Psalm 119:72-97
72 Better to me 'is' the law of Thy mouth Than thousands of gold and silver!
73 'Yod.' Thy hands made me and establish me, Cause me to understand, and I learn Thy commands.
74 Those fearing Thee see me and rejoice, Because for Thy word I have hoped.
75 I have known, O Jehovah, That righteous 'are' Thy judgments, And 'in' faithfulness Thou hast afflicted me.
76 Let, I pray Thee, Thy kindness be to comfort me, According to Thy saying to Thy servant. 77 Meet me do Thy mercies, and I live, For Thy law 'is' my delight.
78 Ashamed are the proud, For 'with' falsehood they dealt perversely with me. I meditate in Thy precepts. 79 Those fearing Thee turn back to me, And those knowing Thy testimonies.
80 My heart is perfect in Thy statutes, So that I am not ashamed.
81 'Kaph.' Consumed for Thy salvation hath been my soul, For Thy word I have hoped. 82 Consumed have been mine eyes for Thy word, Saying, 'When doth it comfort me?'
83 For I have been as a bottle in smoke, Thy statutes I have not forgotten.
84 How many 'are' the days of Thy servant? When dost Thou execute Against my pursuers judgment?
85 The proud have digged for me pits, That 'are' not according to Thy law. 86 All Thy commands 'are' faithfulness, 'With' falsehood they have pursued me, Help Thou me. 87 Almost consumed me on earth have they, And I—I have not forsaken Thy precepts.
88 According to Thy kindness quicken Thou me, And I keep the testimony of Thy mouth!
89 'Lamed.' To the age, O Jehovah, Thy word is set up in the heavens. 90 To all generations Thy faithfulness, Thou didst establish earth, and it standeth. 91 According to Thine ordinances They have stood this day, for the whole 'are' Thy servants.
92 Unless Thy law 'were' my delights, Then had I perished in mine affliction.
93 To the age I forget not Thy precepts, For by them Thou hast quickened me.
94 I 'am' Thine, save Thou me, For Thy precepts I have sought.
95 Thy wicked waited for me to destroy me, Thy testimonies I understand.
96 Of all perfection I have seen an end, Broad 'is' Thy command—exceedingly!
97 'Mem.' O how I have loved Thy law! All the day it 'is' my meditation.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Psalm 119:72-97
Commentary on Psalm 119:65-72
(Read Psalm 119:65-72)
However God has dealt with us, he has dealt with us better than we deserve; and all in love, and for our good. Many have knowledge, but little judgment; those who have both, are fortified against the snares of Satan, and furnished for the service of God. We are most apt to wander from God, when we are easy in the world. We should leave our concerns to the disposal of God, seeing we know not what is good for us. Lord, thou art our bountiful Benefactor; incline our hearts to faith and obedience. The psalmist will go on in his duty with constancy and resolution. The proud are full of the world, and its wealth and pleasures; these make them senseless, secure, and stupid. God visits his people with affliction, that they may learn his statutes. Not only God's promises, but even his law, his percepts, though hard to ungodly men, are desirable, and profitable, because they lead us with safety and delight unto eternal life.
Commentary on Psalm 119:73-80
(Read Psalm 119:73-80)
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.
Commentary on Psalm 119:81-88
(Read Psalm 119:81-88)
The psalmist sought deliverance from his sins, his foes, and his fears. Hope deferred made him faint; his eyes failed by looking out for this expected salvation. But when the eyes fail, yet faith must not. His affliction was great. He was become like a leathern bottle, which, if hung up in the smoke, is dried and shrivelled up. We must ever be mindful of God's statutes. The days of the believer's mourning shall be ended; they are but for a moment, compared with eternal happiness. His enemies used craft as well as power for his ruin, in contempt of the law of God. The commandments of God are true and faithful guides in the path of peace and safety. We may best expect help from God when, like our Master, we do well and suffer for it. Wicked men may almost consume the believer upon earth, but he would sooner forsake all than forsake the word of the Lord. We should depend upon the grace of God for strength to do every good work. The surest token of God's good-will toward us, is his good work in us.
Commentary on Psalm 119:89-96
(Read Psalm 119:89-96)
The settling of God's word in heaven, is opposed to the changes and revolutions of the earth. And the engagements of God's covenant are established more firmly than the earth itself. All the creatures answer the ends of their creation: shall man, who alone is endued with reason, be the only unprofitable burden of the earth? We may make the Bible a pleasant companion at any time. But the word, without the grace of God, would not quicken us. See the best help for bad memories, namely, good affections; and though the exact words be lost, if the meaning remain, that is well. I am thine, not my own, not the world's; save me from sin, save me from ruin. The Lord will keep the man in peace, whose mind is stayed on him. It is poor perfection which one sees and end of. Such are all things in this world, which pass for perfections. The glory of man is but as the flower of the grass. The psalmist had seen the fulness of the word of God, and its sufficiency. The word of the Lord reaches to all cases, to all times. It will take us from all confidence in man, or in our own wisdom, strength, and righteousness. Thus shall we seek comfort and happiness from Christ alone.
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.