Psalms 119:18

Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. OPEN THOU MINE EYES, THAT I MAY BEHOLD WONDROUS THINGS OUT OF THY LAW. The wonders of the law, not only its deep mysteries, but its practical truths, proceed "out of" it only to the spiritually enlightened. "Open" - Hebrew, gal (H1540); literally, take the veil from off mine eyes. Believers behold the wonders of God's law 'with open (literally, unveiled) face' [anakekalummenoo prosoopoo]. But Israel has still the 'veil upon her heart in the reading of the Old Testament.' 'But when she shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away' (2 Corinthians 3:14). 'The God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,' must 'give the spirit of wisdom and revelation,' in order that we may...

17-24 If God deals in strict justice with us, we all perish. We ought to spend our lives in his service; we shall find true life in keeping his word. Those that would see the wondrous things of God's law and gospel, must beg him to give them understanding, by the light of his Spirit. Believers feel themselves strangers on earth; they fear missing their way, and losing comfort by erring from God's commandments. Every sanctified soul hungers after the word of God, as food which there is no living without. There is something of pride at the bottom of every wilful sin. God can silence lying lips; reproach and contempt may humble and do us good, and then they shall be removed. Do we find the weight of the cross is above that we are able to bear? He that bore it for us will enable us to bear it; upheld by him we cannot sink. It is sad when those who should protect the innocent, are their betr...

Verse Psalms 119:18. _OPEN THOU MINE EYES_] גל עיני _gal eynai, reveal my_ _eyes_, illuminate my understanding, take away the veil that is on my heart, and then shall I see wonders in thy law. The Holy Scriptures are plain enough; but the heart of man is _darkened_ by sin. The _Bible_ does not so much need a _comment_, as the _soul_ does the _light of the Holy Spirit_. Were it not for the darkness of the human intellect, the things relative to salvation would be easily apprehended....

OPEN THOU MINE EYES - Margin, “Reveal.” So the Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate. The Hebrew word means to be naked; then to make naked, to uncover, to disclose, to reveal. Here it is the same as “uncover;” that is, take away from the eyes what is before them to prevent clear vision. Compare Numbers 22:31; Numbers 24:4, Numbers 24:16. THAT I MAY BEHOLD WONDROUS THINGS - Things which are suited to excite wonder and amazement: that is, things which are secret or hidden from the common view; the deep, spiritual meaning of the word of God. By natural vision he might see the surface - the letter; to see the deep, hidden, real, meaning, he needed the specia

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

OPEN THOU MINE EYES,.... The eyes of my heart or understanding, as Kimchi; or, "reveal mine eyes" t; take off the veil from them: there is a veil of darkness and ignorance on the hearts of all men, with respect to divine and spiritual things; their understandings are darkened, yea, darkness itself. This veil must be removed; the scales must drop from their eyes; their eyes must be opened and enlightened, before they can discern spiritual things contained in the word of God; and even good men need to have the eyes of their understandings more and more enlightened into these things, as the psalmist here petitions, and the apostle prays for his Ephesians, Ephesians 1:17; THAT I MAY BEHOLD WONDROUS THINGS OUT OF THY LAW; the law strictly taken, which had great and excellent things in it; and was wonderful for the compendiousness of it; for the justice, holiness, and equity

It is not easy to see the special subjects that are spoken of by David in each of the short portions of eight verses, yet I do not doubt that if each portion were very carefully examined, we should see that there is some thread running through. We have not here simply a number of pious sentences about the excellency of God's Word, but we have choice gems set, each of them in a golden ring of spiritual intent and purpose. I think the first eight verses, all of which begin with that letter Aleph, or A, set forth the excellence of abiding in holiness, and walking continually in the way of the Lord. Not so much the restoring and comforting power of the word, as the blessedness of that word in leading us to conduct ourselves in consistency of character at all times. Psalms 119:1. _Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD._ There is another bles

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...

OPEN. Unveil. behold. discern, or see clearly....