Psalms 119:160

Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever. THY WORD IS TRUE (FROM) THE BEGINNING - literally, 'the beginning of thy Word is truth,' in antitheses to the "enduring forever," in the future, in the next clause. So the Chaldaic, Septuagint, Vulgate, Arabic, and Syriac versions. Thy word has always been true "from the beginning:" and so also every one of thy righteous judgments (endureth) forever. "From the beginning" implies positively from the time when first it came to the knowledge of man; and by implication, from everlasting, as it shall be unto everlasting ("forever"). As in he sought quickening on the ground of God's "loving-kindness," so here on the ground of His "truth." Cocceius and Hengstenberg take it, 'The sum of thy Word is true,' as in...

160._The beginning of thy word is truth. _The design of the Prophet it is not difficult to perceive; but the words admit of being understood in two ways. Some interpret the noun _beginning _as denoting that the truth of God shines forth conspicuously in his word, immediately when we enter for the first time upon the study of it, so that this entrance may justly be called the beginning of the word. This sentence contains the profitable doctrine, that if we are finished with eyes of understanding, we will no sooner cast our eyes upon heavenly doctrine than the truth of it will meet our view. Others, however, give a different explanation, and perhaps with no less propriety, eliciting this sense, That the word of God has been from the beginning certain and infallible truth, and will continue so even to the end. These two clauses hang very well together — that God has been true to his word fr...

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 Psalms 119:160. _THY WORD_ IS _TRUE_ FROM _THE BEGINNING_] ראש _rosh,_ the _head_ or _beginning_ of thy word, is _true_. Does he refer to the _first word_ in the Book of _Genesis_, בראשית bereshith, "in the beginning?" The learned reader knows that ראש _rash_, or _raash_, is the _root_ in that word. Every word thou hast spoken from the first in _Bereshith_ (Genesis) to the end of the law and prophets, and all thou wilt yet speak, as flowing from the _fountain of truth_, must be true; and all shall have in due time, their fulfillment. And all these, thy words endure _for ever_. They are _true_, and _ever will be_ _true_. ANALYSIS OF LETTER RESH. - _TWENTIETH DIVISION_ I. 1. The psalmist begins with

THY WORD IS TRUE FROM THE BEGINNING - literally, “The head of thy word is truth.” Probably the meaning is, that the “principles” of God’s word were truth, or were based on truth. The main thing - that on which all relied - was truth, absolute truth. It was not “made” truth by the mere will of God, but it was “founded on” essential truth. Compare Psalms 119:142, note; Psalms 119:144, note. Margin, “The beginning of thy word is true.” Its origin is truth; its foundation is truth; its essential nature is truth. See Psalms 19:9. AND EVERY ONE OF THY RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENTS ENDURETH FOR EVER - Since any one of thy laws is as certainly founded in trut

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

THY WORD [IS] TRUE [FROM] THE BEGINNING,.... Every word of promise God made from the beginning of the world, and in any period of time; as to Adam, to Abraham, to the Israelites, or to any other person or persons; was true in itself, and faithfully performed, not one ever failed; particularly the promise concerning the Messiah, made to Adam in Eden; and which has been spoken of by all the prophets which have been since the world began, Genesis 3:15. Or it maybe rendered, as the Targum, "the beginning of thy word is truth h:'' which a man finds to be so as soon as ever he enters upon the reading of it. Some refer this to the first chapter of Genesis; others to the first part of the decalogue, concerning the unity of God and his worship; so Aben Ezra, and R. Jeshua, as cited by him, and Jarchi; the same is mentioned by Kimchi as one of the senses, though the first he gi

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...