Bible Commentaries

Psalm 119:46

This was the text printed on the title page of the Augsburg Confession which was published in quarto form in April, 1531 , with the Apology. The text is given in Latin: "Et loquebar de testimoniis tuis in conspectu Regum et non confundebar". A copy with this motto, says Dr. J. W. Richard, is found in the royal library at Dresden. "Beneath the title Melanchthon wrote with his own hand, D Doctori Martino. Et rogo ut legal et emendet."

References.—CXIX:54.—J. Monro-Gibeon, A Strong City, p195. CXIX:55 , 56.—J. Keble, Sermons for Ascension Day to Trinity Sunday, p292. CXIX:59 , 60.—G. Jackson, The Scottish Review, vol. iii. p107. CXIX:62.—J. M. Neale, Sermons on Passages of the Psalm 119:50

When we study the Psalm with a religious purpose, we would know something of the writers, and it is unfortunate that we know very little about them.

But when we look into so long a Psalm as the119th we seem to see somewhat of the circumstances of the writer's life. It is a late Psalm 119:71

It is scarcely surprising if the mystery of pain has been a problem which beyond almost any other has tasked the brain and wearied the heart of many of the world's greatest thinkers. With the steady advance of knowledge, moreover, especially that of a scientific character, the shadows upon the picture seem to grow yet more sombre of hue. Day by day the cry continues all around us, "Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has He shut up His lovingkindness in displeasure? Why does He not eradicate the ape and tiger instincts from the heart of man? Why tarry the wheels of His chariot so long in coming? Why does He not lay bare His holy arm and scatter the legions of iniquity for ever?" Over and over again, when men have witnessed some helpless body racked with pain in its most exquisite forms, when they have beheld the great social cankers sapping the very springs of life, when the dogs of war are let loose and they see before them such horrors as those depicted by Zola in La Dbcle, at such seasons as these the cry has often risen to men's lips, "Is there any reward for the righteous? Is there a Judge Who judgeth the earth?"

I. Pain the Result of Sin.—It is important for us to remember at the outset that a huge amount of the pain of which we ourselves are the unwilling witnesses, perhaps even victims, today, is the direct or indirect result of sin, and being such it is wholly unjustifiable for us to cast the tiniest stigma of blame upon the Almighty for its existence. The sins of the fathers are visited upon the children, yea, even unto the third and fourth generation. This statement is not a mere piece of philosophic theory, it is a tremendous present-day fact of which even the most unreflecting among us cannot fail to take notice. Consequences are God's commentaries. If you narrow down the subject for a moment to those particular forms of child-suffering which touch our hearts so deeply, we shall learn from those whose mission in life it is to do what they can to alleviate cruelty and suffering at this time,—we shall learn from them that ninety-nine per cent of the child-cruelty with which they are brought into contact is the result simply and solely of the curse of intemperance on the part of their parents or guardians.

II. The Discipline of Pain.—But my purpose now is rather to dwell upon pain and suffering regarded from their disciplinary point of view—that is to say, as exercising an important influence in the formation and development of the highest type in Christian character, that type of Christian character which has been so wonderfully summed up for us by the great Apostle in the familiar words, the life which is "hid with Christ in God". First of all, then, I would appeal to the testimony of the Gospels. I do not mean necessarily the experience of great thinkers, but also that of the humblest and most commonplace of the sons of men. Can we fail to recognize it as a truth that pain and suffering have been responsible, times without number, for the development of the most beautiful traits of Christian character? Is it not an incontestable fact that pain Psalm 119:92

"Unless Thy law had been my delight, I should have perished in mine affliction," is written on Martin Luther's Bible by his own hand. The date Psalm 119:94

We notice as we read this Psalm that there is one thought that occurs in every single verse right through the Psalm from beginning to end, and that is the thought of God's law. The writer has evidently learned one great fact in his life, that we depend upon God for all our good things, and without Him we can do nothing; he has learned that as God is the supporter and stay of the whole creation, so He is the supporter and stay of the individual human life. And then, as he dwells upon this change, there is another thought which comes to his mind, and which seems to press upon him almost as strongly as that first thought, and that is that there is something between man and God which prevents man from following God's will, and that something he knows to be the existence of sin. He feels his need of pardon, and so he prays, "I am Thine, O save me".

I. The Need of a Saviour.—This need is a need which we should all of us feel. There have been times, and we know it, when we have wandered far away from God. There have been times when we have seen before us the choice between good and evil, and we have deliberately chosen that which is evil. We have preferred sin. We have loved sin, and chosen it because we preferred it. But God has blessings in store for the sinner, as soon as the sinner becomes penitent and turns from the evil of his ways. And so all that we have to do is to understand the real meaning of the word penitence, or the word conversion, which means practically the same, and see that we are truly penitent, and then we may believe that much blessing is in store for us, that is in store for those who are undefiled in the way.

II. The Meaning of Penitence.—Let us try and see what is the real meaning of this word, penitence. The first step necessary in true penitence is that we must learn to know ourselves. The writer of this Psalm says, "I am Thine, O save me, for I have sought Thy commandments," and that is necessary for us as it was necessary for him. There are a great many people who have never done what the prodigal son did, they have never come to themselves or thought of their own ways, and learned what their own life has been. How can we gain this necessary self-knowledge? The man of the world would tell us that if we would know human nature, our own nature and lives, we must live in the world, we must see something of the world, we must not be too hard on the faults of the world. Sometimes they will say the best man is the man who has fallen into sin himself. But Christ says to us something very different from this. Christ says, If you would know human nature, know yourself and your own life, there must be times when you cut yourself off from the world, and when you get alone with God. And Psalm 119:97

Ruskin says: "If people would but read the text of their Bibles with heartier purpose of understanding it, instead of superstitiously, they would see that throughout the parts which they are intended to make most personally their own (the Psalm) it is always the Law which is spoken of with chief joy. The Psalm respecting mercy are often sorrowful, as in thought of what it cost; but those respecting the law are always full of delight. David cannot contain himself for joy in thinking of it,—he is never weary of its praise: "How love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day. Thy testimonies are my delight and my counsellors; sweeter, also, than honey and the honeycomb.""

—Modern Painters, vol. v, pt. vii. chap. IV. § 22.

Verse97. Henry Martyn says: "I experienced a solemn gladness in learning this part, "Mem," of the119th Psalm".

—J. K.

My Lamp

Psalm 119:105

The Word of God is compared to a lamp or lantern such as that which is carried on dark nights in country places in lands where fixed lights are not to be found. Let us see how the Word of God may be compared to such a lamp.

I. First like a lighted lantern on a dark and lonely journey it is a pleasant companion. A lamp cannot indeed talk to us or even listen to our voices; but its cheerful light close beside us, belonging to us, and going on continually with us, takes away our feeling of loneliness, and we feel that the common saying is quite true that "a light is pleasant company". This is much more true of the Word of God. Life has not only its sunny days, but its long dark nights in which we must go on just the same in the way that is set before us. But even in the dark nights of temptation, pain, disappointment, sickness or bereavement, we need not travel alone, for this lamp may be ever at our sides, cheering us with its radiance.

II. Then again the Word of God, like a lighted lantern, is a protection against danger. The shining light of the truth we love will often preserve us from the more accidental spiritual dangers and temptations of life. It will save also in deliberately planned attacks of our spiritual enemies upon us. A thief would not choose to try to rob a man who carried a lighted lamp in his hand or to break open the lock of a house with the Master's lantern shining full on him.

III. But the third and principal value of a lamp is that it shows us the way, and it is in this respect especially that the truth of God is most precious to us.

(a) It shows us the entrance to the way.

(b) Then it shows us the way itself, as we travel on step by step through the lonely darkness. If at some meeting of the ways we might in darkness have turned in the wrong direction this lamp will show us the true path, whispering kindly to us "This is the way, walk ye in it; when ye turn to the right, or when ye turn to the left" ( Isaiah 30:21).

(c) Then lastly the Word of God will show us the end of the way. The word of God is a lamp that will light us all the way to heaven, where we shall need it no more.

—R. Brewin, British Weekly Pulpit, vol. III. p24.

Psalm 119:125

I. I should call this distinctively the servant's prayer. At first sight it might seem that the prayer of a servant should be more elementary. It might seem that the simple duty of a servant is to ask for orders. The Psalmist has a different view. To his mind the perfection of domestic service is not the receiving but the forestalling of orders—the providing for requirements beforehand. "Because I am a servant, give me understanding, that I may know in advance the things thou hast need of—that I may not require to wait for Thy verbal instructions but may consider the wants of Thy household." That is the Psalmist's meaning, and it is founded on truth. For, in God's house as in man's house, there are two ways in which one may be a "good and faithful servant"—a lower way and a higher way. The lower way is that of the beginner. It is the waiting for every detail. "What wouldst Thou have me do this day?" So asks the incipient servant. And in answer the heavenly Father gives the details; He issues Ten Commandments.

II. But as yet He misses something in the servant—that thing which the Psalmist calls understanding. He craves in the servant a second stage of goodness and faithfulness. Let us suppose that the Father names four rooms of His sanctuary which require sweeping. Let us suppose that on descending from His presence the servant finds that in the interval a fifth apartment has become soiled. Would it not be desirable that in the mind of him or her the understanding should supersede the command. Is the fifth room to be left useless because there is no verbal enactment concerning it? Is there none of the Lord's servants with discernment enough to improvise an eleventh commandment to satisfy God's will instead of His mere law? That is what the Father longs for, that is what the Psalmist prays for, that is what the instinct of all hearts desire.

III. Lord, men of old have said, "Teach us Thy law"; rather shall my prayer be, "Teach me Thy will". My voice shalt Thou hear in the morning; but it will be to suggest not to receive orders. Wilt Thou give me liberty to act for Thee without command! Wilt Thou let us keep Thy house in order where from Thee I have received no order? Wilt Thou give me a commission without detail—a mandate to help where I see heaviness, to brighten where I meet burdens, to comfort where I find calamities, to free where I encounter fetters, to protect where I recognize poverty, to cheer where the atmosphere is chill!

—G. Matheson, Messages of Hope, p125.

References.—CXIX:126-128.—A. Maclaren, Old Testament Outlines, p146. CXIX:129.—H. Woodcock, Sermon Outlines, p57. Bishop Woodford, Occasional Sermons, vol. i258. CXIX:129 ,130.—J. Wordsworth, "The One Religion," Bampton Lectures, 1881 , p115. CXIX:130.—R. Shutte, Penny Pulpit, No1715 , p761. CXIX:132.—J. Keble, Sermons for Sundays After Trinity, pp245 ,417. CXIX:133.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xv. No878.

Psalm 119:136

In Thomas Hughes" Life of Daniel Macmillan, a letter of the publisher to Mr. Llewellyn Davies is quoted, in which he observes of Plato: "There is none of the yearning over the sins of the world which expresses itself in "Tears run down my cheeks because men keep not Thy law," nor "I could wish myself accursed for my brethren's sake". He has no feeling of bearing the sins of the world. Vice and mean conduct are very ugly. He would do all in his power to banish them: but he speaks of them in the tone of a "very lofty Athenian gentleman"."

References.—CXIX:140.—J. M. Neale, Sermons on Passages of the Psalm , pp290 , 299. CXIX:144.—T. Sadler, Sermons for Children, p85. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxvi. No1672. CXIX:148.—H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No1613 , p301. CXIX:151.—W. H. H. Murray, American Pulpit of Today, vol. iii. p209. CXIX:162.—G. A. Sowter, From Heart to Heart, p66. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxviii. No1671. CXIX:176.—T. Arnold, Christian Life: Its Hopes, p171. J. Bolton, Selected Sermons (2Series), p135. CXIX.—International Critical Commentary, vol. ii. p409. CXX.—Ibid. p444.