Psalms 116:16

O LORD, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds. O LORD, TRULY I AM THY SERVANT - `O Lord, I pray thee, (accept, graciously my thanksgiving), because I am thy servant.' The Hebrew [ 'aanaah (H577)] expresses prayer rather than affirmation. He prays for permission to express publicly his gratitude, as a special favour which God bestows on "His servants" whom He delivers. AND THE SON OF THINE HANDMAID - (Psalms 86:16.) Here the language is overruled by the Spirit to typify Messiah, the antitypical Israel, the "servant of Yahweh" (Isaiah 42:1), and at the same time the Divine Son of the Virgin, who said ...

16_Come, O Jehovah! because I am thy servant. _As, in the former verse, he gloried that in him God had given an example of the paternal regard which he has for the faithful, so here he applies, in an especial manner, to himself the general doctrine, by declaring that his _fetters had been broken, _in consequence of his being included among the number of God’s servants. He employs the term_fetters, _as if one, with hands and feet bound, were dragged by the executioner. In assigning, as the reason of his deliverance, that he was God’s servant, he by no means vaunts of his services, but rather refers to God’s unconditional election; for we cannot make ourselves his servants, that being an honor conferred upon us solely by his adoption. Hence David affirms, that he was not God’s servant merely, but the _son of his handmaid. _“From the womb of my mother, even before I was born, was this honor...

10-19 When troubled, we do best to hold our peace, for we are apt to speak unadvisedly. Yet there may be true faith where there are workings of unbelief; but then faith will prevail; and being humbled for our distrust of God's word, we shall experience his faithfulness to it. What can the pardoned sinner, or what can those who have been delivered from trouble or distress, render to the Lord for his benefits? We cannot in any way profit him. Our best is unworthy of his acceptance; yet we ought to devote ourselves and all we have to his service. I will take the cup of salvation; I will offer the drink-offerings appointed by the law, in token of thankfulness to God, and rejoice in God's goodness to me. I will receive the cup of affliction; that cup, that bitter cup, which is sanctified to the saints, so that to them it is a cup of salvation; it is a means of spiritual health. The cup of co...

Verse Psalms 116:16. _I_ AM _THY SERVANT_] Thou hast preserved me alive. I live _with, for_, and _to_ THEE. I am thy _willing domestic, the son of_ _thine handmaid _- like one born in thy house of a woman already thy property. I am a _servant_, son of _thy servant_, made free by thy kindness; but, refusing _to go out_, I have had my _ear bored to thy_ _door-post_, and am to continue by _free choice_ in thy house for ever. He alludes here to the case of the servant who, in the year of jubilee being entitled to his liberty, refused to leave his master's house; and suffered his ear to be bored to the door-post, as a proof that by his own consent he agreed to continue in his master's house for ever....

O LORD, TRULY I AM THY SERVANT - In view of thy mercy in delivering me from death, I feel the obligation to give myself to thee. I see in the fact that thou hast thus delivered me, evidence that I am thy servant - that I am so regarded by thee; and I recognize the obligation to live as becomes one who has had this proof of favor and mercy. THE SON OF THINE HANDMAID - Of a pious mother. I see now the result of my training. I call to my recollection the piety of a mother. I rememberer how she served thee; how she trained me up for thee; I see now the evidence that her prayers were heard, and that her efforts were blessed in endeavoring to train me up for thee. The psalmist saw now that, under God, he owed all this to the pious efforts of a mother, and that God had been pleased to bless those efforts in making him his child, and in so guiding him that it was not improper for him to speak. o...

EXPOSITION A PSALM of thanksgiving on deliverance from an imminent peril, placed in the mouth of an individual, but possibly intended for liturgical use on some occasion of a national deliverance. Hengstenberg regards it as composed for use at a festival service shortly after the return from the Captivity. Others adhere to the old Hebrew tradition, which ascribed it to Hezekiah, and considered it to have been written on the occasion of his deliverance from death, as narrated in Isaiah 38:1. Many resemblances are traced between the phraseology of the psalm and expressions attributed to Hezekiah in Isaiah 37:1; Isaiah 38:1....

O LORD, TRULY I [AM] THY SERVANT, I [AM] THY SERVANT,.... Not merely by creation, and as obliged by providential favours; but by the grace of God, which made him a willing one: and he was so, not nominally only, but in reality; not as those who say Lord, Lord, but do not the will of God; whereas he served the Lord cheerfully and willingly, in righteousness and true holiness: and this he repeats for the confirmation of it, and to show his heartiness in the Lord's service, and his zealous attachment to him; and which he mentions, not as though he thought his service meritorious of anything at the hand of God; but that his being in this character was an obligation upon him to serve the Lord, and him only, and might expect his protection in it; [AND] THE SON OF THY HANDMAID; his mother was also a servant of the Lord; and had trained him up in his infancy in the nurture and admonition of the...

In this Psalm, David tells us his experience with regard to God and with regard to men. Psalms 116:1. _I love the LORD, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications._ Answered prayer is a good reason for loving God. David was in his right senses; and he was, by no means, a fool, yet he declared that God had answered his prayer, and, therefore, he loved him. And this is not only David's experience, but there are thousands of us who can say that God has heard our prayers, and therefore we love him. How can we help doing so? Psalms 116:2. _Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live._ If a beggar in the street were to say to us, «Because you have relieved me once, I will beg of you as long as I live,»

Psalms 116 The Praise of Israel for Deliverance from Death _ 1. The Deliverance-Experience (Psalms 116:1)_ 2. Thanksgiving (Psalms 116:10) Redeemed Israel expresseth in this Psalm her love to Jehovah for His gracious deliverances, for answered prayer and for His salvation. They were, during the great tribulation, as a faithful remnant; surrounded by the sorrows of death, the pains of Sheol were upon them. Death stared them in the face. Then they cried to the Lord, and, as of old, He heard them and sent deliverance. He dealt bountifully with them, delivered them from death, the eyes from tears, the feet from falling. And now they serve Him, taking the cup of salvation and performing their vo

CXVI. A SONG OF COMFORT IN AFFLICTION. There is nothing to justify the division into two Pss. (_a_) Psalms 116:1, (_b_) Psalms 116:10 (LXX); the same theme in its double aspect is continued throughout. PSALMS 116:2_ b._ Read, and I will call on the name of Yahweh. Psalms 116:3. _Cf._ Psalms 18:4 f. Psalms 116:6. simple: in a good sense: contrast...