Psalms 119:60

I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments. I MADE HASTE - like Zaccheus (Luke 19:5), at the Lord's call. AND DELAYED NOT - like Felix, Acts 24:25; and the Athenians, Acts 17:32). I "delayed not" - literally, I did not stand questioning [from the interrogation, mah (H4100)], hitmahªmaahªtiy (H4102). In good impulses worked in us by the Spirit, we must at once act, or else the flesh will supplant the spirit. Strike while the iron is hot, or it will wax colder and harder than ever. The dilatoriness of the...

60._I made haste _Though the words are in the past tense, they denote a continued act. The prophet declares with what promptitude he dedicated himself to the service of God. Diligence and dispatch demonstrate the favor of his zeal. Next, in saying that he _delayed not, _(422) this, according to the Hebrew idiom, gives intensity to the idea conveyed by the phrase, _I made haste _As among the Hebrews, _to speak and not to keep silence _is equivalent to speaking freely, unreservedly, and without dissimulation, as the occasion demands, so to _make haste and not delay _is to run quickly without doubt or delay. If we reflect on our own listlessness, and on the snares which Satan never fails to put in our way, we will at once perceive that these words are not added in vain. For let a man be ever so desirous of applying himself truly and heartily to the righteousness of God, yet, according to Pa...

57-64 True believers take the Lord for the portion of their inheritance, and nothing less will satisfy them. The psalmist prayed with his whole heart, knowing how to value the blessing he prayed for: he desired the mercy promised, and depended on the promise for it. He turned from by-paths, and returned to God's testimonies. He delayed not. It behoves sinners to hasten to escape; and the believer will be equally in haste to glorify God. No care or grief should take away God's word out of our minds, or hinder the comfort it bestows. There is no situation on earth in which a believer has not cause to be thankful. Let us feel ashamed that others are more willing to keep from sleep to spend the time in sinful pleasures, than we are to praise God. And we should be more earnest in prayer, that our hearts may be filled with his mercy, grace, and peace....

Verse Psalms 119:60. THIRDLY. - _I MADE HASTE, AND DELAYED NOT_] He did this with the utmost _speed_; and did not trifle with his convictions, nor seek to drown the voice of conscience. The original word, which we translate _delayed not_, is amazingly emphatical. ולא התמהמהתי _velo hithmahmahti_, I did not stand _what-what-whating_; or, as we used to express the same sentiment, _shilly-shallying_ with myself: I was _determined_, and so set out. The _Hebrew_ word, as well as the _English_, strongly marks indecision of mind, positive action being suspended, because the mind is so unfixed as not to be able to make a choice. Ver. Psalms 119:58. FOURTHLY. - Being determined in his heart, he tells us, I entreated thy favour w

I MADE HASTE - This language further describes the process of conversion. There was no delay; there was no excuse offered. He acted at once under his conviction of what was right. He did not ask permission to defer it to a future time; he did not attempt to avoid the duty; not plead inability; he did not give himself merely to the “use of means;” he did not rely on prayer, and reading, and reflection; but “he did the thing, and he did it at once.” This is conversion; and if all convicted sinners would follow this example, and do at once that which they are commanded to do, and which they know they ought to do, there would be in no case any difficulty about conversion, for the main difficulty in conversion lies in the fact that the sinner is not willing to obey God at once; that he will not break away from his sins; that he endeavors to excuse himself; that he pleads for delay; that he wa...

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 MADE HASTE, AND DELAYED NOT TO KEEP THY COMMANDMENTS. As soon as he was sensible of his duty, he immediately complied with it; he consulted not with flesh and blood, but at once yielded a cheerful obedience to the commands of God. Instances of evangelical obedience of this kind we have in the three thousand converts, in Saul, and in the jailer and his house, Acts 2:41....

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...

DISCOURSE: 704 SERIOUS AND SPEEDY CONVERSION TO GOD RECOMMENDED Psalms 119:59. _I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies. I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments_. AT what period of David’s life these words were written, we are not informed: if in his early youth, they relate to his first conversion to God; but if in his middle or more advanced life, they declare the daily habit of his soul. Under any circumstances they are very instructive. To young people they shew, that it is never too early to begin a life of entire devotedness to God. To those engaged in business of any kind, they manifest, that, whilst _in_ the world, they should not be _of_ the world, but in the midst of all their cares they should preserve their minds spiritual and heavenly. To the great and noble, yea, to princes and kings, they hold forth a sol