Turn unto me - Seeing thy work upon me, they shall acknowledge me as a brand plucked from the burning.
Verse 80
Let my heart be sound in thy statutes - Let it be perfect - all given up to thee, and all possessed by thee.
Verse 81
My soul fainteth for thy salvation - I have longed so incessantly after thy salvation - the complete purification and restoration of my soul, that my very spirits are exhausted. "My heartstrings groan with deep complaint;My soul lies panting, Lord, for thee;
And every limb and every jointStretches for perfect purity."
Verse 82
Mine eyes fail - With looking up for the fulfillment of thy promise, as my heart fails in longing after thy presence.
Verse 83
Like a bottle in the smoke - In the eastern countries their bottles are made of skins; one of these hung in the smoke must soon be parched and shrivelled up. This represents the exhausted state of his body and mind by long bodily affliction and mental distress.
Verse 84
How many are the days of thy servants - Dost thou not know that I have few to live, and they are full of trouble?
When wilt thou execute judgment on them that persecute me? - Shall not the pride of the Chaldeans be brought down, the arm of their strength broken, and thy people delivered? In this verse there is none of the ten words used in reference to God's law.
Verse 85
The proud have digged pits - The Vulgate, Septuagint, Ethiopic, and Arabic, translate this verse thus: "They have recited to me unholy fables, which are not according to thy law." They wish us to receive their system of idolatry, and the tales concerning their gods; but these are not according to thy law. The Anglo-Saxon is the same: They quothed me the unrightwise spells; but no so so law thine.
Verse 87
They had almost consumed me - Had it not been for thy mercy, we had all been destroyed under this oppressive captivity.
Verse 88
Quicken me - Make and keep me alive.
So shall I keep - Without the spiritual life there is no obedience; we must therefore rise from the dead, and be quickened by the Spirit of Christ.
Verse 89
For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven - Thy purposes are all settled above, and they shall all be fulfilled below.
Verse 90
Thy faithfulness - That which binds thee to accomplish the promise made. And this shall be, not for an age merely, but from generation to generation; for thy promises refer to the whole duration of time.
Thou hast established the earth - Thou hast given it its appointed place in the system, and there it abideth.
Verse 91
They continue this day - This verse should be thus read: All are thy servants; therefore, they continue this day according to thy ordinances. "All the celestial bodies are governed by thy power. Thou hast given an ordinance or appointment to each, and each fulfils thy will in the place thou hast assigned it."
Verse 92
Unless thy law had been my delights - Had we not had the consolations of religion, we should long ago have died of a broken heart.
Verse 93
I will never forget thy precepts - How can I? It is by them I live.
Verse 94
I am thine, save me - He who can say this need fear no evil. In all trials, temptations, dangers, afflictions, persecutions, I am thine. Thy enemies wish to destroy me! Lord, look to thy servant; thy servant looks to thee. O how sovereign is such a word against all the evils of life! I am Thine! therefore save thine Own!
Verse 96
I have seen an end of all perfection - Literally, "Of all consummations I have seen the end:" as if one should say, Every thing of human origin has its limits and end, howsoever extensive, noble, and excellent. All arts and sciences, languages, inventions, have their respective principles, have their limits and ends; as they came from man and relate to man, they shall end with man: but thy law, thy revelation, which is a picture of thy own mind, an external manifestation of thy own perfections, conceived in thy infinite ideas, in reference to eternal objects, is exceeding broad; transcends the limits of creation; and extends illimitably into eternity! This has been explained as if it meant: All the real or pretended perfection that men can arrive at in this life is nothing when compared with what the law of God requires. This saying is false in itself, and is no meaning of the text. Whatever God requires of man he can, by his grace, work in man.
Verse 97
O how love I thy law - This is one of the strongest marks of a gracious and pious heart, cast in the mould of obedience. Such love the precepts of Christ: in his commandments they delight; and this delight is shown by their making them frequent subjects of their meditation.
Verse 98
Wiser than mine enemies - Some have thought that this Psalm was composed by Daniel, and that he speaks of himself in these verses. Being instructed by God, he was found to have more knowledge than any of the Chaldeans, magicians, soothsayers, etc., etc.; and his wisdom soon appeared to the whole nation vastly superior to theirs.
Verse 99
I have more understanding than all my teachers - As he had entered into the spiritual nature of the law of God, and saw into the exceeding breadth of the commandment, he soon became wiser than any of the priests or even prophets who instructed him.
Verse 100
I understand more than the ancients - God had revealed to him more of that hidden wisdom which was in his law than he had done to any of his predecessors. And this was most literally true of David, who spoke more fully about Christ than any who had gone before him; or, indeed, followed after him. His compositions are, I had almost said, a sublime Gospel.
Verse 101
I have refrained my feet - By avoiding all sin, the spirit of wisdom still continues to rest upon me.