Verse 58
Fourthly. Being determined in his heart, he tells us, I entreated thy favor with my whole heart. He found he had sinned; that he needed mercy; that he had no time to lose; that he must be importunate; and therefore he sought that mercy with all his soul.
Fifthly. Feeling that he deserved nothing but wrath, that he had no right to any good, he cries for mercy in the way that God had promised to convey it: "Be merciful unto me!" And to this he is encouraged only by the promise of God; and therefore prays, "Be merciful unto me According to thy Word."
Verse 57
Sixthly. To keep himself firm in his present resolutions, he binds himself unto the Lord. "I have said that I would keep thy words." Thy vows are upon me, and I must not add to my guilt by breaking them.
Seventhly. He did not seek in vain; God reveals himself in the fullness of blessedness to him, so that he is enabled to exclaim, Thou art my portion, O Lord! My whole soul trusts in thee, my spirit rests supremely satisfied with thee. I have no other inheritance, nor do I desire any. Here then is the way to seek, the way to find, and the way to be happy. Other effects of this conversion may be seen below.
Verse 61
The bands of the wicked have robbed me - חבלי chebley, the cables, cords, or snares of the wicked. They have hunted us like wild beasts; many they have taken for prey, and many they have destroyed.
Verse 62
At midnight I will rise - We are so overpowered with a sense of thy goodness, that in season and out of season we will return thee thanks.
Verse 63
I am a companion - This was the natural consequence of his own conversion; he abandoned the workers of iniquity, and associated with them that feared the Lord.
Verse 64
The earth is full of thy mercy - What an astonishing operation has the grace of God! In the midst of want, poverty, affliction, and bondage, it makes those who possess it happy! When Christ dwells in the heart by faith, we have nothing but goodness around us. Others may complain; but to us even the earth appears full of the mercy of the Lord.
Verse 65
Thou hast dealt well with thy servant - Whatsoever thy word has promised, thou hast fulfilled. Every servant of God can testify that God has done him nothing but good, and therefore he can speak good of his name.
Verse 66
Teach me good judgment and knowledge - טוב טעם ודעי למדני tob taam vedaath lammnedeni. Teach me (to have) a good taste and discernment. Let me see and know the importance of Divine things, and give me a relish for them.
Verse 67
Before I was afflicted I went astray - Many have been humbled under affliction, and taught to know themselves and humble themselves before God, that probably without this could never have been saved; after this, they have been serious and faithful. Affliction sanctified is a great blessing; unsanctified, it is an additional curse.
Verse 68
Thou art good - And because thou art good, thou doest good; and because thou delightest to do good, teach me thy statutes.
Verse 69
The proud have forged a lie - The poor captives in Babylon had their conduct and motives continually misrepresented, and themselves belied and calumniated.
Verse 70
Their heart is as fat as grease - They are egregiously stupid, they have fed themselves without fear; they are become flesh-brutalized, and given over to vile affections, and have no kind of spiritual relish: but I delight in thy law - I have, through thy goodness, a spiritual feeling and a spiritual appetite.
Verse 71
It is good for me that I have been afflicted - See on [Psa 119:67] (note).
Verse 72
The law of thy mouth is better - Who can say this? Who prefers the law of his God, the Christ that bought him, and the heaven to which he hopes to go, when he can live no longer upon earth, to thousands of gold and silver? Yea, how many are there who, like Judas, sell their Savior even for thirty pieces of silver? Hear this, ye lovers of the world and of money!
As the letter ט teth begins but few words, not forty, in the Hebrew language, there is less variety under this division than under any of the preceding.
Verse 73
Thy hands have made me - Thou hast formed the mass out of which I was made; and fashioned me - thou hast given me that particular form that distinguishes me from all thy other creatures.
Give me understanding - As thou hast raised me above the beasts that perish in my form and mode of life, teach me that I may live for a higher and nobler end, in loving, serving, and enjoying thee for ever. Show me that I was made for heaven, not for earth.
Verse 74
They that fear thee - They who are truly religious will be glad - will rejoice, at this farther proof of the saving power of God.
Verse 75
I know - that thy judgments are right - All the dispensations of thy providence are laid in wisdom, and executed in mercy: let me see that it is through this wisdom and mercy that I have been afflicted.
Verse 76
Thy merciful kindness - Let me derive my comfort and happiness from a diffusion of thy love and mercy, חסדך chasdecha, thy exuberant goodness, through my soul.
Verse 77
Let thy tender mercies - רחמיך rachameycha, thy fatherly and affectionate feelings.
Verse 78
Let the proud be ashamed - To reduce a proud man to shame, is to humble him indeed. Let them be confounded. Without cause - without any colourable pretext, have they persecuted me.
Verse 79
Let those that fear thee - The truly pious.