_This psalm containeth sundry prayers, praises, and professions of obedience._ ALEPH. THIS psalm is supposed to have been written by David under the reign of Saul, in which he was frequently persecuted, but in which also he had some quiet intervals; (see Psalms 119:54.) when he had leisure to write... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY ALSO DO NO INIQUITY— Or, _That also do no iniquity; that walk in his ways. For they commit no iniquity who walk in his ways._ Green and Mudge.... [ Continue Reading ]
O THAT MY WAYS— The word here principally signifies, the motions and inclinations of the mind and heart, upon which all our actions depend. _When I have respect unto,_ in the next verse, is rendered by Mudge, _When I keep my eye upon._ The original imports a strong application of the mind and heart... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL PRAISE THEE, &C.— _I do homage to thee in honesty of heart, when I am learning the judgments of thy righteousness._ This expresses the rapture that he is in when learning the laws of God. He cannot, in the sincerity of his soul, refrain from doing homage to God: Mudge; who instead of the word... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEREWITHAL SHALL A YOUNG MAN— Or, _Wherewith shall a young man cleanse his way, that he may observe thy word?_ The original word זכה _zakkah,_ rendered, _cleanse,_ signifies to _make clean, purify._ See Psalms 73:13. 2 Samuel 11:4. But, on the whole, I consider our version as more elegant than the... [ Continue Reading ]
BLESSED ART THOU, O LORD— The meaning seems to be this, "Thou, O Jehovah, art blessed; i.e. the supreme God, to whom I acknowledge all blessing and adoration to be due. Teach me therefore thy ordinances, as being the only laws, to which we owe all obedience.... [ Continue Reading ]
WITH MY LIPS, &C.— _With my lips do I recount,_ &c. This means, that he repeats over and learns by heart all God's laws. Mudge. GIMEL.... [ Continue Reading ]
DEAL BOUNTIFULLY WITH THY SERVANT— The original word גמל _gamal,_ signifies either to do good, or to render or return good: If we understand it in this latter sense, this return must be here considered as a reward, not of merit but of mercy.... [ Continue Reading ]
OPEN THOU MINE EYES— That is, "Illuminate the eyes of my mind by thy grace, that I may clearly discern the admirable wisdom hidden in thy law;" for the Hebrew word נפלאות _niphlaoth,_ rendered _wondrous things,_ signifies _hidden wonders._ The distressed circumstances of the Psalmist, when compared... [ Continue Reading ]
MY SOUL BREAKETH, &C.— This may be rendered, _is taken up,_ or wholly employed, in longing for, or love to thy judgments.... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU HAST REBUKED THE PROUD, &C.— _Thou rebukest the proud; cursed are they that stray from thy commandments._ Houb. and Mudge. The _proud_ in this psalm mean the atheistical contemptuous disregarders of God and his laws.... [ Continue Reading ]
PRINCES ALSO DID SIT AND SPEAK— _Though princes are continually consulting against me, thy servant will make thy ordinances his theme:_ Psalms 119:24. _For thy testimonies are my delight, thy statutes my counsellors._ See Mudge, Houbigant, and Psalms 50:20. DALETH.... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE DECLARED MY WAYS— _I recount over my ways when thou afflictest me._ Mudge. Affliction made him reflect on his ways, and gave him sufficient reason to pray to God to teach him his ordinances.... [ Continue Reading ]
MY SOUL MELTETH, &C.— Or, _My soul droppeth for heaviness; raise thou me,_ &c. It has been thought by some, that David utters this sad complaint in compunction for the guilt of his supposed deceit, and the consequences of that deceit, at Nob: But Dr. Delaney vindicates him entirely from any such cha... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THOU SHALT ENLARGE MY HEART— _For thou enlargest my heart._ Mudge. Or, _Because thou hast dilated my heart._ This seems to come from one who feels his heart expanded, after some distress and heaviness which had contracted it. This gives him spirits. HE.... [ Continue Reading ]
UNTO THE END— _Quite through;_ the Hebrew is, עקב _eikeb, to the heel._ The force of the words seems to be, "Quite through, from head to foot." Mudge.... [ Continue Reading ]
NOT TO COVETOUSNESS— That is, an immoderate desire of worldly goods.... [ Continue Reading ]
STABLISH THY WORD UNTO THY SERVANT— _Make good thy word unto thy servant; which will issue in thy fear. Which will be thy fear; i.e._ thy honour; it will turn to thy honour. _There is mercy with thee, therefore shalt thou be feared; i.e._ honoured; this would be a foundation of homage to God. So her... [ Continue Reading ]
TAKE NOT THY WORD OF TRUTH UTTERLY, &C.— The judgments of God were that word of truth in which he trusted: to pray God, therefore, not to take them out of his mouth, is the same as to pray that God would act agreeably to his word; for otherwise he could no longer, with any grace, make use of it, or... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I WILL WALK AT LIBERTY— That is, "Having then no such incumbrances upon me as I now have in these straits and difficulties, I will do my duty with the greater cheerfulness and joy." See Psalms 119:32.... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL SPEAK, &C.— Dr. Delaney supposes that here is an immediate reference to Achish, king of Gath, whom he apprehends to have been instructed in religion by David. See Life of David, b. i. c. 24.... [ Continue Reading ]
MY HANDS ALSO WILL I LIFT UP— That is, says Mudge, "I will hold up my hands to receive God's law into them: I will be always reading it.'' Others think that the meaning is, "I will exemplify my love of thy commandments by a diligent and zealous practice of them." Thus, by lifting up the hands, is fr... [ Continue Reading ]
REMEMBER THE WORD UNTO THY SERVANT— i.e. "Be pleased, therefore, in due time to perform the promise which thou hast long ago made me, and concerning the performance whereof thou hast given me an assured hope." See 2 Samuel 5 and 1 Samuel 11:13.... [ Continue Reading ]
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.... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS I HAD, &C.— That is, "this sweet composure of mind, this cheerfulness of spirit, under all these afflictions." CHETH.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE BANDS OF THE WICKED, &C.— _The troops,_ &c. "I have been beset with troops of wicked men, who stripped me of all I had." Houbigant, after the LXX and Vulgate, reads, _The cords_ or _snares of the wicked have bound,_ or _entangled me._ See 1 Samuel 23:26. TETH.... [ Continue Reading ]
TEACH ME GOOD JUDGMENT— The Hebrew words properly signify, a goodness of taste, with relation to the palate; and it is only figuratively, and by way of analogy, that they signify a goodness of judgment, or the good sense and discernment of the mind.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEIR HEART IS AS FAT AS GREASE— Or, _Is gross, as with fat._ Or, _Gross as fat._ Houb. By this fatness of the heart, stupidity, dullness, and earthly-mindedness are designed, as _pinguis Minerva_ signifies among the Latins. The lean, membraneous parts, are, according to the naturalists, the only se... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THEY DEALT PERVERSELY WITH ME— _For they causelessly wrest my steps._ The original has the signification of perverting, or wresting the steps of any one so as to throw him down, or trip up his heels. "Let the proud be disappointed, who endeavour to trip me up without cause." Mudge.... [ Continue Reading ]
LET THOSE THAT FEAR THEE, &C.— The sense of this is much the same with that of the 74th verse; that good men, seeing what God had done for them, should turn themselves to him, take encouragement from him, and recognize the righteousness of God's laws, which protected his friends. CAPH.... [ Continue Reading ]
MINE EYES FAIL— That is with attentively looking around me, to see from whence that promised deliverance will come. _A bottle in the smoke,_ Psalms 119:83 means a bottle of skin or leather, (the only bottles then in use,) which being hung up in the smoke, and by that means parched and dry, aptly rep... [ Continue Reading ]
HOW MANY ARE THE DAYS OF THY SERVANT— That is, "how long shall the days of that trouble and affliction last, which I am now forced to endure under the persecutions of Saul?... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PROUD, &C.— If we understand the latter clause of this verse to refer to _pits,_ the meaning is, "which insidious designs against an innocent person are not after thy law." But Mudge renders it thus: _The proud dig pits for me, who are not according to thy law: i.e._ who act and behave without a... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY HAD ALMOST CONSUMED ME UPON EARTH— _They had almost destroyed me in the land:_ The Land of Judah_._ See 1 Samuel 23:26. LAMED.... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR EVER, O LORD, THY WORD, &C.— Or, _Thou art for ever, O Lord; thy word,_ &c. Mudge renders it, _Thy word, O Lord, is for ever; firmly fixed in heaven._ God's word, and his truth or faithfulness, upon which his laws are founded, are as fixed as the heaven and the earth; for they owe their durablen... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE SEEN AN END OF ALL PERFECTION— i.e. "I have observed that all human things, how complete soever they may seem, such as wisdom and policy, and riches and power, are exceeding frail, and soon come to an end:" _but thy commandment is exceeding broad:_ that is, The observance of thy commandments... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THEY ARE EVER WITH ME— _For they_ (i.e. thy commandments) _are ever with me,_ always before me, to direct and advise me in right, to exhort and restrain me from wrong. For the same reason Psalms 119:99, _I have more understanding than all my teachers:_ All those doctors of the law, of whom I hav... [ Continue Reading ]
MY SOUL IS CONTINUALLY IN MY HAND— See Job 13:14. Some copies read _thy hand,_ and they are followed by Appolinarius, and the Ethiopic and Arabic versions: but the present seems the more proper reading, as the expression denotes a state of constant danger. See 1 Samuel 28:21. SAMECH.... [ Continue Reading ]
I HATE WILD IMAGINATIONS— The original word סעפים _seiaphiim,_ signifies the shootings or branchings of the mind, all wild roving fancies, (such was the heathen theology) in opposition to the truth and solidity of the law. Mudge.... [ Continue Reading ]
HIDING-PLACE— Or, _Covert._... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL HAVE RESPECT UNTO— Or, _I shall delight myself in._... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THEIR DECEIT IS FALSEHOOD— _For their falsehood shall prove a lie:_ their falsehood to God, in abandoning his law, shall deceive them. Mudge. Some render the words, _For their cunning is falsehood,_ but Houbigant, _For their elation is vain._ _PSALMS 119:119. THOU PUTTEST AWAY,_ &C.— _Thou caus... [ Continue Reading ]
LEAVE ME NOT— _Thou wilt not leave me._ Mudge.... [ Continue Reading ]
IT IS TIME FOR THEE, LORD, TO WORK— Or as some render it, _It is time to perform to the Lord._ Or, _it is time to execute judgment._ Bishop Hare. The phrase as it stands in our version, means the same as the last reading. "It is time for thee to display thy power in the deliverance of me, and in the... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE I ESTEEM, &C.— _Therefore I keep straight on, according to all thy commandments: every false part I hate._ See Houbigant and Mudge. But some render it, _Therefore all thy precepts, even all, have I approved; and I hate,_ &c. PE.... [ Continue Reading ]
THY TESTIMONIES ARE WONDERFUL— Namely, on account of the excellent wisdom contained in them. Mudge renders the first clause of the next verse thus: _The opening of thy words causeth a light:_ "Thy words are no sooner opened, than there streams a light from them." The 131st verse should be rendered,... [ Continue Reading ]
RIVERS OF WATERS RUN DOWN MINE EYES— _Mine eyes run down streams of water._ The genius of the language requires that it be so translated; not _streams of water come down mine eyes._ See Houb. and Mudge. Schultens reads, _Mine eyes are_ [_as it were_] _drenched in rivers of waters._ TSADDI.... [ Continue Reading ]
MY ZEAL HATH CONSUMED ME— See Psalms 69:9. "My zeal towards thy law, which my enemies violate and contemn." The original of _very pure,_ in the next verse, is, _tried in the fire;_ an allusion to metals, which are perfectly refined in the furnace and purified from all dross. Thus, in a spiritual sen... [ Continue Reading ]
MINE EYES PREVENT THE NIGHT-WATCHES— The Jews anciently divided the night into three watches, which began at what we now call six of the clock in the evening, and consisted each of four hours: the Romans afterwards introduced among them the custom of dividing it into four watches; consisting of thre... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY DRAW NIGH, &C.— _They draw near that pursue me with malicious subtlety: Men far removed from thy law._—Ver. 151. _Do thou draw near, O Lord, since all,_ &c. RESH.... [ Continue Reading ]
THY WORD IS TRUE— _The beginning of thy word was truth; and to everlasting shall every judgment of thy righteousness be so._ "God's word, and every article, of his law, was, and ever will be truth, first and last: what he spoke first was truth, and so will be every determination of his to the end of... [ Continue Reading ]
PRINCES— The rulers and prime ministers of thy kingdom. _But my heart standeth in awe;_ namely, so as to do nothing contrary to thy word in my own vindication. See 1 Samuel 24:6; 1 Samuel 26:9.... [ Continue Reading ]
SEVEN TIMES A DAY DO I PRAISE THEE— That is, probably, several times: a determinate number for an indeterminate, as is common in scripture.... [ Continue Reading ]
NOTHING SHALL OFFEND THEM— Or, according to the original, _There is no scandal to them: i.e._ "They shall fall upon no stumbling-block, into no snare which their enemies lay for them;" or, "They shall be in no danger from those snares and temptations which the world is full of, and which frequently... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR ALL MY WAYS ARE BEFORE THEE— What is the meaning of a man's _ways being before God,_ will best be known by parallel phrases; such as _walking before God,_ or _in his sight;_ which signify to live piously, so as in be approved by him. Here then, though it is certain that all men's actions are see... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE GONE ASTRAY, &C.— _"I have wandered like a sheep which is lost,_ driven from place to place during these tedious persecutions;" _seek thy servant;_ that is, "Be thou pleased, like a careful shepherd, to look after me, and to put me in the right way of escaping all the dangers to which I am ex... [ Continue Reading ]