--- title: "Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 1: Genesis to Jeremiah" author: "Adam Clarke" languages: [en] shelf: "Commentaries" section: 683 of 914 url: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/683/ cite: "Adam Clarke, Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 1: Genesis to Jeremiah, section 683. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/683/" --- # Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 1: Genesis to Jeremiah *Adam Clarke* Clarke's learned notes on the Hebrew and Greek, verse by verse, from Genesis to Revelation: volume 1 of 2. ## 683. Psalms · 137 of 159 Source: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/683/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/683/#p-N ### Verse 103 [¶1] Sweeter than honey to my mouth! - What deep communion must this man have had with his Maker! These expressions show a soul filled with God. O Christians, how vastly superior are our privileges! and alas! how vastly inferior in general, are our consolations, our communion with God, and our heavenly-mindedness! ### Verse 104 [¶3] Through thy precepts I get understanding - Spiritual knowledge increases while we tread in the path of obedience. Obedience is the grand means of growth and instruction. Obedience trades with the talent of grace, and thus grace becomes multiplied. ### Verse 105 [¶5] Thy word is a lamp - This is illustrated thus by Solomon, [Pro 6:23] : "The commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life." God's word is a candle which may be held in the hand to give us light in every dark place and chamber; and it is a general light shining upon all his works, and upon all our ways. ### Verse 106 [¶7] I have sworn - Perhaps this means no more than that he had renewed his covenant with God; he had bound himself to love and serve him only. ### Verse 107 [¶9] I am afflicted very much - עד מאד ad meod, "to extremity, excessively." We are in the most oppressive captivity. [¶10] Quicken me - Deliver us from our bondage. ### Verse 108 [¶12] The freewill-offerings of my mouth - נדבות פי nidboth pi, the voluntary offerings which I have promised. Or, As we are in captivity, and cannot sacrifice to thee, but would if we could; accept the praises of our mouth, and the purposes of our hearts, instead of the sacrifices and offerings which we would bring to thy altar, but cannot. ### Verse 109 [¶14] My soul is continually in my hand - נפשי naphshi, my life; that is, it is in constant danger, every hour I am on the confines of death. [¶15] The expression signifies to be in continual danger. So Xenarchus in Athenaeus, lib. xiii., c. 4: Εν τῃ χειρι την ψυχην εχοντα, "having the life in the hand;" which signifies continual danger and jeopardy. There is some thing like this in the speech of Achilles to Ulysses, Hom. Il. ix., ver. 322: - Αιει εμην ψυχην παραβαλλομενος πολεμιζειν· "Always presenting my life to the dangers of the fight." [¶16] My soul is in thy hand, is the reading of the Syriac, Septuagint, Ethiopic, and Arabic; but this is a conjectural and useless emendation. ### Verse 110 [¶18] The wicked have laid a snare - Thus their lives were continually exposed to danger. ### Verse 111 [¶20] As a heritage - In [Psa 119:57] he says, God is my portion, חלקי chelki. In this he says, Thy testimonies have I taken as a heritage, נחל nachal. To these he was heir; he had inherited them from his fathers, and he was determined to leave them to his family for ever. If a man can leave nothing to his child but a Bible, in that he bequeaths him the greatest treasure in the universe. ### Verse 112 [¶22] I have inclined mine heart - I used the power God gave me, and turned to his testimonies with all mine heart. When we work with God, we can do all things. ### Verse 113 [¶24] I hate vain thoughts - I have hated סעפים seaphim, "tumultuous, violent men." I abominate all mobs and insurrections, and troublers of the public peace. ### Verse 114 [¶26] Mv hiding place - My asylum. [¶27] And my shield - There is a time in which I may be called to suffer in secret; then thou hidest me. There may be a time in which thou callest me to fight; then thou art my Shield and Protector. ### Verse 116 [¶29] Depart from me - Odi profanum vulgus, etarceo, I abominate the profane, and will have no communion with them. I drive them away from my presence. [¶30] Uphold me - סמכני sammecheni, prop me up; give me thyself to lean upon. ### Verse 117 [¶32] Hold thou me up - I shall grow weary and faint in the way, if not strengthened and supported by thee. [¶33] And I shall be safe - No soul can be safe, unless upheld by thee. ### Verse 118 [¶35] Thou hast trodden down - All thy enemies will be finally trodden down under thy feet. [¶36] Their deceit is falsehood - Their elevation is a lie. The wicked often become rich and great, and affect to be happy, but it is all false; they have neither a clean nor approving conscience. Nor can they have thy approbation; and, consequently, no true blessedness. ### Verse 119 [¶38] Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth like dross - There is no true metal in them: when they are tried by the refining fire, they are burnt up; they fly off in fumes, and come to no amount. There is probably an allusion here to the scum or scorias at the surface of melting metals, which is swept oft previously to casting the metal into the mould. [¶39] Therefore I love thy testimonies - Thy testimonies will stand; and thy people will stand; because thou who didst give the one, and who upholdest the other, art pure, immovable, and eternal. ### Verse 120 [¶41] My flesh trembleth for fear of thee - I know thou art a just and holy God: I know thou requirest truth in the inner parts. I know that thou art a Spirit, and that they who worship thee must worship thee in spirit and in truth; and I am often alarmed lest I fall short. It is only an assurance of my interest in thy mercy that can save me from distressing fears and harassing doubts. It is our privilege to know we are in God's favor; and it is not less so to maintain a continual filial fear of offending him. A true conception of God's justice and mercy begets reverence. ### Verse 121 [¶43] I have done judgment and justice - I have given the best decision possible on every case that came before me; and I have endeavored to render to all their due.