Explanatory Notes and Quaint Sayings

**Ver. 108. The freewill offerings of the mouth,**may be the offerings which the mouth had promised and vowed. And who can lay claim to these as the Lord? His are all things. John Stephen.

Ver. 108. The freewill offerings of my mouth. This place makes known that species of sacrifices, which neither tribulations nor poverty of means can hinder, and which does not require an external temple, but in desert places and among heathen may be offered by a godly man. And these sacrifices of the mouth God himself makes more of than if all the flocks of the whole earth had been offered to him, and all the treasures of gold, and of silver, and of precious stones. Wolfgang Musculus.

Ver. 108. Freewill offerings. This expression is often used in the law (Leviticus 22:18 Numbers 29:39 1Ch 31:14 Amos 1:4-5). What are these freewill offerings? They are distinguished from God’s stated worship, and distinguished from that service which fell under a vow. Besides the stated peace offerings, there were certain sacrifices performed upon certain occasions, to testify God’s general goodness, and upon receipt of some special mercy; and you will find these sacrifices to be expressly distinguished from such services as men bound themselves to by vow (Leviticus 7:16)… These serve to teach us two things.

First. They are to teach us how ready we should be to take all occasions of thankfulness and spiritual worship; for, besides their vowed services and instituted sacrifices, they had their freewill offerings, offered to God in thankfulness for some special blessing received, or for deliverance from danger.

Secondly. It shows with what voluntariness and cheerfulness we should go about God’s worship in the Gospel, and what a free disposition of heart there should be, and edge upon our affections, in all things that we offer to God; in this latter sense our offerings to God prayer and praise should be freewill offerings, come from us not like water out of a still forced by the fire, but like water out of a fountain with native freeness, readily and freely. Thomas Manton.

Ver. 108. Offerings. All God’s people are made priests unto God; for every offering supposes a priest: so it is said, that Christ Jesus hath made us kings and priests (Revelation 1:6). All Christians have a communion with Christ in all his offices, whatever Christ was, that certainly they are in some measure and degree. Thomas Manton.

Ver. 108. Accept…the freewill offerings of my mouth, O Lord. It is a great grace that the Lord should accept anything from us, if we consider these three things: First, who the Lord is; next, what we are; thirdly, what it is we have to give unto him.

As for the Lord, he is all sufficient, and stands in need of nothing we can give him. Our goodness extends not to the Lord

As for us, we are poor creatures, living by his liberality; yea, begging from all the rest of his creatures; from the sun and moon; from the air, the water, and the earth; from fowls and fishes; yea, from the worms: some give us light, some meat, some clothes; and are such beggars as we meet to give to a king?

And, thirdly, if we well consider, What is it that we give? Have we anything to give but that which we have received from him? and whereof we may say with David, “O Lord, all things are of thee, and of thine own have we given thee again” (1 Chronicles 29:14). Let this humble us, and restrain us from that vain conceit of meriting at God’s hand.

David at this time, in his great necessity, having no other sacrifice to offer unto the Lord, offers him the calves of his lips; but no doubt, when he might, he offered more.

There is nothing so small, but if it come from a good heart, God will accept it: the widow’s mite, a cup of cold water; yea, and the praise of our lips, although it has no other external oblation joined with it: but where men may do more, and will not, it is an argument that their heart is not sincerely affected toward him, and their praises are not welcome to him. William Cowper.

Ver. 108. Accept…the freewill offerings of my mouth, O Lord, and teach me thy judgments. Two things we are here taught to pray for in reference to our religious performances.

1. Acceptance of them: this we must aim at in all we do in religion, that whether present or absent we may be accepted of the Lord. That which David here earnestly prays for the acceptance of is “the freewill offerings, “not of his purse, but of his “mouth, “his prayers and praises; “the calves of our lips” (Hosea 14:2); “the fruit of our lips” (Hebrews 13:15); these are the spiritual offerings which all Christians, as spiritual priests, must offer to God; and they must be “freewill offerings; “for we must offer them abundantly and cheerfully; and it is this willing mind that is accepted. The more there is of freeness and willingness in the service of God, the more pleasing it is to him.

2. Assistance in them: “Teach me thy judgments.” We cannot offer any thing to God which we have reason to think he will accept of, but what he is pleased to instruct us in the doing of; and we must be as earnest for the grace of God in us as for the favour of God toward us. Matthew Henry.

Ver. 108. Teach me thy judgments. As if the man of God should say, This is one thing whereunto I will give over myself, even to see how thou dost punish the wicked, and conduct thy children. So that we must learn, that as it is necessary to understand the law and the gospel, so is it requisite to discern God’s judgments. For as we cannot learn the one without observing God’s mercy; so we cannot attain to the other without marking his vengeance. We must see always by the peculiar teaching of God’s Spirit, how the Lord punishes in justice, and yet in mercy; in wrath, and yet in love; in rigour and hatred of our sin, humbling us with one hand; in pity and compassion to our salvation, comforting us with the other hand. We see then how the prophet prayeth, both to see them and to mark them: we need teach this often, because we dream so much of fatal necessity, and of the connections of natural causes, or else because we call not discern between the crosses of the godly and the ungodly. This is then a singular gift of God, to discern how by the self same means the Lord both humbleth the good and overthroweth the wicked. Richard Greenham.

Hints to Preachers

Ver. 108. Consider,

1. The instructive title given to prayer and praise: “The free will offerings of my mouth.”

(a) It shows the believer to be a priest: “offerings.”

(b) It shows the peculiarity of his service: “free will.”

(c) It implies wholehearted consecration.

2. The humility portrayed in the prayer: “Accept, I beseech thee.”

(a) Here is no pharisaic boasting.

(b) Even the free will offering is felt to need an “I

beseech thee.”

3. The longing desire for further instruction in order to a more perfect obedience: “Teach me thy judgments.” J.P.

Ver. 108. Free will seeking free grace. W.D.

Ver. 108. Work for “Free willers”.

1. Offerings of Prayer for each of the blessings of salvation.

2. Offerings of Repudiation of all claim to unassisted good.

3. Offerings of Praise for sovereign grace. W.B.H.

Psalm 119:109

Exposition

Ver. 109. My soul is continually in my hand. He lived in the midst of danger. He had to be always fighting for existence hiding in caves, or contending in battles. This is a very uncomfortable and trying state of affairs, and men are apt to think any expedient justifiable by which they can end such a condition: but David did not turn aside to find safety in am, for he says,

Yet do I not forget thy law. They say that all things are fair in love and war; but the holy man thought not so: while he carried his life in his hand, he also carried the law in his heart. No danger of body should make us endanger our souls by forgetting that which is right. Trouble makes many a man forget his duty, and it would have had the same effect upon the Psalmist if he had not obtained quickening (Psalms 119:107) and teaching (Psalms 119:108). In his memory of the Lord’s law lay his safety; he was certain not to be forgotten of God, for God was not forgotten of him. It is a special proof of grace when nothing can drive truth out of our thoughts, or holiness out of our lives. If we remember the law even when death stares us in the face, we may be well assured that the Lord is remembering us.

Explanatory Notes and Quaint Sayings

Ver. 109. My soul is continually in my hand. He had his soul in his hand, ready to give whenever God should take it. And this is to be observed, that there is no trouble so ready to take away the life of God’s children, as they are ready to give it. As Elijah came out to the mouth of his cave to meet with the Lord; and Abraham in the door of his tent to speak to the angel; so the soul of the godly stands ready in the door of the tabernacle of this body to remove when the Lord shall command it; whereas the soul of the wicked lies back, hiding itself, as Adam among the bushes, and is taken out of the body perforce; as was the soul of that worldling; “This night thy soul shall be required of thee; “but they never sacrifice their souls willingly to the Lord. William Cowper.

Ver. 109. My soul is continually it, my hand. If any one carry in the hand a fragile vessel, made of glass or any other similar material, filled with a precious liquor, especially if the hand be weak, or if from other causes dangers be threatening, he will scarcely be able to avoid the breaking of the vessel and the running out of the liquor. Such is the condition of my life, which I, set upon by various enemies, carry as it were in my hand; which, therefore, is exposed to such great danger, as that I always have death present before my sight, my life hanging on the slenderest thread. Andreas Rivetus, 1572-1651.

Ver. 109. My soul is continually in my hand. The believer is always in the very jaws of death. He lives with wings outstretched to fly away. Paul testified, “I die daily.” In the extremity of persecution, the fervent desire was to know what God would have him to do. Henry Law.

Ver. 109. My soul is continually in my hand. I make no more of life than a child doth of his bird which he carrieth in the palm of his hand held open. John Trapp.

**Ver. 109. My soul is continually in my hand,**etc. Why doth David say, “My soul is in mine hand”; had he called it out of the hand of God, and taken the care of it upon himself? Nothing less. His meaning is only this, I walk in the midst of dangers and among a thousand deaths continually; I am in deaths often, my life is exposed to perils every day, yet do I not forget thy law: I keep close to thee, and will keep close to thee whatsoever comes of it. Augustine upon that place doth ingeniously confess that he understood not what David meant, by having his soul in his hands; but Jerome, another of the ancients, teacheth us, that it is an Hebraism, signifying a state of most extreme peril. The Greeks also have drawn it into a proverb speaking the same thing.

But why doth the holding or putting the life in the hand signify the exposing of the life to peril? There is a twofold reason of it.

First. Because those things which are carried openly in the hand are apt to fall out of the hand, and being carried in sight, they are apt to be snatched or wrested out of the hand. And, therefore, though to be in the hand of God signifies safety, because his hand is armed with irresistible power to protect us; yet for a man to carry a thing in his own hand is to carry it in danger, because his hand is weak, and there are safer ways of carrying or conveying a thing than openly in the hand. If a man be to ride a long journey with any treasure about him, he doth not carry it in his hand, but puts it in some secret and close place where it may be hidden, and so be more secure. The Chaldee paraphrast, to express the elegancy of that place forecited out of the Psalm, gives it thus, “My life is in as much danger as if it stood upon the very superficies or outside of my hand, “as if he had no hold of it, but it stood barely upon his hand; for that which is set upon the palm of the hand, and not grasped, is in greater danger. Things safe kept are hidden or held fast.

Secondly. There is another reason of that speech, because when a man is about to deliver a thing or to give it up, he takes it in his hand. They that put themselves upon great perils and dangers for God and his people, deliver up their lives and their all to God. Hence that counsel of the Apostle (1 Peter 4:19): “Let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.” So here, the life of men in danger is said to be put in the hand, because such are, as it were, ready to deliver and commit their lives unto God, that he would take care of their lives to preserve them from the danger, or to take them to himself if they lose them in his service. Joseph Caryl.

Hints to Preachers

Ver. 109. The soul’s life in jeopardy. The life of the soul secured.

Ver. 109-110. Here is,

1. David in danger of losing his life. There is but a step between him and death; for “the wicked have laid a snare” for him. Wherever he was he found some design or other laid against him; which made him say, “My soul is continually in my hand.” It was not so only as a man it is true of us all that we are exposed to the strokes of death but as a man of war, and especially as “a man after God’s own heart.”

2. David in no danger of losing his religion through this peril; for,

(a) He “doth not forget the law, “and therefore is likely

to persevere.

(b) He hath not yet erred from God’s precepts, and

therefore it is to be hoped he will not. M. Henry.

Psalm 119:110

Exposition

Ver. 110. The wicked have laid a snare for me. Spiritual life is the scene of constant danger: the believer lives with his life in his hand, and meanwhile all seem plotting to take it from him, by cunning if they cannot by violence. We shall not find it an easy thing to live the life of the faithful. Wicked spirits and wicked men will leave no stone unturned for our destruction. If all other devices fail, and even hidden pits do not succeed, the wicked still persevere in their treacherous endeavours, and, becoming craftier still, they set snares for the victim of their hate. The smaller species of game are usually taken by this method, by gin, or trap, or net, or noose. Wicked men are quite indifferent as to the manner in which they can destroy the good man they think no more of him than if he were a rabbit or a rat: cunning and treachery are always the allies of malice, and everything like a generous or chivalrous feeling is unknown among the graceless, who treat the godly as if they were vermin to be exterminated. When a man knows that he is thus assailed, he is too apt to become timorous, and rush upon some hasty device for deliverance, not without sin in the endeavour; but David calmly kept his way, and was able to write,

Yet I erred not from thy precepts. He was not snared, for he kept his eyes open, and kept near his God. He was not entrapped and robbed, for he followed the King’s highway of holiness, where God secures safety to every traveller. He did not err from the right, and he was not deterred from following it, because he referred to the Lord for guidance, and obtained it. If we err from the precepts, we part with the promises; if we get away from God’s presence, we wander into the wilds where the fowlers freely spread their nets. From this verse let us learn to be on our guard, for we, too, have enemies both crafty and wicked. Hunters set their traps in the animals usual runs, and our worst snares are laid in our own ways. By keeping to the ways of the Lord we shall escape the snares of our adversaries, for his ways are safe and free from treachery.

Explanatory Notes and Quaint Sayings

Ver. 110. The wicked. He calls them wicked men; which imports three things. First, they work wickedness. Secondly, they love it. Thirdly, they persevere in it. William Cowper.

Ver. 110. A snare. One manner of catching wild animals, such as lions, bears, jackals, foxes, hart, roebuck, and fallow deer, was by a trap (paeh), which is the word used in this place; this was set under ground (Job 18:10), in the run of the animal (Proverbs 22:5), and caught it by the leg (Job 18:9). William Latham Bevan, in Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible,

Ver. 110. The wicked have laid a snare for me. In eating, he sets before us gluttony; in love he impels to lust; in labour, sluggishness; in conversing, envy; in governing, covetousness; in correcting, anger; in honour, pride; in the heart, he sets evil thoughts; in the mouth evil words; in actions, evil works; when awake, he moves us to evil actions; when asleep, to filthy dreams. Girolamo Savonarola, 1452-1498.

**Ver. 110. Laid a snare for me: yet I erred not,**etc. It is not the laying the bait hurts the fish, if the fish do not bite. Thomas Watson.

Hints to Preachers

Ver. 110. Various kinds of snares, and the one way of escaping them.

Ver. 110. Consider,

1. Some of the snares set for saints by sinners.

(a) Doctrinal snares, by intellectual sinners.

(b) False accusations, by malignant sinners.

(c) False flatteries, by deceitful sinners.

(d) False charity, by a large number of sinners nowadays.

2. The secure safeguard for a saint’s safety: “I erred not from thy precepts.” Obedience to God gives security, because

(a) The snares are then suspected and watched against.

(b) The feet cannot become entangled by them.

(c) God keeps him who keeps his word. J.F.

Psalm 119:111

Exposition

Ver. 111. Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever. He chose them as his lot, his portion, his estate; and what is more, he laid hold upon them and made them so, taking them into possession and enjoyment. David’s choice is our choice. If we might have our desire, we would desire to keep the commands of God perfectly. To know the doctrine, to enjoy the promise, to practise the command, be this a kingdom large enough for me. Here we have an inheritance which cannot fade and cannot be alienated; it is for ever, and ours for ever, if we have so taken it. Sometimes, like Israel at the first coming into Canaan, we have to take our heritage by hard fighting, and, if so, it is worthy of all our labour and suffering; but always it has to be taken by a decided choice of the heart and grip of the will. What God gives we must take.

For they are the rejoicing of my heart. The gladness which had come to him through the word of the Lord had caused him to make an unalterable choice of it. All the parts of Scripture had been pleasing to David, and were so still and therefore he stuck to them, and meant to stick to them for ever. That which rejoices the heart is sure to be chosen and treasured. It is not the head knowledge but the heart experience which brings the joy.

In this verse, which is the seventh of its octave, we have reached the same sweetness as in the last seventh (Psalms 119:103): indeed, in several of the adjoining sevenths, delight is evident. How good a thing it is when experience ripens into joy, passing up through sorrow, prayer, conflict, hope, decision, and holy content into rejoicing! Joy fixes the spirit: when once a man’s heart rejoices in the divine word, he greatly values it, and is for ever united to it.

Explanatory Notes and Quaint Sayings

**Ver. 111. Thy testimonies have I taken,**etc. The Scripture is called “testimonies” in respect to God himself, because it doth give a testimony to him, and makes God known to us: it gives a testimony of all those attributes that are himself, of his wisdom, of his power, of his justice, of his goodness, of his truth. The declaration of these, we have them all in the various books of the Scriptures: there is never a book, but there is a testification of these attributes. In the book of Genesis we have a testimony of his power in making the world, of his justice in drowning the world, and of his goodness in saving Noah. In the book of Exodus, we have a testimony of his providence in leading the people of Israel through the Red Sea, in bringing them out of Egypt; we have a testimony of his wisdom in giving them his law. What should I name more? In the New Testament, in the Gospel, all is testimony. As the Old gave testimony to God, so the New to Christ: “To him gave all the prophets witness”; not only the Old, but the New: “These are they that testify of me.” Everywhere there is testimony of Christ, of his humility, in taking our nature; of his power, in working miracles; of his wisdom, in the parables that he spoke; of his patience and love, in the torments that he suffered for us. Both Law and Gospel the whole book of Scripture, and every part of it in these regards is fitly called “the testimonies of the Lord.” And the holy Psalmist made choice of this name when he was to speak to the honour and glory of it; because it was that name from which he sucked a great deal of comfort, because it was the testimony of God’s truth and goodness and wisdom and power to him; thereupon he makes so precious esteem of it as to account it his “heritage.” Richard Holdsworth (1590-1649), in “The Valley of Vision.”

Ver. 111. Thy testimonies. By “testimonies” is meant the covenant between God and his people; wherein he bindeth himself to them, and them to him. Some think that the excellency of the word is here set out by many names; but we must look to the propriety of every word: as before by “judgments, “so by this word “testimonies, “is meant the covenant: not the commandments, because they cannot be an inheritance, for they cannot comfort us, because we cannot fulfil them, but fail in them, and cannot therefore take comfort in them. It is the gospel that bringeth peace and comfort. “The law, “when it is taken generally, containeth all the word, particularly the commandments; so “the word” generally containeth both law and gospel, but particularly the promises, as Romans 10:0. So likewise by the “testimonies, “when they are opposed to the law, is meant the promises of the covenant, as Isaiah 8:0, and this testimony is confirmed to us by the sacraments, as to them by sacrifices. Richard Greenham.

Ver. 111. As an heritage. Why the divine testimonies should be called by the Psalmist an inheritance; why he brings them within the compass of this notion, may not So easily be understood; for the word of God points out the inheritance, but it is not the inheritance itself. Yes, there is good reason to be given for the expression, were there no more than this, that we consider the inestimable comfort, and heavenly treasure that is to be found in the word of God; it is a rich mine of all celestial treasure, it is a storehouse of all good things, of all saving knowledge. All privileges whatsoever they are that we can expect on earth or heaven, they are all contained in the word of God: here is ground enough why it is called an inheritance; he hath a good heritage that hath all these.

Yet there is a better reason than this; for if it be so that heaven is our inheritance, then the word of God is; because it is the word that points out heaven, that gives the assurance of heaven: we have in the word of God all the evidences of heaven. Whatsoever title any saint hath to heaven, he hath it in and out of the word of God. There are the evidences in the word of God; both the evidence of discovery, it is the holy terrier of the celestial Canaan, and the evidence of assurance, it is as a sacred bond or indenture between God and his creature. St. Gregory said wittily, when he called it God’s epistle that he sent to man for the declaration of his will and pleasure, he might as well have called it God’s deed of gift, whereby he makes over and conveys to us all those hopes that we look for in heaven. Whatsoever interest we have in God, in Christ, whatsoever hope of bliss and glory, whatsoever comfort of the Spirit, whatsoever proportion of grace, all are made over to us in the promises of the gospel, in the word of God.

Now put this together, look as in human affairs, evidences, though they be not properly the inheritance itself, yet they are called the inheritance, and are the inheritance, though not actually, yet virtually so; because all the title we have to an inheritance is in the deeds and evidences; therefore evidences are precious things. Though it be but a piece of paper, or parchment full of dust and worm eaten, yet it is as much worth sometimes as a county, as much worth as all a man’s possessions besides. So likewise it is with the Scriptures; they are not actually and properly the inheritance itself, but they are via, the way to the kingdom. It is called the gospel of the kingdom, nay more, the kingdom itself: “The kingdom of God is come among you, “or “to you”. Why the kingdom? Why the inheritance? By the same reason, both, because here we have the conveyance, here we have the deed, here we have the assurance of whatsoever title or claim we make to heaven. Richard Holdsworth.

Ver. 111. They are the rejoicing of my heart. He saith not that God’s testimonies bring joy, but that they are joy; there is no other joy but the delight in the law of the Lord. For all other joy, the wise king said of laughter, “thou art mad, “and of joy, “what is it that thou dost?” Ecclesiastes 6:0. True joy is the earnest which we have of heaven, it is the treasure of the soul, and therefore should be laid up in a safe place; and nothing in this world is safe to place it in. And therefore with the spouse we say, “We will be glad in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine.” Let others seek their joy in wine, in society, in conversation, in music; for me, thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased. These indeed are the precious fruits of the earth, but they seal not up special favour; a man may have together with them, an empty, husky, and chaffy soul. And therefore these are not the joys of the saints; they must have God, or else they die for sorrow; his law is their life. Abraham Wright.

Hints to Preachers

Ver. 111.

1. Estate.

2. Entering upon it.

3. Entail upon it.

4. Enjoyment of it.

Ver. 111. Notice,

1. How rich the Psalmist was determined to be: “Thy testimonies have I taken as a heritage.” Rich,

(a) In knowledge.

(b) In holiness.

(c) In comfort.

(d) In companionship, for God’s company goes with his word.

(e) In hope.

2. How he clung to his wealth: “For ever.”

(a) He hurt none by so doing; he could give generously his

portion, and yet not waste.

(b) He was right; for he had the only wealth of which an

everlasting possession is possible.

(c) He was wise.

3. How he rejoiced in his wealth: “They are the rejoicing of my heart.”

(a) Here is internal and deep joy; not always possible to

the possession of wealth.

(b) Pure, unalloyed joy; it is never so with other wealth.

(c) Safe joy; other joy is dangerous.

(d) Unloseable joy. J.F.

Psalm 119:112

Exposition

Ver. 112. I have inclined mine heart to perform thy statutes alway, even unto the end. He was not half inclined to virtue, but heartily inclined to it. His whole heart was bent on practical, persevering godliness. He was resolved to keep the statutes of the Lord with all his heart, throughout all his time, without erring or ending. He made it his end to keep the law unto the end, and that without end. He had by prayer, and meditation, and resolution made his whole being lean towards God’s commands; or as we should say in other words the grace of God had inclined him to incline his heart in a sanctified direction. Many are inclined to preach, but the Psalmist was inclined to practise; many are inclined to perform ceremonies, but he was inclined to perform statutes; many are inclined to obey occasionally, but David would obey alway; and, alas, many are inclined for temporary religion, but this godly man was bound for eternity, he would perform the statutes of his Lord and King even unto the end. Lord, send us such a heavenly inclination of heart as this: then shall we show chat thou hast quickened and taught us. To this end create in us a clean heart, and daily renew a right spirit within us, for only so shall we incline in the right direction.

Explanatory Notes and Quaint Sayings

Ver. 112. I have inclined my heart to perform thy statutes **alway,**etc. In the former verse he showed his faith, and his joy which came thereof; now he showeth that here in this joy he will keep the commandments; whereby he showeth that this was a true joy, because it wrought a care to do good. For if we believe the promises truly, then we also love the commandments, otherwise faith is vain; a care to live a godly life nourisheth faith in God’s promises. Here is the cause then why many regard not the word and sacraments; or if they do a little, it is to no purpose, because they labour not to keep the commandments. For unless they have care to do this, the word of God to them cannot be profitable, nor the sacraments sacred. Richard Greenham.

**Ver. 112. I have inclined my heart to perform,**etc. Observe. In Psalms 119:36 he prayed to God, saying, “Incline my heart unto thy testimonies.” And here he speaks about himself, saying, “I have inclined mine heart to perform thy statutes alway even unto the end.” What need, then, was there to ask from God that which he in another place glories to have done himself? I answer: These things are not contrary the one to the other. God inclines, and the godly man inclines. Man inclines by striving; God inclines by effecting. Neither is that which the man attempts, nor that which he by striving achieves goodwards, from the man, but from God, who gives, “both to will and to do of His good pleasure:” Philippians 2:13. Wolfgang Musculus.

Ver. 112. The sinful heart of itself will run any way; upon earthly things, upon evil things, or upon impertinent and unseasonable things; but it will not come to or keep upon that which it should mind; therefore it must be taken as by strong hand, and set upon spiritual things, set on musing and meditation of heavenly things. A carnal heart is like the loadstone, it cleaves to nothing but steel or iron, and both of them easily unite: but the heart must be of another property, and act in a higher way. And a good heart, though it thinks too much earthward, and runs often wrong, yet it will set itself in its thinking on right objects, and make itself and them to meet and unite. David tells us how he did; he inclined his heart to God’s commandments, both to keep them and to meditate on them. He took and bent his heart, as a thing bending too much to other things; set his mind on musing on it. He found his heart and the law of God too far asunder, and so would continue, unless he brought them together and made them one. If he had not brought his heart to the word, he had never meditated: the object cannot apply itself to the mind, but the mind must bring itself to the object. No holy duties will come to us, we must come to them. Nathanael Ranew, in “Solitude Improved by Divine Meditation, ” 1670.

**Ver. 112. I have inclined mine heart to perform,**etc. In this work he was determined to continue.

1. “I have inclined my heart.” The counsel of the soul is like a balance; and the mind, which hath the commanding power over the affections, inclines the balance to that which it judges best.

2. It was to perform it that he thus inclined his heart.

3. And this not for a time, or some particular occasion, but always, and unto the end. Then the end of life would be the beginning of glory. Adam Clarke.

Ver. 112. I have inclined my heart. The prophet, in order briefly to define what it is to serve God, asserts that he applied not only his hands, eyes, or feet, to the keeping of the law, but that he began with the affection of the heart. John Calvin.

Ver. 112. Unto the end. Our life on earth is a race; in vain begins he to run swiftly, that fainteth, and gives over before he come to the end. And this was signified (saith Gregory) when in the law the tail of the beast was sacrificed with the rest: perseverance crowneth all. It is good we have begun to do well; let us also strive to persevere to the end. William Cowper.

Explanatory Notes and Quaint Sayings

Ver. 112-113. When David had an inclination in his heart to God’s statutes, the immediate effect of it was to “hate vain thoughts.” We read, “I have inclined mine heart to perform thy statutes”; and it follows, “I hate vain thoughts.” The vanity of his heart was a burden to him. A new creature is as careful against wickedness in the head or heart, as in the life. A godly man would be purer in the sight of God than in the view of man. He knows none but God can see the wanderings of his heart or the thoughts of his head, yet he is as careful that sins should not rise up as that they should not break out. Stephen Charnock.

Hints to Preachers

Ver. 112. Heart leanings. Personality, pressure, inclination, performance, constancy, perpetuity.

Verse 112. The godly man’s obedience.

1. Its reality

(a) “To perform”; not words or feelings merely; but deeds.

(b) “Thy statutes”; not human inventions, nor self

conceits, nor conventional maxims.

2. Its cordiality: “inclined my heart.”

(a) Heart inclination is requisite for pleasing a

heart searching God.

(b) And to make obedience easy and even delightful.

(c) “I have, “he says; was it therefore his doing? Yes. Was

it his work alone No. See Psalms 119:36.

(d) The proofs. (1) Universality: “statutes, “the whole of

them. (2) Uniformity: “alway.”

3. Its constancy: “even unto the end.”

(a) Though a man should be cautious when planning for the

future, yet this life long purpose is right, wise, and

safe.

(b) Nor can he purpose less, if holy fervency fill the

heart.

(c) It is no more than what God and consistency demand. J.F.

Psalm 119:113

Exposition

Ver. 113. I hate vain thoughts: but thy law do I love. In this paragraph the Psalmist deals with thoughts and things and persons which are the opposite of God’s holy thoughts and ways. He is evidently in great fear of the powers of darkness, and of their allies, and his whole soul is stirred up to stand against them with a determined opposition. Just as he began the octave, Psalms 119:97, with “O how I love thy law, “so here he begins with a declaration of hatred against that which breaks the law. The opposite of the fixed and infallible law of God is the wavering, changing opinion of men: David had an utter contempt and abhorrence for this; all his reverence and regard went to the sure word of testimony. In proportion to his love to the law was his hate of man’s inventions. The thoughts of men are vanity; but the thoughts of God are verity. We hear much in these days of “men of thought, ""thoughtful preachers, “and “modern thought”: what is this but the old pride of the human heart? Vain man would be wise. The Psalmist did not glory in his thoughts; and that which was called “thought” in his day was a thing which he detested. When man thinks his best his highest thoughts are as far below those of divine revelation as the earth is beneath the heavens. Some of our thoughts are specially vain in the sense of vain glory, pride, conceit, and self trust; others in the sense of bringing disappointment, such as fond ambition, sinful dreaming, and confidence in man; others in the sense of emptiness and frivolity, such as the idle thoughts and vacant romancing in which so many indulge; and, yet once more, too many of our thoughts are vain in the sense of being sinful, evil, and foolish. The Psalmist is not indifferent to evil thoughts as the careless are; but upon them he looks with a hate as true as was the love with which he clung to the pure thoughts of God.

The last octave was practical, this is thoughtful; there the man of God attended to his feet, and here to his heart: the emotions of the soul are as important as the acts of the life, for they are the fountain and spring from which the actions proceed. When we love the law it becomes a law of love, and we cling to it with our whole heart.

Explanatory Notes and Quaint Sayings

Ver. 113. I hate vain thoughts or, the evil devices; or, the double hearted imaginations; or, the intermeddling, counter coursing thoughts: that is to say, that kind of practice of some men, that sail with every wind, and seek still to have two strings to their bow. The Hebrew word doth properly signify boughs Or branches, which shoot up perplexedly or confusedly in a tree. *Theodore Haak,*1618-1657.

Ver. 113. I hate vain thoughts. In those vacant hours which are spared from business, pleasure, company, and sleep, and which are spent in solitude, at home or abroad; unprofitable, proud, covetous, sensual, envious, or malicious imaginations, occupy the minds of ungodly men, and often infect their very dreams. These are not only sinful in themselves, indicating the state of their hearts, and as such will be brought into the account at the day of judgment; but they excite the dormant corruptions, and lead to more open and gross violations of the holy law. The carnal mind welcomes and delights to dwell upon these congenial imaginations, and to solace itself by ideal indulgences, when opportunity of other gratification is not presented, or when a man dares not commit the actual transgression. But the spiritual mind recoils at them; such thoughts will intrude from time to time, but they are unwelcome and distressing, and are immediately thrust out; while other subjects, from the word of God, are stored up in readiness to occupy the mind more profitably and pleasantly during the hours of leisure and retirement. There is no better test of our true character, than the habitual effect of “vain thoughts” upon our minds whether we love and indulge them, or abhor, and watch and pray against them. *Thomas Scott,*1747-1821.

**Ver. 113. I hate vain thoughts,**A godly man may have roving thoughts in duty. Sad experience proves this; the thoughts will be dancing up and down in prayer. The saints are called stars; but many times in duty they are wandering stars. The heart is like quicksilver which will not fix. It is hard to tie two good thoughts together; we cannot lock our hearts so close, but that distracting thoughts, like wind, will get in. Hierom complains of himself; “Sometimes, “saith he, “when I am about God’s service, I am walking in the galleries, or casting up accounts.” But these wandering thoughts are not allowed: “I hate vain thoughts, “they come as unwelcome guests, which are no sooner spied, but turned out of doors. Thomas Watson.

Ver. 113. I hate. Every dislike of evil is not sufficient; but perfect hatred is required of us against all sorts and degrees of sin. David Dickson.

Ver. 113. Vain thoughts. The word is used for the opinions of men; and may be applied to all heterodox opinions, human doctrines, damnable heresies; such as are inconsistent with the perfections of God, derogate from his grace, and from the son and offices of Christ; and are contrary to the word, and which are therefore rejected and abhorred by good men. John Gill.

Ver. 113. Vain thoughts. Hebrew, “sedphim”, halting between two opinions. See 1 Kings 18:21. Hence it signifies sceptical doubts. Christopher Wordsworth.

Ver. 113. Vain thoughts. Our thoughts are set upon trifles and frivolous things, neither tending to our own profit nor the benefit of others: “The heart of the wicked is little worth; “all their debates, conceits, musings, are of no value: for all their thoughts are taken up about childish vanity and foolish conceits. “The thought of foolishness is sin” (Proverbs 24:9); not only the thought of wickedness, but foolishness. Thoughts are the firstborn of the soul, the immediate issues of the mind; yet we lavish them away upon every trifle. Follow men all the day long, and take account of their thoughts. Oh! what madness and folly are in all the musings they are conscious of: “The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity” (Psalms 94:11). If we did judge as God judges, all the thoughts, reasonings, discourses of the mind, if they were set down in a table, we might write at the bottom, Here is the sum and total account of all, nothing but vanity.

The sins that do most usually engross and take up our thoughts are,

First. Uncleanness. Speculative wickedness makes way for active: “Hath committed adultery…in his heart” (Matthew 5:28). There is a polluting ourselves by our thoughts, and this sin usually works that way.

Secondly. Revenge. Liquors are soured when long kept; so, when we dwell upon discontents, they turn to revenge. Purposes of revenge are most sweet and pleasant to carnal nature: “Frowardness is in his heart, he deviseth mischief continually” (Proverbs 6:14), that is to say, he is full of revengeful and spiteful thoughts.

Thirdly. Envy. It is a sin that feeds upon the mind. Those songs of the women, that Saul had slain his thousands, but David his ten thousands, they ran in Saul’s mind, therefore he hated David (1 Samuel 18:9). Envy is an evil disease that dwelleth in the heart, and betrays itself mostly in thoughts.

Fourthly. Pride. Either pride in the desires or pride in the mind, either vain glory or self conceit; this is entertaining our hearts with whispers of vanity: therefore it is said, “He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts” (Luke 1:51): proud men are full of imaginations.

Fifthly. Covetousness, which is nothing but vain musings and exercises of the heart: “A heart they have exercised with covetous practices” (2 Peter 2:14). And it withdraws the heart in the very time of God’s worship: “Their heart goeth after their covetousness” (Ezekiel 33:31).

Sixthly. Distrust is another thing which usually takes up our thoughts distracting motions against God’s providence. Thomas Manton.

Ver. 113. Vain thoughts. Let us see what vanity is. Take it in all the acceptances of it, it is true of our thoughts that they are “vain.”

1. It is taken for unprofitableness. So, Ecclesiastes 1:2-3, “All is vain, “because there is “no profit in them under the sun.” Such are our thoughts by nature; the wisest of them will not stand us in any stead in time of need, in time of temptation, distress of conscience, day of death or judgment: 1 Corinthians 2:6, “All the wisdom of the wise comes to nought”; Proverbs 10:20. “The heart of the wicked is little worth, “not a penny for them all.

2. Vanity is taken for lightness. “Lighter than vanity, “is a phrase used, Psalms 62:9; and whom is it spoken of? Of men; and if anything in them be lighter than other, it is their thoughts, which swim in the uppermost parts, float at the top, are as the scum of the heart. When all the best, and wisest, and deepest, and solidest thoughts in Belshazzar, a prince, were weighed, they were found too light, Daniel 5:27.

3. Vanity is put for folly. So, Proverbs 12:11, “vain men” is made all one with men “void of understanding.” Such are our thoughts. Among other evils which are said to “come out of the heart” (Mark 7:22), afrosunh is reckoned as one, “foolishness”; that is, thoughts that are such as madmen have, and fools nothing to the purpose, of which there can be made no use.

4. Vanity is put for inconstancy and frailty; therefore vanity and a shadow are made synonymous, Psalms 144:4. Such are our thoughts, flitting and perishing, as bubbles: Psalms 144:4, “All their thoughts perish.”

5. Lastly, they are wicked and sinful. Vanity is Jeremiah 4:14 yoked with wickedness, and vain men and sons of Belial are all one, 2 Chronicles 8:7. And such are our thoughts by nature: Proverbs 14:9, “The thought of foolishness is sin.” And therefore a man is to be humbled for a proud thought. Thomas Goodwin.

Ver. 113. But thy law do I love Ballast your heart with a love to God. Love will, by a pleasing violence bind down our thoughts: if it doth not establish our minds, they will be like a cork, which, with a light breath, and a short curl of water, shall be tossed up and down from its station. Scholars that love learning will be continually hammering upon some notion or other which may further their progress, and as greedily clasp it as the iron will its beloved loadstone. He that is “winged with a divine love” to Christ will have frequent glances and flights toward him, and will start out from his worldly business several times in a day to give him a visit. Love, in the very working, is a settling grace; it increaseth our delight in God, partly by the sight of his amiableness, which is cleared to us in the very act of loving; and partly by the recompences he gives to the affectionate carriage of his creature; both which will prevent the heart’s giving entertainment to such loose companions as evil thoughts. Stephen Charnock.

Ver. 113-114. When David was able to vouch his love to the command, he did not question his title to the promise. Here he asserts his sincere affection to the precepts: “I hate vain thoughts: but thy law do I love.” Mark he doth not say he is free from vain thoughts, but he “hates” them, he likes their company no better than one would a pack of thieves that break into his house. Neither saith he that he fully kept the law, but he “loved” the law even when he failed of exact obedience to it. Now from this testimony his conscience brought in for his love to the law, his faith acts clearly and strongly on the promise in the next words, “Thou art my hiding place and my shield: I hope in thy word.” William Gurnall.

Hints to Preachers

Outlines Upon Keywords of the Psalm, By Pastor C. A. Davis.

Ver. 113-120. Vain thoughts contrasted with God’s law. The believer takes sides (Psalms 119:113-115); prays for upholding in the law (Psalms 119:116-117); contemplates the fate of the followers of vain thoughts (Psalms 119:118-119); and expresses the godly fear thereby inspired (Psalms 119:120).

Hints to Preachers

Ver. 113. The thought of the age, and the truth of all ages.

Ver. 113.

1. The object of hatred.

2. The object of love.

OR

1. Love the cause of hatred.

2. Hatred the effect of love. G.R.

Ver. 113. Vain thoughts. What they are. Whence they arise. The mischief they cause. How they should be treated. W.H.J.P.

Ver. 113. How the believer

1. Is troubled by vain thoughts. A frequent and painful experience:

2. Does not tolerate vain, thoughts. Some, suffer them to lodge within; he is anxious to expel them.

3. Triumphs over vain thoughts. By his love to the law of God. His prayer is

“With thoughts of Christ and things divine,

Fill up this foolish heart of mine.” W.H.J.P.

Psalm 119:114

Exposition

Ver. 114. Thou art my hiding place and my shield. To his God he ran for shelter from vain thoughts; there he hid himself away from their tormenting intrusions, and in solemn silence of the soul he found God to be his hiding place. When called into the world, if he could not be alone with God as his hiding place, he could have the Lord with him as his shield, and by this means he could ward off the attacks of wicked suggestions. This is an experimental verse, and it testifies to that which the writer knew of his own personal knowledge: he could not fight with his own thoughts, or escape from them, till he flew to his God, and then he found deliverance. Observe that he does not speak of God’s word as being his double defence, but he ascribes that to God himself. When we are beset by very spiritual assaults, such as those which arise out of vain thoughts, we shall do well to fly distinctly to the person of our Lord, and to cast ourselves upon his real presence. Happy is he who can truly say to the triune God, “Thou art my hiding place.” He has beheld God under that glorious covenant aspect which ensures to the beholder the surest consolation.

I hope in thy word. And well he might, since he had tried and proved it: he looked for protection from all danger, and preservation from all temptation to him who had hitherto been the tower of his defence on former occasions. It is easy to exercise hope where we have experienced help. Sometimes when gloomy thoughts afflict us, the only thing we can do is to hope, and, happily, the word of God always sets before us objects of hope and reasons for hope, so that it becomes the very sphere and support of hope, and thus tiresome thoughts are overcome. Amid fret and worry a hope of heaven is an effectual quietus.

Explanatory Notes and Quaint Sayings

**Ver. 114. Thou art my hiding place and my shield,**etc. From vain thoughts and vain persons the Psalmist teaches us to fly, by prayer, to God, as our Refuge and Protector. This course a believer will as naturally take, in the hour of temptation and danger, as the offspring of the hen, on perceiving a bird of prey hovering over their heads, retire to their “hiding place, “under the wings of the dam; or as the warrior opposeth his “shield” to the darts which are aimed at him. George Horne.

Ver. 114. Thou art my hiding place. Christ hath all qualifications that may fit him for this work of being a hiding place to believers].

1. He hath strength. A hiding place must be locus munitissimus. Paper houses will never be good hiding places. Houses made of reeds or rotten timber will not be fit places for men to hide themselves in. Jesus Christ is a place of strength. He is the Rock of Ages: His name is “the Mighty God, “Isaiah 9:6.

2. He hath height. A hiding place must be locus excelsissimus. Your low houses are soon scaled. Jesus Christ is a high place; he is as high as heaven. He is the Jacob’s ladder that reacheth from earth to heaven: Genesis 28:12. He is too high for men, too high for devils; no creature can scale these high walls.

3. He hath secret places. A hiding place must be locus abditissimus. The more secret, the more safe. Now, Jesus Christ hath many secret chambers that no creatures can ever find: So 2:14, “O my dove, that art in the secret places of the stairs.” As Christ hath hidden comforts which no man knows but he that receiveth them; so he hath hidden places of secrecy which none can find out but he that dwells in them. “Come, my people, outer into thy chambers, and shut the doors upon thee” (Isaiah 26:0).

4. Christ is faithful. He that will hide others had need be very faithful. A false hearted protector is worse than an open pursuer. “Will the men of Keilah deliver me up?” saith David; “They will deliver thee up, “saith the Lord. But now Christ is faithful: Revelation 3:14, he is “the faithful witness; “he cannot be bribed to surrender up any creature that comes to hide himself with him. Christ will die before he will betray his trust.

5. Christ is diligent. Diligence is as necessary in those that will hide others, as faithfulness. A sleepy guard may betray a castle or garrison as well as a faithless guard. But Jesus Christ is very diligent and watchful, he hath his intelligencers abroad; yea, his own eyes run to and fro in the earth, to see what contrivances are made and set on foot against those who are hid with him: Psalms 121:3-4, “He that keepeth Israel neither slumbereth nor sleepeth.” Ralph Robinson (1614-1655), in “Christ All in All.”

Ver. 114. Hiding place. The first word in the verse means properly a secret, or a secret place. Joseph Addison Alexander.

Ver. 114. My shield. Good people are safe under God’s protection; he is their “strength and their shield”; their “help and their shield”; their “sun and their shield”; their “shield and their great reward”; and here, their “hiding place and their shield” Matthew Henry.

Ver. 114. Shield. The excellency and properties of a shield lie in these things: 1. In the largeness and breadth of it, in that it hides and covers the person that weareth it from all darts that are flung at him, so as they cannot reach him: Thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield (Psalms 5:12). 2. The excellence of a shield lies in that it is hard and impenetrable. So this answers to the invincible power of God’s providence, by which he can break the assaults of all enemies; and such a shield is God.to his people: “My shield, and he in whom I trust” (Psalms 144:2). 3. Shall I add one thing more? Stones and darts flung upon a hard shield are beaten back upon him that flings them; so God beats back the evil upon his enemies and the enemies of his people: “Bring them down, O Lord, our shield” (Psalms 59:11). Thomas Manton.

Ver. 114. I hope in thy word. Of all the ingredients that sweeten the cup of human life, there is none more rich or powerful than hope. Its absence embitters the sweetest lot; its presence alleviates the deepest woe. Surround me with all the joys which memory can awaken or possession bestow, without hope it is not enough. In the absence of hope there is sadness in past and present joys sadness in the thought that the past is past, and that the present is passing too. But though you strip me of all the joys the past or the present can confer, if the morrow shineth bright with hope, I am glad amid my woe. Of all the busy motives that stir this teeming earth, hope is the busiest. It is the sweetest balm that soothes our sorrows, the brightest beam that gilds our pleasures. Hope is the noblest offspring, the first born, the last buried child of foreseeing and forecasting man. Without it the unthinking cattle may be content amid present plenty. But without it reflecting man should not, cannot be truly happy. William Grant (1814-1876), in “Christ our Hope, and other Sermons”

Ver. 114-115. Thou art my hiding place. “Depart from me, ye evil doers.” Safe and quiet in his hiding place, David deprecates all attempts to disturb his peace. The society, therefore, of the ungodly is intolerable to him, and he cannot forbear frowning them from his presence. He had found them to be opposed to his best interests; and he feared their influence in shaking his determination of obedience to his God. Indeed, when have the Lord’s people failed to experience such society to be a prevailing hindrance alike to the enjoyment and to the service of God? Charles Bridges.

Hints to Preachers

Ver. 114. Our protection from danger “hiding-place”; in danger “shield”; before danger “I hope.”

Ver. 114. Hiding place. Secrecy to conceal us. Capacity to hold us. Safety. Comfort. T. Manton.

Ver. 114. Hiding and hoping.

1. A hiding place needed.

2. A hiding place provided (Isaiah 25:14 Isaiah 25:32:2).

3. A hiding place used. C.A.D.

Ver. 114.

1. The refuge provided: “Thou art, “etc.

2. The refuge revealed: “In thy word.”

3. The refuge found: “I hope, “etc. G.R.

Ver. 114. Thou art my hiding place.

1. In thy grace, from condemnation.

2. In thy compassion, from sorrow.

3. In thy succour, from temptation.

4. In thy power, from opposition.

5. In thy fulness, from want. W.J.

Psalm 119:115

Exposition

Ver. 115. Depart from me, ye evil doers. Those who make a conscience of their thoughts are not likely to tolerate evil company. If we fly to God from vain thoughts, much more shall we avoid vain men. Kings are all too apt to be surrounded by a class of men who flatter them, and at the same time take liberty to break the laws of God: David purged his palace of such parasites; he would not harbour them beneath his roof. No doubt they would have brought upon him an ill name, for their doings would have been imputed to him, since the acts of courtiers are generally set down as acts of the court itself; therefore the king sent them packing bag and baggage, saying, “Depart from me.” Herein he anticipated the sentence of the last great day, when the Son of David shall say, “Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity.” We cannot thus send all malefactors out of our houses, but it will often become a duty to do so where there is right and reason for it. A house is all the better for being rid of liars, pilferers, lewd talkers, and slanderers. We are bound at all hazards to keep ourselves clear of such companions as come to us by our own choice if we have any reason to believe that their character is vicious. Evil doers make evil counsellors. Those who say unto God, “Depart from us, ” ought to hear the immediate echo of their words from the mouths of God’s children, “Depart from us. We cannot eat bread with traitors.”

For I will keep the commandments of my God. Since he found it hard to keep the commandments in the company of the ungodly, he gave them their marching orders. He must keep the commandments, but he did not need to keep their company. What a beautiful title for the Lord this verse contains! The word God only occurs in this one place in all this lengthened psalm, and then it is attended by the personal word “my” “my God.”

“My God! how charming is the sound!.

How pleasant to repeat!

Well may that heart with pleasure bound,

Where God hath fixed his seat.”

Doddridge.

Because Jehovah is our God therefore we resolve to obey him, and to chase out of our sight those who would hinder us in his service. It is a grand thing for the mind to have come to a point, and to be steadfastly fixed m the holy determination, “I will keep the commandments.” God’s law is our pleasure when the God of the law is our God.

Explanatory Notes and Quaint Sayings

**Ver. 115. Depart from me, ye evil doers,**etc. As if he had said, talk no more of it, save your breath, I am resolved on my course, I have sworn, and am steadfastly purposed to keep the commandments of my God; with God’s help, there will I hold me, and all the world shall not wrest me from it. *Robert Sanderson,*1587-1663.

**Ver. 115. Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity,**etc. It is common to sin for company, and that cup usually goeth round, and is handed from one to another. It is therefore wise to quit the company which is infected by sin. It can bring thee no benefit. At least evil company will abate the good in thee. The herb of grace will never thrive in such a cold soil. How poorly doth the good corn grow which is compassed about with weeds! Cordials and restoratives will do little good to the natural body, whilst it aboundeth with ill humours. Ordinances are little effectual to souls which are distempered with such noxious inmates. It is said of the mountain Kadish, that whatsoever vine be planted near it, it causeth it to wither and die: it is exceeding rare for saints to thrive near such pull backs. It is difficult, even to a miracle, to keep God’s commandments and evil company too; therefore when David would marry himself to God’s commands, to love them, and live with them, for better for worse, all his days, he is forced to give a bill of divorce to wicked companions, knowing that otherwise the match could never be made: “Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity, for I will keep the commandments of my God.” As if he had said, Be it known unto you, O sinners, that I am striking a hearty covenant with God’s commands; I like them so well, that I am resolved to give myself up to them, and to please them well in all things, which I can never do unless ye depart; ye are like a strumpet, which will steal away the love from the true wife. I cannot, as I ought, obey my God’s precepts, whilst ye abide in my presence; therefore depart from me, ye workers of iniquity, for I will keep the commandments of my God. George Swinnock.

Ver. 115. Depart from me, ye evil doers. Woe be to the wicked man, and woe to those who adhere to him and associate with him, saith Ben Sira. And even the pagans of old thought that a curse went along with those who kept evil company. To inhabit, or to travel with an impious man, and one not beloved of the gods, was held by them to be unlucky and unfortunate.

Vetabo qui Cercris sacrum

Vulgavit, sub isdem

Sit trabibus, fragilemque mecuin

Solvat phaselum,

as Horace speaks.

They who mysteries reveal

Beneath my roof shall never live,

Shall never hoist with me the doubtful sail.

To dwell under the same roof, or to sail in the same yacht or pleasure boat with profane persons was deemed unsafe and dangerous by men of Pagan principles. How much more, then, ought Christians to be thoroughly persuaded of the mischief and danger of conversing with wicked men? It can no ways be safe to hold correspondence with them. Yea, we are in great danger all the while we are with them. You have heard, I suppose, who it was that would not stay in the bath so long as an arch heretic was there. It was St. John the Evangelist; he would not (as Iranaeus acquaints us) remain in that place because Cerinthus, who denied the divinity of Christ, was then present there. That holy man thought no place was safe where such persons are.

Therefore be mindful of the Apostle’s exhortation, and “Come out from among them” (2 Corinthians 6:17); listen to that voice from heaven: “Come out, that ye be not partakers of their sins, and that ye receive not of their plagues.” Separate yourselves from them lest you not only in damage your souls, but your bodies, lest some remarkable judgment arrest you here, and lest the divine vengeance more furiously assault you hereafter. The fanciful poets tell us that Theseus and Perithous (a pair of intimate friends) loved one another so well that they went down to hell together. I am sure it is no poetical fiction that many do thus; that is to say, that they perish together, and descend into the bottomless pit for company’s sake. John Edwards (1637-1716), in “Theologia Reformata.”

Ver. 115. Depart from them that depart from God. T. Manton.

Ver. 115. Of my God. As a man can esteem of anything which he knows is his own; so if once he know that God is his, he cannot but love him, and carefully obey him: neither is it possible that any man can give to God hearty and permanent service, who is not persuaded to say with David, He is my God. All the pleasures, all the terrors of the world cannot sunder that soul from God, who can truly say, The Lord is my God. W. Cowper.

Hints to Preachers

Ver. 115.

1. Ill company hinders piety.

2. Piety quits ill company.

3. Piety, in compelling this departure, acts as God will do at the last.

Ver. 115. Evil companionship incompatible with genuine righteousness.

1. They necessitate concealment and compromise.

2. They destroy the capability of communion with God, and the relish for spiritual things.

3. They blunt the sensitiveness of conscience.

4. They involve deliberate disobedience to God. J.F.

Psalm 119:116

Exposition

Ver. 116. Uphold me according unto thy word, that I may have. It was so necessary that the Lord should hold up his servant, that he could not even live without it. Our soul would die if the Lord did not continually sustain it, and every grace which makes spiritual life to be truly life would decay if he withdrew his upholding hand. It is a sweet comfort that this great necessity of upholding is provided for in the word, and we have not to ask for it as for an uncovenanted mercy, but simply to plead for the fulfilment of a promise, saying, “Uphold me according to thy word.” He who has given us eternal life hath in that gift secured to us all that is essential thereto, and as gracious upholding is one of the necessary things we may be sure that we shall have it.

And let me not be ashamed of my hope. In Psalms 119:114 he had spoken of his hope as founded on the word, and now he begs for the fulfilment of that word that his hope might be justified in the sight of all. A man would be ashamed of his hope if it turned out that it was not based upon a sure foundation; but this will never happen in our case. We may be ashamed of our thoughts, and our words, and our deeds for they spring from ourselves; but we never shall be ashamed of our hope, for that springs from the Lord our God. Such is the frailty of our nature that unless we are continually upheld by grace, we shall all so foully as to be ashamed of ourselves, and ashamed of all those glorious hopes which are now the crown and glory of our life. The man of God had uttered the most positive resolves, but he felt that he could not trust in his own solemn determination: hence these players. It is not wrong to make resolutions, but it will be useless to do so unless we salt them well with believing cries to God. David meant to keep the law of the Lord, but he first needed the Lord of the law to keep him.

Explanatory Notes and Quaint Sayings

Ver. 116. Uphold me. A kite soaring on high is in a situation quite foreign to its nature; as much as the soul of man is when raised above this lower world to high and heavenly pursuits. A person at a distance sees not how it is kept in its exalted situation: he sees not the wind that blows it, nor the hand that holds it, nor the string by whose instrumentality it is held. But all of these powers are necessary to its preservation in that preternatural state. If the wind were to sink it would fall. It has nothing whatever in itself to uphold itself; it has the same tendency to gravitate towards the earth that it ever had; and if left for a moment to itself it would fall. Thus it is with the soul of every true believer. It has been raised by the Spirit of God to a new, a preternatural, a heavenly state; and in that state it is at held by an invisible and Almighty hand, through the medium of faith. And upheld it shall be, but not by any lower in itself. If left for a moment it would fall as much as ever. Its whole strength is in God alone; and its whole security is in the unchangeableness of his nature, and in the efficacy of his grace. In a word, “It is kept by the power of Gad, through faith, unto salvation.” From “The Book of Illustrations, “by H. G. Salter, 1840.

Ver. 116. That I may live. The life of a Christian stands in this, to have his soul quickened by the spirit of grace. For as the presence of the soul quickens the body, and the departure thereof brings instant death; and the body without it is but a dead lump of clay: so it is the presence of God’s Spirit which giveth life to the soul of man. And this life is known by these two notable effects; for first, it brings a joyful sense of God’s mercy; and next, a spiritual disposition to spiritual exercises. And without this, pretend a man what he will, he is but the image of a Christian, looking somewhat like him, but not quickened by his life. William Cowper.

Ver. 116. That I may live. The children of God think they have no life if they live not in God’s life. For if we think we are alive, because we see, so do the brute beasts; if we think we are alive because we hear, so do the cattle; if we think we are alive because we eat and drink, or sleep, so do beasts; if we think we live because we do reason and confer, so do the heathen. The life of God’s children is the death of sin; for where sin is alive, there that part is dead unto God…God’s children, finding themselves dull and slow to good things, when they cannot either rejoice in the promises of God, or find their inward man delighted with the law of God, think themselves to be dead. Richard Greenham.

Hints to Preachers

Ver. 116.

1. Upholding promised.

2. Needful for holy living.

3. The preventive of shameful acts.

**Ver. 116. Uphold me according unto thy word,**etc.

1. The Psalmist pleads the promise of God, his dependence upon the promise, and his expectation from it :“Uphold me according unto thy word, “which word I hope in and if it be not performed I shall be “ashamed of my hope.”

2. He pleads the great need he had of God’s grace, and the great advantage it would be to him: “Uphold me, that I may live”; intimating that he could not live without the grace of God. M. Henry.

Psalm 119:117

Exposition

Ver. 117. Hold thou me up: as a nurse holds up a little child. “And I shall be safe, “and not else; for unless thou hold me up I shall be falling about like an infant that is weak upon its knees. We are saved by past grace, but we are not safe unless we receive present grace. The Psalmist had vowed to keep the Lord’s commands, but here he pleads with the Lord to keep him: a very sensible course of procedure. Our version roads the word “uphold, “and then “hold up; “and truly we need this blessing in every shape in which it can come, for in all manner of ways our adversaries seek to cast us down. To be safe is a happy condition; there is only one door to it, and that is to be held up by God himself; thank God, that door is open to the least among us.

And I will have respect unto thy statutes continually. In obedience is safety; in being held up is obedience. No man will outwardly keep the Lord’s statutes for long together unless he has an inward respect for them, and this will never be unless the hand of the Lord perpetually upholds the heart in holy love. Perseverance to the end, obedience continually, comes only through the divine power; we start aside as a deceitful bow unless we are kept right by him that first gave us grace. Happy is the man who realizes this verse in his life: upheld through his whole life in a course of unswerving integrity, he becomes a safe and trusted man, and maintains a sacred delicacy of conscience which is unknown to others. He feels a tender respect for the statutes of the Lord, which keeps him clear of inconsistencies and conformities to the world that are so common among others, and hence he is a pillar in the house of the Lord. Alas, we know some professors who are not upright, and therefore they lean to sin till they fall over, and though they are restored they are never safe or reliable, neither have they that sweet purity of soul which is the charm of the more sanctified who have been kept from falling into the mire.

Explanatory Notes and Quaint Sayings

Ver. 117. Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe. Not only the consciousness of my weakness, but the danger of the slippery path before me, reminds me, that the safety of every moment depends upon the upholding power of my faithful God. The ways of temptation are so many and imperceptible the influence of it so appalling the entrance into it so deceitful, so specious, so insensible and my own weakness and unwatchfulness are so unspeakable that I can do nothing but go on my way, praying at every step, “Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe.” Charles Ridges.

Ver. 117. Hold thou me up. Three things made David afraid. First, great temptation without; for from every air the wind of temptation blows upon a Christian. Secondly, great corruption within. Thirdly, examples of other worthy men that had fallen before him, and are written for us: not that we should learn to fall, but to fear lest we fall. These three should always hold us humble, according to that warning, “Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” William Cowper.

**Ver. 117. Up,**up above the littleness in which I have lived too long, above the snares which have so often caught me, above the stumbling blocks upon which I have so often fallen, above the world, above myself, higher than I have ever reached yet, above the level of my own mortality: worthy of thee, worthy of the blood, with which I have been bought, nearer to heaven, nearer to thee, “hold thou me up.”

God’s methods of holding his people up are many. Sometimes it is by the preacher’s word, when the word comes fitly spoken to the heart and conscience. May God, in his infinite condescension, enable his servants in this church so to hold you up. Sometimes it is by the ordained means and sacraments which his grace commanded. Sometimes it is by the efficacy of the Holy Scriptures, when some passage in your own room strikes the mind, Just in season; or the stay of some sweet promise comes in sustaining to your spirit. Sometimes by the simple in working of the Holy Ghost in a man’s own thoughts, as he will work “Uphold me with thy free Spirit.” Sometimes by the ministration of angels, “They shall hold thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.” Sometimes by putting you very low indeed, making you feel that the safe place is the valley. There is no elevation like the elevation of abasement. Sometimes by severe discipline to brace up the heart, and strengthen it, and make it independent of external things. Sometimes by heavy affliction, which is the grasp of his hand, that he may hold you tighter. Sometimes by putting into your heart to think the exact thing that you need, to pray the very prayer which he intends at the moment to grant. Sometimes by appearing to let you go, and forsake you, while at the same time like the Syro Phoenician woman he is giving you the wish to hold on that he may give you the more at the last. James Vaughan, of Brighton, 1877.

Ver. 117. I will have respect unto that statutes continually. I will employ myself, so some; I will delight myself, so others; in thy statutes. If God’s right hand uphold us, we must in his strength go on in our duty, both with diligence and With pleasure. Matthew Henry.

Hints to Preachers

Ver. 117.

1. Upholding God’s holding us up. It implies a danger, and that danger takes many forms. The believer’s life may be described as walking in uprightness; he is a pilgrim. He needs upholding, for

(a) The way is slippery.

(b) Our feet make the danger as well as the way.

(c) Cunning foes seek to trip us up.

(d) Sometimes the difficulty is not caused by the way, but

by the height to which God may elevate us.

(e) The prayer is all the more needful because the most of

people do not keep upright.

2. Two blessed things that come out of this holding up.

(a) We shall be safe for ourselves, as examples, and as

pillars of the church.

(b) We shall be watchful and sensitive: “I will have

respect unto thy statutes continually.” Without this no man

is safe. See “Spurgeon’s Sermons, “No. 1657: “My Hourly

Prayer.”

**Ver. 117. Hold thou me up,**etc.

1. The good man is up.

2. The good man wishes to keep up.

3. The good man prays to be held up.

4. The good man knows that divine support is abundantly sufficient. W.J.

Ver. 117.

1. Dependence for the future: “Hold, “etc.

2. Resolution for the future: “I will have, “etc. G.R.

Psalm 119:118

Exposition

Ver. 118. Thou hast trodden down all them that err from thy statutes. There is no holding up for them; they are thrown down and then trodden down, for they choose to go down into the wandering ways of sin. Sooner or later God will set his foot on those who turn their foot from his commands: it has always been so, and it always will be so to the end. If the salt has lost its savour, what is it fit for but to be trodden under foot? God puts away the wicked like dross, which is only fit to be cast out as road metal to be trodden down.

For their deceit is falsehood. They call it far seeing policy, but it is absolute falsehood, and it shall be treated as such. Ordinary men call it clever diplomacy, but the man of God calls a spade a spade, and declares it to be falsehood, and nothing less, for he knows that it is so in the sight of God. Men who err from the right road invent pretty excuses with which to deceive themselves and others, and so quiet their consciences and maintain their credits; but their mask of falsehood is too transparent. God treads down falsehoods; they are only fit to be spurned by his feet, and crushed into the dust. How horrified must those be who have spent all their lives in contriving a confectionery religion, and then see it all trodden upon by God as a sham which he cannot endure!

Explanatory Notes and Quaint Sayings

**Ver. 118. Thou hast trodden down,**etc. David here, by a new meditation, confirms himself in the course of godliness: for considering the judgments of God, executed according to his word in all ages upon the wicked, he resolves so much the more to fear God and keep his testimonies. Thus the judgments of God, executed on others, should be awe bands to keep us from sinning after their similitude.

The Lord in chastising his own children takes them in hand like a father to correct them; but when his wrath is kindled against the wicked he tramples them under his feet, as vile creatures which are no account with him. William Cowper.

Ver. 118. Thou hast trodden down. The Septuagint, ebouoenwsav, ad nihil deduxisti;thou hast brought to nothing; Aquila, confixisti, thou hast stricken through: Symmachus, aphlebav, reprobasti, thou hast disproved; the Vulgate sprevisti, thou hast contemned; Apollinarius, aferibav, parvi pependisti, thou hast little esteemed: all to the same purpose. The phrase of treading tinder foot, used by us, implies, 1. A full punishment; 2. A disgraceful one. 1. A full punishment. God will pull them down from their altitudes, even to the dust, though never so high and proudly exalting themselves against God. A full conquest of enemies is thus often expressed in Scripture. The Assyrian is said “to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets” (Isaiah 5:6).

2. It implies a disgraceful punishment: “Until I make thine enemies thy footstool” (Psalms 105:1); an expression used to show the ignominy and contempt God will put upon them. Thus Sapores, the king of Persia, trampled upon Valentinian the emperor, and Tamerlane made Bajazet his footstool. The meaning is, God will not only bring them under, but reduce them to an abject mid contemptible condition. So Chrysostom on the text expounds this phrase, that God will make them eponeiooistouv kai katalelastouv, ignominious and contemptible. They shall not go off honourably, but with scorn and confusion of face, miserably broken. Thomas Manton.

**Ver. 118. Thou hast trodden down,**etc. There is a disposition to merge all the characteristics of the Divinity into one; and while with many of our most eminent writers, the exuberant goodness, the soft and yielding benignity, the mercy that overlooks and makes liberal allowance for the infirmities of human weakness, have been fondly and most abundantly dwelt upon there has been what the French would call, if not a studied, at least an actually observed reticence, on the subject of his truth and purity and his hatred of moral evil. There can be no government without a law; and the question is little entertained how are the violations of that law to be disposed of? Every law has its sanctions the hopes of proffered reward on the one hand, the fears of threatened vengeance on the other. Is the vengeance to be threatened only, but never to be executed? Is guilt only to be dealt with by proclamations that go before, but never by punishments that are to follow?…Take away from jurisprudence its penalties, or, what were still worse, let the penalties only be denounced but never exacted; and we reduce the whole to an unsubstantial mockery. The fabric of moral government falls to pieces; and, instead of a great presiding authority in the universe, we have a subverted throne and a degraded Sovereign…If there is only to be the parade of a judicial economy, without any of its power or its performance; if the truth is only to be kept in the promises of reward, but as constantly to be receded from in the threats of vengeance; if the judge is thus to be lost in the overweening parent there is positively nothing of a moral government over us but the name, we are not the subjects of God’s authority; we are the fondlings of his regard. Under a system like this, the whole universe would drift, as it were, into a state of anarchy; and, in the uproar of this wild misrule, the King who sitteth on high would lose his hold on the creation that he had formed. Thomas Chalmers.

Ver. 118 For their deceit is falsehood. The true sense of the passage is, “for their cunning hath been fallacious, “that is, it hath deceived them themselves and brought on their ruin. Samuel Horsley, 1733-1806.

Ver. 118. Their deceit is falsehood. He means not here of that deceit whereby the wicked deceive others, but that whereby they deceive themselves. And this is two fold: first, in that they look for a good in sin, which sin deceitfully promises, but they shall never find. Next, that they flatter themselves with a vain conceit to escape judgment, which shall assuredly overtake them. William Cowper.

Hints to Preachers

Ver. 118. Sin and falsehood: their connection, punishment, and cure.

Ver. 118.

1. Hearken to the tramp of God’s armies. In nature; providence; angelic hosts of last day.

2. The mangled victims. Cunning deceivers specially obnoxious to God. Examples: Balaam, Pharaoh, Rome, the deceiver of the nations.

3. The warnings to us of this Aceldama. Repent. Avoid deceit. Mind God’s landmarks. Hide in Christ. W.B.H.

Ver. 118. God’s punishment of the wicked though awfully severe is just and necessary.

1. It is due as the merited wages of iniquity.

2. It is demanded by the position of God as moral governor, and by his character as righteous.

3. It is necessary to mark the real worth of righteousness and its reward. If the wicked are not punished, the full worth of righteousness cannot appear.

4. In the nature of the case, it is absolutely unavoidable, except upon one condition, namely, the gift of genuine repentance and holiness after death; that no man has any right to expect, nor has God given the slightest intimation that he will bestow if.

5. Hell lies in the bosom of sin; and if the wicked were taken to heaven, they would carry hell thither. Heaven supplies not the things in which the wicked delight, while it abounds in those they can neither understand nor sympathise with. J.F.

Ver. 118 (second clause). The deceits of the wicked are all falsehoods.

1. The world they embrace is a false Delilah.

2. The pleasure they enjoy is a Satanic snare.

3. Their formal religiousness is a vain delusion.

4. Their conceits of God are self invented lies. J.F.

Ver. 118-120. Saved by fear.

1. The wrath of God revealed against sin.

2. The judgment of God executed upon sinners.

3. The fear of God created in the heart. G.A.D.

Psalm 119:119

Exposition

Ver. 119. Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth like dross. He does not trifle with them, or handle them with kid gloves. No, he judges them to be the scum of the earth, and he treats them accordingly by putting them away. He puts them away from his church, away from their honours, away from the earth, and at last away from himself. “Depart, “saith he, “ye cursed.” If even a good man feels forced to put away the evil doers from him, much more must the thrice holy God put away the wicked. They looked like precious metal, they were intimately mixed up with it, they were laid up in the same heap; but the Lord is a refiner, and every day He removes some of the wicked from among his people, either by making a shameful discovery of their hypocrisy or by consuming them from off the earth. They are put away as dross, never to be recalled. As the metal is the better for losing its alloy, so is the church the better for having the wicked removed. These wicked ones are “of the earth, ” “the wicked of the earth, ” and they have no right to be with those who are not of the world; the Lord perceives them to be out of place and injurious, and therefore he puts them away, all of them, leaving none of them to deteriorate his church. The process will one day be perfect; no dross will be spared, no gold will be left impure. Where shall we be when that great work is finished

Therefore I love thy testimonies. Even the severities of the Lord excite the love of his people. If he allowed men to sin with impunity, he would not be so fully the object of our loving admiration; he is glorious in holiness because he thus rids his kingdom of rebels, and his temple of them that defile it. In these evil days, when God’s punishment of sinners has become the butt of proud sceptical contentions, we may regard as a mark of the true man of God that he loves the Lord none the less, but a great deal the more because of his condign judgment of the ungodly.