Psalms 119:80

Let my heart be sound in thy statutes; that I be not ashamed. LET MY HEART BE SOUND IN THY STATUTES, THAT I BE NOT ASHAMED. Put to the shame of disappointment in my hope of salvation. "Sound" - Hebrew (thamim), perfect. Integrity and sincerity are implied; having no lurking self-deceit or hypocrisy ()....

80._Let my heart be sound in thy statutes _Having, a little before, desired to be endued with a sound understanding, he now prays, in a similar manner, for sincere affection of heart. The understanding and affections, as is well known, are the two principal faculties of the human soul, both of which he clearly shows to be depraved and perverse, when he requests that his understanding may be illuminated, and, at the same time, that his heart may be framed to the obedience of the law. This plainly refutes all that the Papists babble about free will. The prophet not only here prays that God would help him, because his will was weak; but he testifies, without qualification, that uprightness of heart is. the gift of the Holy Spirit. We are, moreover, taught by these words, in what the true keeping of the law consists. A great part of mankind, after having carelessly framed their life accordin...

73-80 God made us to serve him, and enjoy him; but by sin we have made ourselves unfit to serve him, and to enjoy him. We ought, therefore, continually to beseech him, by his Holy Spirit, to give us understanding. The comforts some have in God, should be matter of joy to others. But it is easy to own, that God's judgments are right, until it comes to be our own case. All supports under affliction must come from mercy and compassion. The mercies of God are tender mercies; the mercies of a father, the compassion of a mother to her son. They come to us when we are not able to go to them. Causeless reproach does not hurt, and should not move us. The psalmist could go on in the way of his duty, and find comfort in it. He valued the good will of saints, and was desirous to keep up his communion with them. Soundness of heart signifies sincerity in dependence on God, and devotedness to him....

Verse Psalms 119:80. _LET MY HEART BE SOUND IN THY STATUTES_] Let it be _perfect _- all given up to thee, and all possessed by thee. ANALYSIS OF LETTER YOD. - _TENTH DIVISION_ I. In the first place the psalmist prays for understanding, _comfort_, and _mercy_; and uses this argument, I am thy creature: "Thy hands have fashioned me." II. He prays for _understanding_: Give me _heavenly light_ and _influence_. III. He prays for this that he may _learn God's commandments_. This was his _end_. 1. He endeavours to persuade God to this by the _benefit_ that others would receive from seeing his _conversion_: "They - that fear thee will be glad," c. 2. He acknowledges that, if he was at any time _deserted_

LET MY HEART BE SOUND ... - Hebrew, “Be perfect.” See the notes at Job 1:1. The Septuagint here is “immaculate,” ἄμωμος _amōmos_. So the Latin Vulgate. It is the expression of a desire that the heart might be pure; that there might be no improper attachment for other objects; that there might be no defect of love to God. THAT I BE NOT ASHAMED - See the notes at Psalms 119:6. A man has no occasion to be ashamed of a pure heart; and that which can alone keep us from being ultimately ashamed is sincerity, uprightness, and purity in the service of God....

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

LET MY HEART BE FOUND IN THY STATUTES,.... Or "perfect", and sincere: he desires that he might have a sincere regard to the ways and worship, ordinances and commands, of God; that he might have a cordial affection for them, and observe them, not in show and appearance only, but heartily as to the Lord, and in reality and truth, like an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile; THAT I BE NOT ASHAMED; before men, conscious of guilt; or before God, at the throne of grace; where a believer sometimes is ashamed to come, not having had that regard to the statutes of the Lord he should have had, and that he might not be ashamed before him at the last day; but have confidence, having the righteousness of Christ imputed to him, and the true grace of God implanted in him; which engaged him to a regard to all his commandments....

In this Psalm we have, as it were, notes from David's pocket book. Psalms 119:73. _Thy hands have made me and fashioned me: give me understanding, that I may learn thy commandments._ This is a very instructive prayer; the psalmist does as good as say, «Lord, thou hast made me once- make me over again. Thou hast made my body; mould my spirit, form my character, give me understanding.» If God should make us, and then leave us without understanding, what imperfect creations we should be! A man devoid of understanding is only a blood and bone creation; and therefore the psalmist does well to pray, «Thy hands have made me and fashioned me: give me understanding.» But what sort of an understanding is desired? That I may learn to discuss and dispute? No: «that I may learn thy commandments;» for holiness is the best of wisdom, and the surest proof of a right understanding

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...