The Treasury of David (Psalms)

Verse 122. — "Be surety for thy servant for good." There are three expositions of this clause, as noting the end, the cause, the event. 1. Undertake for me, ut

sim bonus et Justus, so Rabbi Arama on the place; " Be surety for me that I may be good." Theodoret expounds it, " Undertake that I shall make good my resolution of keeping thy law." He that joineth, undertaketh; though we have precepts and promises, without God's undertaking we shall never be able to perform our duty. 2. Undertake for me to help me in doing good; so some read it: God would not take his part in an evil cause. To commend a wrong cause to God's protection, is to provoke him to hasten our punishment, to make us serve under our oppressors; but, when we have a good cause, and a good conscience, he will own us. We cannot expect he should maintain us and bear us out in the Devil's service, wherein we have entangled ourselves by our own sin.

3. Be with me for good: so it is often rendered: " Shew me a token for good " (Ps. Ixxxvi. 17); " Pray not for this people for good " (Jer. xiv. 11); so, " Remember me, O my God, for good " (Neh. xiii. 31). So here; "Be surety for thy servant for good." — Thomas Manton.

Verse 122. — "Be surety for thy servant for good." It is the prayer of Hezekiah in his trouble, " O Lord, I am oppressed, undertake for me " (Isa. xxxviii. 14); it is the prayer of Job for a " daysman " to stand between him and God (Job ix. 33); it is the cry of the church before the Incarnation for the appearance of a Divine Mediator; it is the confidence of every faithful soul since that blessed time in the perpetual intercession of our great High Priest in heaven, which is to us the pledge of future blessedness. — Agellius and Cocceius, in Neale and Littledale.

Verse 122. — "Be surety for thy servant for good." His meaning is, Lord, thou knowest how unjustly I am calumniated and evil spoken of in many parts: where I am not present or where I may not answer for myself, Lord, answer thou for me. — William Cowper.

Verse 122. — "Be surety for thy servant for good." The keen eye of the world may possibly not be able to affix any blot upon my outward profession; but, " if thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities; O Lord, who shall stand? " The debt is continually accumulating, and the prospect of payment as distant as ever. I might well expect to be " left to my oppressors," until I should pay all that was due unto my Lord. But behold! " Where is the fury of the oppressor? " Isa. li. 13. The surety is found — the debt is paid — the ransom is accepted — the sinner is free. There was a voice heard in heaven — " Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom," Job xxxiii. 24. The Son of God himself became " Surety for a stranger," and " smarted for it," Prov. xi. 15. At an infinite cost — the cost of his own precious blood — he delivered me from " mine oppressors " — sin — Satan — the world — death — hell. — Charles Bridges.

Verse 122. — Some observe that this is the only verse throughout the whole Psalm wherein the Word is not mentioned under the name of " law," " judgments," " statutes," or the like terms, and they make this note upon it, — " Where the Law faileth, there Christ is a surety of a better testament." There are that render the words thus, — "Dulcify, or, delight thy servant in good," that is, make him joyful and comfortable in the pursuit and practice of that which is good. — John Trapp.

Verse 123. — "Mine eyes fail for thy salvation." In times of great sorrow, when the heart is oppressed with care, and when danger threatens on every side, the human eye expresses with amazing accuracy the distressed and anguished emotions of the soul. The posture here described is that of an individual who perceives himself surrounded with enemies of the most formidable character, who feels his own weakness and insufficiency to enter into conflict with them, but who is eagerly looking for the arrival of a devoted and powerful friend who has promised to succour him in the hour of his calamity. As his friend delays the hour of his coming, his fears and anxieties multiply, till he finds himself in the condition of one whose eyes fail and grow dim in looking for the approach of his great deliverer. In this condition was the suppliant here described, — his enemies were ready to swallow him up, and except from heaven he had no hope of final extrication. To the promises of God he betook himself, and while waiting their accomplishment, and looking with the utmost eagerness to the word of God's righteousness, he gives utterance to the desponding sentiment, "Mine eyes fail for thy salvation." O for such warm and anxious desires for that great salvation, which will realize the victory over all our spiritual enemies, and enable us to shout triumphantly through all eternity in the name of our almighty Deliverer! — John Morison.

Verse 123. — "Mine eyes fail for the word of thy righteousness." Albeit

the words of promise be neither performed, nor the like to be performed, yet faith should justify the promise, for true and faithful. — David Dickson.

Verse 123. — "For the word of thy righteousness." This would be the word of promised salvation, which the Lord had given in righteousness. What an amazing plea — God on the ground of his own righteousness appealed to for deliverance — and yet how true I Or this might be the word of his justice, the issuing of justice, the exercising of a righteous decision between him and his oppressors. He looked for the Lord to interpose between them, and so to fulfil all he had promised on behalf of the believer. The Lord will vindicate his own. Are any in great difficulty; and are they waiting for the Lord to interpose, to whom they have committed their concerns?.... Watt on; he will not disappoint a gracious hope. — John Stephen.

Verse 123. — "For the word of thy righteousness," or, " the word of thy justice; " that is to say, for the sentence of justice on my oppressors, as the first part of the verse teaches; for the passing this sentence will be equivalent to the granting the salvation which the Psalmist so earnestly desired. — George Phillips.

Verse 124. — "Deal with thy servant according unto thy mercy." If I am a " servant " of God, I can bring my services before him only upon the ground of " mercy "; feeling that for my best performances I need an immeasurable world of mercy — pardoning — saving — everlasting mercy; and yet I am emboldened by the blood of Jesus to plead for my soul — "Deal with thy servant according unto thy mercy."

But then I am ignorant as well as guilty; and yet I dare not pray for divine teaching, much and hourly as I need it, until I have afresh obtained mercy. "Mercy " is the first blessing, not only in point of importance, but in point of order. I must seek the Lord, and know him as a Saviour, before I can go to him with any confidence to be my teacher. But when once I have found acceptance to my petition — "Deal with thy servant according unto thy mercy " — my way will be opened to follow on my petition — "Teach me thy statutes. Give me understanding, that I may know thy testimonies " — that I may know, walk, yea, " run in the way of thy commandments " wkh an enlarged heart, ver. 32. My plea is the same as I have urged with acceptance (ver. 94) — "I am thy servant." — Charles Bridges.

Verse 124. — "Thy mercy." All the year round, every hour of every day, God is richly blessing us; both when we sleep and when we wake, his mercy waits upon us. The sun may leave off shining, but our God will never cease to cheer his children with his love. Like a river, his loving-kindness is always flowing, with i a fulness inexhaustible as his own nature, which is its source. Like the atmosphere which always surrounds the earth, and is always ready to support the life of man, the benevolence of God surrounds all his creatures; in it, as in their element, they live, and move, and have their being. Yet as the sun on summer days appears to gladden us with beams more warm and bright than at other times, and as rivers are at certain seasons swollen with the rain, and as the atmosphere itself on occasions is fraught with more fresh, more bracing, or more balmy influences than heretofore, so is it with the mercy of God; it hath its golden hours, its days of overflow, when the Lord magnifieth his grace and lifteth high his love before the sons of men. — C. H. S.

Verse 124. — "Teach me." David had Nathan and Gad the prophets; and beside them, the ordinary Levites to teach him. He read the word of God diligently, and did meditate in the law night and day; but he acknowledgeth all this was nothing unless God speaks to the heart: so Paul preached to Lydia, but God opened her heart. Let us pray for this grace. — William Cowper.

Verse 125. — "/ am thy servant; give me understanding," etc. I am not a stranger to thee, but thine own domestic servant; let me want no grace which may enable me to serve thee. — William Cowper.

Verse 125. — "/ am thy servant." That thou art the servant of God, thou shouldst regard as thy chiefest glory and blessedness. — Martin Geier.

Verse 126. — "// is time for thee, LORD, to work." Was ever vessel more hope lessly becalmed in mid-ocean? or did crew ever cry with more frenzy for some favouring breeze than those should cry who man the Church of the living God? If God work not, it is certain there is nothing before the Church but the prospect of utter discomfiture and overthrow. Greater is the world than the Church if God be not in her. But if God be in her, she shall not be moved. May he help her, and that right early!

When he arises to work we know not what may be the form and fashion of his operations. He worketh according to the counsel of his own will; and who knows but that when once he awakes, and puts on his strength, it may not be confined in its results to the immediate and exclusive quickening of the spiritual life of the Church; but may be associated with providential upheavals and convulsions which will fill the heart of the world with astonishment and dismay. His spiritual kingdom does not stand in isolation. It has relations which closely involve it with the material universe, and with human society and national life. There have been times when God has worked, and the signs of his presence have been seen, in terrible shakings of the nations, in the ploughing up from their foundations of hoary injustice, in the smiting of grinding tyrannies, and in the emancipation of peoples whose life had been a long and hopeless moan. There have been times, too, and many, when he has worked through the elements of nature — through blasting and mildew, through floods and famine, through locust, caterpillar and palmer-worm; through flagging commerce, with its machinery rusting in the mill and its ships rotting in the harbour. All these things are his servants. Sometimes the sleep of the world, and the Church too, is so profound that it can be broken only by agencies like the wind, or fire, or earthquake, which made the prophet shiver at the mouth of the cave, and without which the voice that followed, so still, so small and tender, would have lost much of its melting and subduing power. When society has become drugged with the Circean cup of wordliness, and the voices that come from eternity are unheeded, if not unheard, even terror has its merciful mission. The frivolous and superficial hearts of men have to be made serious, their idols have to be broken, their nests have to be stoned, or tossed from the trees where they had been made with so much care, and they have to be taught that if this life be all, it is but a phantom and a mockery. When the day of the Lord shall come, in which he shall begin to work, let us not marvel if it " shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low; and upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall, and upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all the pleasant pictures. And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day." But this working of God will also take other shapes. Will it not be seen in the inspiration of the Church with faith in its own creed, so far as that creed has the warrant of the Divine word? Does the Church believe its creed? It writes it, sets it forth, sings it, defends it; but does it believe it, at least with a faith which begets either enthusiasm in itself, or respect from the world? Have not the truths which form the methodized symbols of the Church become propositions instead of living powers? Do they not lie embalmed with superstitious reverence in the ark of tradition, tenderly cherished for what they have been and done? But is it not forgotten that if they be truths they are not dead and cannot die? They are true now, or they were never true; living now, or they never lived. Time cannot touch them, nor human opinion, nor the Church's sluggishness or unbelief, for they are emanations from the Divine essence, instinct with his own undecaying life. They are not machinery which may become antiquated and obsolete and displaced by better inventions; they are not methods of policy framed for conditions which are transient, and vanishing with them; they are not scaffolding within which other and higher truth is to be reared from age to age. They are like him who is the end of our conversation, " Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever." There is not one of them which, if the faith it awakens were but commensurate with its intrinsic worth, would not clothe the Church with a new and wondrous power. But what would be that power if that faith were to grasp them all? It would be life from the dead. — Enoch Mellor (1823 — 1881), in "The Hem of Christ's Garment, and other Sermons."

Verse 126. — "// is time for thee, LORD, to work." na expresses emphatically the proper time for the Lord to do his own work; as if the Psalmist had said, " It is not for us to prescribe the time and occasion for God to exercise his power, and to vindicate the authority of his own law; he does every thing at the proper time, and he will at the proper season punish those ' who have made void his law,' and who have become notorious for their impiety and wickedness." — George Phillips.

Verse 126. — "It is time to work," just as when the attack of some illness is becoming more severe, you hurry to the physician, that he may come more quickly, lest he should later be unable to do any good. So when the prophet saw in the Holy Spirit the rebellion of the people, their luxury, pleasures, deceits, frauds, avarice, drunken ness, he runs, for our help, to Christ, whom he knew to be alone able to remedy, such sins; implores him to come, and admits of no delay. — Ambrose, in Neale and Littledale.

Verse 126. — "// is time for thee, LORD, to work." — Infidelity was never more subtle, more hurtful, more plausible, perhaps more successful, than in the day in which we live. It has left the low grounds of vulgarity, and coarseness and ribaldry, and entrenched itself upon the lofty heights of criticism, philology, and even science itself. It pervades to a fearful extent our popular literature; it has invested itself with the charms of poetry, to throw its spell over the public mind; it has endeavoured to enweave itself with science; and he must be little acquainted with the state of opinion in this land, who does not know that it is espoused by a large portion of the cultivated mind of this generation. " It is time for thee, Lord, to work." —John Angell James, 1785 — 1859.

Verse 126. — "It is time for thee, LORD, to work," etc. To send the Messiah, to work by righteousness, to fulfil the law and vindicate the honour of it, broken by men. It was always a notion of the Jews that the time of the Messiah's coming would be when it was a time of great wickedness in the earth; and which seems to agree with the word of God, and was true in fact. See Mai. ii. 17, and iii. 1, 2, 3, 15, 16, and iv. 2.— John Gill.

Verse 126. — "// is time for thee, LORD, to work," etc. True it is, Lord, that we are not to appoint thee thy times and limits, for thou art the Ancient of Days, Time's Creator and destinator. Neither do we presume to press in at the portal of thy privy chamber, to " know the times and seasons " which thou our Father hast reserved in thine own power; yet, Lord, thou hast taught us, as to discern the face of the sky, so to descry the signs of the times, and from the cause to expect the effect which necessarily doth ensue. " Thou art a God full of com passion and mercy, slow to anger, and of great kindness " (Ps. ciii. 8); and thou dost sustain many wrongs of the sons of men, being crushed with their sins as a cart is laden with sheaves: but if still they continue to load thee, thou \\ilt ease thyself of that burden, and cast it on the ground of confusion. Thou art " slow to anger, but great in power, and wilt not surely clear the wicked " (Nahum i. 3). Thou dost for a long space hold thy peace at men's sins, and art still, and dost restrain thyself. But if men will not turn, thou wilt whet thy sword and bend thy bow, and make it ready. Patient thou art, and for a long time dost forbear thine hand; but when the forehead of sin beginneth to lose the blush of shame, when the beadroll of transgressions doth grow in score from East to West, when the cry of them pierceth above the clouds, when the height of wickedness is come unto the top, and the fruits thereof are ripe and full, then it is time for thee, Lord, to take notice of it, to awake like a giant, and to put to thine all-revenging hand.

But our sins are already ripe, yea, rotten ripe, the measure of our iniquities is full up to the brim. Doubtless our land is sunken deep in iniquity; our tongues and works have been against the Lord, to provoke the eyes of his glory; the trial of our countenance doth testify against us (Isaiah iii. 8, 9), yea, we declare our sins as Sodom; we hide them not, the cry of our sins is exceeding grievous, the clamours of them pierce the skies, and with a loud voice roar, saying: " How long, Lord, holy and true? How long ere thou come to avenge thyself on such a nation as this? " Rev. vi. 10; Jer. ix. 9. — George Webbe, in "A Posie of Spiritual Flowers," 1610.

Verse 126. — "It is time for thee, LORD." Some read it, and the original wiD bear it, "It is time to work for thee, O LORD; " it is time for every one in his place to appear on the Lord's side, against the threatening growth of profaneness and immorality. We must do what we can for the support of the sinking interests of religion, and after all, we must beg of God to take the work into his own hands. — Matthew Henry.

Verse 126. — "They have made void thy law." In the second verse of this section he complained that the proud would oppress him, now he complaineth that they destroyed the law of God. Who, then, are David's enemies, who seek to oppress him? Only such as are enemies to God, and seek to destroy his law. A great comfort have we in this, that if we love the Lord, and study in a good conscience to serve him, we can have no enemies but such as are enemies to God. — William Cowpcr.

Verse 126. — "They have made void thy law." As if they would not only sin against the Law, but sin away the Law, not only withdraw themselves from the obedience of it, but drive it out of the world; they would make void and repeal the holy acts of God, that their own wicked acts might not be questioned; and lest the Law should have a power to punish them, they will deny it a power to rule them; that's the force of the simple word here used, as applied to highest transgressing against the Law of God. — Joseph Caryl.

Verses 126, 127. — Everything betters a saint. Not only ordinances, word, sacraments, holy society, but even sinners and their very sinning. Even these draw forth their graces into exercise, and put them upon godly, broken-hearted mourning. A saint sails with every wind. As the wicked are hurt by the best things, so the godly are bettered by the worst. Because " they have made void thy law, therefore do I love thy commandments." Holiness is the more owned by the godly, the more the world despiseth it. The most eminent saints were those of Caesar's (Nero's house (Phil. iv. 22); they who kept God's name were they who lived where Satan's throne was (Rev. ii. 13). Zeal for God grows the hotter by opposition; and thereby the godly most labour to give the glory of God reparation. — William Jenkyn (1612 — 1685), in "The Morning Exercises"

Verse 127. — "Therefore I love thy commandments above gold," etc. Partly, because it is one evidence of their excellency, that they are disliked by the vilest of men. Partly, out of just indignation and opposition against my sworn enemies; and partly, because the great and general apostasy of others makes this duty more necessary to prevent their own and other men's relapses. — Matthew Pool.

Verse 127. — "/ love thy commandments above gold; yea, above fine gold." The image employed brings before us the picture of the miser; his heart and his treasure are in his gold. With what delight he counts it I with what watchfulness he keeps it 1 hiding it in safe custody, lest he should be despoiled of that which is dearer to him than life. Such should Christians be, spiritual misers, counting their treasure which is " above fine gold "; and " hiding it in their hearts," in safe keeping, where the great despoiler shall not be able to reach it. Oh, Christians I how much more is your portion to you than the miser's treasure 1 Hide it; watch it; retain it. You need not be afraid of covetousness in spiritual things: rather " covet earnestly " to increase your store; and by living upon it and living in it, it will grow richer in extent, and more precious in value. — Charles Bridges.

Verse 127. — "/ love thy commandments." He professeth not that he fulfilled them, but that he loved them; and truly it is a great progress in godliness, if we become thus far, as from our heart to love them. The natural man hates the commandments of God; they are so contrary to his corruption; but the regenerate man, as he hates his own corruption, so he loves the word, because according to it he desires to be reformed. And here is our comfort, that, albeit we cannot do what is commanded, yet if we love to do it, it is an argument of grace received. "Above gold," etc. It is lawful to love those creatures which God hath appointed for our use; with these conditions: the one is, that the first seat in our affection of love be reserved to God; and any other thing we love, that we love it in him and for him, and give it only the second room. Thus David, being a natural man, loved his natural food; but he protesteth he loved the law of the Lord more than his appointed food; and here he loves the commandments of God above all gold. —

Verse 128. — "/ esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right." It is no compromising testimony to the integrity and value of the Lord's precepts with which the Psalmist concludes, "/ esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right " — every command, however hard; every injunction, however distasteful; every precept, however severe; even cut off thy right hand, pluck out thy right eye; forget thine own people and thy father's house; take up thy cross daily; sell all that thou hast — yea, Lord, even so, " all thy precepts concerning ALL ttiings are right." What a blessed truth to arrive at, and find comfort in! — Barton Souchier.

Verse 128. — "/ esteem all thy precepts," etc. We must not only respect all God's commandments, but also respect them all alike, and give them all the like respect.

Obedience must be universal. — R. Mayhew, in "The death of Death in the Death of Christ," 1679.

Verse 128. — "All." The many alls in this verse used (not unlike that in Ezekiel xliv. 30) showeth the integrity and universality of his obedience. "All " is but a little word, but of large extent. — John Trapp.

Verse 128. — "All thy precepts concerning all things to be right." He had a high estimate of God's precepts; he thought them just in all things; just, because they prescribe nothing but that which is exactly just; and just, because they bring a just punishment on the transgressors, and a reward to the righteous. — William Nicholson.

Verse 128. — The upright man squares all his actions by a right rule: carnal reason cannot bias him, corrupt practice cannot sway him, but God's sacred word directs him. Hence it is that his respect is universal to all divine precepts, avoiding all evil, performing all good without exception. Thus David's upright man here esteems God's precepts concerning all things to be right, and therefore is careful to observe them. Hence it is, that he is the same man at all times, in all places; because at all times, and in all societies, he acts by one and the same rule. 'Tis a good saying of S. Cyprian, ea non est religio, sed dissimulatio, quse per omnia non constat sibi, that is not piety, but hypocrisy, that is not in all things like itself, since the upright man measures every action by the straight line of divine prescript. — Abraham Wright.

Verse 128. — "I hate every false way." The best trial of our love to God and his word is the contrary — hatred of sin and impiety: " Ye that love the Lord, hate evil." He that loves a tree, hates the worm that consumes it; he that loves a garment, hates the moth that eats it; he that loveth life, abhorreth death; and he that loves the Lord hates every thing that offends him. Let men take heed to this, who are in love of their sins: how can the love of God be in them?

Religion binds us not only to hate one way of falsehood, but all the ways of it. As there is nothing good, but in some measure a godly man loves it; so there is nothing evil, but in some measure he hates it. And this is the perfection of the children of God; a perfection not of degrees; for we neither love good nor hate evil as we should; but a perfection of parts; because we love every good, and we hate every evil in some measure. — William Cowper.

Verse 128. — "And I hate." The Being who loves the good with infinite intensity must hate evil with the same intensity. So far from the incompatibility between this love and this hatred, they are thj counterparts of each other, — opposite poles of the same moral emotion. — John Vf. Haley, in "An Examination of the alleged Discrepancies of the Bible," 1875.

Verse 128. — "/ hate every false way." If Satan get a grip of thee by any one sin, is it not enough to carry thee to damnation? As the butcher carries the beast to the slaughter, sometime bound by all the four feet, and sometime by one only; so it is with Satan. Though thou be not a slave to all sin; if thou be a slave to one, the grip he hath of thee, by that one sinful affection, is sufficient to captive thee. — William Cowper.

r~PHY testimonies are wonderful: therefore doth my soul keep them.

130 The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.

131 I opened my mouth, and panted: for I longed for thy command ments.

132 Look thou upon me, and be merciful unto me, as thou usest to do unto those that love thy name.

133 Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.

134 Deliver me from the oppression of man: so will I keep thy precepts.

135 Make thy face to shine upon thy servant; and teach me thy

136 Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy law.

129. "Thy testimonies are wonderful." Full of wonderful revelations, commands and promises. Wonderful in their nature, as being free from all error, and bearing within themselves overwhelming self-evidence of their truth; wonderful in their effects as instructing, elevating, strengthening, and comforting the soul. Jesus the eternal Word is called Wonderful, and all the uttered words of God are wonderful in their degree. Those who know them best wonder at them most. It is wonderful that God should have borne testimony at all to sinful men, and more wonderful still that his testimony should be of such a character, so clear, so full, so gracious, so mighty. "Therefore doth my soul keep them." Their wonderful character so impressed itself upon his mind that he kept them in his memory: their wonderful excellence so charmed his heart that he kept them in his life. Some men wonder at the words of God, and use them for their speculation; but David was always practical, and the more he wondered the more he obeyed. Note that his religion was soul work; not with head and hand alone did he keep the testimonies; but his soul, his truest and most real self, held fast to them.

130. "The entrance of thy words giveth light." No sooner do they gain admission into the soul than they enlighten it: what light may be expected from their pro longed indwelling! Their very entrance floods the mind with instruction, for they are so full, so clear; but, on the other hand, there must be such an " entrance," or there will be no illumination. The mere hearing of the word with the external ear is of small value by itself, but when the words of God enter into the chambers of the heart then light is scattered on all sides. The word finds no entrance into some minds because they are blocked up with self-conceit, or prejudice, or indifference; but where due attention is given, divine illumination must surely follow upon knowledge of the mind of God. Oh, that thy words, like the beams of the sun, may enter through the window of my understanding, and dispel the darkness of my mind! "It giveth understanding unto the simple." The sincere and candid are the true disciples of the word. To such it gives not only knowledge, but under standing. These simple-hearted ones are frequently despised, and their simplicity has another meaning infused into it, so as to be made the theme of ridicule; but what matters it? Those whom the world dubs as fools are among the truly wise if they are taught of God. What a divine power rests in the word of God, since it not only bestows light, but gives that very mental eye by which the light is received — " It giveth understanding." Hence the value of the words of God to the simple, who cannot receive mysterious truth unless their minds are aided to see it and prepared to grasp it.

131. "/ opened my mouth, and panted." So animated was his desire that he looked into the animal world to find a picture of it. He was filled with an intense longing, and was not ashamed to describe it by a most expressive, natural, and yet singular symbol. Like a stag that has been hunted in the chase, and is hard pressed, and therefore pants for breath, so did the Psalmist pant for the entrance of God's word into his soul. Nothing else could content him. All that the world could yield him left him still panting with open mouth. "For I longed for thy commandments." Longed to know them, longed to obey them, longed to be con formed to their spirit, longed to teach them to others. He was a servant of God, and his industrious mind longed to receive orders; he was a learner in the school of grace, and his eager spirit longed to be taught of the Lord.

132. "Look thou upon me." A godly man cannot long be without prayer. During the previous verses he had been expressing his love to God's word, but here he is upon his knees again. This prayer is specially short, but exceedingly sententious, " Look thou upon me." While he stood with open mouth panting for the commandments, he besought the Lord to look upon him, and let his condition and his unexpressed longings plead for him. He desires to be known of God, and daily observed by him. He wishes also to be favoured with the divine smile which is included in that word — " look." If a look from us to God has saving efficacy in it, what may we not expect from a look from God to us. "And be merciful unto me." Christ's look at Peter was a look of mercy, and all the looks of the heavenly Father are of the same kind. If he looked in stern justice his eyes would not endure us, but looking in mercy he spares and blesses us. If God looks and sees us panting, he will not fail to be merciful to us. "As thou usest to do unto those that love thy name." Look on me as thou lookest on those who love thee; be merciful to me as thou art accustomed to be towards those who truly serve thee. There is a use and wont which God observes towards them that love him, and David craved that he might experience it. He would not have the Lord deal better or worse with him than he was accustomed to deal with his saints — worse would not save him, better could not be. In effect he prays, " I am thy servant; treat me as thou treatest thy servants. I am thy child; deal with me as with a son." Especially is it clear from the context that he desired such an entering in of the word, and such a clear understanding of it as God usually gives to his own, according to the promise, " All thy children shall be taught of the Lord."

Reader, do you love the name of the Lord? Is his character most honourable in your sight? most dear to your heart? This is a sure mark of grace, for no soul ever loved the Lord except as the result of love received from the Lord himself.

133. "Order my steps in thy word." This is one of the Lord's customary mercies to his chosen, — " He keepeth the feet of his saints." By his grace he enables us to put our feet step by step in the very place which his word ordains. This prayer seeks a very choice favour, namely, that every distinct act, every step, might be arranged and governed by the will of God. This does not stop short of perfect holiness, neither will the believer's desires be satisfied with anything beneath that blessed consummation. "And let not any iniquity have dominion over me." This is the negative side of the blessing. We ask to do all that is right, and to fall under the power of nothing that is wrong. God is our sovereign, and we would have every thought in subjection to his sway. Believers have no choice, darling sins to which they would be willing to bow. They pant for perfect liberty from the power of evil, and being conscious that they cannot obtain it of themselves, they cry unto God for it.

134. "Deliver me from the oppression of man." David had tasted all the bitter ness of this great evil. It had made him an exile from his country, and banished him from the sanctuary of the Lord: therefore he pleads to be saved from it. It is said that oppression makes a wise man mad, and no doubt it has made many a righteous man sinful. Oppression is in itself wicked, and it drives men to wickedness. We little know how much of our virtue is due to our liberty; if we had been in bonds under haughty tyrants we might have yielded to them, and instead of being confessors we might now have been apostates. He who taught us to pray, " Lead us not into temptation," will sanction this prayer, which is of much the same tenor, since to be oppressed is to be tempted. "So will I keep thy statutes." When the stress of oppression was taken off he would go his own way, and that way would be the way of the Lord. Although we ought not to yield to the threatenings of men, yet many do so; the wife is sometimes compelled by the oppression of her husband to act against her conscience: children and servants, and even whole nations have been brought into the same difficulty. Their sins will be largely laid at the oppressor's door, and it usually pleases God ere long to overthrow those powers and dominions which compel men to do evil. The worst of it is that some persons, when the pressure is taken off from them, follow after unrighteousness of their own accord. These give evidence of being sinners in grain. As for the righteous, it happens to them as it did to the apostles of old, " Being let go, they went to their own company." When saints are freed from the tyrant they joyfully pay homage to their king.

135. "Make thy face to shine upon thy servant." Oppressors frown, but do thou smile. They darken my life, but do thou shine upon me, and all will be bright. The Psalmist again declares that he is God's servant, and he seeks for no favour from others, but only from his own Lord and Master. "And teach me thy statutes." This is the favour which he considers to be the shining of the face of God upon him. If the Lord will be exceeding gracious, and make him his favourite, he will ask no higher blessing than still to be taught the royal statutes. See how he craves after holiness; this is the choicest of all gems in his esteem. As we say among men that a good education is a great fortune, so to be taught of the Lord is a girt of special grace. The most favoured believer needs teaching; even when he walks in the light of God's countenance he has still to be taught the divine statutes or he will transgress.

136. "Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy law." He wept in sympathy with God to see the holy law despised and broken. He wept in pity for men who were thus drawing down upon themselves the fiery wrath of God. His grief was such that he could scarcely give it vent; his tears were not mere drops of sorrow, but torrents of woe. In this he became like the Lord Jesus who beheld the city, and wept over it; and like unto Jehovah himself, who hath no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, but that he turn unto him and live. The experience of this verse indicates a great advance upon anything we have had before: the Psalm and the Psalmist are both growing. That man is a ripe believer who sorrows because of the sins of others. In verse 120 his flesh trembled at the presence of God, and here it seems to melt and flow away in floods of tears. None are so affected by heavenly things as those who are much in the study of the word, and are thereby taught the truth and essence of things, Carnal men are afraid of brute force, and weep over losses and crosses; but spiritual men feel a holy fear of the Lord himself, and most of all lament when they see dishonour cast upon his holy name

" Lord, let me weep for nought but sin,

And after none but thee. And then I would, O that I might, t A constant weeper be."

All the verses of this section begin with the seventeenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet; but each verse with a different word. — William S. Plumer.

This seventeenth letter is the letter P. The section is precious, practical, profitable, powerful: peculiarly so. — C. H. S.

Verse 129. — "Thy testimonies are wonderful." The Scriptures are " wonderful," with respect to the matter which they contain, the manner in which they are written, and the effects which they produce. They contain the sublimest spiritual truths, veiled under external ceremonies and sacraments, figurative descriptions, typical histories, parables, similitudes, etc. When properly opened and enforced, they terrify and humble, they convert and transform, they console and strengthen. Who but must delight to study and to " observe " these " testimonies " of the will and the wisdom, the love and the power of God Most High! While we have these holy writings, let us not waste our time, mis-employ our thoughts, and prostitute our admiration, by doating on human follies, and wondering at human trifles. — George

Verse 129. — " Thy testimonies are wonderful." God's testimonies are " wonderful " (1) in their majesty and composure, which striketh reverence into the hearts of those that consider; the Scripture speaketh to us at a God-like rate. (2) It is " wonderful " for the matter and depth of mystery, which cannot be found elsewhere, concerning God, and Christ, the creation of the world, the souls of men, and their immortal and everlasting condition, the fall of man, etc. (3) It is " wonderful " for purity and perfection. The Decalogue in ten words compriseth the whole duty of man, and reacheth to the very soul, and all the motions of the heart. (4) It is " wonderful " for the harmony and consent of all the parts. All religion is of a piece, and one part doth not interfere with another, but conspireth to promote the great end, of sub jection of the creature to God. (5) It is " wonderful " for the power of it. There is a mighty power which goeth along with the word of God, and astonisheth the hearts of those that consider it and feel it. 1 Thess. i. 5. — Thomas Manton.

Verse 129. — "Thy testimonies are wonderful." The Bible itself is an astonishing and standing miracle. WTritten fragment by fragment, through the course of fifteen centuries, under different states of society, and in different languages, by persons of the most opposite tempers, talents, and conditions, learned and unlearned, prince and peasant, bond and free; cast into every form of instructive composition and good wiiting; history, prophecy, poetry, allegory, emblematic representation, judicious interpretation, literal statement, precept, example, proverbs, disquisition, epistle, sermon, prayer — in short, all rational shapes of human discourse, and treating, moreover, on subjects not obvious, but most difficult; its authors are not found like other men, contradicting one another upon the most ordinary matters of fact and opinion, but are at harmony upon the whole of their sublime and momentous scheme. — J. Maclagan, 1853.

Verse 129. — Highly prize the Scriptures, or you will not obey them. David said, " therefore doth my soul keep them "; and why was this, but that he counted them to be wonderful? Can he make a proficiency in any art, who doth slight and deprecate it? Prize this book of God above all other books. St. Gregory calls the Bible " the heart and soul of God." The rabbins say, that there is a mountain of sense hangs upon every apex and tittle of Scripture. " The law of the Lord is perfect " (Ps. xix. 7). The Scripture is the library of the Holy Ghost; it is a pandect of divine knowledge, an exact model and platform of religion. The Scripture contains in it the credenda, " the things which we are to believe," and the agenda, "the things which we are to practise." It is "able to make us wise unto salvation" 2 Tim. iii. 15. " The Scripture is the standard of truth," the judge of controversies; it is the pole-star to direct us to heaven (Isa. viii. 20). " The commandment is a lamp ": Prov. vi. 23. The Scripture is the compass by which the rudder of our will is to be steered; it is the field in which Christ, the Pearl of price, is hid; it is a rock of diamonds, it is a sacred collyrium, or " eye-salve; " it mends their eyes that look upon it; it is a spiritual optic-glass in which the glory of God is resplen dent; it is the panacea or " universal medicine " for the soul. The leaves of Scripture are like the leaves of the tree of life, " for the healing of the nations ": Rev. xxii. 2. The Scripture is both the breeder and feeder of grace. How is the

convert born, but by " the word of truth "? James i. 18. How doth he grow, but by " the sincere milk of the word "? 1 Pet. ii. 2. The word written is the book out of which our evidences for heaven are fetched; it is the sea-mark which shows us the rocks of sin to avoid; it is the antidote against error and apostasy, the two-edged sword which wounds the old serpent. It is our bulwark to with stand the force of lust; like the Capitol of Rome, which was a place of strength and ammunition. The Scripture is the " tower of David," whereon the shields of our faith hang: Canticles iv. 4. " Take away the word, and you deprive us of the sun," said Luther. The word written is above an angelic embassy, or voice from heaven. "This voice which came from heaven we heard. We have also," pe,aa<dre/>ev \oyov " a more sure word ": 2 Peter i. 18, 19. O, prize the word written; prizing is the way to profiting. If Csesar so valued his Commentaries, that for preserving ihem he lost his purple robe, how should we estimate the sacred oracles of God? " I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than any necessary food ": Job xxiii. 12. King Edward the Sixth, on the day of his coronation, had presented before him three swords, signifying that he was monarch of three kingdoms. The king said, there was one sword wanting; being asked what that was, he answered, " The Holy Bible, which is the sword of the Spirit, and is to be preferred before these ensigns of royalty." Robert King of Sicily did so prize God's word, that, speaking to his friend Petrarcha, he said, " I protest, the Scriptures are dearer to me than my kingdom; and if I must be deprived of one of them, I had rather lose my diadem than the Scriptures." — Thomas Watson, in "The Morning Exercises."

Verse 129. — The word contains matter to exercise the greatest minds. Many men cannot endure to spend their thoughts and time about trivial matters; whereas others think it happiness enough if they can, by the meanest employments, procure subsistence. Oh, let all those of high aspirations exercise themselves in the law -of God; here are objects fit for great minds, yea, objects that will elevate the greatest: and indeed none in the world are truly great but the saints, for they exercise themselves in the great counsels of God. We account those men the greatest that are employed in state affairs: now the saints are lifted up above all things in the world, and regard them all as little and mean, and are exercised in the great affairs of the kingdom of Jesus Christ. Hence the Lord would have the kings and the judges to have the book of the law written, Deut. xvii. 18, 19; and it is reported of Alphonsus, king of Arragon, that in midst of all his great and manifold occupations, he read over the Scriptures fourteen times with commentaries. How many have we, men of great estates, and claiming to be of great minds, that scarce regard the law of God: they look upon his law as beneath them. Books of history and war they will peruse with diligence; but for the Scripture, it is a thing that has little in it. It is a special means to obedience to have high thoughts of God's law. That is the reason why the prophet speaks thus, " I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing ": Hos. viii. 12. As if he should say, if they had had the things of my law in their thoughts, they would never so have acted. Ps. cxix. 129, "Thy testimonies are wonderful, therefore doth my soul keep them." He saith not, therefore do I keep them; but, therefore doth my soul keep them; my very soul is in this, in keeping thy testimonies, for I look upon them as wonderful things. It is a good sign that the spirit of the great God is in a man, when it raises him above other things, to look upon the things of his word as the only great things in the world. " All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the Held: the grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever: " Isa. xl. 6, 8. There is a vanity in all things of the world; but in that which the word reveals, in that there is an eternity: we should therefore admire at nothing so as at the word, and we should greatly delight in God's commandments; an ordinary degree of admiration or delight is not sufficient, but great admiration and great delight there should be in the law of God. And all arguments drawn from God's law should powerfully pre vail with you. — Jeremiah Burroughs.

Verse 129. — "Thy testimonies are wonderful." Wonders will never cease. Air, earth, water, the world above, the world beneath, time, eternity, worms, birds, fishes, beasts, men, angels are all full of wonders. The more all things are studied, the more do wonders appear. It is idle, therefore, to find fault with the mysteries of Scripture, or to deny them. Inspiration glories in them. He who rejects the mysteries of love, grace, truth, power, justice and faithfulness of God's word, rejects rsalvation. It has marvels in itself, and marvels in its operation. They are good cause of love, not of offence; of keeping, not of breaking God's precepts. — William S, Plumer.

Verse 129. — "My soul," not merely I, but I with all my heart and soul. — Joseph Addison Alexander.

Verse 129. — I have completed reading the whole Bible through since January last. I began it on the first day of the present year, and finished it on the the 26th of October. I have read it in that space four times, and not without real profit to myself. I always find in it something new; it being, like its Author, infinite and inexhaustible. — Samuel Eyles Pierce, 1841.

Verse 129. — What do I not owe to the Lord for permitting me to take a part in the translation of his word? Never did I see such wonders, and wisdom, and love, in the blessed book, as since I have been obliged to study every expression; and it is a delightful reflection, that death cannot deprive us of the pleasure of studying its mysteries. — Henry Martyn.

Verse 130. — "The opening of thy words enlightens, making the simple understand." The common version of the first word (entrance) is inaccurate, and the one here given, though exact, is ambiguous. The clause does not refer to the mechanical opening of the book by the reader, but to the spiritual opening of its true sense by divine illumination, to the mind which naturally cannot discern it. — Joseph Addison Alexander.

Verse 130. — "The entrance of thy words giveth light." The first entrance, or vestibule: for the Psalmist wishes to point out that only the beginnings are apprehended in this life; and that these beginnings are to be preferred to all human wisdom. — Henricus Mollerus.

Verse 130. — "The entrance of thy words giveth light," etc. The beginning of them; the first three chapters in Genesis, what light do they give into the origin of all things; the creation of man, his state of innocence; his fall through the temptations of Satan, and his recovery and salvation by Christ, the seed of the woman 1 The first principles of the oracles of God, the rudiments of religion, the elements of the world, the rites of the ceremonial law gave great light unto the Gospel mysteries. — John Gill.

Verse 130. — "The entrance of thy words giveth light." A profane shopman crams into his pocket a leaf of a Bible, and reads the last words of Daniel: " Go thou thy way, till the end be, for thou shalt rest and stand in thy lot at the end of the days," and begins to think what his own lot will be when days are ended. A Gottingen Professor opens a big printed Bible to see if he has eyesight enough to read it, and alights on the passage, "I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not," and in reading it the eyes of his understanding are enlightened. Cromwell's soldier opens his Bible to see how far the musket-ball has pierced, and finds it stopped at the verse: " Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth; and walk in the ways of thine heart and the sight of thine eyes; but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment." And in a frolic the Kentish soldier opens the Bible which his broken-hearted mother had sent him, and the first sentence that turns up is the text so familiar in boyish days: " Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden," and the weary profligate repairs for rest to Jesus Christ. — James Hamilton, 1814 — 1867.

Verse 130. — He amplifies his praise of the word of God when he saith that the entrance thereof, the first opening of the door of the word, gives light: for if the first entrance to it give light, what will the progress and continuance thereof do? This accuseth the age wherein we live, who now of a long time hath been taught by the word of God so clearly, that in regard of time they might have been teachers of others, yet are they but children in knowledge and understanding. But to whom doth the word give understanding? David saith to the "simple": not to such as are high-minded, or double in heart, or wise in their own eyes, who will examine the mysteries of godliness by the quickness of natural reason. No: to such as deny themselves, as captive their natural understanding, and like humble disciples submit themselves, not to ask, but to hear; not to reason, but to believe. And if for this cause, naturalists who want this humility cannot profit by the word; what marvel that Papists far less become wise by it, who have their hearts so full of prejudices concerning it, that they spare not to utter blasphemies against it, calling it not unprofitable, but pernicious to the simple and to the idiots.

And again, where they charge it with difficulty, that simple men and idiots should not be suffered to read it, because it is obscure; all these frivolous allegations of men are annulled by this one testimony of God, that it gives light to the simple. —

Verse 130. — "Light." This " light " hath excellent properties. 1. It is lux manifestans, it manifesteth itself and all things else. How do I see the sun, but by the sun, by its own light? How do I know the Scripture to be the word of God, but by the light that shineth in it, commending itself to my conscience 1 So it manifests all things else; it layeth open all the frauds and impostures of Satan, the vanity of wordly things, the deceits of the heart, the odiousncss of sin 2. It is lux dirigens, a directing light, that we may see our way and work. As the sun lighteth man to his labour, so doth this direct us in all our conditions: verse 105. It directs us how to manage ourselves in all conditions. 3. It is lux vivificans, a quickening light. " I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life ": John viii. 12. "Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light": Eph. v. 14. That light was the life of men: so is this spiritual life; it not only discovereth the object, but helpeth the faculty, filleth the soul with life and strength. 4. It is lux exhilarans, a comforting, refreshing, cheering light; and that in two respects. (1) Because it presents us with excellent grounds of comfort. (2) Because it is a soul-satisfying light. — Condensed from Manton.

Verse 130. — "// giveth understanding." If all the books in the world were assembled together, the Bible would as much take the lead in disciplining the under standing as in directing the soul. It will not make astronomers, chemists, or linguists, but there is a great difference between strengthening the mind and storing it with information. — Henry Melvill.

Verse 130. — "// giveth understanding to the simple." There are none so knowing that God cannot blind; none so blind and ignorant whose mind and heart his spirit cannot open. He who, by his incubation upon the waters at the creation, hatched that rude mass into the beautiful form we now see, and out of that dark chaos made the glorious heavens, and garnished them with so many orient stars, can move upon thy dark soul and enlighten it, though it be as void of knowledge as the evening of the world's first day was of light. The schoolmaster sometimes sends home the child, and bids his father to put him to another trade, because not able, with all his art, to make a scholar of him; but if the Spirit of God be master, thou shalt learn, though a dunce: "The entrance of thy word giveth light, it giveth understanding to the simple." No sooner is the soul entered into the Spirit's school, than he becomes a proficient. — William Gurnall.

Verse 130. — "To the simple." He does not say, "giveth understanding" to the wise and prudent, to learned men, and to those skilled in letters; but to the " simple." — Wolfgang Musculus.

Verse 130. — "To the simple." This is one great characteristic of the word of God, — however incomprehensible to the carnal mind, it is adapted to every grade of enlightened intelligence. — W. Wilson.

Verse 130. — "To the simple." The word is used sometimes in a good sense, and sometimes in a bad sense. It is used in a good sense, First, for the sincere and plain-hearted: " The Lord preserveth the simple: I was brought low, and he helped me ": Ps. cxvi. 6. " For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to youward ": 2 Cor. i. 12. Secondly, for those that do not oppose the presumption of carnal wisdom to the pure light of the word: so we must all be simple, or fools, that we may be wise: " If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise " (1 Cor. iii. 18); that is, in simplicity of heart submitting to God's on duct, and believing what he hath revealed. — Thomas

Verse 131. — "/ opened my mouth, and panted." By this manner of speech, David expresses, as Basil thinks, animi propensionem, that the inclination of his soul was after God's word. For, this opened mouth, Ambrose thinks, is os interioris hominis, the mouth of the inward man, which in effect is his heart; and the speech notes vehementem rjiimi intensionem, a vehement intension of his spirit, saith Euthymius. Yet vhall it not be amiss to consider here how the mind of the godly

earnestly affected moves the body also. The speech may be drawn from travellers, who being very desirous to attain to their proposed ends, enforce their strength thereunto; and finding a weakness in their body to answer their will, they pant and open their mouth, seeking refreshment from the air to renew their strength: or as Vatablus thinks, from men exceeding hungry and thirsty, who open their mouth as if they would draw in the whole air, and then pant and sigh within them selves when they find no full refreshment by it. So he expresseth it: " My heart burns with so ardent a longing for thy commandments, that I am forced ever and anon to gasp by reason of my painful breathing."

However it be, it lets us see how the hearing, reading, or meditating of God's word wakened in David a most earnest affection to have the light, joy, grace, and comfort thereof communicated to his own heart. For in the godly, knowledge of good increaseth desires; and it cannot be expressed how vehemently their souls long to feel that power and comfort which they know is in the word; and how sore they are grieved and troubled when they find it not.

And happy were we, if we could meet the Lord with this like affection; that when he opens his mouth, we could also open our heart to hear, as David here doth. Christus aperit os, ut daret aliis spiritual; David aperuit at acciperet; offering his heart to receive the spirit of grace, when God openeth his mouth in his word to give it. For it is his promise to us all — " Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it." Let us turn it into a prayer, that the Lord, who opened the heart of Lydia, would open our heart to receive grace when he offers by his word to give it. — William Cowper.

Verse 131. — "/ opened my mouth, and panted," etc. There are two ways in which these words may be understood. They may be considered as expressing the very earnest longing of the Psalmist for greater acquaintance with God in spiritual things; and then, in saying, "/ opened my mouth, and panted," he merely asserts the vehemence of his desire. Or you may separate the clauses: you may regard the first as the utterance of a man utterly dissatisfied with the earth and earthly things, and the second as the expression of a consciousness that God, and God only, could meet the longings of his soul. "/ opened my mouth, and panted." Out of breath, with chasing shadows, and hunting after baubles, I sit down exhausted, as far off as ever from the happiness which has been earnestly but fruitlessly sought. Whither, then, shall I turn? Thy commandments, O Lord, and these alone, can satisfy the desires of an immortal being like myself; and on these, therefore, henceforward shall my longings be turned. — Henry Melvill.

Verse 131. — "/ opened my mouth, and panted." A metaphor taken from men scorched and sweltered with heat, or from those that have run themselves out of breath in following the thing which they would overtake. The former metaphor expressed the vehemency of his love; the other the earnestness of his pursuit; he was like a man gasping for breath, and sucking in the cool air. — Thomas Manton.

Verse 131. — "/ longed for thy commandments." This is a desire which God will satisfy. " Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it ": Ps. Ixxxi. 10. — Thomas

Verse 132. — "Look thou upon me, and be merciful unto me," etc. "Look upon me," stripped by thieves of my virtues, and then wounded with sins, and "be merciful unto me," showing compassion on me, taking care of me in the inn of the Church universal, that I fall not again among thieves, nor be harmed by the wolves which howl about this fold, but dare not enter in. "Look upon me," no longer worthy to be called thy son, and "be merciful unto me," not as the jealous elder brother would treat me, but let me join the glad song and banquet of them that love thy name. Look upon me the publican, standing afar off in thy temple the Church, and be merciful unto me, not after the Pharisee's judgment, but " as thou usest to do unto them that love thy name," which is the gracious God. Look on me as on weeping Peter, and be merciful unto me as thou wast to him, who so loved thy name as by his triple confession of love to wash out his threefold denial, saying, ' Lord, thou knowest that I love thee." "Look upon me," as on the sinful woman, penitent and weeping, and be merciful unto me, not according to the judgment of the Pharisee who murmured at her, as Judas who was indignant at her, but forgiving me as thou didst her, " because she loved much," telling me also, " Thy faith hath saved thee, go in peace." — Neale and Littledale.

Verse 132. — "Look thou upon me." Lord 1 since our looks to thee are often so slight, so cold, so distant, that no impression is made upon our hearts, do thou

condescend continually to look upon us with mercy and with power. Vouchsafe us such a look, as may bring us to ourselves, and touch us with tenderness and contrition in the remembrance of that sin, unbelief, and disobedience, which pierced the hands, the feet, the heart of our dearest Lord and Saviour. Comp. Luke xxii. 61. ' — Charles Bridges.

Verse 132. — "As thou usest to do," etc. David would not lose any privilege that God hath by promise settled on his children. Do with me, saith he, "as thou usest to do." This is no more than family fare, what thou promisest to do for all that love thee; and let me not go worse clad than the rest of my brethren. — William Gurnall.

Verse 132. — "As thou usest to do unto those" etc. We should be content if God deals with us as he has always dealt with his people. While he could not be satisfied with anything less than their portion, David asks for nothing better; he implores no singular dispensation in his favour, no deviation from the accustomed methods of his grace.... It is always a good proof that your convictions and desires are from the operation of the Spirit when you are willing to conform to God's order. What is this order? It is to dispense his blessings connectedly. It is never to justify without sanctifying; never to give a title to heaven without a meetness for it. Now the man that is divinely wrought upon will not expect nor desire the one without the other. Therefore he will not expect the blessing of God without obedience; because it is always God's way to connect the comforts of the Holy Ghost with the fear of the Lord; and if his children transgress his laws, to visit their transgressions with a rod. Therefore he will neither expect nor desire his blessing without exertion; for it has always been God's way to crown only those that run the race that is set before them, and fight the good fight of faith. Therefore he will not expect nor desire the Divine blessing without prayer; for it has always been God's way to make his people sensible of their wants, and to give an answer to prayer. Therefore he will not expect nor desire to reach heaven without difficulties; for his people have always had to deny themselves, and take up their cross. If they have not been chosen in the furnace of affliction, they have been purified. God had one Son without sin, but he never had one without sorrow: " he scourgeth every son whom he receiveth." " Yes," says the suppliant before us, " secure me their everlasting portion, and I am willing to drink of the cup they drank of, and to be baptized with the baptism they were baptized with. I want no new, no by-path to glory. I am content to keep the King's high road. 'Be merciful unto me, as thou usest to do unto those that love thy name.' I ask no more."- William Jay, 1769—1853.

Verse 133. — "Order my steps in thy word." As before he sought mercy, so now he seeks grace. There are many that seek mercy to forgive sin, who seek not grace to deliver them from the power of sin: this is to abuse God's mercy, and turn his grace into wantonness. He that prayeth for mercy to forgive the guilt of sin only, seeks not that by sin he should not offend God; but that he may sin and not hurt himself: but he who craves deliverance also from the commanding power and deceit of sin, seeks not only a benefit to himself, but grace also to please and serve the Lord his God. The first is but a lover of himself; the second is a lover of God, more than of himself. And truly he never knew what it was to seek mercy for sin past, who with it also earnestly sought not grace to keep him from sin in time to come. These benefits cannot be divided: he who hath not the second (howsoever he flatter himself) may be assured that he hath not gotten the first. — William Cowper.

Verse 133. — "Order my steps in thy word." It is written of Boleslaus, one of the kings of Poland, that he still carries about him the picture of his father, and when he was to do any great work or set upon any design extraordinary, he would look on the picture and pray that he might do nothing unworthy of such a father's name. Thus it is that the Scriptures are the picture of God's will, therein drawn out to the very life. Before a man enter upon or engage himself in any business whatsoever, let him look there, and read there what is to be done; what to be undone; and what God commands, let that be done; what he forbids, let that be undone; let the balance of the sanctuary weigh all, the oracles of God decide all, the rule of God's word be the square of all, and his glory the ultimate of all intendments whatsoever. — From Spencer's "Things New and Old."

Verse 133. — "Order my steps." pn hachen, make them firm; let me not walk with a halting or unsteady step. — Arfam Clarke.

Verse 133. — "Order my steps," etc. The people of God would not only have their path right, but their steps ordered; as not their general course wrong (as those who walk in the way of everlasting perdition), so not a step awry; they would not miss the way to heaven, either in whole or in part. — Thomas Manton.

Verse 133. — "My steps." Speaking of the steps of the Temple, Bunyan says, " These steps, whether cedar, gold, or stone, yet that which added to their adornment, was the wonderment of a Queen. And whatever they were made of, to be sure, they were a shadow of those steps, which we should take to, and in the house of God. ' Steps of God,' Ps. Ixxxv. 13. ' Steps ordered by him,' Ps. xxxvii. 23. ' Steps ordered in his word,' Ps. cxix. 133. ' Steps of faith,' Rom. iv. 12. ' Steps of the spirit,' 2 Cor. xii. 18. ' Steps of truth,' 3 John 4. ' Steps washed with butter,' Job xxix. 6. ' Steps taken before, or in the presence of God.' Steps butted and bounded by a divine rule. These are steps indeed." — John Bunyan, in "Solomon's Temple Spiritualized."

Verse 133. — "Let not any iniquity," etc. True obedience to God is inconsistent with the dominion of any one lust, or corrupt affection. I say, though a man out of some slender and insufficient touch of religion upon his heart, may go right for a while, and do many things gladly; yet that corruption which is indulged, and under the power of which a man lieth, will at length draw off from God; and there fore no one sin should have dominion over us. When doth sin reign, or have dominion over us? When we do not endeavour to mortify it, and to cut off the provisions that may feed that lust. Chrysostom's observation is, the apostle does not say, let it not tyrannize over you, but, let it not reign over you; that is, when you suffer it to have a quiet reign in your hearts. — Thomas Manton.

Verse 133. — "Let not any iniquity have dominion over me." I had rather be a prisoner to man all my life than be a bondage to sin one day. He says not, Let not this and the other man rule over me; but " let not sin have dominion over me." Well said! There is hope in such a man's condition as long as it is so. — Michael Bruce, 1666.

Verse 134. — "Deliver me from the oppression of man." 1. "Man " by way of distinction. There is the oppression and tyranny of the Devil and sin; but the Psalmist doth not mean that now: Hominum non dsemonum, saith Hugo. 2. "Alan " by way of aggravation. Homo homini lupus: no creatures so ravenous and destructive to one another as man. It is a shame that one man should oppress another. Beasts do not usually devour those of the same kind; but, usually, a man's enemies are those of his own household: Matt. x. 36. The nearer we are in bonds of alliance, the greater the hatred. 3. "Man " by way of diminution. And to lessen the fear of this evil, this term Adam is given them, to show their weakness in comparison of God. Thou art God; but thoy that are so ready and forward to oppress and injure us are but men: thou canst easily overrule their power and break the yoke. I think this consideration chiefcst, because of other places. " Who art thou, that thou shouldst be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass; and forgettest the Lord thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor? " Isa. li. 12, 13. —

Verse 134. — "From the oppression of man." Some render it, "from the oppression of Adam; " as Jarchi observes; and Arama interprets it of the sin of Adam, and as a prayer to be delivered or redeemed from it; as the Lord's people are by the blood of Christ. — John Gill.

Verse 135. — "Make thy face to shine upon thy servant." The face of God shines upon us, when, in his providence, we are guided and upheld; also when we are made to share in the good things of his providence, and when we are placed in a position wherein we can do much good. Much more does the face of God shine upon us, when we are favoured with tokens of his gracious favour; for then we grow under the consciousness of a loving God, with rich supplies of his grace and Spirit. — John Stephen.

Verse 135. — "Make thy face to shine upon thy servant." Oftentimes the wrongful dealings of men, of others, and of ourselves, like a cloud of smoke arising from the earth and obscuring the face of the sun, hide from us for a while the light of the countenance of God: but he soon clears it all away, and looks down upon us in loving mercy as before, lighting for us the path of obedience, and brightening our way unto himself. — "Plain Commentary," 1859.

Verse 135. — "Make thy face to shine upon thy servant." The believer's incessant cry is, Let me see " the King's face." This is a blessing worth praying for. It is his heart's desire, his present privilege, and what is infinitely better, his sure, everlasting prospect — "They shall see his face." Rev. xxii. 4. — Charles Bridges.

Verse 135. — "Make thy face to shine... and teach me." Blessed is the man whom eternal Truth teacheth, not by obscure figures and transient sounds, but by direct and full communication. The perceptions of our senses are narrow and dull, and our reason on those perceptions frequently misleads us. He whom the eternal Word condescendeth to teach is disengaged at once from the labyrinth of human opinions. For " of one word are all things "; and all things without voice or language speak of him alone: he is that divine principle which speaketh in our hearts, and without which there can be neither just apprehension nor rectitude of judgment.

O God, who art the truth, make me one with thee in everlasting life! I am often weary of reading, and weary of hearing; in thee alone is the sum of my desire I Let all teachers be silent, let the whole creation be dumb before thee, and do thou only speak unto my soul I

Thy ministers can pronounce the words, but cannot impart the spirit; they may entertain the fancy with the charms of eloquence, but if thou art silent they do not inflame the heart. They administer the letter, but thou openest the sense; they utter the mystery, but thou revealest its meaning; they point out the way of life, but thou bestowest strength to walk in it; they water, but thou givest the increase. Therefore do thou, O Lord my God, Eternal Truth! speak to my soul I lest, being outwardly warmed, but not inwardly quickened, I die, and be found unfruitful. " Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth." " Thou only hast the words of eternal life." — Thomas a Kempis, 1380 — 1471.

Verse 135. — "Make thy face to shine.... teach me" etc. God hath many ways of teaching; he teaches by book, he teaches by his fingers, he teaches by his rod; but his most comfortable and effectual teaching is by the light of his eye: "O send out thy light and thy truth; let them lead me: let them bring me unto thy holy hill: " Ps. xlii. 3. — Richard Alleine (1611 — 1681), in "Heaven Opened."

Verse 135. — "Make thy face to shine.... teach me thy statutes." God's children, when they beg comfort, also beg grace to serve him acceptably. For by teaching God's statutes is not meant barely a giving us a speculative knowledge of God's will; for so David here; "Make thy face to shine"; and "Teach me thy statutes." — Thomas Manton.

Verse 136. — "Rivers of waters run down my eyes." Most of the easterns shed tears much more copiously than the people of Europe. The Psalmist said rivers of waters ran down his eyes; and though the language is beautifully figurative, I have no doubt it was also literally true. I have myself seen Arabs shed tears like streams. — John Gadsby.

Verse 136. — "Rivers of waters run down mine eyes," etc. Either because mine eyes keep not thy law, so some. The eye is the inlet and outlet of a great deal of sin, and therefore it ought to be a weeping eye. Or rather, they, i.e., those about me: ver. 139. Note, the sins of sinners are the sorrows of saints. We must mourn for that which we cannot mend. — Matthew Henry.

Verse 136. — "Rivers of waters run down mine eyes," etc. David's afflictions drew not so many tears from him as the sins of others; not his banishment by his son, as the breach of God's law by the wicked. Nothing went so to his heart as the dishonour of God, whose glory shining in his word and ordinances, is dearer to the godly than their lives. Elijah desired to die when he saw God so dishonoured by Ahab and Jezebel. The eye is for two things, sight and tears: if we see God dishonoured, presently our eyes should be filled with tears. — William Greenhill,

Verse 136. — "Rivers of waters run down mine eyes," etc. Godly men are affected with deep sorrow for the sins of the ungodly.

Let us consider the nature of this affection. 1. It is not a stoical apathy, and affected carelessness; much less a delightful partaking with sinful practices. 2. Not a proud setting off of their own goodness, with marking the sin of others as the

Pharisee did in the gospel. 3. Not the derision and mocking of the folly of men, with that " laughing philosopher ": it comes nearer to the temper of the other who wept always for it. 4. It is not a bitter, bilious anger, breaking forth into railings and reproaches, nor an upbraiding insultation. 5. Nor is it a vindictive desire of punishment, venting itself in curses and imprecations, which is the rash temper of many, but especially of the vulgar sort. The disciples' motion to Christ was far different from that way, and yet he says to them, " Ye know not of what spirit ye are." They thought they had been of Elijah's spirit, but he told them they were mistaken, and did not know of what a spirit they were in that motion. Thus heady zeal often mistakes and flatters itself. We find not here a desire of fire to come down from heaven upon the breakers of the law, but such a grief as would rather bring water to quench it, if it were falling on them. "Rivers of waters run down mine eyes." — Robert Leighton.

Verse 136. — "Rivers of waters run down mine eyes," etc. The Lord requireth this [mourning bitterly for other men's sins] to keep our hearts the more tender and upright; it is an act God useth to make us more careful of our own souls, to be troubled at the sins of others, at sin in a third person. It keepeth us at a great distance from temptation. This is like quenching of fire in a neighbour's house: before it comes near thee, thou runnest with thy bucket. There is no way to keep us free from the infection, so much as mourning. The soul will never agree to do that which it grieved itself to see another do. And, as it keepeth us upright, so also humble, fearful of Divine judgment, tender lest we ourselves offend, and draw down the wrath of God. He that shruggeth when he seeth a snake creeping upon another, will much more be afraid when it cometh near to himself. In our own sins we have the advantage of conscience scourging the soul with remorse and shame; in bewailing the sins of others, we have only the reasons of duty and obedience. They that fight abroad out of love to valour and exploits, will certainly fight at home out of love to their own safety. — Thomas Manton.

Verse 136. — "Rivers of waters run down mine eyes," etc. Thus uniformly is the character of God's people represented — not merely as those who are free from — but as "those that sigh and cry for — all the abominations that are done in the midst of the land ": Ezek. ix. 4. And who does not see what an enlarged sphere still presents itself on every side for the unrestrained exercise of Christian compassion? The appalling spectacle of a world apostatized from God, of multitudes sporting with everlasting destruction — as if the God of heaven were " a man that he should lie " is surely enough to force "rivers of waters " from the hearts of those that are concerned for his honour. What a mass of sin ascends as a cloud before the Lord, from a single heart I Add the aggregate of a village — a town — a country — a world 1 every day — every hour — every moment. Well might the "rivers of waters " rise to an overflowing tide, ready to burst its barriers. — Charles Bridges.

Verse 136. — "Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy law." — The vices of the religious are the shame of religion: the sight of this hath made the stoutest champions of Christ melt into tears. David was one of those great worthies of the world, not matchable in his times; yet he weeps. Did he tear in pieces a bear like a kid? Rescue a lamb with the death of a lion? Foil a mighty giant, that had dared the whole army of God? Did he like a whirlwind, bear and beat down his enemies before him; and now, does he, like a child or a woman, fall a-weeping? Yes, he had heard the name of God blasphemed, seen his holy rites prophaned, his statutes vilipended, and violence offered to the pure chastity of that holy virgin, religion; this resolved that valiant heart into tears: "Rivers of waters run down mine eyes." — Thomas Adams.

Verse 136. — My soul frequently spent itself in such breathings after conformity to the law of God as the one hundred and nineteenth Psalm is filled with throughout: " O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes! My heart breaketh througli the longing it hath to thy commands at all times; incline my heart that I may keep them alway unto the end," and the like. This appeared further in a fixed dislike of the least inconformity to the law, either in myself or others. Now; albeit I was always suitably affected with my own or others' breaches, yet this was my burden; I wished always that rivers of tears might run down mine eyes, because I, or other transgressors, kept not God's law. — Thomas Halyburton, 1674 — 1712.

"D IGHTEOUS art thou, O LORD, and upright are thy judgments.

•^ 138 Thy testimonies that thou hast commanded are righteous and

139 My zeal hath consumed me, because mine enemies have forgotten thy words.

140 Thy word is very pure: therefore thy servant loveth it.

141 I am small and despised: yet do not I forget thy precepts.

142 Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is the truth.

143 Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me: yet thy commandments are my delights.

144 The righteousness of thy testimonies is everlasting: give me under standing, and I shall live.

This passage deals with the perfect righteousness of Jehovah and his word, and expresses the struggles of a holy soul in reference to that righteousness. The initial letter with which every verse commences sounds like the Hebrew word for righteousness: our keynote is righteousness.

137. "Righteous art thou, O LORD." The Psalmist has not often used the name of Jehovah in this vast composition. The whole Psalm shows him to have been a deeply religious man, thoroughly familiar with the things of God; and such

Eersons never use the holy name of God carelessly, nor do they even use it at all •equently in comparison with the thoughtless and the ungodly. Familiarity begets reverence in this case. Here he uses the sacred name in worship. He praises God by ascribing to him perfect righteousness. God is always right, and he is always actively right, that is, righteous. This quality is bound up in our very idea of God. We cannot imagine an unrighteous God. "And upright are thy judgments." Here he extols God's word, or recorded judgments, as being right, even as their Author is righteous. That which comes from the righteous God is itself righteous. Jehovah both saith and doth that which is right, and that alone. This is a great stay to the soul in time of trouble. When we are most sorely afflicted, and cannot see the reason for the dispensation, we may fall back upon this most sure and certain fact, that God is righteous, and his dealings with us are righteous too. It should be our glory to sing this brave confession when all things around us appear to suggest the contrary. This is the richest adoration — this which rises from the lips of faith when carnal reason mutters about undue severity, and the like.

138. "Thy testimonies that thou hast commanded are righteous and very faithful." All that which God hath testified in his word is right and truthful. It is righteous, and may be relied upon for the present; it is faithful, and may be trusted in for the future. About every portion of the inspired testimonies there is a divine authority, they are issued and published by God's command, and they bear the impress of the royal style which carries omnipotence about it. Not only the precepts but the promises also are commanded of the Lord, and so are all the teachings of Scripture. It is not left to our choice whether we will accept them or no; they are issued by royal command, and are not to be questioned. Their characteristic is that they are like the Lord who has proclaimed them, they are the essence of justice and the soul of truth. God's word is righteous and cannot be impeached; it is faithful and cannot be questioned; it is true from the beginning, and it will be true unto the end.

Dwell upon that sweet word — "very faithful." What a mercy that we have a God to deal with who is scrupulously faithful, true to all the items and details of his promises, punctual to time, steadfast during all time. Well may we risk all upon a word which is " ever faithful, ever sure."

139. In the last two verses David spoke concerning his God and his law; here he speaks of himself, and says, "My zeal hath consumed me, because mine enemies have forgotten thy words ": this was no doubt occasioned by his having so clear a sense of the admirable character of God's word. His zeal was like a fire burning within his soul. The sight of man's forgetfulness of God acted as a fierce blast to excite the fire to a more vehement flame, and it blazed until it was ready to consume him. David could not bear that men should forget God's words. He was ready to forget himself, ay, to consume himself, because these men forgot God. The ungodly were David's enemies: his enemies because they hated him for his godliness; his enemies, because he abhorred them for their ungodliness. These men had gone so far in iniquity that they not only violated and neglected the com mands of God, but they appeared actually to have forgotten them. This put David into a great heat; he burned with indignation. How dare they trample on sacred things! How could they utterly ignore the commands of God himself 1 He was astonished, and filled with holy anger.

140. "Thy word is very pure." It is truth distilled, holiness in its quintessence. In the word of God there is no admixture of error or sin. It is pure in its sense, pure in its language, pure in its spirit, pure in its influence, and all this to the very highest degree — "very pure." "Therefore thy servant loveth it," which is a proof that he himself was pure in heart, for only those who are pure love God's word because of its purity. His heart was knit to the word because of its glorious holiness and truth. He admired it, delighted in it, sought to practise it, and longed to come under its purifying power.

141. "/ am small and despised: yet do not I forget thy precepts." That fault of forgetfulness which he condemned in others (verse 139) could not be charged upon himself. His enemies made no account of him, regarded him as a man without power or ability, and therefore looked down upon him. He appears to accept the situation and humbly take the lowest room, but he carries God's word with him. How many a man has been driven to do some ill action in order to reply to the contempt of his enemies: to make himself conspicuous he has either spoken or acted in a manner which he could not justify. The beauty of the Psalmist's piety was that it was calm and well-balanced, and as he was not carried away by flattery, so was he not overcome by shame. If small, he the more jealously attended to the smaller duties; and if despised, he was the more in earnest to keep the despised commandments of God.

142. "Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness." Having in a previous verse ascribed righteousness to God, he now goes on to declare that that righteousness is unchanging and endures fiom age to age. This is the joy and glory of the saints, that what God is he always will be, and his mode of procedure towards the sons of men is immutable: having kept his promise, and dealt out justice among his people, he will do so world without end. Both the righteousnesses and the un righteousnesses of man come to an end, but the righteousness of God is without end. "And thy law is the truth." As God is love, so his law is the truth, the very essence of truth, truth applied to ethics, truth in action, truth upon the judgmentseat. We hear great disputes about, " What is truth? " The holy Scriptures are the only answer to that question. Note, that they are not only true, but the truth itself. We may not say of them that they contain the truth, but that they are the truth: " thy law is the truth." There is nothing false about the law or preceptory part of Scripture. Those who are obedient thereto shall find that they are walking in a way consistent with fact, while those who act contrary thereto are walking in a vain show.

143. "Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me." This affliction may have arisen from his circumstances, or from the cruelty of his enemies, or from his own internal conflicts, but certain it is that he was the subject of much distress, a distress which apprehended him, and carried him away a captive to its power. His griefs, like fierce dogs, had taken hold upon him; he felt their teeth. He had double trouble: trouble without and anguish within, as the apostle Paul put it, " without were fightings and within were fears." " Yet thy commandments are my delights." Thus he became a riddle; troubled, and yet delighted; in anguish, and yet in pleasure. The child of God can understand this enigma, for well he knows that while he is cast down on account of what he sees within himself he is all the more lifted up by what he sees in the word. He is delighted with the commandments, although he is troubled because he cannot perfectly obey them. He finds abundant light in the commandments, and by the influence of that light he discovers and mourns over his own darkness. Only the man who is acquainted with the struggles of the spiritual life will understand the expression before us. Let the reader herein find a balance in which to weigh himself. Does he find even when he is begirt with sorrow that it is a delightful thing to do the will of the Lord? Does he find more joy in being sanctified than sorrow in being chastised? Then the spot of God's children is upon him.

144. "The righteousnesss of thy testimonies is everlasting." First he had said that God's testimonies were righteous, then that they were everlasting, and now that their righteousness is everlasting. Thus he gives us a larger and more detailed account of the word of God the longer he is engaged in writing upon it. The more we say in praise of holy writ, the more we may say and the more we can say. God's testimonies to man cannot be assailed, they are righteous from beginning to end; and though ungodly men have opposed the divine justice, especially in the plan of salvation, they have always failed to establish any charge against the Most High. Long as the earth shall stand long as there shall be a single intelligent creature in the universe it will be confessed that God's plans of mercy are in all respects marvellous proofs of his love of justice: even that he may be gracious Jehovah will not be unjust. "Give me understanding and I shall live." This is a prayer which he is constantly praying, that God would give him understanding. Here he evidently considers that such a gift is essential to his living. To live without understanding is not to live the life of a man, but to be dead while we live. Only as we know and apprehend the things of God can we be said to enter into life. The more the Lord teaches us to admire the eternal Tightness of his word, and the more he quickens us to the love of such Tightness, the happier and the better we shall be. As we love life, and seek many days that we may see good, it behoves us to seek immortality in the everlasting word which liveth and abideth for ever, and to seek good in that renewal of our entire nature which begins with the enlightenment of the understanding and passes on to the regeneration of the entire man. Here is our need of the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, and the guide of all the quickened ones, who shall lead us into all truth. 0 for the visitations of his grace at this good hour 1

S. Jerome, whom most of the medievalists follow, explains Tsaddi as meaning justice or righteousness, which, however, is PI*, tsedek. But he is so far right that there is a play in this strophe on the sound of the initial letter, as in the case of Gcmol; for the very first word, righteous, is P"is, tsaddik, and the whole scope of the strophe is the strong grasp which even the young and inexperienced soul can have of righteousness amidst the troubles of the world. — Neale and Littledale.

All these verses begin wth Tzaddi, the eighteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet; 137, 142, 144, with some form of the word which we render righteous, or righteous ness; each of the remainder with a wholly different word. — William S. Plumer.

Verse 137. — "Righteous art thou, 0 LORD," etc. Here David, sore troubled with grief for the wickedness of his enemies, yea, tempted greatly to impatience and distrust, by looking to their prosperous estate, notwithstanding their so gross impiety, doth now show unto us a three-fold ground of comfort, which in this dangerous temptation upheld him. The first is, a considerstion of that which God is in himself; namely, just and righteous: the second, a consideration of the equity of his word; the third, a view of his constant truth, declared in his working and doing according to his word. When we find ourselves tempted to distrust by looking to the prosperity of the wicked, let us look up to God, and consider his nature, his word, his works, and we shall find comfort.

"Righteous art thou." This is the first ground of comfort — a meditation of the righteousness of God's nature; he alters not with times, he changes not with persons, he is, alway and unto all, one and the same righteous and holy God. Righteousness is essential to him, it is himself; and he can no more defraud the godly of their promised comforts, nor let the wicked go unpunished in their sins, than he can deny himself to be God, which is impossible. — William Cowper.

Verse 137. — "Righteous art thou, O LORD," etc. Essentially, originally, and of himself; naturally, immutably and universally, in all his ways and works of nature and grace; in his thoughts, purposes, counsels, and decrees; in all the dispensations of his providence; in redemption, in the justification of a sinner, in the pardon of sin, and in the gift of eternal life through Christ. "And upright are thy judgments." They are according to the rules of justice and equity. He refers to the precepts of the word, the doctrines of the gospel, as well as the judgments of God inflicted on wicked men, and all the providential dealings of God with his people, and also the final judgment. — John Gill.

Verse 137. — "Righteous art thou, 0 LORD," etc. Here is much to keep the children of God in awe. The Lord is a righteous God: though they have found mercy and taken sanctuary in his grace, the Lord is impartial in his justice. God that did not spare the angels when they sinned, nor his Son when he was a sinner by imputation, will not spare you, though you are the dearly beloved of his soul: Prov. xi. 31. The sinful courses of God's children occasion bitterness enough; they never venture upon sin, but with great loss. If Paul give way to a little pride, God will humble him. If any give way to sin, their pilgrimage will be made uncomfortable. Eli falls into negligence and indulgence, then is the ark of God taken, his two sons are slain in battle, his daughter-in-law dies, he himself breaks his neck. Oh! the wonderful tragedies that sin works in the houses of the children of God 1 David, when he intermeddled with forbidden fruit, was driven from his palace, his concubines defiled, his own son slain; a great many calamities did light upon him. Therefore the children of God have cause to fear; for the Lord is a just God, and they will find it so. Here upon earth he hath reserved liberty to visit their iniquity with rods, and their transgression with scourges. I must press you to imitate God's righteousness: " If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him ": 1 John ii. 29. You have a righteous God; and this part of his character you should copy out. — Thomas Alanton.

Verse 137. — David's great care, when he was under the afflicting hand of God, was to clear the Lord of injustice. Oh! Lord, saith he, there is not the least show, spot, stain, blemish, or mixture of injustice, in all the afflictions thou hast brought upon me. I desire to take shame to myself, and to set to my seal, that the Lord is righteous, and that there is no injustice, no cruelty, nor no extremity in all that the Lord hath brought upon me. He sweetly and readily subscribes unto the righteousness of God in those sharp and smart afflictions that God exercised him with. "Righteous art thou, 0 LORD, and upright are thy judgments." God's judg ments are always just; he never afflicts but in faithfulness. His will is the rule of justice; and therefore a gracious soul dares not cavil nor question his proceedings. — Thomas Brooks.

Verse 137. — The hundred and thirty-seventh verse, like the twenty-fifth, is associated with the sorrows of an Imperial penitent.* When the deposed and captive Emperor Maurice was led out for execution by the usurper Phocas, his five sons were previously murdered one by one in his presence; and at each fatal blow he patiently exclaimed, "Righteous art thou, 0 Lord, and upright are thy judgments." — Neale and Littledale.

Verse 138. — "Thy testimonies that thou hast commanded are righteous and very faithful." The force of this expression is much feebler than that of the original, which literally may be rendered, " Thou hast commanded righteousness, thy testimonies, and truth exceedingly." So the Septuagint hath it. Righteousness and truth were his testimonies; the testimonies were one with his righteousness and truth. The English translation gives the quality of the testimonies; the Hebrew gives that which is commanded; as if we might say, Thou hast enjoined righteousness to be thy testimonies, and truth exceedingly. — John Stephen.

Verse 138. — "Thy testimonies." The word of God is called his testimony, both because it testifies his will, which he will have us to do; as also because it testifies unto men truly what shall become of them, whether good or evil. Men by nature are curious to know their end, rather than careful to mend their life; and for this cause seek answers where they never get good: but if they would know, let me go to the word and testimony; they need not to seek any other oracle. If the word of God testify good things unto them, they have cause to rejoice; if otherwise it witnesseth evil unto them, let them haste to prevent it, or else it will assuredly overtake them. — William Cowper.

Verse 138. — "Righteous and very faithful." Literally, " faithfulness exceed ingly." Harsh and severe as they may seem, they are all thoroughly for man's highest good. — William Kay.

Verse 139. — "My zeal hath consumed me." "Zeal " is a high degree of love; and when the object of that love is ill treated, it venteth itself in a mixture of grief and indignation which are sufficient to wear and " consume " the heart. This will be the case where men rightly conceive of that dishonour which is continually done to God by creatures whom he hath made and redeemed. But never could the verse be uttered with such fulness of truth and propriety by any one as by the Son of God, who had such a sense of his Father's glory, and of man's sin, as no person else ever had. And, accordingly, when his zeal had exerted itself in purging the temple, St. John tells us, " his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up." The place where it is so written is Psalm Ixix. 9, and the passage is exactly parallel to this before us. — George Home.

Verse 139. — "My zeal hath consumed me," etc. Zeal is the heat or intension of the affections; it is a holy warmth, whereby our love and anger are drawn out to the utmost for God, and his glory. Now, our love to God and his ways, and our hatred of wickedness, should be increased, because of ungodly men. Cloudy and dark colours in a table, make those that are fresh and lively to appear more beautiful; others' sin should make God and godliness more amiable in thine eyes. Thy heart should take fire by striking on such cold flints. David by a holy antiperistasis did kindle from others' coldness: "My zeal hath consumed me, because mine enemies have forgotten thy words." Cold blasts make a fire to flame the higher, and burn the hotter. — George Swinnock.