Psalm 119:49-56 ZAIN - Gleanings from Historical Commentaries                                         Collected by Jack Kettler

 

Psalm 119:49-56 introductory observations from The Treasury of David:

 

“Remember the word unto thy servant.” He asks for no new promise, but to have the old word fulfilled. He is grateful that he has received so good a word, he embraces it with all his heart and now entreats the Lord to deal with him according to it. He does not say, “remember my service to thee,” but “thy word to me.” The words of masters to servants are not always, such that servants wish their lords to remember them; for they usually observe the faults and failings of the work done, inasmuch as it does not tally with the word of command. But we who serve the best of masters are not anxious to have one of his words fall to the ground, since the Lord will so kindly remember his word of command as to give us grace wherewith we may obey, and he will couple with it a remembrance of his word of promise, so that our hearts shall be comforted. If God's word to us as his servants is so precious, what shall we say of his word to us as his sons?

 

The Psalmist does not fear a failure in the Lord's memory, but he makes use of the promise as a plea, and this is the form in which he speaks, after the manner of men when they plead with one another. When the Lord remembers the sins of his servant, and brings them before his conscience, the penitent cries, Lord, remember thy word of pardon, and therefore remember my sins and iniquities no more. There is a world of meaning in that word “remember,” as it is addressed to God; it is used in Scripture in the tenderest sense, and suits the sorrowing and the depressed. Tim Psalmist cried, “Lord, remember David, and all his afflictions”: Job also prayed that the Lord would appoint him a set time, and remember him. In the present instance the prayer is as personal as the “Remember me” of the thief, for its essence lies in the words – “unto thy servant” It would be all in vain for us if the promise were remembered to all others if it did not come true to ourselves; but there is no fear, for the Lord has never forgotten a single promise to a single believer.

 

“Upon which thou hast caused me to hope.” The argument is that God, having given grace to hope in the promise, would surely never disappoint that hope. He cannot have caused us to hope without cause. If we hope upon his word, we have a sure basis: our gracious Lord would never mock us by exciting false hopes. Hope deferred maketh the heart sick, hence the petition for immediate remembrance of the cheering word. Moreover, it is the hope of a servant, and it is not possible that a great and good master would disappoint his dependent; if such a master's word were not kept, it could only be through an oversight, hence the anxious cry, “Remember.” Our great Master will not forget his own servants, nor disappoint the expectation, which he himself has raised. because we are the Lord's, and endeavour to remember his word by obeying it, we may be sure that he will think upon his own servants, and remember his own promise by making it good.

 

This verse is the prayer of love fearing to be forgotten, of humility conscious of insignificance and anxious not to be overlooked, of penitence trembling lest the evil of its sin should overshadow the promise, of eager desire longing for the blessing, and of holy confidence, which feels that all that is wanted is comprehended in the word. Let but the Lord remember his promise, and the promised act is as good as done.” (1)

 

49 Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope.

 

From Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible:

 

ZAIN.--The Seventh Part.

 

“ZAIN. Remember the word unto thy servant,.... The word of promise made unto him, concerning establishing his house and kingdom for ever; which he desires God would show himself mindful of in fulfilling it, and renew and confirm his faith in it, and give him some fresh assurance of the performance of it, 2 Samuel 7:16. Not that God ever forgets his promise, or is unmindful of his word; but so it seems when he delays the accomplishment of it; and when unbelief prevails and doubts arise, and faith is not in lively exercise; and he has not so clear a view of the promise, and comfortable assurance of its being performed;

 

upon which thou hast caused me to hope; which, when first made, he received in faith, and hoped and waited for the accomplishment of. A word of promise is a good ground of hope, let it be on what account it will; whether it relates to interest in God, as a covenant God and Father; or to pardon of sin; or to salvation by Christ; or to fresh supplies of grace and strength from him; or to eternal life through him: and the hope which is exercised on the promise is not of a man's self; it is the gift of God, a good hope through grace; which the Lord, by his Spirit and power, produces, and causes to abound in, or to exercise in a comfortable manner.” (2)

 

Gleanings from Strong's Lexicon:

Remember

זְכֹר־ (zə·ḵōr-)

Verb - Qal - Imperative - masculine singular

Strong's Hebrew 2142: 1) to remember, recall, call to mind 1a) (Qal) to remember, recall 1b) (Niphal) to be brought to remembrance, be remembered, be thought of, be brought to mind 1c) (Hiphil) 1c1) to cause to remember, remind 1c2) to cause to be remembered, keep in remembrance 1c3) to mention 1c4) to record 1c5) to make a memorial, make remembrance

 

Your word

דָּבָ֥ר (dā·ḇār)

Noun - masculine singular

Strong's Hebrew 1697: 1) speech, word, speaking, thing 1a) speech 1b) saying, utterance 1c) word, words 1d) business, occupation, acts, matter, case, something, manner (by extension)

 

Cross-References for verse 49: Psalm 119:43; Psalm 119:48; Psalm 119:50

 

50 This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me.

 

From The Pulpit Commentary:

 

“Verse 50. - This is my comfort in my affliction. Nekhamah, “comfort,” occurs only here and in Job 6:10; but the meaning is well ascertained. For thy Word hath quickened me; or, “thy promise.” The “word,” whatever it was, referred to in ver. 49. This had given the psalmist new life.” (3)

 

Gleanings from Strong's Lexicon:

Your promise

אִמְרָתְךָ֣ (’im·rā·ṯə·ḵā)

Noun - feminine singular construct | second person masculine singular

Strong's Hebrew 565: 1) utterance, speech, word 1a) word of God, the Torah

 

Cross-References for verse 50: Romans 15:4; Job 6:10; Psalm 119:49; Psalm 119:92; Psalm 119:107; Psalm 119:153

 

51 The proud have had me greatly in derision: yet have I not declined from thy law.

 

From Barnes' Notes on the Bible:

 

“The proud have had me greatly in derision - Those of rank; those in high life: perhaps, as we should say, the frivolous and fashionable world. They have ridiculed me; they have held me up to contempt for my scruples, my seriousness, my conscientiousness, my unwillingness to mingle with them in the pursuits, the pastimes, the frivolities of life. It is now no new thing to be held in contempt by the ‘proud1 and the frivolous, on account of serious piety; to be thus held in contempt has been rather the rule than the exception in the treatment which the friends of religion have received from the world.” (4)

 

Yet have I not declined from thy law - I have not been deterred from the avowal of my religious belief; I have not turned away from the duties of piety on account of the ridicule and scorn to which I have been exposed. Compare Psalm 44:17-19.

 

Gleanings from Strong's Lexicon:

From Your law.

מִ֝תּֽוֹרָתְךָ֗ (mit·tō·w·rā·ṯə·ḵā)

Preposition-m | Noun - feminine singular construct | second person masculine singular

Strong's Hebrew 8451: 1) law, direction, instruction 1a) instruction, direction (human or divine) 1a1) body of prophetic teaching 1a2) instruction in Messianic age 1a3) body of priestly direction or instruction 1a4) body of legal directives 1b) law 1b1) law of the burnt offering 1b2) of special law, codes of law 1c) custom, manner 1d) the Deuteronomic or Mosaic Law

 

Cross-References for verse 51: Job 23:11; Job 30:1; Psalm 44:18: Psalm 119:157: Jeremiah 20:7

 

52 I remembered thy judgments of old, O Lord; and have comforted myself.

 

From Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary:

 

“52-56. The pious take comfort, when harassed and distressed by wickedness of men who forsake God's law, in remembering that the great principles of God's truth will still abide; and also God's

 

judgments of old—that is, His past interpositions in behalf of His people are a pledge that He will again interpose to deliver them; and they become the theme of constant and delightful meditation. The more we keep the more we love the law of God.” (5)

 

Gleanings from Strong's Lexicon:

I remember

זָ֘כַ֤רְתִּי (zā·ḵar·tî)

Verb - Qal - Perfect - first person common singular

Strong's Hebrew 2142: 1) to remember, recall, call to mind 1a) (Qal) to remember, recall 1b) (Niphal) to be brought to remembrance, be remembered, be thought of, be brought to mind 1c) (Hiphil) 1c1) to cause to remember, remind 1c2) to cause to be remembered, keep in remembrance 1c3) to mention 1c4) to record 1c5) to make a memorial, make remembrance

 

Cross-References for verse 52: Psalm 103:18; Psalm 119:53

 

53 Horror hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake thy law.

 

From Matthew Poole's Commentary:

 

“Horror; a mixed passion made up of indignation at their persons as sinful, and abhorrency of their sins, and dread and sorrow at the consideration of the judgments of God coming upon them.

 

Because of the wicked that forsake thy law; for the dishonour which they bring to God, the scandal and mischief to others, and their own certain ruin.” (6)

 

Gleanings from Strong's Lexicon:

Who reject

עֹ֝זְבֵ֗י (‘ō·zə·ḇê)

Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine plural construct

Strong's Hebrew 5800: 1) to leave, loose, forsake 1a) (Qal) to leave 1a1) to depart from, leave behind, leave, let alone 1a2) to leave, abandon, forsake, neglect, apostatise 1a3) to let loose, set free, let go, free 1b) (Niphal) 1b1) to be left to 1b2) to be forsaken 1c) (Pual) to be deserted 2) to restore, repair 2a) (Qal) to repair

 

Your law.

תּוֹרָתֶֽךָ׃ (tō·w·rā·ṯe·ḵā)

Noun - feminine singular construct | second person masculine singular

Strong's Hebrew 8451: 1) law, direction, instruction 1a) instruction, direction (human or divine) 1a1) body of prophetic teaching 1a2) instruction in Messianic age 1a3) body of priestly direction or instruction 1a4) body of legal directives 1b) law 1b1) law of the burnt offering 1b2) of special law, codes of law 1c) custom, manner 1d) the Deuteronomic or Mosaic Law

 

Cross-References for verse 53: Exodus 32:19; Ezra 9:3; Nehemiah 13:25; Psalm 89:30; Psalm 119:158; Ezekiel 9:4

 

54 Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage.

 

From the Pulpit Commentary:

 

“Verse 54. - Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage; literally, songs have thy statutes been to me in the house of my sojournings. I have made thy statutes the theme of my songs, as they are of this present one. “The house of my sojournings” is either this present world, where all men are “strangers and pilgrims” (Hebrews 11:13), or perhaps some foreign land in which the writer had been a sojourner.” (7)

 

Gleanings from Strong's Lexicon:

Songs

זְ֭מִרוֹת (zə·mi·rō·wṯ)

Noun - masculine plural

Strong's Hebrew 2158: 1) song, psalm

 

Cross-References for verse 54: Genesis 47:9; Psalm 119:19

 

55 I have remembered thy name, O Lord, in the night, and have kept thy law.

 

From Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament:

 

“The eightfold Zajin. God's word is his hope and his trust amidst all derision; and when he burns with indignation at the apostates, God's word is his solace. Since in Psalm 119:49 the expression is not דּברך but דּבר, it is not to be interpreted according to Psalm 98:3; Psalm 106:45, but: remember the word addressed to Thy servant, because Thou hast made me hope (Piel causat. as e.g., נשּׁה, to cause to forget, Genesis 41:51), i.e., hast comforted me by promising me a blessed issue, and hast directed my expectation thereunto. This is his comfort in his dejected condition, that God's promissory declaration has quickened him and proved its reviving power in his case. In הליצוּני (הליצוּני), ludificantur, it is implied that the זדים eht taht d are just לצים, frivolous persons, libertines, free-thinkers (Proverbs 21:24). משׁפּטיך, Psalm 119:52 are the valid, verified decisions (judgments) of God revealed from the veriest olden times. In the remembrance of these, which determine the lot of a man according to the relation he holds towards them, the poet found comfort. It can be rendered: then I comforted myself; or according to a later usage of the Hithpa. I was comforted. Concerning זלעפה, aestus, vid., Psalm 11:6, and on the subject-matter, Psalm 119:21, Psalm 119:104. The poet calls his earthly life “the house of his pilgrimage;” for it is true the earth is man's (Psalm 115:16), but he has no abiding resting-place there (1Chronicles 29:15), his בּית עולם (Ecclesiastes 12:5) is elsewhere (vid., supra, Psalm 119:19, Psalm 39:13). God's statutes are here his "songs," which give him spiritual refreshing, sweeten the hardships of the pilgrimage, and measure and hasten his steps. The Name of God has been in his mind hitherto, not merely by day, but also by night; and in consequence of this he has kept God's law (ואשׁמרה, as five times besides in this Psalm, cf. Psalm 3:6, and to be distinguished from ואשׁמרה, Psalm 119:44). Just this, that he keeps (observat) God's precepts, has fallen to his lot. To others something else is allotted (Psalm 4:8), to him this one most needful thing.” (8)

 

Gleanings from Strong's Lexicon:

I remember

זָ֘כַ֤רְתִּי (zā·ḵar·tî)

Verb - Qal - Perfect - first person common singular

Strong's Hebrew 2142: 1) to remember, recall, call to mind 1a) (Qal) to remember, recall 1b) (Niphal) to be brought to remembrance, be remembered, be thought of, be brought to mind 1c) (Hiphil) 1c1) to cause to remember, remind 1c2) to cause to be remembered, keep in remembrance 1c3) to mention 1c4) to record 1c5) to make a memorial, make remembrance

 

Your name,

שִׁמְךָ֣ (šim·ḵā)

Noun - masculine singular construct | second person masculine singular

Strong's Hebrew 8034: 1) name 1a) name 1b) reputation, fame, glory 1c) the Name (as designation of God) 1d) memorial, monument

 

Cross-References for verse 55: Acts 16:25; Psalm 42:8; Psalm 63:6; Psalm 92:2; Psalm 119:62; Psalm 119:145; Ecclesiastes 12:1; Isaiah 26:9

 

56 This I had, because I kept thy precepts.

 

From Matthew Poole's Commentary:

 

“This I had, this comfortable and profitable remembrance and contemplation of thy name and statutes, of which he spoke Psalm 119:54,55, because I kept thy precepts; which if I had wilfully and wickedly broken, the remembrance of these things would have been sad and frightful to me, as now it is comfortable, because I kept them.” (9)

 

Gleanings from Strong's Lexicon:

Is my practice

הָֽיְתָה־ (hā·yə·ṯāh-)

Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person feminine singular

Strong's Hebrew 1961: 1) to be, become, come to pass, exist, happen, fall out 1a) (Qal) 1a1) ----- 1a1a) to happen, fall out, occur, take place, come about, come to pass 1a1b) to come about, come to pass 1a2) to come into being, become 1a2a) to arise, appear, come 1a2b) to become 1a2b1) to become 1a2b2) to become like 1a2b3) to be instituted, be established 1a3) to be 1a3a) to exist, be in existence 1a3b) to abide, remain, continue (with word of place or time) 1a3c) to stand, lie, be in, be at, be situated (with word of locality) 1a3d) to accompany, be with 1b) (Niphal) 1b1) to occur, come to pass, be done, be brought about 1b2) to be done, be finished, be gone

 

Cross-References for verse 56: Psalm 119:22; Psalm 119:69; Psalm 119:100

 

Concluding summary from Matthew Henry’s Bible Concise Commentary Psalm 119:49-56:

 

“119:49-56 Those that make God's promises their portion, may with humble boldness make them their plea. He that by his Spirit works faith in us, will work for us. The word of God speaks comfort in affliction. If, through grace, it makes us holy, there is enough in it to make us easy, in all conditions. Let us be certain we have the Divine law for what we believe, and then let not scoffers prevail upon us to decline from it. God's judgments of old comfort and encourage us, for he is still the same. Sin is horrible in the eyes of all that are sanctified. Ere long the believer will be absent from the body, and present with the Lord. In the mean time, the statutes of the Lord supply subjects for grateful praise. In the season of affliction, and in the silent hours of the night, he remembers the name of the Lord, and is stirred up to keep the law. All who have made religion the first thing, will own that they have been unspeakable gainers by it.” (10)

 

Notes on Psalm 119:49-56 Zain:

  1. C. H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. II, (Nashville, Tennessee, Thomas Nelson), p. 239-240.

2.      John Gill, Exposition of the Old and New Testaments, Psalms, 9 Volumes, (Grace Works, Multi-Media Labs), 2011, p. 1391-1392.

3.      H. D. M. Spence and Joseph S. Exell, The Pulpit Commentary, Psalms, Vol.8., (Grand Rapids, Michigan, Eerdmans Publishing Company reprint 1978), p. 106.

4.      Albert Barnes, THE AGES DIGITAL LIBRARYCOMMENTARY, Barnes’ Notes on the Bible, Psalms, Vol. 5 p.1811.

5.      Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary on the Whole Bible, (Grand Rapids, Michigan, Zondervan, 1977) p. 450.

  1. Matthew Poole's Commentary on the Holy Bible, vol. 2, (Peabody, Massachusetts, Hendrickson Publishers, 1985) p. 185.

7.      H. D. M. Spence and Joseph S. Exell, The Pulpit Commentary, Psalms, Vol.8., (Grand Rapids, Michigan, Eerdmans Publishing Company reprint 1978), p. 106.

8.      Keil-Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament, Psalms, vol. 5, (Grand Rapids, Michigan, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Reprinted 1985), p. 250- 251.

9.      Matthew Poole's Commentary on the Holy Bible, vol. 2, (Peabody, Massachusetts, Hendrickson Publishers, 1985) p. 185.

  1. Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary, Psalms, (Nashville, Tennessee, Thomas Nelson), p. 958.

 

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