Psalms 119:43

And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth; for I have hoped in thy judgments. AND TAKE NOT THE WORD OF TRUTH UTTERLY OUT OF MY MOUTH - take not from me, by withholding thy saving deliverance ("salvation," ), the ability to give a true " answer" () to "him that reproacheth me." The word of truth, or the true answer to the enemy, is to be able by facts to show that God keeps His promise of helping His children in distress. 'Not merely do not take it out of my heart, but not even out of my mouth: grant that what I truly believe I may freely also confess' (Rivetus). FOR I HAVE HOPED IN THY JUDGMENTS - I have rested my hope in thee, amidst my trials, that thou wilt by thy judgments vindicate my cause, as thou hast ever done to them who trust in...

43._Take not the word of truth too long out of my mouth _(414) It may be asked, why he demands rather to have his tongue filled with, than his heart fortified by, the _word of truth; _inasmuch as the latter takes the precedence, both in point of order and of excellence. What will it profit us to be fluent and eloquent in speech, if our hearts are destitute of faith? On the other hand, wherever there is firm faith, there to speech will flow ultroneously. My reply is, that David was not so concerned about outward confession as not to give the preference to the faith of the heart; but considering that he is making his address to God, there is nothing strange in his making mention only of the former, under which, however, he includes also the latter. “Lord, support not only my heart by faith, lest I be overwhelmed with temptation, but grant me also freedom of speech, that I may fearlessly so...

41-48 Lord, I have by faith thy mercies in view; let me by prayer prevail to obtain them. And when the salvation of the saints is completed, it will plainly appear that it was not in vain to trust in God's word. We need to pray that we may never be afraid or ashamed to own God's truths and ways before men. And the psalmist resolves to keep God's law, in a constant course of obedience, without backsliding. The service of sin is slavery; the service of God is liberty. There is no full happiness, or perfect liberty, but in keeping God's law. We must never be ashamed or afraid to own our religion. The more delight we take in the service of God, the nearer we come to perfection. Not only consent to his law as good, but take pleasure in it as good for us. Let me put forth all the strength I have, to do it. Something of this mind of Christ is in every true disciple....

Verse Psalms 119:43. _TAKE NOT THE WORD OF TRUTH_] Grant that the assurances which thy prophets have given to the people of approaching deliverance may not fall to the ground; let it appear that _they_ have spoken _thy mind_, and that _thou_ hast fulfilled _their word_....

AND TAKE NOT THE WORD OF TRUTH UTTERLY OUT OF MY MOUTH - Do not take it entirely or altogether from me. Let me not be utterly hopeless; let me be at no time without some evidence that thy word dwells in me with sustaining and sanctifying power. The prayer seems to have been offered when the mind was troubled and in doubt, and when it seemed as if all hope and all trust in the truth of God would vanish. The words rendered “utterly” mean “to very much;” that is, altogether or entirely. Let it not be done until the extreme shall be reached. FOR I HAVE HOPED IN THY JUDGMENTS - I do trust in thy word, and it is my only trust. If that is gone, all is gone. As long as I can hold on to that, even in the slightest degree, I am safe. When all else fails, if that has not utterly failed me, I shall be secure....

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

AND TAKE NOT THE WORD OF TRUTH UTTERLY OUT OF MY MOUTH,.... The Scriptures, which are by divine inspiration, come from the God of truth, contain nothing but truth in them, and are called "the Scriptures of truth", Daniel 10:21. Or the Gospel, which is often so called, Ephesians 1:13; This comes from God, who cannot lie, and is a declaration of his mind and will concerning the salvation of men; in which Christ, who is the truth, is concerned, being the author, preacher, and substance of it; into which the Spirit of truth leads men, and makes it useful and effectual; which has many eminent and important truths in it, and nothing but truth, and stands opposed to the law, which is typical and shadowy, and to everything that is a falsehood and a lie. This the psalmist desires might not be taken out of his mou

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...

TAKE NOT THY WORD OF TRUTH UTTERLY, &C.— The judgments of God were that word of truth in which he trusted: to pray God, therefore, not to take them out of his mouth, is the same as to pray that God would act agreeably to his word; for otherwise he could no longer, with any grace, make use of it, or derive any consolation from it. Mudge....