The Treasury of David (Psalms)

15. "/ will meditate in thy precepts." He who has an inward delight in anything will not long withdraw his mind from it. As the miser often returns to look upon his treaure, so does the devout believer by frequent meditation turn over the priceless wealth which he has discovered in the book of the Lord. To some men meditation is a task; to the man of cleansed way it is a joy. He who has meditated will meditate; he who saith, " I have rejoiced," is the same who adds, " I will meditate." No spiritual exercise is more profitable to the soul than that of devout meditation; why are many of us so exceeding slack in it? It is worthy of observation that the preceptory part of God's word was David's special subject of meditation, and this was the more natural because the question was still upon his mind as to how a young man should cleanse his way. Practical godliness is vital godliness.

" And have respect unto thy ways," that is to say, I will think much about them so as to know what thy ways are; and next, I will think much of them so as to have thy ways in great reverence and high esteem. I will see what thy ways are towards me that I may be filled with reverence, gratitude, and love; and then, I will observe what are those ways which thou hast prescribed for me, thy ways in which thou wouldest have me follow thee; these I would watch carefully that I may become obedient, and prove myself to be a true servant of such a Master.

Note how the verses grow more inward as they proceed; from the speech of verse 13 we advanced to the manifested joy of verse 14, and now we come to the secret meditation of the happy spirit. The richest graces are those which dwell deepest.

16. " / will delight myself in thy statutes." In this verse delight follows meditation, of which it is the true flower and outgrowth. When we have no other solace, but are quite alone, it will be a glad thing for the heart to turn upon itself, and sweetly whisper, " I will delight myself. What if no minstrel sings in the hall, I will delight myself. If the time of the singing of birds has not yet arrived, and the voice of the turtle is not heard in our land, yet I will delight myself." This is the choicest and noblest of all rejoicing: in fact, it is the good part which can never be taken from us; but there is no delighting ourselves with anything below that which God intended to be the soul's eternal satisfaction. The statute-book is intended to be the joy of every loyal subject. When the believer once peruses the sacred pages his soul burns within him as he turns first to one and then to another of the royal words of the great King, words full and firm, immutable and divine.

" I will not forget thy word." Men do not readily forget that which they have treasured up, that which they have meditated on (verse 15), and that which they have often spoken of (verse 13). Yet since we have treacherous memories it is well to bind them well with the knotted cord of " I will not forget."

Note how two " I wills " follow upon two " I haves." We may not promise for the future if we have altogether failed in the past; but where grace has enabled us to accomplish something, we may hopefully expect that it will enable us to do more.

It is curious to observe how this verse is moulded upon verse 8: the changes are rung on the same words, but the meaning is quite different, and there is no suspicion of a vain repetition. The same thought is never given over again in this Psalm; they are dullards who think so. Something in the position of each verse affects its meaning, so that even where its words are almost identical with those of another the sense is delightfully varied. If we do not see an infinite variety of fine shades of thought in this Psalm we may conclude that we are colour-blind; if we do not hear many sweet harmonies, we may judge our ears to be dull of hearing, but we may not suspect the Spirit ol God of monotony.

9. By what means shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to thy word.

10. By day and by night have I sought thee with my whole heart: O let me not wander from

11. By thy grace I have hid thy word in my heart, that I might not sin against thee.

12. Blessed art thou, O Lord: teach me thy statutes.

14. By far more than in all riches I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies.

15. By thy help I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways.

1 6. By thy grace I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word.

Whole eight verses, 9 — 16. Every verse in the section begins with a, a house. The subject of the section is, The Law of Jehovah purifying the Life. Key- word, Ha? (zacah), to be pure, to make pure, to cleanse. — F. G. Marchant.

Verse 9. — Whole verse. In this passage there is, (1) A question. (2) An answer given. In the question, there is the person spoken of, " a young man," and his work, " Wherewithal shall he cleanse his way?" In this question there are several things supposed. 1. That we are from the birth, polluted with sin; for we must be cleansed. It is not direct " his way," but " cleanse his way." 2. That we should be very early and betimes sensible of this evil; for the question is propounded concerning the young man. 3. That we should earnestly seek for a remedy, how to dry up the issue of sin that runneth upon us. All this is to be supposed.

That which is enquired after is, What remedy there is against it? What course is to be taken? So that the sum of the question is this: How shall a man that is impure, and naturally denied with sin, be made able, as soon as he cometh to the use of reason, to purge out that natural corruption, and live a holy and pure life to God? The answer is given: "By taking heed thereto according to thy word." Where two things are to be observed. 1. The remedy. 2. The manner how it is applied and made use of.

1. The remedy is the word; by way of address to God, called " Thy word; " because, if God had not given direction about it, we should have been at an utter loss. 2. The manner how it is applied and made use of, " by taking heed thereto," etc.; by studying and endeavouring a holy conformity to God's will. — Thomas

Verse 9. — ' Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? " etc. Aristotle, that great dictator in philosophy, despaired of achieving so great an enterprise as the rendering a young man capable of his 7?0iKo, aKpoa/mara, " his grave and severe lectures of morality; " for that age is light and foolish, yet headstrong and untractable. Now, take a young man all in the heat and boiling of his blood, in the highest fer mentation of his youthful lusts; and, at all these disadvantages, let him enter that great school of the Holy Spirit, the divine Scriptures, and commit himself to the conduct of those blessed oracles; and he shall effectually be convinced, by his own experience, of the incredible virtue, the vast and mighty power, of God's word, in the success it hath upon him, and in his daily progressions and advances in heavenly wisdom. — John Gibbon (about 1660) in " The Morning Exercises."

Verse 9. — " A young man." A prominent place — one of the twenty-two parts — is assigned to young men in the 119th Psalm. It is meet that it should be so. Youth is the season of impression and improvement, young men are the future props of society, and the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom, must begin in youth. The strength, the aspirations, the unmarred expectations of youth, are in requisition for the world; O that they may be consecrated to God. — John Stephen, in " The Utterances of the cxix. Psalm," 1861.

Verse 9. — For " young man," In the Hebrew the word is ij», naar, i.e., " shaken off; " that is to say, from the milder and more tender care of his parents. Thus Mercerus and Savallerius. Secondly, naar may be rendered " shaking off; " that is to say, the yoke, for a young man begins to cast off the material, and frequently the paternal, yoke. — Thomas Le Blanc.

Verse 9. — " Cleanse his way." The expression does not absolutely convey the

impression that the given young man is in a corrupt and discreditable way which requires cleansing, though this be true of all men originally: Isaiah liii. 6. That which follows makes known that such could not be the case with this young man. The very inquiry shows that his heart is not in a corrupt state. Desire is present, direction is required. The inquiry is — How shall a young man make a clean way — a pure line of conduct — through this defiling world? It is a question, I doubt not, of great anxiety to every convert whose mind is awakened to a sense of sin — how he shall keep clear of the sin, avoid the loose company, and rid himself of the wicked pleasures and practices of this enslaving world. And as he moves on in the line of integrity — many temptations coining in his way, and much inward corruption rising up to control him — how often will the same anxious inquiry arise: Romans vii. 24. It is only in a false estimate of one's own strength that any can think otherwise, and the spirit of such false estimate will be brought low. How felt you, my young friends, who have been brought to Christ, in the day of your resolving to be his? But for all such anxiety there seems to be an answer in the text.

" By taking heed thereto according to thy word." It is not that young men in our day require information: they require the inclination. In the gracious young man there are both, and the word that began feeds the proper motives. The awful threatenings and the sweet encouragements both move him in the right direction. The answer furnished to this anxious inquiry is sufficiently plain and practical. He is directed to the word of God for all direction, and we might say, for all promised assistance. Still the matter presented in this light does not appear to me to bring out the full import of the passage. The inquiry to me would seem to extend over the whole verse.* There is required the cleansing that his way be according to the Divine Word. The enquiry is of the most enlarged comprehension, and will be made only by one who can say that he has been honestly putting himself in the way, as the young man in the 10th and llth verses; and it can be answered only by the heart that takes in all the strength provided by the blessed God, as is expressed here in the 12th verse. The Psalmist makes the inquiry, he shows how earnestly he had sought to be in the right way, and immediately he finds all his strength in God. Thus he declares how he has been enabled to do rightly, and how he will do rightly in the future. — John Stephen.

Verse 9. — Instead of question and answer both in this one verse, the Hebrew demands the construction with question only, leaving the answer to be inferred from the drift of the entire Psalm — thus: " Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way to keep it according to thy word? " This translation gives precisely the force of the last clause. Hebrew punctuation lacks the interrogation point, so that we have no other clue but the form of the sentence and the sense by which to decide where the question ends. — Henry Cowles, 1872.

Verse 9. — "His way." n™, orach, which we translate way here, signifies a track, a rut, such as is made by the wheel of a cart or chariot. A young sinner has no broad beaten path; he has his private ways of offence, his secret pollutions; and how shall he be cleansed from these? how can he be saved from what will destroy mind, body, and soul? Let him hear what follows; the description is from God.

1. He is to consider that his way is impure; and how abominable this must make him appear in the sight of God. 2. He must examine it according to God's word, and carefully hear what God has said concerning him and it. 3. He must take heed to it, TC^, lishmor, to keep, guard, and preserve his way — his general course of life, from all defilement. — Adam Clarke.

Verse 9. — " By taking heed," etc. I think the words may be better rendered and supplied thus, by observing what is according to thy word; which shows how a sinner is to be cleansed from his sins by the blood of Christ, and justified by his righteousness, and be clean through his word; and also how and by whom the work of sanctification is wrought in the heart, even by the Spirit of God, by means of the word, and what is the rule of a man's walk and conversation: he will find the word of God to be profitable, to inform in the doctrines of justification and pardon, to acquaint him with the nature of regeneration and sanctification; and for the correc tion and amendment of his life and manners, and for his instruction in every branch of manners: 2 Tim. iii. 16.— John Gill, 1697—1771.

Verse 9. — " By taking heed." There is an especial necessity for this " Take heed," because of the proneness of a young man to thoughtlessness, carelessness,

* This opinion is confirmed by the quotation which follows from Cowles.

presumption, self-confidence. There is an especial necessity for " taking heed," because of the difficulty of the way. " Look well to thy goings; " it is a narrow path. " Look well to thy goings," it is a new path. " Look well to thy goings; " it is a slippery path. " Look well to thy goings; " it is an eventful path. — James Harrington Evans, 1785 — 1849.

Verse 9. — "According to thy word." God's word is the glass which discovereth all spiritual deformity, and also the water and soap which washeth and scoureth it away. — Paul Bayne.

Verse 9.—" According to thy word." I do not say that there are no other guides, no other fences. I do not say that conscience is worth nothing, and conscience in youth is especially sensitive and tender; I do not say that prayer is not a most valuable fence, but prayer without taking heed is only another name for presumption; prayer and carelessness can never walk hand in hand together; and I therefore say that there is no fence nor guard that can so effectually keep out every enemy as prayerful reading of the word of God, bringing every solicitation from the world or from companions, every suggestion from our own hearts and passions, to the test of God's word: — What says the Bible? The answer of the Bible, with the teaching and enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, will in all the intricacies of our road be a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. — Barton Bouchier.

Verse 9. — " Thy word." The word is the only weapon (like Goliath's sword, none to equal this), for the hewing down and cutting off of this stubborn enemy, our lusts. The word of God can master our lusts when they are in their greatest pride: if ever lust rageth at one time more than another, it is when youthful blood boils in our veins. Youth is giddy, and his lust is hot and impetuous: his sun is climbing higher still, and he thinks it is a great while to night; so that it must be a strong arm that brings a young man off his lusts, who hath his palate at best advantage to taste sensual pleasure. The vigour of his strength affords him more of the delights of the flesh than crippled age can expect, and he is farther from the fear of death's gun-shot, as he thinks, than old men who are upon the very brink of the grave, and carry the scent of the earth about them, into which they are suddenly to be resolved. Well, let the word of God meet this young gallant in all his bravery, with his feast of sensual delights before him, and but whisper a few syllables in his ear, give his conscience but a prick with the point of its sword, and it shall make him fly in as great haste from them all, as Absalom's brethren did from the feast when they saw Amnon their brother murdered at the table. When David would give the young man a receipt to cure him of his lusts, how he may cleanse his whole course and way, he bids him only wash in the waters of the word of God. — William Gurnall.

Verse 9. — The Scriptures teach us the best way of living, the noblest way of suffering, and the most comfortable way of dying. — John Flavel, 1627 — 1691.

Verse 10. — " With my whole heart have I sought thee." There are very few of us that are able to say with the prophet David that we have sought God with our whole heart; to wit, with such integrity and pureness that we have not turned away from that mark as from the most principal thing of our salvation. — John Calvin.

Verse 10. — " With my whole heart have I sought thee." Sincerity is in every expression; the heart is open before God. The young man can so speak to the

Searcher of hearts Let us consider the directness of this kind of converse with God. We use round-about expressions in drawing nigh to God. We say,

WTith my whole heart would I seek thee. We are afraid to be direct See how decided in his conscious actings is the young man before you, how open and confiding he is, and such you will find to be the characteristic of his pious mind throughout the varied expressions unfolded in this Psalm. Here he declares to the Omniscient One that he had sought him with all his heart. He desired to realize God in everything. — John Stephen.

Verse 10. — " 0 let me not wander from thy commandments." David after he had protested that he sought God with his whole heart, besought God that he would not suffer him to decline from his commandments. Hereby let us see what great need we have to call upon God, to the end he may hold us with a mighty strong hand. Yea, and though he hath already mightily put to his helping hand, and we also know that he hath bestowed upon us great and manifest graces; yet this is not all: for there are so many vices and imperfections in our nature, and we are so feeble and weak that we have very great need daily to pray unto him, yea, and that more and more, that he will not suffer us to decline from his commandments. — John

Verse 10. — The more experience a man hath in the ways of God, the more sensible is he of his own readiness to wander insensibly, by ignorance and inadvertency, from the ways of God; but the young soldier dares run hazards, ride into his adversary's camp, and talk with temptation, being confident he cannot go wrong; he is not so much in fear as David who here cries, " 0 let me not wander." — David Dickson, 1583 — 1662.

Verse 11. — " Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee." There laid up in the heart the word has effect. When young men only read the letter of the Book, the word of promise and instruction is deprived of much of its power. Neither will the laying of it up in the mere memory avail. The word must be known and prized, and laid up in the heart; it must occupy the affection as well as the understanding; the whole mind requires to be impregnated with the word of God. Revealed things require to be seen. Then the word of God in the heart — the threatenings, the promises, the excellencies of God's word — and God himself realized, the young man would be inwardly fortified; the understanding enlightened, conscience quickened — he would not sin against his God. — John Stephen.

Verse 11. — " Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee." In proportion as the word of the King is present in the heart, " there is power " against sin (Eccles. viii. 4). Let us use this means of absolute power more, and more life and more holiness will be ours. — Frances Ridley Havergal, 1836 — 1879.

Verse 11. — " Thy word have I hid in mine heart." It is fit that the word, being " more precious than gold, yea, than much fine gold," a peerless pearl, should not be laid up in the porter's lodge only — the outward ear; but even in the cabinet of thr mind. — Dean Boys, quoted by James Ford.

Verse 11. — " Thy word have I hid in mine heart." There is great difference between Christians and worldlings. The worldling hath his treasure in jewels without him; the Christian hath them within. Neither indeed is there any receptacle wherein to receive and keep the word of consolation but the heart only. If thou have it in thy mouth only, it shall be taken from thee; if thou have it in thy book only, thou shalt miss it when thou hast most to do with it; but if thou lay it up in thy heart, as Mary did the words of the angel, no enemy shall ever be able to take it from thee, and thou shalt find it a comfortable treasure in the time of thy need. —

Verse 11. — " Thy word have I hid in mine heart." This saying, to hide, importeth that David studied not to be ambitious to set forth himself and to make a glorious show before men; but that he had God for a witness of that secret desire which was within him. He never looked to worldly creatures; but being content that he had so great a treasure, he knew full well that God who had given it him would so surely and safely guard it, as that it should not be laid open to Satan to be taken away. Saint Paul also declareth unto us (1 Tim. i. 19) that the chest wherein this treasure must be hid is a good conscience. For it is said, that many being void of this good conscience, have lost also their faith, and have been robbed thereof. As if a man should forsake his goods and put them in hazard, without shutting a door, it were an easy matter for thieves to come in and rob and spoil him of all; even so, if we leave at random to Satan the treasures which God hath given us in his word, without it be hidden in this good conscience, and in the very bottom of our heart as David here speaketh, we shall be spoiled thereof. — John Calvin.

Verse 11. — " Thy word." Thy saying, thy oracle; any communication from God to the soul, whether promise, or command, or answer. It means a direct and distinct message, while " word " is more general, and applies to the whole revelation. This is the ninth of the ten words referring to the revelation of God in this Psalm. — James G. Murphy, 1875.

Verse 11. — " In my heart." Bernard observes, bodily bread in the cupboard may be eaten of mice, or moulder and waste: but when it is taken down into the body, it is free from such danger. If God enable thee to take thy soul-food into thine heart, it is free from all hazards. — George Swinnock, 1627 — 1673.

Verse 11. — " That I might not sin against thee." Among many excellent virtues of the word of God, this is one; that if we keep it in our heart, it keeps us from sin, which is against God and against ourselves. We may mark it by experience, that the word is first stolen either out of the mind of man, and the remembrance of it is away; or at least out of the affection of man; so that the reverence of it is gone, before that a man can be drawn to the committing of a sin. So long as Eve kept by faith the word of the Lord, she resisted Satan; but from the time she doubted of that, which God made most certain by his word, at once she was snared. — William

Verse 12. — " Blessed art thou, 0 Lord: teach me thy statutes." This verse con tains a prayer, with the reason of the prayer. The prayer is. " Teach me thy statutes; " the reason, moving him to seek this, ariseth of a consideration of that infinite good which is in God. He is a blessed God, the fountain of all felicity, without whom no welfare or happiness can be to the creature. And for this cause David earnestly desiring to be in fellowship and communion with God, which he knows none can attain unto unless he be taught of God to know God's way and walk in it; therefore, I say, he prayeth the more earnestly that the Lord would teach him his statutes. Oh that we also could wisely consider this, that our felicity stands in fellowship with God. — William Cowper.

Verse 12. — In this verse we have two things, 1. An acknowledgment of God's blessedness, " Blessed art thou, O Lord; " i.e., being possessed of all fulness, thou hast an infinite complacency in the enjoyment of thyself; and thou art he alone in the enjoyment of whom I can be blessed and happy; and thou art willing and ready to give out of thy fulness, so that thou art the fountain of blessedness to thy creatures. 2. A request or petition, " Teach me thy statutes; " q.d., seeing thou hast all fulness in thyself, and art sufficient to thy own blessedness; surely thou hast enough for me. There is enough to content thyself, therefore enough to satisfy me. This encourages me in my address.

Again, — Teach me that I may know wherein to seek my blessedness and happi ness, even in thy blessed self; and that I may know how to come by the enjoyment of thee, so that I may be blessed in thee. Further, — Thou art blessed originally, the Fountain of all blessing; thy blessedness is an everlasting fountain, a full foun tain; always pouring out blessedness: O, let me have this blessing from thee, this drop from the fountain. — William Wisheart, in " Theologia, or, Discourses of God," 1716.

Verse 12. — Since God is blessed, we cannot but desire to learn his ways. If we see any earthly being happy, we have a great desire to learn out his course, as think ing by it we might be happy also. Every one would sail with that man's wind who prospereth; though in earthly things it holdeth not alway: yet a blessed God can not by any way of his bring to other than blessedness. Thus, he who is blessedness itself, he will be ready to communicate his ways to other: the excellentest things are most communicative. — Paul Bayne.

Verse 12. — " Teach me." He had Nathan, he had priests to instruct him, himself was a prophet; but all their teaching was nothing without God's blessing, and there fore he prays, " Teach me." — William Nicholson.

Verse 12. — " Teach me." These words convey more than the simple imparting of knowledge, for he said before he had such, when he said he hid God's words in his heart; and in verse 7 he said he " had learned the judgments of his justice: " it includes grace to observe his law. — Robert Bellarmine, 1542 — 1621.

Verse 12. — "Teach me." If this were practised now, to join prayer with hearing, that when we offer ourselves to be taught of men, we would therewith send up prayer to God, before preaching, in time of preaching and after preaching, we would soon prove more learned and religious than we are. — William Cowper.

Verse 12. — " Teach me thy statutes." Whoever reads the Psalm with attention must observe in it one great characteristic, and that is, how decisive are its statements that in keeping the commandments of God nothing can be done by human strength; but that it is he who must create the will for the performance of such duty. The Psalmist entreats the Lord to open his eyes that he may behold the wondrous things of the law, to teach him his statutes, to remove from him the way of lying, to incline his heart unto his testimonies, and not to covetousness, to turn away his eyes from beholding vanity, and not to take the word of truth utterly out of his mouth. Each of these petitions shows how deeply impressed he was of his entire helplessness as regarded himself, and how completely dependent upon God he felt himself for any

advancement he could hope to make in the knowledge of the truth. All his studies in the divine law, all his aspirations after holiness of life, he was well assured could never meet with any measure of success, except by the grace of God preventing and co-operating, implanting in him a right desire, and acting as an infallible guide, whereby alone he would be enabled to arrive at the proper sense of Holy Scripture, as well as to correct principles of action in his daily walk before God and man. — George Phillips, 1846.

Verse 12. — " Teach me thy statutes." — If it be asked why the Psalmist entreats to be taught, when he has just before been declaring his knowledge, the answer is that he seeks instruction as to the practical working of those principles which he has learnt theoretically. — Michael Ayguan (1416), in Neale and Littledale.

Verse 13. — " With my lips have I declared," etc. Above all, be careful to talk of that to others which you do daily learn yourself, and out of the abundance of your heart speak of good things unto men. — Richard Greenham.

Verse 13. — Having hid the purifying word in his heart, the Psalmist will declare it with his lips; and as it is so pure throughout, he will declare all in it, without exception. When the fountain of the heart is purified, the streams from the lips will be pure also. The declaring lips of the Psalmist are here placed in antithesis to the mouth of Jehovah, by which the judgments were originally pronounced. — F. G. Marchant.

Verse 13. — As the consciousness of having communicated our knowledge and our spiritual gifts is a means of encouragement to seek a greater measure, so it is an evidence of the sincerity and fruitfulness of what knowledge we have: " Teach me thy statutes. With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth." — David Dickson.

Verse 13. — " With my lips," etc. The tongue is a most excellent member of the body, being well used to the glory of God and the edification of others; and yet it cannot pronounce without help of the lips. The Lord hath made the body of man with such marvellous wisdom, that no member of it can say to another, I have no need of thee; but such is man's dulness, that he observes not how useful unto him is the smallest member in the body, till it be taken from him. If our lips were clasped for a time, and our tongue thus shut up, we would esteem it a great mercy to have it loosed again; as that cripple, when he found the use of his feet, leaped for joy and glorified God. — William Cowper.

Verse 13. — " Declared all the judgments." He says in another place (Ps. xxxvi. 6), " Thy judgments are like a great deep." As the apostle says (Rom. xi. 33, 34), " 0 the depth of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out. For who hath known the mind of the Lord? " If the judgments are unsearchable, how then says the prophet, " / have declared all the judg ments of thy mouth? " We answer, — peradventure there are judgments of God which are not the judgments of his mouth, but of his heart and hand only.

We make a distinction, for we have no fear that the sacred Scripture weakens itself by contradictions. It has not said, The judgments of his mouth are a great deep; but " Thy judgments." Neither has the apostle said, The unsearchable judgments of his mouth; but " His unsearchable judgments." We may regard the judgments of God, then, as those hidden ones which he has not revealed to us; but the judgments of his mouth, those which he has made known, and has spoken by the mouth of the prophets. — Ambrose, 340 — 397.

Verse 14. — " I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies," etc. The Psalmist saith not only, " I have rejoiced in thy testimonies," but, " in the way of thy testi monies." Way is one of the words by which the law is expressed. God's laws are ways that lead us to God; and so it may be taken here, " the way which thy testi monies point out, and call me unto; or else his own practice, as a man's course is called his way; his delight was not in speculation or talk, but in obedience and practice: "in the way of thy testimonies." He tells us the degree of his joy, " as much as in all riches: " " as much," not to show the equality of these things, as if we should have the same affection for the world as for the word of God; but " as much," because we have no higher comparison. This is that which worldlings doat upon, and delight in; now as much as they rejoice in worldly possessions, so much do I rejoice in the way of thy testimonies. For I suppose David doth not compare

his own delight in wealth; but his own choice and delight, with the delight and choice of others. If he had spoken of himself both in the one respect and in the other, the expression was very high. David, who was called to a crown, andhf a capacity of enjoying much in the world, gold, silver, land, goods, largeness of territory, and a compound of all that which all men jointly, and all men severally do possess; yet was more pleased in the holiness of God's ways, than in all the world: " For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? " (Mark viii. 36). — Thomas Manton.

Verse 14. — " The way of thy testimonies." The testimony of God is his word, for it testifies his will; the " way " of his testimony is the practice of his word, and doing of that which he hath declared to be his will, and wherein he hath promised to show us his love. David found not this sweetness in hearing, reading, and pro fessing the word only; but in practising of it; and in very deed, the only cause why we find not the comfort that is in the word of God is that we practise it not by walking in the way thereof. It is true, at the first it is bitter to nature, which loves carnal liberty, to render itself as captive to the word: laboriosa virtutis via, and much pains must be taken before the heart be subdued; but when it is once begun, it renders such joy as abundantly recompenses all the former labour and grief. —

Verse 14. — Riches are acquired with difficulty, enjoyed with trembling, and lost with bitterness. — Bernard, 1091 — 1157.

Verse 14. — A poor, good woman said, in time of persecution, when they took away the Christian's Bibles, " I cannot part with my Bible; I know not how to live without it." When a gracious soul has heard a profitable sermon, he says, " Methinks it does me good at heart; it is the greatest nourishment I have: " "7 have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as much as in all riches." — Oliver Heywood,

Verse 15. — " / will meditate in thy precepts," etc. All along David had shown what he had done; now, what he will do. Verse 10, " I have sought; " verse 11, " I have hid; " verse 12, " I have declared; " verse 14, " I have rejoiced." Now in the two following verses he doth engage himself to set his mark towards God for time to come. " / will meditate in thy precepts," etc. We do not rest upon anything already done and past, but continue the same diligence unto the end. Here is David's hearty resolution and purpose, to go on for time to come. Many will say, Thus I have done when I was young, or had more leisure and rest; in that I have meditated and conferred. You must continue still in a holy course. To begin to build, and leave unfinished, is an argument of folly. — Thomas Manton.

Verse 15. — " 7 will meditate in thy precepts." Not only of thy precepts or con cerning them, but in them, while engaged in doing them. — Joseph Addison Alexander.

Verse 15. — " 7 will." See this " I will " repeated again and again (verses 48, 78). In meditation it is hard (sometimes at least) to take off our thoughts from the pre-engagements of other subjects, and apply them to the duty. But it is harder to become duly serious in acting in it, harder yet to dive and ponder; and hardest of all to continue in an abode of thoughts, and dwell long enough, and after views to make reviews, to react the same thinkings, to taste things over and over, when the freshness and newness is past, when by long thinking the things before us seem old. We are ready to grow dead and flat in a performance except we stir up ourselves often in it. It is hard to hold on and hold up, unless we hold up a wakeful eye, a warm affection, a strong and quick repeated resolution; yea, and without often lifting up the soul to Christ for fresh recruits of strength to hold on. David, that so excellent artist in this way, saith he will meditate, he often saith he will. Doubtless, he not only said " I will " when he was to make his entrance into this hard work; but likewise for continuance in it, to keep up his heart from flagging, till he well ended his work. It is not the digging into the golden mine, but the digging long, that finds and fetches up the treasure. It is not the diving into the sea, but staying longer, that gets the greater quantity of pearls. To draw out the golden thread of meditation to its due length till the spiritual ends be attained, this is a rare and happy attainment. — Nalhanael Ranew, 1670.

Verse 15. — " 7 will meditate." How much our " rejoicing in the testimonies " of God would be increased by a more habitual meditation upon them I This is, how ever, a resolution which the carnal mind can never be brought to make, and to which the renewed mind through remaining depravity is often sadly reluctant. But

it is a blessed employment, and will repay a thousandfold the difficulty of engaging the too backward heart in the duty. — Charles Bridges.

Verse 15. — Meditation is of that happy influence, it makes the mind wise, the affections warm, the soul fat and flourishing, and the conversation greatly fruitful. — Nathanael Ranew.

Verse 15. — " Meditate in thy precepts." Study the Scriptures. If a famous man do but write an excellent book, O how we do long to see it 1 Or suppose I could tell you that there is in France or Germany a book that God himself wrote, I am confident men may draw all the money out of your purses to get that book. You have it by you: O that you would study it! When the eunuch was riding in his chariot, he was studying the prophet Isaiah. He was not angry when Philip came and, as we would have thought, asked him a bold question: " Understandest thou what thou readest? " (Acts viii. 27 — 30); he was glad of it. One great end of the year of release was, that the law might be read (Deut. xxxi. 9 — 13). It is the wisdom of God that speaks in the Scripture (Luke xi. 49); therefore, whatever else you mind, really and carefully study the Bible. — Samuel Jacomb (1629 — 1659), in " The Morning Exercises."

Verse 15. — " / will have respect." The one is the fruit of the other: " / will meditate; " and then, " / will have respect." Meditation is in order to practice; and if it be right, it will beget a respect to the ways of God. We do not meditate that we may rest in contemplation, but in order to obedience: " Thou shalt meditate in the book of the law day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein " (Joshua i. 8). — Thomas Manton.

Verse 15. — " And have respect unto thy ways." — As an archer hath to his mark. — John Trap p.

Verse 15. — " Respect unto thy ways." It is not without a peculiar pleasure, when travelling, that we contemplate the splendid buildings, the gardens, the fortifications, or the fine-art galleries. But what are all these sights to the contemplation of the ways of God, which he himself has traversed, or has maked out for man? And what practical need there is that we consider the way, for else we shall be as a sleepy coachman, not carefully observant of the road, who may soon upset himself and his passengers. — Martin Geier.

Verse 15. — " Thy ways." David's second internal action concerning the word is consideration; where mark well, how by a most proper speech he calls the word of God the ways of God; partly, because by it God comes near unto men, revealing himself to them, who otherways could not be known of them; for he dwells in light inaccessible; and partly, because the word is the way which leads men to God. So then, because by it God cometh down to men, and by it men go up unto God, and know how to get access to him, therefore is his word called his way. — William Cowper.

Verses 15, 16. — The two last verses of this section present to us a threefold internal action of David's soul toward the word of God; first, meditation; secondly, con sideration; thirdly, delectation; every one of those proceeds from another, and they mutually strengthen one another. Meditation brings the word to the mind; consideration views it and looks at length into it, whereof is bred delectation. That which comes into the mind, were it never so good, if it be not considered, goes as it came, leaving neither instruction nor joy; but being once presented by meditation, if it be pondered by consideration, then it breeds delectation, which is the perfection of godliness, in regard of the internal action. — William Cowper.

Verse 16. — " / will delight myself," etc. He protested before that he had great delight in the testimonies of God: now he saith he will still delight in them. A man truly godly, the more good he doth, the more he desireth, delighteth and resolveth to do. Temporisers, on the contrary, who have but a show of godliness, and the love of it is not rooted in their heart, how soon are they weary of well-doing I If they have done any small external duty of religion, they rest as if they were fully satisfied, and there needed no more good to be done by them. True religion is known by hungering and thirsting after righteousness, by perseverance in well-doing and an earnest desire to do more.

But to this he adds that he will not forget the word. The graces of the Spirit do every one fortify and strengthen another; for ye see meditation helps consideration. Who can consider of that whereof he thinks not? Consideration again breeds delec tation; and as here ye see, delectation strengthens memory: because he delights in the word he will not forget the word; and memory again renews meditation. Thus every grace of the Spirit helps another; and by the contrary, one of them neglected, works a wonderful decay of the remnant. — William Cowper.

Verse 16. — " / will delight myself." When righteousness, from a matter of constraint, becomes a matter of choice, it instantly changes its whole nature, and rises to a higher moral rank than before. The same God whom it is impossible to move by law's authority, moves of his own proper and original inclination in the very path of the law's righteousness. And so, we, in proportion as we are like unto God, are alive to the virtues of that same law, to the terror of whose severities we are alto gether dead. We are no longer under a schoolmaster; but obedience is changed from a thing of force into a thing of freeness. It is moulded to a higher state and character than before. We are not driven to it by the God of authority. We are drawn to it by the regards of a now willing heart to all moral and all spiritual excel lence. — Thomas Chalmers, 1780 — 1847.

Verse 16. — Meditation must not be a dull, sad, and dispirited thing: not a driving like the chariots of the Egyptians when their wheels were taken off, but like the chariots of Amminadib (Cant. vi. 12) that ran swiftly. So let us pray, — Lord, in meditation make me like the chariots of Amminadib, that my swift running may evidence my delight in meditating. Holy David makes delight such an ingredient or assistant here, that sometimes he calls the exercise of meditation by the name of " delight," speaking in the foregoing verse of this meditation, " / will meditate of thy precepts," and in the 16th verse, " / will delight myself in thy statutes; " which is the same with meditation, only with superadding the excellent qualification due medi tation should have; the name of delight is givn to meditation because of its noble concomitant — holy joy and satisfaction. — Nathanael Ranew.

Verse 16. — " Delight myself." The word is very emphatical: yvynv*, eshtaasha, I will skip about and jump for joy. — Adam Clarke.

Verse 16. — " / will not forget." Delight preventeth forgetfulness: the mind will run upon that which the heart delighteth in; and the heart is where the treasure is (Matt. vi. 21). Worldly men that are intent upon carnal interests, forget the word, because it is not their delight. If anything displeases us, we are glad if we can forget it; it is some release from an inconvenience, to take off our thoughts from it; but it doubleth the contentment of a thing that we are delighted in, to remember it, and call it to mind. In the outward school, if a scholar by his own averseness from learning, or by the severity and imprudence of his master, hath no delight in his book, all that he learneth is lost and forgotten, it goeth in at one ear, and out at the other: but this is the true art of memory, to cause them to delight in what they learn. Such instructions as we take in with sweetness, they stick with us, and run in our minds night and day. So saith David here, "/ will delight myself in thy statutes; 1 will not forget thy word." — Thomas Manton.

Verse 16. — " Forget." I never yet heard of a covetous old man, who had for gotten where he had buried his treasure. — Cicero de Senectute.

r\EAL bountifully with thy servant, that I may live, and keep thy word.

18 Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.

19 I am a stranger in the earth: hide not thy commandments from me.

20 My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto thy judgments at all times.

21 Thou hast rebuked the proud that are cursed, which do err from thy commandments.

22 Remove from me reproach and contempt; for I have kept thy testimonies.

23 Princes also did sit and speak against me: but thy servant did meditate in thy statutes.

24 Thy testimonies also are my delight and my counsellors.

In this section the trials of the way appear to be manifest to the Psalmist's mind, and he prays accordingly for the help which will meet his case. As in the last eight verses he prayed as a youth newly come into the world, so here he pleads as a servant and a pilgrim, who growingly finds himself to be a stranger in an enemy's country. His appeal is to God alone, and his prayer is specially direct and personal. He speaks with the Lord as a man speaketh with his friend.

17. " 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 unde serving 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, 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 com mands. If we give God service it must be because he gives us grace. We work for him because he works m us. Thus we may make a chain out of the opening verses of the three first octaves of this Psalm: verse 1 blesses the holy man, verse 9 asks how we can attain to such holiness, and verse 17 traces such holiness to its secret source, and shows us how to seek the blessing. The 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.

18. " Open thou mine eyes." This is a part of the bountiful dealing which he has asked for; no bounty is greater than that which benefits our person, our soul, our mind, and benefits it in so important an organ as the eye. It is far better to have the eyes opened than to be placed in the midst of the noblest prospects and remain blind to their beauty. " That I may behold wondrous things out of thy law." Some men can perceive no wonders in the gospel, but David felt sure that there were glorious things in the law: he had not half the Bible, but he prized it more than some men prize the whole. He felt that God had laid up great bounties in his word, and he begs for power to perceive, appreciate, and enjoy the same. We need not so much that God should give us more benefits, as the ability to see what he has given.

The prayer implies a conscious darkness, a dimness of spiritual vision, a powerlessness to remove that defect, and a full assurance that God can remove it. It shows also that the writer knew that there were vast treasures in the word which he had not yet fully seen, marvels which he had not yet beheld, mysteries which he had scarcely believed. The Scriptures teem with marvels; the Bible is wonder-land; it not only relates miracles, but it is itself a world of wonders. Yet what are these to closed eyes? And what man can open his own eyes, since he is born blind? God himself must reveal revelation to each heart. Scripture needs opening, but not one half so much as our eyes do: the veil is not on the book, but on our hearts. What perfect precepts, what precious promises, what priceless privileges are neglected by us because we wander among them like blind men amongst the beauties of nature, and they are to us as a landscape shrouded in darkness 1

The Psalmist had a measure of spiritual perception, or he would never have known that there were wondrous things to be seen, nor would he have prayed, " open thou mine eyes; " but what he had seen made him long for a clearer and wider sight. This longing proved the genuineness of what he possessed, for it is a test mark of the true knowledge of God that it causes its possessor to thirst for deeper knowledge.

David's prayer in this verse is a good sequel to verse 10, which corresponds to it in position in its octave: there he said, " O let me not wander," and who so apt to wander as a blind man? and there, too, he declared, " with my whole heart have I sought thee," and hence the desire to see the object of his search. Very singular are the interlacings of the boughs of the huge tree of this Psalm, which has many wonders even within itself if we have opened eyes to mark them.

19. " I am a stranger in the earth." This is meant for a plea. By divine com mand men are bound to be kind to strangers, and what God commands in others he will exemplify in himself. The Psalmist was a stranger for God's sake, else had he been as much at home as worldlings are; he was not a stranger to God, but a stranger to the world, a banished man so long as he was out of heaven. Therefore he pleads, "Hide not thy commandments from me." If these are gone, what have I else? Since nothing around me is mine, what can I do if I lose thy word? Since none around me know or care to know the way to thyself, what shall I do if I fail to see thy com mands, by which alone I can guide my steps to the land where thou dwellest? David implies that God's commands were his solace in his exile: they reminded him of home, and they showed him the way thither, and therefore he begged that they might never be hidden from him, by his being unable either to understand them or to obey them. If spiritual light be withdrawn the command is hidden, and this a gracious heart greatly deprecates. What would be the use of opened eyes if the best object of sight were hidden from their view? While we wander here we can endure all the ills of this foreign land with patience if the word of God is applied to our hearts by the Spirit of God; but if the heavenly things which make for our peace were hid from our eyes we should be in an evil case, — in fact, we should be at sea without a compass, in a desert without a guide, in an enemy's country without a friend.

This prayer is a supplement to " open thou mine eyes," and, as the one prays to see, the other deprecates the negative of seeing, namely, the command being hidden, and so out of sight. We do well to look at both sides of the blessing we are seeking, and plead for it from every point of view. The prayers are appropriate to the characters mentioned: as he is a servant he asks for opened eyes that his eyes may ever be towards his Lord, as the eyes of a servant should be; as a stranger he begs that he may not be strange to the way in which he is to walk towards his home. In each case his entire dependence is upon God alone.

Note how the third of the second octave (11) has the same keyword as this third of the third octave: " Thy word have I hid," " Hide not thy commandments from me." This invites a meditation upon the different senses of hiding in and hiding from.

20. " My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto thy judgments at all limes." True godliness lies very much in desires. As we are not what we shall be, so also we are not what we would be. The desires of gracious men after holiness are intense, — they cause a wear of heart, a straining of the mind, till it feels ready to snap with the heavenly pull. A high value of the Lord's commandment leads to a pressing desire to know and to do it, and this so weighs upon the soul that it is ready to break in pieces under the crush of its own longings. What a blessing it is when all our desires are after the things of God. We may well long for such longings.

God's judgments are his decisions upon points which else had been in dispute. Every precept is a judgment of the highest court upon a point of action, an infallible and immutable decision upon a moral or spiritual question. The word of God is a code of justice from which there is no appeal.

" This is the Judge which ends the strife

Where wit and reason fail; Our guide through devious paths of life. Our shield when doubts assail."

David had such reverence for the word, and such a desire to know it, and to be conformed to it, that his longings caused him a sort of heart-break, which he here pleads before God. Longing is the soul of praying, and when the soul longs till it breaks, it cannot be long before the blessing will be granted. The most intimate communion between the soul and its God is carried on by the process described in the text. God reveals his will, and our heart longs to be conformed thereto. God judges, and our heart rejoices in the verdict. This is fellowship of heart most real and thorough.

Note well that our desire after the mind of God should be constant; we should feel holy longings " at all times." Desires which can be put off and on like our garments are at best but mere wishes, and possibly they are hardly true enough to be called by that name, — they are temporary emotions born of excitement, and doomed to die when the heat which created them has cooled down. He who always longs to know and do the right is the truly right man. His judgment is sound, for he loves all God's judgments, and follows them with constancy. His times shall be good, since he longs to be good and to do good at all times.

Remark how this fourth of the third eight chimes with the fourth of the fourth eight. " My soul breaketh; " " my soul melteth." There is surely some recondite poetic art about all this, and it is well for us to be careful in studying what the Psalmist was so careful in composing.

21. " Thou hast rebuked the proud that are cursed." This is one of God's judg ments: he is sure to deal out a terrible portion to men of lofty looks. God rebuked Pharaoh with sore plagues, and at the Red Sea " the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O Lord." In the person of the haughty Egyptian he taught all the proud that he will certainly abase them. Proud men are cursed men: nobody blesses them, and they soon become a burden to themselves. In itself, pride is a plague and torment. Even if no curse came from the law of God, there seems to be a law of nature that proud men should be unhappy men. This led David to abhor pride; he dreaded the rebuke of God and the curse of the law. The proud sinners of his day were his enemies, and he felt happy that God was in the quarrel as well as he.

" Which do err from thy commandments." Only humble hearts are obedient, for they alone will yield to rule and government. Proud men's looks are high, too I igh to mark their own feet and keep the Lord's way. Pride lies at the root of all sin: if men were not arrogant they would not be disobedient.

God rebukes pride even when the multitudes pay homage to it, for he sees in it rebellion against his own majesty, and the seeds of yet further rebellions. It is the sum of sin. Men talk of an honest pride; but if they were candid they would see that it is of all sins the least honest, and the least becoming in a creature, and especially hi a fallen creature: yet so little do proud men know their own true condition under the curse of God, that they set up to censure the godly, and express contempt for them, as may be seen in the next verse. They are themselves contemptible, and yet they are contemptuous towards their betters. We may well love the judgments of God when we see them so decisively levelled against the haughty upstarts who would fain lord it over righteous men; and we may well be of good comfort under the rebukes of the ungodly since their power to hurt us is destroyed by the Lord himself. " The Lord rebuke thee " is answer enough for all the accusations of men or devils.

In the fifth of the former octave the Psalmist wrote, " I have declared all the judgments of thy mouth, and here he continues in the same strain, giving a particular instance of the Lord's judgments against haughty rebels. In the next two portions the fifth verses deal with lying and vanity, and pride is one of the most common forms of those evils.

22. " Remove from me reproach and contempt." These are painful things to tender minds. David could bear them for righteousness' sake, but they were a heavy yoke, and he longed to be free from them. To be slandered, and then to be despised in consequence of the vile accusation, is a grievous affliction. No one likes to be traduced, or even to be despised. He who says, " I care nothing for my reputation," is not a wise man, for in Solomon's esteem " a good name is better than precious ointment." The best way to deal with slander is to pray about it: God will either remove it, or remove the sting from it. Our own attempts at clearing ourselves are usually failures; we are like the boy who wished to remove the blot from his copy, and by his bungling made it ten times worse. When we suffer from a libel it is better to pray about it than go to law over it, or even to demand an apology from the inventor. O ye who are reproached, take your matters before the highest court, and leave them with the Judge of all the earth. God will rebuke your proud accuser; be ye quiet and let your advocate plead your cause.

" For I have kept thy testimonies." Innocence may justly ask to be cleared from reproach. If there be truth in the charges alleged against us what can we urge with God? If, however, we are wrongfully accused our appeal has a locus standi in the court and cannot be refused. If through fear of reproach we forsake the divine testimony we shall deserve the coward's doom; our safety lies in sticking close to the true and to the right. God will keep those who keep his testimonies. A good conscience is the best security for a good name; reproach will not abide with those who abide with Christ, neither will contempt remain upon those who remain faithful to the ways of the Lord.

This verse stands as a parallel both in sense and position to verse 6, and it has the catchword of " testimonies," by which it chimes with 14.

23. " Princes also did sit and speak against me." David was high game, and the great ones of the earth went a hawking after him. Princes saw in him a greatness which they envied, and therefore they abused him. On their thrones they might have found something better to consider and speak about, but they turned the seat of judgment into the seat of the scorner. Most men covet a prince's good word, and to be spoken ill of by a great man is a great discouragement to them, but the Psalmist bore his trial with holy calmness. Many of the lordly ones were his enemies, and made it their business to speak ill of him: they held sittings for scandal, sessions for slander, parliaments of falsehood, and yet he survived all their attempts upon him.

" But thy servant did meditate in thy statutes." This was brave indeed. He was God's servant, and therefore he attended to his Master's business; he was God's servant, and therefore felt sure that his Lord would defend him. He gave no heed to his princely slanderers, he did not even allow his thoughts to be disturbed by a knowledge of their plotting in conclave. Who were these malignants that they should rob God of his servant's attention, or deprive the Lord's chosen of a moment's devout communion. The rabble of princes were not worth five minutes' thought, if those five minutes had to be taken from holy meditation. It is very beautiful to see the two sittings: the princes sitting to reproach David, and David sitting with his God and his Bible, answering his traducers by never answering them at all. Those who feed upon the word grow strong and peaceful, and are by God's grace hidden from the strife of tongues.

Note that in the close of the former octave he had said, " I will meditate," and here he shows how he had redeemed his promise, even under great provocation to forget it. It is a praiseworthy thing when the resolve of our happy hours is duly carried out in our seasons of affliction.

Verse 24. " Thy testimonies also are my delight and my counsellors." They were not only themes for meditation, but " also " sources of delight and means of guid ance. While his enemies took counsel with each other the holy man took counsel with the testimonies of God. The fowlers could not drive the bird from its nest with all their noise. It was their delight to slander and his delight to meditate. The words of the Lord serve us for many purposes; in our sorrows they are our delight, and in our difficulties they are our guide; we derive joy from them and dis cover wisdom in them. If we desire to find comfort in the Scriptures we must submit ourselves to their counsel, and when we follow their counsel it must not be with reluctance but with delight. This is the safest way of dealing with those who plot for our ruin; let us give more heed to the true testimonies of the Lord than to the false witness of our foes. The best answer to accusing princes is the word of the justifying King.

In verse 16 David said, " I will delight in thy statutes," and here he says " they are my delight: " thus resolutions formed in God's strength come to fruit, and spiritual desires ripen into actual attainments. O that it might be so with all the readers of these lines.

Verse 17. — " Deal bountifully with thy servant," etc. These words might be — Render unto thy servant, or upon thy servant. A deep signification seems to be here involved. The holy man will take the responsibility of being dealt with, not certainly as a mere sinful man, but as a man placing himself in the way appointed for reconciliation. Such we find to be the actual case, as you read in the 16th verse, in the Part immediately preceding — " I will delight myself in thy statutes; I will not forget thy word." Now, the statutes of the Lord referred pre-eminently to the sacrifice for sin, and the cleansings for purifications that were prescribed in the Law. You have to conceive of the man of God as being in the midst of the Levitical ritual, for which you find him making all preparations: 1 Chron. xxii., xxiii., xxiv. Placing himself, therefore, upon these, he woud pray the Lord to deal with him according to them; or, as we, in New Testament language, would say, — placing himself on the great atonement, the believer would pray the Lord to deal with him acco ding to his standing in Christ, which would be in graciousness or bounty. For if the Lord be just to condemn without the atonement, he is also just to pardon through the atonement; yea, he is just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. — John Stephen.

Verse 17. — " Deal bountifully," etc. O Lord, i am constantly resolved to obey and adhere to thy known will all the days of my life: O make me those gracious returns which thou hast promised to all such. — Henry Hammond.

Verse 17. — " Deal bountifully... that I may keep thy word," etc. A faithful servant should count his by-past service richly rewarded by being employed yet more in further service, as this prayer teacheth; for David entreats that he may live and keep God's word. — David Dickson.

Verse 17. — " Bountifully." And indeed, remembering what a poor, weak, empty, and helpless creature the most experienced believer is in himself, it is not to be conceived that anything short of a bountiful supply of grace can answer the emergency. — Charles Bridges.

Verse 17. — " Thy servant." That he styles himself so frequently the servant of God notes the reverent estimation he had of his God, in that he accounts it more honourable to be called the servant of God who was above him than the king of a mighty, ancient, and most famous people that were under him. And indeed, since the angels are styled his ministers, shall men think it a shame to serve him? and especially since he of his goodness hath made them our servants, " ministering spirits " to us? Should we not joyfully serve him who hath made all his creatures to serve us, and exempted us from the service of all other, and hath only bound us to serve himself? — William Cowper.

Verse 17. — " That 1 may live." As a man must " live " in order to work, the first petition is, that God would " deal with his servant," according to the measure of grace and mercy, enabling him to " live " the life of faith, and strengthening him by the Spirit of might in the inner man. — George Home, 1730 — 1792.

Verse 17. — " That I may live, and keep thy word." David joins here two together, which whosoever disjoins cannot be blessed. He desires to live; but so to live that he may keep God's word. To a reprobate man, who lives a rebel to his Maker, it had been good (as our Saviour said of Judas) that he had never been born. The shorter his life is, the fewer are his sins and the smaller his judgments. But to an elect man, life is a great benefit; for by it he goes from election to glorification, by the way of sanctification. The longer he lives, the more good he doth, to the glory of God, the edification of others, and confirmation of his own salvation; making it sure to himself by wrestling and victory in temptations, and perseverance in well doing. — William Cowper.

Verse 18. — " Open thou mine eyes." Who is able to know the secret and hidden things of the Scriptures unless Christ opens his eyes? Certainly, no one; for " No man knoweth the Son but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him." Wherefore, as suppliants, we draw near to him, saying, " Open thou mine eyes," etc. The words of God cannot be kept except they be known; neither can they be known unless the eyes shall be opened, — hence it is written, " That I may live and keep thy word; " and then, " Open thou mine eyes." — Paulus Palanterius.

Verse 18. — " Open thou mine eyes." " What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? " was the gracious inquiry of the loving Jesus to a poor longing one on earth. " Lord! that I may receive my sight," was the instant answer. So here, in the same spirit, and to the same compassionate and loving Lord, does the Psalmist pray, " Open thou mine eyes;" and both in this and the preceding petition, "Deal bountifully with thy servant, " we see at once who prompted the prayer. — Barton Boachier.

Verse 18. — " Open thou mine eyes." If it be asked, seeing David was a regenerate man, and so illumined already, how is it that he prays for the opening of his eyes? The answer is easy: that our regeneration is wrought by degrees. The beginnings of light in his mind made him long for more; for no man can account of sense, but he who hath it. The light which he had caused him to see his own darkness; and therefore, feeling his wants, he sought to have them supplied by the Lord. — William

Verse 18. — " Open thou mine eyes." The saints do not complain of the obscurity of the law, but of their own blindness. The Psalmist doth not say, Lord make a plainer law, but, Lord, open mine eyes: blind men might as well complain of God, that he doth not make a sun whereby they might see. The word is " a light that shineth in a dark place " (2 Pet. i. 19). There is no want of light in the Scripture, but there is a veil of darkness upon our hearts; so that if in this clear light we cannot see, the defect is not in the word, but in ourselves.

The light which they beg is not anything besides the word. When God is said to enlighten us, it is not that we should expect new revelations, but that we may see the wonders in his word, or get a clear sight of what is already revealed. Those that vent their own dreams under the name of the Spirit, and divine light, they do not give you mysteria, but monstra, portentous opinions; they do not show you the wondrous things of God's law, but the prodigies of their own brain; unhappy abortives, that die as soon as they come to light. " To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them " (Isaiah viii. 20). The light which we have is not without the word, but by the word.

The Hebrew phrase signifleth " unveil mine eyes." There is a double work, negative and positive. There is a taking away of the veil, and an infusion of light. Paul's cure of his natural blindness is a fit emblem of our cure of spiritual blindness: " Immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith " (Acts ix. 18). First, the scales fall from our eyes, and then we receive sight. — Thomas Manton.

Verse 18. — The Psalmist asks for no new revelation. It was in God's hand to give this, and he did it in his own time to those ancient believers; but to all of them at every time there was enough given for the purposes of life. The request is not for more, but that he may employ well that which he possesses. Still better does such a form of request suit us, to whom life and immortality have been brought to light in Christ. If we do not find sufficient to exercise our thoughts with constant freshness, and our soul with the grandest and most attractive subjects, it is because we want the eyesight. It is of great importance for us to be persuaded of this truth, that there are many things in the Bible still to be found out, and that, if we come in the right spirit, we may be made discoverers of some of them. These things dis close themselves, not so much to learning, though that is not to be despised, as to spiritual sight, to a humble, loving heart.

And this at least is certain, that we shall always find things that are new to ourselves. However frequently we traverse the field, we shall perceive some fresh golden vein turning up its glance to us, and we shall wonder how our eyes were formerly holden that we did not see it. It was all there waiting for us, and we feel that more is waiting, if we had the vision. There is a great Spirit in it that holds deeper and even deeper converse with our souls.

This further may be observed, that the Psalmist asks for no new faculty. The eyes are there already, and they need only to be opened. It is not the bestowal of a new and supernatural power which enables a man to read the Bible to profit, but the quickening of a power he already possesses. In one view it is supernatural, as God is the Author of the illumination by a direct act of his Spirit; in another it is natural, as it operates through the faculties existing in a man's soul. God gives " the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ, that the eyes of man's understanding may be enlightened." (Eph. i. 17.) It is important to reremember this also, for here lies our responsibility, that we have the faculty, and here also is the point at which we must begin action with the help of God. A man

will never grow into the knowledge of God's word by idly waiting for some new gift of discernment, but by diligently using that which God has already bestowed upon him, and using at the same time all other helps that lie within his reach. There are men and books that seem, beyond others, to have the power of aiding insight. All of us have felt it in the contact of some affinity of nature which makes them our best helpers; the kindred clay upon the eyes by which the great Enlightener removes our blindness (John ix. 6). Let us seek for such, and if we find them let us employ them without leaning on them. Above all, let us give our whole mind in patient, loving study to the book itself, and where we fail, at any essential part, God will either send his evangelist Philip to our aid (Acts, viii) or instruct us himself. But it is only to patient, loving study that help is given. God could have poured all knowledge into us by easy inspiration, but it is by earnest search alone that it can become the treasure of the soul.

But if so, it may still be asked what is the meaning of this prayer, and why does the Bible itself insist so often on the indispensable need of the Spirit of God to teach? Now there is a side here as true as the other, and in no way inconsistent with it. If prayer without effort would be presumptuous, effort without prayer would be vain. The great reason why men do not feel the power and beauty of the Bible is a spiritual one. They do not realize the grand evil which the Bible has come to cure, and they have not a heart to the blessings which it offers to bestow. The film of a fallen nature, self-maintained, is upon their eyes while they read: " The eyes of their understanding are darkened, being alienated from the life of God " (Eph. iv. 18). All the natural powers will never find the true key to the Bible, till the thoughts of sin and redemption enter the heart, and are put in the centre of the Book. It is the part of the Father of lights, by the teaching of his Spirit, to give this to the soul, and he will, if it humbly approaches him with this request. Thus we shall study as one might a book with the author at hand, to set forth the height of its argument, or as one might look on a noble composition, when the artist breathes into us a portion of his soul, to let us feel the centre of its harmonies of form and colour. Those who have given to the Bible thought and prayer will own that these are not empty promises. — John Kerr, in a Sermon entitled, " God's Word Suited to Man's Sense of Wonder," 1877.

Verse 18. — O let us never forget, that the wonderful things contained in the divine law can neither be discovered nor relished by the " natural man," whose powers of perception and enjoyment are limited in their range to the objects of time and sense. It is the divine Spirit alone who can lighten the darkness of our sinful state, and who can enable us to perceive the glory, the harmony, and moral loveliness which everywhere shine forth in the pages of revealed truth. — John Morison, 1829.

Verse 18. — " Uncover my eyes and I will look — wonders out of thy law." The last clause is a kind of exclamation after his eyes have been uncovered. This figure is often used to denote inspiration or a special divine communication. " Out of thy law," i.e., brought out to view, as if from a place of concealment. — Joseph Addison Alexander.

Verse 18. — " Wondrous things." Many were the signs and miracles which God wrought in the midst of the people of Israel, which they did not understand. What was the reason? Moses tells us expressly what it was: " Yet the Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day " (Deut. xxix. 4). They had sensitive eyes and ears, yea, they had a rational heart or mind; but they wanted a spiritual ear to hear, a spiritual heart or mind to apprehend and improve those wonderful works of God; and these they had not, because God had not given them such eyes, ears, and hearts. Wonders without grace cannot open the eyes fully; but grace without wonders can. And as man hath not an eye to see the wonderful works of God spiritually, until it is given; so, much less hath he an eye to see the wonders of the word of God till it be given him from above; and there fore David prays, " Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law." And if the wondrous things of the law are not much seen till God give an eye then much less are the wondrous things of the Gospel. The light of nature shows us somewhat of the Law; but nothing of the Gospel was ever seen by the light of nature. Many who have seen and admired, some excellencies in the Law could never see, and therefore have derided, that which is the excellency of the Gospel, till God had opened their heart to understand. — Joseph Caryl, 1602 — 1673.

Verse 18. — " The word is very nigh " unto us; and, holding in our hand a docu ment that teems with what is wonderful, the sole question is, " Have we an eye to its marvels, a heart for its mercies? " Here is the precise use of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit puts nothing new into the Bible; he only so enlightens and strengthens our faculties, that we can discern and admire what is there already. It is not the telescope which draws out that rich sparkling of stars on the blue space, which to the naked eye seem points of light, and untenanted: it is not the microscope which condenses the business of a stirring population into the circumference of a drop of water, and clothes with a thousand tints the scarcely discernible wing of the ephemeral insect. The stars are shining in their glory, whether or no we have the instruments to penetrate the azure; and the tiny tenantry are carrying on their usual concerns, and a rich garniture still forms the covering of the insect, whether or no the powerful lens has turned for us the atom in to a world, and transformed the almost imperceptible down into the sparkling plumage of the bird of paradise. Thus the wonderful things are already in the Bible. The Spirit who indited them at first brings them not as new revelations to the individual; but, by removing the mists of carnal prejudice, by taking away the scales of pride and self-sufficiency, and by rectifying the will, which causes the judgment to look at truth through a distorted medium, — by influencing the heart, so that the affections shall no longer blind the understanding, — by these and other modes, which might be easily enumerated, the Holy Ghost enables men to recognize what is hid, to perceive beauty and to discover splendour where all before had appeared without form and comeliness; and thus brings round the result of the Bible, in putting on the lip the wonderful prayer which he had himself inspired: " Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law," — Henry Melvill, 1798—1871.

Verse 18. — The " wondrous things " seem to be the great things of an eternal world — he had turned his enquiring eyes upon the wonders of nature, sun, moon, and stars, mountains, trees, and rivers. He had seen many of the wonders of art; but now, he wanted to see the spiritual wonders contained in the Bible. He wanted to know about God himself in all his majesty, purity, and grace. He wanted to learn the way of salvation by a crucified Redeemer, and the glory that is to follow.

" Open mine eyes." — David was not blind — his eye was not dim. He could read the Bible from end to end, and yet he felt that he needed more light. He felt that he needed to see deeper, to have the eyes of his understanding opened. He felt that if he had nothing but his own eyes and natural understanding, he would not discover the wonders which he panted to see. He wanted divine teaching — the eye-salve of the Spirit; and therefore he would not open the Bible without this prayer, " Open thou mine eyes." — Robert Murray M'Cheyne, 1813 — 1843.

Verse 18. — " Wondrous things." Wherefore useth he this word " wondrous? " It is as if he would have said, Although the world taketh the law of God to be but a light thing, and it seemeth to be given but as it were for simple souls and young children; yet for all that there seemeth such a wisdom to be in it, as that it surmounteth all the wisdom of the world, and that therein lie hid wonderful secrets. — John Calvin.

Verse 18. — " Thy law." That which is the object of the understanding prayed for, that in the knowledge whereof the Psalmist would be illuminated, is ny*. The word signifies instruction; and being referred unto God, it is his teaching or instruc tion of us by the revelation of himself, the same which we intend by the Scripture. When the books of the Old Testament were completed they were, for distinction's sake, distributed into m>, o^n-i and DT^, or the " Law," the " Psalms," and the " Prophets," Luke xxiv. 44. Under that distribution Torah signifies the five books of Moses. But whereas these books of Moses were, as it were, the foundation of all future revelations under the Old Testament, which were given in the explication thereof, all the writings of it were usually called " the Law," Isaiah viii. 20. By the law, therefore, in this place, the Psalmist understands all the books that were then given unto the church by revelation for the rule of its faith and obedience. And that by the law, in the Psalms, the written law is intended, is evident from the first of them, wherein he is declared blessed who " meditateth therein day and night," Ps. i. 2; which hath respect unto the command of reading and meditating on the books thereof in that manner, Josh. i. 8. That, therefore, which is intended by this word is the entire revelation of the will of God, given unto the church for the rule of its faith and obedience — that is, the holy Scrpiture.

In this law there are ™^J " wonderful things," *^ signifies to be " wonderful," to be " hidden," to be " great " and " high; " that which men by the use of reason cannot attain unto or understand (hence riitty are things that have such an impression of divine wisdom and power upon them as that they are justly the object of our ad miration); that which is too hard for us; as Deut. xvii. 8, iyj w *"??< '? — " If a matter be too hard for thee," hid from thee. And it is the name whereby the miraculous works of God are expressed, Ps. Ixxvii. 11, Ixxviii. 11. Wherefore, these " wonderful things of the law " are those expressions and effects of divine wisdom in the Scripture which are above the natural reason and understanding of men to find out and comprehend. Such are the mysteries of divine truth in the Scripture, especially because Christ is in them, whose name is " Wonderful," Isa. ix. 6; for all the great and marvellous effects of infinite wisdom meet in him. — John Owen, 1616 — 1683.

Verse 18. — " Wondrous things." There are promises in God's word that no man has ever tried to find. There are treasures of gold and silver in it that no man has taken the pains to dig for. There are medicines in it for the want of knowledge of which hundreds have died. It seems to me like some old baronial estate that has descended to a man who lives in a modern house, and thinks it scarcely worth while to go and look into the venerable mansion. Year after year passes away and he pays no attention to it, since he has no suspicion of the valuable treasures it contains, till, at last, some man says to him, " Have you been up in the country to look at that estate? " He makes up his mind that he will take a look at it. As he goes through the porch he is surprised to set the skill that has been displayed in its construction: he is more and more surprised as he goes through the halls. He enters a large room and is astonished as he beholds the wealth of pictures on the walls, among which are portraits of many of his revered ancestors. He stands in amazement before them. There is a Titians, there a Raphael, there is a Correggio, and there is a Giorgione. He says, " I never had any idea of these before." " Ah," says the steward, " there is many another thing that you know nothing about in the castle," and he takes him from room to room and shows carved plate, and wonderful statues, and the man exclaims, " Here I have been for a score of years the owner of this estate, and have never before known what things were in it." But no architect ever conceived of such an estate as God's word, and no artist, or carver, or sculptor, ever conceived of such pictures, and carved dishes, and statues as adorn its apartments. It contains treasures that silver, and gold, and precious stones are not to be mentioned with. — Henry Ward Beecher, 1872.

Verse 18. — " That I may behold wondrous things." The great end of the Word of God in the Psalmist's time, as now, was practical; but there is a secondary use here referred to, which is worthy of consideration, — its power of meeting man's faculty of wonder. God knows our frame, for he made it, and he must have adapted the Bible to all its parts. If we can show this, it may be another token that the book comes from Him who made man.... That God has bestowed upon man the faculty of wonder we all know. It is one of the first and most constant emotions in our nature. We can see this in children, and in all whose feelings are still fresh and natural. It is the parent of the desire to know, and all through life it is urging men to enquire. — John Ker.

Verse 18. — " Wondrous things out of thy law." In cxviii. we had the " wondrous " character of redemption; in cxix. we have the " wonders " (verses 18, 27, 129), of God's revelation. — William Kay, 1871.

Verses 18, 19. — When I cannot have Moses to tell me the meaning, saith Saint Augustine, give me that Spirit that thou gavest to Moses. And this is that which every man that will understand must pray for: this David prayed for; — " Open thou mine eyes that I may see the wonders of the Law; " and (verse 19) " hide not thy commandments from me." And Christ saith, " If you, being evil, can give good gifts to your children; how much more shall your heavenly Father give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him? " so that then we shall see the secrets of God. — Richard Stock (—1626).

Verse 19. — " / am a stranger in the earth." David had experience of peace and war, of riches and poverty, of pleasure and woe. He had been a private and public person; a shepherd, a painful calling; a soldier, a bloody trade; a courtier, an honourable slavery, which joineth together in one the lord and the parasite, the gentle man and the drudge; and he was a king, — a glorious name, filled up with fears and cares. All these he had passed through, and found least rest when he was at the highest, less content on the throne than in the sheepfolds. All this he had observed and laid up in his memory, and this his confession is an epitome and brief of all; and in effect he telleth us, that whatsoever he had seen in this his passage, whatsoever he had

enjoyed, yet he found nothing so certain as this, — that he had found nothing certain, nothing that he could abide with or would abide with him, but that he was still as a passenger and " stranger in the earth." — Anthony Farindon, 1596 — 1658.

Verse 19. — " / am a stranger in the earth," etc. As a sojourner, he hath renounced the world, which is therefore become his enemy; as " a stranger " he is fearful of losing his way; on these accounts he requesteth that God would compensate the loss of earthly comforts by affording the light of heaven; that he would not " hide his commandments," but show and teach him those steps, by which he may ascend toward heaven, rejoicing in hope of future glory. — George Home, 1730 — 1792.

Verse 19. — " 7 am a stranger in the earth." This confession from a solitary wanderer would have had little comparative meaning; but in the mouth of one who was probably surrounded with every source of worldly enjoyment, it shows at once the vanity of " earth's best joys," and the heavenly tendency of the religion of the Bible. — Charles Bridges.

Verse 19. — " I am a stranger in the earth," etc. 1. Every man here upon earth (especially a godly man) is but a stranger and a passenger. 2. It concerns him that is a stranger to look after a better and a more durable state. Every man should do so. A man's greatest care should be for that place where he lives longest; therefore eternity should be his scope. A godly man will do so. Those whose hearts are not set upon earthly things, they must have heaven. The more their affections are estranged from the one, the more they are taken up about the other (Col. iii. 2); heaven and earth are like two scales in a balance, that which is taken from the one is put into the other. 3. There is no sufficient direction how to obtain this durable estate, but in the word of God. Without this we are but like poor pilgrims and way faring men in a strange country, not able to discern the way home. A blessed state is only sufficiently revealed in the word: " Life and immortality is brought to light through the gospel " (2 Tim. i. 10). The heathens did but guess at it, and had some obscure sense of an estate after this life; but as it is brought to light with most clear ness in the word, so the way thither is only pointed out by the word. It is the word of God makes us wise to salvation, and which is our line and rule to heavenly Canaan; and therefore it concerns those that look after this durable state to consult with the word. 4. There is no understanding God's word but by the light of the Spirit. " There is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them under standing " (Job xxxii. 8). Though the word have light in it, yet the spirit of man cannot move till God enlightens us with that lively light that makes way for the dominion of the truth in our hearts, and conveyeth influence into our hearts. This is the light David begs when he says, " Hide not thy commandments from me." David was not ignorant of the Ten Commandments, of their sound; but he begs their spiritual sense and use. 5. If we would have the Spirit we must ask it of God in prayer; for God gives the " Spirit to them that ask him " (Luke xi. 13); and there fore we must say, as David, " O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me: let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles " (Ps. xliii. 33). — Thomas

Verse 19. — " I am a stranger in the earth," etc. When a child is born, it is spoken of sometimes under the designation of " a little stranger 1 " Friends calling will ask if, as a privilege, they may " see the little stranger." A stranger, indeed 1 come from far. From the immensities. From the presence, and touch, and being of God I And going — into the immensities again — into, and through all the unreckonable ages of duration.

But the little stranger grows, and in a while begins to take vigorous root. He works, and wins, and builds, and plants, and buys, and holds, and, in his own feeling, becomes so " settled " that he would be almost amused with anyone who should describe him as a stranger now.

And still life goes on, deepening and widening in its flow, and holding in itself manifold and still multiplying elements of interest. Increasingly the man is caught by these — like a ship, from which many anchors are cast into the sea. He strives among the struggling, rejoices with the gay, feels the spur of honour, enters the race of acquisition, does some hard and many kindly things by turns; multiplies his engagements, his relationships, his friends, and then — just when after such prepara tions, life ought to be fully beginning, and opening itself out into a great, restful, sunny plain — lo! the shadows begin to fall, which tell, too surely, that it is drawing fast to a close. The voice, which, soon or late, everyone must hear, is calling for "the little stranger," who was born not long ago, whose first lesson is over, and who is wanted now to enter by the door called death, into another school. And the stranger is not ready. He has thrown out so many anchors, and they have taken such a fast hold of the ground that it will be no slight matter to raise them. He is settled. He has no pilgrim's staff at hand; and his eye, familiar enough with surrouding things, is not accustomed to the onward and ascending way, cannot so well measure the mountain altitude, or reckon the far distance. The progress of time has been much swifter than the progress of his thought. Alas 1 he has made one long mistake. He has " looked at the things which are seen," and forgotten the things which are not seen. And " the things which are seen " are temporal, and go with time into extinction; while " those which are not seen, are eternal." And so there is hurry, and confusion, and distress in the last hours, and in the going away. Now, all this may be obviated and escaped, thoroughly, if a man will but say — " / am a stranger in the earth: hide not thy commandments from me." — Alexander Raleigh, in " The Little Sanctuary, and other Meditations." 1872.

Verse 19. — " I am a stranger in the earth," etc. In the law, God recommends strangers to the care and compassion of his people; now David returns the arguments to him, to persuade him to deal kindly with him. — Robert Leighton, 1611 — 1684.

Verse 19. — " In the earth." He makes no exception here; the whole earth he acknowledged a place of his pilgrimage. Not only when he was banished among the Moabites and Philistines was he a stranger; but even when he lived peaceably at home in Canaan, still he thinks himself a stranger. This consideration moved godly Basil to despise the threatening of Modestus, the deputy of Valens the emperor, when he braved him with banishment. Ab exilii metu liber sum, unam hominum cognoscens esse patriam, paradisum omnem autem terram commune natures exilium. And it shall move us to keep spiritual sobriety in the midst of pleasures, if we remem ber that in our houses, at our own fireside, and in our own beds, we are but strangers from which we must shortly remove, to give place to others. — William Cowper.

Verse 19. — " Hide not thy commandments from me." The manner of David's reasoning is this. I am here a stranger and I know not the way, therefore, Lord, direct me. The similitude is taken from passengers, who coming to an uncouth country where they are ignorant of the way, seek the benefit of a guide. But the dissimilitude is here: in any country people can guide a stranger to the place where he would be; but the dwellers of the earth cannot show the way to heaven; and therefore David seeks no guide among them, but prays the Lord to direct him. —

Verse 19. — " Hide not thy commandments from me." There is a hiding of the word of God when means to hear it explained by preachers are wanting; and there is a hiding of the comfortable and lively light of the Spirit, who must quicken the word unto us. From both those evils we may, and we should, pray to be saved. — David Dickson.

Verse 20. — " My soul breaketh," etc. Here is a protestation of that earnest desire he had to the obedience of the word of God; he amplifies it two ways: first, it was no light motion, but such as being deeply rooted made his heart to break when he saw that he could not do in the obedience thereof what he would. Next, it was no vanishing motion, like the morning dew; but it was permanent, omni tempore, he had it at all times. — William Cowper.

Verse 20. — " My soul breaketh for the longing," as one that with straining breaks a vein. — William Gurnall.

Verse 20. — " My soul breaketh," etc. This breaking is by rubbing, chafing, or crushing. The spirit was so fretted with its yearning desire after the things which Jehovah had spoken, that it was broken as by heavy friction. The " longing " to find out and follow the hidden wonders was almost unbearable. This longing continued with the Psalmist " at all times," or " in every season." Prosperity could not make him forget it; adversity could not quench it. In sickness or health, in happiness or sadness, in company or alone, nothing overcame that longing. "The wondrous things" were so wonderful, and still so hidden. To see a little of " the beauty of the Lord " is to get to know how much there is which we fail to see, and thus to long more than ever. He who pursues ardently the wonders of the word of the Lord, will never set that longing at rest as long as he remains " in the earth." It is only when we shall " be like him," and " shall see him as he is," that we shall cry " Enough, Lord I " "I shall be satisfied when I awake in thy likeness." — F. G. Marchant.

Verse 20. — " My soul breakelh for the longing." For the earnest desire. " That it hath unto thy judgments at all times." Thy law; thy commands. This was a constant feeling. It was not fitful, or spasmodic. It was the steady, habitual state of the soul on the subject. He had never seen enough of the beauty and glory of the law of God to feel that all the wants of his nature were satisfied, or that he could see and know no more; he had seen and felt enough to excite in him an ardent desire to be made fully acquainted with all that there is in the law of God. — Albert

Verse 20. — " My soul breakelh for the longing," etc. The desire after God's appointments becomes painfully intense. A longing — an intense longing — for the judgments of the Lord at all times. These are the particulars of his breaking soul. His whole mind is toward the things of God. He prays that he may behold the wondrous things of Jehovah's law, and that he may not hide his commandments from him; and here his soul breaks for longing towards his judgments at all times. The state of the Psalmist's mind would not lead us here to suppose that he was awaiting the manifestation of the Lord's judgments in vindicating his cause against ungodly men, or that he was longing for opportunity of fulfilling all the deeds of righteousnes towards his fellow-men; for this he was doing to the utmost. Evidently he is intent upon the ordinances of religion, which were called "judgments" in reference to the solemn sanctions with which they were enjoined. The man of God so longed to join with the Lord's people in these, that his heart was ready to break with desire, as he was forced from place to place in the wilderness. The renewed heart is here. Another might long to be delivered from persecution, to be at rest, to be restored to home, relations, and comfort. The man of God could not but desire those natural enjoyments; but, over all, his holy mind longed with ardour for the celebration of Jehovah's worship. — John Stephen.

Verse 20. — " Thy judgments." God's judgments are of two sorts: first, his com mands; so called because by them right is judged and discerned from wrong. Next, his plagues executed upon transgressors according to his word. David here refers to the first. Let men who have not the like of David's desire, remember, that they whose heart cannot break for transgressing God's word because they love it, shall find the plagues of God to bruise their body and break their heart also. Let us delight in the first sort of these judgments, and the second shall never come upon us. — William