Psalms 119:169

Let my cry come near before thee, O LORD: give me understanding according to thy word. LET MY CRY COME NEAR BEFORE THEE, O LORD: GIVE ME UNDERSTANDING ACCORDING TO THY WORD. LET MY SUPPLICATION COME BEFORE THEE: DELIVER ME ACCORDING TO THY WORD - of premise (; ; ). The first cry is for inward understanding, the second supplication is for outward deliverance. The deliverance follows as the consequence of obtaining understanding (Psalms 90:12). On the words "cry" and "supplication," cf. ;...

169._Let my cry come _(38) _near into thy presence. _The Psalmist repeats the same sentiment which has already come under our notice — that his chief desire, and what he, most of all pressed after, regarding everything else as of secondary importance, was to make progress in the study of the divine law. By the word _cry _he denotes earnestness. I am anxious, as if he had said, above all things, and am chiefly inflamed with this desire, (even as it is just and reasonable,) that the light of understanding by which we excel the lower animals, and approach very near to God, may be preferred by me to all earthly advantages. The expression, _according to thy word, _may be understood in two ways. It may denote that David besought God to impart to him understanding according to his promise; or, as some explain it, it may intimate that he desired to have his mind framed according to the rule of G...

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...

LETTER ת TAU. - _TWENTY-SECOND DIVISION_ Verse 169. _LET MY CRY COME NEAR BEFORE THEE_] This is really a fine image; it is of frequent occurrence, and is little heeded. Here the psalmists cry for deliverance is _personified_; made an intelligent being, and sent up to the throne of grace to negotiate in his behalf. He pursues this _prosopopoeia_ in the next verse, and sends his _supplication_ in the same way. I have already had occasion to refer to a similar figure in _Homer_, where prayers are represented as the _daughters of Jupiter_. See on Psalms 88:2....

LET MY CRY COME NEAR BEFORE THEE, O LORD - This commences a new division of the psalm, indicated by the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet, the letter _Tau_ (ט _ṭ_), corresponding to our “t,” or “th.” The petition here is, that his prayer might be heard; that it might come into the very presence of God; that there might be no obstructions to its reaching where God was. Let nothing from my unworthiness, from my past sins, from my ignorance, prevent its coming before thee. Something often apparently hinders our prayers so that they do not reach the ear of God. The psalmist prays here that there may be no such hindrance in the prayer which he now offers. GIVE ME UNDERSTANDING ACCORDING TO THY WORD - According to the promises of thy word; or, give me the same views of truth which are set forth in thy word. This prayer had been several times offered before, and it show

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

t, TAU.--THE TWENTY-SECOND AND LAST PART. Ver. 169. TAU. LET MY CRY COME NEAR BEFORE THEE, O LORD,.... Not "my praise", as the Syriac version; but "my prayer", put up in great distress, and with great vehemence and importunity; see Psalms 119:145; and when it is desired it might "come near before" the Lord, it does not so much suppose distance of place between the petitioner and the petitioned as earth is from heaven, as Aben Ezra observes, as distance of state and condition; the petitioner being a creature, and a sinful creature, and whose sins had separated between God and him: and now the only way of access is by Christ; prayer can only pass to God through him, who is the only Mediator between God and man; by whom persons and services are brought near unto, him with acceptance. The sum of this request is, that his prayer might not be rejected and shu

Psalms 119:153. _Consider mine affliction, and deliver me: for I do not forget thy law._ As much as if he said, «Lord, I do not forget thee; do not forget me.» Thy grace has kept my memory; let thy grace keep me altogether. Psalms 119:154-19. _Plead my cause, and deliver me: quicken me according to thy word. Salvation is far form the wicked: for they seek not thy statutes. great are thy tender mercies, O LORD: quicken me according to thy judgments._ Oh! how the saints want quickening. They know they do. They feel that they get dull, and they cannot endure it. They are not happy unless they possess vivid grace and true light. Psalms 119:157-19

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...