97 <MEM> O what love I have for your law! I give thought to it all the day.
98 Your teaching has made me wiser than my haters: for it is mine for ever. 99 I have more knowledge than all my teachers, because I give thought to your unchanging word. 100 I have more wisdom than the old, because I have kept your orders.
101 I have kept back my feet from all evil ways, so that I might be true to your word.
102 My heart has not been turned away from your decisions; for you have been my teacher.
103 How sweet are your sayings to my taste! truly, they are sweeter than honey in my mouth! 104 Through your orders I get wisdom; for this reason I am a hater of every false way.
105 <NUN> Your word is a light for my feet, ever shining on my way.
106 I have made an oath and kept it, to be guided by your upright decisions.
107 I am greatly troubled, O Lord, give me life in keeping with your word.
108 Take, O Lord, the free offerings of my mouth, and give me knowledge of your decisions.
109 My soul is ever in danger; but I still keep the memory of your law. 110 Sinners have put a net to take me; but I was true to your orders.
111 I have taken your unchanging word as an eternal heritage; for it is the joy of my heart. 112 My heart is ever ready to keep your rules, even to the end.
113 <SAMECH> I am a hater of men of doubting mind; but I am a lover of your law.
114 You are my secret place and my breastplate against danger; my hope is in your word.
115 Go far from me, you evil-doers; so that I may keep the teachings of my God.
116 Be my support as you have said, and give me life; let not my hope be turned to shame. 117 Let me not be moved, and I will be safe, and ever take delight in your rules.
118 You have overcome all those who are wandering from your rules; for all their thoughts are false. 119 All the sinners of the earth are like waste metal in your eyes; and for this cause I give my love to your unchanging word. 120 My flesh is moved for fear of you; I give honour to your decisions.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Psalm 119:97-120
Commentary on Psalm 119:97-104
(Read Psalm 119:97-104)
What we love, we love to think of. All true wisdom is from God. A good man carries his Bible with him, if not in his hands, yet in his head and in his heart. By meditation on God's testimonies we understand more than our teachers, when we understand our own hearts. The written word is a more sure guide to heaven, than all the fathers, the teachers, and ancients of the church. We cannot, with any comfort or boldness, attend God in holy duties, while under guilt, or in any by-way. It was Divine grace in his heart, that enabled the psalmist to receive these instructions. The soul has its tastes as well as the body. Our relish for the word of God will be greatest, when that for the world and the flesh is least. The way of sin is a wrong way; and the more understanding we get by the precepts of God, the more rooted will be our hatred of sin; and the more ready we are in the Scriptures, the better furnished we are with answers to temptation.
Commentary on Psalm 119:105-112
(Read Psalm 119:105-112)
The word of God directs us in our work and way, and a dark place indeed the world would be without it. The commandment is a lamp kept burning with the oil of the Spirit, as a light to direct us in the choice of our way, and the steps we take in that way. The keeping of God's commands here meant, was that of a sinner under a dispensation of mercy, of a believer having part in the covenant of grace. The psalmist is often afflicted; but with longing desires to become more holy, offers up daily prayers for quickening grace. We cannot offer any thing to God, that he will accept but what he is pleased to teach us to do. To have our soul or life continually in our hands, implies constant danger of life; yet he did not forget God's promises nor his precepts. Numberless are the snares laid by the wicked; and happy is that servant of God, whom they have not caused to err from his Master's precepts. Heavenly treasures are a heritage for ever; all the saints accept them as such, therefore they can be content with little of this world. We must look for comfort only in the way of duty, and that duty must be done. A good man, by the grace of God, brings his heart to his work, then it is done well.
Commentary on Psalm 119:113-120
(Read Psalm 119:113-120)
Here is a dread of the risings of sin, and the first beginnings of it. The more we love the law of God, the more watchful we shall be, lest vain thoughts draw us from what we love. Would we make progress in keeping God's commands, we must be separate from evil-doers. The believer could not live without the grace of God; but, supported by his hand, his spiritual life shall be maintained. Our holy security is grounded on Divine supports. All departure from God's statutes is error, and will prove fatal. Their cunning is falsehood. There is a day coming which will put the wicked into everlasting fire, the fit place for the dross. See what comes of sin Surely we who fall so low in devout affections, should fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into heavenly rest, any of us should be found to come short of it, Hebrews 4:1.