Studies
in Psalm 119:17-24 GIMEL -
Gleanings from Historical CommentariesCollectedby Jack Kettler
17
Deal bountifully with thy servant, that I may
live, and keep thy word.
Like
many parts of this Psalm, the Psalmist starts
off with a prayer, “that I may live, and keep
thy word. “ The Psalmist wants God to preserve
the spiritual life in his soul.
Spurgeon
in the Treasury of David brilliantly comments
on this prayer:
“Deal
bountifully with thy servant." He takes pleasure
in owning his duty to God, and counts it the joy
of his heart to be in the service of his God.
Out of his condition he makes a plea, for a
servant has some hold upon a master; but in this
case, the wording of the plea shuts out the idea
of legal claim, since he seeks bounty rather
than reward. Let my wages be according to thy
goodness, and not according to my merit. Reward
me according to the largeness of thy liberality,
and not according to the scantiness of my
service. The hired servants of our Father have
all of them bread enough and to Spare, and he
will not leave one of his household to perish
with hunger. If the Lord will only treat us as
he treats the least of his servants, we may be
well content, for all his true servants are
sons, princes of the blood, heirs of life
eternal. David felt that his great needs
required a bountiful provision, and that his
little desert would never earn such a supply;
hence he must throw himself upon God's grace,
and look for the great things he needed from the
great goodness of the Lord. He begs for a
liberality of grace, after the fashion of one
who prayed. "O Lord, thou must give me great
mercy or no mercy, for little mercy will not
serve my turn.”
“That
I may live.” Without abundant mercy he could not
live. It takes great grace to keep a saint
alive. Even life is a gift of divine bounty to
such undeserving ones as we are. Only the Lord
can keep us in being, and it is mighty grace,
which preserves to us the life, which we have
forfeited by our sin. It is right to desire to
live, it is meet to pray to live, and it is just
to ascribe prolonged life to the favour of God.
Spiritual life, without which this natural life
is mere existence, is also to be sought of the
Lord's bounty, for it is the noblest work of
divine grace, and in it, the bounty of God is
gloriously displayed. The Lord's servants cannot
serve him in their own strength, for they cannot
even live unless his grace abounds towards
them.”
“And
keep thy word." This should be the rule, the
object, and the joy of our life. We may not wish
to live and sin; but we may pray to live and
keep God's word. Being is a poor thing if it be
not well-being. Life is only worth keeping while
we can keep God's word; indeed, there is no life
in the highest sense apart from holiness: life
while we break the law is but a name to live.
The
prayer of this verse shows that it is only
through divine bounty or grace that we can live
as faithful servants of God, and manifest
obedience to his commands. If we give God
service, it must be because he gives us grace.
We work for him because he works in us. Thus we
may make a chain out of the opening verses of
the three first octaves of this Psalm: Psalm
119:1 blesses the holy man, Psalm 119:9 asks how
we can attain to such holiness, and Psalm 119:17
traces such holiness to its secret source, and
shows us how to seek the blessing. There more a
man prizes holiness and the more earnestly he
strives after it, the more will he be driven
towards God for help therein, for he will
plainly perceive that his own strength is
insufficient, and that he cannot even so much as
live without the bounteous assistance of the
Lord his God.” (1)
Cross-References
for verse 17: Psalm 13:6; Psalm 116:7; Psalm
119:18
18
Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous
things out of thy law.
We
need our eyes to open because of our spiritual
blindness, which is the result of sin. When God
opens our eyes, we see God's wondrous grace that
His law reveals.
The
Puritan John Gill makes great observations on
this passage:
“Open
thou mine eyes ... The eyes of my heart or
understanding, as Kimchi; or, “reveal mine eyes”
(t); take off the veil from them: there is a
veil of darkness and ignorance on the hearts of
all men, with respect to divine and spiritual
things; their understandings are darkened, yea,
darkness itself. This veil must be removed; the
scales must drop from their eyes; their eyes
must be opened and enlightened, before they can
discern spiritual things contained in the word
of God; and even good men need to have the eyes
of their understandings more and more
enlightened into these things, as the psalmist
here petitions, and the apostle prays for his
Ephesians, Ephesians 1:17; that I may behold
wondrous things out of thy law; the law strictly
taken, which had great and excellent things in
it; and was wonderful for the compendiousness of
it; for the justice, holiness, and equity of its
precepts; especially for its spirituality, and
above all for Christ, being the end of it; the
two last more particularly could only be
discerned by a spiritual man: or rather the five
books of Moses, the almost only Scriptures
extant in David's time, in which there were many
wonderful things concerning Christ; some
delivered by way of promise and prophecy of him,
under the characters of the seed of the woman,
the seed of Abraham, the Shiloh, and the great
Prophet; and many others in dark figures, types,
and shadows, which required a spiritual sight to
look into; of which the rock and manna, the
brasen serpent, Passover, &c. are instances:
but rather, as the word "law" signifies
“doctrine”, the doctrine of the Gospel may be
meant; which contains mysteries in it,
respecting the trinity of Persons in the
Godhead, the person of Christ, his incarnation,
sufferings and death; the blessings of grace
through him; the doctrines of peace, pardon,
righteousness, eternal life, and the
resurrection of the dead; with many others.” (2)
19
I am a stranger in the earth: hide not thy
commandments from me.
The
believer understands that this world is not our
home. That fact that we are just passing
through, does not mean we are unconcerned and
passive when faced with corruption in the church
and public sphere. We stay grounded and
encouraged by keeping our eyes on our heavenly
home.
Albert
Barnes gets the sense of the Psalmist's prayer
exactly:
“I
am a stranger in the earth - A wayfaring man; a
pilgrim; a so-journer; a man whose permanent
home is not in this world. The word is
applicable to one who belongs to another
country, and who is now merely passing through a
foreign land, or sojourning there for a time.
Compare the notes at Hebrews 11:13. The home of
the child of God is heaven. Here he is in a
strange - a foreign - land. He is to abide here
but for a little time, and then to pass on to
his eternal habitation.
Hide
not thy commandments from me - Make me to know
them; keep them continually before me. In this
strange land, away from my home, let me have the
comfort of feeling that thy commands are ever
with me to guide me; thy promises to comfort me.
The feeling is that of one in a strange land who
would desire, if possible, to keep up constant
communications with his home - his family, his
friends, his kindred there. On earth, the place
of our sojourning - of our pilgrimage - the
friend of God desires to have constant contact
with heaven, his final home; not to be left to
the desolate feeling that he is cut off from all
contact with that world where he is forever to
dwell.” (3)
20
My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath
unto thy judgments at all times.
The
believer is never detached and uninvolved when
seeing unrighteousness flaunted by unbelievers.
We desire and long for God's righteous judgement
to rule.
Matthew
Henry make some pertinent observations on this
verse:
“David
had prayed that God would open his eyes (Psalm
119:18) and open the law (Psalm 119:19); now
here he pleads the earnestness of his desire for
knowledge and grace, for it is the fervent
prayer that avails much. 1. His desire was
importunate: My soul breaketh for the longing it
hath to thy judgments, or (as some read it) “It
is taken up, and wholly employed, in longing for
thy judgments; the whole stream of its desires
runs in this channel. I shall think myself quite
broken and undone if I want the word of God, the
direction, converse, and comfort of it.” 2. It
was constant - at all times. It was not now and
then; in a good humour that he was so fond of
the word of God; but it is the habitual temper
of every sanctified soul to hunger after the
word of God as its necessary food, which there
is no living without.” (4)
21
Thou hast rebuked the proud that are cursed,
which do err from thy commandments.
All
of God's judgments are righteous and true.
Calvin
comments are most edifying:
“Thou
hast destroyed the proud. Others render it:,
Thou hast rebuked the proud; a translation of
which the Hebrew term גער, gaar,
admits when the letter ב,
beth, is joined with it in construction;
but this being awaiting, it is better to render
it destroy406 It makes, however, little
difference to the main drift of the passage,
there being no doubt that the intention of the
prophet is, to inform us that God’s judgments
instructed him to apply his mind to the study of
the law; and certainly this is an exercise which
we ought on no account to defer till God visit
us with chastisement.. But when we behold him
taking vengeance upon the wicked, and the
despisers of his word, we must be stupid,
indeed, if his rod do not teach us wisdom; and,
doubtless, it is an instance of special kindness
on God’s part, to spare us, and only to terrify
us from afar, that he may bring us to himself
without injuring or chastising us at all.
It
is not without reason that he denominates all
unbelievers proud, because it is true faith
alone, which humbles us, and all rebellion is
the offspring of pride. From this, we learn how
profitable it is to consider carefully and
attentively the judgments of God, by which he
overthrows such haughtiness. When the weak in
faith see, the wicked rise in furious.
Opposition against God, arrogantly casting off
all restraint, and holding all religion in
derision with impunity, they begin to question
whether there be a God who sits as judge in
heaven. God may, for a time, wink at this:
by-and-bye, we witness him setting forth some
indication of his judgment, to convince us that
he hath not in vain uttered threatening against
the violators of his law; and we ought to bear
in mind that all who depart from him are
reprobate.
Let
it be carefully observed that, by wandering from
his commandments, is not meant all kinds of
transgression indiscriminately, but that
unbridled licentiousness which proceeds from
impious contempt of God. It is, indeed, given as
a general sentence, that “every one is cursed
who continueth not in all things which are
written,” Deuteronomy 27:26
But
as God in his paternal kindness, bears with
those who fail through infirmity of the flesh,
so here we must understand these judgments to be
expressly executed upon the wicked and
reprobate; and their end, as Isaiah declares,
is, “that the inhabitants of the earth may learn
righteousness,” (Isaiah 26:9)” (5)
22
Remove from me reproach and contempt; for I have
kept thy testimonies.
Believers
are often reproached by the unrighteous, so it
is easy to identify with the Psalmist here.
Mathew
Poole's comments are to the point:
“Reproach,
which I suffer unjustly and for thy sake, as he
elsewhere complains.
I
have kept thy testimonies, and therefore I am
innocent from those crimes for which they
censure and reproach me. Or, and therefore thou
wilt maintain mine honour and interest according
to thy promise made to such as keep thy
testimonies, and I beg with some confidence that
thou wilt do it.” (6)
23
Princes also did sit and speak against me: but
thy servant did meditate in thy statutes.
Even
when reproached by men in high places, we still
find hope in God's commandments.
Jamieson,
Fausset and Brown in their commentary concur:
“God will rebuke those who
despise His word and deliver His servants from
their reproach, giving them boldness in and by
His truth, even before the greatest men.” (7)
Cross-References
for verse 23: Psalm 119:15; Psalm 119:161
24
Thy testimonies also are my delight, and my
counselors.
In
closing this section on verses 17-24, Matthew
Henry thoughts serve as a good conclusion:
“If
God deals in strict justice with us, we all
perish. We ought to spend our lives in his
1.service; we shall
find true life in keeping his word. Those that
would see the wondrous things of God's law and
gospel, must beg him to give them understanding,
by the light of his Spirit. Believers feel
themselves strangers on earth; they fear missing
their way, and losing comfort by erring from
God's commandments. Every sanctified soul
hungers after the word of God, as food which
there is no living without. There is something
of pride at the bottom of every wilful sin. God
can silence lying lips; reproach and contempt
may humble and do us good, and then they shall
be removed. Do we find the weight of the cross
is above that we are able to bear? He that bore
it for us will enable us to bear it; upheld by
him we cannot sink. It is sad when those who
should protect the innocent, are their
betrayers. The psalmist went on in duty, and he
found comfort in the word of God. The comforts
of the word of God are most pleasant to a
gracious soul, when other comforts are made
bitter; and those that would have God's
testimonies to be their delight, must be advised
by them. May the Lord direct us in exercising
repentance of sin, and faith in Christ.” (8)
1.C. H. Spurgeon, The
Treasury of David, Vol. II, (Nashville,
Tennessee, Thomas Nelson), pp. 171,172.
2.John Gill, Exposition
of the Old and New Testaments 9 Volumes,
Psalms, (Grace Works, Multi-Media Labs),
2011, p. 1378.
3.Albert Barnes, THE
AGES DIGITAL LIBRARYCOMMENTARY, Barnes’
Notes on the Bible Volume 5 -Psalms, p.
1799.
4.Matthew Henry Commentary
on the Whole Bible, (Hendrickson
Publishers, Inc, Fourth printing 1985) p. 915.
5.John Calvin, Calvin's
Commentaries, Vol. VI: Psalms, (Grand
Rapids, Michigan, Baker Book House Reprinted
1979), p.415, 416.
6.Matthew Poole's Commentary
on the Holy Bible, Vol. 2 (Peabody,
Massachusetts, Hendrickson Publishers, 1985) p.
183.
7.Jamieson, Fausset
and Brown, Commentary on the Whole Bible,
(Grand Rapids, Michigan, Zondervan, 1977) p.
450.
8.Matthew Henry's Concise
Commentary, An abridgment of the 6 volume
Matthew
Henry's Commentary on the Bible,
(Nashville, Tennessee, Thomas Nelson, reprinted
2003), p. 957.
Mr. Kettler has previously
published articles in the Chalcedon Report
and Contra Mundum. He and his wife
Marea attend the Westminster, CO, RPCNA
Church. Mr. Kettler is the author of the book
defending the Reformed Faith against attacks,
titled: The Religion That Started in a
Hat. Available at:
www.TheReligionThatStartedInAHat.com