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.
Psalms 119:117*
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.
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.
Psalms 119:118*
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!
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.
Psalms 119:119*
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.
Ver. 119. Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth like dross. The godly and the wicked live together in the visible church, as dross and good metal; but God, who is the purger of his church, will not fail by diversity of trials and judgments to put difference between them, and at last will make a perfect separation of them, and cast away the wicked as refuse. David Dickson.
Ver. 119. God's judgments upon others may be a necessary act of love to us. They are purged out as "dross, "that they may not infect us by their example, or molest us by their persecutions or oppressions. Now, the more we are befriended in this kind, the more we are bound to serve God cheerfully: "That we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life": Luke 1:74-75. The world is one of those enemies, or the wicked of the earth; therefore we should serve him faithfully. Thomas Manton.
Ver. 119. Thou puttest away all the wicked. Many ways are wicked men taken away; sometime by the hand of other men, sometime by their own hand. The Philistines slew not Saul, but forced him to slay himself; yet the eye of faith ever looks to the finger of God, and sees that the fall of the wicked is the work of God. William Cowper.
Ver. 119. The wicked of the earth. Why are they thus characterized? Because here they flourish; their names "shall be written in the earth" (Jeremiah 17:13); they grow great and of good reckoning and account here. Judas had the bag; they prosper in the world: "Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world" (Psalms 73:12). Here they are respected: "They are of the world, therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them" (1 John 4:5). Their hearts and minds are in the world (Matthew 6:19-20). It is their natural frame to be worldly, they only savour the things of the world; preferment, honour, greatness, it is their unum magnum; here is their pleasure, and here is their portion, their hope, and their happiness. A child of God looketh for another inheritance, immortal and undefiled. Thomas Manton.
Ver. 119. Like dross. The men of this world esteem God's children as the offscourings of the earth; so Paul (a chosen vessel of God) was disesteemed of men; but ye see here what the wicked are, in God's account, but dross indeed, which is the refuse of gold or silver. Let this confirm the godly against the contempt of men: only the Lord hath in his own hand the balance which weigheth men according as they are. William Cowper.
Ver. 119. Dross. 1. The dross obscures the lustre and glory of the metal, yea, covers it up, so that it appears not; rust and filth compass and hide the gold, so that neither the nature nor lustre of it can be seen. 2. Dross is a deceiving thing. It is like metal, but is not metal; the dross of silver is like it, and so the dross of gold is like gold, but the dross is neither silver nor gold. 3. Dross is not bettered by the fire: put it into the fire time after time, it abides so still. 4. Dross is a worthless thing. It is of no value base, vile, contemptible. 5. It is useless, and to be rejected. 6. Dross is an offensive thing: rust eats into the metal, endangers it, and makes the goldsmith to kindle the fire, to separate it from the gold and silver. Condensed from William Greenhill.
Ver. 119. Thy testimonies. So, very frequently, he calleth God's word, wherein there are both commands and promises: the commandments of God appertain to all, his testimonies belong to his children only; whereby more strictly, I understand his promises containing special declarations of his love and favour toward his own in Christ Jesus. William Cowper.
HINTS TO PREACHERS.
Ver. 119. An insight into the divine will, the best assistance in our journey through the earth. Or, what I am; where I am; where I am going; how am I to get there?
Ver. 119 (first clause). The stranger in the earth.
1. A short exposition. The text means,
(a) That the saint is not born of the earth.
(b) That the saint is not known on earth.
(c) The saint's portion is not upon the earth.
(d) The saint is compassed with sorrows and trials upon earth.
(e) The saint is soon to leave the earth.
2. A short application.
(a) Do not be like the world.
(b) Be prepared to be a sufferer on the earth.
(c) Sit loose to the world.
(d) Correspond with home.
(e) Cherish brotherly love for your fellow strangers on the earth.
(f) Hasten home.
(g) Press others to come with you.
Duncan Macgregor's Sermon in "The Shepherd in Israel, "1869.
Ver. 119. The stranger's prayer.
1. How he came to be a stranger in the earth. He was born again. He learned the manners of his foreign home. He spoke the language of his Fatherland; and so was misunderstood and rejected on earth.
2. How he longed after everything homelike. Home rules: "thy commandments." Home teaching: "hide not." Specially his Father's voice.
3. How in his loneliness he solaced himself by communication with his Father.
4. Would you not like to be a stranger? C.A.D.
HINTS TO PREACHERS.
Ver. 119. The saint's acquiescence in God's judgments. W.B.H.
Ver. 119.
1. Comparison of the wicked to dross.
2. Comparison of their doom to the putting away of dross.
3. The saint's admiration of divine justice as seen in the rejection of the wicked.
Ver. 119. God's putting away the wicked like dross.
1. God's judgments are a searching and separating fire.
2. The final judgment of the great day will complete the separating process.
3. The great result will be, the true metal and the dross, each gathered to its own place. J. F.
Psalms 119:120*
Ver. 120. My flesh trembleth for fear of thee. Such was his awe in the presence of the Judge of all the earth, whose judgment he had just now been considering, that he did exceedingly fear and quake. Even the grosser part of his being, his flesh, felt a solemn dread at the thought of offending one so good and great, who would so effectually sever the wicked from among the just. Alas, poor flesh, this is the highest thing to which thou canst attain!
And I am afraid of thy judgments. God's words of judgment are solemn, and his deeds of judgment are terrible; they may well make us afraid. At the thought of the Judge of all, his piercing eye, his books of record, his day of assize, and the operations of his justice, we may well cry for cleansed thoughts, and hearts, and ways, lest his judgments should light on us. When we see the great Refiner separating the precious from the vile, we may well feel a godly fear, lest we should be put away by him, and left to be trodden under his feet.
Love in the previous verse is quite consistent with fear in this verse: the fear which hath torment is cast out, but not the filial fear which leads to reverence and obedience.
The fifteenth letter, SAMECH, denotes a prop or pillar, and this agrees well with the subject matter of the strophe, in which God is twice implored to uphold his servant (Psalms 119:16-17), while the utter destruction of those who make light of his law, or encourage scepticism regarding it, may be compared to the fate of the Philistine lords, on whom Samson brought down the roof of the house where they were making merry, by overthrowing the pillars which supported it. Neale and Littledale.
Ver. 120. My flesh trembleth for fear of thee. Instead of exulting over those who fell under God's displeasure he humbleth himself. What we read and hear of the judgments of God upon wicked people should make us (1) To reverence his terrible majesty, and to stand in awe of him. Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God? 1 Samuel 6:20. (2) To fear lest we offend him, and become obnoxious to his wrath. Good men have need to be restrained from sin by the terrors of the Lord; especially when judgment begins at the house of God, and hypocrites are discovered, and put away as dross. Matthew Henry.
Ver 120. My flesh trembleth for fear of thee, etc. At the presence of Jehovah, when he appeareth in judgment, the earth trembleth and is still. His best servants are not exempted from an awful dread, upon such occasions; scenes of this kind, shown in vision to the prophets, cause their flesh to quiver, and all their bones to shake. Encompassed with a frail body, and a sinful world, we stand in need of every possible tie; and the affections both of fear and love must be employed, to restrain us from transgression; we must, at the same time, "love God's testimonies, and fear his Judgments." George Horne.
Ver. 120 My flesh trembleth for fear of thee, etc. In prayer, in the evening I had such near and terrific views of God's judgments upon sinners in hell, that my flesh trembled for fear of them...I flew trembling to Jesus Christ as if the flames were taking hold of me: Oh! Christ will indeed save me or else I perish. Henry Martyn, 1781-1812.
Ver. 120. My flesh trembleth for fear of thee. Familiarity with men breeds contempt; familiarity with God, not so: none reverence the Lord more than they who know him best and are most familiar with him. William Cowper.
Ver. 120,116. My flesh trembleth for fear of thee; I am Afraid....let me not be ashamed of my hope. True religion consists in a proper mixture of fear of God, and of hope in his mercy; and wherever either of these is entirely wanting, there can be no true religion. God has joined these things, and we ought by no means to put them asunder. He cannot take pleasure in those who fear him with a slavish fear, without hoping in his mercy, because they seem to consider him as a cruel and tyrannical being, who has no mercy or goodness in his nature; and, besides, they implicitly charge him with falsehood, by refusing to believe and hope in his invitations and offers of mercy. On the other hand, he cannot be pleased with those who pretend to hope in his mercy without fearing him; for they insult him by supposing that there is nothing in him which ought to be feared; and, in addition to this, they make him a liar, by disbelieving his awful threatenings denounced against sinners, and call in question his authority, by refusing to obey him. Those only who both fear him and hope in his mercy, give him the honour that is due to his name. Edward Payson.
Ver. 120. Trembles or shudders, strictly used of the hair as standing erect in terror (comp. Job 4:15). J.J. Stewart Perowne.
HINTS TO PREACHERS.
Ver. 120. The judgments of God on the wicked cause in the righteous,
1. Love.
2. Awe.
3. Fear.
Ver. 120.
1. Describe the true character of the fear.
(a) It is the fear of reverence for God's authority and power.
(b) It is the fear of horror against sin as meriting judgment.
2. Show its compatibility with filial love.
(a) The more we love God the more firmly we believe in the certainty and awfulness of his judgments.
(b) The more we love God the more will we fear to arouse his chastising rod against ourselves.
(a) In fact, if we love not God, we shall have no fear lest sin should involve us in judgment.
3. Commend it.
(a) As it proves a just sense of sin's desert.
(b) As it shows a true appreciation of God's righteousness.
(c) As it is not a fear that hath torment, but a fear which increases watchfulness, and walks hand in hand with perfect confidence in saying grace. J.F.
Psalms 119:121*
Ver. 121. I have done judgment and justice. This was a great thing for an Eastern ruler to say at any time, for these despots mostly cared more far gain than justice. Some of them altogether neglected their duty, and would not even do judgment at all, preferring their pleasures to their duties; and many more of them sold their judgments to the highest bidders by taking bribes, or regarding the persons of men. Some rulers gave neither judgment nor justice, others gave judgment without justice, but David gave judgment and justice, and saw that his sentences were carried out. He could claim before the Lord that he had dealt out even handed justice, and was doing so still. On this fact he founded a plea with which he backed the prayer "Leave me not to mine oppressors." He who, as far as his power goes, has been doing right, may hope to be delivered from his superiors when attempts are made by them to do him wrong. If I will not oppress others, I may hopefully pray that others may not oppress me. A course of upright conduct is one which gives us boldness in appealing to the Great Judge for deliverance from the injustice of others. Nor is this kind of pleading to be censured as self righteous: when we are dealing with God as to our shortcomings, we use a very different tone from that with which we face the censures of our fellow men; when they are in the question, and we are guiltless towards them, we are justified in pleading our innocence.
Ver. 121. This commences a new division of the Psalm indicated by the Hebrew letter Ain a letter which cannot well be represented in the English alphabet, as there is, in fact, no letter in our language exactly corresponding with it. It would be best represented probably by what are called "breathings" in Greek. Albert Barnes.
Ver. 121. I have done judgment against the wicked, "and justice" towards the good. Simon de Muis, 1587-1644.
Ver. 121. I have done judgment and justice. Here the view of David in his judicial capacity might present itself to us; and if so, we have David in the midst of large experience; for the words would take in a large portion of his life. How blessed were their reflections, if, after a long reign, all sovereign rulers could thus appeal unto God. It should be so; for to him all shall be accountable at last. Even although we only conceive of David as speaking in the character of a private man, the sentiment is worthy of all consideration... For parents to say this of their dealings with their children, masters of servants, a man of his neighbours, is very excellent. John Stephen.
Ver. 121. Judgment and "justice, "are often put in Scripture for the same, and when put together, the latter is as an epithet to the former. "I have done judgment and justice, "that is, I have done judgment justly, exactly, to a hair. Joseph Caryl.
Ver. 121.
Do right and be a king,
Be this thy brazen bulwark of defence,
Still to preserve thy conscious innocence,
Nor ever turn pale with guilt. Francis's Horace.
Ver. 121. If our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence before God: 1 John 3:21. This "testimony of conscience" has often been "the rejoicing" of the Lord's people, when suffering under unmerited reproach or "proud oppression." They have been enabled to plead it without offence in the presence of their holy, heart searching God; nay, even when, in the near prospect of the great and final account, they might well have been supposed to shrink from the strict and unerring scrutiny of their Omniscient Judge. Perhaps, however, we are not sufficiently aware of the importance of moral integrity in connexion with our spiritual comfort. Mark the boldness which it gave David in prayer: "I have done judgment and justice: leave me not to mine oppressors." Charles Bridges.
Ver. 121. Leave me not to mine oppressors. That is, maintain me against those who would wrong me, because I do right; interpose thyself between me and my enemies, as if thou wert my pledge. Impartial justice upon oppressors sometimes lays judges open to oppression; but yet they who run greatest hazards in zeal for God shall find God ready to be their surety, when they pray, "be surety for thy servant, "as in the next verse. Abraham Wright.
Ver. 121-122. I have done judgment and justice; but, that I may always do it, and never fail in doing it, "uphold thy servant unto good, "by directing him, so that he may always relish what is good, and then the consequence will be that "the proud will not calumniate me; "for he that is well established "unto good, "and so made up that nothing but what is good and righteous will be agreeable to him, he will so persevere that he will have no reason for fearing "the proud that calumniate him." Robert Bellarmine.
HINTS TO PREACHERS.
Verses 121-128. The just man's prayer against injustice. Out of the prison of oppression he appeals to God to be his surely (Psalms 119:121-122); utters his weary longing for deliverance (Psalms 119:123-125); points to the "time" (Psalms 119:126); and professes his supreme love for God's law in contrast to the oppressors' contempt of it (Psalms 119:127-128).
Outlines Upon Keywords of the Psalm, by Pastor C. A. Davis.
Ver. 121-122. The double appeal.
1. Of conscious integrity: "I have done judgment, "etc.
2. Of conscious deficiency: "Be surety for thy servant for good." C.A.D.
Psalms 119:122*
Ver. 122. Be surety for thy servant for good. Answer for me. Do not leave thy poor servant to die by the hand of his enemy and thine. Take up my interests and weave them with thine own, and stand for me. As my Master, undertake thy servants' cause, and represent me before the faces of haughty men till they see what an august ally I have in the Lord my God.
Let not the proud oppress me. Thine interposition will answer the purpose of my rescue: when the proud see that thou art my advocate they will hide their heads. We should have been crushed beneath our proud adversary the devil if our Lord Jesus had not stood between us and the accuser, and become a surety for us. It is by his suretyship that we escape like a bird from the snare of the fowler. What a blessing to be able to leave our matters in our Surety's hands, knowing that all will be well, since he has an answer for every accuser, a rebuke for every reviler.
Good men dread oppression, for it makes even a wise man mad, and they send up their cries to heaven for deliverance; nor shall they cry in vain, for the Lord will undertake the cause of his servants, and fight their battles against the proud. The word "servant" is wisely used,as a plea for favour for himself, and the word "proud" as an argument against his enemies. It seems to be inevitable that proud men should become oppressors, and that they should take most delight in oppressing really gracious men.
Ver. 122. Be surety for thy servant for good. What David prays to God to be for him, that Christ is for all his people: Hebrews 7:22. He drew nigh to God, struck hands with him, gave his word and bond to pay the debts of his people; put himself in their law place and stead, and became responsible to law and justice for them; engaged to make satisfaction for their sins, to bring in everlasting righteousness for their justification, and to preserve and keep them, and bring them safe to eternal glory and happiness; and this was being a surety for them for good. John Gill.
Ver. 122. Be surety for thy servant for good. There are three expositions of this clause, as noting the end, the cause, the event.
1. Undertake for me, ut sire bonus et justus, so Rabbi Arama on the place; surety for me that I may be good. Theodoret expounds it, "Undertake that I shall make good my resolution of keeping thy law." He that joins, undertakes; though we have precepts and without God's undertaking we shall never be able to perform our duty.
2. Undertake for me to help me in doing good; so some read it: would not take his part in an evil cause. To commend a wrong to God's protection, is to provoke him to hasten our punishment, to us serve under our oppressors; but, when we have a good cause, and good conscience, he will own us. We cannot expect he should maintain us and bear us out in the Devil's service, wherein we have entangled selves by our own sin.
3. Be with me for good: so it is often rendered: "Shew me a token for good" (Psalms 86:17); "Pray not for this people for good" (Jeremiah 11:14); so, "Remember me, O my God, for good" (Nehemiah 13:31). So here "Be surety for thy servant for good." Thomas Manton.
Ver. 122. Be surety for thy servant for good. It is the prayer Hezekiah in his trouble, "O Lord, I am oppressed, "undertake for, (Isaiah 38:14); it is the prayer of Job for a "daysman" to between him and God (Job 9:33); it is the cry of the church before Incarnation for the appearance of a Divine Mediator; it is the confidence of every faithful soul since that blessed time in the perpetual of our Great High Priest in heaven, which is to us the pledge of blessedness. Agellius and Cocceius, in Neale and Littledale.
Ver. 122. Be surety for thy servant for good. His meaning is, thou knowest how unjustly I am calumniated and evil spoken of in parts: where I am not present or where I may not answer for myself, answer thou for me. William Cowper.
Ver. 122. Be surety for thy servant for good. The keen eye of world may possibly not be able to affix any blot upon my outward confession; but, "if thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities; O Lord, who shall stand?" The debt is continually accumulating, and the prospect of payment as distant as ever. I might well expect to be "left to my oppressors, "I should pay all that was due unto my Lord. But behold! "Where is the fury of the oppressor?" Isaiah 51:13. The surety is found the debt is paid the ransom is accepted the sinner is free. There was a voice heard heaven "Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom", Job 33:24. The Son of God himself became Surety for a stranger, and "smarted for it, "Proverbs 11:15. At an infinite cost the cost of his precious blood he delivered me from "mine oppressors" sin Satan world death hell. Charles Bridges.
Ver. 122. Some observe that this is the only verse throughout the whole psalm wherein the Word is not mentioned under the name of "law "judgments, ""statutes, "or the like terms, and they make this note it, "Where the Law faileth, there Christ is a surety of a better testament. There are those that render the words thus, "Dulcify, or, delight thy servant good, "that is, make him joyful and comfortable in the pursuit and of that which is good. John Trapp.
HINTS TO PREACHERS.
Ver. 122.
1. Suretyship entreated.
2. Good expected.
3. Obligation acknowledged: "thy servant."
Ver. 122 (first clause). After explaining the Psalmist's meaning as shown in the preceding verse, this sentence may be used for a sermon upon the Suretyship of Christ, by a reference to Hebrews 7:22.
1. A Surety for good wanted the deeply felt, though, perhaps, undefined want of a sin burdened soul.