the sweetness into them had prepared the
taste of his servant to discern and enjoy it. David makes no distinction
between promises and precepts, doctrines and threatenings; they are all
included in God's words, and all are precious in his esteem. Oh for a deep love
to all that the Lord has revealed, whatever form it may take.
Yea,
sweeter than honey to my mouth. When he did not only eat but also speak the
word, by instructing others, he felt an increased delight in it. The sweetest
of all temporal things fall short of the infinite deliciousness of the eternal
word. Honey itself is outstripped of the Lord Widen the Psalmist fed on it he
in sweetness by the word found it sweet; but when he bore witness of it it
became sweeter still. How wise it will be on our part to keep the word on our
palate by meditation and on our tongue by confession. It must be sweet to our
taste when we think of it, or it will not be Sweet to our mouth when we talk of
it.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
103. -- How sweet are thy words unto my taste! Even the words of a
fellow creature of earth, how inexpressibly sweet sometimes, how beyond all
calculation precious! All gold and silver would be despised in comparison with
them. They come freighted with love, and the heart is enriched with them as
though the breath of God had come into it. But does not this rainbow of earthly
joy die gradually out? Do not the enrapturing words sooner or later become
exsiccated in the memory, and may they not meet with contemptuous treatment as
reminders of an earthly illusion? Indeed they do; indeed they may.
Nevertheless
the heart may find its happiness, its true and undying happiness, in words. At
this moment there is nothing in the whole world so much to be desired as
certain words. Words of love. Words expressive of infinite love. Treasures,
pleasures, honours of earth, what are they? My unsatisfied soul cries out, Give
me words. Words whereby I may know the love that God has towards me. Words
declaring the unchangeable attachment of the Saviour. Words purifying my heart.
Emboldening me in prayer. Exhibiting to me the blissful future. Words that
shall give life to my dead powers, and change me from glory to glory, as by the
Spirit of the Lord. --George Bowen, in "Daily Meditations," 1873.
Verse
103. -- How sweet are thy words unto my taste! etc. There is
given to the regenerated a new, supernatural sense, a certain divine, spiritual
taste. This is in its whole nature diverse from any of the other five senses,
and something is perceived by a true saint in the exercise of this new sense of
mind, in spiritual and divine things, as entirely different from anything that
is perceived in them by natural men, as the sweet taste of honey is diverse
from the ideas men get of honey by looking on it or feeling of it. Now the
beauty of holiness is that which is perceived by this spiritual sense, so
diverse from all that natural men perceive in them; or, this kind of beauty is
the quality that is the immediate object of this spiritual sense; this is the
sweetness that is the proper object of this spiritual taste. The Scripture
often represents the beauty and sweetness of holiness as the grand object of a
spiritual taste and a spiritual appetite. This was the sweet food of the holy
soul of Jesus Christ, John 4:32,34. "I have meat to eat that ye
know not of...My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his
work." I know of no part of the Holy Scriptures where the nature and evidence
of true and sincere godliness are so fully and largely insisted on and
delineated, as in the 119th Psalm. The Psalmist declares his design in the
first verses of the psalm, keeps his eye on it all along, and pursues it to the
end. The excellency of holiness is represented as the immediate object of a
spiritual taste and delight. God's law, that grand expression and emanation of
the holiness of God's nature, and prescription of holiness to the creature, is
all along represented as the great object of the love, the complacence, and
rejoicing of the gracious nature, which prizes God's commandments above gold,
yea, the finest gold, and to which they are sweeter than honey, and the
honeycomb; and that upon account of their holiness. The same psalmist declares
that this is the sweetness that a spiritual taste relishes in God's law: Psalms 19:7-10. -- Jonathan Edwards, 1703-1758.
Verse
103. -- How sweet are thy words unto my taste! Why does he not
rather say, How pleasant are thy words to my ears? than that they are sweet
to his taste and his mouth? I answer: It is most meet that when God speaks by
the mouth of his ministers we should be hearers, and the words of God should be
the most joyous of all to our ears. But it is also the practice of the godly to
converse about the words of God, and their words are so sweet to their own
taste that they are more pleased and delighted than by any honey from the comb.
And this is most necessary when either there is a scarcity of teachers, as with
David in the wilderness or dwelling among the Philistines; or when those who
hold the office of teaching, adulterate and vitiate the pure word of God.
--Wolfgang Musculus.
Verse
103. -- That which is here called "word," I take
rather for "judgments," partly because in the proper tongue the word
is left out, and partly because he had used this word "judgments" in
the verse immediately going before. But some will say, How can the judgments of
God be "sweet," which are so troublesome, fearful, and grievous? I
answer, that the godly have no greater joy than when they feel either the
mercies of God accomplished towards them that fear him, or his judgments
showered upon the reprobates. --Richard Greenham.
Verse
103. -- Unto my taste. "To my mouth." That is, I
take as great pleasure in talking, conferring, and persuading, thy judgments,
as my mouth, or the mouth of any that loveth honey, is delighted therewith.
--Richard Greenham.
Verse
103. -- Sweeter. As there are always among violets some that
are very much sweeter than others, so among texts there are some that are more
precious to us than others. --Henry Ward Beecher, 1879.
Verse
103. -- An affectionate wife often says, "My husband!
your words are sweeter to me than honey; yes, they are sweeter than the sugar
cane." "Alas! my husband is gone," says the widow: "how
sweet were his words! Honey dropped from his mouth: his words were
ambrosia." --Joseph Roberts.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
103. -- Experience in religion the source of enjoyment in it; or,
Verse
103. --
Verse
103. -- The comparison, setting forth the precious property of
sweetness in the word: "Sweeter than honey." "Better than
honey," would not do as well. It is --
Verse
103. -- Spiritual delicacy.
Verse
103. --
"O Book!
infinite sweetness! let my heart
Suck every letter, and a honey gain,
Precious for any grief in any part;
To clear the breast, to mollify all pain."
Verse
103. -- If we would taste the honey of God, we must have the palate
of faith. -- A.R. Fausset.
EXPOSITION
Verse
104. Through thy precepts I get understanding. God's direction is our
instruction. Obedience to the divine will begets wisdom of mind and action. As
God's way is always best, those who follow it are sure to be justified by the
result. If the Lawgiver were foolish his law would be the same, and obedience
to such a law would involve us in a thousand mistakes; but as the reverse is
the case, we may count ourselves happy to have such a wise, prudent, and
beneficial law to be the rule of our lives. We are wise if we obey and we grow
wise by obeying!
Therefore
I hate every false way. Because he had understanding, and because of the divine
precepts, he detested sin and falsehood. Every sin is a falsehood; we commit
sin because we believe a lie, and in the end the flattering evil turns a liar
to us and we find ourselves betrayed. True hearts are not indifferent about
falsehood, they grow warm in indignation: as they love the truth, so they hate
the lie. Saints have a universal horror of all that is untrue, they tolerate no
falsehood or folly, they set their faces against all error of doctrine or
wickedness of life. He who is a lover of one sin is in league with the whole
army of sins; we must have neither truce nor parley with even one of these
Amalekites, for the Lord hath war with them from generation to generation, and
so must we. It is well to be a good hater. And what is that? A hater of no
living being, but a hater of "every false way." The way of self will,
of self righteousness, of worldliness, of pride, of unbelief, of hypocrisy, --
these are all false ways, and therefore not only to be shunned, but to be
abhorred.
This
final verse of the strophe marks a great advance in character, and shows that
the man of God is growing stronger, bolder, and happier than aforetime. He has
been taught of the Lord, so that he discerns between the precious and the vile,
and while he loves the truth fervently he hates falsehood intensely. May all of
us reach this state of discrimination and determination, so that we may greatly
glorify God.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
104. -- Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate
every false way. In this sentence the prophet seems to invert the order set
down in Psalms 119:101. He had said, "I have
refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word," where
the avoiding of evil is made the means of profiting by the word; here his
profiting by the word is made the cause of avoiding evil. In the one verse you
have an account of his beginning with God; in the other, of his progress.
--Thomas Manton.
Verse
104. -- I hate every false way. David saith, "I hate
every false way"; I hate not only the way when I have been misled into it,
but I hate to go in it; and he professes at the Ps 119:163, "I hate and
abhor lying, but thy law do I love." To abstain from and forbear lying is
a sign of a gracious heart, much more to hate and abhor it. A godly man not
only doth that which is good, but he delights to do it, his soul cleaves to it;
he is in his clement when he is doing it, nothing comes more suitably to him
than the business of his duty, he loveth to do it, yea, he loveth it when he
cannot do it: Romans 7:22. Paul complained much that his
corruptions clogged, hindered and shackled him; he was in lime twigs as to the
doing of good, yet (saith he) "I delight in the law of God after the
inward man"; that is, the inward man delightfully moves after the law of
God, when I am basely moved by my corrupt heart, and stirred by temptation
against it. Now, as a godly man not only chooseth to do the holy will of God,
but delights and rejoiceth to do it, and hath sweet content in doing it; so
likewise a godly man not only refuseth to do the will of the flesh, or to
follow the course of the world, but hates to do it, and is never so
discontented with himself as when through carelessness and neglect of his watch
he hath been overtaken and hath fallen. A carnal man may forbear the doing of
evil, and do what is materially good, but he never abhors what is evil, nor
delights in what is good. Though he abstain from acting those things which God
forbids, yet he doth not say, with Job, "God forbid, I should act
them."...To delight in good is better than the doing of it, and to abhor
evil is better than abstaining from it. And if we compare the nature of sin
with the new nature of a godly man, we may see clear grounds why his abstinence
from sin is joined with an abhorrence of it. --Joseph Caryl.
Verse
104. -- Through thy; precepts I get understanding. Spiritual
understanding is connected with the taste of spiritual sweetness. (Compare Proverbs 2:10-11.) "The sweetness of the lips" --
as the wise man observes -- "increaseth learning. The heart of the wise
teacheth his mouth, and addeth learning to his lips." Proverbs 16:21,23. Thus having learned "the
principles of the doctrine of Christ," we are encouraged to "go on to
perfection" -- "growing in grace and in the knowledge of
Christ." For the connexion between "grace and knowledge" is
clearly manifested. --Charles Bridges.
Verse
104. -- I hate every false way. Universality in this is a sure
sign of sincerity. Herod spits out some sins, when he rolls others as sweet
morsels in his mouth. A hypocrite ever leaves the devil some nest egg to sit
upon, though he take many away. Some men will not buy some commodities, because
they cannot have them at their own price, but they lay out the same money on
others; so hypocrites forbear some sins, yea, are displeased at them; because
they cannot have them without disgrace or disease, or some other disadvantage;
but they lay out the same love upon other sins which will suit better with their
designs. Some affirm that what the sea loseth in one place it gains in another;
so what ground the corruption of the unconverted loseth one way, it gains
another. There is in him some one lust especially which is his favourite; some
king sin, like Agag, which must be spared when others are destroyed. "In
this the Lord be merciful to thy servant," saith Naaman. But now the
regenerate laboureth to cleanse himself from all pollutions, both of flesh and
spirit. 2 Corinthians 7:1. --George Swinnock.
Verse
104. -- I hate. The Scriptures place religion very much in the
affection of love; love to God, and the Lord Jesus Christ; love to the people
of God, and to mankind. The texts in which this is manifest, both in the Old
Testament and the New, are innumerable. The contrary affection of hatred also,
as having sin for its object, is spoken of in Scripture as no inconsiderable
part of true religion. It is spoken of as that by which true religion may be known
and distinguished. Proverbs 8:13. "The fear of the Lord is to
hate evil." Accordingly, the saints are called upon to give evidence of
their sincerity by this, Psalms
97:10. "Ye that love the Lord, hate evil." And the
Psalmist often mentions it as an evidence of his sincerity: Ps 101:2-3, "I
will walk within my house with a perfect heart. I will set no wicked thing
before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside." So Psalms 114:128, and the present place. Again, Psalms
139:21: "Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee?" --
Jonathan Edwards.
Verse
104. -- I hate. Hatred is a stabbing, murdering affection, it
purposes sin with a hot heart to death, as an avenger of blood, that is to say,
of the blood of the soul which sin would spill, and of the blood of Christ
which sin hath shed. Hate sin perfectly and perpetually and then you will not
spare it but kill it presently. Till sin be hated it cannot be mortified; you
will not cry against it, as the Jews did against Christ, Crucify it! Crucify
it! but shew indulgence to it as David did to Absalom and say, Deal gently with
the young man, -- with this or that lust, for my sake. Mercy to sin is cruelty
to the soul. -- Edward Reyner, 1600-1670.
Verse
104. -- False way. It is not said, "evil way," but
"false way": or, as it is in the original, every path of lying and
falsehood. Falsehood is either in point of opinion or practice. If you take it
in the first sense, for falsehood in opinion, or error in judgment, or false
doctrine, or false worship, this sentence holds good. Those that get
understanding by the word are established against error, and not only
established against error, or against the embracing or possession of it, but
they hate it. --Thomas Manton.
Verse
104. -- False way. All sin is a lie. By it we attempt to cheat
God. By it we actually cheat our souls: Proverbs
14:12. There is no delusion like the folly of believing that a
course of sin will conduce to our happiness. --William S. Plumer.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
104. -- The influence of the precepts.
Verse
104. --
Verse
104. -- The understanding derived from God's precepts begets holy
hatred.
EXPOSITION
Verse
105. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet. We are walkers through the city
of this world, and we are often called to go out into its darkness; let us
never venture there without the light giving word, lest we slip with our feet.
Each man should use the word of God personally, practically, and habitually,
that he may see his way and see what lies in it. When darkness settles down
upon all around me, the word of the Lord, like a flaming torch, reveals my way.
Having no fixed lamps in eastern towns, in old time each passenger carried a
lantern with him that he might not fall into the open sewer, or stumble over
the heaps of ordure which defiled the road. This is a true picture of our path
through this dark world: we should not know the way, or how to walk in it, if
Scripture, like a blazing flambeau, did not reveal it. One of the most
practical benefits of Holy Writ is guidance in the acts of daily life: it is
not sent to astound us with its brilliance, but to guide us by its instruction.
It is true the head needs illumination, but even more the feet need direction,
else head and feet may both fall into a ditch. Happy is the man who personally
appropriates God's word, and practically uses it as his comfort and counsellor,
-- a lamp to his own feet.
And
a light unto my path. It is a lamp by night, a light by day, and a delight at
all times. David guided his own steps by it, and also saw the difficulties of
his road by its beams. He who walks in darkness is sure, sooner or later, to
stumble; while he who walks by the light of day, or by the lamp of night,
stumbleth not, but keeps his uprightness. Ignorance is painful upon practical
subjects; it breeds indecision and suspense, and these are uncomfortable: the
word of God, by imparting heavenly knowledge, leads to decision, and when that
is followed by determined resolution, as in this case, it brings with it great
restfulness of heart.
This
verse converses with God in adoring and yet familiar tones. Have we not
something of like tenor to address to our heavenly Father?
Note
how like this verse is to the first verse of the first octave, and the first of
the second and other octaves. The seconds also are often in unison.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
105. -- Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light, etc.
David was a man of very good wit and natural understanding; but he gives to God
the glory of his wisdom, and owns that his best light was but darkness when he
was not lightened and ruled by the word of God. Oh that we would consider this,
that in all our ways wherein the word of God shines not unto us to direct us,
we do but walk in darkness, and our ways without it can lead us to none other
end but utter darkness. If we hearken not to the word of God, if we walk not by
the rule thereof, how is it possible we can come to the face of God? -- William
Cowper.
Verse
105. -- Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my
path. The use of a lamp is by night, while the light of the sun shineth by day.
Whether it be day or night with us, we clearly understand our duty by the Word
of God. The night signifieth adversity, and the day prosperity. Hence we may
learn how to behave ourselves in all conditions. The word "path"
notes our general choice and course of life; the word "feet" our
particular actions. Now whether the matter, wherein we would be informed,
concerneth our choice of the way that leadeth to true happiness, or our
dexterous prosecution of the way, still the word of God will direct a humble
and well disposed mind. --Thomas Manton.
Verse
105. -- Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, etc. Basil the Great,
interpreting the "word" as God's will revealed in Holy Scripture,
observes that the Old Testament, and in especial the Law, was only a lantern
(lamp or candle) because an artificial light, imperfectly illumining the
darkness, whereas the Gospel, given by the Lord Jesus himself, is a light of
the Sun of Righteousness, giving brightness to all things. Ambrose, going yet
deeper, tells us that Christ is himself both lamp and light. He, the Word of
God, is a great light to some, to others he is a lamp. To me he is a lamp; to
angels a light. He was a light to Peter, when the angel stood by him in the
prison, and the light shined about him. He was a light to Paul when the light
from heaven shined round about him, and he heard Christ saying to him,
"Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" And Christ is truly a lamp to
me when I speak of him with my mouth. He shineth in clay, he shineth in a
potter's vessel: he is that treasure which we bear in earthen vessels. --Neale
and Littledale.
Verse
105. -- Thy word is a lamp...and a light. Except the
"lamp" be lighted -- except the teaching of the Spirit accompany the
word -- all is "darkness, gross darkness" still. Did we more
habitually malt to receive, and watch to improve, the light of the word, we
should not so often complain of the perplexity of our path. --Charles Bridges.
Verse
105. -- Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, etc. What we all
want, is not to see wonders that daze us, and to be rapt in ecstatic visions
and splendours, but a little light on the dark and troubled path we have to
tread, a lamp that will burn steadfastly and helpfully over the work we have to
do. The stars are infinitely more sublime, meteors infinitely more superb and
dazzling; but the lamp shining in a dark place is infinitely closer to our
practical needs. --From "The Expositor", 1864.
Verse
105. -- Thy word is a lamp unto my feet. Going two miles into
a neighbourhood where very few could read, to spend an evening in reading to a
company who were assembled to listen, and about to return by a narrow path
through the woods, where paths diverged, I was provided with a torch of light
wood, or "pitch pine." I objected; it was too small, weighing not
over half a pound. "It will light you home", answered my host. I
said, "The wind may blow it out." He said, "It will light you
home." "But if it should rain?" I again objected. "It will
light you home," he insisted.
Contrary
to my fears, it gave abundant light to my path all the way home, furnishing an
apt illustration, I often think, of the way in which doubting hearts would be
led safely along the "narrow way." If they would take the Bible as
their guide, it would be a lamp to their feet, leading to the heavenly home.
One man had five objections to the Bible. If he would take it as a lamp to his
feet, it would "light him home." Another told me he had two faults to
find with the Bible. I answered him in the words of my good friend who
furnished the torch, "It will light you home." --From "The
American Messenger," 1881.
Verse
105. -- A lamp unto my feet, etc. All depends on our way of
using the lamp. A man tells that when a boy he was proud to carry the lantern
for his Sabbath school teacher. The way to their school led through unlit,
muddy streets. The boy held the lantern far too high, and both sank in the deep
mud. "Ah! you must hold the lamp lower," the teacher exclaimed, as
they gained a firm footing on the farther side of the slough. The teacher then
beautifully explained our text, and the man declares that he never forgot the
lesson of that night. You may easily hold the lamp too high; but you can hardly
hold it too low. -- James Wells, in "Bible Images," 1882.
Verse
105. -- Light.
Lead,
kindly light, amid the encircling gloom Lead thou me on. The night is dark, and
I am far from home, Lead thou me on. Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to see The
distant scene; one step enough for me. --John Henry Newman (1801).
Verse
105-106. -- A light unto my path. I have sworn, and I will perform
it, etc. I have looked upon thy word as a lamp to my own feet, as a thing
nearly concerning myself, and then I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I
will keep thy righteous judgments. It is a mighty means to stir up a man's
spirit, and quicken him to obedience, to look upon the word as written to
himself, as a lamp and a light for him. When you come to hear out of God's
Word, and God directs the minister so that you apprehend the truth as spoken to
you, it will stir and awaken you, and you will say, "Oh me thought this
day every word the minister spoke was directed to me; I must take heed
thereto." And so every word in the Scripture that concerns thee God writes
to thee; and if thou wilt take it so, it will be a mighty means to stir thee up
to obedience. --Jeremiah Burroughs, 1599-1646.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Outlines
Upon Keywords of the Psalm, By Pastor C. A. Davis.
Verses
105-112. -- The word a lamp. For guidance (Psalms 119:105-106). For life in affliction (Psalms 119:107). For preservation in peril of enemies (Psalms 119:109-110). For joy of heart (Ps
119:111-112).
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
105-108. --
Verse
105. -- The practical, personal, everyday use of the word of God.
Verse
105. -- Lamp light.
EXPOSITION
Verse
106. I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep thy
righteous judgments. Under the influence of the clear light of knowledge he had
firmly made up his mind, and solemnly declared his resolve in the sight of God.
Perhaps mistrusting his own fickle mind, he had pledged himself in sacred form
to abide faithful to the determinations and decisions of his God. Whatever path
might open before him, he was sworn to follow that only upon which the lamp of
the word was shining. The Scriptures are God's judgments, or verdicts, upon
great moral questions; these are all righteous, and hence righteous men should
be resolved to keep them at all hazards, since it must always be right to do
right. Experience shows that the less of covenanting and swearing men formally
enter upon the better, and the genius of our Saviour's teaching is against all
supererogatory pledging and swearing; and yet under the gospel we ought to feel
ourselves as much bound to obey the word of the Lord as if we had taken an oath
so to do. The bonds of love are not less sacred than the fetters of law. When a
man has vowed he must be careful to "perform it", and when a man has
not vowed in so many words to keep the Lord's judgments, yet is he equally
bound to do so by obligations which exist apart from any promise on our part,
-- obligations founded in the eternal fitness of things, and confirmed by the
abounding goodness of the Lord our God. Will not every believer own that he is
under bonds to the redeeming Lord to follow his example, and keep his words?
Yes, the vows of the Lord are upon us, especially upon such as have made
profession of discipleship, have been baptized into the thrice holy name, have
eaten of the consecrated memorials, and have spoken in the name of the Lord
Jesus: We are enlisted, and sworn ill, and are bound to be loyal soldiers all
through the war. Thus having taken the word into our hearts by a firm resolve
to obey it, we have a lamp within our souls as well as in the Book, and our
course will be light unto the end.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
106. -- I have sworn, etc. Patrick's paraphrase is, "I
have solemnly resolved and bound myself by the most sacred ties, which I will
never break, but do now confirm."
Verse
106. -- I have sworn. I would now urge you to make a solemn
surrender of yourself unto the service of God. Do not only form such a purpose
in your heart, but expressly declare it in the Divine presence. Such solemnity
in the manner of doing it is certainly very reasonable in the nature of things;
and sure it is highly expedient, for binding to the Lord such a treacherous
heart, as we know our own to be. It will be pleasant to reflect upon it as done
at such and such a time, with such and such circumstances of place and method,
which may serve to strike the memory and the conscience. The sense of the vows
of God which are upon you will strengthen you in an hour of temptation; and the
recollection may encourage your humble boldness and freedom in applying to him
under the character and relation of your covenant God and Father, as future
exigencies may require.
Do
it therefore, but do it deliberately. Consider what it is that you are to do:
and consider how reasonable it is that it should be done, and done cordially
and cheerfully, "not by constraint, but willingly"; for in this
sense, and every other, "God loveth a cheerful giver."...
Let
me remind you that this surrender must be perpetual. You must give yourself up
to God in such a manner, as never more to pretend to be your own; for the
rights of God are like his nature, eternal and immutable; and with regard to
his rational creatures, are the same yesterday, today, and for ever.
I
would further advise and urge, that this dedication may bc made with all
possible solemnity. Do it in express words. And perhaps it may be in many cases
most expedient, as many pious divines have recommended, to do it in writing.
Set your hand and seal to it, "that on such a day of such a month and year,
and at such a place, on full consideration and serious reflection, you came to
this happy resolution, that whatever others might do, you would serve the
Lord." --Philip Doddridge (1702-1751) in "The Rise and Progress of
Religion in the Soul."
Verse
106. -- Frequently renew settled and holy resolutions. A
soldier un- resolved to fight may easily be defeated. True and sharpened
courage treads down those difficulties which would triumph over a cold and
wavering spirit. Resolution in a weak man will perform more than strength in a
coward. The weakness of our graces, the strength of our temptations, and the
diligence of our spiritual enemies, require strong resolutions. We must be
"steadfast and unmoveable," and this will make us "abound in the
work of the Lord": 1
Corinthians 15:58. Abundant exercise in God's work will strengthen
the habit of grace, increase our skill in the contest, and make the victory
more easy and pleasant to us. Let us frame believing, humble resolutions in the
strength of God's grace, with a fear of ourselves, but a confidence in God.
David bound himself to God with a hearty vow, depending upon his strength:
"I have sworn, and i will perform it, that I will keep thy righteous judgments."
This was not in his own strength, for, Psalms 119:107, he desires God to quicken him, and to
"accept the freewill offerings of his mouth," Psalms 119:108, namely, the oath which proceeded from a free
and resolved will. God will not slight, but strengthen the affectionate
resolutions of his creature. We cannot keep ourselves from falling unless we
first keep our resolutions from flagging. --Stephen Charnock.
Verse
106. --I have sworn, and I will perform it. Theodoricus,
Archbishop of Cologne, when the: Emperor Sigismund demanded of him the most
direct and most compendious way how to attain true happiness, made answer in brief,
thus: "Perform when thou art well what thou promisedst when thou wast
sick." David did so; he made vows in war, and paid them in peace; and thus
should all good men do; not like the cunning devil, of whom the epigrammatist
writeth:
"The devil
was sick, the devil a monk would be;
The devil was well, the devil a monk was he."
Nor
like unto many now a days, that, if God's hand do but he somewhat heavy upon
them, oh, what promises, what engagements are there for amendment of life! How
like unto marble against rain do they seem to sweat and melt but still retain
their hardness! Let but the rod be taken of their backs, or health restored,
then, as their bodies live, their vows die; all is forgotten: nay, many times
it so falleth out, that they are far worse than ever they were before. --From
John Spencer's "Things New and Old", 1658.
Verse
106. -- Thy righteous judgments. So David styles the word of
God, because it judgeth most righteously between right and wrong, truth and
falsehood. And, secondly, because according to the judgment given therein, God
will act towards men. Let us take heed unto it; for the word contains God's
judgment of men and hath a catalogue of such as shall not inherit the kingdom
of God, and another of such as shall dwell in God's tabernacle; let us read and
see in which of the two catalogues our two selves are; for according to that
word will the judgment go. --William Cowper.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
106. -- Decision for God, and fit modes of expressing it.
Verse
106. --
Verse
106. -- Swearing and performing.
EXPOSITION
Verse
107. I am afflicted very much. According to the last verse he had
been sworn in as a soldier of the Lord, and in this next verse he is called to
suffer hardness in that capacity. Our service of the Lord does not screen us
from trial, but rather secures it for us. The Psalmist was a consecrated man,
and yet a chastened man; nor were his chastisements light; for it seemed as if
the more he was obedient the more he was afflicted. He evidently felt the rod
to be cutting deep, and this he pleads before the Lord. He speaks not by way of
murmuring, but by way of pleading; from the very much affliction he argues for
very much quickening.
Quicken
me, O Lord, according unto thy word. This is the best remedy for tribulation;
the soul is raised above the thought of present distress, and is filled with
that holy joy which attends all vigorous spiritual life, and so the affliction
grows light. Jehovah alone can quicken: he has life in himself, and therefore
can communicate it readily; he can give us life at any moment, yea, at this
present instant; for it is of the nature of quickening to be quick in its
operation. The Lord has promised, prepared, and provided this blessing of
renewed life for all his waiting servants: it is a covenant blessing, and it is
as obtainable as it is needful. Frequently the affliction is made the means of
the quickening, even as the stirring of a fire promotes the heat of the flame.
In their affliction some desire death, let us pray for life. Our foreboding
under trial are often very gloomy, let us entreat the Lord to deal with us, not
according to our fears, but according to his own word. David had but few
promises to quote, and probably these were in his own psalms, yet he pleads the
word of the Lord; how much more should we do so, since to us so many holy men
have spoken by the Spirit of the Lord in that wonderful library which is now
our Bible. Seeing we have more promises, let us offer more prayers.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
107. -- I am afflicted very much, etc. Whence learn,
Verse
107. -- I am a afflicted very much. We can recommend so
persuasively the cheerful drinking of the cup of sorrow when in the hand of
others, but what wry faces we make when it is put into our own. --Alfred John
Morris, 1814-1869.
Verse
107. -- I am afflicted... quicken me. The Christian lives in
the midst of crosses, as the fish lives in the sea. --Jean Baptiste Marie
Vianney, 1786-1859.
Verse
107. -- Quicken me, O Lord. How doth God quicken us? By reviving
our suffering graces, such as our hope, patience, and faith. Thus he puts life
into us again, that we may go on cheerfully in our service, by infusion of new
comforts. He revives the heart of his contrite ones, so the prophet saith (Isaiah
57:15). This is very necessary, for the Psalmist saith elsewhere,
"Quicken us, and we will call upon thy name" (Psalms
80:18). Discomfort and discouragement weaken our hands in calling
upon God. Until the Lord cheers us again we have no life in prayer. By two
things especially doth God quicken us in affliction, by reviving our sense of
his love, and by reviving our hope of glory. --Thomas Manton.
Verse
107. -- According unto thy word. David goes often over with
that phrase, which imports that David lay under the sense of some promise which
God had made for the quickening of his heart when it was out of frame, and
accordingly he recounts the gracious influences of God's Spirit, and professes
that he will never forget his precepts, because by them he had quickened him: Psalms
119:93.
Thus,
lay your dead hearts at Christ's feet, and plead in this manner: Lord, my heart
is exceedingly dull and distracted; I feel not those enlarging, melting
influences which thy saints have felt; but are they not chief material mercies
of the covenant? dost thou not promise a spirit of illumination, conviction,
and humiliation? is not holiness of heart and life a main branch of it? dost
thou not promise therein to write thy law in my heart? to give me oneness of
heart, to put thy fear within me, to subdue my corruptions, to help my
infirmities in prayer? Now, Lord, these are the mercies my soul wants and waits
for, fill my soul with these animating influences, revive thy work of grace in
my soul, draw out my heart towards thee, increase my affection for thee, repair
thine image, call forth grace into lively exercise. Doth not that gracious word
intend such a mercy when thou sayest thou wilt not only give a new heart, but
"put a new spirit within me" (Ezekiel
36:26), to make my soul lively, active, and spiritual in duties and
exercises? Dear Lord, am not I in covenant with thee? and are not these
covenant mercies? why, then, my God, is my heart thus hardened from thy fear?
why dost thou leave me in all this deadness and distraction? Remember thy word
unto thy servant in which thou hast caused me to hope, and which thou hast
helped me to plead; O quicken my dull heart according to thy word. -- Oliver
Heywood.
Verse
107. -- According unto thy word. David, when he begs for
quickening, he is encouraged so to do by a promise. The question is, where this
promise should be? Some think it was that general promise of the law, if thou
do these things, thou shalt live in them (Leviticus
18:5), and that from thence David drew this particular conclusion,
that God would give life to his people. But rather, it was some other promise,
some word of God he had, to bear him out in this request. The Lord has made
many promises to us of sanctifying our affliction. The fruit of all shall be
the taking away of sin (Isaiah 27:9); of bettering and improving us by
it (Hebrews 4:10), of moderating our affliction,
that he will stay his rough wind in the day of the east wind (Isaiah
27:8); that he will lay no more upon us than he will enable us to
bear (1 Corinthians 10:13). He hath promised he will
moderate our affliction, so that we shall not be tempted above our strength. He
hath promised he will deliver us from it, that the rod of the wicked shall not
always rest on the lot of the righteous (Psalms
125:3); that he will be with us in it, and never fail us (Hebrews
13:5). Now, I argue thus: if the people of God could stay their
hearts upon God's word, when they had but such obscure hints to work upon that
we do not know where the promise lies, ah! how should our hearts be stayed upon
God, when we have so many promises! When the Scriptures are enlarged for the
comfort and enlarging of our faith, surely we should say now as Paul, when he
got a word, "I believed God" (Acts
27:25); I may expect God will do thus for me, when his word speaks it
everywhere. --Thomas Manton.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
107. --
Verse
107. --
(a) The world
has such -- widows, orphans, etc., etc.
(b) Most take their turn.
(a) God's word
promises the needed quickening.
(b) Himself
very much greater than all our needs.
(c) Christ died
"in all points" has all help.
(a) Keen eyed
for promises.
(b) Fervent in
pleading them.
(c) Strong in
expectation. --W.B.H.
EXPOSITION
Verse
108. Accept, I beseech thee, the freewill offerings of my mouth, O
Lord. The living praise the living God, and therefore the quickened one
presents his sacrifice. He offers prayer, praise, confession, and testimony --
these, presented with his voice in the presence of an audience, were the
tribute of his mouth unto Jehovah. He trembles lest these should be so ill
uttered as to displease the Lord, and therefore he implores acceptance. He
pleads that the homage of his mouth was cheerfully and spontaneously rendered;
all his utterances were freewill offerings. There can be no value in extorted
confessions: God's revenues are not derived from forced taxation, but from
freewill donation. There can be no acceptance where there is no willingness;
there is no work of free grace where there is no fruit of free will. Acceptance
is a favour to be sought from the Lord with all earnestness, for without it our
offerings are worse than useless. What a wonder of grace that the Lord will
accept anything of such unworthy ones as we are!
And
teach me thy judgments. When we render unto the Lord our best, we become all
the more concerned to do better. If, indeed, the Lord shall accept us, we then
desire to be further instructed, that we may be still more acceptable, After
quickening we need teaching: life without light, or zeal without knowledge,
would be but half a blessing. These repeated cries for teaching show the
humility of the man of God, and also discover to us our own need of similar
instruction. Our judgment needs educating till it knows, agrees with, and acts
upon, the judgments of the Lord. Those judgments are not always so clear as to
be seen at once; we need to be taught in them till we admire their wisdom and
adore their goodness as soon as ever we perceive them.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
108. -- The freewill offerings of the mouth, may be the
offerings which the mouth had promised and vowed. And who can lay claim to
these as the Lord? His are all things. - -John Stephen.
Verse
108. -- The freewill offerings of my mouth. This place makes
known that species of sacrifices, which neither tribulations nor poverty of
means can hinder, and which does not require an external temple, but in desert
places and among heathen may be offered by a godly man. And these sacrifices of
the mouth God himself makes more of than if all the flocks of the whole earth
had been offered to him, and all the treasures of gold, and of silver, and of
precious stones. --Wolfgang Musculus.
Verse
108.-- Freewill offerings. This expression is often used in the law (Leviticus
22:18 Nu 29:39 1
Chronicles 31:14 Amos
1:4-5). What are these freewill offerings? They are
distinguished from God's stated worship, and distinguished from that service
which fell under a vow. Besides the stated peace offerings, there were certain
sacrifices performed upon certain occasions, to testify God's general goodness,
and upon receipt of some special mercy; and you will find these sacrifices to
be expressly distinguished from such services as men bound themselves to by vow
(Leviticus 7:16)... These serve to teach us two
things.
First.
They are to teach us how ready we should be to take all occasions of
thankfulness and spiritual worship; for, besides their vowed services and
instituted sacrifices, they had their freewill offerings, offered to God in
thankfulness for some special blessing received, or for deliverance from
danger.
Secondly.
It shows with what voluntariness and cheerfulness we should go about God's
worship in the Gospel, and what a free disposition of heart there should be,
and edge upon our affections, in all things that we offer to God; in this
latter sense our offerings to God -- prayer and praise should be freewill
offerings, come from us not like water out of a still forced by the fire, but
like water out of a fountain with native freeness, readily and freely. --Thomas
Manton.
Verse
108. -- Offerings. All God's people are made priests unto God;
for every offering supposes a priest: so it is said, that Christ Jesus hath
made us kings and priests (Revelation
1:6). All Christians have a communion with Christ in all his
offices, whatever Christ was, that certainly they are in some measure and
degree. --Thomas Manton.
Verse
108. -- Accept...the freewill offerings of my mouth, O Lord.
It is a great grace that the Lord should accept anything from us, if we
consider these three things: First, who the Lord is; next, what we are;
thirdly, what it is we have to give unto him.
As
for the Lord, he is all sufficient, and stands in need of nothing we can give
him. Our goodness extends not to the Lord
As
for us, we are poor creatures, living by his liberality; yea, begging from all
the rest of his creatures; from the sun and moon; from the air, the water, and
the earth; from fowls and fishes; yea, from the worms: some give us light, some
meat, some clothes; and are such beggars as we meet to give to a king?
And,
thirdly, if we well consider, What is it that we give? Have we anything to give
but that which we have received from him? and whereof we may say with David,
"O Lord, all things are of thee, and of thine own have we given thee
again" (1 Chronicles 29:14). Let this humble us, and
restrain us from that vain conceit of meriting at God's hand.
David
at this time, in his great necessity, having no other sacrifice to offer unto
the Lord, offers him the calves of his lips; but no doubt, when he might, he
offered more.
There
is nothing so small, but if it come from a good heart, God will accept it: the
widow's mite, a cup of cold water; yea, and the praise of our lips, although it
has no other external oblation joined with it: but where men may do more, and
will not, it is an argument that their heart is not sincerely affected toward
him, and their praises are not welcome to him. --William Cowper.
Verse
108. -- Accept...the freewill offerings of my mouth, O Lord,
and teach me thy judgments. Two things we are here taught to pray for in
reference to our religious performances.
Verse
108. -- Teach me thy judgments. As if the man of God should
say, This is one thing whereunto I will give over myself, even to see how thou
dost punish the wicked, and conduct thy children. So that we must learn, that
as it is necessary to understand the law and the gospel, so is it requisite to
discern God's judgments. For as we cannot learn the one without observing God's
mercy; so we cannot attain to the other without marking his vengeance. We must
see always by the peculiar teaching of God's Spirit, how the Lord punishes in
justice, and yet in mercy; in wrath, and yet in love; in rigour and hatred of
our sin, humbling us with one hand; in pity and compassion to our salvation,
comforting us with the other hand. We see then how the prophet prayeth, both to
see them and to mark them: we need teach this often, because we dream so much
of fatal necessity, and of the connections of natural causes, or else because
we call not discern between the crosses of the godly and the ungodly. This is
then a singular gift of God, to discern how by the self same means the Lord
both humbleth the good and overthroweth the wicked. -- Richard Greenham.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
108. -- Consider, --
(b) It shows
the peculiarity of his service: "free will."
(c) It implies wholehearted consecration.
(a) Here is no
pharisaic boasting.
(b) Even the
free will offering is felt to need an "I
beseech thee."
Verse
108. -- Free will seeking free grace. --W.D.
Verse
108. -- Work for "Free willers".
EXPOSITION
Verse
109. My soul is continually in my hand. He lived in the midst of
danger. He had to be always fighting for existence -- hiding in caves, or
contending in battles. This is a very uncomfortable and trying state of
affairs, and men are apt to think any expedient justifiable by which they can
end such a condition: but David did not turn aside to find safety in am, for he
says,
Yet
do I not forget thy law. They say that all things are fair in love and war; but
the holy man thought not so: while he carried his life in his hand, he also
carried the law in his heart. No danger of body should make us endanger our
souls by forgetting that which is right. Trouble makes many a man forget his
duty, and it would have had the same effect upon the Psalmist if he had not
obtained quickening (Psalms 119:107) and teaching (Ps 119:108). In
his memory of the Lord's law lay his safety; he was certain not to be forgotten
of God, for God was not forgotten of him. It is a special proof of grace when
nothing can drive truth out of our thoughts, or holiness out of our lives. If
we remember the law even when death stares us in the face, we may be well
assured that the Lord is remembering us.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
109. -- My soul is continually in my hand. He had his soul in
his hand, ready to give whenever God should take it. And this is to be
observed, that there is no trouble so ready to take away the life of God's
children, as they are ready to give it. As Elijah came out to the mouth of his
cave to meet with the Lord; and Abraham in the door of his tent to speak to the
angel; so the soul of the godly stands ready in the door of the tabernacle of
this body to remove when the Lord shall command it; whereas the soul of the
wicked lies back, hiding itself, as Adam among the bushes, and is taken out of
the body perforce; as was the soul of that worldling; "This night thy soul
shall be required of thee;" but they never sacrifice their souls willingly
to the Lord. --William Cowper.
Verse
109. -- My soul is continually it, my hand. If any one carry
in the hand a fragile vessel, made of glass or any other similar material,
filled with a precious liquor, especially if the hand be weak, or if from other
causes dangers be threatening, he will scarcely be able to avoid the breaking
of the vessel and the running out of the liquor. Such is the condition of my
life, which I, set upon by various enemies, carry as it were in my hand; which,
therefore, is exposed to such great danger, as that I always have death present
before my sight, my life hanging on the slenderest thread. --Andreas Rivetus,
1572-1651.
Verse
109. -- My soul is continually in my hand. The believer is
always in the very jaws of death. He lives with wings outstretched to fly away.
Paul testified, "I die daily." In the extremity of persecution, the
fervent desire was to know what God would have him to do. --Henry Law.
Verse
109. -- My soul is continually in my hand. I make no more of
life than a child doth of his bird which he carrieth in the palm of his hand
held open. --John Trapp.
Verse
109. -- My soul is continually in my hand, etc. Why doth David
say, "My soul is in mine hand"; had he called it out of the hand of
God, and taken the care of it upon himself? Nothing less. His meaning is only
this, -- I walk in the midst of dangers and among a thousand deaths
continually; I am in deaths often, my life is exposed to perils every day, yet
do I not forget thy law: I keep close to thee, and will keep close to thee
whatsoever comes of it. Augustine upon that place doth ingeniously confess that
he understood not what David meant, by having his soul in his hands; but
Jerome, another of the ancients, teacheth us, that it is an Hebraism,
signifying a state of most extreme peril. The Greeks also have drawn it into a
proverb speaking the same thing.
But
why doth the holding or putting the life in the hand signify the exposing of
the life to peril? There is a twofold reason of it.
First.
Because those things which are carried openly in the hand are apt to fall out
of the hand, and being carried in sight, they are apt to be snatched or wrested
out of the hand. And, therefore, though to be in the hand of God signifies
safety, because his hand is armed with irresistible power to protect us; yet
for a man to carry a thing in his own hand is to carry it in danger, because
his hand is weak, and there are safer ways of carrying or conveying a thing
than openly in the hand. If a man be to ride a long journey with any treasure about
him, he doth not carry it in his hand, but puts it in some secret and close
place where it may be hidden, and so be more secure. The Chaldee paraphrast, to
express the elegancy of that place forecited out of the Psalm, gives it thus,
"My life is in as much danger as if it stood upon the very superficies or
outside of my hand," as if he had no hold of it, but it stood barely upon
his hand; for that which is set upon the palm of the hand, and not grasped, is
in greater danger. Things safe kept are hidden or held fast.
Secondly.
There is another reason of that speech, because when a man is about to deliver
a thing or to give it up, he takes it in his hand. They that put themselves
upon great perils and dangers for God and his people, deliver up their lives
and their all to God. Hence that counsel of the Apostle (1
Peter 4:19): "Let them that suffer according to the will of God
commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful
Creator." So here, the life of men in danger is said to be put in the
hand, because such are, as it were, ready to deliver and commit their lives
unto God, that he would take care of their lives to preserve them from the
danger, or to take them to himself if they lose them in his service. --Joseph
Caryl.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
109. -- The soul's life in jeopardy. The life of the soul secured.
Verse
109-110. -- Here is, --
(a) He
"doth not forget the law," and therefore is likely
to persevere.
(b) He hath not yet erred from God's precepts, and
therefore it is to be hoped he will not. --M. Henry.
EXPOSITION
Verse
110. The wicked have laid a snare for me. Spiritual life is the scene
of constant danger: the believer lives with his life in his hand, and meanwhile
all seem plotting to take it from him, by cunning if they cannot by violence.
We shall not find it an easy thing to live the life of the faithful. Wicked
spirits and wicked men will leave no stone unturned for our destruction. If all
other devices fail, and even hidden pits do not succeed, the wicked still
persevere in their treacherous endeavours, and, becoming craftier still, they
set snares for the victim of their hate. The smaller species of game are
usually taken by this method, by gin, or trap, or net, or noose. Wicked men are
quite indifferent as to the manner in which they can destroy the good man --
they think no more of him than if he were a rabbit or a rat: cunning and
treachery are always the allies of malice, and everything like a generous or chivalrous
feeling is unknown among the graceless, who treat the godly as if they were
vermin to be exterminated. When a man knows that he is thus assailed, he is too
apt to become timorous, and rush upon some hasty device for deliverance, not
without sin in the endeavour; but David calmly kept his way, and was able to
write,
Yet
I erred not from thy precepts. He was not snared, for he kept his eyes open,
and kept near his God. He was not entrapped and robbed, for he followed the
King's highway of holiness, where God secures safety to every traveller. He did
not err from the right, and he was not deterred from following it, because he
referred to the Lord for guidance, and obtained it. If we err from the
precepts, we part with the promises; if we get away from God's presence, we
wander into the wilds where the fowlers freely spread their nets. From this
verse let us learn to be on our guard, for we, too, have enemies both crafty
and wicked. Hunters set their traps in the animals usual runs, and our worst snares
are laid in our own ways. By keeping to the ways of the Lord we shall escape
the snares of our adversaries, for his ways are safe and free from treachery.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
110. -- The wicked. He calls them wicked men; which imports
three things. First, they work wickedness. Secondly, they love it. Thirdly,
they persevere in it. -- William Cowper.
Verse
110. -- A snare. One manner of catching wild animals, such as
lions, bears, jackals, foxes, hart, roebuck, and fallow deer, was by a trap
(paeh), which is the word used in this place; this was set under ground (Job
18:10), in the run of the animal (Proverbs
22:5), and caught it by the leg (Job
18:9). --William Latham Bevan, in Smith's Dictionary of the Bible,
1863.
Verse
110. -- The wicked have laid a snare for me. In eating, he
sets before us gluttony; in love he impels to lust; in labour, sluggishness; in
conversing, envy; in governing, covetousness; in correcting, anger; in honour,
pride; in the heart, he sets evil thoughts; in the mouth evil words; in
actions, evil works; when awake, he moves us to evil actions; when asleep, to
filthy dreams. --Girolamo Savonarola, 1452- 1498.
Verse
110. -- Laid a snare for me: yet I erred not, etc. It is not
the laying the bait hurts the fish, if the fish do not bite. --Thomas Watson.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
110. -- Various kinds of snares, and the one way of escaping them.
Verse
110. -- Consider, --
(a) Doctrinal
snares, by intellectual sinners.
(b) False accusations, by malignant sinners.
(c) False
flatteries, by deceitful sinners.
(d) False
charity, by a large number of sinners nowadays.
(b) The feet
cannot become entangled by them.
(c) God keeps
him who keeps his word. --J.F.
EXPOSITION
Verse
111. Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever. He chose
them as his lot, his portion, his estate; and what is more, he laid hold upon
them and made them so, -- taking them into possession and enjoyment. David's
choice is our choice. If we might have our desire, we would desire to keep the
commands of God perfectly. To know the doctrine, to enjoy the promise, to practise
the command, -- be this a kingdom large enough for me. Here we have an
inheritance which cannot fade and cannot be alienated; it is for ever, and ours
for ever, if we have so taken it. Sometimes, like Israel at the first coming
into Canaan, we have to take our heritage by hard fighting, and, if so, it is
worthy of all our labour and suffering; but always it has to be taken by a
decided choice of the heart and grip of the will. What God gives we must take.
For
they are the rejoicing of my heart. The gladness which had come to him through
the word of the Lord had caused him to make an unalterable choice of it. All
the parts of Scripture had been pleasing to David, and were so still and
therefore he stuck to them, and meant to stick to them for ever. That which
rejoices the heart is sure to be chosen and treasured. It is not the head
knowledge but the heart experience which brings the joy.
In
this verse, which is the seventh of its octave, we have reached the same
sweetness as in the last seventh (Psalms 119:103): indeed, in several of the adjoining
sevenths, delight is evident. How good a thing it is when experience ripens
into joy, passing up through sorrow, prayer, conflict, hope, decision, and holy
content into rejoicing! Joy fixes the spirit: when once a man's heart rejoices
in the divine word, he greatly values it, and is for ever united to it.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
111. -- Thy testimonies have I taken, etc. The Scripture is
called "testimonies" in respect to God himself, because it doth give
a testimony to him, and makes God known to us: it gives a testimony of all
those attributes that are himself, of his wisdom, of his power, of his justice,
of his goodness, of his truth. The declaration of these, we have them all in
the various books of the Scriptures: there is never a book, but there is a
testification of these attributes. In the book of Genesis we have a testimony
of his power in making the world, of his justice in drowning the world, and of
his goodness in saving Noah. In the book of Exodus, we have a testimony of his
providence in leading the people of Israel through the Red Sea, in bringing
them out of Egypt; we have a testimony of his wisdom in giving them his law.
What should I name more? In the New Testament, in the Gospel, all is testimony.
As the Old gave testimony to God, so the New to Christ: "To him gave all
the prophets witness"; not only the Old, but the New: "These are they
that testify of me." Everywhere there is testimony of Christ, -- of his
humility, in taking our nature; of his power, in working miracles; of his
wisdom, in the parables that he spoke; of his patience and love, in the
torments that he suffered for us. Both Law and Gospel -- the whole book of
Scripture, and every part of it in these regards is fitly called "the
testimonies of the Lord." And the holy Psalmist made choice of this name
when he was to speak to the honour and glory of it; because it was that name
from which he sucked a great deal of comfort, because it was the testimony of
God's truth and goodness and wisdom and power to him; thereupon he makes so
precious esteem of it as to account it his "heritage." -- Richard
Holdsworth (1590-1649), in "The Valley of Vision."
Verse
111. -- Thy testimonies. By "testimonies" is meant
the covenant between God and his people; wherein he bindeth himself to them,
and them to him. Some think that the excellency of the word is here set out by
many names; but we must look to the propriety of every word: as before by
"judgments," so by this word "testimonies," is meant the
covenant: not the commandments, because they cannot be an inheritance, for they
cannot comfort us, because we cannot fulfil them, but fail in them, and cannot
therefore take comfort in them. It is the gospel that bringeth peace and
comfort. "The law," when it is taken generally, containeth all the
word, particularly the commandments; so "the word" generally
containeth both law and gospel, but particularly the promises, as Rom. 10. So
likewise by the "testimonies," when they are opposed to the law, is
meant the promises of the covenant, as Isaiah 8, and this testimony is
confirmed to us by the sacraments, as to them by sacrifices. --Richard
Greenham.
Verse
111. -- As an heritage. Why the divine testimonies should be
called by the Psalmist an inheritance; why he brings them within the compass of
this notion, may not So easily be understood; for the word of God points out
the inheritance, but it is not the inheritance itself. Yes, there is good
reason to be given for the expression, were there no more than this, that we
consider the inestimable comfort, and heavenly treasure that is to be found in
the word of God; it is a rich mine of all celestial treasure, it is a
storehouse of all good things, of all saving knowledge. All privileges
whatsoever they are that we can expect on earth or heaven, they are all
contained in the word of God: here is ground enough why it is called an
inheritance; he hath a good heritage that hath all these.
Yet
there is a better reason than this; for if it be so that heaven is our
inheritance, then the word of God is; because it is the word that points out
heaven, that gives the assurance of heaven: we have in the word of God all the
evidences of heaven. Whatsoever title any saint hath to heaven, he hath it in
and out of the word of God. There are the evidences in the word of God; both
the evidence of discovery, it is the holy terrier of the celestial Canaan, and
the evidence of assurance, it is as a sacred bond or indenture between God and
his creature. St. Gregory said wittily, when he called it God's epistle that he
sent to man for the declaration of his will and pleasure, he might as well have
called it God's deed of gift, whereby he makes over and conveys to us all those
hopes that we look for in heaven. Whatsoever interest we have in God, in
Christ, whatsoever hope of bliss and glory, whatsoever comfort of the Spirit,
whatsoever proportion of grace, all are made over to us in the promises of the
gospel, in the word of God.
Now
put this together, look as in human affairs, evidences, though they be not
properly the inheritance itself, yet they are called the inheritance, and are
the inheritance, though not actually, yet virtually so; because all the title
we have to an inheritance is in the deeds and evidences; therefore evidences
are precious things. Though it be but a piece of paper, or parchment full of
dust and worm eaten, yet it is as much worth sometimes as a county, as much
worth as all a man's possessions besides. So likewise it is with the
Scriptures; they are not actually and properly the inheritance itself, but they
are via, the way to the kingdom. It is called the gospel of the kingdom, nay
more, the kingdom itself: "The kingdom of God is come among you," or
"to you". Why the kingdom? Why the inheritance? By the same reason,
both, because here we have the conveyance, here we have the deed, here we have
the assurance of whatsoever title or claim we make to heaven. --Richard Holdsworth.
Verse
111. -- They are the rejoicing of my heart. He saith not that
God's testimonies bring joy, but that they are joy; there is no other joy but
the delight in the law of the Lord. For all other joy, the wise king said of
laughter, "thou art mad," and of joy, "what is it that thou
dost?" Ecclesiates 6. True joy is the earnest which we have of heaven, it
is the treasure of the soul, and therefore should be laid up in a safe place;
and nothing in this world is safe to place it in. And therefore with the spouse
we say, "We will be glad in thee, we will remember thy love more than
wine." Let others seek their joy in wine, in society, in conversation, in
music; for me, thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that
their corn and their wine increased. These indeed are the precious fruits of
the earth, but they seal not up special favour; a man may have together with
them, an empty, husky, and chaffy soul. And therefore these are not the joys of
the saints; they must have God, or else they die for sorrow; his law is their
life. --Abraham Wright.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
111. --
Verse
111. -- Notice, --
(b) In
holiness.
(c) In comfort.
(d) In
companionship, for God's company goes with his word.
(e) In hope.
(a) He hurt
none by so doing; he could give generously his
portion, and yet not waste.
(b) He was
right; for he had the only wealth of which an
everlasting possession is possible.
(c) He was
wise.
(b) Pure,
unalloyed joy; it is never so with other wealth.
(c) Safe joy;
other joy is dangerous.
(d) Unloseable
joy. --J.F.
EXPOSITION
Verse
112. I have inclined mine heart to perform thy statutes alway, even
unto the end. He was not half inclined to virtue, but heartily inclined to it.
His whole heart was bent on practical, persevering godliness. He was resolved
to keep the statutes of the Lord with all his heart, throughout all his time,
without erring or ending. He made it his end to keep the law unto the end, and
that without end. He had by prayer, and meditation, and resolution made his
whole being lean towards God's commands; or as we should say in other words --
the grace of God had inclined him to incline his heart in a sanctified
direction. Many are inclined to preach, but the Psalmist was inclined to
practise; many are inclined to perform ceremonies, but he was inclined to
perform statutes; many are inclined to obey occasionally, but David would obey
alway; and, alas, many are inclined for temporary religion, but this godly man
was bound for eternity, he would perform the statutes of his Lord and King even
unto the end. Lord, send us such a heavenly inclination of heart as this: then
shall we show chat thou hast quickened and taught us. To this end create in us
a clean heart, and daily renew a right spirit within us, for only so shall we
incline in the right direction.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
112. -- I have inclined my heart to perform thy statutes alway,
etc. In the former verse he showed his faith, and his joy which came thereof;
now he showeth that here in this joy he will keep the commandments; whereby he
showeth that this was a true joy, because it wrought a care to do good. For if
we believe the promises truly, then we also love the commandments, otherwise
faith is vain; a care to live a godly life nourisheth faith in God's promises.
Here is the cause then why many regard not the word and sacraments; or if they
do a little, it is to no purpose, because they labour not to keep the
commandments. For unless they have care to do this, the word of God to them
cannot be profitable, nor the sacraments sacred. --Richard Greenham.
Verse
112. -- I have inclined my heart to perform, etc. Observe. In Psalms
119:36 he prayed to God, saying, "Incline my heart unto thy
testimonies." And here he speaks about himself, saying, "I have
inclined mine heart to perform thy statutes alway even unto the end." What
need, then, was there to ask from God that which he in another place glories to
have done himself? I answer: These things are not contrary the one to the
other. God inclines, and the godly man inclines. Man inclines by striving; God
inclines by effecting. Neither is that which the man attempts, nor that which
he by striving achieves goodwards, from the man, but from God, who gives,
"both to will and to do of His good pleasure:" Philippians
2:13. --Wolfgang Musculus.
Verse
112. -- The sinful heart of itself will run any way; upon earthly
things, upon evil things, or upon impertinent and unseasonable things; but
it will not come to or keep upon that which it should mind; therefore it must
be taken as by strong hand, and set upon spiritual things, set on musing and
meditation of heavenly things. A carnal heart is like the loadstone, it cleaves
to nothing but steel or iron, and both of them easily unite: but the heart must
be of another property, and act in a higher way. And a good heart, though it
thinks too much earthward, and runs often wrong, yet it will set itself in its
thinking on right objects, and make itself and them to meet and unite. David
tells us how he did; he inclined his heart to God's commandments, both to keep
them and to meditate on them. He took and bent his heart, as a thing bending
too much to other things; set his mind on musing on it. He found his heart and
the law of God too far asunder, and so would continue, unless he brought them
together and made them one. If he had not brought his heart to the word, he had
never meditated: the object cannot apply itself to the mind, but the mind must
bring itself to the object. No holy duties will come to us, we must come to them.
--Nathanael Ranew, in "Solitude Improved by Divine Meditation," 1670.
Verse
112. -- I have inclined mine heart to perform, etc. In this
work he was determined to continue.
Verse
112. -- I have inclined my heart. The prophet, in order
briefly to define what it is to serve God, asserts that he applied not only his
hands, eyes, or feet, to the keeping of the law, but that he began with the
affection of the heart. --John Calvin.
Verse
112. -- Unto the end. Our life on earth is a race; in vain
begins he to run swiftly, that fainteth, and gives over before he come to the
end. And this was signified (saith Gregory) when in the law the tail of the
beast was sacrificed with the rest: perseverance crowneth all. It is good we
have begun to do well; let us also strive to persevere to the end. -- William
Cowper.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
112-113. -- When David had an inclination in his heart to God's
statutes, the immediate effect of it was to "hate vain thoughts."
We read, "I have inclined mine heart to perform thy statutes"; and it
follows, "I hate vain thoughts." The vanity of his heart was a burden
to him. A new creature is as careful against wickedness in the head or heart,
as in the life. A godly man would be purer in the sight of God than in the view
of man. He knows none but God can see the wanderings of his heart or the
thoughts of his head, yet he is as careful that sins should not rise up as that
they should not break out. -- Stephen Charnock.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
112. -- Heart leanings. Personality, pressure, inclination,
performance, constancy, perpetuity.
Verse
112. -- The godly man's obedience.
(a) "To
perform"; not words or feelings merely; but deeds.
(b) "Thy statutes"; not human inventions, nor self
conceits, nor conventional maxims.
(a) Heart
inclination is requisite for pleasing a
heart searching God.
(b) And to make
obedience easy and even delightful.
(c) "I
have," he says; was it therefore his doing? Yes. Was
it his work alone No. See Psalms
119:36.
(d)
The proofs.
�h Its constancy: "even unto the
end."
(a) Though a
man should be cautious when planning for the
future, yet this life long purpose is right, wise, and
safe.
(b) Nor can he
purpose less, if holy fervency fill the
heart.
(c) It is no
more than what God and consistency demand. --J.F.
EXPOSITION
Verse
113. I hate vain thoughts: but thy law do I love. In this paragraph
the Psalmist deals with thoughts and things and persons which are the opposite
of God's holy thoughts and ways. He is evidently in great fear of the powers of
darkness, and of their allies, and his whole soul is stirred up to stand
against them with a determined opposition. Just as he began the octave, Psalms
119:97, with "O how I love thy law," so here he begins
with a declaration of hatred against that which breaks the law. The opposite of
the fixed and infallible law of God is the wavering, changing opinion of men:
David had an utter contempt and abhorrence for this; all his reverence and
regard went to the sure word of testimony. In proportion to his love to the law
was his hate of man's inventions. The thoughts of men are vanity; but the
thoughts of God are verity. We hear much in these days of "men of
thought," "thoughtful preachers," and "modern
thought": what is this but the old pride of the human heart? Vain man
would be wise. The Psalmist did not glory in his thoughts; and that which was
called "thought" in his day was a thing which he detested. When man
thinks his best his highest thoughts are as far below those of divine
revelation as the earth is beneath the heavens. Some of our thoughts are
specially vain in the sense of vain glory, pride, conceit, and self trust;
others in the sense of bringing disappointment, such as fond ambition, sinful
dreaming, and confidence in man; others in the sense of emptiness and
frivolity, such as the idle thoughts and vacant romancing in which so many
indulge; and, yet once more, too many of our thoughts are vain in the sense of
being sinful, evil, and foolish. The Psalmist is not indifferent to evil
thoughts as the careless are; but upon them he looks with a hate as true as was
the love with which he clung to the pure thoughts of God.
The
last octave was practical, this is thoughtful; there the man of God attended to
his feet, and here to his heart: the emotions of the soul are as important as
the acts of the life, for they are the fountain and spring from which the
actions proceed. When we love the law it becomes a law of love, and we cling to
it with our whole heart.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
113. -- I hate vain thoughts or, the evil devices; or, the
double hearted imaginations; or, the intermeddling, counter coursing thoughts:
that is to say, that kind of practice of some men, that sail with every wind,
and seek still to have two strings to their bow. The Hebrew word doth properly
signify boughs Or branches, which shoot up perplexedly or confusedly in a tree.
--Theodore Haak, 1618-1657.
Verse
113. -- I hate vain thoughts. In those vacant hours which are
spared from business, pleasure, company, and sleep, and which are spent in
solitude, at home or abroad; unprofitable, proud, covetous, sensual, envious,
or malicious imaginations, occupy the minds of ungodly men, and often infect
their very dreams. These are not only sinful in themselves, indicating the
state of their hearts, and as such will be brought into the account at the day
of judgment; but they excite the dormant corruptions, and lead to more open and
gross violations of the holy law. The carnal mind welcomes and delights to
dwell upon these congenial imaginations, and to solace itself by ideal
indulgences, when opportunity of other gratification is not presented, or when
a man dares not commit the actual transgression. But the spiritual mind recoils
at them; such thoughts will intrude from time to time, but they are unwelcome
and distressing, and are immediately thrust out; while other subjects, from the
word of God, are stored up in readiness to occupy the mind more profitably and
pleasantly during the hours of leisure and retirement. There is no better test
of our true character, than the habitual effect of "vain thoughts"
upon our minds -- whether we love and indulge them, or abhor, and watch and pray
against them. -- Thomas Scott, 1747-1821.
Verse
113. -- I hate vain thoughts, A godly man may have roving
thoughts in duty. Sad experience proves this; the thoughts will be dancing up
and down in prayer. The saints are called stars; but many times in duty they
are wandering stars. The heart is like quicksilver which will not fix. It is
hard to tie two good thoughts together; we cannot lock our hearts so close, but
that distracting thoughts, like wind, will get in. Hierom complains of himself;
"Sometimes," saith he, "when I am about God's service, I am
walking in the galleries, or casting up accounts." But these wandering
thoughts are not allowed: "I hate vain thoughts," they come as
unwelcome guests, which are no sooner spied, but turned out of doors. --Thomas
Watson.
Verse
113. -- I hate. Every dislike of evil is not sufficient; but
perfect hatred is required of us against all sorts and degrees of sin. --David
Dickson.
Verse
113. -- Vain thoughts. The word is used for the opinions of
men; and may be applied to all heterodox opinions, human doctrines, damnable
heresies; such as are inconsistent with the perfections of God, derogate from
his grace, and from the son and offices of Christ; and are contrary to the
word, and which are therefore rejected and abhorred by good men. --John Gill.
Verse
113. -- Vain thoughts. Hebrew, "sedphim", halting
between two opinions. See 1Ki 18:21. Hence it signifies sceptical doubts.
--Christopher Wordsworth.
Verse
113. -- Vain thoughts. Our thoughts are set upon trifles and
frivolous things, neither tending to our own profit nor the benefit of others:
"The heart of the wicked is little worth;" all their debates,
conceits, musings, are of no value: for all their thoughts are taken up about
childish vanity and foolish conceits. "The thought of foolishness is
sin" (Proverbs 24:9); not only the thought of
wickedness, but foolishness. Thoughts are the firstborn of the soul, the
immediate issues of the mind; yet we lavish them away upon every trifle. Follow
men all the day long, and take account of their thoughts. Oh! what madness and
folly are in all the musings they are conscious of: "The Lord knoweth the
thoughts of man, that they are vanity" (Psalms
94:11). If we did judge as God judges, all the thoughts, reasonings,
discourses of the mind, if they were set down in a table, we might write at the
bottom, Here is the sum and total account of all, -- nothing but vanity.
The
sins that do most usually engross and take up our thoughts are,
First.
Uncleanness. Speculative wickedness makes way for active: "Hath committed
adultery...in his heart" (Matthew
5:28). There is a polluting ourselves by our thoughts, and this sin
usually works that way.
Secondly.
Revenge. Liquors are soured when long kept; so, when we dwell upon discontents,
they turn to revenge. Purposes of revenge are most sweet and pleasant to carnal
nature: "Frowardness is in his heart, he deviseth mischief
continually" (Proverbs 6:14), that is to say, he is full of
revengeful and spiteful thoughts.
Thirdly.
Envy. It is a sin that feeds upon the mind. Those songs of the women, that Saul
had slain his thousands, but David his ten thousands, they ran in Saul's mind,
therefore he hated David (1
Samuel 18:9). Envy is an evil disease that dwelleth in the heart,
and betrays itself mostly in thoughts.
Fourthly.
Pride. Either pride in the desires or pride in the mind, either vain glory or
self conceit; this is entertaining our hearts with whispers of vanity:
therefore it is said, "He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of
their hearts" (Luke 1:51): proud men are full of imaginations.
Fifthly.
Covetousness, which is nothing but vain musings and exercises of the heart:
"A heart they have exercised with covetous practices" (2
Peter 2:14). And it withdraws the heart in the very time of God's
worship: "Their heart goeth after their covetousness" (Eze 33:31).
Sixthly.
Distrust is another thing which usually takes up our thoughts -- distracting
motions against God's providence. --Thomas Manton.
Verse
113. -- Vain thoughts. Let us see what vanity is. Take it in
all the acceptances of it, it is true of our thoughts that they are
"vain."
Verse
113. -- But thy law do I love Ballast your heart with a love to
God. Love will, by a pleasing violence bind down our thoughts: if it doth
not establish our minds, they will be like a cork, which, with a light breath,
and a short curl of water, shall be tossed up and down from its station.
Scholars that love learning will be continually hammering upon some notion or
other which may further their progress, and as greedily clasp it as the iron
will its beloved loadstone. He that is "winged with a divine love" to
Christ will have frequent glances and flights toward him, and will start out from
his worldly business several times in a day to give him a visit. Love, in the
very working, is a settling grace; it increaseth our delight in God, partly by
the sight of his amiableness, which is cleared to us in the very act of loving;
and partly by the recompences he gives to the affectionate carriage of his
creature; both which will prevent the heart's giving entertainment to such
loose companions as evil thoughts. --Stephen Charnock.
Verse
113-114. -- When David was able to vouch his love to the command,
he did not question his title to the promise. Here he asserts his sincere
affection to the precepts: "I hate vain thoughts: but thy law do I
love." Mark he doth not say he is free from vain thoughts, but he
"hates" them, he likes their company no better than one would a pack
of thieves that break into his house. Neither saith he that he fully kept the
law, but he "loved" the law even when he failed of exact obedience to
it. Now from this testimony his conscience brought in for his love to the law,
his faith acts clearly and strongly on the promise in the next words,
"Thou art my hiding place and my shield: I hope in thy word."
--William Gurnall.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Outlines
Upon Keywords of the Psalm, By Pastor C. A. Davis.
Verse
113-120. -- Vain thoughts contrasted with God's law. The believer takes
sides (Ps 119:113-115); prays for upholding in the law (Psalms 119:116-117); contemplates the fate of
the followers of vain thoughts (Psalms 119:118-119); and expresses the godly
fear thereby inspired (Psalms 119:120).
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
113. -- The thought of the age, and the truth of all ages.
Verse
113. --
OR
Verse
113. -- Vain thoughts. What they are. Whence they arise. The mischief
they cause. How they should be treated. --W.H.J.P.
Verse
113. -- How the believer --
"With
thoughts of Christ and things divine,
Fill up this foolish heart of mine." --W.H.J.P.
EXPOSITION
Verse
114. Thou art my hiding place and my shield. To his God he ran for
shelter from vain thoughts; there he hid himself away from their tormenting
intrusions, and in solemn silence of the soul he found God to be his hiding
place. When called into the world, if he could not be alone with God as his
hiding place, he could have the Lord with him as his shield, and by this means
he could ward off the attacks of wicked suggestions. This is an experimental
verse, and it testifies to that which the writer knew of his own personal
knowledge: he could not fight with his own thoughts, or escape from them, till
he flew to his God, and then he found deliverance. Observe that he does not
speak of God's word as being his double defence, but he ascribes that to God
himself. When we are beset by very spiritual assaults, such as those which
arise out of vain thoughts, we shall do well to fly distinctly to the person of
our Lord, and to cast ourselves upon his real presence. Happy is he who can
truly say to the triune God, "Thou art my hiding place." He has
beheld God under that glorious covenant aspect which ensures to the beholder
the surest consolation.
I
hope in thy word. And well he might, since he had tried and proved it: he
looked for protection from all danger, and preservation from all temptation to
him who had hitherto been the tower of his defence on former occasions. It is
easy to exercise hope where we have experienced help. Sometimes when gloomy
thoughts afflict us, the only thing we can do is to hope, and, happily, the
word of God always sets before us objects of hope and reasons for hope, so that
it becomes the very sphere and support of hope, and thus tiresome thoughts are
overcome. Amid fret and worry a hope of heaven is an effectual quietus.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
114. -- Thou art my hiding place and my shield, etc. From vain
thoughts and vain persons the Psalmist teaches us to fly, by prayer, to God, as
our Refuge and Protector. This course a believer will as naturally take, in the
hour of temptation and danger, as the offspring of the hen, on perceiving a
bird of prey hovering over their heads, retire to their "hiding
place," under the wings of the dam; or as the warrior opposeth his
"shield" to the darts which are aimed at him. --George Horne.
Verse
114. -- Thou art my hiding place. Christ hath all
qualifications that may fit him for this work of being a hiding place to
believers].
Verse
114. -- Hiding place. The first word in the verse means
properly a secret, or a secret place. --Joseph Addison Alexander.
Verse
114. -- My shield. Good people are safe under God's
protection; he is their "strength and their shield"; their "help
and their shield"; their "sun and their shield"; their
"shield and their great reward"; and here, their "hiding place
and their shield" --Matthew Henry.
Verse
114. -- Shield. The excellency and properties of a shield lie
in these things: --
Verse
114. -- I hope in thy word. Of all the ingredients that
sweeten the cup of human life, there is none more rich or powerful than hope.
Its absence embitters the sweetest lot; its presence alleviates the deepest
woe. Surround me with all the joys which memory can awaken or possession
bestow, -- without hope it is not enough. In the absence of hope there is
sadness in past and present joys -- sadness in the thought that the past is
past, and that the present is passing too. But though you strip me of all the
joys the past or the present can confer, if the morrow shineth bright with
hope, I am glad amid my woe. Of all the busy motives that stir this teeming
earth, hope is the busiest. It is the sweetest balm that soothes our sorrows,
the brightest beam that gilds our pleasures. Hope is the noblest offspring, the
first born, the last buried child of foreseeing and forecasting man. Without it
the unthinking cattle may be content amid present plenty. But without it
reflecting man should not, cannot be truly happy. --William Grant (1814-1876),
in "Christ our Hope, and other Sermons"
Verse
114-115. -- Thou art my hiding place. "Depart from me, ye
evil doers." Safe and quiet in his hiding place, David deprecates all
attempts to disturb his peace. The society, therefore, of the ungodly is
intolerable to him, and he cannot forbear frowning them from his presence. He
had found them to be opposed to his best interests; and he feared their
influence in shaking his determination of obedience to his God. Indeed, when
have the Lord's people failed to experience such society to be a prevailing
hindrance alike to the enjoyment and to the service of God? --Charles Bridges.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
114. -- Our protection from danger -- "hiding-place"; in
danger -- "shield"; before danger -- "I hope."
Verse
114. -- Hiding place. Secrecy to conceal us. Capacity to hold us.
Safety. Comfort. -- T. Manton.
Verse
114. -- Hiding and hoping.
Verse
114. --
Verse
114. -- Thou art my hiding place.
EXPOSITION
Verse
115. Depart from me, ye evil doers. Those who make a conscience of
their thoughts are not likely to tolerate evil company. If we fly to God from
vain thoughts, much more shall we avoid vain men. Kings are all too apt to be
surrounded by a class of men who flatter them, and at the same time take
liberty to break the laws of God: David purged his palace of such parasites; he
would not harbour them beneath his roof. No doubt they would have brought upon
him an ill name, for their doings would have been imputed to him, since the
acts of courtiers are generally set down as acts of the court itself; therefore
the king sent them packing bag and baggage, saying, -- "Depart from
me." Herein he anticipated the sentence of the last great day, when the
Son of David shall say, "Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity." We
cannot thus send all malefactors out of our houses, but it will often become a
duty to do so where there is right and reason for it. A house is all the better
for being rid of liars, pilferers, lewd talkers, and slanderers. We are bound
at all hazards to keep ourselves clear of such companions as come to us by our
own choice if we have any reason to believe that their character is vicious.
Evil doers make evil counsellors. Those who say unto God, "Depart from
us," ought to hear the immediate echo of their words from the mouths of
God's children, "Depart from us. We cannot eat bread with traitors."
For
I will keep the commandments of my God. Since he found it hard to keep the
commandments in the company of the ungodly, he gave them their marching orders.
He must keep the commandments, but he did not need to keep their company. What
a beautiful title for the Lord this verse contains! The word God only occurs in
this one place in all this lengthened psalm, and then it is attended by the
personal word "my" -- "my God."
"My God!
how charming is the sound!.
How pleasant to repeat!
Well may that heart with pleasure bound,
Where God hath fixed his seat."
Doddridge.
Because
Jehovah is our God therefore we resolve to obey him, and to chase out of our
sight those who would hinder us in his service. It is a grand thing for the
mind to have come to a point, and to be steadfastly fixed m the holy
determination, -- "I will keep the commandments." God's law is our
pleasure when the God of the law is our God.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
115. -- Depart from me, ye evil doers, etc. As if he had said,
talk no more of it, save your breath, I am resolved on my course, I have sworn,
and am steadfastly purposed to keep the commandments of my God; with God's
help, there will I hold me, and all the world shall not wrest me from it.
--Robert Sanderson, 1587-1663.
Verse
115. -- Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity, etc. It is
common to sin for company, and that cup usually goeth round, and is handed from
one to another. It is therefore wise to quit the company which is infected by
sin. It can bring thee no benefit. At least evil company will abate the good in
thee. The herb of grace will never thrive in such a cold soil. How poorly doth
the good corn grow which is compassed about with weeds! Cordials and
restoratives will do little good to the natural body, whilst it aboundeth with
ill humours. Ordinances are little effectual to souls which are distempered
with such noxious inmates. It is said of the mountain Kadish, that whatsoever
vine be planted near it, it causeth it to wither and die: it is exceeding rare
for saints to thrive near such pull backs. It is difficult, even to a miracle,
to keep God's commandments and evil company too; therefore when David would
marry himself to God's commands, to love them, and live with them, for better
for worse, all his days, he is forced to give a bill of divorce to wicked
companions, knowing that otherwise the match could never be made: "Depart
from me, ye workers of iniquity, for I will keep the commandments of my
God." As if he had said, Be it known unto you, O sinners, that I am
striking a hearty covenant with God's commands; I like them so well, that I am
resolved to give myself up to them, and to please them well in all things,
which I can never do unless ye depart; ye are like a strumpet, which will steal
away the love from the true wife. I cannot, as I ought, obey my God's precepts,
whilst ye abide in my presence; therefore depart from me, ye workers of
iniquity, for I will keep the commandments of my God. --George Swinnock.
Verse
115. -- Depart from me, ye evil doers. Woe be to the wicked
man, and woe to those who adhere to him and associate with him, saith Ben Sira.
And even the pagans of old thought that a curse went along with those who kept
evil company. To inhabit, or to travel with an impious man, and one not beloved
of the gods, was held by them to be unlucky and unfortunate.
Vetabo qui
Cercris sacrum
Vulgavit, sub isdem
Sit trabibus, fragilemque mecuin
Solvat phaselum,
as
Horace speaks.
They who
mysteries reveal
Beneath my roof shall never live,
Shall never hoist with me the doubtful sail.
To
dwell under the same roof, or to sail in the same yacht or pleasure boat with
profane persons was deemed unsafe and dangerous by men of Pagan principles. How
much more, then, ought Christians to be thoroughly persuaded of the mischief
and danger of conversing with wicked men? It can no ways be safe to hold
correspondence with them. Yea, we are in great danger all the while we are with
them. You have heard, I suppose, who it was that would not stay in the bath so
long as an arch heretic was there. It was St. John the Evangelist; he would not
(as Iranaeus acquaints us) remain in that place because Cerinthus, who denied
the divinity of Christ, was then present there. That holy man thought no place
was safe where such persons are.
Therefore
be mindful of the Apostle's exhortation, and "Come out from among
them" (2 Corinthians 6:17); listen to that voice from
heaven: "Come out, that ye be not partakers of their sins, and that ye
receive not of their plagues." Separate yourselves from them lest you not
only in damage your souls, but your bodies, lest some remarkable judgment
arrest you here, and lest the divine vengeance more furiously assault you hereafter.
The fanciful poets tell us that Theseus and Perithous (a pair of intimate
friends) loved one another so well that they went down to hell together. I am
sure it is no poetical fiction that many do thus; that is to say, that they
perish together, and descend into the bottomless pit for company's sake. --John
Edwards (1637-1716), in "Theologia Reformata."
Verse
115. -- Depart from them that depart from God. --T. Manton.
Verse
115. -- Of my God. As a man can esteem of anything which he
knows is his own; so if once he know that God is his, he cannot but love him,
and carefully obey him: neither is it possible that any man can give to God
hearty and permanent service, who is not persuaded to say with David, He is my
God. All the pleasures, all the terrors of the world cannot sunder that soul
from God, who can truly say, The Lord is my God. --W. Cowper.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
115. --
Verse
115. -- Evil companionship incompatible with genuine righteousness.
EXPOSITION
Verse
116. Uphold me according unto thy word, that I may have. It was so
necessary that the Lord should hold up his servant, that he could not even live
without it. Our soul would die if the Lord did not continually sustain it, and
every grace which makes spiritual life to be truly life would decay if he
withdrew his upholding hand. It is a sweet comfort that this great necessity of
upholding is provided for in the word, and we have not to ask for it as for an
uncovenanted mercy, but simply to plead for the fulfilment of a promise,
saying, "Uphold me according to thy word." He who has given us
eternal life hath in that gift secured to us all that is essential thereto, and
as gracious upholding is one of the necessary things we may be sure that we
shall have it.
And
let me not be ashamed of my hope. In Psalms 119:114 he had spoken of his hope as founded on the
word, and now he begs for the fulfilment of that word that his hope might be
justified in the sight of all. A man would be ashamed of his hope if it turned
out that it was not based upon a sure foundation; but this will never happen in
our case. We may be ashamed of our thoughts, and our words, and our deeds for
they spring from ourselves; but we never shall be ashamed of our hope, for that
springs from the Lord our God. Such is the frailty of our nature that unless we
are continually upheld by grace, we shall all so foully as to be ashamed of
ourselves, and ashamed of all those glorious hopes which are now the crown and
glory of our life. The man of God had uttered the most positive resolves, but
he felt that he could not trust in his own solemn determination: hence these
players. It is not wrong to make resolutions, but it will be useless to do so
unless we salt them well with believing cries to God. David meant to keep the
law of the Lord, but he first needed the Lord of the law to keep him.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
116. -- Uphold me. A kite soaring on high is in a situation
quite foreign to its nature; as much as the soul of man is when raised above
this lower world to high and heavenly pursuits. A person at a distance sees not
how it is kept in its exalted situation: he sees not the wind that blows it,
nor the hand that holds it, nor the string by whose instrumentality it is held.
But all of these powers are necessary to its preservation in that preternatural
state. If the wind were to sink it would fall. It has nothing whatever in
itself to uphold itself; it has the same tendency to gravitate towards the
earth that it ever had; and if left for a moment to itself it would fall. Thus
it is with the soul of every true believer. It has been raised by the Spirit of
God to a new, a preternatural, a heavenly state; and in that state it is at
held by an invisible and Almighty hand, through the medium of faith. And upheld
it shall be, but not by any lower in itself. If left for a moment it would fall
as much as ever. Its whole strength is in God alone; and its whole security is
in the unchangeableness of his nature, and in the efficacy of his grace. In a
word, "It is kept by the power of Gad, through faith, unto
salvation." --From "The Book of Illustrations," by H. G. Salter,
1840.
Verse
116. -- That I may live. The life of a Christian stands in
this, to have his soul quickened by the spirit of grace. For as the presence of
the soul quickens the body, and the departure thereof brings instant death; and
the body without it is but a dead lump of clay: so it is the presence of God's
Spirit which giveth life to the soul of man. And this life is known by these
two notable effects; for first, it brings a joyful sense of God's mercy; and
next, a spiritual disposition to spiritual exercises. And without this, pretend
a man what he will, he is but the image of a Christian, looking somewhat like
him, but not quickened by his life. --William Cowper.
Verse
116. -- That I may live. The children of God think they have
no life if they live not in God's life. For if we think we are alive, because
we see, so do the brute beasts; if we think we are alive because we hear, so do
the cattle; if we think we are alive because we eat and drink, or sleep, so do
beasts; if we think we live because we do reason and confer, so do the heathen.
The life of God's children is the death of sin; for where sin is alive, there
that part is dead unto God...God's children, finding themselves dull and slow
to good things, when they cannot either rejoice in the promises of God, or find
their inward man delighted with the law of God, think themselves to be dead. --
Richard Greenham.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
116. --
Verse
116. -- Uphold me according unto thy word, etc.
EXPOSITION
Verse
117.
Hold thou me up: as a nurse holds up a little child. "And I shall be
safe," and not else; for unless thou hold me up I shall be falling about
like an infant that is weak upon its knees. We are saved by past grace, but we
are not safe unless we receive present grace. The Psalmist had vowed to keep
the Lord's commands, but here he pleads with the Lord to keep him: a very
sensible course of procedure. Our version roads the word "uphold,"
and then "hold up;" and truly we need this blessing in every shape in
which it can come, for in all manner of ways our adversaries seek to cast us
down. To be safe is a happy condition; there is only one door to it, and that
is to be held up by God himself; thank God, that door is open to the least
among us.
And
I will have respect unto thy statutes continually. In obedience is safety; in
being held up is obedience. No man will outwardly keep the Lord's statutes for
long together unless he has an inward respect for them, and this will never be
unless the hand of the Lord perpetually upholds the heart in holy love.
Perseverance to the end, obedience continually, comes only through the divine
power; we start aside as a deceitful bow unless we are kept right by him that
first gave us grace. Happy is the man who realizes this verse in his life:
upheld through his whole life in a course of unswerving integrity, he becomes a
safe and trusted man, and maintains a sacred delicacy of conscience which is
unknown to others. He feels a tender respect for the statutes of the Lord,
which keeps him clear of inconsistencies and conformities to the world that are
so common among others, and hence he is a pillar in the house of the Lord.
Alas, we know some professors who are not upright, and therefore they lean to
sin till they fall over, and though they are restored they are never safe or
reliable, neither have they that sweet purity of soul which is the charm of the
more sanctified who have been kept from falling into the mire.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
117. --
Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe. Not only the consciousness of my
weakness, but the danger of the slippery path before me, reminds me, that the
safety of every moment depends upon the upholding power of my faithful God. The
ways of temptation are so many and imperceptible -- the influence of it so
appalling -- the entrance into it so deceitful, so specious, so insensible --
and my own weakness and unwatchfulness are so unspeakable -- that I can do
nothing but go on my way, praying at every step, "Hold thou me up, and I shall
be safe." --Charles Ridges.
Verse
117. --
Hold thou me up. Three things made David afraid. First, great temptation
without; for from every air the wind of temptation blows upon a Christian.
Secondly, great corruption within. Thirdly, examples of other worthy men that
had fallen before him, and are written for us: not that we should learn to
fall, but to fear lest we fall. These three should always hold us humble,
according to that warning, "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed
lest he fall." --William Cowper.
Verse
117. --
Up, up above the littleness in which I have lived too long, -- above the
snares which have so often caught me, -- above the stumbling blocks upon which
I have so often fallen, -- above the world, -- above myself, -- higher than I
have ever reached yet, -- above the level of my own mortality: worthy of thee,
-- worthy of the blood, with which I have been bought, -- nearer to heaven, --
nearer to thee, -- "hold thou me up."
God's
methods of holding his people up are many. Sometimes it is by the preacher's
word, when the word comes fitly spoken to the heart and conscience. May God, in
his infinite condescension, enable his servants in this church so to hold you
up. Sometimes it is by the ordained means and sacraments which his grace
commanded. Sometimes it is by the efficacy of the Holy Scriptures, when some
passage in your own room strikes the mind, Just in season; or the stay of some
sweet promise comes in sustaining to your spirit. Sometimes by the simple in
working of the Holy Ghost in a man's own thoughts, as he will work "Uphold
me with thy free Spirit." Sometimes by the ministration of angels, --
"They shall hold thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a
stone." Sometimes by putting you very low indeed, making you feel that the
safe place is the valley. There is no elevation like the elevation of
abasement. Sometimes by severe discipline to brace up the heart, and strengthen
it, and make it independent of external things. Sometimes by heavy affliction,
which is the grasp of his hand, that he may hold you tighter. Sometimes by
putting into your heart to think the exact thing that you need, -- to pray the
very prayer which he intends at the moment to grant. Sometimes by appearing to
let you go, and forsake you, while at the same time -- like the Syro Phoenician
woman -- he is giving you the wish to hold on that he may give you the more at
the last. --James Vaughan, of Brighton, 1877.
Verse
117. --
I will have respect unto that statutes continually. I will employ myself,
so some; I will delight myself, so others; in thy statutes. If God's right hand
uphold us, we must in his strength go on in our duty, both with diligence and
With pleasure. -- Matthew Henry.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
117.
--
(b)
Our feet make the danger as well as the way.
(c) Cunning foes seek to trip us up.
(d)
Sometimes the difficulty is not caused by the way, but
by the height to which God may elevate us.
(e)
The prayer is all the more needful because the most of
people do not keep upright.
(a)
We shall be safe for ourselves, as examples, and as
pillars of the church.
(b)
We shall be watchful and sensitive: "I will have
respect unto thy statutes continually." Without this no man
is safe. See "Spurgeon's Sermons," No. 1657: "My Hourly
Prayer."
Verse
117.
-- Hold thou me up, etc.
Verse
117.
--
EXPOSITION
Verse
118. Thou hast trodden down all them that err from thy statutes.
There is no holding up for them; they are thrown down and then trodden down,
for they choose to go down into the wandering ways of sin. Sooner or later God
will set his foot on those who turn their foot from his commands: it has always
been so, and it always will be so to the end. If the salt has lost its savour,
what is it fit for but to be trodden under foot? God puts away the wicked like
dross, which is only fit to be cast out as road metal to be trodden down.
For
their deceit is falsehood. They call it far seeing policy, but it is absolute
falsehood, and it shall be treated as such. Ordinary men call it clever
diplomacy, but the man of God calls a spade a spade, and declares it to be
falsehood, and nothing less, for he knows that it is so in the sight of God.
Men who err from the right road invent pretty excuses with which to deceive
themselves and others, and so quiet their consciences and maintain their
credits; but their mask of falsehood is too transparent. God treads down
falsehoods; they are only fit to be spurned by his feet, and crushed into the
dust. How horrified must those be who have spent all their lives in contriving
a confectionery religion, and then see it all trodden upon by God as a sham
which he cannot endure!
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
118. -- Thou hast trodden down, etc. David here, by a new meditation,
confirms himself in the course of godliness: for considering the judgments of
God, executed according to his word in all ages upon the wicked, he resolves so
much the more to fear God and keep his testimonies. Thus the judgments of God,
executed on others, should be awe bands to keep us from sinning after their
similitude.
The
Lord in chastising his own children takes them in hand like a father to correct
them; but when his wrath is kindled against the wicked he tramples them under
his feet, as vile creatures which are no account with him. --William Cowper.
Verse
118. -- Thou hast trodden down. The Septuagint, ebouoenwsaj,
ad nihil deduxisti; thou hast brought to nothing; Aquila, confixisti, thou hast
stricken through: Symmachus, aphlebaj, reprobasti, thou hast disproved; the
Vulgate sprevisti, thou hast contemned; Apollinarius, aferibaj, parvi
pependisti, thou hast little esteemed: all to the same purpose. The phrase of
treading tinder foot, used by us, implies,
Verse
118. -- Thou hast trodden down, etc. There is a disposition to
merge all the characteristics of the Divinity into one; and while with many of
our most eminent writers, the exuberant goodness, the soft and yielding
benignity, the mercy that overlooks and makes liberal allowance for the
infirmities of human weakness, have been fondly and most abundantly dwelt upon
-- there has been what the French would call, if not a studied, at least an
actually observed reticence, on the subject of his truth and purity and his
hatred of moral evil. There can be no government without a law; and the
question is little entertained -- how are the violations of that law to be
disposed of? Every law has its sanctions -- the hopes of proffered reward on
the one hand, the fears of threatened vengeance on the other. Is the vengeance
to be threatened only, but never to be executed? Is guilt only to be dealt with
by proclamations that go before, but never by punishments that are to
follow?...Take away from jurisprudence its penalties, or, what were still
worse, let the penalties only be denounced but never exacted; and we reduce the
whole to an unsubstantial mockery. The fabric of moral government falls to
pieces; and, instead of a great presiding authority in the universe, we have a
subverted throne and a degraded Sovereign...If there is only to be the parade
of a judicial economy, without any of its power or its performance; if the
truth is only to be kept in the promises of reward, but as constantly to be
receded from in the threats of vengeance; if the judge is thus to be lost in
the overweening parent -- there is positively nothing of a moral government
over us but the name, we are not the subjects of God's authority; we are the
fondlings of his regard. Under a system like this, the whole universe would
drift, as it were, into a state of anarchy; and, in the uproar of this wild
misrule, the King who sitteth on high would lose his hold on the creation that
he had formed. --Thomas Chalmers.
Verse
118 -- For their deceit is falsehood. The true sense of the
passage is, "for their cunning hath been fallacious," that is, it
hath deceived them themselves and brought on their ruin. --Samuel Horsley,
1733-1806.
Verse
118. -- Their deceit is falsehood. He means not here of that
deceit whereby the wicked deceive others, but that whereby they deceive
themselves. And this is two fold: first, in that they look for a good in sin,
which sin deceitfully promises, but they shall never find. Next, that they
flatter themselves with a vain conceit to escape judgment, which shall
assuredly overtake them. --William Cowper.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
118. -- Sin and falsehood: their connection, punishment, and cure.
Verse
118. --
Verse
118. -- God's punishment of the wicked though awfully severe is just
and necessary.
Verse
118. (second clause). -- The deceits of the wicked are all
falsehoods.
Verse
118-120. -- Saved by fear.
EXPOSITION
Verse
119. Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth like dross. He
does not trifle with them, or handle them with kid gloves. No, he judges them
to be the scum of the earth, and he treats them accordingly by putting them
away. He puts them away from his church, away from their honours, away from the
earth, and at last away from himself. "Depart," saith he, "ye
cursed." If even a good man feels forced to put away the evil doers from
him, much more must the thrice holy God put away the wicked. They looked like
precious metal, they were intimately mixed up with it, they were laid up in the
same heap; but the Lord is a refiner, and every day He removes some of the
wicked from among his people, either by making a shameful discovery of their
hypocrisy or by consuming them from off the earth. They are put away as dross,
never to be recalled. As the metal is the better for losing its alloy, so is
the church the better for having the wicked removed. These wicked ones are
"of the earth," -- "the wicked of the earth," and they have
no right to be with those who are not of the world; the Lord perceives them to
be out of place and injurious, and therefore he puts them away, all of them,
leaving none of them to deteriorate his church. The process will one day be
perfect; no dross will be spared, no gold will be left impure. Where shall we
be when that great work is finished
Therefore
I love thy testimonies. Even the severities of the Lord excite the love of his
people. If he allowed men to sin with impunity, he would not be so fully the
object of our loving admiration; he is glorious in holiness because he thus
rids his kingdom of rebels, and his temple of them that defile it. In these
evil days, when God's punishment of sinners has become the butt of proud
sceptical contentions, we may regard as a mark of the true man of God that he
loves the Lord none the less, but a great deal the more because of his condign
judgment of the ungodly.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
119. -- Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth like dross.
The godly and the wicked live together in the visible church, as dross and good
metal; but God, who is the purger of his church, will not fail by diversity of
trials and judgments to put difference between them, and at last will make a
perfect separation of them, and cast away the wicked as refuse. --David
Dickson.
Verse
119. -- God's judgments upon others may be a necessary act of love
to us. They are purged out as "dross," that they may not infect
us by their example, or molest us by their persecutions or oppressions. Now,
the more we are befriended in this kind, the more we are bound to serve God
cheerfully: "That we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might
serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days
of our life": Luke 1:74-75. The world is one of those enemies,
or the wicked of the earth; therefore we should serve him faithfully. --Thomas
Manton.
Verse
119. -- Thou puttest away all the wicked. Many ways are wicked
men taken away; sometime by the hand of other men, sometime by their own hand.
The Philistines slew not Saul, but forced him to slay himself; yet the eye of
faith ever looks to the finger of God, and sees that the fall of the wicked is
the work of God. --William Cowper.
Verse
119. -- The wicked of the earth. Why are they thus
characterized? Because here they flourish; their names "shall be written in
the earth" (Jeremiah 17:13); they grow great and of good
reckoning and account here. Judas had the bag; they prosper in the world:
"Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world" (Psalms
73:12). Here they are respected: "They are of the world,
therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them" (1
John 4:5). Their hearts and minds are in the world (Matthew 6:19-20). It is their natural frame to be worldly,
they only savour the things of the world; preferment, honour, greatness, it is
their unum magnum; here is their pleasure, and here is their portion, their
hope, and their happiness. A child of God looketh for another inheritance,
immortal and undefiled. --Thomas Manton.
Verse
119. -- Like dross. The men of this world esteem God's children
as the offscourings of the earth; so Paul (a chosen vessel of God) was
disesteemed of men; but ye see here what the wicked are, in God's account, but
dross indeed, which is the refuse of gold or silver. Let this confirm the godly
against the contempt of men: only the Lord hath in his own hand the balance
which weigheth men according as they are. --William Cowper.
Verse
119. -- Dross.
Verse
119. -- Thy testimonies. So, very frequently, he calleth God's
word, wherein there are both commands and promises: the commandments of God
appertain to all, his testimonies belong to his children only; whereby more
strictly, I understand his promises containing special declarations of his love
and favour toward his own in Christ Jesus. -- William Cowper.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
119. -- An insight into the divine will, the best assistance in our
journey through the earth. Or, what I am; where I am; where I am going; how am
I to get there?
Verse
119. (first clause). -- The stranger in the earth.
(a) That the
saint is not born of the earth.
(b) That the saint is not known on earth.
(c) The saint's
portion is not upon the earth.
(d) The saint
is compassed with sorrows and trials upon earth.
(e) The saint is
soon to leave the earth.
(a) Do not be
like the world.
(b) Be prepared
to be a sufferer on the earth.
(c) Sit loose
to the world.
(d) Correspond
with home.
(e) Cherish
brotherly love for your fellow strangers on the
earth.
(f) Hasten
home.
(g) Press
others to come with you.
--Duncan
Macgregor's Sermon in "The Shepherd in Israel," 1869.
Verse
119. -- The stranger's prayer.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
119. -- The saint's acquiescence in God's judgments. --W.B.H.
Verse
119. --
Verse
119. -- God's putting away the wicked like dross.
EXPOSITION
Verse
120. My flesh trembleth for fear of thee. Such was his awe in the
presence of the Judge of all the earth, whose judgment he had just now been
considering, that he did exceedingly fear and quake. Even the grosser part of
his being, -- his flesh, felt a solemn dread at the thought of offending one so
good and great, who would so effectually sever the wicked from among the just.
Alas, poor flesh, this is the highest thing to which thou canst attain!
And
I am afraid of thy judgments. God's words of judgment are solemn, and his deeds
of judgment are terrible; they may well make us afraid. At the thought of the
Judge of all, -- his piercing eye, his books of record, his day of assize, and
the operations of his justice, -- we may well cry for cleansed thoughts, and
hearts, and ways, lest his judgments should light on us. When we see the great
Refiner separating the precious from the vile, we may well feel a godly fear,
lest we should be put away by him, and left to be trodden under his feet.
Love
in the previous verse is quite consistent with fear in this verse: the fear
which hath torment is cast out, but not the filial fear which leads to
reverence and obedience.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
The
fifteenth letter, SAMECH, denotes a prop or pillar, and this agrees well with
the subject matter of the strophe, in which God is twice implored to uphold his
servant (Psalms 119:16-17), while the utter destruction
of those who make light of his law, or encourage scepticism regarding it, may
be compared to the fate of the Philistine lords, on whom Samson brought down
the roof of the house where they were making merry, by overthrowing the pillars
which supported it. --Neale and Littledale.
Verse
120. -- My flesh trembleth for fear of thee. Instead of
exulting over those who fell under God's displeasure he humbleth himself. What
we read and hear of the judgments of God upon wicked people should make us
Verse
120. -- My flesh trembleth for fear of thee, etc. At the
presence of Jehovah, when he appeareth in judgment, the earth trembleth and is
still. His best servants are not exempted from an awful dread, upon such
occasions; scenes of this kind, shown in vision to the prophets, cause their
flesh to quiver, and all their bones to shake. Encompassed with a frail body,
and a sinful world, we stand in need of every possible tie; and the affections
both of fear and love must be employed, to restrain us from transgression; we
must, at the same time, "love God's testimonies, and fear his
Judgments." --George Horne.
Verse
120 -- My flesh trembleth for fear of thee, etc. In prayer, in the
evening I had such near and terrific views of God's judgments upon sinners in
hell, that my flesh trembled for fear of them...I flew trembling to Jesus
Christ as if the flames were taking hold of me: Oh! Christ will indeed save me
or else I perish. --Henry Martyn, 1781- 1812.
Verse
120. -- My flesh trembleth for fear of thee. Familiarity with
men breeds contempt; familiarity with God, not so: none reverence the Lord more
than they who know him best and are most familiar with him. --William Cowper.
Verse
120,116. -- My flesh trembleth for fear of thee; I am afraid....Let
me not be ashamed of my hope. True religion consists in a proper mixture of
fear of God, and of hope in his mercy; and wherever either of these is entirely
wanting, there can be no true religion. God has joined these things, and we
ought by no means to put them asunder. He cannot take pleasure in those who
fear him with a slavish fear, without hoping in his mercy, because they seem to
consider him as a cruel and tyrannical being, who has no mercy or goodness in
his nature; and, besides, they implicitly charge him with falsehood, by
refusing to believe and hope in his invitations and offers of mercy. On the
other hand, he cannot be pleased with those who pretend to hope in his mercy
without fearing him; for they insult him by supposing that there is nothing in
him which ought to be feared; and, in addition to this, they make him a liar,
by disbelieving his awful threatenings denounced against sinners, and call in
question his authority, by refusing to obey him. Those only who both fear him
and hope in his mercy, give him the honour that is due to his name. -- Edward
Payson.
Verse
120. -- Trembles or shudders, strictly used of the hair as
standing erect in terror (comp. Job
4:15). --J.J. Stewart Perowne.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
120. -- The judgments of God on the wicked cause in the righteous,
Verse
120. --
(a) It is the
fear of reverence for God's authority and
power.
(b) It is the fear of horror against sin as meriting
judgment.
(a) The more we
love God the more firmly we believe in the
certainty and awfulness of his judgments.
(b) The more we
love God the more will we
fear to arouse his chastising rod against ourselves.
(a) In fact, if
we love not God, we shall have no fear lest
sin should involve us in judgment.
(a) As it
proves a just sense of sin's desert.
(b) As it shows
a true appreciation of God's righteousness.
(c) As it is
not a fear that hath torment, but a fear which
increases watchfulness, and walks hand in hand with
perfect confidence in saying grace. --J.F.
EXPOSITION
Verse
121. I have done judgment and justice. This was a great thing for an
Eastern ruler to say at any time, for these despots mostly cared more far gain
than justice. Some of them altogether neglected their duty, and would not even
do judgment at all, preferring their pleasures to their duties; and many more
of them sold their judgments to the highest bidders by taking bribes, or
regarding the persons of men. Some rulers gave neither judgment nor justice,
others gave judgment without justice, but David gave judgment and justice, and
saw that his sentences were carried out. He could claim before the Lord that he
had dealt out even handed justice, and was doing so still. On this fact he
founded a plea with which he backed the prayer -- "Leave me not to mine
oppressors." He who, as far as his power goes, has been doing right, may
hope to be delivered from his superiors when attempts are made by them to do
him wrong. If I will not oppress others, I may hopefully pray that others may
not oppress me. A course of upright conduct is one which gives us boldness in
appealing to the Great Judge for deliverance from the injustice of others. Nor
is this kind of pleading to be censured as self righteous: when we are dealing
with God as to our shortcomings, we use a very different tone from that with
which we face the censures of our fellow men; when they are in the question,
and we are guiltless towards them, we are justified in pleading our innocence.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
121. -- This commences a new division of the Psalm indicated by
the Hebrew letter Ain -- a letter which cannot well be represented in the
English alphabet, as there is, in fact, no letter in our language exactly
corresponding with it. It would be best represented probably by what are called
"breathings" in Greek. --Albert Barnes.
Verse
121. -- I have done judgment against the wicked, "and
justice" towards the good. -- Simon de Muis, 1587-1644.
Verse
121. -- I have done judgment and justice. -- Here the view of
David in his judicial capacity might present itself to us; and if so, we have
David in the midst of large experience; for the words would take in a large
portion of his life. How blessed were their reflections, if, after a long
reign, all sovereign rulers could thus appeal unto God. It should be so; for to
him all shall be accountable at last. Even although we only conceive of David
as speaking in the character of a private man, the sentiment is worthy of all
consideration... For parents to say this of their dealings with their children,
masters of servants, a man of his neighbours, is very excellent. --John
Stephen.
Verse
121. -- Judgment and "justice," are often put in
Scripture for the same, and when put together, the latter is as an epithet to
the former. "I have done judgment and justice," that is, I have done
judgment justly, exactly, to a hair. --Joseph Caryl.
Verse
121. --
Do right and be
a king,
Be this thy brazen bulwark of defence,
Still to preserve thy conscious innocence,
Nor ever turn pale with guilt. --Francis's Horace.
Verse
121. -- If our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence
before God: 1 John 3:21. This "testimony of
conscience" has often been "the rejoicing" of the Lord's people,
when suffering under unmerited reproach or "proud oppression." They
have been enabled to plead it without offence in the presence of their holy,
heart searching God; nay, even when, in the near prospect of the great and
final account, they might well have been supposed to shrink from the strict and
unerring scrutiny of their Omniscient Judge. Perhaps, however, we are not
sufficiently aware of the importance of moral integrity in connexion with our
spiritual comfort. Mark the boldness which it gave David in prayer: "I
have done judgment and justice: leave me not to mine oppressors."
--Charles Bridges.
Verse
121. -- Leave me not to mine oppressors. That is, maintain me
against those who would wrong me, because I do right; interpose thyself between
me and my enemies, as if thou wert my pledge. Impartial justice upon oppressors
sometimes lays judges open to oppression; but yet they who run greatest hazards
in zeal for God shall find God ready to be their surety, when they pray,
"be surety for thy servant," as in the next verse. -- Abraham Wright.
Verse
121-122. -- I have done judgment and justice; but, that I may
always do it, and never fail in doing it, "uphold thy servant unto
good," by directing him, so that he may always relish what is good, and
then the consequence will be that "the proud will not calumniate me;"
for he that is well established "unto good," and so made up that
nothing but what is good and righteous will be agreeable to him, he will so
persevere that he will have no reason for fearing "the proud that
calumniate him." --Robert Bellarmine.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verses
121-128. -- The just man's prayer against injustice. Out of the prison of
oppression he appeals to God to be his surely (Psalms 119:121-122); utters his weary longing
for deliverance (Psalms 119:123-125); points to the
"time" (Psalms 119:126); and professes his supreme love
for God's law in contrast to the oppressors' contempt of it (Psalms 119:127-128).
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Outlines
Upon Keywords of the Psalm, by Pastor C. A. Davis.
Verse
121-122. -- The double appeal.
EXPOSITION
Verse
122. Be surety for thy servant for good. Answer for me. Do not leave thy poor
servant to die by the hand of his enemy and thine. Take up my interests and
weave them with thine own, and stand for me. As my Master, undertake thy
servants' cause, and represent me before the faces of haughty men till they see
what an august ally I have in the Lord my God.
Let
not the proud oppress me. Thine interposition will answer the purpose of my
rescue: when the proud see that thou art my advocate they will hide their
heads. We should have been crushed beneath our proud adversary the devil if our
Lord Jesus had not stood between us and the accuser, and become a surety for
us. It is by his suretyship that we escape like a bird from the snare of the
fowler. What a blessing to be able to leave our matters in our Surety's hands,
knowing that all will be well, since he has an answer for every accuser, a
rebuke for every reviler.
Good
men dread oppression, for it makes even a wise man mad, and they send up their
cries to heaven for deliverance; nor shall they cry in vain, for the Lord will
undertake the cause of his servants, and fight their battles against the proud.
The word "servant" is wisely used ,as a plea for favour for himself,
and the word "proud" as an argument against his enemies. It seems to
be inevitable that proud men should become oppressors, and that they should
take most delight in oppressing really gracious men.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
122. -- Be surety for thy servant for good. What David prays
to God to be for him, that Christ is for all his people: Hebrews
7:22. He drew nigh to God, struck hands with him, gave his word and
bond to pay the debts of his people; put himself in their law place and stead,
and became responsible to law and justice for them; engaged to make
satisfaction for their sins, to bring in everlasting righteousness for their
justification, and to preserve and keep them, and bring them safe to eternal
glory and happiness; and this was being a surety for them for good. --John
Gill.
Verse
122. -- Be surety for thy servant for good. There are three
expositions of this clause, as noting the end, the cause, the event.
Verse
122. -- Be surety for thy servant for good. It is the prayer
Hezekiah in his trouble, "O Lord, I am oppressed," undertake for, (Isaiah
38:14); it is the prayer of Job for a "daysman" to between
him and God (Job 9:33); it is the cry of the church before
Incarnation for the appearance of a Divine Mediator; it is the confidence of
every faithful soul since that blessed time in the perpetual of our Great High
Priest in heaven, which is to us the pledge of blessedness. --Agellius and
Cocceius, in Neale and Littledale.
Verse
122. -- Be surety for thy servant for good. His meaning is,
thou knowest how unjustly I am calumniated and evil spoken of in parts: where I
am not present or where I may not answer for myself, answer thou for me.
--William Cowper.
Verse
122. -- Be surety for thy servant for good. The keen eye of world
may possibly not be able to affix any blot upon my outward confession; but,
"if thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities; O Lord, who shall stand?"
The debt is continually accumulating, and the prospect of payment as distant as
ever. I might well expect to be "left to my oppressors," I should pay
all that was due unto my Lord. But behold! "Where is the fury of the
oppressor?" Isaiah 51:13. The surety is found -- the debt is
paid -- the ransom is accepted -- the sinner is free. There was a voice heard
heaven -- "Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a
ransom", Job 33:24. The Son of God himself became Surety
for a stranger, and "smarted for it," Proverbs
11:15. At an infinite cost -- the cost of his precious blood -- he
delivered me from "mine oppressors" -- sin -- Satan world -- death --
hell. -- Charles Bridges.
Verse
122. -- Some observe that this is the only verse throughout the
whole psalm wherein the Word is not mentioned under the name of "law
"judgments," "statutes," or the like terms, and they
make this note it, -- "Where the Law faileth, there Christ is a surety of
a better testament. There are those that render the words thus, --
"Dulcify, or, delight thy servant good," that is, make him joyful and
comfortable in the pursuit and of that which is good. --John Trapp.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
122. --
Verse
122. (first clause). -- After explaining the Psalmist's meaning as
shown in the preceding verse, this sentence may be used for a sermon upon the
Suretyship of Christ, by a reference to Hebrews
7:22.
(b) Now the
Scriptures tell us that God "justifies the
ungodly," and that his "righteousness" is declared in
his justifying sinners: Romans 3:25. He can forgive
sins with justice. He can treat sinners as righteous
persons, and yet bo righteous in doing so. How? By a
Surety. Therefore, a Surety is the real want.
(a) He
undertook to bear our obligation to the law's
penalty, and fulfilled it in death. Thus pardon, though
mercy to us, is an act of justice to Christ.
(b) He undertook our obligation to a perfect obedience, and
satisfied for that in his fulfilment of the law; thus
for God to treat us as righteous is only just to
Christ.
(c) God has
shown his satisfaction with the office of
Christ, and with his work, by the resurrection and
glorification of Christ. Hence a well accredited and
efficient Surety exists.
(a) In the
gospel, Christ as Surety comes to the sinner as
truly as though he himself left his throne and came in
his own person.
(b) Thus, he is
so close that a sinner has but to receive
the gospel into his heart and he receives Christ.
(c) Christ
received as a Surety is the Surety for whosoever
receives him. --J.F.
EXPOSITION
Verse
123.
Mine eyes fail for thy salvation. He wept, waited, and watched for God's saving
hand, and these exercises tried the eyes of his faith till they were almost
ready to give out. He looked to God alone, he looked eagerly, he looked long,
he looked till his eyes ached. The mercy is, that if our eyes fail, God does
not fail, nor do his eyes fail. Eyes are tender things, and so are our faith,
hope and expectancy: the Lord will not try them above what they are able to bear.
"And for the word of thy righteousness:" a word that would silence
the unrighteous words of his oppressors. His eyes as well as his ears waited
for the Lord's word: he looked to see the divine word come forth as a fiat for
his deliverance. He was "waiting for the verdict" -- the verdict of
righteousness itself. How happy are we if we have righteousness on our side;
for then that which is the sinners' terror is our hope, that which the proud
dread is our expectation and desire. David left his reputation entirely in the
Lord's hand, and was eager to be cleared by the word of the Judge rather than
by any defence of his own. He knew that he had done right, and, therefore,
instead of avoiding the supreme court, he begged for the sentence which he knew
would work out his deliverance. He even watched with eager eyes for the
judgment and the deliverance, the word of righteousness from God which meant
salvation to himself.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
123. --
Mine eyes fail flor thy salvation. In times of great sorrow when the heart
is oppressed with care, and when danger threatens on every side, the human eye
expresses with amazing accuracy the distressed and anguished emotions of the
soul. The posture here described is that of an individual who perceives himself
surrounded with enemies of the most formidable character, who feels his own
weakness and insufficiency to enter into conflict with them, but who is eagerly
looking for the arrival of a devoted and powerful friend who has promised to
succour him in the hour of his calamity. As his friend delays the hour of his
coming, his fears and anxieties multiply, till he finds himself in the
condition of one whose eyes fail and grow dim in looking for the approach of
his great deliverer. In this condition was the suppliant here described, -- his
enemies were ready to swallow him up, and except from heaven he had no hope of
final extrication. To the promises of God he betook himself, and while waiting
their accomplishment, and looking with the utmost eagerness to the word of
God's righteousness, he gives utterance to the desponding sentiment, "Mine
eyes fail for thy salvation." O for such warm and anxious desires for that
great salvation, which will realize the victory over all our spiritual enemies,
and enable us to shout triumphantly through all eternity in the name of our
almighty Deliverer! --John Morison.
Verse
123. --
Mine eyes fail...for the word of thy righteousness. Albeit the words of
promise be neither performed, nor like to be performed, yet faith should
justify the promise, for true and faithful. --David Dickson.
Verse
123. --
For the word of thy righteousness. This would be the word of promised
salvation, which the Lord had given in righteousness. What an amazing plea --
God on the ground of his own righteousness appealed to for deliverance -- and
yet how true! Or this might be the word of his justice, the issuing of justice,
the exercising of a righteous decision between him and his oppressors. He had
looked for the Lord to interpose between them, and so to fulfil all he had
promised on behalf of the believer. The Lord will vindicate his own. Are any in
great difficulty; and are they waiting for the Lord to interpose, to whom they
have committed their concerns? ... Wait on; he will not disappoint a gracious
hope. --John Stephen.
Verse
123. --
For the word of thy righteousness, or, "the word of thy justice";
that is to say, for the sentence of justice on my oppressors, as the first part
of the verse teaches; for the passing this sentence will be equivalent to the
granting the salvation which the psalmist so earnestly desired. --George
Phillips.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
123.
-- Holy expectation -- long maintained, in danger of failing; this fact
pleaded; reasons for never renouncing it.
EXPOSITION
Verse
124. Deal with thy servant according unto thy mercy. Here he
recollects himself: although before men he was so clear that he could challenge
the word of righteousness, yet before the Lord, as his servant, he felt that he
must appeal to mercy. We feel safest here. Our heart has more rest in the cry,
"God be merciful to me," than in appealing to justice. It is well to
be able to say, "I have done judgment and justice," and then to add
in all lowliness, yet "deal with thy servant according unto thy
mercy." The title of servant covers a plea; a master should clear the
character of his servant if he be falsely accused, and rescue him from those
who would oppress him; and, moreover, the master should show mercy to a
servant? even if he deal severely with a stranger. The Lord condescendingly
deals, or has communications with his servants, not spurning them, but
communing with them; and this he does in a tender and merciful way, for in any
other form of dealing we should be crushed into the dust. "And teach me
thy statutes." This will be one way of dealing with us in mercy. We may
expect a master to teach his own servant the meaning of his own orders. Yet
since our ignorance arises from our own sinful stupidity, it is great mercy on God's
part that he condescends to instruct us in his commands. For our ruler to
become our teacher is an act of great grace, for which we cannot be too
grateful. Among our mercies this is one of the choicest.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
124. -- Deal with thy servant according unto thy mercy. If I
am a "servant" of God, I can bring my services before him only upon
the ground of "mercy"; feeling that for my best performances I need
an immeasurable world of mercy -- pardoning -- saving -- everlasting mercy; and
yet I am emboldened by the blood of Jesus to plead for my soul -- "Deal
with thy servant according unto thy mercy."
But
then I am ignorant as well as guilty; and yet I dare not pray for divine
teaching, much and hourly as I need it, until I have afresh obtained mercy.
"Mercy" is the first blessing, not only in point of importance, but
in point of order. I must seek the Lord, and know him as a Saviour, before I
can go to him with any confidence to be my teacher. But when once I have found
acceptance to my petition -- "Deal with thy servant according unto thy
mercy" -- my way will be opened to follow on my petition -- "Teach me
thy statutes. Give me understanding, that if may know thy testimonies" --
that I may know, walk, yea, "run in the way of thy commandments" with
an enlarged heart, Psalms 119:32. My plea is the same as I have
before urged with acceptance (Psalms
119:94) -- "I am thy servant." --Charles Bridges.
Verse
124. -- Thy mercy. All the year round, every hour of every
day, God is richly blessing us; both when we sleep and when we wake, his mercy
waits upon us. The sun may leave off shining, but our God will never cease to
cheer his children with his love. Like a river, his lovingkindness is always
flowing with a fulness inexhaustible as his own nature, which is its source.
Like the atmosphere which always surrounds the earth, and is always ready to
support the life of man, the benevolence of God surrounds all his creatures; in
it, as in their element, they live, and move, and have their being. Yet as the
sun on summer days appears to gladden us with beams more warm and bright than
at other times, and as rivers are at certain seasons swollen with the rain, and
as the atmosphere itself on occasions is fraught with more fresh, more bracing,
or more balmy influences than heretofore, so is it with the mercy of God; it
hath its golden hours, its days of overflow, when the Lord magnifies his grace
and lifteth high his love before the sons of men. --C.H.S.
Verse
124. -- Teach me. David had Nathan and Gad the prophets; and
beside them, the ordinary Levites to teach him. He read the word of God
diligently, and did meditate in the law night and day; but he acknowledgeth all
this was nothing unless God did teach him. Other teachers speak to the ear, but
God speaks to the heart: so Paul preached to Lydia, but God opened her heart.
Let us pray for this grace. --William Cowper.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
124-125. -- The servant of God.
Verse
124. -- Heavenly instruction a great mercy.
Verse
124. --
Verse
124. -- A Perfect Prayer.
(a) Here is
nothing superfluous; no petition for wealth,
nor for honours, nor for anything the worldling covets.
(b) Here is nothing wanting; "Deal with thy servant
according to thy mercy" comprehends everything the
guilty soul needs; "Teach me thy statutes" comprehends
all a saint needs to be anxious for.
(a) It is
direct and definite.
(b) It is
simple and fervent.
(c) It is
reverent yet bold.
(a) "Deal
with thy servant"; a sense of obligation; a
feeling of devotedness; a spirit of consecration to
holy work.
(b)
"Deal...according to thy mercy"; a sense of
unworthiness; becoming humility; submissiveness to the
divine will as to what form the mercy shall take; great
faith in the mercy, its freeness and sufficiency.
(c) "Teach
me thy statutes." Longing for holiness, sense of
ignorance, of weakness, of dependence upon special
divine spiritual influence. --J.F.
EXPOSITION
Verse
125. I
am thy servant. This is the third time he has repeated this title in this one
section: he is evidently fond of the name, and conceives it to be very
effective plea. We who rejoice that we are sons of God are by no the less
delighted to be his servants. Did not the firstborn Son assume the servant's
form and fulfil the servant's labour to the full? What high, honour can the
younger brethren desire than to be made like the Heir of things.
Give
me understanding, that I may know thy testimonies. In the verse he sought
teaching; but here he goes much further, and craves understanding. Usually, if
the instructor supplies the teaching, the finds the understanding; but in our
case we are far more dependent, must beg for understanding as well as teaching:
this the ordinary cannot give, and we are thrice happy that our Divine Tutor
can furnish us with it. We are to confess ourselves fools, and then our Lord
will make us wise, as well as give us knowledge. The best understanding is that
which enables us to render perfect obedience and to exhibit intelligent faith,
and it is this which David desires, -- "understanding, that I may know thy
testimonies." Some would rather not know these things; they prefer to be
at ease in the dark rather than possess the light which leads to repentance and
diligence. The servant of God longs to know in an understanding manner all that
the Lord reveals of man and to man; he wishes to be so instructed that he may
apprehend and comprehend that which is taught him. A servant should not be
ignorant concerning his master, or his master's business; he should study the
mind, will, purpose, and aim of him whom he serves, for so only can he complete
his service; and as no man knows these things so well as his master himself, he
should often go to him for instructions, lest his very zeal should only serve
to make him the greater blunderer.
It
is remarkable that the Psalmist does not pray for understanding through
acquiring knowledge, but begs of the Lord first that he may have the gracious
gift of understanding, and then may obtain the desired instruction. All that we
know before we have understanding is apt to spoil us and breed vanity in us;
but if there be first an understanding heart, then the stores of knowledge
enrich the soul, and bring neither sin nor sorrow therewith. Moreover, this
gift of understanding acts also in the form of discernment and thus the good man
is preserved from hoarding up that which is false and dangerous: he knows what
are and what are not the testimonies of the Lord.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
125. --
I am thy servant; give me understanding, etc. I am not a stranger to thee,
but thine own domestic servant; let me want no grace, which may enable me to
serve thee. -- William Cowper.
Verse
125. --
I am thy servant. That thou art the servant of God, thou shouldest regard
as thy chiefest glory and blessedness. --Martin Geier.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
125.
--
Verse
125.
--
EXPOSITION
Verse
126. It is time for thee, Lord, to work: For they have made void thy
law. David was a servant, and therefore it was always his time to work: but
being oppressed by a sight of man's ungodly behaviour, he feels that his
Master's hand is wanted, and therefore he appeals to him to work against the
working of evil. Men make void the law of God by denying it to be his law, by
promulgating commands and doctrines in opposition to it, by setting up
tradition in its place, or by utterly disregarding and scorning the authority
of the lawgiver. Then sin becomes fashionable, and a holy walk is regarded as a
contemptible puritanism; vice is styled pleasure, and vanity bears the bell.
Then the saints sigh for the presence and power of their God: Oh for an hour of
the King upon the throne and the rod of iron! Oh for another Pentecost with all
its wonders, to reveal the energy of God to gain sayers, and make them see that
there is a God in Israel! Man's extremity, whether of need or sin, is God's
opportunity. When the earth was without form and void, the Spirit came and
moved upon the face of the waters; should he not come when society is returning
to a like chaos? When Israel in Egypt were reduced to the lowest point, and it
seemed that the covenant would be void, then Moses appeared and wrought mighty
miracles; so, too, when the church of God is trampled down, and her message is
derided, we may expect to see the hand of the Lord stretched out for the
revival of religion, the defence of the truth, and the glorifying of the divine
name. The Lord can work either by judgments which hurl down the ramparts of the
foe; or by revivals which build up the walls of his own Jerusalem. How heartily
may we pray the Lord to raise up new evangelists, to quicken those we all early
have, to set his whole church on fire, and to bring the world to his feet.
God's work is ever honourable and glorious; as for our work, it is as nothing
apart from him.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
126. -- It is time for thee, Lord, to work. Was ever vessel
more hopelessly becalmed in mid ocean? or did crew ever cry with more frenzy
for some favouring breeze than those should cry who man the Church of the
living God? If God work not, it is certain there is nothing before the Church
but the prospect of utter discomfiture and overthrow. Greater is the world than
the Church if God be not in her. But if God be in her, she shall not be moved.
May he help her, and that right early!
When
he arises to work we know not what may be the form and fashion of his
operations. He worketh according to the counsel of his own will; and who knows
but that when once he awakes, and puts on his strength, it may not be confined
in its results to the immediate and exclusive quickening of the spiritual life
of the Church; but may be associated with providential upheavals and
convulsions which will fill the heart of the world with astonishment and
dismay. His spiritual kingdom does not stand in isolation. It has relations
which closely involve it with the material universe, and with human society and
national life. There have been times when God has worked, and the signs of his
presence have been seen, in terrible shaking of the nations, in the ploughing
up from their foundations of hoary injustice, in the smiting of grinding
tyrannies, and in the emancipation of peoples whose life had been a long and
hopeless moan. There have been times, too, and many, when he has worked through
the elements of nature -- through blasting and mildew, through floods and
famine, through locust, caterpillar and palmer worm; through flagging commerce,
with its machinery rusting in the mill and its ships rotting in the harbour.
All these things are his servants. Sometimes the sleep of the world, and the
Church too, is so profound that it can be broken only by agencies like the
wind, or fire, or earthquake, which made the prophet shiver at the mouth of the
cave, and without which the voice that followed, so still, so small and tender,
would have lost much of its melting and subduing power. When society has become
drugged with the Circean cup of worldliness, and the voices that come from
eternity are unheeded, if not unheard, even terror has its merciful mission.
The frivolous and superficial hearts of men have to be made serious, their
idols have to be broken, their nests have to be stoned, or tossed from the
trees where they had been made with so much care, and they have to be taught
that if this life be all, it is but a phantom and a mockery. When the day of
the Lord shall come, in which he shall begin to work, let us not marvel if it
"shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that
is lifted up; and he shall be brought low; and upon all the cedars of Lebanon,
that are high and lifted up, and upon every high tower, and upon every fenced
wall, and upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures. And
the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be
made low: and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day." But this
working of God will also take other shapes. Will it not be seen in the
inspiration of the Church with faith in its own creed, so far as that creed has
the warrant of the Divine word? Does the Church believe its creed? It writes
it, sets it forth, sings it, defends it; but does it believe it, at least with
a faith which begets either enthusiasm in itself, or respect from the world?
Have not the truths which form the methodized symbols of the Church become
propositions instead of living powers? Do they not lie embalmed with
superstitious reverence in the ark of tradition, tenderly cherished for what
they have been and done But is it not forgotten that if they be truths they are
not dead and cannot die? They are true now, or they were never true; living
now, or they never lived. Time cannot touch them, nor human opinion, nor the
Church's sluggishness or unbelief, for they are emanations from the Divine
essence, instinct with his own undecaying life. They are not machinery which
may become antiquated and obsolete and displaced by better inventions; they are
not methods of policy framed for conditions which are transient, and vanishing
with them; they are not scaffolding within which other and higher truth is to
be reared from age to age. They are like him who is the end of our
conversation, "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and for
ever." There is not one of them which, if the faith it awakens were but
commensurate with its intrinsic worth, would not clothe the Church with a new
and wondrous power. But what would be that power if that faith were to grasp
them all? It would be life from the dead. --Enoch Mellor (1823-1881), in
"The Hem of Christ's Garment, and other Sermons."
Verse
126. -- It is time for thee, Lord, to work. expresses
emphatically the proper time for the Lord to do his own work; as if the
Psalmist had said, "It is not for us to prescribe the time and occasion
for God to exercise his power, and to vindicate the authority of his own law;
he does everything at the proper time, and he will at the proper season punish
those who have made void his law, and who have become notorious for their
impiety and wickedness." --George Phillips.
Verse
126. -- It is time to work, just as when the attack of some
illness is becoming more severe, you hurry to the physician, that he may come
more quickly, lest he should later be unable to do any good. So when the
prophet saw in the Holy Spirit the rebellion of the people, their luxury,
pleasures, deceits, frauds, avarice, drunkenness, he runs, for our help, to
Christ, whom he knew to be alone able to remedy such sins; implores him to
come, and admits of no delay. --Ambrose, in Neale and Littledale.
Verse
126. -- It is time for thee, Lord, to work. -- Infidelity was
never more subtle, more hurtful, more plausible, perhaps more successful, than
in the day in which we live. It has left the low grounds of vulgarity and
coarseness and ribaldry, and entrenched itself upon the lofty heights of
criticism, philology, and even science itself. It pervades to a fearful extent
our popular literature; it has invested itself with the charms of poetry, to
throw its spell over the public mind; it has endeavoured to inweave itself with
science; and he must be little acquainted with the state of opinion in this
land, who does not know that it is espoused by a large portion of the
cultivated mind of this generation. "It is time for thee, Lord, to
work." --John Angell James, 1785-1859.
Verse
126. -- It is time for thee, Lord, to work, etc. To send the
Messiah, to work righteousness, to fulfil the law and vindicate the honour of
it, broken by men. It was always a notion of the Jews that the time of the
Messiah's coming would be when it was a time of great wickedness in the earth;
and which seems to agree with the word of God, and was true in fact. See Matthew
2:17 3:1-3,15-16 4:2. --John Gill.
Verse
126. -- It is time for thee, Lord, to work, etc. True it is,
Lord, that we are not to appoint thee thy times and limits, for thou art the
Ancient of Days, Time's Creator and destination. Neither do we presume to press
in at the portal of thy privy chamber, to "know the times and seasons"
which thou our Father hast reserved in thine own power; yet, Lord, thou hast
taught us, as to discern the face of the sky, so to descry the signs of the
times, and from the cause to expect the effect which necessarily doth ensue.
"Thou art a God full of compassion and mercy, slow to anger, and of great
kindness" (Psalms 103:8); and thou dost sustain many wrongs
of the sons of men, being crushed with their sins as a cart is laden with
sheaves: but if still they continue to load thee, thou wilt case thyself of
that burden, and cast it on the ground of confusion. Thou art "slow to
anger, but great in power, and wilt not surely clear the wicked" (Nahum
1:3). Thou dost for a long space hold thy peace at men's sins, and
art still, and dost restrain thyself. But if men will not turn, thou wilt whet
thy sword and bend thy bow, and make it ready. Patient thou art, and for a long
time dost forbear thine hand; but when the forehead of sin begins to lose the
blush of shame, when the bead roll of transgressions doth grow in score from
East to West, when the cry of them pierceth above the clouds, when the height
of wickedness is come unto the top, and the fruits thereof are ripe and full,
then it is time for thee, Lord, to take notice of it, to awake like a giant,
and to put to thine all revenging hand.
But
our sins are already ripe, yea, rotten ripe, the measure of our iniquities is
full up to the brim. Doubtless out land is sunken deep in iniquity; our tongues
and works have been against the Lord, to provoke the eyes of his glory; the
trial of our countenance doth testify against us (Isaiah
3:8-9), yea, we declare our sins as Sodom; we hide them not, the cry
of our sins is exceeding grievouS, the clamours of them pierce the skies, and
with a loud voice roar, saying: "How long, Lord, holy and true? How long
ere thou come to avenge thyself on such a nation as this?" Revelation
6:10 Jeremiah 9:9. --George Webbe, in "A Posie
of Spiritual Flowers," 1610.
Verse
126. -- It is time for thee, Lord. Some read it, and the
original will bear it, "It is time to work for thee, O Lord;" it is
time for every one in his place to appear on the Lord's side, against the
threatening growth of profaneness and immorality. We must do what we can for the
support of the sinking interests of religion, and, after all, we must beg of
God to take the work into his own hands. --Matthew Henry.
Verse
126. -- They have made void thy law. In the second verse of
this section he complained that the proud would oppress him, now he complains
that they destroyed the law of God. Who, then, are David's enemies, who seek to
oppress him? Only such as are enemies to God, and seek to destroy his law. A
great comfort have we in this, that if we love the Lord, and study in a good
conscience to serve him we can have no enemies but such as are enemies to God.
--William Cowper.
Verse
126. -- They have made void thy law. As if they would not only
sin against the Law, but sin away the Law, not only withdraw themselves from
the obedience of it, but drive St out of the world; they would make void and
repeal the holy acts of God, that their own wicked acts might not be
questioned; and lest the Law should have a power to punish them, they will deny
it a power to rule them; that's the force of the simple word here used, as
applied to highest transgressing against the Law of God. --Joseph Caryl.
Verse
126-127. -- Everything betters a saint. Not only ordinances, word,
sacraments, holy society, but even sinners and their very sinning. Even these
draw forth their graces into exercise, and put them upon godly, broken hearted
mourning. A saint sails with every wind. As the wicked are hurt by the best
things, so the godly are bettered by the worst. Because "they have made
void thy law, therefore do I love thy commandments." Holiness is the more
owned by the godly, the more the world despiseth it. The most eminent saints
were those of Caesar's (Nero's) house (Philippians
4:22); they who kept God's name were they who lived where Satan's
throne was (Revelation 2:13). Zeal for God grows the hotter
by opposition; and thereby the godly most labour to give the glory of God
reparation. -- William Jenkyn (1612-1685), in "The Morning
Exercises".
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
126-128. --
Verse
126. -- They make void the law, by denying inspiration, by exalting
tradition, by antinomianism, by scepticism, by indifference, etc.
Verse
126. --
Verse
126. --
EXPOSITION
Verse
127.
Therefore I love thy commandments above gold; yea, above fine gold. As it was
God's time to work so it was David's time to love. So far from being swayed by
the example of evil men, so as to join them in slighting the Scriptures, he was
the rather led into a more vehement love of them. As he saw the commandments
slighted by the ungodly, his heart was in sympathy with God, and he felt a
burning affection for his holy precepts. It is the mark of a true believer that
he does not depend upon others for his religion, but drinks water out of his own
well, which springs up even when the cisterns of earth are all dried. Our holy
poet amid a general depreciation of the law felt his own esteem of it rising so
high that gold and silver sank in comparison. Wealth brings with it so many
conveniences that men naturally esteem it, and gold as the symbol of it is much
set by; and yet, in the judgment of the wise, God's laws are more enriching,
and bring with them more comfort than all the choicest treasures. The Psalmist
could not boast that he always kept the commands; but he could declare that he
loved them; he was perfect in heart, and would fain have been perfect in life.
He judged God's holy commands to be better than the best earthly thing, yea,
better than the best sort of the best earthly thing; and this esteem was
confirmed and forced into expression by those very oppositions of the world
which drive hypocrites to forsake the Lord and his ways.
"The
dearer, for their rage,
Thy words I love and own, --
A wealthier heritage
Than gold and precious stone."
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
127. --
Therefore I love thy commandments above gold, etc. Partly, because it is
one evidence of their excellency, that they are disliked by the vilest of men.
Partly, out of a just indignation and opposition against my sworn enemies; and
partly, because the great and general apostasy of others makes this duty more
necessary to prevent their own and other men's relapses. --Matthew Pool.
Verse
127. --
I love thy commandments above gold; yea, above fine gold. The image
employed brings before us the picture of the miser; his heart and his treasure
are in his gold. With what delight he counts it! with what watchfulness he
keeps it! hiding it in safe custody, lest he should be despoiled of that which
is dearer to him than life. Such should Christians be, spiritual misers,
counting their treasure which is "above fine gold"; and "hiding
it in their hearts," in safe keeping, where the great despoiler shall not
be able to reach it. Oh, Christians! how much more is your portion to you than
the miser's treasure! Hide it; watch it; retain it. You need not be afraid of
covetousness in spiritual things: rather "covet earnestly" to
increase your store; and by living upon it and living in it, it will grow
richer in extent, and more precious in value. --Charles Bridges.
Verse
127. --
I love thy commandments. He professes not that he fulfilled them, but that
he loved them; and truly it is a great progress in godliness, if we be come
thus far, as from our heart ,to love them. The natural man hates the
commandments of God; they are so contrary to his corruption; but the regenerate
man, as he hates his own corruption, so he loves the word, because according to
it he desires to be reformed. And here is our comfort, that, albeit we cannot
do what is commanded, yet if we love to do it, it is an argument of grace
received. "Above gold" etc. It is lawful to love those creatures
which God hath appointed for our use; with these conditions: the one is, that
the first seat in our affection of love be reserved to God; and any other thing
we love, that we love it in him and for him, and give it only the second room.
Thus David, being a natural man, loved his natural food; but he protests he
loved the law of the Lord more than his appointed food; and here he loves the
commandments of God above all gold. --William Cowper.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
127.
-- The world's assault upon the truth a reason for our loving it.
Verse
127.
--
Verse
127.
-- God's will versus the golden idol.
EXPOSITION
Verse
128. Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be
right. Because the ungodly found fault with the precepts of God, therefore
David was all the more sure of their being right. The censure of the wicked is
a certificate of merit; that which they sanction we may justly suspect, but
that which they abominate we may ardently, admire. The good man's delight in
God's law is unreserved, he believes in all God's precepts concerning all
things.
And
I hate every false way. Love to truth begat hatred of falsehood. This godly man
was not indifferent to anything, but that which he did not love he hated. He
was no chip in the porridge without flavour; he was a good lover or a good
hater, but he was never a waverer. He knew what he felt, and expressed it. He
was no Gallio, caring for none of the things. His detestation was as unreserved
as his affection; he had not a good word for any practice which would not bear
the light of truth. The fact that such large multitudes follow the broad road
had no influence upon this holy mail, except to make him more determined to
avoid every form of error and sin. May the Holy Spirit so rule in our hearts
that our affections may be in the same decided condition towards the precepts
of the word.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
128. -- I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be
right. It is no compromising testimony to the integrity and value of the
Lord's precepts with which the Psalmist concludes, "I esteem all thy
precepts concerning all things to be right" -- every command, however
hard; every injunction, however distasteful; every precept, however severe;
even cut off thy right hand, pluck out thy right eye; forget thine own people
and thy father's house; take up thy cross daily; sell all that thou hast --
yea, Lord, even so, "all thy precepts concerning all things are
right." What a blessed truth to arrive at, and find comfort in! --Barton
Bouchier.
Verse
128. -- I esteem all thy precepts, etc. We must not only
respect all God's commandments, but also respect them all alike, and give them
all the like respect. Obedience must be universal. --R. Mayhew, in "The
death of Death in the Death of Christ," 1679.
Verse
128. -- All. The many "alls" in this verse used (not
unlike that in Ezekiel 44:30) showeth the integrity and
universality of his obedience. "All" is but a little word, but of
large extent. --John Trapp.
Verse
128. -- All thy precepts concerning all things to be right. He
had a high estimate of God's precepts; he thought them just in all things;
just, because they prescribe nothing but that which is exactly just; and just,
because they bring a just punishment on the transgressors, and a reward to the
righteous. --William Nicholson.
Verse
128. -- The upright man squares all his actions by a right rule:
carnal reason cannot bias him, corrupt practice cannot sway him, but God's
sacred word directs him. Hence it is that his respect is universal to all
divine precepts, avoiding all evil, performing all good without exception. Thus
David's upright man here esteems God's precepts concerning all things to be
right, and therefore is careful to observe them. Hence it is, that he is the
same man at all times, in all places; because at all times, and in all
societies, he acts by one and the same rule. It is a good saying of S. Cyprian,
"ea non est religio, sed dissimulatio, quce per omnia non constat sibi",
that is not piety, but hypocrisy, that is not in all things like itself, since
the upright man measures every action by the straight line of divine prescript.
--Abraham Wright.
Verse
128. -- I hate every false way. The best trial of our love to
God and his word is the contrary -- hatred of sin and impiety: "Ye that
love the Lord, hate evil." He that loves a tree, hates the worm that
consumes it; he that loves a garment, hates the moth that eats it; he that
loveth life, abhorreth death; and he that loves the Lord hates every thing that
offends him. Let men take heed to this, who are in love of their sins: how can
the love of God be in them?
Religion
binds us not only to hate one way of falsehood, but all the ways of it. As
there is nothing good, but in some measure a godly man loves it; so is there
nothing evil, but in some measure he hates it. And this is the perfection of
the children of God; a perfection not of degrees; for we neither love good, nor
hate evil as we should; but a perfection of parts; because we love every good,
and we hate every evil in some measure. --William Cowper.
Verse
128. -- And I hate. The Being who loves the good with infinite
intensity must hate evil with the same intensity. So far from any
incompatibility between this love and this hatred, they are the counterparts of
each other, -- opposite poles of the same moral emotion. --John W. Haley, in
"A Examination of the alleged Discrepancies of the Bible," 1875.
Verse
128. -- I hate every false way. If Satan get a grip of thee by
any one sin, is it not enough to carry thee to damnation? As the butcher
carries the beast to the slaughter, sometime bound by all the four feet, and
sometime by one only; so it is with Satan. Though thou be not a slave to all
sin; if thou be a slave to one, the grip he hath of thee, by that one sinful
affection, is sufficient to captive thee. --William Cowper.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
128. (first clause). -- This view should be taken of all divine
precepts in their bearing,
Verse
128. -- The Bible right.
Verse
128. Learn four lessons, --
5.
── C.H. Spurgeon《The Treasury of David》
Psalm 119
(Verse 129 to Verse 176)
EXPOSITION
Verse
129. -- Thy commands are wonderful. Full of wonderful revelations,
commands and promises. Wonderful in their nature, as being free from all error,
and bearing within themselves overwhelming self evidence of their truth;
wonderful in their effects as instructing, elevating, strengthening, and
comforting the soul. Jesus the eternal Word is called Wonderful, and all the
uttered words of God are wonderful in their degree. Those who know them best
wonder at them most. It is wonderful that God should have borne testimony at
all to sinful men, and more wonderful still that his testimony should be of
such a character, so clear, so full, so gracious, so mighty.
Therefore
doth my soul keep them. Their wonderful character so impressed itself upon his
mind that he kept them in his memory: their wonderful excellence so charmed his
heart that he kept them in his life. Some men wonder at the words of God, and
use them for their speculation; but David was always practical, and the more he
wondered the more he obeyed. Note that his religion was soul work; not with
head and hand alone did he keep the testimonies; but his soul, his truest and
most real self, held fast to them.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
129. -- Thy testimonies are wonderful. The Scriptures are
"wonderful," with respect to the matter which they contain, the
manner in which they are written, and the effects which they produce. They
contain the most sublime spiritual truths, veiled under external ceremonies and
sacraments, figurative descriptions, typical histories, parables, similitudes,
etc. When properly opened and enforced, they terrify and humble, they convert
and transform, they console and strengthen. Who but must delight to study and
to "observe" these "testimonies" of the will and the
wisdom, the love and the power of God Most High! While we have these holy
writings, let us not waste our time, misemploy our thoughts, and prostitute our
admiration, by doting on human follies, and wondering at human trifles.
--George Horne.
Verse
129. -- Thy testimonies are wonderful. God's testimonies are
"wonderful"
Verse
129. -- Thy testimonies are wonderful. The Bible itself is an
astonishing and standing miracle. Written fragment by fragment through the
course of fifteen centuries, under different states of society, and in
different languages, by persons of the most opposite tempers, talents, and
conditions, learned and unlearned, prince and peasant, bond and free; cast into
every form of instructive composition and good writing; history, prophecy,
poetry, allegory, emblematic representation, judicious interpretation, literal
statement, precept, example, proverbs, disquisition, epistle, sermon, prayer --
in short, all rational shapes of human discourse, and treating, moreover, on
subjects not obvious, but most difficult; its authors are not found like other
men, contradicting one another upon the most ordinary matters of fact and
opinion, but are at harmony upon the whole of their sublime and momentous
scheme. --J. Maclagan, 1788-1852.
Verse
129. -- Highly prize the Scriptures, or you will not obey
them. David said, "therefore doth my soul keep them"; and why was
this, but that he counted them to be wonderful? Can he make a proficiency in
any art, who doth slight and deprecate it? Prize this book of God above all
other books. St. Gregory calls the Bible "the heart and soul of God."
The rabbins say, that there is a mountain of sense hangs upon every apex and
tittle of Scripture. "The law of the Lord is perfect" (Psalms
14:7). The Scripture is the library of the Holy Ghost; it is a
pandect of divine knowledge, an exact model and platform of religion. The
Scripture contains in it the credenda, "the things which we are to
believe," and the agenda, "the things which we are to practise."
It is "able to make us wise unto salvation": 2
Timothy 3:15. "The Scripture is the standard of truth,"
the judge of controversies; it is the pole star to direct us to heaven (Isaiah
8:20). "The commandment is a lamp": Proverbs
6:23. The Scripture is the compass by which the rudder of our will
is to be steered; it is the field in which Christ, the Pearl of price, is hid;
it is a rock of diamonds, it is a sacred collyrium, or "we salve;" it
mends their eyes that look upon it; it is a spiritual optic glass in which the
glory of God is resplendent; it is the panacea or "universal
medicine" for the soul. The leaves of Scripture are like the leaves of the
tree of life, "for the healing of the nations": Revelation
22:2. The Scripture is both the breeder and feeder of grace. How is
the convert born, but by "the word of truth"? James
1:18. How doth he grow, but by "the sincere milk of the
word"? 1 Peter 2:2. The word written is the book out of
which our evidences for heaven are fetched; it is the sea mark which shows us
the rocks of sin to avoid; it is the antidote against error and apostasy, the
two edged sword which wounds the old serpent. It is our bulwark to withstand
the force of lust; like the Capitol of Rome, which was a place of strength and
ammunition. The Scripture is the "tower of David," whereon the
shields of our faith hang: Song
of Solomon 4:4. "Take away the word, and you deprive us of the
sun," said Luther. The word written is above an angelic embassy, or voice
from heaven. "This voice which came from heaven we heard. We have
also," bebaioteron lolon, "a more sure word": 2Pe 1:18-19 O,
prize the word written; prizing is the way to profiting. If Caesar so valued
his Commentaries, that for preserving them he lost his purple robe, how should
we estimate the sacred oracles of God? "I have esteemed the words of his
mouth more than my necessary food": Job
23:12. King Edward the Sixth, on the day of his coronation, had
presented before him three swords, signifying that he was monarch of three
kingdoms. The king said, there was one sword wanting; being asked what that
was, he answered, "The Holy Bible, which is the sword of the Spirit, and
is to be preferred before these ensigns of royalty." Robert King of Sicily
did so prize God's word, that, speaking to his friend Petrarcha, he said,
"I protest, the Scriptures are dearer to me than my kingdom; and if I must
be deprived of one of them, I had rather lose my diadem than the
Scriptures." -- Thomas Watson, in "The Morning Exercises."
Verse
129. -- The word contains matter to exercise the greatest minds.
Many men cannot endure to spend their thoughts and time about trivial matters;
whereas others think it happiness enough if they can, by the meanest
employments, procure subsistence. Oh, let all those of high aspirations
exercise themselves in the law of God; here are objects fit for great minds,
yea, objects that will elevate the greatest: and indeed none in the world are
truly great but the saints, for they exercise themselves in the great counsels
of God. We account those men the greatest that are employed in state affairs:
now the saints are lifted up above all things in the world, and regard them all
as little and mean, and are exercised in the great affairs of the kingdom of
Jesus Christ. Hence the Lord would have the kings and the judges to have the
book of the law written, Deuteronomy 17:18-19; and it is reported of
Alphonsus, king of Arragon, that in the midst of all his great and manifold
occupations, he read over the Scriptures fourteen times with commentaries. How
many have we, men of great estates, and claiming to be of great minds, that
scarce regard the law of God: they look upon his law as beneath them. Books of
history and war they will peruse with diligence; but for the Scripture, it is a
thing that has little in it. It is a special means to obedience to have high thoughts
of God's law. That is the reason why the prophet speaks thus, "I have
written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange
thing": Hosea 8:12. As if he should say, if they had had
the things of my law in their thoughts, they would never so have acted. Psalms 114:129, "Thy testimonies are wonderful,
therefore doth my soul keep them." He saith not, therefore do I keep them;
but, therefore doth my soul keep them; my very soul is in this, in keeping thy
testimonies, for I look upon them as wonderful things. It is a good sign that
the spirit of the great God is in a man, when it raises him above other things,
to look upon the things of his word as the only great things in the world.
"All flesh is grass, and all the godliness thereof is as the flower of the
field: the grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall
stand for ever:" Isa 40:6,8. There is a vanity in all things of the world;
but in that which the word reveals, in that there is an eternity: we should
therefore admire at nothing so as at the word, and we should greatly delight in
God's commandments; an ordinary degree of admiration or delight is not
sufficient, but great admiration and great delight there should be in the law
of God. And all arguments drawn from God's law should powerfully prevail with
you. -- Jeremiah Burroughs.
Verse
129. -- Thy testimonies are wonderful. Wonders will never
cease. Air, earth, water, the world above, the world beneath, time, eternity,
worms, birds, fishes, beasts men, angels are all full of wonders. The more all
things are studied, the more do wonders appear. It is idle, therefore, to find
fault with the mysteries of Scripture, or to deny them. Inspiration glories in
them. He who rejects the mysteries of love, grace, truth, power, justice and
thankfulness of God's word, rejects salvation. It has marvels in itself, and
marvels in its operation. They are good cause of love, not of offence; of
keeping, not of breaking God's precepts. --William S. Plumer.
Verse
129. -- My soul, not merely I, but I with all my heart and
soul. --Joseph Addison Alexander.
Verse
129. -- I have completed reading the whole Bible through since
January last. I began it on the first day of the present year, and finished
it on the 26th of October. I have read it in that space four times, and not
without real profit to myself. I always find in it something new; it being,
like its Author, infinite and inexhaustible. --Samuel Eyles Pierce, 1814.
Verse
129. -- What do I not owe to the Lord for permitting me to take a
part in the translation of his word? Never did I see such wonders, and
wisdom, and love, in the blessed book, as since I have been obliged to study
every expression; and it is a delightful reflection, that death cannot deprive
us of the pleasure of studying its mysteries. -- Henry Martyn.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Outlines
Upon Keywords of the Psalm, by Pastor C. A. Davis.
Verse
129-136. -- The wonderfulness of God's testimonies. (Psalms 119:129), instanced as light giving (Psalms 119:130), pantingly longed (Psalms 119:131). An appeal for divine ordering in the word (Psalms 119:132-135) at its rejection by others (Psalms 119:136).
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
129-136. -- In this division the Psalmist --
Verse
129. -- The wonderful character of the word a reason for obedience.
So wonderfully pure, just, balanced, elevating. So much for our own benefit,
for the good of society, and for the divine glory.
Verse
129. --
Verse
129. -- Thy testimonies are wonderful.
Verse
129. -- Thy testimonies are wonderful. The ceremonial law is
wonderful, because the mystery of our redemption by the blood of Christ is
pointed out in it.
Verse
129. (first clause). --
(a) Its
authority. It prefaces every statement with a "Thus
saith the Lord."
(b) Its light.
(c) Its power
-- it has a convincing, awakening, drawing,
life giving power.
(d) Its depth.
(e) Its
universal adaptation.
(a) Study the
Bible daily.
(b) Pray for
the Spirit to grave it on your heart with a
pen of iron.
(c) Practise it
daily. --D. Macgregor.
Verse
129. -- To whom and in what respects are God's testimonies wonderful?
(b) In respect
of the subject matter of them, which they
contain and reveal.
(c) In respect
of the manner of language in which they are
revealed and declared.
(d) In respect
of the multitude and variety of them suited
to every case.
(e) In respect
of the usefulness of them, and the great
benefit and advantage he received from them.
(f)
In the respect of the pleasure and delight he finds in them (see Psalms 119:111).
(g) In respect
of the final design, intent, and end of
them: viz., eternal life, salvation, and glory. --Samuel Medley, 1738-1799.
EXPOSITION
Verse
130. The entrance of thy words giveth light. No sooner do they gain
admission into the soul than they enlighten it: what light may be expected from
their prolonged indwelling! Their very entrance floods the mind with
instruction for they are so full, so clear; but, on the other hand, there must
be such an "entrance," or there will be no illumination. The mere
hearing of the word with the external car is of small value by itself, but when
the words of God enter into the chambers of the heart then light is scattered
on all sides. The word finds no entrance into some minds because they are
blocked up with self conceit, or prejudice, or indifference; but where due
attention is given, divine illumination must surely follow upon a knowledge of
the mind of God. Oh, that thy words, like the beams of the sun, may enter
through the window of my understanding, and dispel the darkness of my mind!
It
giveth understanding unto the simple. The sincere and candid are the true
disciples of the word. To such it gives not only knowledge, but understanding.
These simple hearted ones are frequently despised, and their simplicity has
another meaning infused into it, so as to be made the theme of ridicule; but
what matters it? Those whom the world dubs as fools are among the truly wise if
they are taught of God. What a divine power rests in the word of God, since it
not only bestows light, but gives that very mental eye by which the light is
received -- "It giveth understanding." Hence the value of the words
of God to the simple, who cannot receive mysterious truth unless their minds
are aided to see it and prepared to grasp it.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
130. -- The opening of thy words enlightens, making the simple
understand. The common version of the first word (entrance) is inaccurate, and
the one here given, though exact, is ambiguous. The clause does not refer to
the mechanical opening of the book by the reader, but to the spiritual opening
of its true sense by divine illumination, to the mind which naturally cannot
discern it. --Joseph Addison Alexander.
Verse
130. -- Entrance, lit. opening, i.e. unfolding or unveiling.
--J.J Stewart Perowne.
Verse
130. -- The entrance of thy words giveth light. The first
entrance, or vestibule: for the Psalmist wishes to point out that only the
beginnings are apprehended in this life; and that these beginnings are to be
preferred to all human wisdom. --Henricus Mollerus.
Verse
130. -- The entrance of thy words giveth light, etc. The
beginning of them; the first three chapters in Genesis, what light do they give
into the origin of all things; the creation of man, his state of innocence; his
fall through the temptations of Satan, and his recovery and salvation by
Christ, the seed of the woman! The first principles of the oracles of God, the
rudiments of religion, the elements of the world, the rites of the ceremonial
law gave great light unto Gospel mysteries. --John Gill.
Verse
130. -- The entrance of thy words giveth light. A profane shop
man crams into his pocket a leaf of a Bible, and reads the last words of
Daniel: "Go thou thy way, till the end be, for thou shalt rest and stand
in thy lot at the end of the days," and begins to think what Iris own lot
will be when days are ended. A Gottingen Professor opens a big printed Bible to
see if he has eyesight enough to read it, and alights on the passage, "I
will bring the blind by a way that they knew not," and in reading in the
eyes of his understanding are enlightened. Cromwell's soldier opens his Bible
to see how far the musket ball has pierced, and finds it stopped at the verse:
"Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the
days of thy youth; and walk in the ways of thine heart and the sight of thine
eyes; but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into
judgment." And in a frolic the Kentish soldier opens the Bible which his
broken hearted mother had sent him, and the first sentence that turns up is the
text so familiar in boyish days: "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are
heavy laden," and the weary profligate repairs for rest to Jesus Christ.
--James Hamilton, 1814-1867.
Verse
130. -- He amplifies this praise of the word of God when he saith
that the entrance thereof, the first operant of the door of the word, gives
light: for if the first entrance to it give light, what will the progress and
continuance thereof do? This accuseth the age wherein we live, who now of a
long time hath been taught by the word of God so clearly, that in regard of
time they might have been teachers of others, yet are they but children in
knowledge and understanding. But to whom doth the word give understanding?
David saith to the "simple": not to such as are high minded, or
double in heart, or wise in their own eyes, who will examine the mysteries of
godliness by the quickness of natural reason. No: to such as deny themselves,
as captive their natural understanding, and like humble disciples submit
themselves, not to ask, but to hear; not to reason, but to believe. And if for
this cause, naturalists who want this humility cannot profit by the word; what
marvel that Papists far less become wise by it, who have their hearts so full
of prejudices concerning it, that they spare not to utter blasphemies against
it, calling it not unprofitable, but pernicious to the simple and to the
idiots.
And
again, where they charge it with difficulty, that simple men and idiots should
not be suffered to read it, because it is obscure; all these frivolous
allegations of men are annulled by this one testimony of God, that it gives
light to the simple. --William Cowper.
Verse
Verse
130. -- It giveth understanding. If all the books in the world
were assembled together, the Bible would as much take the lead in disciplining
the understanding as in directing the soul. It will not make astronomers,
chemists, or linguists; but there is a great difference between strengthening
the mind and storing it with information. --Henry Melvill.
Verse
130. -- It giveth understanding to the simple. There are none
so knowing that God cannot blind; none so blind and ignorant whose mind and
heart his Spirit cannot open. He who, by his incubation upon the waters at the
creation, hatched that rude mass into the beautiful form we now see, and out of
that dark chaos made the glorious heavens, and garnished them with so many
orient stars, can move upon thy dark soul and enlighten it, though it be as
void of knowledge as the evening of the world's first day was of light. The
schoolmaster sometimes sends home the child, and bids his father to put him to
another trade, because not able, with all his art, to make a scholar of him;
but if the Spirit of God be master, thou shalt learn, though a dunce: "The
entrance of thy word giveth light, it giveth understanding to the
simple.": No sooner is the soul entered into the Spirit's school, than he
becomes a proficient. --William Gurrnall.
Verse
130. -- To the simple. He does not say, "giveth
understanding" to the wise and prudent, to learned men, and to those
skilled in letters; but to the "simple." -- Wolfgang Musculus.
Verse
130. -- To the simple. This is one great characteristic of the
word of God, -- however incomprehensible to the carnal mind, it is adapted to
every grade of enlightened intelligence. --W. Wilson.
Verse
130. -- The simple. The word is used sometimes in a good
sense, and sometimes in a bad sense. It is used in a good sense, First, for the
sincere and plain hearted: "The Lord preserveth the simple: I was brought
low, and he helped me": Psalms
116:6. "For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our
conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom,
but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more
abundantly toward you": 2
Corinthians 1:12. Secondly, for those that do not oppose the
presumption of carnal wisdom to the pure light of the word: so we must all be
simple, or fools, that we may be wise: "If any man among you seemeth to be
wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise" (1
Corinthians 3:18); that is, in simplicity of heart submitting to
God's conduct, and believing what he hath revealed. --Thomas Manton
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
130. --
Verse
130. --
Verse
130. -- A Bible Society Sermon.
Verse
130. -- The Self evidencing Virtue of God's Word.
(b) heart
proves it; in its outgoings of love to the God,
the Christ, and righteousness revealed.
(c) His experience in affliction and temptation it; in the
solace and in the strength given by the word.
(b) If all men
did perceive, by merely reading and hearing
word, that it was light and truth, paradoxical as it may
seem, the would not be truth.
(c) Hence the
want of universal acknowledgment is an
objection, but a confirmation.
(a) It the
believer independent of church authority for his
faith.
(b) He need
trouble to examine books of evidence; his faith
is valid enough them.
(c) He who
receives the word into his soul shall be
satisfied of truth and value. --J.F.
EXPOSITION
Verse
131. I opened my mouth, and panted. So animated was his desire that
he looked into the animal world to find a picture of it. He was filled with an
intense longing, and was not ashamed to describe it by a most expressive,
natural, and yet singular symbol. Like a stag that has been hunted in the
chase, and is hard pressed, and therefore pants for breath, so did the Psalmist
pant for the entrance of God's word into his soul. Nothing else could content
him. All that the world could yield him left him still panting with open mouth.
For
I longed for thy commandments. Longed to know them, longed to obey them, longed
to be conformed to their spirit, longed to teach them to others. He was a
servant of God, and his industrious mind longed to receive orders; he was a
learner in the school of grace, and his eager spirit longed to be taught of the
Lord.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
131. -- I opened my mouth, and panted. By this manner of
speech, David expresses, as Basil thinks, animi propensionem, that the
inclination of his soul was after God's word. For, this opened mouth, Ambrose thinks,
is os interioris hominis, the mouth of the inward man, which in effect is his
heart; and the, speech notes vehementem animi intensionem, a vehement intension
of his spirit, saith Euthymius. Yet shall it not be amiss to consider here how
the mind of the godly earnestly affected moves the body also. The speech may be
drawn from travellers, who being very desirous to attain to their proposed
ends, enforce their strength thereunto; and finding a weakness in their body to
answer their will, they pant and open their mouth, seeking refreshment from the
air to renew their strength: or as Vatablus thinks, from men exceeding hungry
and thirsty, who open their mouth as if they would draw in the whole air, and
then pant and sigh within themselves when they find no full refreshment by it.
So he expresses it: "My heart burns with so ardent a longing for thy
commandments, that I am forced ever and anon to gasp by reason of my painful
breathing."
However
it be, it lets us see how the hearing, reading, or meditating of God's word
wakened in David a most earnest affection to have the light, joy, grace, and
comfort thereof communicated to his own heart. For in the godly, knowledge of
good increaseth desires; and it cannot be expressed how vehemently their souls
long to feel that power and comfort which they know is in the word; and how
sore they are grieved and troubled when they find it not.
And
happy were we, if we could meet the Lord with this like affection; that when he
opens his mouth, we could also open our heart to hear, as David here doth.
Christus aperit os, ut daret allis spiritum; David aperuil ut acciperet;
offering his heart to receive the spirit of grace, when God openeth his mouth
in his word to give it. For it is his promise to us all -- "Open thy mouth
wide, and I will fill it." Let us turn it into a prayer, that the Lord,
who opened the heart of Lydia, would open our heart to receive grace when he
offers by his word to give it. --William Cowper.
Verse
131. -- I opened my mouth, and panted, etc, There are two ways
in which these words may be understood. They may be considered as expressing
the very earnest longing of the Psalmist for greater acquaintance with God in
spiritual things; and then in saying, "I opened my mouth, and
panted," he merely asserts the vehemence of his desire. Or you may
separate the clauses: you may regard the first as the utterance of a man
utterly dissatisfied with the earth and earthly things, and the second as the
expression of a consciousness that God, and God only, could meet the longings
of his soul. "I opened my mouth, and panted. "Out of breath, with
chasing shadows, and hunting after baubles, I sit down exhausted, as far off as
ever from the happiness which has been earnestly but fruitlessly sought.
Whither, then, shall I turn? Thy commandments, O Lord, and these alone, can
satisfy the desires of an immortal being like myself; and on these, therefore,
henceforward shall my longings be turned. --Henry Melvill.
Verse
131. -- I opened my mouth, and panted. A metaphor taken from
men scorched and sweltered with heat, or from those that have run themselves
out of breath in following the thing which they would overtake. The former
metaphor expressed the vehemency of his love; the other the earnestness of his
pursuit: he was like a man gasping for breath, and sucking in the cool air.
--Thomas Manton.
Verse
131. -- I longed for thy commandments. This is a desire which
God will satisfy. "Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it": Psalms
81:10. --Thomas Manton.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
131. -- Panting for holiness. A rare hunger; the evidence of much
grace, and the pledge of glory.
EXPOSITION
Verse
132. Look thou upon me. A godly man cannot long be without prayer.
During the previous verses he had been expressing his love to God's word, but
here he is upon his knees again. This prayer is specially short, but
exceedingly sententious, "Look thou upon me." While he stood with
open mouth panting for the commandments, he besought the Lord to look upon him,
and let his condition and his unexpressed longings plead for him. He desires to
be known of God, and daily observed by him. He wishes also to be favoured with
the divine smile which is included in the word -- "look." If a look
from us to God has saving efficacy in it, what may we not expect from a look
from God to us.
And
be merciful unto me. Christ's look at Peter was a look of mercy, and all the
looks of the heavenly Father are of the same kind. If he looked in stern
justice his eyes would not endure us, but looking in mercy he spares and
blesses us. If God looks and sees us panting, he will not fail to be merciful
to us.
As
thou usest to do unto those that love thy name. Look on me as thou lookest on
those who love thee; be merciful to me as thou art accustomed to be towards
those who truly serve thee. There is a use and wont which God observes towards
them that love him, and David craved that he might experience it. He would not
have the Lord deal either better or worse with him than he was accustomed to
deal with his saints -- worse would not save him, better could not be. In
effect he prays, "I am thy servant; treat me as you treat thy servants. I
am thy child; deal with me as with a son." Especially is it clear from the
context that he desired such an entering in of the word, and such a clear
understanding of it as God usually gives to his own, according to the promise,
"All thy children shall be taught of the Lord."
Reader,
do you love the name of the Lord? Is his character most honourable in your
sight? Most dear to your heart? This is a sure mark of grace, for no soul ever
loved the Lord except as the result of love received from the Lord himself.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
132. -- Look thou upon me, and be merciful unto me, etc.
"Look upon me" stripped by thieves of my virtues, and then wounded
with sins, and "be merciful unto me," showing compassion on me,
taking care of me in the inn of the Church universal, that I fall not again
among thieves, nor be harmed by the wolves which howl about this fold, but dare
not enter in. "Look upon me," no longer worthy to be called thy son,
and "be merciful unto me," not as the jealous elder brother would
treat me, but let me join the glad song and banquet of them that love thy name.
Look upon me the publican, standing afar off in thy temple the Church, and be
merciful unto me, not after the Pharisee's judgment, but "as thou usest to
do unto them that love thy name," which is the gracious God. Look on me as
on weeping Peter, and be merciful unto me as thou wast to him, who so loved thy
name as by his triple confession of love to wash out his threefold denial,
saying, "Lord, thou knowest that I love thee." "Look upon
me," as on the sinful woman, penitent and weeping, and be merciful unto
me, not according to the judgment of the Pharisee who murmured at her, as Judas
who was indignant at her, but forgiving me as thou didst her, "because she
loved much," telling me also, "Thy faith hath saved thee, go in peace."
- -Neale and Littledale.
Verse
132. -- Look thou upon me. Lord! since our looks to thee are
often so slight, so cold, so distant, that no impression is made upon our
hearts, do thou condescend continually to look upon us with mercy and with
power. Vouchsafe us such a look, as may bring us to ourselves and touch us with
tenderness and contrition in the remembrance of that sin, unbelief, and
disobedience, which pierced the hands, the feet, the heart of our dearest Lord
and Saviour. Comp. Luke 22:61. --Charles Bridges.
Verse
132. -- As thou usest to do, etc. David would not lose any
privilege that God hath by promise settled on his children. Do with me, saith
he, "as thou usest to do." This is no more than family fare, what you
promise to do for all that love thee; and let me not go worse clad than the
rest of my brethren. --William Gurnall.
Verse
132. -- As thou usest to do unto those, etc. We should be
content if God deals with us as he has always dealt with his people. While he
could not be satisfied with anything less than their portion, David asks for
nothing better; he implores no singular dispensation in his favour, no
deviation from the accustomed methods of his grace...It is always a good proof
that your convictions and desires are from the operation of the Spirit when you
are willing to conform to God's order. What is this order? It is to dispense
his blessings connectedly. It is never to justify without sanctifying; never to
give a title to heaven without a meetness for it. Now the man that is divinely
wrought upon will not expect nor desire the one without the other. Therefore he
will not expect the blessing of God without obedience; because it is always
God's way to connect the comforts of the Holy Ghost with the fear of the Lord;
and if his children transgress his laws, to visit their transgressions with a
rod. Therefore he will neither expect nor desire his blessing without exertion;
for it has always been God's way to crown only those that run the race that is
set before them, and fight the good fight of faith. Therefore he will not
expect nor desire the Divine blessing without prayer; for it has always been
God's way to make his people sensible of their wants, and to give an answer to
prayer. Therefore he will not expect nor desire to reach heaven without
difficulties; for his people have always had to deny themselves, and take up
their cross. If they have not been chosen in the furnace of affliction, they
have been purified. God had one Son without sin, but he never had one without
sorrow: "he scourgeth every son whom he receiveth." "Yes,"
says the suppliant before us, "secure me their everlasting portion, and I
am willing to drink of the cup they drank of, and to be baptized with the
baptism they were baptized with. I want no new, no by path to glory. I am
content to keep the King's high road. Be merciful unto me, as thou usest to do
unto those that love thy name. I ask no more." --William Jay, 1769-1853.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
132. --
Verse
132. -- Fellowship with the righteous.
Verse
132. -- Divine use and wont.
Verse
132. -- Notice, --
EXPOSITION
Verse
133. Order my steps in thy word. This is one of the Lord's customary
mercies to his chosen, -- "He keepeth the feet of his saints." By his
grace he enables us to put our feet step by step in the very place which his
word ordains. This prayer seeks a very choice favour, namely, that every
distinct act, every step, might be arranged and governed by the will of God.
This does not stop short of perfect holiness, neither will the believer's
desires be satisfied with anything beneath that blessed consummation.
And
let not any iniquity have dominion over me. This is the negative side of the
blessing. We ask to do all that is right, and to fall under the power of
nothing that is wrong. God is our sovereign, and we would have every thought in
subjection to his sway. Believers have no choice, darling sins to which they
would be willing to bow. They pant for perfect liberty from the power of evil,
and being conscious that they cannot obtain it of themselves, they cry unto God
for it.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
133. -- Order my steps in thy word. As before he sought mercy,
so now he seekers grace. There are many that seek mercy to forgive sin, who
seek not grace to deliver them from the power of sin: this is to abuse God's
mercy, and turn his grace into wantonness. He that prayeth for mercy to forgive
the guilt of sin only, seeks not that by sin he should not offend God; but that
he may sin and not hurt himself: but he who craves deliverance also from the
commanding power and deceit of sin, seeks not only a benefit to himself, but
grace also to please and serve the Lord his God. The first is but a lover of
himself; the second is a lover of God, more than of himself. And truly he never
knew what it was to seek mercy for sin past, who with it also earnestly sought
not grace to keep him from sin in time to come. These benefits cannot be
divided: he who hath not the second whosoever he flatter himself may be assured
that he hath not gotten the first. -- William Cowper.
Verse
133. -- Order my steps in thy word. It is written of
Boleslaus, one of the kings of Poland, that he still carries about him the
picture of his father, and when he was to do any great work or set upon any
design extraordinary, he would look on the picture and pray that he might do
nothing unworthy of such a father's name. Thus it is that the Scriptures are
the picture of God's will, therein drawn out to the very life. Before a man
enter upon or engage himself in any business whatsoever, let him look there,
and read there what is to be done; what to be undone; and what God commands,
let that be done; what he forbids, let that be undone; let the balance of the
sanctuary weigh all, the oracles of God decide all, the rule of God's word be
the square of all, and his glory the ultimate of all intendments whatsoever.
--From Spencer's "Things New and Old."
Verse
133. -- Order my steps. !bh hachen, make them firm; let me not
walk with a halting or unsteady step. --Adam Clarke.
Verse
133. -- Order my steps, etc. The people of God would not only
have their path right, but their steps ordered; as not their general course
wrong (as those who walk in the way of everlasting perdition), so not a step
awry; they would not miss the way to heaven, either in whole or in part.
--Thomas Manton.
Verse
133. -- My steps. Speaking of the steps of the Temple, Bunyan
says, "These steps, whether cedar, gold, or stone, yet that which added to
their adornment, was the wonderment of a Queen. And whatever they were made of,
to be sure, they were a shadow of those steps, which we should take to, and in
the house of God. Steps of God, Psalms
75:13. Steps ordered by him, Psalms
37:23 Steps ordered in his word, Ps 64:133. Steps of faith, Romans
4:12. Steps of the spirit, 2
Corinthians 7:18. Steps of truth, 3
John 1:4. Steps washed with butter, Job
29:6. Steps taken before, or in the presence of God. Steps butted
and bounded by a divine rule. These are steps indeed." --John Bunyan, in
"Solomon's Temple Spiritualized."
Verse
133. -- Let not any iniquity, etc. True obedience to God is
inconsistent with the dominion of any one lust, or corrupt affection. I say,
though a man out of some slender and insufficient touch of religion upon his
heart, may go right for a while, and do many things gladly; yet that corruption
which is indulged, and under the power of which a man lieth, will at length
draw him off from God; and therefore no one sin shall have dominion over us.
When doth sin reign, or have dominion over us? When we do not endeavour to
mortify it, and to cut off the provisions that may feed that lust. Chrysostom's
observation is, the apostle does not say, let it not tyrannize over you, but,
let it not reign over you; that is, when you suffer it to have a quiet reign in
your hearts. --Thomas Manton.
Verse
133. -- Let not any iniquity have dominion over me. I had
rather be a prisoner to man all my life than be a bondage to sin one day. He
says not, Let not this and the other man rule over me; but "let not sin
have dominion over mo." Well said! There is hope in such a man's condition
as long as it is so. --Michael Bruce, 1666.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
133. --
Verse
133. --
Verse
133. --
(a) To avoid
sin.
(b) To be holy.
(a) From below:
"thy word."
(b) From above:
"order," etc., and "let not," etc. --G.R.
Verse
133. -- Sin's sway in the soul.
(a) Realization
of the horrors of its rule.
(b) Recognition
of the better power.
(c) Thorough
exclusion sought.
(a)
Practicalness as well as prayerfulness.
(b) Regard had
to little "steps."
Verse
133. -- Notice, --
EXPOSITION
Verse
134. Deliver me from the oppression of man. David had tasted all the
bitterness of this great evil. It had made him an exile from his country, and
banished him from the sanctuary of the Lord: therefore he pleads to be saved
from it. It is said that oppression makes a wise man mad, and no doubt it has
made many a righteous man sinful. Oppression is in itself wicked, and it drives
men to wickedness. We little know how much of our virtue is due to our liberty;
if we had been in bonds under haughty tyrants we might have yielded to them,
and instead of being confessors we might now have been apostates. He who taught
us to pray, "Lead us not into temptation," will sanction this prayer,
which is of much the same tenor, since to be oppressed is to be tempted.
So
will I keep thy statutes. When the stress of oppression was taken off he would
go his own way, and that way would be the way of the Lord. Although we ought
not to yield to the threatenings of men, yet many do so; the wife is sometimes
compelled by the oppression of her husband to act against her conscience:
children and servants, and even whole nations have been brought into the same
difficulty. Their sins will be largely laid at the oppressor's door, and it
usually pleases God ere long to overthrow these powers and dominions which
compel men to do evil. The worst of it is that some persons, when the pressure
is taken off from them, follow after unrighteousness of their own accord. These
give evidence of being sinners in grain. As for the righteous, it happens to
them as it did to the apostles of old, "Being let go, they went to their
own company. "When saints are freed from the tyrant they joyfully pay
homage to their king.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
134. -- Deliver me from the oppression of man.
Verse
134. -- From the oppression of man. Some render it, "from
the oppression of Adam;" as Jarchi observes; and Arama interprets it of
the sin of Adam, and as a prayer to be delivered or redeemed from it; as the
Lord's people are by the blood of Christ. -- John Gill.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
134. -- What sins may be produced by oppression. What obedience ought
to come from those who are set free.
Verse
134. --
(a) Human
opinions.
(b) Human examples.
Verse
134. -- Hindrances removed.
Verse
134. --
EXPOSITION
Verse
135. Make thy face to shine upon thy servant. Oppressors frown, but
do thou smile. They darken my life, but do thou shine upon me, and all will be
bright. The Psalmist again declares that he is God's servant, and he seeks for
no favour from others, but only from his own Lord and Master.
And
teach me thy statutes. This is the favour which he considers to be the shining
of the face of God upon him. If the Lord will be exceeding gracious, and make
him his favourite, he will ask no higher blessing than still to be taught the
royal statutes. See how he craves after holiness; this is the choicest of all
gems in his esteem. As we say among men that a good education is a great
fortune, so to be taught of the Lord is a gift of special grace. The most
favoured believer needs teaching; even when he walks in the light of God's
countenance he has still to be taught the divine statutes or he will
transgress.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
135. -- Make thy face to shine upon thy servant. The face of
God shines upon us, when, in his providence, we are guided and upheld; also
when we are made to share in the good things of his providence, and when we are
placed in a position wherein we can do much good. Much more does the face of
God shine upon us, when we are favoured with tokens of his gracious favour; for
then we grow under the consciousness of a loving God, with rich supplies of his
grace and Spirit. --John Stephen.
Verse
135. -- Make thy face to shine upon thy servant. Oftentimes
the wrongful dealings of men, of others, and of ourselves, like a cloud of
smoke arising from the earth and obscuring the face of the sun, hide from us
for a while the light, of the countenance of God: but he soon clears it all
away, and looks down upon us in loving mercy as before, lighting for us the
path of obedience, and brightening our way unto himself. --"Plain
Commentary," 1859.
Verse
135. -- Make thy face to shine upon thy servant. The
believer's incessant cry is, Let me see "the King's face." This is a
blessing worth praying for. It is his heart's desire, his present privilege,
and what is infinitely better, his sure, everlasting prospect -- "They
shall see his face." Revelation
22:4. --Charles Bridges.
Verse
135. -- Make thy face to shine... and teach me. Blessed is the
man whom eternal Truth teacheth, not by obscure figures and transient sounds,
but by direct and full communication. The perceptions of our senses are narrow
and dull, and our reason on those perceptions frequently misleads us. He whom
the eternal Word condescends to teach is disengaged at once from the labyrinth
of human opinions. For "of one word are all things"; and all things
without voice or language speak of him alone: he is that divine principle which
speaketh in our hearts, and without which there can be neither just
apprehension nor rectitude of judgment.
O
God, who art the truth, make me one with thee in everlasting life! I am often
weary of reading, and weary of hearing; in thee alone is the sum of my desire!
Let all teachers be silent, let the whole creation be dumb before thee, and do
thou only speak unto my soul!
Thy
ministers can pronounce the words, but cannot impart the spirit; they may
entertain the fancy with the charms of eloquence, but if thou art silent they
do not inflame the heart. They administer the letter, but thou openest the
sense; they utter the mystery, but you reveal its meaning; they point out the
way of life, but you bestow strength to walk in it; they water, but thou givest
the increase. Therefore do thou, O Lord, my God, Eternal Truth! speak to my
soul! lest, being outwardly warmed, but not inwardly quickened, I die, and be
found unfruitful. "Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth." "Thou
only hast the words of eternal life." --Thomas a Kempis, 1380-1471.
Verse
135. -- Make thy face to shine teach me, etc. God hath many
ways of teaching; he teaches by book, he teaches by his fingers, he teaches by
his rod; but his most comfortable and effectual teaching is by the light of his
eye: "O send out thy light and thy truth; let them lead me: let them bring
me unto thy holy hilt:" Psalms
42:3. --Richard Alleine (1611-1681), in "Heaven Opened."
Verse
135. -- Make thy face to shine... teach me thy statutes. God's
children, when they beg comfort, also beg grace to serve him acceptably. For by
teaching God's statutes is not meant barely a giving speculative knowledge of
God's will; for so David here; "Make thy face to shine"; and
"Teach me thy statutes." --Thomas Manton.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
135. --
Verse
135. --
Verse
135. -- Sunshine.
Verse
135. --
(a) Looks up
for the face Divine; the same in its majestic
sweetness that has watched generations decay since the
word was first spoken.
(b) Asks to know its shining. Light of fatherhood, etc.
(a) Our need of
teaching -- oft repeated prayer.
(b) The
intimate connection between obedience and the
shining of God's face. --W.B.H.
EXPOSITION
Verse
136. Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy
law. He wept in sympathy with God to see the holy law despised and broken. He
wept in pity for men who were thus drawing down upon themselves the fiery wrath
of God. His grief was such that he could scarcely give it vent; his tears were
not mere drops of sorrow, but torrents of woe. In this he became like the Lord
Jesus, who beheld the city, and wept over it; and like unto Jehovah himself,
who hath no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, but that be turn unto him
and live. The experience of this verse indicates a great advance upon anything
we have had before: the psalm and the Psalmist are both growing. That man is a
ripe believer who sorrows because of the sins of others. In Psalms 119:120 his flesh trembled at the presence of God, and
here it seems to melt and flow away in floods of tears. None are so affected by
heavenly things as those who are much in the study of the word, and are thereby
taught the truth and essence of things. Carnal men are afraid of brute force,
and weep over losses and crosses; but spiritual men feel a holy fear of the
Lord himself, and most of all lament when they see dishonour cast upon his holy
name.
"Lord, let
me weep for nought but sin,
And after none but thee,
And then I would, O that I might!
A constant weeper be."
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
136. -- Rivers of waters run down my eyes. Most of the
easterners shed tears much more copiously than the people of Europe. The
psalmist said rivers of waters ran down his eyes; and though the language is
beautifully figurative, I have no doubt it was also literally true. I have
myself seen Arabs shed tears like streams. --John Gadsby.
Verse
136. -- Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, etc. Either
because mine eyes keep not thy law, so some. The eye is the inlet and outlet of
a great deal of sin, and therefore it ought to be a weeping eye. Or rather,
they, i.e., those about me: Psalms 119:139. Note, the sins of sinners are the sorrows of saints.
We must mourn for that which we cannot mend. - -Matthew Henry.
Verse
136. -- Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, etc. David's
afflictions drew not so many tears from him as the sins of others; not his
banishment by his son, as the breach of God's law by the wicked. Nothing went
so to his heart as the dishonour of God, whose glory shining in his word and
ordinances, is dearer to the godly than their lives. Elijah desired to die when
he saw God so dishonoured by Ahab and Jezebel. The eye is for two things, sight
and tears: if we see God dishonoured, presently our eyes should be filled with
tears. --William Greenhill, 1591-1677.
Verse
136. -- Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, etc. Godly men
are affected with deep sorrow for the sins of the ungodly.
Let
us consider the nature of this affection.
Verse
136. -- Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, etc. The Lord
requireth this mourning bitterly for other men's sins to keep our hearts the
more tender and upright; it is an act God useth to make us more careful of our
own souls, to be troubled at the sins of others, at sin in a third person. It
keepeth us at a great distance from temptation. This is like quenching of fire
in a neighbour's house: before it comes near thee, thou runnest with thy
bucket. There is no way to keep us free from the infection, so much as
mourning. The soul will never agree to do that which it grieved itself to see
another do. And, as it keepeth us upright, so also humble, fearful of Divine
judgment, tender lest we ourselves offend, and draw down the wrath of God. He
that shrugs when he seeth a snake creeping upon another, will much more be
afraid when it cometh near to himself. In our own sins we have the advantage of
conscience scourging the soul with remorse and shame; in bewailing the sins of
others, we have only the reasons of duty and obedience. They that fight abroad
out of love to valour and exploits, will certainly fight at home out of love to
their own safety. -- Thomas Manton.
Verse
136. -- Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, etc. Thus
uniformly is the character of God's people represented -- not merely as those
who are free from -- but as "those that sigh and cry for -- all the
abominations that are done it, the midst of the land": Ezekiel
9:4 And who does not see what an enlarged sphere still presents
itself on every side for the unrestrained exercise of Christian compassion? The
appalling spectacle of a world apostatized from God, of multitudes sporting
with everlasting destruction -- as if the God of heaven were "a man that he
should lie" is surely to force "rivers of waters" from the
hearts of those that are concerned his honour. What a mass of sin ascends as a
cloud before the Lord, a single heart! Add the aggregate of a village -- a town
-- a country -- a world! every day -- every hour -- every moment. Well might
the "waters rise to an overflowing tide, ready to burst its
barriers." --Charles Bridges.
Verse
136. -- Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because they keep
not law. -- The vices of the religious are the shame of religion: the sight
this hath made the stoutest champions of Christ melt into tears. David was one
of those great worthies of the world, not matchable in his time yet he weeps.
Did he tear in pieces a bear like a kid? Rescue a lamb will the death of a
lion? Foil a mighty giant, that had dared the whole of God? Did he like a
whirlwind, bear and beat down his enemies bel him; and now, does he, like a
child or a woman, fall weeping? Yes, had heard the name of God blasphemed, seen
his holy rites profaned, his statutes vilipended, and violence offered to the
pure chastity of that virgin, religion; this resolved that valiant heart into
tears: "Rivers of waters run down mine eyes." --Thomas Adams.
Verse
136. -- My soul frequently spent itself in such breathings after conformity
to the law of God as the one hundred and nineteenth Psalm is with throughout:
"O that my ways were directed to keep thy My heart breaketh through the
longing it hath to thy commands at times; incline my heart that I may keep them
alway unto the end," the like. This appeared further in a fixed
dislike of the least inconformity: to the law, either in myself or others. Now;
albeit I was always affected with my own or others' breaches, yet this was my
burden; I always that rivers of tears might run down mine eyes, because I, or
transgressors, kept not God's law. --Thomas Halyburton, 1674- 1712.
Verse
136. -- If we grieve not for others, their sin may become Ezekiel
4:8 1 Corinthians 5:2. -- William Nicholson.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
136. -- Abundant sorrow for abounding sin. Other men's sins the
saint's own sorrows. He thinks of the good God provoked, of the sinners
themselves debased, of their death, and their perdition.
Verse
136.--
Verse
136. -- Sacred tears.
Verse
136.
I
weep, because,
"That
kingly prophet, that wept so plentifully for his own offences (Psalms
6:6), had yet floods of tears left to bewail his people's" (Psalms 119:136). --Thomas Adams.
"Benedetti,
a Franciscan monk, author of the Stabat Mater, one day was found weeping, and
when asked the reason of his tears, he exclaimed, I weep because Love goes
about unloved." --W.H.J.P.
EXPOSITION
This
passage deals with the perfect righteousness of Jehovah and his word, and
expresses the struggles of a holy soul in reference to that righteousness. The
initial letter with which every verse commences in the Hebrew is "P",
and the keyword to us is PURITY.
Verse
137. Righteous art thou, O LORD. The Psalmist has not often used the
name of Jehovah in this vast composition. The whole psalm shows him to have
been a deeply religious man, thoroughly familiar with the things of God; and
such persons never use the holy name of God carelessly, nor do they even use it
at all frequently in comparison with the thoughtless and the ungodly.
Familiarity begets reverence in this case. Here he uses the sacred name in
worship. He praises God by ascribing to him perfect righteousness. God is
always right, and he is always actively light, that is, righteous. This quality
is bound up in our very idea of God. We cannot imagine an unrighteous God.
And
upright are thy judgments. Here he extols God's word, or recorded judgments, as
being right, even as their Author is righteous. That which conics from the
Righteous God is itself righteous. Jehovah both saith and doth that which is
right, and that alone. This is a great stay to the soul in time of trouble.
When we are most sorely afflicted, and cannot see the reason for the
dispensation, we may fall back upon this most sure and certain fact, that God
is righteous, and his dealings with us are righteous too. It should be our
glory to sing this brave confession when all things around us appear to suggest
the contrary. This is the richest adoration -- this which rises from the lips
of faith when carnal reason mutters about undue severity, and the like.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
S.
Jerome, whom most of the medievalists follow, explains Tsaddi as meaning
justice or righteousness, which, however, is mrc, tsedek But he is so far right
that there is a play in this strophe on the sound of the initial letter, as in
the case of Gemol; for the very first word, righteous, is mrc, tsaddik, and the
whole scope of the strophe is the strong grasp which even the young and
inexperienced soul can have of righteousness amidst the troubles of the world.
--Neale and Littledale.
All
these verses begin with Tzaddi, the eighteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet; Psalms 119:137,142,144, with some form of the
word which we render righteous, or righteousness; each of the remainder with a
wholly different word. --William S. Plumer.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
137. -- Righteous art thou, O LORD, etc. Here David, sore
troubled with grief for the wickedness of his enemies, yea, tempted greatly to
impatience and distrust, by looking to their prosperous estate, notwithstanding
their so gross impiety, doth now show unto us a three fold ground of comfort,
which in this dangerous temptation upheld him. The first is, a consideration of
that which God is in himself; namely, just and righteous: the second, a
consideration of the equity of his word; the third, a view of his constant
truth, declared in his working and doing according to his word. When we find
ourselves tempted to distrust by looking to the prosperity of the wicked, let
us look up to God, and consider his nature, his word, his works, and we shall
find comfort.
Righteous
art thou. This is the first ground of comfort -- a meditation of the
righteousness of God's nature; he alters not with times, he changes not with
persons, he is, alway and unto all, one and the same righteous and holy God.
Righteousness is essential to him, it is himself; and he can no more defraud
the godly of their promised comforts, not let the wicked go unpunished in their
sins, than he can deny himself to be God, which is impossible. --William
Cowper.
Verse
137. -- Righteous art thou, O LORD, etc. Essentially,
originally, and of himself; naturally, immutably and universally, in all his
ways and works of nature and grace; in his thoughts, purposes, counsels, and
decrees; in all the dispensations of his providence; in redemption, in the
justification of a sinner, in the pardon of sin, and in the gift of eternal
life through Christ. "And upright are thy judgments." They are according
to the rules of justice and equity. He refers to the precepts of the word, the
doctrines of the gospel, as well as the judgments of God inflicted on wicked
men, and all the providential dealings of God with his people, and also the
final judgment. --John Gill.
Verse
137. -- Righteous art thou, O LORD, etc. Here is much to keep
the children of God in awe. The Lord is a righteous God: though they have found
mercy and taken sanctuary in his grace, the Lord is impartial in his justice.
God that did not spare the angels when they sinned, nor his Son when he was a
sinner by imputation, will not spare you, though you are the dearly beloved of
his soul: 11:31. The sinful courses of God's children
occasion bitterness enough; they never venture upon sin, but with great Joss.
If Paul give way to a little pride, God will humble him. If any give way to
sin, their pilgrimage will be made uncomfortable. Eli falls into negligence and
indulgence, then is the ark of God taken, his two sons are slain in battle, his
daughter-in-law dies, he himself breaks his neck. Oh! the wonderful tragedies
that sin works in the houses of the children of God! David, when he
intermeddled with forbidden fruit, was driven from his palace, his concubines
defiled, his own son slain; a great many calamities did light upon him.
Therefore the children of God have cause to fear; for the Lord is a just God,
and they will find it so. Here upon earth he hath reserved liberty to visit
their iniquity with rods, and their transgression with scourges. I must press
you to imitate God's righteousness: "If ye know that he is righteous, ye
know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him": 1Jo 2:29.
You have a righteous God; and this part of his character you should copy out.
-- Thomas Manton.
Verse
137. -- David's great care, when he was under the afflicting
hand of God, was to clear the Lord of injustice. Oh! Lord, saith he, there is
not the least show, spot, stain, blemish, or mixture of injustice, in all the
afflictions thou hast brought upon me. I desire to take shame to myself, and to
set to my seal, that the Lord is righteous, and that there is no injustice, no
cruelty, nor no extremity in all that the Lord hath brought upon me. He sweetly
and readily subscribes unto the righteousness of God in those sharp and smart
afflictions that God exercised him with. "Righteous art thou, O LORD, and
upright are thy judgments." God's judgments are always just; he never
afflicts but in faithfulness. His will is the rule of justice; and therefore a
gracious soul dares not cavil nor question his proceedings. --Thomas Brooks.
Verse
137. -- The hundred and thirty-seventh verse, like the
twenty-fifth, is associated with the sorrows of an Imperial penitent (Gibbon,
Decline and Fall, ch. 46). When the deposed and captive Emperor Maurice was led
out for execution by the usurper Phocas, his five sons were previously murdered
one by one in his presence; and at each fatal blow he patiently exclaimed,
"Righteous art thou, O Lord, and upright are thy judgments." -- Neale
and Littledale.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Outlines
Upon Keywords of the Psalm, By Pastor C. A. Davis.
Verse
137-144. -- The righteousness of God and his word. (Psalms 119:137-138). Indignation at the
forgetfulness of the enemies (Psalms 119:139) The purity of the word (Psalms 119:140-141). This righteousness of God
and his testimonies is everlasting (Psalms 119:142-144).
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
137-138. -- Solemn contemplation.
Verse
137. -- A consideration of divine righteousness. Convinces us of sin,
reconciles us to trying providence, excites a desire to imitate, arouses to
reverent adoration.
Verse
137. -- God is righteous.
EXPOSITION
Verse
138.
Thy testimonies that thou hast commanded are righteous and very faithful. All
that which God hath testified in his word is right and truthful. It is
righteous, and may be relied upon for the present; it is faithful, and may be
trusted in for the future. About every portion of the inspired testimonies
there is a divine authority, they are issued and published by God's command,
and they bear the impress of the royal style which carries omnipotence about
it. Not only the precepts but the promises also are commanded of the Lord, and
so are all the teachings of Scripture. It is not left to our choice whether we
will accept them or no; they are issued by royal command, and are not to be questioned.
Their characteristic is that they are like the Lord who has proclaimed them,
they are the essence of justice and the soul of truth. God's word is righteous
and cannot be impeached; it is faithful and cannot be questioned it is true
from the beginning, and it will be true unto the end.
Dwell
upon that "sweet word" -- "very faithful." What a mercy
that we have a God to deal with who is scrupulously faithful, true to all the
items and details of his promises, punctual to time, steadfast during all time.
Well may we risk all upon a word which is" ever faithful, ever sure."
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
138. --
Thy testimonies that thou hast commanded are righteous and very faithful.
The force of this expression is much feebler than that of the original, which
literally may be rendered, "Thou hast commanded righteousness thy
testimonies, and truth exceedingly. "So the Septuagint hath it.
Righteousness and truth were his testimonies; the testimonies were one with his
righteousness and truth. The English translation gives the quality of the
testimonies; the Hebrew gives that which is commanded; as if we might say, Thou
hast enjoined righteousness to be thy testimonies, and truth exceedingly. --
John Stephen.
Verse
138. --
Thy testimonies. The word of God is called his testimony, both because it
testifies his will, which he will have us to do; as also because it testifies
unto men truly what shall become of them, whether good or evil. Men by nature
are curious to know their end, rather than careful to mend their life; and for
this cause seek answers where they never get good: but if they would know, let
them go to the word and testimony; they need not to seek any other oracle. If
the word of God testify good things unto them, they have cause to rejoice; if
otherwise it witnesseth evil unto them, let them haste to prevent it, or else
it will assuredly overtake them. --William Cowper.
Verse
138. --
Righteous and very faithful. Literally, "faithfulness
exceedingly." Harsh and severe as they may seem, they are all thoroughly
for man's highest good. -- William Kay.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
138.
-- Very faithful. Based on a faithful covenant; confirmed by faithful promises;
carried out by a faithful Redeemer; enjoyed hitherto; relied on for the future.
"Though we believe not, yet he abideth faithful."
EXPOSITION
Verse
139. In the last two verses David spoke concerning his God and his
law; here he speaks of himself, and says,
My
zeal hath consumed me, because mine enemies have forgotten thy words: this was
no doubt occasioned by his having so clear a sense of the admirable character
of God's word. His zeal was like a fire burning within his soul. The sight of
man's forgetfulness of God acted as a fierce blast to excite the fire to a more
vehement flame, and it blazed until it was ready to consume him. David could
not bear that men should forget God's words. He was ready to forget himself,
aye, to, consume himself, because these men forgot God. The ungodly were David
s enemies: his enemies, because they hated him for his godliness; his enemies,
because he abhorred them for their ungodliness. These men had gone so far in
iniquity that they not only violated and neglected the commands of God, but
they appeared actually to have forgotten them. This put David into a great
heat; he burned with indignation. How dare they trample on sacred things! How
could they utterly ignore the commands of God himself! He was astonished, and
filled with holy anger.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
139. -- My zeal hath consumed me. "Zeal" is a high
degree of love; and when the object of that love is ill treated, it vents
itself in a mixture of grief and indignation, which are sufficient to wear and
"consume" the heart. This will be the case where men rightly conceive
of that dishonour which is continually done to God by creatures whom he hath
made and redeemed. But never could the verse be uttered, with such fulness of
truth and propriety, by any one, as by the Son of God, who had such a sense of his
Father's glory, and of man's sin, as no person else ever had. And, accordingly,
when his zeal had exerted itself in purging the temple, St. John tells us,
"his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal thine house hath
eaten me up." The place where it is so written Ps 69:9, and the passage is
exactly parallel to this before us. --Horne.
Verse
139. -- My zeal hath consumed me, etc. Zeal is the heat or
tension of the affections; it is a holy warmth, whereby our love and an are
drawn out to the utmost for God, and his glory. Now, our love to and his ways,
and our hatred of wickedness, should be increased, because ungodly men. Cloudy
and dark colours in a table, make those that are and lively to appear more
beautiful; others' sin should make God and godliness more amiable in thine
eyes. Thy heart should take fire by striking on such cold flints. David by a
holy antiperistasis, did kindle from of coldness: "My zeal hath consumed
me, because mine enemies have forgotten words." Cold blasts make a fire to
flame the higher, and burn the hotter --George Swinnock.
Verse
139. -- My zeal hath consumed me. The fire of zeal, like the
fire which consumed Solomon's sacrifice, cometh down from heaven; and zealots
are not those salamanders that always live in the fire of hatred contention;
but seraphs, burning with the spiritual fire of divine And there true zeal
inflames the desires and affections of the soul. If it be true zeal, then tract
of time, multitude of discouragements, falseness of deserting the cause, strength
of oppositions, will not tire out a man's s Zeal makes men resolute,
difficulties are but whetstones to their fortitude steels men's spirits with an
undaunted resolution. This was the zeal burned in the disciples (Luke 24), that
consumed David here, and up the very marrow of Christ: John
2:17. --Abraham Wright.
Verse
139. -- My zeal hath consumed me. There are divers kinds of
there is a zeal of the world, there is a zeal of the flesh, there is a zeal of
religion, there is a zeal of heresy, and there is a zeal of the true God.
First, we see the zeal of the world maketh men to labour day night to get a
transitory thing. The zeal of the flesh torments me minds early and late for a
momentary pleasure. The zeal of heresy maketh travel and compass sea and land,
for the maintaining and increasing of opinion. Thus we see every man is eaten
up with some kind of zeal. The drunkard is consumed with drunkenness, the
whoremonger is spent with his whoredom, the heretic is eaten with heresies. Oh,
how ought this to ashamed, who are so little eaten, spent, and consumed with
the zeal of word! And so much the rather, because godly zeal leaveth in us
advantage and a recompence, which the worldly and carnally zealous have not.
For when they have spent all the strength of their bodies, powers of their
mind, they have no gain or comfort left, but torment conscience; and when they
are outwardly spent, they are inwardly never better: whereas the godly being
concerned for a good thing, and eaten with the zeal of God's glory, have this
notable privilege and profit, howsoever their outward man perisheth and
decayeth, yet their inward is still refreshed and nourished to everlasting
life. Oh, what a benefit to be eaten up with the love and zeal of a good thing!
--Richard Greenham.
Verse
139. -- Have forgotten thy words. A proper phrase to set forth
in the bosom of the visible church who do not wholly deny and reject word and
rule of Scripture, but yet live on as though they had it: they do not observe
it; as if God had never spoken any such thing, given them any such rule. They
that reject and condemn such things as word enforces, surely do not remember to
do them. --Thomas Manton.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
139. -- Zeal.
Verse
139. -- Zeal.
Verse
139. --
EXPOSITION
Verse
140. Thy word is very pure. It is truth distilled, holiness in its
quintessence. In the word of God there is no admixture of error or sin. It is
pure in its sense, pure in its language, pure in its spirit, pure in its
influence, and all this to the very highest degree -- "very pure."
"Therefore thy servant loveth it," which is a proof that he himself
was pure in heart, for only those who are pure love God's word because of its
purity. His heart was knit to the word because of its glorious holiness and
truth. He admired it, delighted in it, sought to practise it, and longed to
come under its purifying power.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
140. -- Thy word is very pure. In the original, "tried,
purified, like gold in the furnace," absolutely perfect, without the dross
vanity and fallibility, which runs through human writings. The more we try the
promises, the surer we shall find them. Pure gold is so fixed, Boerhaave,
informs us of an ounce of it set in the eye of a glass furnace for two months,
without losing a single grain. --George Horne.
Verse
140. -- Thy word is very pure; therefore, etc. The word of God
is not only "pure," free from all base admixture, but it is a
purifier; it cleanses from sin and guilt every heart with which into comes into
contact. "Now ye are clean," said Jesus Christ to his disciples,
"by the word which I have spoken unto you": John
15:3. It is this its pure quality combined with its tendency to
purify every nature that yields to its holy influence, that endears it to every
child of God. Here it is that he finds those views of the divine character,
those promises, those precepts, those representations of the deformity of sin,
of the beauty of holiness, which lead him, above all things, to seek conformity
to the divine image. A child of God in his best moments does not wish the word
of God brought down to a level with his own imperfect character, but desires
rather that his character may be gradually raised to a conformity to that
blessed word. Because it is altogether pure, and because it tends to convey to
those who make it their constant study a measure of its own purity, the child
of God loves it, and delights to meditate in it day and night. --John Morison.
Verse
140. -- Thy word is very pure. Before I knew the word of God
in spirit and in truth, for its great antiquity, its interesting narratives,
its impartial biography, its pure morality, its sublime poetry, in a word, for
its beautiful and wonderful variety, I preferred it to all other books; but
since I have entered into its spirit, like the Psalmist, I love it above all
things for its purity; and desire, whatever else I read, it may tend to
increase my knowledge of the Bible, and strengthen my affection for its divine
and holy truths. --Sir William Jones, 1746-1794.
Verse
140. -- Thy word. Let us refresh our minds and our memories
with some of the Scripture adjuncts connected with "the word," and
realize, in some degree at least, the manifold relations which it bears both to
God and our souls. It is called "the word of Christ," because much of
it was given by him, and it all bears testimony to him...It is called "the
word of his grace," because the glorious theme on which it loves to
expatiate is grace, and especially grace as it is seen in Christ's dying love
for sinful men. It is called ololoj tou staurou, "the word of the
cross" (1 Corinthians 1:18), because in the crucifixion
of the divine Redeemer we see eternal mercy in its brightest lustre. It is
called "the word of the gospel," because it brings glad tidings of
great joy to all nations. It is called "the word of the kingdom,"
because it holds out to all believers the hope of an everlasting kingdom of
righteousness and peace. It is called "the word of salvation,"
because the purpose for which it was given is the salvation of sinners. It is
called "the word of truth," because, as Chillingworth says, it has
God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth without mixture of error
for its contents. And we will only add, it is called "the word of
life," because it reveals to a sinful, perishing world the doctrines of
life and immortality. -- IV. Graham, in "A Commentary on the First Epistle
of John," 1857.
Verse
140. -- Therefore thy servant loveth it. Love in God is the
fountain of all his benefits extended to us; and love in man is the fountain of
all our service and obedience to God. He loved us first to do us good; and
hereof it comes that we have grace to love him next to do him service. Love is
such a duty that the want thereof cannot be excused in any; for the poorest
both may and should love God: yet without it all the rest thou canst do in his
service is nothing; nay, not if thou shouldest give thy goods to the poor, and
offer thy body to be burned. Small sacrifices, flowing from faith and love, are
welcome to him, where greater without these are but abomination to him. Proofs
of both we have in the widow's mite and Cain's rich oblation; whereof the one
was rejected, the other received. Happy are we though we cannot say, "We
have done as God commands," if out of a good heart we can say, -- "We
love to do what he commands." --William Cowper.
Verse
140. -- Therefore thy servant loveth it. Of all our grounds
and reasons of love to the word of God, the most noble and excellent is to love
the word for its purity. This showeth indeed that we are made partakers of the
Divine nature: 2 Peter 1:4. For I play you mark, when we hate
evil as evil, and love good as good, we have the same love and hatred that God
hat Is. When once we come to love things because they are pure, it is a sign
that we have the same love that God hath. --Thomas Manton.
Verse
140. -- Thy servant loveth it. Otherwise, indeed, the Psalmist
would not have been the Lord's servant at all. But he glories in the title
because he delights in the pure service. --John Stephen.
Verse
140-141. -- God's own utterance is indeed without spot, and
therefore not to be carped at; it is pure, fire proved, noblest metal,
therefore he loves it, and does not, though young and lightly esteemed, care
for the remonstrances of his proud opponents, who are older and more learned
than himself. --Franz Delitzsch.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
140. --
Verse
140. --
(a) Flows from
under the throne.
(b) Mirrors heaven.
(c) Undefiled
through the ages.
(d) Nourishes
holiness as it flows.
(a) Keeping by
its brink.
(b) Delighted
with its lucid depths.
Verse
140. --
(a) It proceeds
from a perfectly pure source: "Thy word."
(b) It reveals
a purity otherwise unknown.
(c) It treats
impure subjects with absolute purity.
(d) It
inculcates the most perfect purity.
(e) It produces
such purity in those who are subject to its
power. --
(a) They love
it because, while it reveals their natural
impurity, it shows them how to escape from it.
(b) They love it
because it conforms them to its own purity.
(c) They love
it because to a pure heart the purity of the
word is one of its chief commendations. --
(a) Desire to
possess it in its purity.
(b) Subjection
to its spirit and
teachings.
(c) Zeal for
its honour and diffusion. --W.H.J.P.
EXPOSITION
Verse
141. I am small and despised: yet do I not forget thy precepts. That
fault of forgetfulness which he condemned in others (Psalms 119:139) could not be charged upon himself. His
enemies made no account of him, regarded him as a man without power or ability,
and therefore looked down upon him. He appears to accept the situation and
humbly take the lowest room, but he carries God's word with him. How many a man
has been driven to do some ill action in order to reply to the contempt of his
enemies: to make himself conspicuous he has either spoken or acted in a manner
which he could not justify. The beauty of the Psalmist's piety was that it was
calm and well balanced, and as he was not carried away by flattery, so was he
not overcome by shame. If small, he the more jealously attended to the smaller
duties; and if despised, he was the more in earnest to keep the despised
commandments of God.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
141. -- I am small and despised, or, I have been. Some
versions render it young; as if it had respect to the time of his anointing by
Samuel, when he was overlooked and despised in his father's family (1
Samuel 16:11 17:28); but the word here used is not expressive of
age, but of state, condition, and circumstances; and the meaning is, that he
was little in his own esteem, and in the esteem of men, and was despised; and
that on account of religion, in which he was a type of Christ (Psalms
24:6 Isaiah 53:3), and which is the common lot of
good men, who are treated by the world as the filth of it, and the offscouring
of all things. --John Gill.
Verse
141. -- I am small. They that love God may be reduced to a
mean, low, and afflicted condition; the Lord seeth it meet for divers reasons:
Verse
141. -- Small. This applies to David in his early days of
trouble and persecution. It is difficult to find any other individual to whom
it is so suitable. --James G. Murphy.
Verse
141. -- A notable example to the shame of them, that perhaps
will serve and praise God in their prosperity, and when they are increased; but
let affliction or want come, and then they have little heart to do it.
--Abraham Wright.
Verse
141. -- Yet do not I forget thy precepts. God observeth what
we do in our trouble: "If we have forgotten the name of our God, or
stretched out our hands to a strange god: shall not God search this out? for he
knoweth the secrets of the heart": Psalms 44:20-21. If we slacken our service to
God, or fall off to any degree of apostasy, the Judge of hearts knoweth all:
God knoweth whether we would have depraved and corrupt doctrine, worship, or
ordinances; or whether we will faithfully adhere to him, to his word, and
worship, and ordinances, whatever it cost us.
In
our poor and despicable condition we see more cause to love the word than we
did before; because we experience supports and comforts which we have thereby:
"Knowing that tribulation worketh patience," etc. (Romans
5:3); "For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our
consolation also aboundeth by Christ": 2
Corinthians 1:5. God hath special consolations for his afflicted and
despised people, and makes their consolation by Christ to run parallel with,
and keep pace with, their sufferings for Christ. --Thomas Manton.
Verse
141. -- Yet do not I forget thy precepts. We see by experience
that our affection leaves anything from the time it goes out of our
remembrance. We cease to love when we cease to remember; but earnest love ever
renews remembrance of that which is beloved. The first step of defection is to
forget what God hath commanded, and what we are obliged in duty to do to him;
and upon this easily follows the offending of God by our transgression. Such
beasts as did not chew their cud, under the law were accounted unclean, and not
meet to be sacrificed unto God: that was but a figure, signifying unto us that
a man who hath received good things from God, and doth not think upon them,
cannot feel the sweetness of them, and so cannot be thankful to God. --William
Cowper.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
141-144. -- A mournful song arid a joyful refrain. Stanza 1: "I am
small and despised." Refrain. The everlasting righteousness of God. Stanza
2: "Trouble and anguish have seized me." Refrain: The everlasting
righteousness of God. --C.A.D.
Verse
141. -- Here is --
Verse
141. --
Verse
141. --
Verse
141. -- Unknown, yet well known.
EXPOSITION
Verse
142. Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness. Having in a
previous verse ascribed righteousness to God, he now goes on to declare that
that righteousness is unchanging and endures from age to age. This is the joy
and glory of the saints, that what God is he always will be, and his mode of
procedure towards the sons of men is immutable: having kept his promise, and
dealt out justice among his people, he will do so world without end. Both the
righteousnesses and the unrighteousnesses of men come to an end, but the
righteousness of God is without end.
And
thy law is the truth. As God is love, so his law is the truth, the very essence
of truth, truth applied to ethics, truth in action, truth upon the judgment
seat. We hear great disputes about, "What is truth?" The holy
Scriptures are the only answer to that question. Note, that they are not only
true, but the truth itself. We may not say of them that they contain the truth,
but that they are the truth: "thy law is the truth." There is nothing
false about the law or preceptory part of Scripture. Those who are obedient
thereto shall find that they are walking in a way consistent with fact, while
those who act contrary thereto are walking in a vain show.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
142. -- Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness.
Here the law of God is honoured by the additional encomium, that it is
everlasting righteousness and truth; as if it had been said, that all other
rules of life, with whatever attractions they may appear to be recommended, are
but a shadow, which quickly vanishes away. The Psalmist, no doubt, indirectly
contrasts the doctrine of the law with all the human precepts which were ever
delivered, that he may bring all the faithful in subjection to it, since it is
the school of perfect wisdom. There may be more of plausibility in the refined
and subtle disquisitions of men; but there is in them nothing firm or solid at
bottom, as there is in God's law. This firmness of the divine law he proves in
the following verse from one instance -- the continual comfort he found in it
when grievously harassed with temptations. And the true test of the profit we
have reaped from it is, when we oppose to all the distresses of whatever kind
which may straiten us, the consolation derived from the word of God, that
thereby all sadness may be effaced from our minds. David here expresses
something more than he did in the preceding verse; for there he only said that
he reverently served God, although from his rough and hard treatment he might
seem to lose his labour; but now when distressed and tormented, he affirms that
he finds in the law of God the most soothing delight, which mitigates all
griefs, and not only tempers their bitterness, but also seasons them with a
certain sweetness. Assuredly when this taste does not exist to afford us
delight, nothing is more natural than for us to be swallowed up of sorrow.
--John Calvin.
Verse
142. -- Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness. Not
only righteous at the first giving out, but righteous in all ages and times;
and should we slight this rule that will hold for ever? In the world, new
lords, new laws; men vary and change their designs and purposes; privileges
granted today may be repealed tomorrow; but this wold will hold true for ever.
Our justification by Christ is irrevocable; that part of righteousness is
everlasting. Be sure you are justified now upon terms of the gospel, and you
shall be justified for ever: your forgiveness is an everlasting forgiveness,
and your peace is an everlasting peace: "I will remember their sin no
more": Jeremiah 31:34. So the other righteousness of
sanctification, it is for ever; approve yourselves to God now, and you will
approve yourselves at the day of judgment. --Thomas Manton.
Verse
142. -- Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness,
etc. The original is better expressed thus, "Thy righteousness is
righteousness everlastingly, and thy law is truth. "So the Septuagint. The
English translation expresses the perpetuity of the righteousness, the original
expresses also the character of it...God's righteousness is essentially and
eternally righteousness. The expressions are absolute; there is only this
righteousness, and only this truth. --John Stephen.
Verse
142. -- Thy law is the truth.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
142. -- Righteousness, immutability, and truth combined in the
revelation of God.
EXPOSITION
Verse
143.
Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me. This affliction may have arisen from
his circumstances, or from the cruelty of his enemies, or from his own internal
conflicts, but certain it is that he was the subject of much distress, a
distress which apprehended him, and carried him away a captive to its power.
His griefs, like fierce dogs, had taken hold upon him; he felt their teeth. He
had double trouble: trouble without and anguish within, as the apostle Paul put
it, "without were rightings and within were fears."
Yet
thy commandments are my delights. Thus he became a riddle; troubled, and yet
delighted; in anguish, and yet in pleasure. The child of God can understand
this enigma, for well he knows that while he is cast down on account of what he
sees within himself he is all the more lifted up by what he sees in the word.
He is delighted with the commandments, although he is troubled because he
cannot perfectly obey them. He finds abundant light in the commandments, and by
the influence of that light he discovers and mourns over his own darkness. Only
the man who is acquainted with the struggles of the spiritual life will
understand the expression before us. Let the reader herein find a balance in
which to weigh himself. Does he find even when he is begin with sorrow that it
is a delightful thing to do the will of the Lord? Does he find more joy in
being sanctified than sorrow in being chastised? Then the spot of God's
children is upon him.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
143. --
Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me: yet thy commandments are my delights.
This is strange, that in the midst of anguish David had delight: but indeed the
sweetness of God's word is best perceived under the bitterness of the cross.
The joy of Christ and the joy of the world cannot consist together. A heart
delighted with worldly joy cannot feel the consolations of the Spirit; the one
of these destroys the other: but in sanctified trouble, the comforts of God's
word are felt and perceived in a most sensible manner. Many a time hath David
protested this delight of his in the word of God; and truly it is a great
argument of godliness, when men come not only to reverence it, but to love it,
and delight in it. Let this be considered by those unhappy men who hear it of
custom, and count it but a weariness. --Abraham Wright.
Verse
143. --
Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me, or "found me," etc. We
need not take pains, as many do, "to find trouble and anguish;" for
they will, one day, "find us." In that day the revelations of God
must be to us instead of all worldly "delights" and pleasures, which
will then have forsaken us; and how forlorn and desolate will be our state if
we should have no other delights, no other pleasures, to succeed them, and to
accompany us into eternity. Let our study be then in the Scriptures, if we
expect our comfort in them in time to come. --George Horne.
Verse
143. --
Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me. You may conceive a bold figure
here, as if Trouble and Anguish were being sent out against the helpless sons
of men. These, like enemies, were going round. Instead of seizing upon the
wicked, they had found the righteous man. So it was by the ordering of God. I
suppose many of us have remarked, that the believer is never long at ease. He
is in the world; he is in the flesh; there is indwelling sin; there are enemies
around; there is the great enemy; besides all this, the Lord, for wise
purposes, hides his face. Then the believer is in trouble and anguish. --John
Stephen.
Verse
143. --
Have taken hold on me. Hebrew, found me. Like dogs tracking out a wild
beast hiding or fleeing. --A.R. Fausset.
Verse
143. --
Thy commandments are my delights. Delight in moral things (saith Aquinas)
is the rule by which we may judge of men's goodness or badness. Delectatio est
quies voluntatis in bono. Men are good and bad as the objects of their delight
are: they are good who delight in good things, and they are evil who delight in
evil things. --Thomas Manton.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
143.
-- Mingled emotions.
Verse
143.
--
Verse
143.
--
(a)
The jailers: "Trouble and anguish."
(b) Their proceeding: "take hold" and make him fast.
(a)
Blessed theme: "thy commandments."
(b)
Ecstatic melodies: "delights."
(a)
Pain held, sin held, despair held.
(b)
It is matter and melody to open prisons. --W.B.H.
Verse
143.
-- Consider, --
EXPOSITION
Verse
144. The righteousness of thy testimonies is everlasting. First he
had said that God's testimonies were righteous, then that they were
everlasting, and now that their righteousness is everlasting. Thus he gives us
a larger and more detailed account of the word of God the longer he is engaged
in writing upon it. The more we say in praise of holy writ, the more we may say
and the more we can say. God's testimonies to man cannot be assailed, they are
righteous from beginning to end; and though ungodly men have opposed the divine
justice, especially in the plan of salvation, they have always failed to
establish any charge against the Most High. Long as the earth shall stand, long
as there shall be a single intelligent creature in the universe, it will be
confessed that God's plans of mercy are in all respects marvellous proofs of
his love of justice: even that he may be gracious Jehovah will not be unjust.
Give
me understanding, and I shall live. This is a prayer which he is constantly
praying, that God will give him understanding. Here he evidently considers that
such a gift is essential to his lifting. To live without understanding is not
to live the life of a man, but to be dead while we live. Only as we know and
apprehend the things of God can we be said to enter into life. The more the
Lord teaches us to admire the eternal rightness of his word, and the more he
quickens us to the love of such lightness, the happier and the better we shall
be. As we love life, and seek many days that we may see good, it behooves us to
seek immortality in the everlasting word which liveth and abideth for ever, and
to seek good in that renewal of our entire nature which begins with the
enlightenment of the understanding and passes on to the regeneration of the
entire man. Here is our need of the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life,
and the guide of all the quickened ones, who shall lead us into all truth. O
for the visitations of his grace at this good hour!
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
144. -- The righteousness of thy testimonies is everlasting.
Thy moral law was not made for one people, or for one particular time; it is as
imperishable as thy nature, and of endless obligation. It is that law by which
all the children of Adam shall be judged. "Give me understanding." To
know and practise it. "And I shall live." Shall glorify thee, and
live eternally; not for the merit of having done it, but because thou didst fulfil
the work of the law in my heart, having saved me from condemnation by it.
--Adam Clarke.
Verse
144. -- Give me understanding, and I shall live. I read it in
connection with the preceding clause; for although David desires to have his
mind enlightened by God, yet he does not conceive of any other way by which he
was to obtain an enlightened understanding than by his profiting aright in the
study of the law. Further, he here teaches that men cannot, properly speaking,
be said to live when they are destitute of the light of heavenly wisdom; and as
the end for which men are created is not that, like swine or asses, they may
stuff their bellies, but that they may exercise themselves in the knowledge and
service of God, when they turn away from such employment their life is worse
than a thousand deaths. David therefore protests that for him to live was not
merely to be fed with meat and drink, and to enjoy earthly comforts, but to
aspire after a better life, which he could not do save under the guidance of
faith. This is a very necessary warning; for although it is universally
acknowledged that man is born with this distinction, that he excels the lower
animals in intelligence, yet the great bulk of mankind, as if with deliberate
purpose, stifle whatever light God pours into their understandings. I indeed
admit that all men desire to be sharp witted; but how few aspire to heaven, and
consider that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. Since, then,
meditation upon the celestial life is buried by earthly care, men do nothing else
than plunge into the grave, so that while living to the world, they die to God.
Under the term life, however, the prophet denotes the utmost he could wish.
Lord, as if he had said, although I am already dead, yet if thou art pleased to
illumine my mind with the knowledge of heavenly truth, this grace alone will be
sufficient to revive me. --John Calvin.
Verse
144. -- Give me understanding, and I shall live. The saving
knowledge of God's testimonies is the only way to live. There is a threefold
life.
First.
Life is taken for the life of nature, or the life of the body, or life
temporal, called "this life" in Scripture: 1
Corinthians 15:19; 1
Timothy 4:8. Life is better preserved in a way of obedience than by
evil doing; that provoketh God to cast us off, and exposes us to dangers. It is
not in the power of the world to make us live or die a day sooner or longer
than God pleaseth. If God will make us happy, they cannot make us miserable:
therefore, "Give me understanding, and I shall live"; that is, lead a
comfortable and happy life for the present. Prevent sin, and you prevent
danger. Obedience is the best way to preserve life temporal: as great a paradox
as it seems to the world, it is a Scripture truth, "Keep my commandments,
and live" (Proverbs 4:4); and, "Take fast hold of
instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life" (verse 13);
and, "Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand riches and
honour" (Proverbs 3:16); and, "She is a tree of
life" (verse 18). The knowledge and practice of the word is the only means
to live comfortably and happily here, as well as for ever hereafter.
Secondly.
Life spiritual; that is twofold, the life of justification, and the life of
sanctification.
Thirdly.
Life everlasting, or our blessed estate in heaven. So it is Said of the saints
departed, they all live unto God: Luke
20:38. And this is called the water of life, the tree of life, the
crown of life; properly this is life. What is the present life in comparison of
everlasting life? The present life, it is "mars vitalis", a living
death; or "mortalis vita", a dying life, a kind of death; it is
always in flux, like a stream: it runneth from us as fast as it cometh to us:
"He fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not": John
14:2. We die as fast as we live: it differeth but as the point from
the line where it terminates. It is not one and the same, no permanent thing;
it is like the shadow of a star in a flowing stream. Its contentments are base
and low, called "the life of thine hand": Isaiah
57:10. It is patched up of several creatures, fain to ransack the
storehouses of nature to support a ruinous fabric. And compare it with the life
of grace here, it doth not exempt us from sin, nor miseries. Our capacities are
narrow. We are full of fears, and doubts, and dangers; but in the life of glory
we shall neither sin nor sorrow any more. This is meant here: "The righteousness
of thy testimonies is everlasting: give me understanding, and I shall
live"; it is chiefly meant of the life of glory. This is the fruit of
saving knowledge, when we so know God and Christ as to come to God by him.
--Thomas Manton.
Verse
144. -- I shall live. I shall be kept from those sins which
deserve and bring death. -- Matthew Pool.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
144. -- Everlasting righteousness revealed in the word, and producing
everlasting life in believers.
Verse
144. --
Verse
144. (last clause). --
(a) It is
suitable for the awakened sinner.
(b) For the Christian struggling against temptation.
(c) For the
suffering believer.
(d) For the
worker
(e) For
aspiring minds in the church of God.
(f) For
expiring saints.
(a) Here is
want confessed.
(b) The prayer
is evidently put upon the footing of free
grace: "Give."
EXPOSITION
This
section is given up to memories of prayer. The Psalmist describes the time and
the manner of his devotions, and pleads with God for deliverance from his
troubles. He who has been with God in the closet will find God with him in the
furnace. If we have cried we shall be answered. Delayed answers may drive us to
importunity; but we need not fear the ultimate result, since God's promises are
not uncertain, but are founded for ever. The whole passage shows us: How he
prayed (Psalms 119:145). What he prayed for (Ps
119:146). When he prayed (Psalms 119:147). How long he prayed (Psalms 119:148). What he pleaded (Psalms 119:149). What happened (Psalms 119:150). How he was rescued (Psalms 119:151). What was his witness as to the whole matter
(Psalms 119:152).
Verse
145. -- I cried with my whole heart. His prayer was a sincere,
plaintive, painful, natural utterance, as of a creature in pain. We cannot tell
whether at all times he used his voice when he thus cried; but we are informed
of something which is of much greater consequence, he cried with his heart.
Heart cries are the essence of prayer. He mentions the unity of his heart in
this holy engagement. His whole soul pleaded with God, his entire affections,
his united desires all went out towards the living God. It is well when a man
can say as much as this of his prayers: it is to be feared that many never
cried to God with their whole heart in all their lives. There may be no beauty
of elocution about such prayers, no length of expression, no depth of doctrine,
nor accuracy of diction; but if the whole heart be in them they will find their
way to the heart of God.
Hear
me, O Lord. He desires of Jehovah that his cries may not die upon the air, but
that God may have respect to them. True supplicants are not satisfied with the
exercise itself, they have an end and object in praying, and they look out for
it. If God does not hear prayer we pray in vain. The term "hear" is
often used in Scripture to express attention and consideration. In one sense
God hears every sound that is made on earth, and every desire of every heart;
but David meant much more; he desired a kindly, sympathetic hearing, such as a
physician gives to his patient when he tells him his pitiful story. He asked
that the Lord would draw near, and listen with friendly ear to the voice of his
complaint, with the view of pitying him and helping him. Observe, that his
whole hearted prayer goes to the Lord alone; he has no second hope or help.
"Hear me, O Lord," is the full range of his petition and expectation.
I
will keep thy statutes. He could not expect the Lord to hear him if he did not
hear the Lord, neither would it be true that he prayed with his whole heart
unless it was manifest that he laboured with all his might to be obedient to
the divine will. His object in seeking deliverance was that he might be free to
fulfil his religion and carry out every ordinance of the Lord. He would be a
free man that he might be at liberty to serve the Lord. Note well that a holy
resolution goes well with an importunate supplication: David is determined to
be holy, his whole heart goes with that resolve as well as with his prayers. He
will keep God's statutes in his memory, in his affections, and in his actions.
He will not wilfully neglect or violate any one of the divine laws.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
145. -- I cried with my whole heart. As a man cries most
loudly when he cries with all his mouth opened; so a man prays most effectually
when he prays with his whole heart. Neither doth this speech declare only the
fervency of his affection; but it imports also that it was a great thing which
he sought from God. And thou, when thou prayest, pray for great things; for
things enduring, not for things perishing: pray not for silver, it is but rust;
nor for gold, it is but metal; nor for possessions, they are but earth. Such
prayer ascends not to God. He is a great God, and esteems himself dishonoured
when great things with great affection are not sought from him. --William
Cowper.
Verse
145. -- I cried with my whole heart. In all your closet duties
God looks first and most to your hearts: "My son, give me thine
heart": Proverbs 23:26. It is not a piece, it is not a
corner of the heart, that will satisfy the Maker of the heart; the heart is a
treasure, a bed of spices, a royal throne wherein he delights. God looks not at
the elegancy of your prayers, to see how neat they are; nor yet at the geometry
of your prayers, to see how long they are; nor yet at the arithmetic of your
prayers, to see how many they are; nor yet at the music of your prayers, nor
yet at the sweetness of your voice, nor yet at the logic of your prayers; but
at the sincerity of your prayers, how hearty they are. There is no prayer
acknowledged, approved, accepted, recorded, or rewarded by God, but that
wherein the heart is sincerely and wholly. The true mother would not have the
child divided. God loves a broken and a contrite heart, so he loathes a divided
heart: Psalms 51:17; James
1:8. God neither loves halting nor halving; he will be served truly
and totally. The royal law is, "Thou shalt love and serve the Lord thy God
with all thy heart, and with all thy soul." Among the heathens, when the
beasts were cut up for sacrifice, the first thing the priest looked upon was the
heart, and if the heart was naught, the sacrifice was rejected. Verily, God
rejects all those sacrifices wherein the heart is not. Prayer without the heart
is but as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. Prayer is only lovely and
weighty, as the heart is in it, and no otherwise. It is not the lifting up of
the voice, nor the wringing of the hands, nor the beating of the breasts, nor
an affected tone, nor studied motions, nor seraphical expressions, but the
stirrings of the heart, that God looks at in prayer. God hears no more than the
heart speaks. If the heart be dumb, God will certainly be deaf. No prayer takes
with God, but that which is the travail of the heart. --Thomas Brooks.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Outlines
Upon Keywords of the Psalm, By Pastor C. A. Davis.
Verse
145-152. -- The believer's cry. The reiterated cry (Psalms 119:145-148) An appeal for audience (Psalms 119:149). The nearness of the enemy (Psalms 119:150). But, in response to the cry, God is also
near (Psalms 119:151).
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
145-148. -- The cry.
Verse
145,146. --The souls cry.
Verse
145,146. -- Childlike prayer.
Verse
145. --
EXPOSITION
Verse
146. -- I cried unto thee. Again he mentions that his prayer was unto
God alone. The sentence imports that he prayed vehemently, and very often; and
that it had become one of the greatest facts of his life that he cried unto
God. "Save me." This was his prayer; very short, but very full. He
needed saving, none but the Lord could save him, to him he cried, "Save
me" from the dangers which surround me, from the enemies that pursue me,
from the temptations which beset me, from the sins which accuse me. He did not
multiply words, and men never do so when they are in downright earnest. He did
not multiply objects, and men seldom do so when they are intent upon the one
thing needful: "save me" was his one and only prayer.
And
I shall keep thy testimonies. This was his great object in desiring salvation,
that he might be able to continue in a blameless life of obedience to God, that
he might be able to believe the witness of God, and also to become himself a
witness for God. It is a great thing when men seek salvation for so high an
end. He did not ask to be delivered that he might sin with impunity; his cry
was to be delivered from sin itself. He had vowed to keep the statutes or laws,
here he resolves to keep the testimonies or doctrines, and so to be sound of
head as well as clean of hand. Salvation brings all these good things in its
train. David had no idea of a salvation which would allow him to live in sin,
or abide in error: he knew right well that there is no saving a man while he
abides in disobedience and ignorance.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
146. -- I cried unto thee. The distressed soul expresses
itself in strong cries and tears. Of old they cried unto the Lord, and he heard
them in their distress. So Israel at the Red Sea. The men of the Reformation
thus expressed themselves in earnest prayer, and found relief. Luther at the
Diet of Worms, when remanded for another day, spent the long night in the loud
utterance of prayer, that he might appear for his Lord before an august earthly
assembly. Our reading of the covenanting times will remind us of many instances
of the same. We may think of John Welch, going into his garden night after
night, in a night covering, and crying to the Lord to grant him Scotland. The
expression of prayer, however, is manifold as the frame of the spirit. Intense
feeling will beget strong cries in prayer; but prayer that is uttered under
realizing views of our gracious God will be mild, and often delivered as it
were in whispers. So was Alexander Peden accustomed to pray, as if he had been
engaged in calm converse with a friend... But when the feeling is intense, when
wrath lies heavy upon us, when danger is apprehended as near, when the Lord is
conceived to be at a distance, or when there is eager desire after immediate
attainment -- in all these cases there will be the strong cries. Such seems to
have been the state of the Psalmist's mind when he poured forth the expressive
utterance of this part. -- John Stephen.
Verse
146. -- Brief as are the petitions, the whole compass of
language could not make them more comprehensive. "Hear me." The soul
is in earnest, the whole heart is engaged in the "cry." "Save
me" -- includes a sinner's whole need -- pardon, acceptance, access, holiness,
strength, comfort, heaven, -- all in one word -- Christ. The way of access is
not indeed mentioned in these short ejaculations. But it is always implied in
every moment's approach and address to the throne of grace. "Hear me"
in the name of my all prevailing Advocate. "Save me" through him,
whose name is Jesus the Saviour. --Charles Bridges.
Verse
146. -- I cried unto thee. A crying prayer pierces the depths
of heaven. We read not a word that Moses spake, but God was moved by his cry. Exodus
14:15. It means not an obstreperous noise, but melting moans of
heart. Yet sometimes the sore and pinching necessities and distresses of spirit
extort even vocal cries not unpleasant to the inclined ears of God. "I
cried unto God with my voice," says David, "and he heard me out of
his holy hill": Psalms 3:4. And this encourages to a fresh
onset: "Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God": Psalms
5:2. "Give ear unto my cry: hold not thy peace at my
tears": Psalms 39:12. Another time he makes the cave
echo with his cries. "I cried, I cried. Attend unto my cry, for I am
brought very low." --Samuel Lee (1625-1691), in "The Morning
Exercises."
Verse
146. -- I cried unto thee; save me. In our troubles, we must
have recourse to God, and sue to him by prayer and supplication for help and
deliverance in due time; because he is the author of our trouble. In mercies
and afflictions, our business lieth not with men, but God; by humble dealing
with him we stop wrath at the fountain head: he that bindeth us must loose us;
he is at the upper end of causes, and whoever be the instruments of our
trouble, and how malicious soever, God is the party with whom we are to make
our peace; for he hath the absolute disposal of all creatures, and will have us
to acknowledge the dominion of his providence and our dependence upon him. In
treaties of peace between two warring parties, the address is not made to
private soldiers, but to their chief: "The Lord hath taken away,"
saith Job; "When he giveth quietness, who then can make trouble?" Job
34:29. --Thomas Manton.
Verse
146. -- Save me, and I shall keep the testimonies. The
servants of God regard life itself as chiefly desirable on account of the
opportunity which it affords for serving God: "Save me, that I may keep
thy testimonies," is the prayer of the believer in the day of trouble and
conflict. "To me to live," says he, "is Christ, and to die is
gain." How unlike is this to the wicked! Their whole desire in the day of
trouble is expended on the wish to escape calamity; they have no desire to be
delivered from sin, no wish to be conformed to God! --John Morison.
Verse
146. -- Save me. From my sins, my corruptions, my temptations,
all the hindrances that lie in my way, that I may "keep thy
testimonies." We must cry for salvation, not that we may have the case and
comfort of it, but that we may have an opportunity of serving God the more
cheerfully. --Matthew Henry.
Verse
146. -- God hears us, that we should hear him. --Thomas Manton.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
146. --
Verse
146. -- Salvation.
EXPOSITION
Verse
147. -- I prevented the dawning of the morning, and cried. He was up
before the sun, and began his pleadings before the dew began to leave the
grass. Whatever is worth doing is worth doing speedily. This is the third time
that he mentions that he cried. He cried, and cried, and cried again. His
supplications had become so frequent, fervent, and intense, that he might
hardly be said to be doing anything else from morning to night but crying unto
his God. So strong was his desire after salvation that he could not rest in his
bed; so eagerly did he seek it that at the first possible moment he was on his knees.
I
hoped in thy word. Hope is a very powerful means of strengthening us in prayer.
Who would pray if he had no hope that God would hear him? Who would not pray
when he has a good hope of a blessed issue to his entreaties? His hope was
fixed upon God's word, and this is a sure anchorage, because God is true, and
in no case has he ever run back from his promise, or altered the thing that has
gone forth from his mouth. He who is diligent in prayer will never be destitute
of hope. Observe that as the early bird gets the worm, so the early prayer is
soon refreshed with hope.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
147. -- I prevented the dawning of the morning. The manner of
speech is to be marked. He saith he prevented the morning watch, thereby declaring
that he lived, as it were, in a strife with time, careful that it should not
overrun him. He knew that time posts away, and in running by wearieth man to
dust and ashes. But David pressed to get before it, by doing some good in it,
before that it should spur away from him. And this care which David had of
every day, alas, how may it make them ashamed who have no care of a whole life!
He was afraid to lose a day; they take no thought to lose months and years
without doing good in them: yea, having spent the three ages of their life in
vanity and licentiousness, scarce will they consecrate their old and decrepit
age to the Lord. -- William Cowper.
Verse
147. -- I prevented the dawning of the morning, etc. Those
that make a business of prayer will use great vigilance and diligence therein.
I say, that make a business of prayer; others that use it as a compliment and
customary formality, will not be thus affected; they do it as a thing
by-the-by, or a work that might well be spared, and do not look upon it as a
necessary duty; but if a man's heart be in it, he will be early at work, and
follow it close, morning and night: his business is to maintain communion with
God, his desires will not let him sleep, and he gets up early to be calling
upon God. "But unto thee have I cried, O Lord: and in the morning shall my
prayer prevent thee." Psalms
88:13. Thus will good men even break their sleep to give themselves
to prayer, and calling upon the name of God. --Thomas Manton.
Verse
147. -- I prevented the dawning of the morning. It is a
grievous thing if the rays of the rising sun find thee lazy and ashamed in thy
bed, and the bright light strike on eyes still weighed down with slumbering
sloth. Knowest thou not, O man, that thou owest the daily firstfruits of thy
heart and voice to God? Thou hast a daily harvest, a daily revenue. The Lord
Jesus remained all night in prayer, not that he needed its help, but putting an
example before thee to imitate. He spent the night in prayer for thee, that
thou mightest learn how to ask for thyself. Give him again, therefore what he
paid for thee. -- Ambrose.
Verse
147. -- I prevented the dawning of the morning. David was a
good husband, up, early at it: at night he was late at this duty: "At
midnight will I rise to give thanks unto thee": Psalms
119:62. This surely was his meaning when he said he should dwell in
the house of the Lord for ever; he would be ever in the house of prayer... I
wish that when I first open my eyes in the morning, I may then, in soul
ejaculatory prayer, open my heart to my God, that at night prayer may make my
bed soft, and lay my pillow easy; that in the daytime prayer may perfume my
clothes, sweeten my food, oil the wheels of my particular vocation, keep me
company upon all occasions, and gild over all my natural, civil, and religious
actions. I wish that, after I have poured out my prayer in the name of Christ,
according to the will of God, having sowed my seed, I may expect a crop,
looking earnestly for the springing of it up, and believing assuredly that I
shall reap in time if I faint not. --George Swinnock.
Verse
147. -- I prevented the dawning of the morning. Early prayers
are undisturbed by the agitating cares of life, and resemble the sweet melody
of those birds which sing loudest and sweetest when fewest cars are open to
listen to them. O my soul, canst thou say that thou hast thus "prevented
the dawning of the morning" in thy approaches to God? Has the desire of
communion with heaven raised thee from thy slumbers, shaken off thy sloth, and
carried thee to thy knees? --John Morison.
Verse
147. -- And cried. Here is a repetition of the same prayer,
"I cried"; yea, again I cried, and a third time, "I prevented
the dawning of the morning, and cried." We use to knock at a door thrice,
and then depart. Our Lord Jesus "prayed the third time, saying the same
words" (Matthew 26:44), "Father, if it he possible,
let this cup pass from me." So the apostle Paul: "For this thing I
besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me": 2Co 12:8. So,
"And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the
Lord, and said, O Lord my God, I pray thee, let this child's soul come into him
again": 1Ki 17:21. This, it seemeth, was the time in which they expected
an answer in weighty cases; and yet I will not confine it to that number; for
here we are to reiterate our petitions for one and the same thing as often as
occasion requireth, till it be granted. --Thomas Manton.
Verse
147. -- Poets have delighted to sing of the morning as
"Mother of the Dews," "sowing the earth with orient
pearl"; and many of the saints rising up from their beds at the first
blush of dawn have round the poetry of nature to be the reality of grace as
they have felt the dews of heaven refreshing their spirit. Hence morning
exercises have ever been dear to the enlightened, heaven cloying souls, and it
has been their rule, never to see the face of man till they have first seen the
face of God. The breath of morn redolent of the smell of flowers is incense
offered by earth to her Creator, and living men should never let the dead earth
excel them; truly living men tuning their hearts for song, like the birds,
salute the radiant mercy which reveals itself in the east. The first fresh hour
of every morning should be dedicated to the Lord whose mercy gladdens it with
golden light. The eye of day openeth its lids, and in so doing opens the eyes
of hosts of heaven protected slumberers; it is fitting that those eyes should
first look up to the great Father of Lights, the fount and source of all the
good upon which the sunlight gleams. It augurs for us a day of grace when we
begin betimes with God; the sanctifying influence of the season spent upon the
mount operates upon each succeeding hour. Morning devotion anchors the soul so
that it will not very readily drift far away from God during the day; it perfumes
the heart so that it smells fragrant with piety until nightfall; it girds up
the soul's garments so that it is less apt to stumble, and feeds all its rowers
so that it is not permitted to faint. The morning is the gate of the day, and
should be well guarded with prayer. It is one end of the thread on which the
day's actions are strung, and should be well knotted with devotion. If we felt
more the majesty of life we should be more careful of its mornings. He who
rushes from his bed to his business and waiteth not to worship, is as foolish
as though he had not put on his clothes, or cleansed his face, and as unwise as
though he dashed into battle without arms or armour. Be it ours to bathe in the
softly flowing river of communion with God, before the heat of the wilderness
and the burden of the way begin to oppress us. --C.H.S.
Verse
147. -- I hoped in thy word. Even if there should not be
actual enjoyment, at least let us honour God by the spirit of expectancy.
--Charles Bridges.
Verse
147,148. -- The student of theology and the minister of the word
should begin the day with prayer, and this chiefly to seek from God, that
he may rightly understand the word of God, and be able to teach others. --
Solomon Gesner Brethren, note this! -- C.H.S.
Verse
147,148. -- See here:
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
147,148. --
b)
An insignificant pleader: "my voice.' What can "my voice" ever
say to keep step with "thy loving kindness"? Asking too much out of
the question.
c)
A clever petition ("according to thy judgment"); requesting life;
stolen from God's mouth. God's lovingkindness is matched by God's own promise.
W.
B. H.
Verse
147. Observe in this David's diligence.
Verse
147 -- Early rising commended.
EXPOSITION
Verse
148. -- Mine eyes prevent the night watches. Or rather, the watches.
Before the watchman cried the hour, he was crying to God. He did not need to be
informed as to how the hours were flying, for every hour his heart was flying
towards heaven. He began the day with prayer, and he continued in prayer
through the watches of the day, and the watches of the night. The soldiers
changed guard, but David did not change his holy occupation. Specially,
however, at night did he keep his eyes open, and drive away sleep, that he
might maintain communion with his God. He worshipped on from watch to watch as
travellers journey from stage to stage.
That
I might meditate in thy word. This had become meat and drink to him. Meditation
was the food of his hope, and the solace of his sorrow: the one theme upon
which his thoughts ran was that blessed "word" which he continually
mentions, and in which his heart rejoices. He preferred study to slumber; and
he learned to forego his necessary sleep for much more necessary devotion. It
is instructive to find meditation so constantly connected with fervent prayer:
it is the fuel which sustains the flame. How rare an article is it in these
days.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
148. -- Mine eyes prevent the night watches, that I might
meditate in thy word. You will all admit that this is the language of an
ardent, earnest, and painstaking student. David represents himself as
"rising early, and late taking rest," on purpose that he might employ
himself in the study of God's word. "He meditates in this word," the
expression implying close and patient thought; as if there were much in the
word which was not to be detected by a cursory glance, and which required the
strictest application both of the head and the heart.
The
Bible is a book in which we may continually meditate, and yet not exhaust its contents.
When David expressed himself in the language of our text, Holy Writ -- the word
of God -- was of course a far smaller volume than it now is, though, even now,
the Bible is far from a large book. Yet David could not, so to speak, get to
the end of the book. He might have been studying the book for years, -- nay, we
are sure that he had been, -- and yet, as though he were just entering on a new
course of reading, with volume upon volume to peruse, lie must rise before day
to prosecute the study. "Mine eyes prevent the night watches, that I might
meditate in thy word."
The
same remark may be made upon precepts which enjoin continued study of the
Bible. Is there material for that study? Unless there be, the precepts will
become out of place; the Scriptural student will have exhausted the Scriptures;
and what is he to do then? He can no longer obey the precepts, and the precepts
will prove that they cannot have been made for perpetuity -- for the men of all
ages and all conditions...
Here
is a servant of God, who, from his youth upward, has been diligent in the study
of the Bible. Year after year he has devoted to that study, and yet the Bible
is but a single volume, and that not a large volume. "Well, then,"
you might be inclined to say, "the study must surely by this time have
exhausted the book! There can be nothing new for him to bring out; nothing
which he has not investigated and fathomed." Ah, how you mistake the
Bible! What a much larger book it must be than it seems! In place of having exhausted
it, the royal student speaks as though there were more work before him than he
knew how to compass. "Mine eyes prevent the night watches, that I might
meditate in thy word." -- Henry Melvill.
Verse
148. -- "Mine eyes prevent the night watches." The
Hebrew word means a watch -- a part of the night, so called from military
watches, or a dividing of the night to keep guard. The idea of the Psalmist
here is, that he anticipated these regular divisions of the night in order that
he might engage in devotion. Instead of waiting for their return, he arose for
prayer before they recurred; so much did his heart delight in the service of
God. The language would seem to be that of one who was accustomed to pray in
these successive "watches" of the night; the early, the middle, and
the dawn. This may illustrate what occurs in the life of all who love God. They
will have regular seasons of devotion, but they will often anticipate those
seasons. They will be in a state of mind which prompts them to pray; when
nothing will meet their state of mind but prayer; and when they cannot wait for
the regular and ordinary season of devotion; like a hungry man, who cannot wait
for the usual and regular hour of his meals. The meaning of the phrase,
"Mine eyes prevent," is that he awoke before the usual time for
devotion. --Albert Barnes.
Verse
148. -- Mine eyes prevent the night watches, etc. His former
purpose is yet continued, declaring his indefatigable perseverance in prayer.
Oh, that we could learn of him to use our time well! At evening he lay down
with prayers and tears; at midnight he rose to give thanks; he got up before
the morning light to call upon the Lord. This is to imitate the life of angels,
who ever are delighted to behold the face of God, singing alway a new song without
wearying. This is to begin our heaven upon earth: Oh, that we could alway
remember it! --William Cowper.
Verse
148. -- Night watches. The Jews, like the Greeks and Romans,
divided the night into military watches instead of hours, each watch representing
the period for which sentinels or pickets remained on duty. The proper Jewish
reckoning recognized only three such watches, entitled the first, "or
beginning of the watches" (Lamentations
2:19), "the middle watch" (Judges
7:19), and "the morning watch" (Exodus
14:24; 1 Samuel 11:11). These would last respectively
from sunset to 10 p.m.; from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.; and from 2 a.m. to sunrise. It
has been contended by Lightfoot that the Jews really reckoned four watches,
three only of which were in the dead of the night, the fourth being in the
morning. This, however, is rendered improbable by the use of the term
"middle," and is opposed to Rabbinical authority. Subsequently to
establishment of Roman supremacy, the number of watches was increased four which
was described either according to their numerical order, as the case of the
"fourth watch" (Matthew
14:25), or by the terms" midnight, cock crowing, and
morning" (Mark 13:35). These, terminated at 9 p.m.,
midnight, 3 a.m., and 6 a.m. Conformably to this, the guard of soldiers was
divided into four relays (Acts
12:4), showing that the Roman regime was followed in Herod's army.
Watchmen appear have patrolled the streets of the Jewish towns (Song
of Solomon 3:3 5:7; Psalms
127:1) where for "maketh" we should substitute
"watcheth"; Psalms 130:6. --William Latham Beyan, in Smith's
Dictionary of the Bible, 1863.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
148. -- The Inexhaustibleness of the Bible. A sermon by Henry
Melvill, at "The Golden Lecture." 1850.
Verse
148. -- Meditation. Appropriate time, and fruitful subject.
Verse
148. -- Meditation in the word well worth self denial and care on the
part of the Christian.
EXPOSITION
Verse
149.
-- Hear my voice according unto thy lovingkindness. Men find it very helpful to
use their voices in prayer; it is difficult long to maintain the intensity of
devotion unless we hear ourselves speak; hence David at length broke through
his silence, arose from his quiet meditations, and began crying with voice as
well as heart unto the Lord his God. Note, that he does not plead his own
descryings, nor for a moment appeal for payment of a debt on account of merit;
he takes the free-grace way, and puts it, "according unto thy lovingkindness."
When God hears player according to his lovingkindness he overlooks all the
imperfections of the prayer, he forgets the sinfulness of the offerer, and in
pitying love he grants the desire though the suppliant be unworthy. It is
according to God's lovingkindness to answer speedily, to answer frequently, to
answer abundantly, yea, exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or even
think. Lovingkindness is one of the sweetest words in our language. Kindness
has much in it that is most precious, but loving kindness is doubly dear; it is
the cream of kindness.
O
Lord, quicken me according to thy judgment. This is another of David's wise and
ardent prayers. He first cried, "Save me;" then, "Hear me;"
and now, "Quicken me." This is often the very best way of delivering
us from trouble, -- to give us more life that we may escape from death; and to
add more strength to that life that we may not be overloaded with its burdens.
Observe, that he asks to receive quickening according to God's judgment, that
is, in such a way as should be consistent with infinite wisdom and prudence.
God's methods of communicating greater vigour to our spiritual life are
exceedingly wise; it would probably be in vain for us to attempt to understand
them; and it will be our wisdom to wish to receive grace, not according to our
notion of how it should come to us, but according to God's heavenly method of
bestowing it. It is his prerogative to make alive as well as to kill, and that
sovereign act is best left to his infallible judgment. Hath he not already
given us to have life more and more abundantly? "Wherein he hath abounded
toward us in all wisdom and prudence."
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
149.
-- Prayer -- hearing the result of love; prayer -- answering ruled by wisdom.
Verse
149.
-- Quickening.
Verse
149.
-- The two accordings.
(b)
Nor does he hope in vain; God's loving kindness
overlooks the imperfections, and supplies the omissions.
(c) What a blessed thing it is, that while the Holy Spirit
helps our infirmities, the groanings that cannot be
uttered are read in their true meaning by divine
lovingkindness!
(b)
He expects to be answered wisely.
(c)
He expects to be answered fully, as all his needs
require.
(d)
He expects that every answer should quicken spiritual
life, making him holy.
--J.F.
EXPOSITION
Verse
150. They draw nigh that follow after mischief. He could hear their
footfalls close behind him. They are not following him for his benefit, but for
his hurt, and therefore the sound of their approach is to be dreaded. They are
not prosecuting a good object, but persecuting a good man. As if they had not
enough mischief in their own hearts, they are hunting after more. He sees them
going a steeple chase over hedge and ditch in order to bring mischief to
himself, and he points them out to God, and entreats the Lord to fix his eyes
upon them, and deal with them to their confusion. They were already upon him,
and he was almost in their grip, and therefore he cries the more earnestly.
They
are far from thy law. A mischievous life cannot be an obedient one. Before
these men could become persecutors of David they were obliged to get away from
the restraints of God's law. They could not hate a saint and yet love the law.
Those who keep God's law neither do harm to themselves nor to others. Sin is
the greatest mischief in the world. David mentions this to the Lord in prayer,
feeling some kind of comfort in the fact that those who hated him hated God
also, and found it needful to get away from God before they could be free to
act their cruel part towards himself. When we know that our enemies are God's
enemies, and ours because they are his, we may well take comfort to ourselves.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
150. -- They are far from thy law. Truly it should greatly all
the godly, to remember that such as are their enemies are God's also. Since
they are far from the obedience of God's law, what marvel be also far from the
duty of love which they owe us? It may content want that comfort in men which
otherwise we might and would have, we consider that God wants his glory in
them. Let this sustain us see that godless men are enemies unto us. --William
Cowper.
Verse
150. -- If we can get a carnal pillow and bolster under our we
sleep and dream many a golden dream of ease and safety. Now, God, who is
jealous of our trust, will not let us alone, and therefore will put us upon
sharp trials. It is not faith, but sense, we live upon before; faith, if we can
depend upon God when "they draw near that follow mischief:" "I
will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against
me round about": Psalms 3:6. A danger at distance is but
imagined, it worketh otherwise when it is at hand. Christ himself had other
thoughts of approaching danger than danger at a distance: "Now is my soul
troubled": John 12:27. This vessel of pure water was
troubled though he discovered no dross. --Thomas Manton.
Verse
150,151. -- Our spiritual enemies, like David's earthly
persecuters are ever present and active. The devouring "lion," or the
insinuating "serpent" is "nigh to follow after mischief";
and so much the more dangerous, as his approaches are invisible. Nigh also is a
tempting, ensnaring world; and nearer still, a lurking world of sin within,
separating us from communion with our God. But in turning habitually and
immediately to our stronghold, we can enjoy the confidence-- "Thou art
near, O Lord." Though "the High and Lofty One, whose name is
Holy" -- though the just and terrible God, yet art thou made nigh to thy
people, and they to thee, "by the blood of the cross." And thou dost
manifest thy presence to them in "the Son of thy love." --Charles
Bridges.
Verse
150,151. -- They are "nigh" to persecute and destroy me;
thou art nigh, O Lord, to help me. --J.J. Stewart Perowne.
Verse
150,151. -- They draw nigh. ... "Thou art near." From
the meditation of his enemies' malice he returns again to the meditation of
God's mercy; and so it is expedient for us to do, lest the number and greatness
and maliciousness of our enemies make us to faint when we look unto them. It is
good that we should cast our eyes upward to the Lord; then shall we see that
they are not so near to hurt us as the Lord our God is near to help us; and
that there is no evil in them which we have cause to fear, but we shall find in
our God a contrary good sufficient to preserve us. Otherwise we could not
endure, if when Satan and his instruments come near to pursue us, the Lord were
not near to protect us. -- William Cowper.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
150,151. -- Against mischief makers.
Verse
150,151. -- Foes near: the Friend nearer.
Verse
150,151. -- Two beleaguering hosts.
(a) Demons,
godless men, spiritual foes of world and heart.
(b) Mischief in their van.
(c) Law and
truth left far behind.
(d) Seeking to
narrow their lines.
(e) Thus are
all saints beset.
(b) Camped in
the heart's pavilion: "near."
(c) Forming
impregnable lines within those of the foe.
--W.B.H.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
150. -- Consider --
(b) Others, who
do not delight in it, yet cannot help the
mischievous effect of their example.
(c) The very
morality of many unbelievers enables them to
carry the pernicious influence of their unbelief Where
the immorally wicked cannot come.
(d) Even
regular attendants at public worship may by their
indecision encourage others in delay.
(b) They are
so, in that they are a cause of evil to
others; for we are commanded to love and do good.
(c) To be far
from God's law is to be nigh unto God's
righteous wrath.
(d) For the
sake of others, as well as their own, men
should believe in Christ, and through faith become
sanctified.
--J.F.
EXPOSITION
Verse
151. Thou art near, O Lord. Near as the enemy might be, God was
nearer: this is one of the choicest comforts of the persecuted child of God.
The Lord is near to hear our cries, and to speedily afford us succour. He is
near to chase away our enemies, and to give us rest and peace.
And
all thy commandments are truth. God neither commands a lie, nor lies in his
commands. Virtue is truth in action, and this is what God commands. Sin is
falsehood in action, and this is what God forbids. If all God's commands are
truth, then the true man will be glad to keep near to them, and therein he will
find the true God near him. This sentence will be the persecuted man's
protection from tile false hearts that seek to do him mischief: God is near and
God is true, therefore his people are safe. If at any time we fall into danger
through keeping the commands of God we need not suppose that we have acted
unwisely: we may, on the contrary, be quite sure that we are in the right way;
for God's precepts are right and true. It is for this very reason that wicked
men assail us: they hate the truth, and therefore hate those who do the truth.
Their opposition may be our consolation; while God's presence upon our side is
our glory and delight.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
151. -- Thou art near, O Lord. -- How sweetly and how often
has this thought been brought home to some forsaken and forgotten one!
"When my father and my mother forsake me, the Lord will take me up,"
was the comfort of one in that deep affliction. And in the first out breaking
of the heart, how sweetly has the conviction come, like some whisper of peace,
"I am with thee!" And I have no doubt that many and many a time in
those hours of solitary prayer, when before the dawning of the morning, and
before the night watches, or the Psalmist arose at midnight to commune with
God, when no voice broke on the stillness, and every sound was hushed save the
beating of his own heart, then had David heard the whisper of God's Holy
Spirit, "I am near," "Fear not, I am with thee." --Barton
Bouchier.
Verse
151. -- Thou art near, O Lord. This was once man's greatest
blessing, and source of sweetest consolation. It was the fairest flower which
grew in Paradise; but sin withered it, the flower faded, it drooped, it died. Genesis
3:8 4:16. It must be so once more; the flower must once again bloom,
again it must revive; even upon earth must it blossom, or in heaven it will
never put forth its fragrance.
Thou
art near. Even in thy works of "creation", in the sun in his glory,
in the moon in her softness, gleaming in the firmament, I see thee. In the balm
of this fragrant air, in the light of this cheerful day, in the redolence of
these shrubs around me, whose flowery tops, as they drink in the soft and
gentle shower as it falls, seem to breathe forth a fresh perfume in gratitude
to him who sends it. In the melody of these birds which fill the air with their
Songs, thou, O Lord, art near. I perceive thee not with my bodily eyes,
although by these I discern thy workmanship, and with the eye of the mind
behold thee in thy works, a present God.
Thou
art near. Even in the book of thy providence, dark and mysterious though it be,
I see thee. There do I read thy wisdom, as developed in thy world, thy church,
thy saints, thy servant before thee; the wisdom that guides, the wisdom that
guards, the wisdom that bestows, the wisdom that encourages, the wisdom that
corrects, that kills and makes alive. There do I read thy power, thy justice,
thy faithfulness, thy holiness, thy love.
But
it is in thy Son, thy beloved Son, that I most clearly and distinctly see thee
as near. If in creation, if in providence, thou art near, in him thou art very
near. O Lord. Near as a sin forgiving God. Romans
8:1. Near as a promise-keeping God. 2
Corinthians 1:20. Near as a prayer hearing God. John
16:20; Psalms 145:18. Near as a covenant keeping God. Hebrews
8:10. Near as a gracious, tender Father. John
20:17.
Thou
art near, O Lord. O that I might live in the constant sense of thy nearness to
me! How often, far too often, alas, do I seem quite to forget it!
Art
thou near? Then may I realizingly remember, that by the blood of thy dear Son,
and by that alone, have I been brought nigh (Ephesians
4:13); that it required nothing less than the stoop of Deity, and
the sufferings and death of Iris perfect humanity, to remove those hindrances
which interposed between a holy God and an unholy creature. Oh, to walk before
thee with a grateful spirit, and with a broken, contrite heart!
Art
thou near? Then may I walk as before thee, as seeing thee, in holy fear, in
filial love, in simple faith, in child like confidence. Genesis
17:1. When sin would tempt and solicit indulgence, when the world
presents some new allurement, when Satan would take advantage of constitution,
society, circumstances, oh, that I may ever remember "Thou art near."
If
my dearest comforts droop and die, if friends are cool, if the bonds once the
firmest, the closest, the tenderest, are torn asunder and dissevered, yet may I
still remember, "Thou art near, O Lord," and not afar off. And when
the solemn moment shall come, when heart and flesh shall fail, when all earthly
things are seen with a dying eye, when I hear thee say, "Thou must die,
and not live," then, oh then may I remember, with all the composedness of
faith, and all the liveliness of hope, and all the ardour of love, "Thou
art near, O Lord." --James Harington Evans, 1785-1849.
Verse
151. -- All thy commandments are truth. His meaning is, --
Albeit, O Lord, the evil will of wicked men follows me because I follow thee;
yet I know thy commandments are true, and that it is not possible that thou
canst desert or fail thy servants who stand to the maintenance of thy word.
Then, ye see, David's comfort in trouble was not in any presumptuous conceit of
his own wisdom or strength, but in the truth of God's promises, which he was
persuaded could not fail him. And here also he makes a secret opposition
between the word of the Lord and the word of his enemies. Sometimes men
command, but without reason; sometimes they threaten, but without effect.
Herod's commanding, Rabshakeh's railing, Jezebel's proud boasting against
Elijah, may prove this. But as to the Lord our God he is alway better than his
word, and his servants shall find more in his performance hereafter than now
they can perceive in his promise: like as his enemies should find more weight
in his judgments than now they can apprehend in his threatenings. --William
Cowper.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
151. (last clause). -- The commandments of the Lord are true in
principle; they lead to true living, if carried out; they truly reward the
obedient; they never lead to falsehood, nor cause to be deluded.
EXPOSITION
Verse
152. Concerning thy testimonies, I have known of old that thou hast
founded them for ever. David found of old that God had founded them of old, and
that they Would stand firm throughout all ages. It is a very blessed thing to
be so early taught of God that we know substantial doctrines even from our
youth. Those who think that David was a young man when he wrote this psalm will
find it rather difficult to reconcile this verse with the theory; it is much
more probable that he was now grown grey, and was looking back upon what he had
known long before. He knew at the very first that the doctrines of God's word
were settled before the world began, that they had never altered, and never
could by any possibility be altered. He had begun by building on a rock, by
seeing that God's testimonies were "founded", that is, grounded, laid
as foundations, settled and established; and that with a view to all the ages
that should come, during all the changes that should intervene. It was because
David knew this that he had such confidence in prayer, and was so importunate
in it. It is sweet to plead immutable promises with an immutable God. It was
because of this theft David learned to hope: a man cannot have much expectation
from a changing friend, but he may well have confidence in a God who cannot
change. It was because of this that he delighted in being near the Lord, for it
is a most blessed thing to keep up close intercourse with a Friend who never
varies. Let those who choose follow at the heels of the modern school and look
for fresh light to break forth which will put the old light out of countenance;
we are satisfied with the truth which is old as the hills and as fixed as the
great mountains. Let "cultured intellects" invent another god, more
gentle and effeminate than the God of Abraham; we are well content to worship
Jehovah, who is eternally the same. Things everlastingly established are the
joy of established saints. Bubbles please boys, but men prize those things
which are solid and substantial, with a foundation and a bottom to them which
will bear the test of the ages.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
152. -- This portion of our psalm endeth with the triumph of faith
over all dangers and temptations. "Concerning thy testimonies,"
the revelations of thy will, thy counsels for the salvation of thy servants,
"I have known of old," by faith, and by my own experience, as well as
that of others, "that thou hast founded them for ever"; they are
unalterable and everlasting as the attributes of their great Author, and can
never fail those who rely upon them, in time or in eternity. --George Horne.
Verse
152. -- I have known of old. It was not a late persuasion, or
a thing that he was now to learn; he always knew it since he knew anything of
God, that God had owned his word as the constant rule of his proceedings with creatures,
in that God had so often made good his word to him, not only by present and
late, but by old and ancient experiences. Well, then, David's persuasion of the
truth and unchangeableness of the word was not a sudden humour, or a present
fit, or a persuasion of a few days' standing; but he was confirmed in it by
long experience. One or two experiences had been no trial of the truth of the
word, they might seem but a good hit; but his word ever proveth true, not once
or twice, but always; what we say "of old," the Septuagint reads kat
adxas, "from the beginnings"; that is, either --
Verse
152. -- Let us mark this eternal basis of "the testimonies of
God." The whole plan of redemption was emphatically "founded for
ever": the Saviour was "foreordained before the foundation of the
world." The people of God were "chosen in Christ before the world
began." The great Author "declares the end from the beginning,"
and thus clears his dispensations from any charge of mutability or contingency.
Every event in the church is fixed, permitted, and provided for -- not in the
passing moment of time; but in the counsels of eternity. When, therefore, the
testimonies set forth God's faithful engagements with his people of old, the
recollection that they are "founded for ever" gives us a present and
unchangeable interest in them. And when we see that they are grounded upon the
oath and promise of God -- the two "immutable things, in which it is
impossible for God to lie" -- we may truly "have strong
consolation" in venturing every hope for eternity upon this rock; nor need
we be dismayed to see all our earthly dependencies -- "the world, and the
lust, and the fashion of it -- passing away" before us. - -Charles
Bridges.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
152. -- Knowledge of the word.
EXPOSITION
In
this section the Psalmist seems to draw still nearer to God in prayer, and to
state his case and to invoke the divine help with more of boldness and
expectation. It is a pleading passage, and the key word of it is,
"Consider." With much boldness he pleads his intimate union with the
Lord's cause as a reason why he should be aided. The special aid that he seeks
is personal quickening, for which he cries to the Lord again and again.
Verse
153. -- Consider mine affliction, and deliver me. The writer has a
good case, though it be a grievous one, and he is ready, yea anxious, to submit
it to the divine arbitration. His matters are right, and he is ready to lay
them before the supreme court. His manner is that of one who feels safe at the
throne. Yet there is no impatience: he does not ask for hasty action, but for
consideration. In effect he cries -- "Look into my grief, and see whether
I do not need to be delivered. From my sorrowful condition judge as to the
proper method and time for my rescue." The Psalmist desires two things,
and these two things blended: first, a full consideration of his sorrow;
secondly, deliverance; and, then, that this deliverance should come with a
consideration of his affliction. It should be the desire of every gracious man
who is in adversity that the Lord should look upon his need, and relieve it in
such a way as shall be most for the divine glory, and for his own benefit. The
words, "mine affliction," are picturesque; they seem to portion off a
special spot of woe as the writer's own inheritance: he possesses it as no one
else had ever done, and he begs the Lord to have that special spot under his
eye: even as a husbandman looking over all his fields may yet take double care
of a certain selected plot. His prayer is eminently practical, for he seeks to
be delivered; that is, brought out of the trouble and preserved from sustaining
any serious damage by it. For God to consider is to act in due season: men
consider and do nothing; but such is never the case with our God.
For
I do not forget thy law. His affliction was not sufficient, with all its
bitterness, to drive out of his mind the memory of God's law; nor could it lead
him to act contrary to the divine command. He forgot prosperity, but he did not
forget obedience. This is a good plea when it can be honestly urged. If we are
kept faithful to God's law we may be sure that God will remain faithful to his
promise. If we do not forget his law the Lord will not forget us. He will not
long leave that man in trouble whose only fear in trouble is lest he should
leave the way of right.
Verse
153. -- Consider mine affliction, and deliver me. God looks upon or
considers man in various ways, and for different ends. To give him light; for
"as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth" (John
9:1). To convert him; "He saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at
the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me" (Matthew
9:9). To restore him; "And the Lord turned, and looked upon
Peter" (Luke 22:61). To deliver him; "I have surely
seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt" (Exodus
3:7). To advance him; "He hath regarded the low estate of his
handmaiden" (Luke 1:48): and to reward him; "The Lord
had respect unto Abel and to his offering" (Genesis
4:4). --Hugh de St. Victor (1098-1141), in Neale and Littledale.
Verse
153. -- Consider mine affliction, and deliver me. We must pray that
God will help and deliver us, not after the device of our own brains, but after
such wise as seemeth best unto his tender wisdom, or else that he will mitigate
our pain, that our weakness may not utterly faint. Like as a sick person,
although he doubt nothing of the faithfulness and tenderness of his physician,
yet, for all that, desireth him to handle his wound as tenderly as possible,
even so may we call upon God, that, if it be not against his honour and glory,
he will vouchsafe to give some mitigation of the pain. --Otto Wermuellerus.
Verse
153. -- Consider mine affliction. These prayers of David are penned
with such heavenly wisdom that they are convenient for the state of the whole
church, and every member thereof. The church is the bush that burneth with
fire, but cannot be consumed; every member thereof beareth a part of the cross
of Christ; they are never without some affliction, for which they have need to
pray with David, "Behold mine affliction."
We
know that in afflictions it is some comfort to us to have our crosses known to
those of whom we are assured that they love us: it mitigates our dolour when
they mourn with us, albeit they be not able to help us. But the Christian hath
a more solid comfort; to wit, that in all his troubles the Lord beholds him;
like a king, rejoicing to see his own servant wrestle with the enemy. He looks
on with a merciful eye, pitying the infirmity of his own, when he sees it; and
with a powerful hand ready to help them. But because many a time the cloud of
our corruption cometh between the Lord and us, and lets us not see his helping
hand, nor his loving face looking upon us, we have need to pray at such times
with David, "Behold mine affliction." --William Cowper.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verses
153-160. -- Divine consideration besought. "Consider my affliction" (Psalms 119:153); my cause (Psalms 119:154); "for thy mercies' sake" (Psalms 119:156). Consider my persecutors (Ps 119:157-158),
and my love to thy precepts (Psalms 119:160) and act accordingly.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
153-159. -- The two considers. The subjects, the prayers, the arguments.
Verse
153,154. -- Here --
(b)
He has an eye to God's power, and prays, "Deliver me," and again,
"Deliver me." Consider my troubles and bring me out of them. God has
promised deliverance (Psalms 1:15), and we may pray for it with
submission to his will, and with regard to his glory, that we may serve him the
better.
(c) He has an
eye to God's righteousness, and prays, "Plead
my cause": be thou my patron and advocate, and take me
for thy client. David had a just cause, but his adversaries
were many and mighty, and he was in danger of being
run down by them: he therefore begs of God to clear his
integrity, and silence their false accusations. If God do
not plead his people's cause, who will? He is righteous,
and they commit themselves to him, and therefore he will do
it, and do it effectually: Isaiah
51:22; Jeremiah 1:34.
(d) He has an eye to God's grace, and prays, "Quicken me."
Lord, I am weak, and unable to bear my troubles; my spirit
is apt to droop and sink: Oh, that thou wouldst revive and
comfort me, till the deliverance is wrought!
Verse
153. -- The sick man's prayer.
--C.A.D.
Verse
153. --
EXPOSITION
Verse
154. Plead my cause, and deliver me. In the last verse he had prayed,
"Deliver me," and here he specifies one method in which that
deliverance might be vouchsafed, namely, by the advocacy of his cause. In
providence the Lord has many ways of clearing the slandered of the accusations
brought against them. He can make it manifest to all that they have been
belied, and in this way he can practically plead their cause. He can, moreover,
raise up friends for the godly who will leave no stone unturned till their
characters are cleared; or he can smite their enemies with such fearfulness of
heart that they will be forced to confess their falsehood, and thus the
righteous will be delivered without tile striking of a blow. Alexander reads
it, "Strive my strife, and redeem me" -- that is, stand in my stead,
bear my burden, fight my fight, pay my price, and bring me out to liberty. When
we feel ourselves dumb before the foe, here is a prayer made to our hand. What
a comfort that if we sin we have an advocate, and if we do not sin the same
pleader is engaged on our side.
Quicken
me. We had this prayer in the last section, and we shall have it again and
again in this. It is a desire which cannot be too often felt and expressed. As
the soul is the centre of everything, so to be quickened is the central
blessing. It means more love, more grace, more faith more courage, more
strength, and if we get these we can hold up our heads before our adversaries.
God alone can give this quickening; but to the Lord and giver of life the work
is easy enough, and he delights to perform it.
According
to thy word. David had found such a blessing among the promised things, or at
least he perceived that it was according to the general tenor of God's word
that tried believers should be quickened and brought up again from the dust of
the earth; therefore he pleads the word, and desires the Lord to act to him
according to the usual run of that word. What a mighty plea is this --
"according to thy word." No gun in all our arsenals can match it.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
154. -- Plead my cause, and deliver me, etc. Albeit the godly
under persecution have a good cause, yet they cannot plead it except God the
Redeemer show himself as Advocate for them; therefore prayeth the Psalmist,
"Plead my cause."
When
God the Redeemer pleadeth a man's cause, he doth it to purpose and effectually:
"Plead my cause, and deliver me."
Except
the Lord's clients shall find new influence from God from time to time in their
troubles, they are but as dead men in their exercise; for, "Quicken
me" imports this.
Till
we find lively encouragement given to us in trouble we must adhere to the word
of promise: "Quicken me according to thy word."
What
the believer hath need of, that God hath not only a will to supply, but also an
office to attend it, and power to effectuate it, as here he hath the office of
an Advocate and of a powerful Redeemer also, wherein the believer may
confidently give him daily employment, as he needeth: "Plead my cause, and
deliver me: quicken me according to thy word." --David Dickson.
Verse
154. -- Plead my cause, and deliver me, etc. He now supposes
himself to be arraigned before the tribunal of men, as he certainly was in
their general charges against him; arraigned, too, in his helplessness, without
a name, without state; in such way as one disowned would be arraigned. He prays
the Lord to come in and plead his cause; so should he be redeemed; for this is
the import of the original. As it were, he regards himself as one sold to
corrupt judges, or at all events, as one that has lost his standing in society
in the estimation of men. But if the Lord will come, and maintain the cause of
his servant, his servant shall be redeemed indeed. There is good confidence in
this prayer; the man of God is acquainted with the way of the Lord, and he
makes his believing application. O how much do we need to know the Lord's
righteous character in our seasons of great distress! Now the Lord pleads the
cause of his own by the power of the truth; he pleads it also in his
providences of divers kinds; he acts upon the hearts, and the hopes, and the
fears of men; and in many wondrous ways he pleads his people's cause. He
redeems his saints from all evil; and if not together from all evil in this
world, certainly from all evil as concerns the world to come. --John Stephen.
Verse
154. -- Plead my cause, and deliver me, etc. In this verse are
three requests, and all backed with one and the same argument. In the first, he
intimates the right of his and that he was unjustly vexed by wicked cause, men;
therefore, as burdened with their calumnies, he desireth God to undertake his
defence: "Plead my cause." In the second, he represents the misery
and helplessness of his condition; therefore, as oppressed by violence, he
saith, "Deliver me;" or, as the words will bear, "Redeem
me". In the third, his own weakness, and readiness to faint under this
burden; therefore he saith, "Quicken me."
Or,
in short, with respect to the injustice of his adversaries, "Plead my
cause;" with respect to the misery of his own condition, "Deliver
me;" with respect to the weakness and imbecility of his own heart,
"Quicken me."
The
reason and ground of asking, "According to thy word." This last
clause must be applied to all the branches of the prayer: "Plead my
cause," "according to thy word;" "deliver me,"
"according to thy word;" "quicken me," "according to
thy word:" for God in his word engages for all: to be advocate, Redeemer,
and fountain of life. The word that David buildeth upon was found either in the
general promises made to them that kept the law, or in some particular promise
made to himself by the prophets of that time. -- Thomas Manton.
Verse
154. -- Plead my cause, and deliver me. A wicked woman once
brought against Dr. Payson an accusation, under circumstances which seemed to
render it impossible that he should escape. She was in the same packet, in
which, many months before, he had gone to Boston. For a time, it seemed almost
certain that his character would be ruined. He was cut off from all resource
except the throne of grace. He felt that his only hope was in God; and to him
he addressed his fervent prayer. He was heard by the Defender of the innocent.
A "compunctious visiting" induced the wretched woman to confess that
the whole was a malicious slander. --From Asa Cummings' Memoir of Edward
Payson.
Verse
154. -- Plead my cause. I do not know that David meant, by
calling upon God to plead his cause, anything more than that he should
vindicate his innocence, and make it manifest to all, by delivering him out of
the hand of all his enemies; but whether he had an ulterior reference or no,
the word powerfully and sweetly recalls to every Christian heart him who was
indeed to be the Advocate for poor sinners, even Jesus Christ the righteous,
who is the propitiation for our sins. --Barton Bouchier.
Verse
154. -- Plead my cause. The children of this world are wiser
in their generation than the children of God. Which made David here pray to God
that he would plead his cause, and be his Advocate against all their lies. He
trusted not to the equity of his own cause, but to the Lord. From whence we
gather, that the cause why our oppressors prevail oft against us is, because we
trust too much in our own wits, and lean too much upon our own inventions;
opposing subtilty to subtilty, one evil device to another, matching and
maintaining policy by policy, and not committing our cause to God. --Abraham
Wright.
Verse
154. -- Deliver. Not as in Psalms 119:153, but a word meaning to redeem, or to save by
avenging. The corresponding participle is rendered redeemer, avenger, revenger,
kinsman, near kinsman, next kinsman. --William S. Plumer.
Verse
154. -- Quicken me. Here, again, we are called to consider the
bearing of the pious mind. Ever and anon, the great desire of the man of God is
to advance in the divine life. He makes spiritual gain of everything. He seeks
his goodly pearls out of strange conditions; the reason is, his heart is in
these things. Deliverance from temporal evil, deliverance from spiritual evil,
both were sought; but along with these, ever does the man of God take up the
prayer to be quickened. Certainly we may understand him as seeking life. Such
is the import of the phraseology; but in a man like David, the life he seeks
must be the highest. He desires spiritual life above all things; he wants to
get more into a blessed assimilation to God, that so he may enjoy the highest
good. So pants the heaven born soul...Give the believer this, and this will set
him above all the ills of life. And this and all good had been promised in the
word. So he prays, "Quicken me according to the word." He goes upon
the word for everything; he cannot be self deceived there. Judge of yourselves,
my brethren, by your spiritual aspirations. Nothing less will prove you to be of
the Lord's redeemed. --John Stephen.
Verse
154, 156, 159. -- Quicken me. Pray to be quickened, as the Psalmist
often does, and look unto Jesus, who is a quickening spirit: 1
Corinthians 15:45. "The first man Adam was made a living soul;
the last Adam was made a quickening spirit." As he has given you life, so
he is ready to give it more and more abundantly; this will make you to live to
him, and to be unweariedly active for him. --Nathanael Vincent, in "A
Present for such as have been Sick and Recovered," 1693.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Outlines
Upon Keywords of the Psalm, By Pastor C. A. Davis.
Verse
154,156,159. -- The threefold quickening. A capital subject, if the contexts
are carefully considered.
Verse
154. -- Intercession, deliverance, quickening, and all in
faithfulness to the word.
Verse
154. -- A prayer.
--G.R.
Verse
154. -- The Advocate.
--C.A.D.
EXPOSITION
Verse
155. Salvation is far from the wicked. By their perseverance in evil
they have almost put themselves out of the pale of hope. They talk about being
saved, but they cannot have known anything of it or they would not remain
wicked. Every step they have taken in the path of evil has removed them further
from the kingdom of grace: they go from one degree of hardness to another till
their hearts become as stone. When they fall into trouble it will be
irremediable. Yet they talk big, as if they either needed no salvation or could
save themselves whenever their fancy turned that way.
For
they seek not thy statutes. They do not endeavour to be obedient, but quite the
reverse; they seek themselves, they seek evil, and therefore they never find
the way of peace and righteousness. When men have broken the statutes of the
Lord their wisest course is by repentance to seek forgiveness, and by faith to
seek salvation: then salvation is near them, so near them that they shall not
miss it; but when the wicked continue to seek after mischief, salvation is set
further and further from them. Salvation and God's statutes go together: those
who are saved by the King of grace love the statutes of the King of glory.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
155. -- Salvation is far from the wicked. The Lord is almighty
to pardon; but he will not use it for thee an impenitent sinner. Thou hast not
a friend on the bench, not an attribute in all God's name will speak for thee.
Mercy itself will sit and vote with the rest of its fellow attributes for thy
damnation. God is able to save and help in a time of need, but upon what
acquaintance is it that thou art so bold with God, as to expect his saving arm
to be stretched forth for thee? Though a man rise at midnight to let in a child
that cries and knocks at his door, yet he will not take so much pains for a dog
that lies howling there. This presents thy condition, sinner, sad enough, yet
this is to tell thy story fairest; for that almighty power of God which is
engaged for the believer's salvation, is as deeply obliged to bring thee to thy
execution and damnation. What greater tie than an oath? God himself is under an
oath to be the destruction of every impenitent soul. That oath which God sware
in his wrath against the unbelieving Israelites, that they should not enter
into his rest, concerns every unbeliever to the end of the world. In the name
of God consider, were it but the oath of a man, or a company of men that, like
those in the Acts, should swear to be the death of such an one, and thou wert
the man, would it not fill thee with fear and trembling, night and day, and
take away the quiet of thy life, till they were made thy friends? What then are
their pillows stuffed with, who can sleep so soundly without any horror or
amazement, though they be told that the almighty God is under an oath of
damning them body and soul, without timely repentance? --William Gurnall.
Verse
155. -- Salvation! What music is there in that word. Music
that never tires, but is always new, that always rouses yet always rests us! It
holds in itself all that our hearts would say. It is sweet rigour to us in the
morning, and in the evening it is contented peace. It is a song that is always
singing itself deep down in the delighted soul. Angelic ears are ravished by it
up in heaven; and our Eternal Father himself listens to it with adorable
complacency. It is sweet even to him out of whose mind is the music of a
thousand worlds. To be saved! What is it to be saved in the fullest and utmost
meaning? Who can tell? Eye hath not seen, nor car heard. It is a rescue, and
from such a shipwreck! It is a rest, and in such an unimaginable home! It is to
lie down for ever in the bosom of God, in an endless rapture of insatiable
contentment. --Frederick William Faber, 1853.
Verse
155, 156. -- Salvation is far from the wicked. "Great are thy
tender mercies, O LORD." When the godly do think and speak of the damnable
condition of the wicked, they should not be senseless of their own ill deserving,
nor of God's grace which hath made the difference between the wicked and them.
--David Dickson.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
155. --
Verse
155. --
OR
--G.R.
Verse
155. -- How to avoid salvation.
Verse
155. -- A syllogism on salvation.
(a) Have a
common centre -- God, his arm and his lips.
(b) A mutual relation: we are saved in order to obedience.
In obeying we are being saved. Without obedience there is
no salvation.
(c) An
identical aim -- our good and God's glory.
(d) Obedience
and salvation are inseparable for ever.
(a) Commands
avoided.
(b) Submission
excluded.
--W.B.H.
EXPOSITION
Verse
156.
This verse is exceedingly like verse one hundred and forty nine, and yet it is
no vain repetition. There is such a difference in the main idea that the one
verse stands out distinct from the other. In the first case he mentions his
prayer, but leaves the method of its accomplishment with the wisdom or judgment
of God; while here he pleads no prayer of his own, but simply the mercies of
the Lord, and begs to be quickened by judgments rather than to be left to
spiritual lethargy. We may take it for granted that an inspired author is never
so short of thought as to be obliged to repeat himself: where we think we have
the same idea in this psalm we are misled by our neglect of careful study. Each
verse is a distinct pearl. Each blade of grass in this field has its own drop
of heavenly dew.
Great
are thy tender mercies, O LORD. Here the Psalmist pleads the largeness of God's
mercy, the immensity of his tender love; yea, he speaks of mercies -- mercies
many, mercies tender, mercies great; and with the glorious Jehovah he makes
this a plea for his one leading prayer, the prayer for quickening. Quickening
is a great and tender mercy; and it is many mercies in one. Shall one so really
good permit his servant to die? Will not one so tender breathe new life into
him? "Quicken me according to thy judgments." A measure of awakening
comes with the judgments of God; they are startling and arousing; and hence the
believer's quickening thereby. David would have every severe stroke sanctified
to his benefit, as well as every tender mercy. The first clause of this verse
may run, "Many," or, "manifold are thy compassions, O
Jehovah." This he remembers in connection with the "many
persecutors" of whom he will speak in the next verse. By all these many
mercies he pleads for enlivening grace, and thus he has many strings to his
bow. We shall never be short of arguments if We draw them from God himself, and
urge both his mercies and his judgments as reasons for our quickening.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
156. --
Great are thy tender mercies, O LORD. Two epithets he ascribes to God's
mercies; first, he calls them "great," and then he calls them
"tender" mercies. They are great in many respects: for continuance,
they endure for ever; for largeness, they reach unto the heavens, and are
higher than they; yea, they are above all the works of God. And this is for the
comfort of poor sinners, whose sins are many and great: let them not despair; his
mercies are greater and more; for since they are greater than all his works,
how much more greater than thou and all thy sinful works!...The other epithet
he gives them is, that they ale "tender" mercies; because the Lord is
easy to be entreated; for he is slow unto wrath, but ready to show mercy: S.
James saith that the wisdom which is from above is "gentle, peaceable,
easy to be entreated." If his grace in his children make them gentle and
easy to be entreated, what shall we think of himself? Since he will have such
pity in us poor creatures, that seventy times seven times in the day he will
have us to forgive the offences of our brethren; Oh, what pity and compassion
abound in himself! Thus we see our comfort is increased; that as his mercies
are great, so are they tender; easily obtained, where they are earnestly
craved. --William Cowper.
Verse
156. --
The Psalmist, when speaking of the wretched condition of "the
wicked," is naturally led to adore the mercies of the Lord which had
"made him to differ." For indeed to this source alone must we trace
the distinction between us and them. -- Charles Bridges.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
156.
--
Verse
156.
-- Just, and the Quickener.
Verse
156.
-- The saint,
(a)
Of God's tender mercies.
(b) He cries out at their greatness. They are numerous.
Greatly tender. Great and tender; (exquisite combination!).
(a)
The arrow like prayer: "Quicken me:" To be like, to be
true to, such a God.
(b)
The bow in the hand: "according to thy judgments." --W.B.H.
Verse
156.
--
EXPOSITION
Verse
157.
Many are my persecutors and mine enemies. Those who actually assail me, or who
secretly abhor me, are many. He sets this over against the many tender mercies
of God. It seems a strange thing that a truly godly man, as David was, should
have many enemies; but it is inevitable. The disciple cannot be loved where his
Master is hated. The seed of the serpent must oppose the seed of the woman: it
is their nature.
Yet
do I not decline from thy testimonies. He did not deviate from the truth of
God, but proceeded in the straight way, however many adversaries might
endeavour to block up his path. Some men have been led astray by one enemy, but
here is a saint who held on his way in the teeth of many persecutors. There is
enough in the testimonies of God to recompense us for pushing forward against
all the hosts that may combine against us. So long as they cannot drive or draw
us into a spiritual decline our foes have done us no great harm, and they have
accomplished nothing by their malice. If we do not decline they are defeated.
If they cannot make us sin they have missed their mark. Faithfulness to the
truth is victory over our enemies.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
157. --
Persecutors. A participle from the verb rendered pursue, chase.
"Enemies," as in verse 139, the authors of my distress. Until men are
hunted and hounded by many enemies, who for the time have power, and are withal
fierce and to some extent unscrupulous, they can have but a faint conception of
the anguish of the prophet when he experienced the evils noted in this verse.
Yet they did not move him from his constancy and integrity. --William S.
Plurner.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
157.
--
EXPOSITION
Verse
158. I beheld the transgressors. I saw the traitors; I understood
their character, their object, their way, and their end. I could not help
seeing them, for they pushed themselves into my way. As I was obliged to see
them I fixed my eyes on them, to learn what I could from them.
And
was grieved. I was sorry to see such sinners. I was sick of them, disgusted
with them, I could not endure them. I found no pleasure in them, they were a
sad sight to me, however fine their clothing or witty their chattering. Even
when they were most mirthful a sight of them made my heart heavy; I could not
tolerate either them or their doings.
Because
they kept not thy word. My grief was occasioned more by their sin against God
than by their enmity against myself. I could bear their evil treatment of my
words, but not their neglect of thy word. Thy word is so precious to me that
those who will not keep it move me to indignation; I cannot keep the company of
those who keep not God's word. That they should have no love for me is a
trifle; but to despise the teaching of the Lord is abominable.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
158. -- I beheld the transgressors, and was grieved. Celerinus
in Cyprian's Epistles, acquaints a friend with his great grief for the apostasy
of a woman through fear of persecution; which afflicted him so much, that at
the feast of Easter (the Queen of feasts in the primitive church) he wept night
and day, and resolved never to know a moment's delight, till through the mercy
of God she should be recovered. --Charles Bridges.
Verse
158. -- I beheld the transgressors, and was grieved. Oh, if
you have the hearts of Christians or of men in you, let them yearn towards your
poor ignorant, ungodly neighbours. Alas, there is but a step betwixt them and
death and hell: many hundred diseases are waiting ready to seize on them, and
if they die unregenerate they are lost for ever. Have you hearts of rock, that
cannot pity men in such a case as this? If you believe not the word of God, and
the danger of sinners, why are you Christians yourselves If you do believe it,
why do you not bestir yourself to the helping of others? Do you not care who is
damned, so you be saved? If so, you have sufficient cause to pity yourselves,
for it is a frame of spirit utterly inconsistent with grace: should you not
rather say, as the lepers of Samaria, is it not a day of glad tidings, and do
we sit still and hold our peace 2
Kings 7:9. Hath God had so much mercy on you, and will you have no
mercy on your poor neighbours? You need not go far to find objects for your
pity: look but into your streets, or into the next house to you, and you will probably
find some. Have you never an ignorant, an unregenerate neighbour that sets his
heart on things below, and neglects eternity? What blessed place do you live
in, where there is none such? If there be not some of them in thine own family,
it is well; and yet art thou silent? Dost thou live close by them, or meet them
in the streets, or labour with them, or travel with them, or sit and talk with
them, and say nothing to them of their souls, or the life to come? If their
houses were on fire, thou wouldst run and help them; and wilt thou not help
them when their souls are almost at the fire of hell? If thou knewest but a
remedy for their diseases thou wouldst tell it them, or else thou wouldst judge
thyself guilty of their death. --Richard Baxter (1615--1691), in "The
Saints' Everlasting Rest."
Verse
158. -- Grieved, because they kept not thy law. I never
thought the world had been so wicked, when the Gospel began, as now I see it
is; I rather hoped that every one would have leaped for joy to have found himself
freed from the filth of the Pope, from his lamentable molestations of poor
troubled consciences, and that through Christ they would by faith obtain the
celestial treasure they sought after before with such vast cost and labour,
though in vain. And especially I thought the bishops and universities would
with joy of heart have received the true doctrines; but I have been lamentably
deceived. Moses and Jeremiah, too, complained they had been deceived. --Martin
Luther.
Verse
158. -- Grieved. The word that is here translated
"grieved" is from "katat", that signifies to loathe, abhor,
and contend. I beheld the transgressors, and I loathed them; I beheld the
transgressors, and I abhorred them; I beheld the transgressors, and I contended
with them; but not so much because they were mine enemies, as because they were
thine. --Thomas Brooks.
Verse
158. -- The day when I first met Colonel Gardiner at Leicester,
I happened to preach a lecture from Psalms 114:158: "I beheld the transgressors, and was
grieved; because they kept not thy word." I was large in describing that
mixture of indignation and grief, strongly expressed by the original word
there, with which a good man looks on the varying transgressors of the divine
law; and in tracing the causes of that grief, as arising, from a regard to the
divine honour, and the interest of a Redeemer, and a compassionate concern for
the misery such offenders bring on themselves, and for the mischief they do to
the world about them. I little thought how exactly I was drawing Colonel
Gardiner's character under each of those heads; and I have often reflected upon
it as a happy providence, which opened a much speedier way than I could have
expected, to the breast of one of the most amiable and useful friends which I
ever expect to find upon earth. We afterwards sung a hymn, which brought over
again some of the leading thoughts in the sermon, and struck him so strongly,
that on obtaining a copy of it, he committed it to his memory, and used to
repeat it with so forcible an accent, as showed how much every line expressed
of his very soul. In this view the reader will pardon my inserting it;
especially as I know not when I may get time to publish a volume of these serious
though artless compositions, which I sent him in manuscript some years ago, and
to which I have since made very large additions: --
Arise, my
tenderest thoughts, arise,
To torrents melt my streaming eyes;
And thou, my heart, with anguish feel
Those evils which thou canst not heal.
See human nature sunk in shame;
See scandals pour'd on Jesus' name;
The Father wounded through the Son;
The world abused, and souls undone.
See the short
course of vain delight
Closing in everlasting night;
In flames that no abatement know,
Though briny tears for ever flow.
My God, I feel
the mournful scene;
My bowels yearn o'er dying men,
And fain my pity would reclaim,
And snatch the firebrands from the flame.
But feeble my
compassion proves,
And can but weep where most it loves;
Thy own all saving arm employ,
And turn these drops of grief to joy.
--Philip
Doddridge, in "The Life of Colonel Garainer."
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
158. -- A grievous sight.
Verse
158. -- Sorrow over sinners.
�h A reason we will not avoid endorsing.
Verse
158. -- A righteous man cannot but be grieved at the sins of the
wicked. He sees in them, --
--J.F.
EXPOSITION
Verse
159. Consider, or see, how I love thy precepts. A second time he asks
for consideration. As he said before, "Consider mine affliction," so
now he says, "Consider mine affection." He loved the precepts of God
-- loved them unspeakably loved them so as to be grieved with those who did not
love them. This is a sure test: many there are who have a warm side towards the
promises, but as for the precepts, they cannot endure them. The Psalmist so
loved everything that was good and excellent that he loved all God had
commanded. The precepts are all of them wise and holy, therefore the man of God
loved them extremely, loved to know them, to think of them, to reclaim them,
and principally to practise them. He asked the Lord to remember and consider
this, not upon the ground of merit, but that it should serve as an answer to
the slanderous accusations which at this lime were the great, sting of his
sorrow.
Quicken
me, O LORD, according to thy lovingkindness. Here he comes back to his former
prayer, "Quicken me" (ver. 154), "quicken me" (ver. 156).
"Quicken me." He prays again the third time, using the same words. We
may understand that David felt like one who was half stunned with the assaults
of his foes, ready to faint under their incessant malice. What he wanted was
revival, restoration, renewal; therefore he pleaded for more life. O thou who
didst quicken me when I was dead, quicken me again that I may not return to the
dead! Quicken me that I may outlive the blows of my enemies, the faintness of
my faith, and the swooning of my sorrow. This time he does not say,
"Quicken me according to thy judgments," but, "Quicken me, O
Lord, according to thy lovingkindness." This is the great gun which he
brings up last to the conflict: it is his ultimate argument, if this succeed
not he must fail. He has long been knocking at mercy's gate, and with this plea
he strikes his heaviest blow. When he had fallen into great sin this was his
plea, "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness,"
and now that he is in great trouble he flies to the same effectual reasoning.
Because God is love he will give us life; because he is kind he will again
kindle the heavenly flame within us.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
159. -- Consider how I love thy precepts. Search me. Behold
the evidence of my attachment to thy law. This is the confident appeal of one
who was conscious that he was truly attached to God; that he really loved his
law. It is similar to the appeal of Peter to the Saviour (John
21:17), "Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I
love thee." A man who truly loves God may make this appeal without
impropriety. He may he so confident, so certain, that he has true love for the
character of God, that he may make a solemn appeal to him on the subject, as he
might appeal to a friend, to his wife, to his son, to his daughter, with the
utmost confidence that he loved them. A man ought to have such love for them,
that he could affirm this without hesitation or doubt; a man ought to have such
love for God, that he could, affirm this with equal confidence and propriety.
-- Albert Barnes.
Verse
159. -- Consider how I love thy precepts. He saith not,
consider how I perform thy precepts; but how I love them. The comfort of a
Christian militant, in this body of sin, is rather in the sincerity and
fervency of his affections than in the absolute perfection of his actions. He
fails many times in his obedience to God's precepts, in regard of his action;
but love in his affection still remains; so that both before the temptation to
sin, and after it, there is a grief in his soul, that he should find in himself
any corrupt will or desire, contrary to the holy will of the Lord his God; and
this proves an invincible love in him to the precepts of God. --William Cowper.
Verse
159. -- Consider, etc. Translate (the Hebrew being the same as
in verse 158) "Behold how I love thy precepts," as is evinced in that
when "I beheld the transgressors I was grieved." He begs to God to
behold this, not as meritorious of grace, but as a distinctive mark of a godly
man. --A. R. Fausset.
Verse
159. -- I love thy precepts: quicken me. The love wherewith he
loved God came from that love wherewith God first loved him. For by seeing the
great love wherewith God loved him, he was moved and refereed to love God
again. So that his meaning is thus much: Thou seest, Lord, that I am an enemy
to sin in myself, for I forget not thy law; thou seest that I am an enemy to
sin in others, for I am grieved to see them transgress thy law; wherefore, O
Lord, "quicken me," and let thy loving mercy whereby thou hast
created me and redeemed me in Christ, whereby thou hast delivered me from so
many troubles, and enriched me with so many and continual benefits, renew,
revive, quicken, and restore me. --Richard Greenham.
Verse
159. -- Quicken me. Often as the Psalmist had repeated his
prayer for quickening grace,* it was not a "vain repetition," or an
empty sound. Each time was it enlivened with abundant faith, intense feeling of
his necessity, and the vehemency of most ardent affection. If the consciousness
of the faintness of our strength and the coldness of our affections should lead
us to offer this petition a hundred times a day in this spirit, it would never
fail of acceptance. --Charles Bridges.
*
Nine times is the petition urged, verses 25, 37, 40, 88, 107, 149 154, 156, and
159.
Verse
159. -- According to thy lovingkindness. We need not desire to
be quickened any further than God's lovingkindness will quicken us. --Matthew
Henry.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
159. --
Verse
159. --
--G.R.
Verse
159. -- My love and thy lovingkindness. The saint's love.
Verse
159. -- Quicken, me for love's sake.
--C.A.D.
Verse
159. -- Consider, --
(a) A prayer
frequently occurring in the psalm, and always
urged with great earnestness.
(b) Its importunity proves the possession of spiritual
life; in fact, none but the living ones crave quickening.
(c) The most
earnest feel the most acutely their indwelling
sin, and appreciate most highly thorough sanctification.
(d) Thus, this
is, perhaps, the only unsatisfaction
perfectly pure in its character.
(b) An
attribute that covers sin, and is touched with a
feeling of our infirmities.
(c) An
attribute that must be affected with the cry for
quickening grace.
(b) Without it
the prayer cannot be genuine.
(c) It is a
good reason for expecting more grace; for
"whosoever hath, to him shall be given," etc.
--J.F.
EXPOSITION
Verse
160. The sweet singer finishes up this section in the same way as the
last by dwelling upon the sureness of the truth of God. It will be well for the
reader to note the likeness between Psalms 119:144,152, and the present one.
Thy
word is true. Whatever the transgressors may say, God is true, and his word is
true. The ungodly are false, but God's word is true. They charge us with being
false, but our solace is that God's true word will clear us.
From
the beginning. God's word has been true from the first moment in which it was
spoken, true throughout the whole of history, true to us from the instant in
which we believed it, and true to us before we were true to it. Some read it,
"Thy word is true from the head;" true as a whole, true from top to
bottom. Experience had taught David this lesson, and experience is teaching us
the same. The Scriptures are as true in Genesis as in Revelation, and the five
books of: Moses are as inspired as the four Gospels.
And
every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever. That which thou hast
decided remains irreversible in every case. Against the decisions of the Lord
no writ of error can be demanded, neither will there ever be a repealing of any
of the acts of his sovereignty. There is not one single mistake either in the
word of God or in the providential dealings of God. Neither in the book of
revelation nor of providence will there be any need to put a single note of
errata. The Lord has nothing to regret or to retract, nothing to amend or to
reverse. All God's judgments, decrees, commands, and purposes are righteous,
and as righteous things are lasting things, every one of them will outlive the
stars. "Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise
pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." God's justice endureth for
ever. This is a cheering thought, but there is a much sweeter one, which of old
was the song of the priests in the temple; let it be ours, "His mercy
endureth for ever."
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
160. -- Thy word is true from the beginning. Literally,
"The beginning of thy word is truth," in antithesis to the
"enduring for ever," in the future, in the next clause. Cocceius and
Hengstenberg take it, "The sum of thy word is true," as in Numbers
26:2 31:26. But the antithesis noticed above in the English version
is thus lost; and the old versions support the English version. Also, if it
were "the sum," the plural ought to follow, viz., "of thy
words," not "word." --A. R. Fausset.
Verse
160. -- Thy word is true from the beginning, etc. As if he
should say, I believe that thou wilt thus quicken me, because the very
beginning of thy word is most just and true; and when thou didst first enter
into covenant with me, I did find that thou didst not deceive me, not beguile
me. And when by thy Spirit thou madest me believe thy covenant, thou meanest
truth; and I know that as thou didst promise, thou wilt perform, for thou art
no more liberal in promising than faithful and just in performing, and thy
judgment will be as righteous as thy promise is true. I know that as soon as
thou speakest, truth proceedeth from thee; and even so I know thou wilt defend
and preserve me, that thy judgments may shine as righteous in thee. --Richard
Greenham.
Verse
160. -- Thy word is true from the beginning, etc. God's
commandment and promise is exceeding broad, reaching to all times. Was a word
of command "the guide of thy youth"? I assure thee it will be as good
a staff of thine age. A good promise is a good nurse, both to the young babe
and to the decrepit old man. Your apothecaries' best cordials in time will lose
their spirits, and sometimes the stronger they are, the sooner. But hath a
promise cheered thee, say, twenty, thirty, forty years ago? Taste it but now
afresh, and thou shalt find it as fresh, and as full of refreshment as ever. If
it hath been thy greatest joy in thy joyful youth, I tell thee, it hath as much
joy in it for thy sad old age. That may be said of God's word, which the
prophet saith of God himself (Isaiah
46:4): "And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar
hairs will I carry you." Doth not the Psalmist say as much here, "Thy
word is true from the beginning"? It's well, it begins well. But will it
last as well? Yes: he adds, "and every one of thy righteous judgments
endureth for ever." Answerable to which is that other expression (verse
152), "Concerning thy testimonies, I have known of old that thou hast
founded them for ever." "For ever," and "founded for
ever." O sweet expression! O grounded comfort! Brethren, get acquainted
with God's word and promise as soon as you can, and maintain that acquaintance
everlastingly; and your knowledge of it shall not either go before, or go
beyond its truth. Know it as soon and as long as you will or can, and you shall
never find it tripping or failing; but you may after long experience of God say
of it, "I have known of old that thou hast founded it for ever."
--Anthony Tuckhey, 1599-- 1670.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
160. --
EXPOSITION
Verse
161. Princes have persecuted me without a cause. Such persons ought
to have known better; they should have had sympathy with one of their own rank.
A man expects a fair trial at the hand of his peers: it is ignoble to be
prejudiced. Moreover, if honour be banished from all other breasts it should
remain in the bosom of kings, and honour forbids the persecution of the
innocent. Princes are appointed to protect the innocent and avenge the oppressed,
and it is a shame when they themselves become the assailants of the righteous.
It was a sad case when the man of God found himself attacked by the judges of
the earth, for eminent position added weight and venom to their enmity. It was
well that the sufferer could truthfully assert that this persecution was
without cause. He had not broken their laws, he had not injured them, he had
not even desired to see them injured, he had not been an advocate of rebellion
or anarchy, he had neither openly nor secretly opposed their power, and
therefore, while this made their oppression the more inexcusable, it took away
a part of its sting, and helped the brave hearted servant of God to bear up.
But
my heart standeth in awe of thy word. He might have been overcome by awe of the
princes had it not been that a greater fear drove out the less, and he was
swayed by awe of God's word. How little do crowns and sceptres become in the
judgment of that man who perceives a more majestic royalty in the commands of
his God. We are not likely to be disheartened by persecution, or driven by it
into sin, if the word of God continually has supreme power over our minds.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
161. -- Princes have persecuted me. The evil is aggravated
from the consideration that it is the very persons who ought to be as bucklers
to defend us, who employ their strength in hurting us. Yea, when the afflicted
are stricken by those in high places, they in a manner think that the hand of
God is against them. There was also this peculiarity in the case of the
prophet, that he had to encounter the grandees of the chosen people -- men whom
God had placed in such honourable stations, to the end they might be the
pillars of the Church. --John Calvin.
Verse
161. -- Without a cause. I settle it as an established point
with me, that the more diligently and faithfully I serve Christ, the greater
reproach and the more injury I must expect. I have drank deep of the cup of
slander and reproach of late, but I am in no Wise discouraged; no, nor by, what
is much harder to bear, the unsuccessfulness of my endeavours to mend this bad
world. --Philip Doddridge.
Verse
161. -- Without a cause. We know what persecutions the body of
Christ, that is, the holy Church, suffered from the kings of the earth. Let us
therefore here also recognize the words of the Church: "Princes have
persecuted me without a cause." For how had the Christians injured the
kingdoms of the earth? Although their King promised them the kingdom of heaven,
how, I ask, had they injured the kingdoms of earth? Did their King forbid his
soldiers to pay and to render due service to the kings of the earth? Saith he
not to the Jews who were striving to calumniate him, "Render therefore
unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are
God's"? Matthew 22:21. Did he not even in his own person
pay tribute from the mouth of a fish? Did not his forerunner, when the soldiers
of this kingdom were seeking what they ought to do for their everlasting
salvation, instead of replying." Loose your belts, throw away your arms,
desert your king, that ye may wage war for the Lord," answer, "Do
violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with wages?"
Luke 3:14. Did not one of his soldiers, his most beloved your
companion, say to his fellow soldiers, the provincials, so to speak, of Christ,
"Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers"? and a little
lower he addeth, "Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom
tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom
honour. Owe no man anything, but to love one another." Ro 13:1,7,8. Does
he not enjoin the Church to pray even for kings themselves? How, then, have the
Christians offended against them? What due have they not rendered? In what have
not Christians obeyed the monarchs of earth? The kings of the earth therefore
have persecuted the Christians without a cause. --Augustine.
Verse
161. -- But my heart standeth in awe of thy word. If there
remains any qualm of fear on thy heart, fear from the wrath of bloody men
threatening thee for thy profession of the truth, then to a heart inflamed with
the love of truth, labour to add a heart filled with the fear of that wrath
which God hath in store for all that apostatize from the truth. When you chance
to burn your finger, you hold it to the fire, which being a greater fire draws
out the other. Thus, when thy thoughts are scorched, and thy heart scared with
the fire of man's wrath, hold them a while to hell fire, which God hath
prepared for the fearful (Revelation
21:8), and all that run away from truth's colours (Hebrews
10:39), and thou wilt lose the sense of the one for fear of the
other. Ignosee imperator, saith the holy man, tu carcerem, Dens gehennam
minatur; "Pardon me, O Emperor, if I obey not thy command; thou
threatenest a prison, but God a hell." Observable is that of David:
"Princes have persecuted me without a cause: but my heart standeth in awe
of thy word." He had no cause to fear them that had no cause to persecute
him. One threatening out of the word, that sets the point of God's wrath to his
heart, scares him more than the worst that the greatest on earth can do to him.
Man's wrath, when hottest, is but a temperate climate to the wrath of the
living God. They who have felt both have testified as much. Man's wrath cannot
hinder the access of God's love to the creature, which hath made the saints
sing in the fire, in spite of their enemies' teeth. But the creature under
God's wrath is like one shut up in a close oven, no crevice is open to let any
of the heat out, or any refreshing in to him. --William Gurnall.
Verse
161. -- My heart standeth in awe of thy word. There is an awe
of the word, not that maketh us shy of it, but tender of violating it, or doing
anything contrary to it. This is not the fruit of slavish fear, but of holy
love; it is not afraid of the word, but delighteth in it, as it discovereth the
mind of God to us; as in the next verse it is written, "I rejoice at thy
word." This awe is called by a proper name, reverence, or godly fear; when
we consider whose word it is, namely, the word of the Lord, who is our God, and
hath a right to command what he pleaseth; to whose will and word we have
already yielded obedience, and devoted ourselves to walk worthy of him in all
well pleasing; who can find us out in all our failings, as knowing our very
thoughts afar of (Psalms 139:2), and having all our ways before
him, and being one of whom we read, -- "He is a holy God; he is a jealous
God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins" (Joshua
24:19), that is to say, if we impenitently continue in them.
Considering these things we receive the word with that trembling of heart which
God so much respects. --Thomas Manton.
Verse
161. -- In awe of thy word. I would advise you all, that come
to the reading or hearing of this book, which is the word of God, the most
precious jewel, and most holy relic that remaineth upon earth, that ye bring
with you the fear of God, and that ye do it with all due reverence, and use
your knowledge thereof, not to vain glory of frivolous disputation, but to the
honour of God, increase of virtue, and edification both of yourselves and
others. --Thomas Cranmer, 1489-1555.
Verse
161. -- Awe of thy word. They that tremble at the convictions
of the word may triumph in the consolations of it. --Matthew Henry.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Outlines
Upon Keywords of the Psalm, By Pastor C. A. Davis.
Verses
161-168. -- What the word is to the believer. The object of (ver. 161), joy
(ver. 162), love (ver. 163), praise (ver. 164), the producer peace (ver. 165),
and hope (ver. 166); therefore exceedingly loved (ver. 167), faithfully kept
(ver. 168).
Verse
161,162. -- God's word, the object of godly fear and godly joy.
--W.H.J.P.
Verse
161. --
Verse
161. (second clause). -- Awe of God's word --its propriety, its
hallowed influence, the evil of its absence.
Verse
161. -- Restrained by awe.
EXPOSITION
Verse
162. I
rejoice at thy word, as one that findeth great spoil. His awe did not prevent
his joy; his fear of God was not of the kind which perfect love casts out, but
of the sort which it nourishes. He trembled at the word of the Lord, and yet
rejoiced at it. He compares his joy to that of one who has been long in battle,
and has at last won the victory and is dividing the spoil. This usually falls
to the lot of princes, and though David was not one with them in their
persecutions, yet he had his victories, and his spoil was equal to their
greatest gains. The profits made in searching the Scriptures were greater than
the trophies of war. We too have to fight for divine truth; every doctrine
costs us a battle, but when we gain a full understanding of it by personal
struggles it becomes doubly precious to us. In these days godly men have a full
share of battling for the word of God; may we have for our spoil a firmer hold
upon the priceless word. Perhaps, however, the Psalmist may have rejoiced as
one who comes upon hidden treasure for which lie had not fought, in which case
we find the analogy in the man of God who, while reading the Bible, makes grand
and blessed discoveries of the grace of God laid up for him, -- discoveries
which surprise him, for he looked not to find such a prize. Whether we come by
the truth as finders or as warriors fighting for it, the heavenly treasure
should be equally dear to us. With what quiet joy does the ploughman steal home
with his golden find! How victors shout as they share the plunder! How glad
should that man be who has discovered his portion in the promises of holy writ,
and is able to enjoy it for himself, knowing by the witness of the Holy Spirit that
it is all his own.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
162. --
I rejoice at thy word, as one that findeth great spoil. He never came to an
ordinance but as a soldier to the spoil, after a great battle, as having a
constant warfare with his corruptions that fought against his soul. Now he
comes to see what God will say to him, and he will make himself a saver or
gainer, and get a booty out of every commandment, promise, or threatening he
hears. --John Cotton (1585-1652), in "The way of life."
Verse
162. --
I rejoice at thy word. "Euripides," saith the orator, "hath
in his well composed tragedies more sentiments than sayings;" and
Thucydides hath so stuffed every syllable of his history with substance, that
the one runs parallel along with the other; Lysias's works are so well couched
that you cannot take out the least word but you take away the whole sense with
it; and Phocion had a special faculty of speaking much in a few words. The
Cretians, in Plato's time (however degenerated in St. Paul's), were more
weighty than wordy; Timanthes was famous in this, that in his pictures more
things were intended than deciphered; and of Homer it is said that none could
ever peer him for poetry. Then how much more apt and apposite are these high
praises to the book of God, rightly called the Bible or the book as if it were,
as indeed it is, both for fitness of terms and fulness of truth, the only book
to winch (as Luther saith) all the books in the world are but waste paper. It
is called the word, by way of eminency, because it must be the butt and
boundary of all our words; and the scripture, as the lord paramount above all
other words or writings of men collected into volumes, there being, as the
Rabbins say, a mountain of sense hanging upon every tittle of it, whence may be
gathered flowers and phrases to polish our speeches with, even sound words,
that have a healing property in them, far above all filed phrases of human
elocution. --Thomas Adams.
Verse
162. --
As one that findeth great spoil. This expressive image may remind us of the
inward conflict to be endured in acquiring the spoils of this precious word. It
is so contrary to our natural taste and temper, that habitual self-denial and
struggle with the indisposition of the heart can alone enable us to "find
the spoil." But what "great spoil" is divided as the fruit of
the conflict! How rich and abundant is the recompense of the "good soldier
of Jesus Christ," who is determined through the power of the Spirit to
"endure hardness," until he overcome the reluctance of his heart to
this spiritual duty. He shall "rejoice in finding great spoil."
Sometimes -- as the spoil with which the lepers enriched themselves in the
Syrian camp -- it may be found unexpectedly. Sometimes we see the riches and treasures
contained in a passage or doctrine, long before we can make it our own. And
often when we gird ourselves to the conflict with indolence, and wanderings,
under the weakness of our spiritual perceptions and the power of unbelief, many
a prayer, and many a sigh is sent up for Divine aid, before we are crowned with
victory, and are enabled, as the fruit of our conquest joyfully to appropriate
the word to our present need and distress. --Charles Bridges.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
162.
--
(a)
By reading.
(b) By meditation.
(c)
By prayer.
--G.R.
Verse
162.
-- David's joy over God's word he compares to the joy of the warrior when he
finds great spoil.
(b)
The guide of our life.
(c)
A sure pledge of mercy.
(d)
The beginning of communion with God.
(e)
The instrument of usefulness.
(b)
The same may be said of the promises.
(c)
Of the precepts.
(d)
Of the threatenings.
(e)
Even about the word which reveals Christ.
(b)
It is the weakening of the adversary for any future
attacks.
(c)
It gives a sense of victory.
(d)
There is, in dividing the spoil, profit, pleasure, and
honour.
(e)
The spoiling of the enemy is a prophecy of rest. See
"Spurgeon's Sermons," No. 1641: "Great Spoil."
EXPOSITION
Verse
163. I hate and abhor lying. A double expression for an inexpressible
loathing. Falsehood in doctrine, in life, or in speech, falsehood in any form
or shape, had become utterly detestable to the Psalmist. This was a remarkable
state for an Oriental, for generally lying is the delight of Easterns, and the
only wrong they see in it is a want of skill in its exercise so that the liar
is found out. David himself had made much progress when he had come to this. He
does not, however, alone refer to falsehood in conversation; he evidently
intends perversity in faith and teaching. He set down all opposition to the God
of truth as lying, and then he turned his whole soul against it in the most
intense form of indignation. Godly men should detest false doctrine even as
they abhor a lie.
But
thy law do I love, because it is all truth. His love was as ardent as his hate.
True men love truth, and hate lying. It is well for us to know which way our
hates and loves run, and we may do essential service to others by declaring
what are their objects. Both love and hate are contagious, and when they are
sanctified the wider their influence the better.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
163. -- I hate and abhor lying, etc. One sees here how the
light on David's soul was increasing more and more unto the perfect day. In the
earlier part of this psalm, David in the recollects of his own sin had prayed,
"Remove from me the way of lying," and the Lord had indeed answered
his prayer, for he now declares his utter loathing of every false way: "I
hate and abhor lying." And we see, in some measure, the instrument by
which the Holy Spirit wrought the change: "Thy law do I love"; nay,
as he adds in a later verse, "I love them exceedingly." And so it
ever must be, the heart must have some holier object of its affection to fill
up the void, or there will be no security against a relapse into sin! might
talk for ever on the sin, the disgrace, and the danger of lying, and though at
the time and for a time my words might have some influence, yet, unless the
heart be filled with the love of God and of God's law, the first temptation
would prove too powerful. The Bible teaches us this in a variety of ways. God
says to Israel, not only "cease to do evil," but, "learn to do
well." And still more pointedly does the apostle, when he was warring
against drunkenness, say, "Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, --
but be filled with the Spirit." --Barton Bouchier.
Verse
163. -- I hate and abhor lying. "Lying," according
to Scripture usage, not only signifies speaking contrary to what one thinks,
but also thinking contrary to the truth of things, and, particularly, the
giving to other of that worship and glory which are due to the true God alone
to think and act aside from God's truth. The men who persecuted that godly man
thought of earthly prosperity and power as they should not have thought; they
judged God's servant falsely, and they thought wickedly Of God himself. The man
of God took a view of these things; he saw wickedness and the vileness of them,
and he continued -- "Falsehood I hate and abhor: thy law do I love."
From all the false and delusive ways of men, from all the pride and pomp that
surround courts, from the sinful and pursuits of worldly men, as well as from
the ostentatious idolatry heathen nations, he could turn with heart delight to
the contemplation Jehovah, in that wonderful ritual which manifested the divine
mercy in vicarious sacrifices, and observances, and festivals; and to that holy
law which was given as man's rule of duty and grateful obedience, and these he
loved as the manifestations of God's grace. --John Stephen.
Verse
163. -- I hate and abhor lying: not only "hate" it,
nor simply I "abhor" it, but "hate and abhor," to
strengthen and increase the sense, and make it more vehement. Where the enmity
is not great against the sin, the matter may be compounded and taken up; but
David will have nothing to do with it, for he saith, -- I loathe and abhor it,
and hate it with a deadly hatred. Slight hatred of a sinful course is not
sufficient to guard us against ft. -- Thomas Manton.
Verse
163. -- Sin seemeth to have its name from the Hebrew word
"sana", to hate, the word here used, because it is most of all to
be hated, as the greatest evil, as that which setteth us furthest from God the
greatest good. None can hate it but those that love the law of God; for all
hatred comes from love. A natural man may be angry with his sin, but hate it he
cannot; nay, he may leave it, but not loathe it; if he did, he would loathe all
sin as well as any one sin. --Abraham Wright.
Verse
163. -- Lying. All injustice is abominable: to do any sort of
wrong is a heinous crime, but lying is that crime which, above all others,
tendeth to the dissolution of society and disturbance of human life; which God
therefore doth most loathe, and men have reason especially to detest. Of this
the slanderer is most deeply guilty. "A witness of Belial scorneth
judgment, and the month of the wicked devoureth iniquity," saith the wise
man: Proverbs 19:28. He is indeed, according to just
estimation, guilty of all kinds of injury, breaking all the second table of
commands respecting our neighbour. Most distinctly he beareth false witness
against his neighbour: he doth covet his neighbour's goods, for 'tis constantly
out of such an irregular desire, for his own presumed advantage, to dispossess
his neighbour of some good, and transfer it on himself, that the slanderer
uttereth his tale: he is also a thief and robber of his good name, a deflowerer
and defiler of his reputation, an assassin and murderer of his honour. So doth
he violate all the rules of justice, and perpetrates all sorts of wrong against
his neighbour. --Isaac Barrow.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
163. -- Opposite poles of the Christian character.
--G.A.D.
Verse
163. --
EXPOSITION
Verse
164.
Seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgments. He
laboured perfectly to praise his perfect God, and therefore fulfilled the
perfect number of songs. Seven may also intend frequency. Frequently he lifted
up his heart in thanksgiving to God for his divine teachings in the word, and
for his divine actions m providence. With his voice he extolled the
righteousness of the Judge of all the earth. As often as ever he thought of
God's ways a song leaped to his lips. At the sight of the oppressive princes,
and at the hearing of the abounding falsehood around him, he felt all the more
bound to adore and magnify God, who in all things is truth and righteousness.
When others rob us of our praise it should be a caution to us not to fall into
the same conduct towards our God, who is so much more worthy of honour. If we
praise God when we are persecuted our music will be all the sweeter to him
because of our constancy in suffering. If we keep clear of all lying, our song
will be the more acceptable because it comes out of pure lips. If we never
flatter men we shall be the better condition for honouring the Lord. Do we
praise God seven times a day? Do we praise him once in seven days?
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
164. --
Seven times a day do I praise thee. Affections of the soul cannot long be
kept secret; if they be strong they will break forth in actions. The love of
God is like a fire in the heart of man, which breaks forth, and manifests
itself in the obedience of his commandments, and praising him for Ins benefits;
and this is it which David now protests, that the love of God was not idle in
his heart, but made him fervent and earnest m praising God, so that" seven
times a day" he did praise God. For by this number the carefulness of holy
devotion is expressed, and the fervency of his love. In praising God he could
not be satisfied, saith Basil. --William Cowper.
Verse
164. --
Seven times a day do I praise thee. "As every grace," says
Sibbes, "increaseth by exercise of itself, so doth the grace of prayer. By
prayer we learn to pray." And thus it was with the Psalmist; he often
times anticipated the dawning of the morning for his exercise of prayer; and at
midnight frequently arose to pour out his soul in prayer; now he adds that
"seven times in a day," or as we might express it, "at every
touch and turn," he finds opportunity for and delight in praise. Oh for
David's spirit and David's practice! --Barton Bouchier.
Verse
164. --
Seven times a day do I praise thee. A Christian ought to give himself up
eminently to this diary without limits. --Walter Marshall.
Verse
164. --
Seven times a day do I praise thee. Not as if he had seven set hours for
this duty every day, as the Papists would have it, to countenance their seven
canonical hours, but rather a definite number is put for an indefinite, and so
amounts to this, -- he did very often in a day praise God; his holy heart
taking the hint of every providence to carry him to heaven on this errand of
prayer and praise. --William Gurrnall.
Verse
164. --
Seven times a day. Some of the Jewish Rabbis affirm that David is here to
be understood literally, observing, that the devout Hebrews Were accustomed to
praise God twice in the morning, before reading the ten commandments, and once
after; twice in the evening before reading the same portion of inspiration, and
twice after; which makes up the number of seven times a day. --James Anderson's
note to Calvin in loc.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
164.
-- Praise rendered. Frequently, statedly, heartily, intelligently.
Verse
164.
-- Perpetual praise.
Verse
164.
--
--W.H.J.P.
EXPOSITION
Verse
165. Great peace have they which love thy law. What a charming verse
is this! It dwells not with those who perfectly keep the law, for where should
such men be found? but with those who love it, whose hearts and hands are made
to square with its precepts and demands. These men are ever striving, with all
their hearts, to walk in obedience to the law, and though they are often
persecuted they have peace, yea, great peace; for they have learned the secret
of the reconciling blood, they have felt the power of the comforting Spirit,
and they stand before the Father as men accepted. The Lord has given them to
feel his peace, which passed all understanding. They have many troubles, and
are likely to be persecuted by the proud, but their usual condition is that of
deep calm -- a peace too great for this little world to break.
And
nothing shall offend them, or, "shall really injure them." "All
things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called
according to his purpose." It must needs be that offences come, but these
lovers of the law are peacemakers, and so they neither give nor take offence.
That peace which is founded upon conformity to God's will is a living and
lasting one, worth writing of with enthusiasm, as the Psalmist here does.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
165. -- Great peace have they which love thy law. Amidst the storms
and tempests of the world, there is a perfect calm in the breasts of those, who
not only do the will of God, but "love" to do it. They are at peace
with God, by the blood of reconciliation; at peace with themselves, by the
answer of a good conscience, and the subjection of those desires which war
against the soul; at peace with all men, by the spirit of charity; and the
whole creation is so at peace with them that all things work together for their
good. No external troubles can rob them of this "great peace," no
"offences" or stumbling blocks, which are thrown in their way by
persecution, or temptation, by the malice of enemies, or by the apostasy of
friends, by anything which they see, hear of, or feel, can detain, or divert
them from their course. Heavenly love surmounts every obstacle, and runs with
delight the way of God's commandments. --George Horne.
Verse
165. -- Great peace have they which love thy law. There have
been Elis trembling for the ark of God, and Uzzahs putting out their hand in
fear that it was going to fall; but in the mids't of the deepest troubles
through which the church has passed, and the fiercest storms that have raged
about it, there have been true, faithful men of God who have never despaired.
In every age there have been Luthers and Latimers, who have not only held fast
their confidence, but whose peace has deepened with the roaring of the waves.
The more they have been forsaken of men, the closer has been their communion
with God. And with strong hold of him and of his promises, and hearts that
could enter into the secret place of the Most High, although there has been
everything without to agitate, threaten, and alarm, they have been guided into
perfect peace. --James Martin, in, "The Christian Mirror, and other Sermons",
1878.
Verse
165. -- Great peace have they which love thy law. Clearness of
conscience is a help to comfortable thoughts. Yet observe, that peace is not so
much effected as preserved by a good conscience and conversation; for though
joy in the Holy Ghost will make its nest nowhere but in a holy soul, yet the
blood of Christ only can speak peace; "being justified by faith, we have
peace:" Romans 5:1. An exact life will not make, but
keep conscience quiet; an easy shoe does not heal a sore foot, but it keeps a
sound one from hurt. Walking with God according to gospel rules hath peace
entailed upon it, and that peace is such a treasure, as thereby, a Christian
may have his rejoicing from himself. Galatians
6:4,16. His own heart sings him a merry tune, which the threats and
reproaches of the world cannot silence. The treasure of comfort is not expended
in affliction; death itself doth not exhaust but increase and advance it to an
eternal triumph. O the excellency and necessity of it! Paul laid it up for a
death-bed cordial: "Our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our
conscience:" 2 Corinthians 1:12. And Hezekiah dares hold it
up to God, as well as cheer up himself with it on approaching death. A
conscience good in point of integrity will be good also in point of
tranquillity: "The righteous are bold as a lion": they have great peace
that love and keep God's commandments: Proverbs
28:1 Psalms 119:165. And saith the apostle, "If
our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence towards God" (1
John 3:2), and I may add also, towards men. Oh! what comfort and
solace hath a clear conscience! A conscientious man hath something within to
answer accusations without; he hath such a rich treasure as will not fail in
greatest straits and hazards. I shall conclude this with a notable saying of
Bernard: -- "The pleasures of a good conscience are the Paradise of souls,
the joy of angels, a garden of delights, a field of blessing, the temple of
Solomon, the court of God, the habitation of the Holy Spirit." --Oliver
Heywood.
Verse
165. -- Great peace. Note that for "peace" the
Hebrew word is mylw, shalom: it signifies not only "peace," but also
perfection, wholeness, prosperity, tranquillity, healthfulness, safety, the
completion and consummation, of every good thing; and so it is frequently taken
by the Hebrews; hence in salutations, wishing one the other well, they say, vl
milw, shalom lekha, i.e, "peace be with thee"; as if one should say,
"may all things be prosperous with thee." --Thomas Le Blanc.
Verse
165. -- They which love thy law. To love a law may Seem
strange; but it is the only true divine life. To keep it because we are afraid
of its penalties is only a form of fear or prudential consideration. To keep it
to preserve a good name may be propriety and respectability. To keep it because
it is best for society may be worldly self interest. To keep it because of
physical health may be the policy of epicurean philosophy. To keep it because
we love it is to show that it is already part of us -- has entered into the
moral texture of our being. Sin then becomes distasteful, and temptations lose
their power. -- W.M. Statham, quoted in "Atictoilette Commentary on the
Psalms", 1879.
Verse
165. -- And nothing shall offend them. Hebrew, "they
shall have no stumbling block." 1
John 4:10, "There is none occasion of stumbling in him"
who abides in the light, which makes him to see and avoid such stumblingblocks.
Wealth, tribulation, temptation, which are the occasion to many of falling (Isaiah 8:14,15; 3:20
7:19 14:3 4:7), are not so to him. --A.R. Faussett.
Verse
165. -- Learn the true wisdom of those of you who are new
creatures, and who love God's holy law. All of you who are really brought
to Christ are changed into his image, so that you love God's holy law. "I
delight in the law of God after the inward man." "The statutes of the
Lord are right, rejoicing the heart": Psalm 19. The world says: What a
slave you are! you cannot have a little amusement on the Sabbath -- you cannot
take a Sabbath walk, or join a Sabbath tea party; you cannot go to a dance or a
theatre; you cannot enjoy the pleasures of sensual indulgence -- you are a
slave. I answer: Christ had none of these pleasures. He did not want them: nor
do we. He knew what was truly wise, and good, and happy, and he chose God's
holy law. He was the freest of all beings, and yet he knew no sin. Only make me
free as Christ is free -- this is all I ask. "Great peace have they which
love thy law: and nothing shall offend them." --Robert Murray M Cheyne,
1813-1843.
Verse
165. -- Nothing shall offend them. They that have this
character of God's children, will not the stumbled at God's dispensations, let
them he never so cross to their desires, because they have a God to fly unto in
all their troubles, and a sure covenant to rest upon. Therefore the reproaches
cast upon them, and on the way of God, do not scandalize them; for they have
found God in that very way which others speak evil of; they are not so offended
by anything that attends the way of God, as to dislike or forsake that way.
Nevertheless we must take heed that we be not offended. --John Bunyan.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
165. --
Verse
165. -- Perfect peace.
Verse
165.
--G.R.
Verse
165. -- The peace and security of the godly.
(a) Freedom
from an accusing conscience.
(b) Conformity to the requirements of the law.
(c) Enjoyment
of the privileges revealed in the law.
(d) Assurance
of divine approval and benediction.
(a) They are
prepared for every duty.
(b) They are
proof against every temptation.
(c) They are
pledged to final perseverance.
(d) They have
the promise of divine protection.
--W.H.J.P.
Verse
165. --
--J.F.
EXPOSITION
Verse
166. Lord, I have hoped for thy salvation, and done thy commandments.
Here we have salvation by grace, and the fruits thereof. All David's hope was
fixed upon God, he looked to him alone for salvation; and then he endeavoured
most earnestly to fulfil the commands of his law. Those who place least
reliance upon good works are very frequently those who have tile most of them;
that same divine teaching which delivers us from confidence in our own doings
leads us to abound in every good work to the glory of God. In times of trouble
there are two things to be done, the first is to hope in God, and the second is
to do that which is right. The first without the second would be mere
presumption: the second without the first mere formalism. It is well if in
looking back we can claim to have acted in the way which is commanded of the
Lord. If we have acted rightly towards God we are sure that lie will act kindly
with us.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
166. -- LORD, I have hoped for thy salvation, etc. This is the
true posture in which all the servants of God should desire to be found --
hoping in his mercy, and doing his commands. How easy were it to demonstrate
the connection between the mental feeling here recognized, and the obedience
with which it is here associated! It is the hope of salvation which is the
great and pervading motive to holiness, and it is the consciousness of
obedience to the will of God which strengthens our hope of interest in the
divine mercy. --John Morison.
Verse
166. -- Lord, I have hoped for thy salvation. This saying he
borrowed from good old Jacob. Genesis
49:18. --John Trapp.
Verse
166. -- I have done thy commandments. Set upon the practice of
what you read. A student in physics doth not satisfy himself to read over a
system or body of physics, but he falls upon practising physics: the life blood
of religion his in the practical part. Christians should be walking Bibles.
Xenophon said, "Many read Lycurgus's laws, but few observe them." The
word written is not only a rule of knowledge, but a rule of obedience; it is
not only to mend our sight, but to mend our pace. David calls God's word
"a lamp unto his feet" (Psalms 119:105). It was not only a light to his eyes to see
by, but to his feet to walk by. By practice we trade with the talent of
knowledge, and turn it to profit. This is a blessed reading of Scripture, when
we fly from the sins which the word forbids, and espouse the doctrines which
the word commands. Reading without practice will be but a torch to light men to
hell. --Thomas Watson.
Verse
166,167,168. -- He that casts the commands behind his back is very presumptuous
in applying the promises to himself. That hope which is not accompanied
with obedience will make a man ashamed. He that has learned the word of God
knows that the law is not made void by faith, but established: Romans
3:31. Christ the church's Head and Prophet, in his sermon upon the
mount shows the extent of the law, requiring purity in the heart and thoughts,
as well as in the life and actions, and condemns them "who shall break the
least of these commands and shall teach men so"; but "those that
teach and do them," he owns as great in his kingdom: Matthew
5:19. The law spoken on Mount Sinai is established by the Legislator
Christ in Mount Zion as a rule of righteousness. And they who are rightly
instructed, "which walk according to this rule," will have both heart
and conversation ordered according to its direction, and "peace and mercy
will be upon them," and hereby they will show themselves to be indeed the
Israel of God. --Nathanael Vincent.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
166. --
Verse
166. -- A good hope through grace.
--C.A.D.
EXPOSITION
Verse
167. My soul hath kept thy testimonies. My outward life has kept thy
precepts, and my inward life -- my soul, has kept thy testimonies. God has
borne testimony to many sacred truths, and these we hold fast as for life
itself. The gracious man stores up the truth of God within his heart as a
treasure exceedingly dear and precious -- he keeps it. His secret soul, his
inmost self, becomes the guardian of these divine teachings which are his sole
authority in soul matters.
And
I love them exceedingly. This was why he kept them, and having kept them this
was the result of the keeping. He did not merely store up revealed truth by way
of duty, but because of a deep, unutterable affection for it. He felt that he
could sooner die than give up any part of the revelation of God. The more we
store our minds with heavenly truth, the more deeply shall we be in love with
it: the more we see the exceeding riches of the Bible the more will our love
exceed measure, and exceed expression.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
167. -- My soul hath kept thy testimonies; and I love them
exceedingly. Should he not have said, first, I have loved thy commandments,
and so have kept them? Doubtless he did so; but he ran here in a holy and most
heavenly circle, I have kept them and loved them, and loved them and kept them.
If we love Christ, we shall also live the life of love in our measure, and his
commandments will be most dear when himself is most precious. - -Thomas
Shepard, in "The Sound Believer", 1671.
Verse
167. -- My soul. It is a usual phrase among the Hebrews, when
they would express their vehement affection to anything, to say, "My
soul": as Psalms 103:1 104:1, "My soul, praise thou
the Lord," and Luke
Verse
167. -- I love them exceedingly. It is only a reasonable
return to God; for the Father loved me so exceedingly as not to spare his own
Son, but to give him up for me; and the Son loved me so exceedingly that he
gave himself to me, and gave me back to myself when I was lost in my sins,
original and actual. --Gerhohus (1093-1169), in Neale and Littledale.
Verse
167,168. -- Let not our consciousness of daily failures make us shrink
from this strong expression of confidence. It is alleged as an evidence of
grace, not as a claim of merit, and therefore the most humble believer need not
hesitate to adopt it as the expression of Christian sincerity before God. David
aspired to no higher character than that of a poor sinner: but he was conscious
of spirituality of obedience, "exceeding love" to the divine word,
and an habitual walk under the eye of his God -- the evidences of a heart
(often mentioned in the Old Testament)" perfect with him." --Charles
Bridges.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
167. -- Past and present.
Verse
167. --
--G.R.
Verse
167.
(a) Rare; none
like them.
(b) Rich; surpassing valuation.
(c) Beautifying
those who wear them.
(d) Glittering
with an internal and essential splendour, in
the darkness of this world.
(e) Realising
in truth the old superstitions regarding
precious stones having medicinal and magic virtues.
(a) Exactly
made to receive the jewels.
(b) A wonderful
piece of divine workmanship; but all ruined
and marred unless applied to the use designed.
(c) The only
receptacle out of which the genuine beauty of
God's testimonies can so shine as to excite the admiration
of beholders.
(a) Love is the
strongest hold fast in the universe.
(b) It is
needed, for ten thousand thieves prowl around to
steal from us the treasure.
(c) A love
"exceedingly" is a heavenly patent; no ingenuity
can pick it; it is fire proof and burglar proof against
hell itself.
--J.F.
EXPOSITION
Verse
168. I have kept thy precepts and thy testimonies. Both the practical
and the doctrinal parts of God's word he had stored up, and preserved, and
followed. It is a blessed thing to see the two forms of the divine word,
equally known, equally valued, equally confessed: there should be no picking
and choosing as to the mind of God. We know those who endeavour to be careful
as to the precepts, but who seem to think that the doctrines of the gospel are
mere matters of opinion, which they may shape for themselves. This is not a
perfect condition of things. We have known others again who are very rigid as
to the doctrines, and painfully lax with reference to the precepts. This also
is far from right. When the two are "kept" with equal earnestness
then have we the perfect man.
For
all my ways are before thee. Probably he means to say that this was the motive
of his endeavouring to be right both in head and heart, because he knew that
God saw him, and under the sense of the divine presence he was afraid to err.
Or else he is thus appealing to God to bear witness to the truth of what he has
said. In either case it is no small consolation to feel that our heavenly
Father knows all about us, and that if princes speak against us, and worldlings
fill their mouths with cruel lies, yet he can vindicate us, for there is
nothing secret or hidden from him.
We
are struck with the contrast between this verse, which is the last of its
octave, and Psalms 119:176, which is similarly placed in the
next octave. This is a protest of innocence, "I have kept thy
precepts," and that a confession of sin, "I have gone astray like a
lost sheep." Both were sincere, both accurate. Experience makes many a
paradox plain, and this is one. Before God we may be clear of open fault and
yet at the same time mourn over a thousand heart wanderings which need his
restoring hand.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
168. -- I have kept thy precepts, for all my ways are before
thee. When men are some way off in a king's eye they will be comely in their
carriage; but when they come into his presence chamber to speak with him they
will be most careful. Because saints are always in God's sight, their constant
deportment must be pious and seemly. -- George Swinnock.
Verse
168. -- I have kept thy precepts, etc. The Hebrew word yn[,
shamar, that is here rendered "kept," signifies to keep carefully,
diligently, studiously, exactly. It signifies to keep as men keep prisoners,
and to keep as a watchman keeps the city or the garrison; yea, to keep as a man
would keep his very life. But now mark what was the reason that David kept the
precepts and the testimonies of the Lord so carefully, so sincerely, so
diligently, so studiously, and so exactly. Why, the reason you have in the
latter part of the verse, "for all my ways are before thee." O sirs!
it is as necessary for him that would be eminent in holiness, to set the Lord
always before him, as it is necessary for him to breathe. In that 31st of Job
you have a very large narrative of that height and perfection of holiness that
Job bad attained to, and the great reason that he gives you, for this is in the
4th verse, "Doth not he see my way, and count all my steps?" The eye
of God had so strong an influence upon his heart and life, that it wrought him
up to a very high pitch of holiness. --Thomas Brooks.
Verse
168. -- All my ways are before thee. That God seeth the
secrets of our heart, is a point terrible to the wicked but joyful to the
godly. The wicked are sorry that their heart is so open: it is a boiling pot of
all mischief, a furnace and forge house for evil. It grieveth them that man
should hear and see their words and actions; but what a terror is this -- that
their Judge, whom they hate, seeth their thought! If they could deny this, they
would. But so many of them as are convinced and forced to acknowledge a God,
are shaken betimes with this also -- that he is All seeing. Others proceed more
summarily, and at once deny the Godhead in their heart, and so destroy this
conscience of his All knowledge. But it is in vain: the more they harden their
heart by this godless thought, the more fear is in them; while they choke and
check their conscience that it crow not against them it checks them with
foresight of fearful vengeance and for the present convinceth them of the omniscience
of God, the more they press to suppress it. But the godly rejoice herein; it is
to them a rule to square their thoughts by; they take no liberty of evil
thinking, willing, wishing, or affecting, in their hearts. Where that candle
shineth, all things are framed as worthy of him and of his sight, whom they
know to be seeing their heart. -- William Struther, 1633.
Verse
168. -- All my ways are before thee. Walk, Christian, in the
view of God's omniscience; say to thy soul, cave, videt Deus; take heed, God
seeth. It is under the rose, as the common phrase is, that treason is spoken,
when subjects think they are far enough from their king's hearing; hut did such
know the prince to be under the window, or behind the hangings, to their
discourse would be more loyal. This made David so upright in his walking:
"I have kept thy precepts, for all my ways are before thee." If
Alexander's empty chair, which his captains, when they met in counsel, set
before them, did awe them so as to keep them in good order; how helpful would
it be to set before ourselves the fact that God is looking upon us! The Jews
covered Christ's face, and then buffeted him: Matthew
14:65. So does the hypocrite; he first says in his heart, God sees
not, or at least forgets that he sees, and then he makes bold to sin against
him; like that foolish bird, which runs her head among the reeds, and thinks
herself safe from the fowler, as if because she did not see her enemy,
therefore he could not see her. Te mihi abscondam, non me tibi (Augustine). I
may hide thee from my eye, but not myself from thine eye. --William Gurnall.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
168. --
(b) The whole
word is pure and right; expediency, or making
the measure and manner of obedience suitable to our own
purpose, is a false principle; to be carefully
distinguished from righteous expediency, which is the
foregoing of a personal right in consideration of another's
benefit.
(c) The moral code of the word is a unity; obedience is
like a connected chain, a wilful flaw in one link renders
all useless.
(b) "Are
before thee," constantly observed.
(c) "Are
before thee;" deliberately placed before thee by
me, that they may be corrected and directed.
--J.F.
Verse
168. -- All my ways are before thee.
--W.W.
Verse
168. (second clause). --
--W.H.J.P.
Verse
168. (second clause). -- Living in the sight of God Actually the case
with all; designedly the case of the godly; happily the case of the favoured;
preeminently the case of those who abide in fellowship.
Verse
168. --
EXPOSITION
The
Psalmist is approaching the end of the psalm, and his petitions gather force
and fervency; he seems to break into the inner circle of divine fellowship, and
to come even to the feet of the great God whose help he is imploring this
nearness creates the most lowly mew of himself, and leads him to close the
psalm upon his face in deepest self humiliation, begging to be sought out like
a lost sheep.
EXPOSITION
Verse
169. Let my cry come near before thee, O LORD. He is tremblingly
afraid lest he should not be heard. He is conscious that his prayer is nothing
better than the cry of a poor child, or the groan of a wounded beast. He dreads
lest it should be shut out from the ear of the Most High, but he very boldly
prays that it may come before God, that it may be in his sight, under his
notice, and looked upon with his acceptance; yea, he goes further, and
entreats, "Let my cry come near before thee, O Lord." He wants the
Lord's attention to his prayer to be very close and considerate. He uses a
figure of speech and personifies his prayer. We may picture his prayer as
Esther, venturing into the royal presence, entreating an audience, and begging
to find favour in the sight of the blessed and only Potentate. It is a very
sweet thing to a suppliant when he knows of a surety that his prayer has
obtained audience, when it has trodden the sea of glass before the throne, and
has come even to the footstool of the glorious seat around which heaven and
earth adore. It is to Jehovah that this prayer is expressed with trembling earnestness
-- our translators, filled with holy reverence, translate the word, "O
LORD." We crave audience of none else, for we have confidence in none
beside.
Give
we understanding according to thy word. This is the prayer about which the
Psalmist is so exceedingly anxious. With all his gettings he would get
understanding, and whatever he misses he is resolved not to miss this priceless
boon. He desires spiritual light and understanding as it is promised in God's
word, as it proceeds from God's word, and as it produces obedience to God's
word. He pleads as though he had no understanding whatever of his own, and asks
to have one given to him. "Give me understanding." In truth, he had
an understanding according to the judgment of men, but what he sought was an
understanding according to God's word, which is quite another thing. To
understand spiritual things is the gift of God. To have a judgment enlightened
by heavenly light and conformed to divine truth is a privilege which only grace
can give. Many a man who is accounted wise after the manner of this world is a
fool according to the word of the Lord. May we be among those happy children
who shall all be taught of the Lord.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
This
commences a new division of the psalm, indicated by the last letter of the
Hebrew alphabet, the letter Tau, corresponding to our "t," or
"th." --Albert Barnes.
Verse
169. -- Let my cry come near before thee, O LORD. That is, as
some will have it, Let this whole preceding Psalm, and all the petitions
(whereof we have here a repetition) therein contained, be highly accepted in
heaven. --John Trapp.
Verse
169. -- Let my cry come near before thee, O LORD. We are now
come to the last section of this psalm, wherein we see David more fervent in
prayer than he was in the first, as ye shall easily observe by comparing them
both together. The godly, the longer they speak to God, are the more fervent
and earnest to speak to him; so that unless necessity compel them, they desire
never to intermit conference with him.
Many
prayers hath he made to God in this psalm: now in the end he prays for his
prayers, that the Lord would let them come before him. Some men send out
prayers, but God turns them into sin, and puts them away back from him:
therefore David seeks favour to his prayers. --William Cowper.
Verse
169. -- Give me understanding. This was the prayer of Solomon
(1 Kings 3:9), and we are told that it pleased
the Lord, and as a reward he added temporal prosperity, which the young king
had not asked. Yet Solomon meant less by his prayer than his father David did;
for we see in him little trace of the deep devotion for which his father was so
remarkable. The Psalmist here prays a deep prayer which can only be answered by
the Holy Ghost himself enlightening the soul. The understanding is a most
important member of our spiritual frame. Conscience is the understanding
exercised upon moral questions, and if that be not right, where shall we be?
Our understanding of the word of God comes by teaching, but also through
experience: we understand hardly anything till we experience it. Such an
enlightening experience is the gift of God, and to him we must look for it in
prayer. --C.H.S.
Verse
169. -- Give we understanding. The especial work of the Holy
Spirit in the illumination of our minds unto the understanding of the Scripture
is called "understanding." The Psalmist prays "Give me
understanding, and I shall keep thy law" (verse 34). So the apostle speaks
to Timothy: "Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in
all things": 2 Timothy 2:7. Besides his own consideration of
what was proposed unto him, which includes the due and diligent use of all
outward means, it was moreover necessary that God should give him understanding
by an inward effectual work of his Spirit, that he might comprehend the things
wherein he was instructed. And the desire hereof, as of that without which there
can be no saving knowledge of the word, for advantage by it, the Psalmist
expresses emphatically, with great fervency of spirit in verse 144: "The
righteousness of thy testimony is everlasting: give me understanding, and I
shall live." Without this he knew that he could have no benefit by the
everlasting righteousness of the testimonies of God. All understanding, indeed,
however it be abused by the most, is the work and effect of the Holy Ghost for
"the inspiration of the Almighty giveth understanding": Job
32:8. So is this spiritual understanding in an especial manner the
gift of God. In this "understanding" both the ability of our mind and
the due exercise of it is included. This one consideration, that the saints of
God have with so much earnestness prayed that God would give them understanding
as to his mind and will as revealed in the word, with his reiterated promises
that he would so do, is of more weight with me than all the disputes of men to
the contrary. No farther argument is necessary to prove that men do not
understand the mind of God in the Scripture in a due manner, than their
supposal and confidence that so they can do without the communication of a
spiritual understanding unto them by the Holy Spirit. This self confidence is
directly contrary unto the plain, express testimonies of the word. --John Owen.
Verse
169. -- Give me understanding. Why should the man of God here
pray for understanding? Had he not often prayed for it before? Was he a novice
in knowledge, being a prophet? Doth not our Saviour Christ reprehend
repetitions and babbling in prayer? True it is our Saviour Christ doth
reprehend that babbling which is without faith and knowledge and a feeling of
our wants; but he speaketh not against those serious repetitions which proceed
from a plentiful knowledge, abundant faith, and lively feeling of our
necessities. Again, although it cannot be denied but lie was a man of God, and
had received great grace, yet God giveth knowledge to his dearest saints in
this life but in part, and the most which we see and know is but little.
Besides, when we have knowledge, and knowledge must be brought into practice,
we shall find such difficulties, such waywardness, such forgetfulness, such wants,
that although we have had with the prophet a very good direction in the general
things of the word, which are universal and few, yet we shall find many
distractions in our practices, which must be particular and many; and we shall
either fail in memory by forgetfulness, or in judgment by blindness, or in
affection by dulness. So easily may we slip when we think we may hold our
journey on. Wherefore the man of God, through that examination which he took of
his heart and affections, seeing those manifold straits and difficulties,
prayeth in the verse following, not for the renewing of men in general in their
troubles, but for the considering of his own particular condition. --Richard
Greenham.
Verse
169. -- According to the word. David here seeks understanding
not carnally, for the wisdom of the flesh is death: but he seeks understanding
according to God's word. Without this the wisdom of man is foolishness; and the
more subtil he seems to be in his ways, the more deeply he involves himself in
the snare of the devil. "They have rejected the word of the Lord; and what
wisdom is in them?" Jeremiah 8:9. But seeing he was an excellent
prophet, and protested before that he had more understanding than the ancients,
yea, than his teachers; how is it that he still prays for understanding? In
answer to this we are to know, that there is a great difference between the
gifts of nature and grace. Nature ofttimes gives to man very excellent gifts,
as rare memory, knowledge, quick wit, strength, external beauty; but
therewithal it teacheth not man to consider that in which he is wanting;
whereof it comes to pass, that he waxeth proud of that which he hath. This is a
common thing to men in the state of nature, that of small gifts they conceive a
great pride: but grace, as it gives to man more excellent gifts than nature can
afford, so it teacheth him to look unto that which he wants, that he be not
puffed up by considering that which he hath, but carried in all humility of
heart to pray for that which he wants. -- Abraham Wright.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Outlines
Upon Keywords of the Psalm, By Pastor C. A. Davis.
Verses
169-176. -- The concluding cry. Bespeaking audience for his the Psalmist asks
for understanding and deliverance (ver. 169, 170); raises to praise God (ver.
171), and to speak of God (ver. 172), and cries for help (ver. 173), salvation
(ver. 174), life (ver. 175), and (ver. 176).
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
169,170. --
--W.B.H.
Verse
169. --
EXPOSITION
Verse
170. Let my supplication come before thee. It is the same entreaty
with a slight change of words. He humbly calls his cry a supplication, a sort
of beggar's petition; and again he asks for audience and for answer. There
might be hindrances in the way to an audience, and he begs for their removal --
let it come. Other believers are heard -- let my prayer come before thee.
Deliver
me according to thy word. Rid me of mine adversaries, clear me of my
slanderers, preserve me from my tempters, and bring me up out of all my
afflictions, even as thy word has led me to expect thou wilt do. It is for this
that he seeks understanding. His enemies would succeed through his folly, if
they succeeded at all; but if he exercised a sound discretion they would be
baffled, and he would escape from them. The Lord in answer to prayer frequently
delivers his children by making them wise as serpents as well as harmless as
doves.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
170. -- Let my supplication come before thee, etc. The sincere
worshipper cannot be contented with anything short of actual intercourse with
God. The round of duty cannot please where the spirit of grace and supplication
has not been vouchsafed. A filial disposition will pour itself forth in earnest
longings after communion with God. Nor will the hope of gracious audience be
founded on any other plea save that of the sure word of Jehovah's promise. It
is in accordance with that word, and not in opposition to it, that the child of
God expects to be heard. All his deliverance he feels to be from the Lord, and
all that he looks for from heaven he anticipates in answer to prayer. O for
more of that faith which makes its appeal to the divine veracity, and which
looks with steadfast eye to the promise of a covenant keeping God. --John
Morison.
Verse
170. -- Let my supplication come before thee. Observe the
order of the words here and in the preceding verse. First we had, "Let my
cry come near;" then "Give me understanding," and that
"according to thy word," and now we have "Let my prayer enter in
(LXX., Syr., Arb., Vulg.,) before thee." Just so, if you wish for an
interview with a man of very high rank, first you come near his house, then you
ask for information and instruction as to his intentions, then you ask
permission to enter, lest you should be driven away and refused admittance.
Knock therefore at the door of the heavenly palace: knock, not with your bodily
hand, but with the right hand of prayer. For the voice can knock as well as the
hand, as it is written, "It is the voice of my Beloved that
knocketh": Song of Solomon 5:2. And when you have knocked,
see how you go in, lest after entering you should not get the sight of the
King. For there are many who make their way into palaces, and do not at once
get an audience of an earthly sovereign, but have to watch constantly to obtain
an interview at last. Nor have they the choice of the opportunity, they come when
they are sent for, and then present their petition, if they wish to be
favourably received. -- Ambrose, in Neale and Littledale.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
170-174. -- The pleader: Psalms 119:170. The singer: Psalms 119:171. The preacher: Ps 119:172. The worker: Psalms 119:173. The waiter: Psalms 119:174.
Verse
170. --
EXPOSITION
Verse
171.
My lips shall utter praise, when thou hast taught we thy statutes. He will not
always be pleading for himself, he will rise above all selfishness, and render
thanks for the benefit received. He promises to praise God when he has obtained
practical instruction in the life of godliness: this is something to praise
for, no blessing is more precious. The best possible praise is that which
proceeds from men who honour God, not only with their lips, but in their lives.
We learn the music of heaven in the school of holy living. He whose life
honours the Lord is sure to be a man of praise. David would not only be
grateful in silence, but he would express that gratitude in appropriate terms:
his lips would utter what his life had practised. Eminent disciples are wont to
speak well of the master who instructed them, and this holy man, when taught
the statutes of the Lord, promises to give all the glory to him to whom it is
due.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
171. --
My lips shall utter praise. You have stood at the fountain head of a stream
of water, and admired while it bubbled up, and ran down in a clear little
rivulet, till at length it swelled the mighty river. Such is the allusion here.
The heart taught of God, cannot contain itself, but breaks out in praise and
singing. This would be the effect of divine illumination, and this would be felt
to be a privilege, yea, and a high duty. Have you not found so, believers,
specially on common occasions? Be assured, such utterances are the sign of a
renewed heart; yea, of a heart filled with all gratitude of right feeling. --
John Stephen.
Verse
171. --
My lips shall utter praise, etc.
O
make me, Lord, thy statutes learn!
Keep in thy ways my feet,
Then shall my lips divinely burn;
Then shall my songs be sweet.
Each sin I cast away shall make
My soul more strong to soar;
Each deed of holiness shall wake
A strain divine the more.
My
voice shall more delight thine ear
The more I wait on time;
The service bring my song more near
The angelic harmony.
T.
H. Gill, in "Breathings of the Better Life" 1881.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
171.
-- Taught; taught to praise; praising; praising for being taught.
Verse
171.
-- Learning to sing by learning to obey.
Verse
171.
-- The Happy Scholar.
Verse
171.
-- Lessons in Praise. --
EXPOSITION
Verse
172. My tongue shall speak of thy word. When he had done singing he
began preaching. God's tender mercies are such that they may be either said or
sung. When the tongue speaks of God's word it has a most fruitful subject; such
speaking will be as a tree of life, whose leaves shall be for the healing of
the people. Men will gather together to listen to such talk, and they will
treasure it up in their hearts. The worst of us is that for the most part we
are full of our own words, and speak but little of God's word. Oh, that we
could come to the same resolve as this godly man, and say henceforth, "My
tongue shall speak of thy word." Then should we break through our sinful
silence; we should no more be cowardly and half hearted, but should be true
witnesses for Jesus. It is not only of God's works that we are to speak, but of
his word. We may extol its truth, its wisdom, its preciousness, its grace, its
power; and then we may tell of all it has revealed, all it has promised, all it
has commanded, all it has effected. The subject gives us plenty of sea room; we
may speak on for ever: the tale is for ever telling, yet untold.
For
all thy commandments are righteousness. David appears to have been mainly
enamoured of the preceptive part of the word of God, and concerning the precept
his chief delight lay in its purity and excellence. When a man can speak this
from his heart, his heart is indeed a temple of the Holy Ghost. He had said
aforetime (Psalms 119:138), "Thy testimonies are
righteous," but here he declares that they are righteousness itself. The
law of God is not only the standard of right, but it is the essence of
righteousness. This the Psalmist affirms of each and every one of the precepts
without exception. He felt like Paul -- "The law is holy, and the
commandment holy and just and good." When a man has so high an opinion of
God's commandments it is little wonder that his lips should be ready to extol
the ever glorious One.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
172. -- My tongue shall speak of thy word. One duty of
thankfulness promised by David is, to speak of God's words for the edification
of others. Every Christian man, as he is a priest to offer sacrifice unto God,
so is he a prophet to teach his brethren; for unto us all stands that
commandment, "Edify one another in their most holy faith." But, alas,
ye shall see many Christians now, who at their tables, and in their companies,
can speak freely upon any subject; only for spiritual matters, which concern
the soul, there they are dumb, and cannot say with David, "My tongue shall
speak of thy word." -- William Cowper.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
172. --
Verse
172. -- Savoury Speech.
--C.A.D.
EXPOSITION
Verse
173. Let thine hand help me. Give me practical succour. Do not
entrust me to my friends or thy friends, but put thine own hand to the work.
Thy hand has both skill and power, readiness and force: display all these
qualities on my behalf. I am willing to do the utmost that I am able to do; but
what I need is thine help, and this is so urgently required that if I have it
not I shall sink. Do not refuse thy succour. Great as thy hand is, let it light
on me, even me. The prayer reminds me of Peter walking on the sea and beginning
to sink; he, too, cried, "Lord, help me," and the hand of his Master
was stretched out for his rescue.
For
I have chosen, thy precepts. A good argument. A man may fitly ask help from
God's hand when he has dedicated his own hand entirely to the obedience of the
faith. "I have chosen thy precepts." His election was made, his mind
was made up. In preference to all earthly rules and ways, in preference even to
his own will, he had chosen to be obedient to the divine commands. Will not God
help such a man in holy work and sacred service? Assuredly he will. If grace
has given us the heart with which to will, it will also give us the hand with
which to perform. Wherever, under the constraints of a divine call, we are
engaged in any high and lofty enterprise, and feel it to be too much for our
strength, we may always invoke the right hand of God in words like these.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
173. -- Let thine hand help me. David having before made
promises of thankfulness, seeks now help from God, that he may perform them.
Our sufficiency is not of ourselves, but of God; to will and to do are both
from him. In temporal things men ofttimes take great pains with small profit;
first, because they seek not to make their conscience good; next, because they
seek not help front God: therefore they speed no better than Peter, who fished
all night and got nothing till he cast his net in the name of the Lord. But in
spiritual things we may far less look to prosper, if we call not for God's
assistance: the means will not profit us unless God's blessing accompany them.
There is preaching, but for the most part without profit; there is prayer, but
it prevails not; there is hearing of the word, but without edifying; and all
because in spiritual exercises instant prayer is not made unto God, that his
hand may bc with us to help us. --Abraham Wright.
Verse
173. -- I have chosen thy precepts. Hath God given you a heart
to make choice of his ways? O bless God! There was a time when you went on in
giving pleasing to the flesh, and you saw then no better thing than such a kind
of life, and the Lord hath been pleased to discover better things to you, so as
to make you renounce your former ways, and to make choice of another way, in
which your souls have found other manner of comforts, and satisfactions, and
contentments than ever you did before. Bless God as David did: "Blessed be
the Lord who hath given me counsel"...Seeing God hath thus inclined your
heart to himself, be for ever established in your choice: seeing God hath shown
to you his ways, as Pilate said in another case, "That I have written I have
written": so say you, "That I have chosen I have chosen."
--Jeremiah Burroughs, in "Moses his Choice."
Verse
173, 174. -- I have chosen. My delight. Cheerfulness accompanies
election of a thing. Lumpishness is a sign we never chose it, but were forced
to it. Such cheerfulness in service procures cheerfulness in mercies: Isaiah
64:5, "Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh
righteousness." He puts to his hand to help such an one. Christ loves not
melancholy and phlegmatic service; such a temper in acts of obedience is a
disgrace to God and to religion: to God, it betrays us to have jealous thoughts
of God, as though he were a hard master; to religion, it makes others think
duties are drudgeries, and not privileges.
--Stephen
Charnock.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
173. --
Verse
173. --
--G.R.
Verse
173. --
(b)
Its wealth of contents (Psalms
104:28).
(c)
Its heavy blow (Psalms 39:10).
(d)
Its weight (1 Samuel 5:11).
(e)
Its saving reach (Isaiah 54:1).
(f)
Its sweet shadow (Isaiah 49:2), etc.
(a) His humble
representation.
(b) His down drawing of the hand of God.
--W.B.H.
Verse
173. -- Let Thy hand help me.
--W.J.
EXPOSITION
Verse
174. I have lounged for thy salvation, O LORD. He speaks like old
Jacob on his deathbed; indeed, all saints, both in prayer and in death, appear
as one, in word, and deed, and mind. He knew God's salvation, and yet he longed
for it; that is to say, he had experienced a share of it, and he was therefore
led to expect something yet higher and more complete. There is a salvation yet
to come, when we shall be clean delivered from the body of this death, set free
from all the turmoil and trouble of this mortal life, raised above the
temptations and assaults of Satan, and brought near unto our God, to be like
him and with him for ever and ever.
I
have longed for thy salvation, O Jehovah; and thy law is my delight. The first
clause tells us what the saint longs for, and this informs us what is his
present satisfaction. God's law, contained in the ten commandments, gives joy
to believers. God's law, that is, the entire Bible, is a well spring of
consolation and enjoyment to all who receive it. Though we have not yet reached
the fulness of our salvation, yet we find in God's word so much concerning a
present salvation that we are even now delighted.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
174. -- I have longed for thy salvation, 0 LORD, ere. The
thing which we learn hence out of David's joining these two together, I long
for salvation, and thy law is my delight, is this, that it is not enough for a
man to say, he longs and desires to be saved, unless he makes a conscience to
use the appointed means to bring him thereunto. It had been but hypocrisy in
David to say he longed for salvation, if his conscience had not been able to
witness with him that the law was his delight. It is mere mockery for a man to
say he longeth for bread, and prayeth to God every day to give him his daily
bread, if he yet walk in no calling, or else seek to get it by fraud and
rapine, not staying himself at all upon God's providence. Who will imagine that
a man wishes for health, who either despiseth or neglects the means of his
recovery? God hath in his own wisdom appointed a lawful means for every lawful
thing; this means, being obediently used, the comfortable obtaining of the end
may be confidently looked for; the means being not observed, to think to attain
to the end is mere presumption. God will deliver Noah from the flood, but Noah
must be "moved with reverence," and "prepare the ark" (Hebrews
11:7), or else he could not have escaped. He would save Lot from
Sodom, but yet Lot must hurry him out quickly, and not look behind him till he
have entered Zoar: Genesis 19:17. He was pleased to cure Hezekiah
of the plague, but yet Hezekiah must take "a lump of figs, and lay it upon
his boil:" Isaiah 38:21. He vouchsafed to preserve Paul and
company at sea, yet the sailors must "abide in the ship," else ye
cannot be saved, saith Paul: Acts
27:31. --Samuel Hieron, 1572-1617.
Verse
174. -- I have longed for thy salvation. It is God's salvation
proper that he must desire -- "thy salvation" -- for nothing else
could satisfy his pure mind -- perfect peace with God, perfect purity and
perfect hope. Now, if you ask what was God's way of delivering, and what was
his way of salvation, the answer is, it was set forth in his word, and was what
the Psalmist calls his "law." God's salvation and his law were
discerned to be one. "I have longed for thy salvation, O LORD; and thy law
is ray delight." -- John Stephen.
Verse
174. -- I have longed for thy salvations, O LORD.
"Salvation," by the "hand," or arm of Jehovah, (which is
often in Scripture a title of Messiah,) hath been the object of the hopes, the
desires, and "longing" expectations of the faithful, from Adam to
this hour, and will continue so to be until he, who hath already visited us in
great humility, shall come again in glorious majesty to complete our redemption
and take us to himself. -- George Horne.
Verse
174. -- I have longed for thy salvation, O LORD. For a present
salvation from the guilt and power of sin, and for future salvation, in the
full and everlasting enjoyment of God in heaven. David had the happiness to be
a partaker, both of pardoning mercy and of sanctifying grace; yet still he
longed for more of this salvation, that is, for a more assured faith of
pardoning mercy, and larger measures of sanctifying grace. A gracious soul is
insatiable; the more it hath received, the more it desires to receive.
Enjoyment, instead of surfeiting, sharpens the appetite. Nay, so sweet is the
relishing of spiritual things, that every renewed taste of them quenches the
thirst for other things.
Thy
law is my delight. Here David chooses the term "law" for denoting the
whole revelation of God's will, to remind us of the inseparable connexion
between privilege and duty, faith and obedience, holiness and comfort; and to
teach us that we ought to be thankful to God for the direction he hath given us
in the road to heaven, no less than for the promises by which we are assured of
the possession of it. --Robert Walker, 1716--1783.
Verse
174. -- Thy law is my delight. Religion will decay or
flourish, as it is our duty or our delight. The mind is incapable of continued
exertion for duty; but it readily falls in with "delight." Thus our
duties become our privileges, while Christ is their source and life. Every step
of progress is progress in happiness. This verse of which experience is the
best interpreter is the believer's language in his lively, as well as in his
fainting state. For the more be knows and enjoys of tim divine presence, the
more he longs to know and enjoy it. --Charles Bridges.
Verse
174. -- Delight, in the plural, "delights," as in
verses 24, 77, 92, 143. God's word is an abundant source of pleasure to his
people. --William S. Plumer.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
174. --
Verse
174. -- God's servant drinking at salvation's well, but unsated.
(a) At God's
salvation.
(b) At the rich Scripture inventory.
(a) For deeper
discoveries in the word.
(b) Richer
experiences in the life.
(c) Heaven's
consummation.
--W.B.H.
Verse
174. --
--W.B.H.
Verse
174. -- I have longed for thy salvation. Thy holy salvation. Thy full
salvation. Thy free salvation. Thy present salvation. Thy permanent salvation.
--W.J.
Verse
174. -- I have longed, etc. This longing arises,
--W.H.J.P.
EXPOSITION
Verse
175. Let my soul live. Fill it full of life, preserve it from
wandering into the ways of death, give it to enjoy the indwelling of the Holy
Ghost, let it live to the fulness of life, to the utmost possibilities of its
new created being.
And
it shall praise thee. It shall praise thee for life, for new life, for eternal
life, for thou art the Lord and Giver of life. The more it shall live, the more
it shall praise, and when it shall live in perfection it shall praise thee in
perfection. Spiritual life is prayer and praise.
And
let thy judgments help me. While I read the record of what thou hast done, in
terror or in love, let me be quickened and developed. While I see thy hand
actually at work upon me, and upon others, chastening sin, and smiling upon
righteousness, let me be helped both to live aright and to praise thee. Let all
thy deeds in providence instruct me, and aid me in the struggle to overcome sin
and to practise holiness. This is the second time he has asked for help in this
portion; he was always in need of it, and so are we.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
175. -- Let my soul live, and it shall praise thee, etc. This
verse containeth three things, first, David's petition for life: "Let my
soul live." "My soul;" that is, myself: the soul is put for the
whole man. The contrary: "Let me die with the Philistines," said
Samson (Judges 21:30); Hebrew, margin, "Let my soul
die." His life was sought after by the cruelty of his enemies; and he
desireth God to keep him alive.
Secondly,
His argument from the aim of his life; "And it shall praise thee."
The glorifying of God was his aim. The fruit of all God's benefits to profit
us, and praise God. David professes that all the days of his life he would live
in the sense and acknowledgment of such a benefit.
Thirdly,
The ground of his hope and confidence in the last clause: "And let thy
judgments help me." Our hopes of help are grounded on God's judgments,
whereby is meant his word. There are judgments decreed, judgments executed;
doctrinal judgments, and providential judgments, That place intimates the distinction:
"Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore
the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil:" Ecclesiastes
8:11. There is sententia lata et dilata. Here God's judgments are
put for the sentence pronounced; and chiefly for one part of them, the promises
of grace. As also, "I have hoped in thy judgments:" Ps 119:43.
Promises are the objects of hope. --Thomas Manton.
Verse
175. -- Let my soul live. What is the life that the Psalmist
is now praying for, but the salvation for which he had just expressed his
longing? The taste that he has received makes him hunger for a higher and more
continued enjoyment -- not for selfish gratification, but that he might employ
himself in the praise of his God. Indeed, as we have drawn towards the close of
this Psalm, we cannot but have observed that character of praise to pervade his
experience, which has been generally remarked in the concluding Psalms of this
sacred book. Much do we lose of spiritual strength for want of occupying
ourselves more in the exercise of praise. --Charles Bridges.
Verse
175. -- Live and praise. The saint improves his earthly things
for an heavenly end. Where layest thou up thy treasure? Dost thou bestow it on
thy voluptuous appetite, thy hawks and thy hounds; or dost thou lock it up in
the bosom of Christ's poor members? What use makest thou of thy honour and
greatness? To strengthen the hands of the godly or the wicked? And so of all
thy other temporal enjoyments. A gracious heart improves them for God; when a
saint prays for these things, he hath an eye to some heavenly end. If David
prays for life, it is not that he may live, but "live and praise
God." When he was driven from his regal throne by the rebellious arms of
Absalom see what his desire and hope were, 2
Samuel 15:25: "The king said unto Zadok, Carry back the ark of
God into the city: if I shall find favour in the eyes of the LORD, he will
bring me again, and shew me both it, and his habitation." Mark, not shew
me my crown, my palace, but the ark, the house of God. --William Guruall.
Verse
175. -- Live and praise. Liveliness of soul is the Spirit's
gift, and it will show itself in abounding praises. --Henry Law.
Verse
175. -- Let thy judgments help me. In the second clause it
would be harsh to understand the word "judgments" of the
commandments, to which it does not properly belong to give help. It seems,
then, that the prophet, perceiving himself liable to numberless calamities --
even as the faithful, by reason of the unbridled license of the wicked, dwell
in this world as sheep among wolves, -- calls upon God to protect him in the
way of restraining, by his secret providence, the wicked from doing him harm.
It is a very profitable doctrine, when things in the world are in a state of
great confusion, and when our safety is in danger amid so many and varied
storms, to lift up our eyes to the judgments of God, and to seek a remedy in
them. --John Calvin.
Verse
175, 176. --
Though like a
sheep estranged I stray,
Yet have I not renounced thy way.
Thine hand extend; thine own reclaim;
Grant me to live, and praise thy name.
Richard Mant.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
175. --
Verse
175. -- Praise.
EXPOSITION
Verse
176. This is the finale, the conclusion of the whole matter: I have
gone astray like a lost sheep -- often, wilfully, wantonly, and even
hopelessly, but for thine interposing grace. In times gone by, before I was afflicted,
and before thou hadst fully taught me thy statutes, I went astray. "I went
astray" from the practical precepts, from the instructive doctrines, and
from the heavenly experiences which thou hadst set before me. I lost my road,
and I lost myself. Even now I am apt to wander, and, in fact, have roamed
already; therefore, Lord, restore me.
Seek
thy servant. He was not like a dog, that somehow or other can find its way
back; but he was like a lost sheep, which goes further and further away from
home; yet still he was a sheep, and the Lord's sheep, his property, and
precious in his sight, and therefore he hoped to be sought in order to be
restored. However far he might have wandered he was still not only a sheep, but
God's "servant," and therefore he desired to be in his Master's house
again, and once more honoured with commissions for his Lord. Had he been only a
lost sheep he would not have prayed to be sought; but being also a
"servant" he had the power to pray. He cries, "See thy servant,"
and he hopes to be not only sought, but forgiven, accepted, and taken into work
again by his gracious Master.
Notice
this confession; many times in the psalm David has defended his own innocence
against foul mouthed accusers, but when he comes into the presence of the Lord
his God he is ready enough to confess his transgressions. He here sums up, not
only his past, but even his present life, under the image of a sheep which has
broken from its pasture, forsaken the flock, left the shepherd, and brought
itself into the wild wilderness, where it has become as a lost thing. The sheep
bleats, and David prays, "Seek thy servant."
His
argument is a forcible one, -- for l do not forget thy commandments. I know the
right, I approve and admire the right, what is more, I love the light, and long
for it. I cannot be satisfied to continue in sin, I must be restored to the
ways Of righteousness. I have a home sickness after my God, I pine after the
ways of peace; I do not and I cannot forget thy commandments, nor cease to know
that I am always happiest and safest when I scrupulously obey them, and find
all my joy in doing so. Now, if the grace of God enables us to maintain in our
hearts the loving memory of God's commandments it will surely yet restore us to
practical holiness. That man cannot be utterly lost whose heart is still with
God. If he be gone astray in many respects, yet still, if he be true in his
soul's inmost desires, he will be found again, and fully restored. Yet let the
reader remember the first verse of the psalm while he reads the last: the major
blessedness lies not in being restored from wandering, but in being upheld in a
blameless way even to the end. Be it ours to keep the crown of the causeway,
never leaving the King's highway for By path Meadow, or any other flowery path
of sin. May the Lord uphold us even to the end. Yet even then we shall not be
able to boast with the Pharisee, but shall still pray with the publican,
"God be merciful to me a sinner; "and with the Psalmist, "Seek
thy servant."
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse
176. -- I have gone astray like a lost sheep. Though a sheep
go astray, yet it is soon called back by file voice of the shepherd: "My
sheep hear my voice." Thus David when he went against Nabal was called
back by the Lord's voice in a woman; and when he had slain Uriah he was brought
again by Nathan. And therefore if we will be sheep, then though we sometimes go
astray, yet we must be easily reclaimed. --Richard Greenhorn.
Verse
176. -- I have gone astray like a lost sheep, driven out by
storm, or dark day, or by the hunting of the dogs chased out from the rest of
the flock. --David Dickson.
Verse
176. -- I have gone astray like a lost sheep, etc. And this is
all the conclusion -- "a lost sheep!" This long psalm of ascriptions,
praises, avowals, resolves, high hopes, ends in this, that he is a perishing
sheep. But, stay, there is hope -- "Seek thy servant." "I have
gone astray like a lost sheep." The original is of the most extensive
range, comprehending all time past, and also the habitual tendencies of the
man. The believer feels that he had gone astray when the grace of God found
him; that he had gone astray many times, had not the grace of God prevented it.
He feels that he went astray on such and such unhappy occasions. He also feels
that he hath gone astray in all that he hath done; and indeed that he is astray
now. But the word expresses the habitual tendency likewise -- I go astray like
a lost sheep, and this rendering is in keeping with the prayer, "Seek thy
servant." The third member is also properly rendered in keeping with it:
"I go astray like a lost sheep; seek thy servant; for I do not forget thy
commandments." All this is descriptive of the remaining corruption that is
in the believer. He is not unmindful of the Lord; he has the root of the matter
in him, the seed of divine life; yet he does go astray; whence the necessity of
the prayer: "Seek thy servant." Isaiah's description of men, although
conveyed in the same terms, is evidently more sweeping, as the context words
show: "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his
own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." This would
seem to apply to the race of man. Rather is the experience of the Psalmist
similar to that described by the apostle Paul: "I find a law, that when I
would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God, after
the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of
my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my
members." And the Psalmist had the same remedy at the early period, as had
the apostle in the later times; for God's salvation is one. The Psalmist's
remedy was, "Seek thy servant;" the apostle's,: "O wretched man
that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God
through Jesus Christ our Lord." --John Stephen.
Verse
176. -- I have gone astray. The original word signifies either
the turning of the foot, or the turning of the heart, or both, out of the way.
"I have gone astray like a lost sheep;" that is, I have been
deceived, and so have gone out of the way of thy holy commandments. Satan is an
ill guide, and our hearts are no better: he that follows either, quickly loseth
himself; and until God seeketh us (as David prays in the next words), we cannot
find our way when we are once out of it. --Joseph Caryl.
Verse
176. -- I have gone astray. Gotthold one day saw a farmer
carefully counting his sheep as they came from the field. Happening at the time
to be in an anxious and sorrowful mood, he gave vent to his feelings and said:
Why art thou cast down, my soul? and why disquieted with vexing thoughts?
Surely thou must be dear to the Most High as his lambs are to this farmer. Art
thou not better than many sheep? Is not Jesus Christ thy shepherd? Has not he
risked his blood and life for thee? Hast thou no interest in his words: "I
give unto my sheep eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any
pluck them out of my hand"? John
10:28. This man is numbering his flock; and thinkest thou that God
does not also count and care for his believing children and elect, especially
as his beloved Son has averred, that the very hairs of our head are all numbered?
Mt 10:30. During the day, I may perhaps have gone out of the way, and
heedlessly followed my own devices; still, at the approach of evening, when the
faithful Shepherd counts his lambs, he will mark my absence, and graciously
seek and bring me back. Lord Jesus, "I have gone astray like a lost sheep;
seek thy servant; for I do not forget thy commandments." --Christian
Striver (1629-1693), in Gotthold's Emblems.
Verse
176. -- I have gone astray, etc. Who is called "the man
after God's own heart"? David, the Hebrew king, had fallen into sins
enough -- blackest crimes -- there was no want of sin. And, therefore,
unbelievers sneer, and ask, "Is this your man after God's own heart?"
The sneer, it seems to me, is but a shallow one. What are faults, what are the
outward details of a life, if the inner secret of it, the remorse, temptations,
the often baffled, never ended struggle of it, be forgotten?...David's life and
history, as written for us in those psalms of his, I consider to be the truest
emblem ever given us of a man's moral progress and warfare here below. All
earnest souls will ever discover in it the faithful struggle of an earnest
human soul towards what is good and best. Struggle often baffled -- sore
baffled -- driven as into entire wreck; yet a struggle never ended, ever with
tears, repentance, true unconquerable purpose begun anew. --Thomas Carlyle,
(1795-1881), in "Heroes and Hero Worship."
Verse
176. -- For I do not forget thy commandments. In all my
wandering; with my consciousness of error; with my sense of guilt; I still do
feel that I love thy law, thy service, thy commandments. They are the joy of my
heart, and I desire to be recalled from all my wanderings, that I may find
perfect happiness in thee and in thy service evermore. Such is the earnest wish
of every regenerated heart. For as such a one may have wandered flora God, yet
he is conscious of true attachment to him and his service; he desires and
earnestly prays that he may be "sought out," brought back, and kept
from wandering any more. --Albert Barnes.
Verse
176. -- For I do not forget thy commandments. The godly never
so fall but there remains in them some grace, which reserves a hope of medicine
to cure them: so David here. Albeit he transgressed some of God's commandments,
yet he fell not into any full oblivion of them. --William Cowper.
Verse
176. -- I do not think that there could possibly be a more
appropriate conclusion of such a Psalm as this, so full of the varied
experience and the ever changing frames and feelings even of a child of God, in
the sunshine and the cloud, in the calm and in the storm, than this ever
clinging sense of his propensity to wander, and the expression of his utter
inability to find his way back without the Lord's guiding hand to restore him;
and at the same time with it all, his fixed and abiding determination never to
forget the Lord's commandments. What an insight into our poor wayward hearts
does this verse give us -- not merely liable to wander, but ever wandering,
ever losing our way, ever stumbling on the dark mountains, even while cleaving
to God's commandments! But at the same time what a prayer does it put into our
mouths, "Seek thy servant," -- "I am thine, save me." Yes,
blessed be God! there is One mighty to save. "Kept by the power of God
through faith unto salvation." --Barton Bouchier.
As
far as I have been able, as far as I have been aided by the Lord, I have
treated throughout, and expounded, this great Psalm. A task which more able and
learned expositors have performed, or will perform better; nevertheless, my
services were not to be withheld from it on that account, when my brethren
earnestly required it of me. -- Augustine.
HINTS
FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse
176. --
Verse
176. --
--G.R.
Verse
176. -- The last verse as such. The closing minor cadence.
--C.A.D.
WORKS
WRITTEN ABOUT THE 119 PSALM. IN SPURGEON'S DAY
Two
and Twentie Sermons of Maister Iohn Caluin. In which Sermons is most
religiously handled, the hundredth and nineteenth Psalme of Dauid, by eight
verses apart according to the Hebrew Alphabet. Translated out of French into
Englishe by Thomas Stocker. Imprinted at London for John Harison and Thomas
Man. 1580. 4to
"An
Exposition on the 119 Psalme." In "The Workes of...M. RICHARD
GREENHAM" pp. 379-608, folio, 1612.
A
Holy Alphabet for Sion's Scholars; Full of Spiritval Instrvctions, and Heavenly
Consolations, to direct and encourage them in their Progresse towards the New
Jerusaleum: Deliuered, by way of Commentary vpon the whole 119 Psalme. By
WILLIAM COWPER, Minister of God's Word, and B. of Galloway...4to. London...
1613. Also in Bishop Cowper's Works pp. 359 474, folio, 1629.
"Summary
and Holy Observations collected out of the route first Octonaries or parts of
the hundred and nineteenth Psalme."
The
above will be found in "A Commentarie upon the first and second chapters
of Saint Paul to the Colossians...together with divers places of Scripture
briefly explained. By Mr. Paul Bayne, B. D. London: 1635." 4to
One
Hundred and Ninety Sermons on the Hundred and Nineteenth Psalm. By the Rev.
THOMAS MANTON, D.D., Folio. London, 1725. Also 3 vols., 8vo., 1842; 3 vols.
(with Life), 1845; and in vols. 7,8, and 9 of Nichol's (now Nisbet's) edition
of Manton's Works.
An
Hundred, Seventy and Six, SACRED OBSERVATIONS. Upon the Several VERSES of (The
Sweetest of PSALMES) the Hundred and Nineteenth PSALM, Stated, Opened, and
Applied (as a brief Exposition thereon) to the People of WEST COWES, in the
Isle of WIGHT, being the Exercise of my Publick Ministry, in their New Chappel,
lately Consecrated by the Right Reverend Father in God, George Lord Bishop of
WINTON.
The
preceding forms the latter part of a very small 8 vo. entitled "MOSES
REVIVED," on "The Unlawfulness of Eating Blood"; by John Moore,
1669. The exposition is simply worthless, and we notice it merely to save
collectors of Psalm literature trouble and expense.
Exposition
of Psalm 119 as illustrative of the Character and Exercises of Christian
Experience. By the Rev. CHARLES BRIDGES, M.A. 12mo 1827, and many subsequent
editions.
Lord's
Day Literature: or, Illustrations of the Book of Psalms, from the Hundred and
Nineteenth Psalm consecutively. By R. B. SANDERSON, Esq., B.A. 12mo 1842.
The
Utterance of the 119. Psalm; expounded in a Series of Lectures. By the Rev.
JOHN STEPHEN, A.M. Free John Knox's, Aberdeen... 1861. 2mo
── C.H. Spurgeon《The Treasury of David》