Psalms 119:158

I beheld the transgressors, and was grieved; because they kept not thy word. I BEHELD THE TRANSGRESSORS - literally, the treacherous transgressors (note, ); unfaithful to their covenanted duty to their neighbour, as well as to God. AND WAS GRIEVED (; ) - not so much for the injury which they did to me, as for the dishonour to thee....

158._I saw the perfidious and child them. _In this verse the Psalmist proceeds yet farther, declaring that he was inflamed with a holy zeal when he saw the law of God despised by the wicked. Expositors are not however agreed as to one word in the text, namely the verb אתקוטטה _, ethkotatah, _which we have rendered _chid, _some deriving it from קוט, _kut, _which often signifies _to debate _or _contend with, _it being in the conjugation _hithpael, _while others derive it from קטט _karat, _which signifies _to kill _or _to destroy. _I adopt the former interpretation, because it is more generally received among the learned, and is most appropriate. The Prophet then teaches that he was inflamed with such zeal for the law of God that he could no longer endure the impious mockery directed against it. The

89-96 The settling of God's word in heaven, is opposed to the changes and revolutions of the earth. And the engagements of God's covenant are established more firmly than the earth itself. All the creatures answer the ends of their creation: shall man, who alone is endued with reason, be the only unprofitable burden of the earth? We may make the Bible a pleasant companion at any time. But the word, without the grace of God, would not quicken us. See the best help for bad memories, namely, good affections; and though the exact words be lost, if the meaning remain, that is well. I am thine, not my own, not the world's; save me from sin, save me from ruin. The Lord will keep the man in peace, whose mind is stayed on him. It is poor perfection which one sees and end of. Such are all things in this world, which pass for perfections. The glory of man is but as the flower of the grass. The psa...

Verse 158. _I BEHELD THE TRANSGRESSORS, AND WAS GRIEVED_] Literally, _I was affected with anguish_....

I BEHELD THE TRANSGRESSORS - Those who wronged me; those who violated the law of God. AND WAS GRIEVED - Or, “sickened.” The word used here means commonly to loathe, to nauseate, to sicken. Ezekiel 16:47; Psalms 95:10. I was made sad, sorry, sick at heart. I did not look on them with anger; I did not desire to take revenge upon them; I did not return evil for evil. My heart was sad that people would do wrong; that they would expose themselves to such danger. See the notes at Psalms 119:136. BECAUSE THEY KEPT NOT THY WORD - Because they violated thy law; because they were sinners....

EXPOSITION This is an "alphabetic psalm" of a more stringent character than any other. It consists of twenty-two stanzas, each of eight verses, every verse in each stanza beginning with its own proper letter—those of stanza 1 with _aleph_,_ _the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet; those of stanza 2 with _both_,_ _the second letter; and so on. The writer, having thus fettered himself, moves with some difficulty, but still has produced what has been justly called "a sweetly monotonous meditation" (Cheyne). He takes the Law for his one and only subject, and, further, seems to have bound himself, almost absolutely, to introduce the word "Law," or something which he regards as a synonym of "Law," into every verse. The synonyms are nine in number— 1. TORAH, "the Law"_ _itself; but not merely the Law given on Mount Sinai; rather, God's law in the widest sense, all whereby he

I BEHELD THE TRANSGRESSORS, AND WAS GRIEVED,.... Transgressors of the law of God, profane sinners; such as among whom he dwelt in Mesech and Kedar; it grieved him when he beheld their wicked life and conversation; as Lot in Sodom; and Isaiah and Jeremiah, among persons of unclean lips, and an assembly of treacherous men: and the word here used signifies "treacherous" g persons; and may design not the profane only, but professors also; that dealt treacherously with God and men, made a profession of religion, but walked not agreeably to it, which is matter of grief to good men; see Philippians 3:18; as well as the conduct of abandoned sinners; with whom the psalmist was grieved, not so much on his own account, being hated and persecuted by them, as on their account, because of the ruin they brought upon themselves; but chiefly because of the dishonour of God, and their disregard to his

Psalms 119:145. _I cried with my whole heart; hear me. O LORD: I will keep thy statutes._ It is sweet to look back upon our prayers, if those prayers were uttered with our whole heart, for it is no small work of divine grace to enable us to throw the whole heart into prayer; and when we get that we may be quite sure that our prayer will succeed. The God who gives us grace to pray with the whole heart will be sure to reply to the prayer. After prayer David uttered a resolution, «I will keep thy statutes.» He was resolved upon this with his whole heart, and though a resolution is not enough, for many make resolves and break them, yet no man is likely to keep God's word who does not resolve to do so. Therefore is it needful, first, to cry in prayer, and then to resolve with the whole heart to walk according to God's will....

Psalms 119 The Law Written on Their Hearts and the Praise of the Word This is the longest and most perfect Psalm in the whole collection. It is an alphabetical acrostic. It is composed of 22 sections, each having eight verses, 176 verses in all. Each section begins with a different letter of the alphabet and each verse of the different sections begins also with the corresponding letter of the section. Eight times each letter of the alphabet is mentioned in the 22 sections. The number eight in the Word has the meaning of resurrection, death is gone and life has come. Israel has passed from death to life and now extols the Word and the Law of God. The time has come when it is fulfilled what the Lord spoke through Jeremiah concerning the new covenant, “I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts.” We behold then in this Psalm the joy of Israel in knowing the Word

CXIX. PRAISE OF THE LAW. This is the longest and most artificial Ps. in the whole collection. It is divided into twenty-two strophes, each beginning with one of the twenty-two letters of the Heb. alphabet in regular order. Again each strophe contains eight verses, and each verse begins with the same letter which introduces the strophe. The number of strophes then is determined by the number of the Heb. letters. But what of the eight verses in each strophe? The Psalmist had derived from a kindred Ps., viz. Psalms 19, the eight synonyms for the conception Word of God and impresses these terms on his readers by introducing them all into each stanza of his work. So Cheyne, in his _Book of Psalms_ (1904), following D. H. Mü ller. It is right, however, to bear in mind that this theory involves considerable, though by no means extravagant or arbitrary, changes in the received text both of Psalm...