Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 19:7
The law of the LORD [is] perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD [is] sure, making wise the simple.
7. The law of the Lord ] Instruction, teaching, doctrine, are the ideas connected with the word torah, rendered law. See on Psa 1:2. Like Jehovah’s work (Deu 32:4), and His way (Psa 18:30), it is perfect, complete, flawless; without defect or error; a guide which can neither mislead nor fail. Observe that the name Jehovah now takes the place of God ( Psa 19:1); for we have entered the sphere of the special revelation to Israel.
converting the soul ] Rather, as R.V., restoring the soul; refreshing and invigorating man’s true self (cp. Psa 23:3); like food to the hungry (Lam 1:11; Lam 1:19); like comfort to the sorrowful and afflicted (Lam 1:16; Rth 4:15).
the testimony ] The ‘law,’ regarded as bearing witness to Jehovah’s will, and man’s duty (Exo 25:16; Exo 25:21). It is sure, not variable or uncertain. Cp. Psa 93:5, Psa 111:7.
the simple ] A character often mentioned in Proverbs (Pro 1:4, &c.): the man whose mind is open to the entrance of good or evil. He has not closed his heart against instruction, but he has no fixed principle to repel temptation. He needs to be made wise. Cp. Psa 119:130; 2Ti 3:15.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
7 11. Yet more wonderful than this declaration of God’s glory, more beneficent than the sun’s life-giving light and heat, is Jehovah’s revelation of His will, which quickens and educates man’s moral nature. Its essential characteristics and its beneficent influences are described with an enthusiastic and loving admiration.
Note the peculiar rhythm of Psa 19:7-9, in which each line is divided by a well-marked caesura. Cp. Lam 1:1 ff. See Introd. p. lx.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The law of the Lord – Margin, doctrine. The word used here – torah – is that which is commonly employed in the Old Testament with reference to the law of God, and is usually rendered law. The word properly means instruction, precept, from a verb signifying to teach. It is then used with reference to instruction or teaching in regard to conduct, and is thus applied to all that God has communicated to guide mankind. It does not here, nor does it commonly, refer exclusively to the commands of God, but it includes all that God has revealed to teach and guide us. It refers here to revealed truth as contradistinguished from the truth made known by the works of creation. Compare the note at Psa 1:2. There are six epithets used in these verses Psa 19:7-9 to describe the revealed truth of God, all referring to the same truths, but with reference to some distinct view of the truths themselves, or of their effect on the soul: to wit, law, testimony, statutes, commandment, fear, and judgments. Of the revealed truth of God, thus characterized by distinct epithets, a particular statement is first made in each case in regard to the truth itself as viewed in that special aspect, and then the effects of that revealed truth on the soul are described corresponding with that truth as so viewed. Thus, of the law of the Lord it is said:
(a) that it is perfect,
(b) that it converts the soul;
Of the testimony of the Lord:
(a) that it is sure,
(b) that it makes the simple wise;
Of the statutes of the Lord:
(a) that they are right,
(b) that they rejoice the heart;
Of the commandment of the Lord:
(a) that it is pure,
(b) that it enlightens the eyes;
Of the fear of the Lord:
(a) that it is clean,
(b) that it endures forever;
Of the judgments of the Lord:
(a) that they are true and righteous,
(b) that they are more to be desired than gold, and that they are sweeter than honey and the honeycomb; that people are warned by them, and that in keeping them there is great reward.
Is perfect – On the meaning of the word used here, see the note at Job 1:1. The meaning is that it lacks nothing in order to its completeness; nothing in order that it might be what it should be. It is complete as a revelation of divine truth; it is complete as a rule of conduct. As explained above, this refers not only to the law of God as the word is commonly employed now, but to the whole of divine truth as revealed. It is absolutely true; it is adapted with consummate wisdom to the wants of man; it is an unerring guide of conduct. There is nothing there which would lead men into error or sin; there is nothing essential for man to know which may not be found there.
Converting the soul – The particular illustration of the perfection of the law is seen in the fact that it converts the soul; that is, that it turns it from the ways of sin to holiness. The glory of the works of God – the heavens, the firmament, the sun, as described in the previous verses – is, that they convey the knowledge of God around the world, and that the world is filled with light and life under the genial warmth of the sun; the glory of the law, or the revealed truth of God, is, that it bears directly on the soul of man, turning him from the error of his ways. and leading him to pursue a life of holiness. It is not said of the law of God that it does this by its own power, nor can there be any design here to exclude the doctrine of the divine agency on the soul; but the statement is, that when the law of God is applied to the heart, or when the truth of God is made to bear on that heart, the legitimate effect is seen in turning the sinner from the error of his ways. This effect of truth is seen everywhere, where it is brought into contact with the heart of man. By placing this first, also, the psalmist may perhaps have intended to intimate that this is the primary design of the revelation which God has given to mankind; that while great and important effects are produced by the knowledge which goes forth from the works of God, converting power goes forth only from the law of God, or from revealed truth. It is observable that none of the effects here Psa 19:7-12 ascribed to the revealed truth of God, under the various forms in which it is contemplated, are ascribed to the knowledge which goes forth from the contemplation of his works, Psa 19:1-6. It is not scientific truth which converts men, but revealed truth.
The testimony of the Lord – The word used here – eduth – means properly that which is borne witness to, and is applied to revealed truth as that which God bears witness to. In reference to the truth of what is stated he is the witness or the voucher; it is that which he declares to be true. Hence, the term is applicable to all that is revealed as being that which he affirms to be true, and the word may be applied to historical truths; or to precepts or laws; or to statements respecting himself, respecting man, respecting the way of salvation, respecting the fallen world. On all these subjects he has borne witness in his word, pledging his veracity as to the correctness of the statements which are thus made. The word, therefore, refers to the whole of what is revealed in his word, considered as that to the truth of which he bears witness. The word is often used in this sense: Psa 81:5; Psa 119:14, Psa 119:31, Psa 119:36, Psa 119:88, Psa 119:99,Psa 119:111, Psa 119:129, Psa 119:144, Psa 119:157; Jer 44:23. It is often also applied to the two tables of the law laid up in the ark, which is hence called the ark of the testimony: Exo 16:34; Exo 25:16, Exo 25:21-22; Exo 26:33; Exo 30:26, et saepe.
Is sure – Established, firm. That testimony, or that revealed truth, is not unsettled, vacillating, uncertain. It is so certain that it may be relied on; so well established, that it cannot be shaken.
Making wise the simple – The word rendered simple – pethy – means simplicity, folly, Pro 1:22; and then, simple in the sense of being open to persuasion, easily seduced: Pro 7:7; Pro 22:3; Pro 27:12; Psa 116:6. Then it means credulous, Pro 14:15; and inexperienced, Psa 19:7. Gesenius, Lexicon. The meaning here is evidently inexperienced in the sense of being ignorant or untaught. It refers to those who need spiritual guidance and direction, and is applicable to men as they are by nature, as untaught, or needing instruction, but with the idea that their minds are susceptible to impressions, or are open to conviction. Those who are naturally destitute of wisdom, it makes wise. The statement is, that that testimony, or revealed truth, makes them wise in the knowledge of God, or imparts to them real instruction.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 19:7
The law of the Lord is perfect.
The best book
I would not have you forget the true and proper mission of the Bible,–to reveal saving truth. But it is well to remember that, even as a classic, no book equals the Word of God. The Bible has exercised a remarkable influence in the department of literature. The English tongue would lose its grandest monument if the works which the Bible has inspired were blotted from it. Religious books, of course, get everything from the Bible; but writers with no distinctly religious object are enormously beholden to its inspiration. There is not a notable book–a book of transcendent genius or power–which has not culled from the Word of God either thought or illustration or telling phrase. We need not, even in an age of advanced education and culture, be ashamed of the Bible. Its study will confer as much credit on our intellect as on our piety. We are not such Bible readers as were our fathers. This is one evil of the multiplication of books. In this generation we are better educated, we know more than our fathers. But have we the same robust and vigorous intellects? It seems to me that there is a deterioration in this respect along with our neglect of Bible study. There are three things which should make the Bible popular among young people–
1. Its fervid style. There is not a dull passage, if we except a few chronologies and such like, from Genesis to Revelation.
2. Its exuberance of illustration. It is a book of pictures.
3. Its practical wisdom. If you live seventy years you will not have gathered all the practical wisdom you may learn now from studying the Bible. Do not forget that you may find in the Bible eternal life. (A. F. Forrest.)
The Bible a book for all nations
Of what is not the Bible the foundation and the inspiration? To what interest of human life does it not give its great benediction? The system of doctrine and duty which the Bible contains is a fixed final system, not a progressive one, and one introductory to a higher, and the Bible will never become obsolete, and will never be supplemented by any other revelation. This proposition has been most flatly contradicted. It is argued that the Bible has accomplished a very good purpose in the world, but it cannot long satisfy the worlds need, because it does not keep pace with the worlds progress. By and by we shall need a broader basis on which to construct the religion of the future. A time, it is said, must come when the theological will be too narrow in its range for the demands of the race, and too dogmatic in its tone for the more liberal, general, comprehensive religion of the future. We are invited to mark the universality of this beautiful law of progressive development in nature, in literature, in the fine and in the useful arts, in human laws and institutions. But those who reason thus overlook the distinction between the apparent and the real progress of man. The true progress of man is the progress of mails self, apart from all organisation. Those who eulogise modern progress confine their attention to what man does to promote his convenience and comfort. How absurd it is to mark the progress of a man by that which a man manipulates and moulds and makes subservient to his use! The Bible is the book for the soul, and God put into it exactly those truths that He knew were calculated to regenerate the soul. Unless the soul needs to be made over, and given new facilities, you do not want a new Bible, or any annex to the old one. There is another great distinction to keep in mind. While the Bible is fixed and will never be supplemented, the principles contained in it are admissible of universal and of endless application, and for that reason the Bible will never need to be supplemented. It is with the Bible as it is with nature. No new laws have been given to nature from the beginning. And yet how constantly are men discovering laws that for long ages were hidden from human eyes: and men of science will tell you that there are now many latent forces in nature awaiting the genius of the occasion when they shall be discovered and applied to the use of man. What the world wants is not a new Bible, or new principles, or new truths, but the recognition of the old, and the legitimate application of the old to the purposes for which they were intended. So when new forms of old errors arise, we do not want a new Bible to find new truths with which to antagonise these old errors. The fact is, there are no new forms of scepticism. We do not need any other Bible, or a supplement to the old, because the Bible is a book that has a friendly voice and a helping hand to every race. Here is a book equally adapted to the Oriental and the Occidental mind; adapted alike to the Mongolian and the Circassian mind; adapted to all the different divisions into which society is divided. The Bible is sufficient for the worlds need, because it goes down to the very foundation of mans mental and moral structure, and takes hold of that which is sinful in his souls life. As long as sin and sorrow are in the world, so long will this book take hold of that which is deepest, and truest, and profoundest in the souls immortal life. And the Bible gives us a perfect ideal in the character of our blessed Saviour. Moreover, we do not need a new Bible, because we do not want any new motives to the practice of the greatest virtue. (Moses T. Hoge, D. D.)
The perfect law
The law of the Lord is the Bible phrase for describing the duty which God requires of man. This law embraces all those principles by which our inward life of disposition and desire and our outward life of word and action ought to be guided. It is an expression of the Divine will respecting human conduct. But perhaps the most correct view of the Moral Law is that contained in a sentence which has often been used in the pulpits of Scotland, the Law is a transcript of the character of God. Justice and truth and love are the very elements, so to speak, of His own moral being; they have an inherent rightness, and so, while it is true that they are right because He wills them, a deeper truth is that He wills them because they are right. In other words, while the authority of the law rests upon the Divine will, the law itself has its basis in the Divine nature. The law of the Lord is woven into the very nature of the universe. It is graven in indelible lines on the conscience of man. But we must turn to the Holy Scriptures for the fullest exhibition of the Moral Law. The Bible, however, is not a hand book of morals after the common style. We do not find in it a systematic exposition of law for national or individual life; and even those parts of it which, to some extent, have this appearance, come far short of being a full expression of the perfect law. The Mosaic economy, for example, looked at in the light of the higher attainments and the wider wants of Gospel times, is admittedly an imperfect economy on its moral as well as on its ceremonial side. No one would dream of introducing into modern law its enactments respecting (to take a case) usury or divorce. In the same way the moral lessons taught by those histories of nations and individuals of which the Bible is largely composed are often doubtful. All this impresses us with the necessity of some guiding principle to enable us to gather from the rich variety of Holy Scripture the law of God–His will for our guidance. Where, then, shall we go for this guiding and testing principle? We answer without hesitation–to Jesus Christ Himself. The chief cornerstone of the Church is also the chief cornerstone of Christian morality. He came to show us the Father, and so in Him, in His own character and conduct and teaching, we have the clearest and most authoritative revelation of the Fathers law. We cannot overestimate the value of having the law of God exhibited in a life as opposed to any statement of it in words. Ill the life of our blessed Lord, as recorded in Holy Scripture and interpreted to His followers by the Holy Spirit and by the providence of God, we have the final standard of moral theory and practice. He is the incarnate Law. Having defined what the law of the Lord is, we pass on to see wherein its perfection lies, and for one thing, it exhibits the quality of harmony. Every lover of art knows that the chief excellence of a painting lies in the consistency of its various parts and their subordination to the main design. A similar principle applies to music. What is true of beauty presented to the eye or ear holds good of truth and righteousness, the beauty which the mind only can perceive. The ultimate test of any new doctrine lies in its harmony with those Scripture sustained convictions which we have already formed. The law of the Lord has this crowning element of perfection–it is a harmonious unity whose parts never jar or clash. Of course, we are quite familiar with the objection that one precept of Holy Scripture sometimes comes into antagonism with other precepts. The obedience which a child owes to God, for example, can only be rendered sometimes by disobedience to a parent whom God has commanded the child to obey. We revert to our definition of the law, and reply that this objection confounds the law which is perfect and eternal with particular commandments which are from the nature of the case inadequate and temporary expressions of the law. The commandment may be inadequate, for it is only the verbal form in which the spiritual principle is clothed, and the letter can never exhaust or completely unfold the spirit. The commandment, moreover, may be only the temporary form of the eternal law. The Decalogue is indispensable on earth, but how many of the relations which it is intended to regulate will have ceased to exist, or be radically changed, in heaven! Thus the particular precepts of the law may be temporary, but the law of the Lord which is perfect abides in all its force wherever intelligent beings are. (D. MKinnon, M. A.)
A tribute to the law of God
The law is characterised by six names and nine epithets and by nine effects. The names are law, testimony, statutes, commandments, fear, judgments. To it are applied nine epithets, namely, perfect, sure, right, pure, holy, true, righteous, desirable, sweet. To it are ascribed nine effects, namely, it converts the soul, makes wise the simple, rejoices the heart, enlightens the eyes, endures forever, enriches like gold, satisfies like honey, warns against sin, rewards the obedient. The central thought or conception about which all gathers is that of law. There is a profound philosophy in this passage. It presents Jehovah as Lord, i.e. Law-ward, or guardian of law. We are to conceive of Gods law as–
1. A perfect rule of duty, having a basis of common law beneath all its statutory provisions, an eternal basis of essential right and wrong. Thou shalt and thou shalt not, based upon eternal principles, not upon an arbitrary will. We are to think of this fabric of law as–
2. Supported like a grand arch, upon two great pillars: reward and penalty.
The whole passage is therefore a challenge to our adoring homage and obedience.
1. The law is a perfect product of infinite wisdom and love, (Rom 7:12; Rom 7:14) holy, just, good, spiritual.
2. It is enforced by Divine sanctions of reward and penalty, and these are each equally necessary to sustain the law and government of God. The testimonies and the judgment are equally perfect. The love that rewards and the wrath that punishes are equally beautiful and perfect.
The transcendent thought of the whole passage is that obedience is a privilege.
1. Law is the voice of love, not simply of authority, therefore only love can truly fulfil.
2. Obedience is self-rewarding and disobedience self-avenging.
The general thought of this whole passage is, obedience the highest privilege.
1. The law is the expression of Divine perfection; hence leads to perfection.
2. Of the highest love; hence must be interpreted by love and fulfilled by love.
3. Of the highest bliss–key to blessing; hence the door to promises.
4. Our schoolmaster to lead us to Christ. Cannot justify, but only conduct to the obedient One who can justify. (Homiletic Monthly.)
The perfect law of God
By the law we may understand the entire written Word.
I. The character of the law. Perfect, that is, complete and entire. See the testimony–
1. Of Moses (Deu 6:6-8).
2. David, throughout the Psalms, as here in our text.
3. Jesus, the Son of God.
4. Paul (1Ti 1:8-11).
5. Peter.
II. Its effects. Converting the soul. Note what conversion is, the great spiritual change in a mans heart.
III. Practical lessons.
1. That it is not enough to have a mere intellectual acquaintance with the Word of God.
2. The vast criminality of those who would withhold the Word of God from men.
3. How dangerous and wicked to turn from it to the lying fables of deluded or designing men. (J. Allport.)
The light of nature
It was not in the material heavens, which with all their grandeur the Psalmist had been contemplating, that he found the lesson of perfection. He turned from them to the law of the Lord, and there he found it. With all that the contemplation of nature is able to do, it cannot regenerate the spirit. Neither poetry nor philosophy can help man in the great exigencies of life. None of them can do any good to a dying man. The damps of the sepulchre put out their light. Nor is this to be wondered at. The works of nature were not made to last; hence how can they teach lessons for immortality? They may serve man in many ways here, and aid his piety too, if he be a converted man. But they will never convert him. Man needs the Bible to convert him to God and to fit him to die. This truth has to be insisted on in our day which speaks so much of the light of nature, and which subjects the Bible to its pretended discoveries. But we maintain that it is insufficient, and for proof we appeal–
I. To fact–history. Glance–
1. At the heathen world–the people are in gross darkness.
2. At antiquity–they knew nothing of immortality, or the holiness of God. They never had any natural religion; what they had was all unnatural, monstrous. Reason failed them. They knew nothing certainly, though they made many conjectures; what little light they had came from tradition and through the Jews.
II. The scriptures themselves. These teach that the heavens declare the glory of God, but they do not say that man was ever converted thereby.
III. The inconclusiveness of the arguments employed by the disciples of nature. They say, nature teaches the existence of one God. But until the Bible has taught you this you cannot know it. What we see would rather teach that there are two deities, a good and a bad one. And, in fact, without the Bible men never did believe in the unity of God. And so of the Divine attributes. His unchangeableness and goodness, His spirituality and His will, the sanctions of His law and the ,immortality of the soul. The real utility of all the light of nature on the subject of religion consists in this: that it demonstrates its own insufficiency for teaching us a single important truth, and thus turns us over to the Word of God; and having done so, shines as a constant witness, and everywhere, to impress the lessons of Bible teaching upon us. It strikes the infidel dumb, and aids the devotions of the Christian, living or dying. But alone it teaches nothing. God never said it could. And its reasonings, proudly called in the schools science and philosophy, vanish into smoke when we touch them. You will never read Gods world rightly till His Word teaches you how. After it has taught you you may gather proofs of religion from nature which you could not gather before. The lesson is in nature; but nature is a sealed book to a sinner. It may silence a sceptic, it cannot satisfy a soul. She has no Christ to tell of, no atonement, no pardon, no firm foothold on immortal work. She cannot make men wise or good or happy, or inspire with blessed hope. (J. S. Spencer, D. D.)
Converting the soul.—
The restoration of the soul
I. What is here meant by conversion? In margin it is rendered restoring. This restoring the soul is from its fall in Adam to its salvation in Christ.
1. From the darkness of ignorance to the light of Divine knowledge. Ignorance is general where the means of knowledge are not realised. The light of Divine knowledge, employing and enriching the understanding, is essential to the restoration of the soul.
2. From the oppressive weight of contracted guilt to a state of conscious acceptance with God (Rom 5:1).
3. From inward depravity, derived from our first parents, to a conformity to the moral image of God. The removal of guilt from the conscience, and the being sanctified wholly, are distinct attainments in the Christian life.
4. From a state of misery to the possession of real happiness. How can men but be miserable in sin!
II. The means by which this restoration is effected. By the perfect law of the Lord. For law read doctrine. This doctrine is–
1. Divine in its origin.
2. Pure in the means of its communication.
3. Harmonious, and well adapted to the condition of man in all its parts.
4. Energetic in its operations. Improvement,–ministers must understand the doctrine of the Lord before they can make it known to others. (Sketches of Four Hundred Sermons.)
The Word of God converting the soul
The text might be read, The doctrine of the Lord is perfect restoring the soul.
I. The soul of man in its natural state requires to be converted or restored. See how abundant is the Scripture testimony to this truth. Even the best men have confessed their need: David says of himself, Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, etc. There has been but one bright exception amongst men, and that is the Man Christ Jesus. He alone knew no sin. It is the exception which proves the rule.
II. But many take exception to this by denying the fact of the perversion of the human soul. As for God, His way is perfect, as may be clearly seen from those of His works which sin has not depraved. But as for man, Scripture and experience alike attest that he has corrupted his way.
III. By denying that mans recovery is possible. But wherefore? Is anything too hard for the Lord? Cannot He who at first made man upright remodel him after His own image?
IV. By denying the adequacy of the means of recovery. It is said the Word of God is not an adequate instrument. But experience has proved the contrary. For the word, or doctrine, of the Lord is perfect, complete. It will never fail of the desired issue in those who come to the study of it in a right spirit. (Thomas Dale, M. A.)
The excellency of Holy Scripture
There are two methods which God has taken for instructing mankind. He has taught them by the glories of creation and by the words of Holy Scripture. But man as a sinner has no ear to hear the voice of God in His works. It is only by the revealed works of Scripture that he can find the way of pardon and holiness.
I. The excellent properties of the word of God. As a law it is perfect. Nothing can be added to it, nothing taken from it. It contains all our duty and all our consolation; all that is necessary to make us happy and holy. The writings of the heathen philosophers contain a few mutilated principles and some fine sentiments, but they are not directed to any great end, nor are they complete in themselves. As a testimony the Word of God is sure. Considered as the solemn witness and attestation of God to all those truths which concern mans everlasting salvation, it is sure. It comes with a force and authority to the conscience. It follows that the statutes of the Lord are right. The equity and holiness of them equal their completeness and certainty. They are in all respects true and just and excellent. There is nothing harsh, nothing defiling, nothing erroneous, nothing arbitrary in them. They have not only authority, but goodness on their side. It is a further property of the Word of God that, as a commandment, it is pure. The Bible is a clear and perspicuous rule of duty. Its pure light has no need of proofs, reasonings, evidences, or study. When considered producing the fear of the Lord it is eternal. The obligations of revealed truth are perpetual.
II. The surprising effects which the word of God produces.
1. It converts the soul. This is the first thing the fallen creature needs. Scripture begins, where mans necessities begin, with the heart. It unfolds the depravity of our nature. It exhibits the astonishing scheme of redemption in the death of the incarnate Saviour.
2. After conversion follows joy.
3. The sincere student will advance in knowledge.
4. It induces a holy, reverential fear of God. Impress the high and affectionate regard which we should pay to Holy Scripture. (Daniel Wilson, M. A.)
Revelation and conversion
Trees are known by their fruit, and books by their effect upon the mind. By the law of the Lord David means the whole revelation of God, so far as it had been given in his day. It is equally true of all revelation since. We may judge by its effects upon our own selves.
I. The work of the word of God in conversion. Not apart from the Spirit, but as it is used by the Spirit, it–
1. Convinces men of sin: they see what perfection is, that God demands it and that they are far from it.
2. Drives them from false methods of salvation to bring them to self-despair, and to shut them up to Gods method of saving them.
3. Reveals the way of salvation through Christ by faith.
4. Enables the soul to embrace Christ as its all in all, by setting forth promises and invitations which are opened up to the understanding and sealed to the heart.
5. Brings the heart nearer and nearer to God, by awakening love, desire for holiness, etc.
6. Restores the soul when it has wandered, bringing back the tenderness, hope, love, joy, etc., which it had lost.
7. Perfects the nature. The highest flights of holy enjoyment are not above or beyond the Word.
II. The excellence of this work. Its operations are altogether good, timed and balanced with infinite discretion.
1. It removes despair without quenching repentance.
2. Gives pardon, but does not create presumption.
3. Gives rest, but excites the soul to progress.
4. Breathes security, but engenders, watchfulness.
5. Bestows strength and holiness, but begets no boasting.
6. Gives harmony to duties, emotions, hopes, and enjoyments.
7. Brings the man to live for God and with God, and yet makes him none the less fitted for the daily duties of life.
III. The consequent excellence of the word.
1. We need not add to it to secure conversion in any case.
2. We need not keep back any doctrine for fear of damping the flame of a true revival.
3. We need not extraordinary gifts to preach it, the Word will do its own work.
4. We have but to follow it to be converted, and to keep to it to become truly wise. It fits mans needs as the key the lock. Cling to it, study it, use it. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 7. The law of the Lord] And here are two books of Divine Revelation:
1. The visible HEAVENS, and the works of creation in general.
2. The BIBLE, or Divinely inspired writings contained in the Old and New Testaments.
These may all be called the LAW of the Lord; torah, from yarah, to instruct, direct, put straight, guide. It is God’s system of instruction, by which men are taught the knowledge of God and themselves, directed how to walk so as to please GOD, redeemed from crooked paths, and guided in the way everlasting. Some think that torah means the preceptive part of Revelation. Some of the primitive fathers have mentioned three LAWS given by God to man:
1. The law of nature, which teaches the knowledge of God, as to his eternal power and Deity, by the visible creation.
2. The law given to Moses and the prophets, which teaches more perfectly the knowledge of God, his nature, his will and our duty.
3. The law of grace given by Christ Jesus, which shows the doctrine of the atonement, of purification, and of the resurrection of the body.
The first is written in hieroglyphics in the heavens and the earth. The second was written on tables of stone, and in many rites and ceremonies. The third is to be written on the heart by the power of the Holy Ghost.
Is perfect] temimah, it is perfection, it is perfect in itself as a law, and requires perfection in the hearts and lives of men. This is ITS character.
Converting the soul] Turning it back to God. Restoring it to right reason, or to a sound mind; teaching it its own interest in reference to both worlds. This is ITS use.
The testimony of the Lord] eduth, from ad, beyond, forward. The various types and appointments of the law, which refer to something beyond themselves, and point forward to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Some understand, the doctrinal parts of the law.
Is sure] neemanah, are faithful; they point out the things beyond them fairly, truly, and fully, and make no vain or false report. They all bear testimony to the great atonement. This is THEIR character.
Making wise the simple.] The simple is he who has but one end in view: who is concerned about his soul, and earnestly inquires, “What shall I do to be saved?” These testimonies point to the atonement, and thus the simple-hearted is made wise unto salvation. This is THEIR use.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The law of the Lord, i.e. the doctrine delivered by God to his church, whether by Moses or by other prophets, and holy men of God after him; for the title of law is given not only to the ten commandments, or the moral law, as it is Rom 2:23,25,27; 3:31, but also to the whole word of God, as Psa 1:2; 119:70 &c.; Jer 8:8; Mal 2:6; to the Psalms, as Joh 10:34; 15:25, compared with Psa 82:6; 35:19; and to the writings of the prophets, 1Co 14:21, compared with Isa 28:11; yea, even to the gospel itself, as Isa 2:3; 42:4; 5:4,7; Ro 3:27; Gal 2:21. And in this general sense it must be here understood, because the effects here following do not flow from one, but from all the parts of it, precepts, and counsels, and threatenings, and promises, and Gods gracious covenant made with man therein revealed. Having discoursed hitherto of the glory of God shining forth in and demonstrated by the visible heavens, and the heavenly bodies, he now proceeds to another demonstration of Gods glory, which he compares with and prefers before the former; which he doth partly, to prevent that excessive admiration of the splendour and beauty of the sun and stars, by the contemplation whereof the heathens were brought to adore them, an error which the Israelites were not free from the danger of, Deu 4:19; partly, to make the Israelites sensible of their singular obligations to God, who, besides that common light and influence of the heavenly bodies, had given them a peculiar and a more necessary and beneficial light; and partly, to awaken and provoke the Gentiles (into whose hands these Psalms might come) to the study and love of Gods law, by representing those excellent advantages which they no less than the Jews might obtain by it.
Perfect; without fault or defect, fully and completely discovering both the nature and will of God, and the whole duty and business of man, whom and how he is to worship and serve, what he is to believe and practise, and whatsoever is necessary to his present and eternal happiness; wherein there seems to be a secret reflection upon the former and natural discovery of God by his works of creation, as that which is defective and insufficient for the great and glorious ends here following, which although it did declare so much of Gods being and nature as left all men without excuse, Rom 1:20, yet did not fully nor clearly manifest the mind and will of God, nor direct and bring men to eternal salvation. Converting, to wit, from the errors of mind and conversation, in which men without this light do generally wander and perish, unto God, from whom all men are naturally revolted. Or, comforting or reviving, as this word is used, Rth 4:15; Psa 23:3; Lam 1:11,16. Heb. restoring or bringing back the soul, which was drooping and even going out of the body, through grievous troubles of the outward man, and terrors of the mind and conscience.
The testimony of the Lord, i.e. his law, so called because it is a witness between God and man, what God requires of man, and what upon the performance of tllat condition he will do for man. Is sure, Heb. faithful or true, which is most excellent, and proper, and necessary in a witness It will not mislead or deceive any man that trusteth to it or followeth it; but will certainly and infallibly bring him to happiness.
Making wise unto salvation, as is expressed, 2Ti 3:15; which is the only true wisdom.
The simple: this is added either,
1. By way of commendation, or as a qualification of the person whom Gods word will make wise; he must be humble, and foolish, and little in his own eyes, and willing to be taught: see Mat 11:25; 1Co 1:25, &c. For God resisteth the proud and scornful, and will not give this wisdom to them. Or rather,
2. By way of contempt, which seems most agreeable both to the use of the words, Pro 1:4; 9:6; 14:15; 22:3, and to the scope of the place, which is to set forth the excellency and efficacy of Gods law in the general, without any restriction to this or that sort of men. So it may note the weak and foolish, even persons of the lowest capacities, and such as are apt to mistake and are easily seduced, as the word implies And yet these, if they will hearken to the instructions of Gods word, shall become wise, when those who profess themselves wise shall, by leaning to their own understanding, and despising or neglecting the directions of Gods word, become and prove themselves to be fools, Rom 1:22. But this is not spoken exclusively, as if no men of better abilities were thus made wise; but by way of amplification, to show the usefulness of Gods word to men of all sorts and sizes.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
7-9. The law is described by sixnames, epithets, and effects. It is a rule, God’s testimony for thetruth, His special and general prescription of duty, fear (as itscause) and judicial decision. It is distinct and certain, reliable,right, pure, holy, and true. Hence it revives those depressed bydoubts, makes wise the unskilled (2Ti3:15), rejoices the lover of truth, strengthens the desponding(Psa 13:4; Psa 34:6),provides permanent principles of conduct, and by God’s grace brings arich reward.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The law of the Lord [is] perfect,…. By which is meant, not the law of Moses, or the ten commandments, but the “doctrine” of the Lord; as the word , “torah”, signifies, even the whole word of God, as in Isa 8:20. All the Scriptures of truth, which are profitable for doctrine; for setting doctrine in a clear light, and for the vindication and establishment of it, and are the rule of doctrine both to preachers and hearers; and which are “perfect”, contain the whole mind and will of God, both with respect to faith and practice; whereby the man of God is made perfect, and thoroughly furnished to all good works, 2Ti 3:16; and especially the Gospel part of the word of God may be designed, which both in the Old and New Testament is called “a law” or “doctrine”, being eminently so; the doctrine of the Messiah, and of justification by faith in his righteousness, Isa 2:3 Ro 3:27. The Gospel is a perfect plan and scheme of spiritual and saving truths: it gives an account of perfect things; as of the perfect righteousness of Christ, and complete justification by it; of the full as well as free pardon of sins by the blood of Christ; and of redemption and salvation from all sin and evils by him: and it also shows where true perfection is; namely, in Christ, in whom the saints are complete, be being made to them wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption; see Jas 1:25. This character, therefore, suits better with the Gospel than with the moral law; though that, as it is to be gathered out of the whole word of God, contains the good and perfect will of God, with respect to what is to be done or avoided; nor is anything to be added to it; nor did our Lord come to add unto it, or to make it more perfect, but to fulfil it, which men could not do; nor could the law make any man or anything perfect, either perfectly sanctify, or justify, or save; whereas the bringing in of the better hope in the Gospel does, Heb 9:7. The effect, under a divine influence and blessing ascribed to it, is,
converting the soul; which is a further proof that the law of Moses is not intended: for though by it is the knowledge of sin, or conviction of sin, which often falls short of conversion; yet the Spirit of God, as a spirit of regeneration, conversion, and sanctification, is not received through the doctrine or preaching of the law, but through the ministration of the Gospel; which is designed to turn men from darkness to light, and from the powers of Satan to God; and which use it has when it is attended with the demonstration of the Spirit and of power; see Ro 3:20, though the words may be rendered “relieving”, that is, refreshing and comforting the “soul” z as in La 1:11; Through want of bodily food, which is the case in the passage retorted to, the spirits faint and sink, the soul is almost gone, when, by the ministration of proper food, it is as it were brought back again, as the word a here used signifies, and the animal spirits are cheered and revived: and of like use is the Gospel; it is the food of the soul, by which it is refreshed and exhilarated, when ready to sink and faint away; hereby it is restored and revived, comforted and nourished;
the testimony of the Lord [is] sure; this is another name for the word of God, or the Holy Scriptures; so called because they testify of Christ, of his person, office, and grace; of what he is, was to do, and suffer, and perform for his people, and of his glory that should follow thereon, Joh 5:39; and particularly the doctrine of the Gospel is the testimony of our Lord Jesus Christ, both which he himself testified, and which is a testimony concerning him, 2Ti 1:8. And this is “sure”, or “to be believed” b; the whole of Scripture is true, coming from the God of truth; having for its principal subject Christ, who is truth itself, and being dictated by the Spirit of truth; and particularly the Gospel part of it, and all the truths therein contained, especially the doctrine of salvation by Christ, which is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation: the Gospel is a testimony of record which God himself has bore concerning his Son, and eternal life by him, and therefore sure and to be depended upon; for if the witness of men is received, the witness of God is greater, 1Jo 5:9. The effect ascribed to the word of God, Or to the Gospel under this character, is,
making wise the simple. The Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions, render it “babes” or “children”; and so Apollinarius; and the word , here used in the Arabic language, is said to c signify such; and here it intends babes and children not in years, but in understanding, to whom God is pleased to reveal the truths of his Gospel, when he hides them from the wise and prudent: these simple ones are such who are sensible of their simplicity and folly, and of their want of understanding; who, with Agur, think themselves more foolish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man; and these, by the word of God, are made wise to know themselves, their folly, sinfulness, imperfections, and impotence; and are made wise unto salvation, to know the right way of salvation by Christ; see 2Ti 3:15; where the same phrase is used as here, and seems to be borrowed from hence, and is used of the Scriptures; which also make men wise in the knowledge of Gospel doctrines, the wisdom of God in a mystery, which to know is the greatest wisdom and understanding, and much more so than to be acquainted with the law only, De 4:6.
z “recreans animam”, Vatablus, Schmidt; “refocillat”, Piscator. a “Restituens animam”, Junius Tremellius, Cocceius “reducens”, Gejerus, Montanus; so Ainsworth. b “fidele”, V. L. Musculus, Pagninus; “fide dignum”, Piscator, Michaelis. c Shemot Rabba, s. 3. fol. 93. 2.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(Heb.: 19:8-10) No sign is made use of to mark the transition from the one part to the other, but it is indicated by the introduction of the divine name instead of . The word of nature declares (God) to us, the word of Scripture (Jahve); the former God’s power and glory, the latter also His counsel and will. Now follow twelve encomiums of the Law, of which every two are related as antecedent and consequent, rising and falling according to the caesural schema, after the manner of waves. One can discern how now the heart of the poet begins to beat with redoubled joy as he comes to speak of God’s word, the revelation of His will. does not in itself mean the law, but a pointing out, instruction, doctrine or teaching, and more particularly such as is divine, and therefore positive; whence it is also used of prophecy, Isa 1:10; Isa 8:16, and prophetically of the New Testament gospel, Isa 2:3. But here no other divine revelation is meant than that given by the mediation of Moses, which is become the law, i.e., the rule of life ( ) , of Israel; and this law, too, as a whole not merely as to its hortatory and disciplinary character, but also including the promises contained in it. The praises which the poet pronounces upon the Law, are accurate even from the standpoint of the New Testament. Even Paul says, Rom 7:12, Rom 7:14, “The Law is holy and spiritual, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.” The Law merits these praises in itself; and to him who is in a state of favour, it is indeed no longer a law bringing a curse with it, but a mirror of the God merciful in holiness, into which he can look without slavish fear, and is a rule for the direction of his free and willing obedience. And how totally different is the affection of the psalmists and prophets for the Law, – an affection based upon the essence and universal morality of the commandments, and upon a spiritual realisation of the letter, and the consolation of the promises, – from the pharisaical rabbinical service of the letter and the ceremonial in the period after the Exile!
The divine Law is called , “perfect,” i.e., spotless and harmless, as being absolutely well-meaning, and altogether directed towards the well-being of man. And restoring, bringing back, i.e., imparting newness of life, quickening the soul (cf. Pil. , Psa 23:3), to him, viz., who obeys the will of God graciously declared therein, and enters upon the divine way or rule of salvation. Then in the place of the word we find , – as the tables of the Ten Commandments ( ) are called , – from ( ) , which signifies not merely a corroborative, but also a warning and instructive testimony or attestation. The testimony of Jahve is , made firm, sure, faithful, i.e., raised above all doubt in its declarations, and verifying itself in its threatenings and promises; and hence , making wise simplicity, or the simple, lit., openness, the open (root to spread out, open, Indo-Germ. prat, , pat, pad), i.e., easily led astray; to such an one it gives a solid basis and stability, , 2Ti 3:15. The Law divides into , precepts or declarations concerning man’s obligation; these are , straight or upright, as a norma normata , because they proceed from the upright, absolutely good will of God, and as a norma normans they lead along a straight way in the right track. They are therefore , their educative guidance, taking one as it were by the hand, frees one from all tottering, satisfies a moral want, and preserves a joyous consciousness of being in the right way towards the right goal. , Jahve’s statute (from statuere ), is the tenour of His commandments. The statute is a lamp – it is said in Pro 6:23 -and the law a light. So here: it is , clear, like the light of the sun (Son 6:10), and its light is imparted to other objects: , enlightening the eyes, which refers not merely to the enlightening of the understanding, but of one’s whole condition; it makes the mind clear, and body as well as mind healthy and fresh, for the darkness of the eyes is sorrow, melancholy, and bewilderment. In this chain of names for the Law, is not the fear of God as an act performed, but as a precept, it is what God’s revelation demands, effects, and maintains; so that it is the revealed way in which God is to be feared (Psa 34:12) – in short, it is the religion of Jahve (cf. Pro 15:33 with Deu 17:19). This is , clean, pure, as the word which is like to pure gold, by which it is taught, Psa 12:7, cf. Job 28:19; and therefore , enduring for ever in opposition to all false forms of reverencing God, which carry their own condemnation in themselves. are the jura of the Law as a corpus juris divini , everything that is right and constitutes right according to the decision of Jahve. These judgments are , truth, which endures and verifies itself; because, in distinction from most others and those outside Israel, they have an unchangeable moral foundation: , i.e., they are , in accordance with right and appropriate (Deu 4:8), altogether, because no reproach of inappositeness and sanctioned injustice or wrong clings to them. The eternal will of God has attained a relatively perfect form and development in the Law of Jahve according to the standard set up as the law of the nation.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Excellency of the Scriptures. | |
7 The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. 8 The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. 9 The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. 10 More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. 11 Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward. 12 Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults. 13 Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. 14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.
God’s glory, (that is, his goodness to man) appears much in the works of creation, but much more in and by divine revelation. The holy scripture, as it is a rule both of our duty to God and of our expectation from him, is of much greater use and benefit to us than day or night, than the air we breathe in, or the light of the sun. The discoveries made of God by his works might have served if man had retained his integrity; but, to recover him out of his fallen state, another course must be taken; that must be done by the word of God. And here,
1. The psalmist gives an account of the excellent properties and uses of the word of God, in six sentences (v. 7-9), in each of which the name Jehovah is repeated, and no vain repetition, for the law has its authority and all its excellency from the law-maker. Here are six several titles of the word of God, to take in the whole of divine revelation, precepts and promises, and especially the gospel. Here are several good properties of it, which proves its divine original, which recommend it to our affection, and which extol it above all other laws whatsoever. Here are several good effects of the law upon the minds of men, which show what it is designed for, what use we are to make of it, and how wonderful the efficacy of divine grace is, going along with it, and working by it. 1. The law of the Lord is perfect. It is perfectly free from all corruption, perfectly filled with all good, and perfectly fitted for the end for which it is designed; and it will make the man of God perfect, 2 Tim. iii. 17. Nothing is to be added to it nor taken from it. It is of use to convert the soul, to bring us back to ourselves, to our God, to our duty; for it shows us our sinfulness and misery in our departures from God and the indispensable necessity of our return to him. 2. The testimony of the Lord (which witnesses for him to us) is sure, incontestably and inviolably sure, what we may give credit to, may rely upon, and may be confident it will not deceive us. It is a sure discovery of the divine truth, a sure direction in the way of duty. It is a sure foundation of living comforts and a sure foundation of lasting hopes. It is of use to make us wise, wise to salvation, 2 Tim. iii. 15. It will give us an insight into things divine and a foresight of things to come. It will employ us in the best work and secure to us our true interests. It will make even the simple (poor contrivers as they may be for the present world) wise for their souls and eternity. Those that are humbly simple, sensible of their own folly and willing to be taught, shall be made wise by the word of God, Ps. xxv. 9. 3. The statutes of the Lord (enacted by his authority, and binding on all wherever they come) are right, exactly agreeing with the eternal rules and principles of good and evil, that is, with the right reason of man and the right counsels of God. All God’s precepts, concerning all things, are right (Ps. cxix. 128), just as they should be; and they will set us to rights if we receive them and submit to them; and, because they are right, they rejoice the heart. The law, as we see it in the hands of Christ, gives cause for joy; and, when it is written in our hearts, it lays a foundation for everlasting joy, by restoring us to our right mind. 4. The commandment of the Lord is pure; it is clear, without darkness; it is clean, without dross and defilement. It is itself purified from all alloy, and is purifying to those that receive and embrace it. It is the ordinary means which the Spirit uses in enlightening the eyes; it brings us to a sight and sense of our sin and misery, and directs us in the way of duty. 5. The fear of the Lord (true religion and godliness prescribed in the word, reigning in the heart, and practised in the life) is clean, clean itself, and will make us clean (John xv. 3); it will cleanse our way, Ps. cxix. 9. And it endureth for ever; it is of perpetual obligation and can never be repealed. The ceremonial law is long since done away, but the law concerning the fear of God is ever the same. Time will not alter the nature of moral good and evil. 6. The judgments of the Lord (all his precepts, which are framed in infinite wisdom) are true; they are grounded upon the most sacred and unquestionable truths; they are righteous, all consonant to natural equity; and they are so altogether: there is no unrighteousness in any of them, but they are all of a piece.
II. He expresses the great value he had for the word of God, and the great advantage he had, and hoped to have, from it, Psa 19:10; Psa 19:11.
1. See how highly he prized the commandments of God. It is the character of all good people that they prefer their religion and the word of God, (1.) Far before all the wealth of the world. It is more desirable than gold, than fine gold, than much fine gold. Gold is of the earth, earthly; but grace is the image of the heavenly. Gold is only for the body and the concerns of time; but grace is for the soul and the concerns of eternity. (2.) Far before all pleasures and delights of sense. The word of God, received by faith, is sweet to the soul, sweeter than honey and the honey comb. The pleasures of sense are the delight of brutes, and therefore debase the great soul of man; the pleasures of religion are the delight of angels, and exalt the soul. The pleasures of sense are deceitful, will soon surfeit, and yet never satisfy; but those of religion are substantial and satisfying, and there is no danger of exceeding in them.
2. See what use he made of the precepts of God’s word: By them is thy servant warned. The word of God is a word of warning to the children of men; it warns us of the duty we are to do, the dangers we are to avoid, and the deluge we are to prepare for, Eze 3:17; Eze 33:7. It warns the wicked not to go on in his wicked way, and warns the righteous not to turn from his good way. All that are indeed God’s servants take this warning.
3. See what advantage he promised himself by his obedience to God’s precepts: In keeping them there is great reward. Those who make conscience of their duty will not only be no losers by it, but unspeakable gainers. There is a reward, not only after keeping, but in keeping, God’s commandments, a present great reward of obedience. Religion is health and honour; it is peace and pleasure; it will make our comforts sweet and our crosses easy, life truly valuable and death itself truly desirable.
III. He draws some good inferences from this pious meditation upon the excellency of the word of God. Such thoughts as these should excite in us devout affections, and they are to good purpose.
1. He takes occasion hence to make a penitent reflection upon his sins; for by the law is the knowledge of sin. “Is the commandment thus holy, just, and good? Then who can understand his errors? I cannot, whoever can.” From the rectitude of the divine law he learns to call his sins his errors. If the commandment be true and righteous, every transgressions of the commandment is an error, as grounded upon a mistake; every wicked practice takes rise from some corrupt principle; it is a deviation from the rule we are to work by, the way we are to walk in. From the extent, the strictness, and spiritual nature, of the divine law he learns that his sins are so many that he cannot understand the number of them, and so exceedingly sinful that he cannot understand the heinousness and malignity of them. We are guilty of many sins which, through our carelessness and partiality to ourselves, we are not aware of; many we have been guilty of which we have forgotten; so that, when we have been ever so particular in the confession of sin, we must conclude with an et cetera–and such like; for God knows a great deal more evil of us than we do of ourselves. In many things we all offend, and who can tell how often he offends? It is well that we are under grace, and not under the law, else we were undone.
2. He takes occasion hence to pray against sin. All the discoveries of sin made to us by the law should drive us to the throne of grace, there to pray, as David does here, (1.) For mercy to pardon. Finding himself unable to specify all the particulars of his transgressions, he cries out, Lord, cleanse me from my secret faults; not secret to God, so none are, nor only such as were secret to the world, but such as were hidden from his own observation of himself. The best of men have reason to suspect themselves guilty of many secret faults, and to pray to God to cleanse them from that guilt and not to lay it to their charge; for even our sins of infirmity and inadvertency, and our secret sins, would be our ruin if God should deal with us according to the desert of them. Even secret faults are defiling, and render us unfit for communion with God; but, when they are pardoned, we are cleansed from them, 1 John i. 7. (2.) For grace to help in time of need. Having prayed that his sins of infirmity might be pardoned, he prays that presumptuous sins might be prevented, v. 13. All that truly repent of their sins, and have them pardoned, are in care not to relapse into sin, nor to return again to folly, as appears by their prayers, which concur with David’s here, where observe, [1.] His petition: “Keep me from ever being guilty of a wilful presumptuous sin.” We ought to pray that we may be kept from sins of infirmity, but especially from presumptuous sins, which most offend God and wound conscience, which wither our comforts and shock our hopes. “However, let none such have dominion over me, let me not be at the command of any such sin, nor be enslaved by it.” [2.] His plea: “So shall I be upright; I shall appear upright; I shall preserve the evidence and comfort of my uprightness; and I shall be innocent from the great transgression;” so he calls a presumptuous sin, because no sacrifice was accepted for it, Num. xv. 28-30. Note, First, Presumptuous sins are very heinous and dangerous. those that sin against the habitual convictions and actual admonitions of their consciences, in contempt and defiance of the law and its sanctions, that sin with a high hand, sin presumptuously, and it is a great transgression. Secondly, Even good men ought to be jealous of themselves, and afraid of sinning presumptuously, yea, though through the grace of God they have hitherto been kept from them. Let none be high-minded, but fear. Thirdly, Being so much exposed, we have great need to pray to God, when we are pushing forward towards a presumptuous sin, to keep us back from it, either by his providence preventing the temptation or by his grace giving us victory over it.
3. He takes occasion humbly to beg the divine acceptance of those his pious thoughts and affections, v. 14. Observe the connexion of this with what goes before. He prays to God to keep him from sin, and then begs he would accept his performances; for, if we favour our sins, we cannot expect God should favour us or our services, Ps. lxvi. 18. Observe, (1.) What his services were–the words of his mouth and the meditations of his heart, his holy affections offered up to God. The pious meditations of the heart must not be smothered, but expressed in the words of our mouth, for God’s glory and the edification of others; and the words of our mouth in prayer and praise must not be formal, but arising from the meditation of the heart, Ps. xlv. 1. (2.) What was his care concerning these services–that they might be acceptable with God; for, if our services be not acceptable to God, what do they avail us? Gracious souls must have all they aim at if they be accepted of God, for that is their bliss. (3.) What encouragement he had to hope for this, because God was his strength and his redeemer. If we seek assistance from God as our strength in our religious duties, we may hope to find acceptance with God in the discharge of our duties; for by his strength we have power with him.
In singing this we should get our hearts much affected with the excellency of the word of God and delivered into it, we should be much affected with the evil of sin, the danger we are in of it and the danger we are in by it, and we should fetch in help from heaven against it.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
By Theology of the Law
Verses 7-14:
Verse 7 declares the Law (eternal principle of right and wrong) of the Lord to be perfect, converting or turning the soul, in conviction and conversion. And the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise, giving understanding to the simple, those willing to hear, Luk 14:35 b; Exo 19:1; Psa 37:31. This law principle works through the conscience of man, the memorex storage system of every man, to cause him to recall every principle of right and wrong, that he has ever heard, Rom 2:14-15. Thus through nature, the articulated Law that God first spoke to Adam and Even, and through the conscience, God has rendered and still renders sinners inexcusable for their sins, Rom 2:1. The Law of Moses was later given to describe how bad sin was, how abhorrent to an Holy God, and to show man the need of a sacrifice to take away his sins, even Jesus Christ, as related Eze 18:4; Rom 3:23; Rom 6:23; Heb 10:4; Note: those who receive God’s word are made wise, enlightened by it, to the salvation of the souls of all who will believe, 2Ti 3:15-17; Mat 11:25; 1Co 1:27.
Verse 8 adds that the statutes or “charges” of the Lord are right, causing the heart of the righteous to rejoice, 1Th 5:16; Php_4:4. And the commandment of the Lord is pure, clear, or lucid, free from any contamination of error, “enlightening” the eyes, giving spiritual understanding, Eph 1:18; Psa 12:6; Psa 13:3; 1Sa 14:27.
Verse 9 adds further that the fear or reverence of and trust in the Lord is clean, pure, and hallowed in its precepts, without moral flaw, enduring forever; His wrath against sin is as holy as His love of righteousness. So His judgments are declared to be true, genuine, and righteous altogether, Deu 17:18; Exo 20:18; Deu 5:25; Deu 5:24; Exo 21:1. Holiness and purity of God’s precepts require holy separation for God’s people from the low, base, unclean, morally and ethically, for sincere worship and services to God, 2Co 7:1; Joh 4:24; 1Ti 2:8; Rom 12:1-2.
Verses 10, 11 assert that the nature and value of the law of the Lord is far above the value of the finest of gold and more soul nourishing than the finest of honey and honeycomb, to give sweetness and strength to the soul not found elsewhere, Psa 119:72; Psa 119:127; Pro 8:19; Pro 8:11; Pro 8:19. David adds that by the statutes of the Lord His servant is warned, enlightened; and in keeping them there exists great reward or great benefit, not merely future but also present profit. God is now the believer’s “exceeding great reward;” Gen 15:1; Pro 11:18; Pro 29:18; Isa 3:10; Mat 6:18; 1Ti 4:8; Jas 1:25.
Verse 12 inquires and appeals, “who can understand his errors?” his own wanderings from God, his failings, and his infirmities, except in the light of God’s law and revelation. None can understand these sin deeds of man but God. To Him the trusting soul cries, “cleanse thou me from secret faults,” those not discernible by the eye of man, such as, covetousness, anger, envy, jealousy, hatred, etc. For no sin is hidden from His eye, Lev 4:2; Psa 40:12; Job 6:24; Jer 17:9. From these we must find cleansing, 1Jn 1:8-9. An unknown poet has written:
Who Can Tell?
“But who can all his errors tell?
or count the thoughts by which he. fell? Omniscient God, to thee alone
my sin’s infinity is known! Do thou my secret faults efface,
And show forth all thy cleansing grace.”
Verse 13 relates David’s prayer to be “kept back or restrained” from presumptuous, or deliberate sins. He felt that if his “secret sins” and “errors” were not cleansed they would lead on to deliberate, presumptuous, or premeditated sins, so severely condemned, Deu 17:12; Dan 5:20. He asked that the Lord restrain him from permitting presumptuous or deliberate sins from having dominion over or making him a slave to them; Only then would he be free from the great or “very much” transgression, Heb 10:26-31. Such may lead to the Lord’s taking one’s life, as in the case of Moses, Deu 32:48-52; Act 5:1-12; 1Co 11:30; Heb 12:9.
Verse 14 appeals to the Lord to let or permit the words of his mouth and meditations of his heart be acceptable or to “be a pleasure” in the sight of the Lord, whom he called “my strength” and “my redeemer,” He trusted in the Lord as his rock, meaning his immovable hope, strength, and faithful one who would keep His promise, Psa 18:2; Pro 3:3-5.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
7. The law of the Lord. Here the second part of the psalm commences. After having shown that the creatures, although they do not speak, nevertheless serve as instructors to all mankind, and teach all men so clearly that there is a God, as to render them inexcusable, the Psalmist now turns towards the Jews, to whom God had communicated a fuller knowledge of himself by means of his word. While the heavens bear witness concerning God, their testimony does not lead men so far as that thereby they learn truly to fear him, and acquire a well-grounded knowledge of him; it serves only to render them inexcusable. It is doubtless true, that if we were not very dull and stupid, the signatures and proofs of Deity which are to be found on the theater of the world, are abundant enough to incite us to acknowledge and reverence God; but as, although surrounded with so clear a light, we are nevertheless blind, this splendid representation of the glory of God, without the aid of the word, would profit us nothing, although it should be to us as a loud and distinct proclamation sounding in our ears. Accordingly, God vouchsafes to those whom he has determined to call to salvation special grace, just as in ancient times, while he gave to all men without exception evidences of his existence in his works, he communicated to the children of Abraham alone his Law, thereby to furnish them with a more certain and intimate knowledge of his majesty. Whence it follows, that the Jews are bound by a double tie to serve God. As the Gentiles, to whom God has spoken only by the dumb creatures, have no excuse for their ignorance, how much less is their stupidity to be endured who neglect to hear the voice which proceeds from his own sacred mouth? The end, therefore, which David here has in view, is to excite the Jews, whom God had bound to himself by a more sacred bond, to yield obedience to him with a more prompt and cheerful affection. Farther, under the term law, he not only means the rule of living righteously, or the Ten Commandments, but he also comprehends the covenant by which God had distinguished that people from the rest of the world, and the whole doctrine of Moses, the parts of which he afterwards enumerates under the terms testimonies, statutes, and other names. These titles and commendations by which he exalts the dignity and excellence of the Law would not agree with the Ten Commandments alone, unless there were, at the same time, joined to them a free adoption and the promises which depend upon it; and, in short, the whole body of doctrine of which true religion and godliness consists. As to the Hebrew words which are here used, I will not spend much time in endeavoring very exactly to give the particular signification of each of them, because it is easy to gather from other passages, that they are sometimes confounded or used indifferently. עדות, eduth, which we render testimony, is generally taken for the covenant, in which God, on the one hand, promised to the children of Abraham that he would be their God, and on the other required faith and obedience on their part. It, therefore, denotes the mutual covenant entered into between God and his ancient people. The word פקודים, pikkudim, which I have followed others in translating statutes, is restricted by some to ceremonies, but improperly in my judgment: for I find that it is every where taken generally for ordinances and edicts. The word מצוה, mitsvah, which follows immediately after, and which we translate commandment, has almost the same signification. As to the other words, we shall consider them in their respective places.
The first commendation of the law of God is, that it is perfect. By this word David means, that if a man is duly instructed in the law of God, he wants nothing which is requisite to perfect wisdom. In the writings of heathen authors there are no doubt to be found true and useful sentences scattered here and there; and it is also true, that God has put into the minds of men some knowledge of justice and uprightness; but in consequence of the corruption of our nature, the true light of truth is not to be found among men where revelation is not enjoyed, but only certain mutilated principles which are involved in much obscurity and doubt. David, therefore, justly claims this praise for the law of God, that it contains in it perfect and absolute wisdom. As the conversion of the soul, of which he speaks immediately after, is doubtless to be understood of its restoration, I have felt no difficulty in so rendering it. There are some who reason with too much subtilty on this expression, by explaining it as referring to the repentance and regeneration of man. I admit that the soul cannot be restored by the law of God, without being at the same time renewed unto righteousness; but we must consider what is David’s proper meaning, which is this, that as the soul gives vigor and strength to the body, so the law in like manner is the life of the soul. In saying that the soul is restored, he has an allusion to the miserable state in which we are all born. There, no doubt, still survive in us some small remains of the first creation; but as no part of our constitution is free from defilement and impurity, the condition of the soul thus corrupted and depraved differs little from death, and tends altogether to death. It is, therefore, necessary that God should employ the law as a remedy for restoring us to purity; not that the letter of the law can do this of itself, as shall be afterwards shown more at length, but because God employs his word as an instrument for restoring our souls.
When the Psalmist declares, The testimony of Jehovah is faithful, it is a repetition of the preceding sentence, so that the integrity or perfection of the law and the faithfulness or truth of his testimony, signify the same thing; namely, that when we give ourselves up to be guided and governed by the word of God, we are in no danger of going astray, since this is the path by which he securely guides his own people to salvation. Instruction in wisdom seems here to be added as the commencement of the restoration of the soul. Understanding is the most excellent endowment of the soul; and David teaches us that it is to be derived from the law, for we are naturally destitute of it. By the word babes, he is not to be understood as meaning any particular class of persons, as if others were sufficiently wise of themselves; but by it he teaches us, in the first place, that none are endued with right understanding until they have made progress in the study of the law. In the second place, he shows by it what kind of scholars God requires, namely, those who are fools in their own estimation, (1Co 3:18,) and who come down to the rank of children, that the loftiness of their own understanding may not prevent them from giving themselves up, with a spirit of entire docility, to the teaching of the word of God.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(7) The law.The ear catches even in the English the change of rhythm, which is as marked as the change of subject. Instead of the free lyric movement of the preceding verse, we come suddenly upon the most finished specimen of didactic poetry in regular metre, exhibiting a perfect balance of expression as well as of thought, so perfect in the original, that in Psa. 19:7-9 the number of words is the same in each clause. In each clause, too, the Law, under one or another of its many names and aspects, is praised, first for its essential character, then for its results.
The law . . . . the testimony.These are collective terms embracing, under different regards, the whole body of statutes and precepts in the Jewish code. The law, trah, means in its primary use instruction, and therefore is used of prophecy (Isa. 1:10; Isa. 8:16), but here undoubtedly bears its common and more limited sense. Testimony, from a root meaning to repeat, suggests the solemn earnestness and insistence of the Divine commands.
The description perfect and sure suggests the lofty ideal prescribed by the Law, and the reliance which the Hebrew might place upon it as a rule of conduct. The word simple is generally used in a bad sense, but here has its primary meaning, open, ingenuous, impressible, easily led either towards folly or wisdom.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
7. The law testimony Here begins the second strophe. The transition from material nature to the written law is abrupt, and scarcely to be accounted for by poetic license. “Law,” here, ( torah,) is specifically the law of Moses, the whole body of written law, as Psa 78:5; Isa 51:7. “Testimony” is used as a synonyme of law, and is so called because it is God’s witness of himself, of what is fit and right for man, of his hatred of sin and his eternal purpose to punish it unless atoned for and repented of. Exo 25:16; Exo 25:21.
Perfect Not as containing every possible detail of duty, but as defining the only moral state which is acceptable to God supreme love which is ethically the essence of all pure law.
Converting the soul Restoring, or bringing back the soul. See on Psa 23:3. The idea is that of moral restoration to the favour of God. It is the office of the law to present to the mind that standard of purity which God will accept, and by reproving sin to turn back the soul to God the New Testament idea of conversion. The Septuagint and New Testament, have the word, ‘ , to turn again, or turn back. Act 3:19: “Repent and be turned back.” Mat 13:15; 1Co 3:6. The torah, or law of Moses, embraced every means for the restoration of the soul to God.
Sure Faithful, true, steadfast. Its derivative, amen, (a word of confirmation.) brings out the idea. It is parallel to 2Co 1:20.
Simple Credulous: the opposite of wise. Those who, from want of experience or judgment, are easily persuaded to a wrong course. Pro 1:32; Pro 14:15. Comp. 2Ti 3:15: “Wise unto salvation.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
God Speaks Through His Word And Covenant ( Psa 19:7-11 ).
Psa 19:7
‘ The instruction (law) of YHWH is perfect, restoring the soul,
The testimony of YHWH is sure, making wise the simple.
For the Instruction (torah – law) of YHWH is total and complete and fully fitted for its work of daily restoring and warming the soul, and the testimony of YHWH is certain and effective in making the simple wise. The ‘simple’ are not the foolish, rather are they those whose hearts are open, whose minds are not cluttered up with worldly wisdom, and who are therefore ready and fitted to receive His word. (The word is paralleled in Pro 1:4 with ‘the young man’). They can be likened to the children whose minds were so unfettered that they were ready to respond to the Kingly Rule of God (Mar 10:15). They are a reminder that God reveals Himself to those who are uncluttered by their own cleverness. Until we stop arguing we will never see Him.
The ‘Instruction of YHWH’ was the name applied to the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, seen as God’s wider covenant. But here it refers not only to the words themselves but to their application through men of God who are faithful to that word, and above all through His Spirit. The Scriptures, however, remain the perfect standard. In the end what is written is written. (Thus the constant refrain, ‘it is written’). The ‘Testimony’ refers to its bearing witness to YHWH, to What He is, and what He requires, and What He will do on man’s behalf, that men may know Him and be enabled to walk in His will.
Note the transition from ‘God’ to ‘YHWH’, the covenant name. These benefits are for those who hear and respond to Him in His covenant, those whose pleasure it is to do His will as their sovereign Lord.
Psa 19:8
‘The precepts of YHWH are right, rejoicing the heart,
The commandment of YHWH is pure, enlightening the eyes.’
The ‘precepts of YHWH’, the injunctions that YHWH lays down, are fully right, and they bring rejoicing to the heart, for our God-given conscience totally approves of them. Each commandment of YHWH is pure, bringing knowledge and understanding and perception so that man sees what is true. Not a yod or tittle of the Instruction will fail until all is fulfilled (Mat 5:18). Thus are they beloved of the righteous who desire them above all things (compare Psa 119:35; Psa 119:40; Psa 119:47; Psa 119:77; Psa 119:97; Psa 119:103-104; Psa 119:127-128).
Psa 19:9
‘The fear of YHWH is clean, enduring for ever,
‘The ordinances of YHWH are true, and righteous altogether.’
In parallel with instruction, testimony, precepts, commandment and ordinances, the ‘fear of YHWH’ refers to God’s word as that which fills men with awe and reverence, which imparts the fear of YHWH which gives wisdom and understanding (Job 28:28; Psa 111:10; Pro 1:7). The ‘fear of YHWH’ is here the awe-inspiring word (see Deu 4:10). It is clean and pure, free of all that would taint it, and thus itself cleanses and purifies, and it goes on for ever. There is nothing of corruption in it. It is of the other world, not of this one.
The ‘ordinances of YHWH’, the requirements that God lays down, are altogether true and righteous in their totality.
So God’s word as given to His people is here exalted as being of greater benefit than the sun, and as going deeper, for while the sun is an external blessing, God’s word reaches to the very heart of man.
Psa 19:10
‘More to be desired are they than gold, yes, than much fine gold,
Sweeter also than honey and the droppings of the honeycomb.’
In mind here are all that are spoken of in Psa 19:7-9. God’s whole word as revealed in His instruction, His testimony, His precepts, His commandments, His fear, and His ordinances is of greater value than much pure gold, and is sweeter than the sweetest honey from the honeycomb. ‘The droppings’ are the honey that exudes naturally, the very sweetest of the honey.
Note the emphasis. God’s teaching is more desirable, not only than gold or even fine gold, but than much fine gold. They are the riches of Heaven. And it is sweeter than anything otherwise known to man.
Psa 19:11
‘Moreover by them is your servant warned,
In keeping them there is great reward.’
And not only are they desirable, they are also vital to our welfare. For they warn us of what will bring us under God’s displeasure, and by observing them and putting them into practise we will receive great reward, both in this world and that which is to come (1Ti 4:8). They will make life fuller and more glorious (Pro 22:4), bringing peace and deep satisfaction (1Ti 6:6), and the fullness of the blessings of God.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Psa 19:7. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul {Restoring / Refreshing} the soul. The connection seems to be this: From the mighty scene and prospect of nature in the former verses, the Psalmist turns his thoughts to the consideration of the still greater works of grace. The rational world, as in itself the noblest, so has it been the more peculiar care of Providence to preserve and adorn it. The sun knows its course, and has always trod the path marked out by its Creator. The sea keeps its old channel, and in its utmost fury remembers the first law of its Maker, hitherto shalt thou go, and no further. But freedom and reason, subject to no such restraint, have produced infinite variety in the rational world. Of all the creatures, man only could forget his Maker and himself, and prostitute the honour of both by robbing God of the obedience due to him, and by submitting himself a slave to the elements of the world. When he looked up to the heavens, and saw the glory of the sun and stars, instead of praising the Lord of all, he foolishly said, “These are thy gods, O man!” When man was thus lost in ignorance and superstition, God manifested himself again, gave him a law to direct his will and inform his reason, and to teach him in all things how to pursue his happiness [and grace to fulfil that law, and obtain that happiness]. This was a kind of second creation; a work which calls as much both for our wonder and our praise as any or all the works of nature [and much more]; and thus the holy Psalmist sings the triumphs of grace, and extols the mercy and power of God, in restoring mankind from the bondage of ignorance and idolatry. The law of the Lord is perfect, &c. To this divine law the sinner owes the conversion of his soul; to the light of God’s word the simple owes his wisdom; nay, even the pleasures of life and all the solid comforts we enjoy flow from the same living stream: The statutes of the Lord do rejoice the heart, as well as enlighten the eyes; and not only shew us the dangers and miseries of iniquity, and, by shewing, teach us to avoid them, but do lead us likewise to certain happiness and joy for evermore: for in keeping them there is great reward. Bishop Sherlock.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
DISCOURSE: 520
EXCELLENCY OF GODS WORD
Psa 19:7-9. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple: the statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
GOD has not left himself without witness even amongst the most unenlightened heathens. His works testify of him: the heavens and the earth declare his eternal power and godhead. They speak silently indeed [Note: ver. 3. The words printed in Italics are not in the original.], but intelligibly, to every child of man; so that idolaters of every name are absolutely without excuse [Note: Rom 1:19-20.]. Wherever the light and genial influence of the sun extend, there is God proclaimed as an infinitely wise and gracious Being. But we have a richer source of instruction opened to us: we have a revelation, which, whilst it proclaims the existence and attributes of Jehovah, makes known to us his will, and points out the path in which we may approach him with a certainty of acceptance: and so extensively was that published by our Lord and his Apostles, that it might be said, even in that age, Their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world [Note: Compare ver. 4. with Rom 10:18.]. It is of this written word that David speaks in the psalm before us: in which are set forth,
I.
Its parts and properties
The various terms here used to designate the word of God, may be considered as directing our attention to all the different parts of that word; each of which has, annexed to it, an appropriate epithet of commendation
[The law of the Lord is in the marginal translation called, The doctrine of the Lord; and it may be understood as including under one general term all that is afterwards more particularly specified: and it is so perfect, that nothing can be taken from it, or added to it, but at the peril of our souls [Note: Rev 22:18-19.] The testimony of the Lord is the Gospel of the grace of God [Note: Act 20:24.], even the witness which God has testified of his Son [Note: 1Jn 5:9.]. It is the record that God has given of his Son, namely, that in him is eternal life; and that he who hath the Son, hath life: and he who hath not the Son of God, hath not life [Note: 1Jn 5:11-12.]. Now this is sure, so sure, that it may be relied upon with the most implicit confidence: it is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners [Note: 1Ti 1:15.].The statutes of the Lord are those ordinances, which God appointed under the ceremonial law to shadow forth all the glorious mysteries of the Gospel, and which were right for the time then present; though, since the introduction of the clearer light of the Gospel, they are abrogated as burthensome and unnecessary. Not but that there are some still in force, such as the Sabbath, and the ordinances of Baptism and the Lords Supper. And these may well be called right: for who can doubt the propriety of a certain portion of our time being dedicated to the especial service of Him to whom we owe our very existence? or who can question the suitableness of those easy and instructive rites, whereby we are dedicated to the Lord Jesus Christ at first, and afterwards commemorate from time to time the wonders of his dying love? The commandment of the Lord is the moral law, in which we are taught, in what way we are to serve and please our God. And this is pure, and holy [Note: Rom 7:12.]: it is given to regulate, not our words and actions only, but the inmost thoughts and desires of our hearts. It is indeed exceeding broad [Note: Psa 119:96.], extending to every motive and principle of the mind, yea, to every inclination, affection, appetite of the soul, and requiring the whole to be in a state of constant and entire conformity to the will of God. The fear of the Lord we consider as another name for the Holy Scriptures, only putting, as is frequently done, the effect for the cause [Note: The author would be understood to speak this with diffidence, because he is not aware that any commentator has put this construction on the words: but he considers any other interpretation as unsuitable to the context. Something similar occurs Gen 31:42. where God is called, The fear of Isaac; where not the act, but the object, of Isaacs fear is spoken of. If this sense be not approved, the reader may understand the words as signifying, The worship of God.]. The word at God, as inculcating and exciting the fear of the Lord, is clean; its one object is, to cleanse and purify the souls of men. Hence our Lord says, Now ye are clean through the word that I have spoken unto you [Note: Joh 15:3. Compare also Eph 5:26.]. Moreover, the word, in this view of it, endureth for ever, since its operation is uniform to the end of the world; and the purifying effects produced by it, will continue through all eternity. The judgments of the Lord are his warnings and threatenings; which though questioned by men as false, or condemned by them as unjust, are yet true and righteous altogether. We are very incompetent judges of the demerit of sin, or of the conduct which God, as the moral Governor of the universe, has thought proper to pursue: but we are assured, that, when he shall inflict on the impenitent the judgments he has denounced against them, all his intelligent creatures will exclaim, True and righteous are thy judgments, O Lord God Almighty! just and true are thy ways, thou King of Saints!]
As the different terms which we have considered are not so definite in their import but that they admit of different interpretations, we shall wave the further consideration of them; and, comprehending them all under one general term, The word of God, we shall proceed to notice,
II.
Its use and excellence
It would occupy too much time to enter fully into this subject: let it suffice to notice those particular uses which are mentioned in our text. The word then is of use,
1.
To illuminate the mind
[Previous to the application of the word to the heart by the Holy Spirit, we are in utter darkness: but the entrance of Gods word giveth light. Truly it is a marvellous light that we are brought into, when our eyes are opened to discern the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ Nor is it the learned only who receive instruction from it: it is intended more especially for the poor. There is something in the Gospel which tends rather to offend the proud, but is most palatable and delightful to the humble. Hence we are told, It maketh wise the simple. What astonishing views of God, of Christ, of the human heart, of the evil of sin, of the beauty of holiness, of the felicity of heaven, have many unlettered persons attained! Yet it is in the knowledge of these things that true wisdom consists: and this knowledge is imparted to all who embrace the Gospel, in proportion to the simplicity of their minds, and the devotedness of their hearts to God. These are the things, which, as our blessed Lord informs us, are hid from the wise and prudent, and are revealed unto babes. Without such a special illumination of the mind, the most learned philosopher cannot comprehend them [Note: 1Co 2:14.]; and by such an illumination the most untutored savage shall be made wise unto salvation.]
2.
To convert the soul
[Truly, the word is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword. It is the rod of Gods strength, even that wonder-working rod, which subdues all his enemies before him. Like fire it melts; and like a hammer, it breaketh the rock in pieces. See its effects upon the three thousand on the day of Pentecost! such is its operation, wherever it comes in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. It humbles the proudest spirit, and subdues the most obdurate heart to the obedience of faith. Nor is it to the adoption of new principles only that it brings the soul, but to the acquisition of new habits; so that it becomes set on Christ and heavenly things, as once it was set on self and earthly things: it assimilates the soul to Christ as the great exemplar, and changes it into the divine image, from one degree of glory to another, by the Spirit of our God.]
3.
To rejoice the heart
[Ignorant men imagine that the application of Gods word to the soul is productive only of pain and sorrow: but those who have ever tasted of the good word of life have found, by happy experience, that it fills them with joy and peace in believing, yea, with joy unspeakable and glorified. The word is to them the charter of all their privileges, and the map of their everlasting inheritance. As an heir peruses with delight a will in which great wealth is unexpectedly bequeathed to him, so the Christian finding in every page of the sacred volume his title to all the blessedness and glory of heaven, how can he but rejoice in such records? how can he but concur with David in saying, They are more desired by me than gold, yea, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb?]
We may learn from hence,
1.
Our privilege
[If it was the highest privilege of the Jews, that to them were committed the oracles of God, much more are we distinguished, who have the writings of the New Testament superadded to those of the Old. Let us learn to estimate this privilege aright. Let us remember, that in this blessed volume is contained all that can be needful either for the instruction of our minds, or the salvation of our souls: and, whilst we enjoy this inestimable blessing ourselves, let us labour by all possible means to communicate it to others ]
2.
Our duty
[We should search the Scriptures daily, digging into them as for hid treasures, and praying earnestly to God, that he would open our understandings to understand them. We should look to them as the ground of all our hopes, and the rule of all our conduct. To study the book of nature will be well: but to study the sacred volume with prayer will tend to our highest perfection, and will thoroughly furnish us unto every good word and work.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Here the sacred writer makes a beautiful transition from the works of nature to contemplate the works of grace. Having celebrated the praises of Jehovah in his outward courts, he now enters the inner temple to adore him. And if the former preached Christ, still in much higher strains doth the latter. I would have the Reader remark with me, how much the sacred penman dwells upon the glorious and incommunicable name of Jehovah. No less than six times in three verses is that high and lofty name mentioned. And, in like manner, he maketh use of six different terms to denote Christ and his sacred word by. For, I take it for granted, the Reader is apprized that Jesus is all along referred to by what is here said. He is indeed the substance of the law, and the testimony, and the statutes. He converts the soul. He rejoiceth the heart. He is the Alpha and Omega of all God’s gracious dealings with men. And, therefore, is more precious than gold, yea, than the golden wedge of Ophir. He causeth them, as he saith himself, that love him to possess substance, yea durable riches and righteousness, Pro 8:18-21 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 19:7 The law of the LORD [is] perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD [is] sure, making wise the simple.
Ver. 7. The law of the Lord is perfect ] Or, doctrine; the whole word of God, commonly distinguished into law and gospel, is perfect, immaculate, sincere, entire, complete. If Cicero dared to say, that the law of the twelve tables in Rome did exceed all the libraries of philosophers, both in weight of authority and fruitfulness of matter, how much rather is this true of God’s law! saith a learned writer. Nothing may be added to it without marring it, Pro 30:6 . Note this against Jewish, Popish, and Turkish traditions and additions; as also against anti-scripturists, and who at first rejected all books but the Bible, and after that grew so wise as to be religious enough without that also. And last of all they came to blaspheme that blessed book, as a dead letter, and a beggarly element, &c.; when as the apostle telleth us, that all Scripture is pure, precious, and profitable for doctrine, for reproof, &c., that the man of God may be perfect, &c., 2Ti 3:16-17 . Here in this and the two following verses it is easy to observe – 1. That every one of them are in the Hebrew written with ten words. 2. That here is a sixfold commendation of God’s holy word. (l.) By the several names thereunto given, law, testimony, statutes, &c (2.) By the nature, perfect, sure, right, &c. (3.) By the effects, converting the soul, making wise the simple, &c.
Converting the soul
The testimony of the Lord is sure
Making wise the simple
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 19:7-14
7The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul;
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.
8The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.
9The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;
The judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether.
10They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold;
Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.
11Moreover, by them Your servant is warned;
In keeping them there is great reward.
12Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults.
13Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins;
Let them not rule over me;
Then I will be blameless,
And I shall be acquitted of great transgression.
14Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in Your sight,
O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.
Psa 19:7 the Lord This is the covenant name for God, YHWH. It is from the Hebrew verb to be, cf. Exo 3:14. The rabbis say it refers to God in His special covenant relationship to Israel. See Special Topic: Names for Deity .
perfect See SPECIAL TOPIC: BLAMELESS, INNOCENT, GUILTLESS, WITHOUT REPROACH .
Psa 19:7-9 law. . .testimony. . .precepts. . .commandment. . .fear. . .judgments These are synonyms for God’s written revelation. See Special Topic: Terms for God’s Revelation .
perfect. . .sure. . .right. . .pure. . .clean. . .true These are characteristics of God’s written revelation. The Bible is the only clear, self-revelation of God. This is a crucial faith assertion. It is normally called inspiration (see Special Topic: Insspiration below). If you are interested in my evidence for this faith presupposition see Video: Why I Trust the NT .
SPECIAL TOPIC: INSPIRATION
Psa 19:7-11 restoring. . .making. . .rejoicing. . .enlightening. . .enduring. . .righteous. . .more desirable. . .sweeter. . .warned. . .keeping This is what the written revelation does for us. Oh, the value of Scripture for fallen humanity!
Notice the threefold parallels.
Titles for YHWH’s Revelation Description of YHWH’s Revelation Purpose of YHWH’s Revelation or Description of It
Psa 19:7 a the law of the Lord perfect/blameless restoring the soul
Psa 19:7 b the testimony of the Lord sure making wise the simple (cf. Psa 119:98-100)
Psa 19:8 a the precepts of the Lord right rejoicing the heart (cf. Psa 119:14)
Psa 19:8 b the commandment of the Lord pure enlightening the eyes (cf. Psa 36:9; Psa 119:130)
Psa 19:9 a the fear of the Lord clean enduring forever
Psa 19:9 b the judgments of the Lord true righteous altogether (cf. Deu 32:4; Psa 119:138)
Psa 19:10 a they more desirable gold, fine gold (cf. Psa 119:72; Psa 119:127)
Psa 19:10 b they sweeter honey, honey comb (cf. Psa 119:103)
Psa 19:11 a Your servant warned
Psa 19:11 b keeping them great reward
What powerful repetition and parallelism! God’s revelation is redemptive, informative, prescriptive, and a real blessing! Oh, thank God for revelation!
Psa 19:8-9 righteous The Hebrew root originally meant a measuring reed. It speaks of a standard for judgment. God Himself is that standard. See Special Topic: Righteousness .
Psa 19:9 fear This feminine noun (BDB 432, KB 433) means revere or with awe and respect. The concept is used often in Wisdom Literature (cf. Job 4:6; Job 6:14; Job 22:4; Job 28:28; Psa 5:7; Psa 34:11; Psa 90:11; Psa 111:10; Psa 119:38; Pro 1:7; Pro 2:5; Pro 8:13; Pro 9:10; Pro 10:27; Pro 14:26-27; Pro 15:16; Pro 16:6; Pro 19:23; Pro 22:4; Pro 23:17). The recurrent message is that awe/respect/fear are the beginning of wisdom! Without God there is no truth, just fallen human opinions and traditions (cf. Isa 29:13).
SPECIAL TOPIC: FEAR (OT)
enduring forever This same truth is expressed by Jesus in Mat 5:18; Mat 24:35; Mar 13:31; Luk 21:33.
Psa 19:10 they are more desirable than gold. . .honey Does this describe your attitude toward God’s revelation? Is your Bible your most precious property?
Psa 19:11 the servant is warned God has given us a guideline for a life of peace and joy, but it must be lived out! There is a divine path (see note at Psa 1:1) and we must stay on it (cf. Mat 7:13-14).
Psa 19:12-13 These verses are a recognition and prayer that amidst our current fallen ignorance and folly God will deal effectively with our fallen nature.
1. Who can discern his errors? (cf. Psa 40:12). Only God knows the heart. He must judge (cf. Psa 139:23-24; 1Co 4:4-5; Heb 4:12-13).
2. Acquit me of hidden faults. This is an imperative of prayer (BDB 667, KB 720, Piel imperative). Notice it is hidden faults, not open-eyed rebellion (cf. Lev 4:2; Lev 4:22; Lev 4:27; Lev 5:15-18; Lev 22:14).
3. Keep back from presumptuous sins. This is another imperative of prayer (BDB 362, KB 359, Qal imperative). This is open-eyed rebellion.
The adjective presumptuous (BDB 267) is used several times in Psalms 119 (cf. Psa 119:21; Psa 119:51; Psa 119:69; Psa 119:78; Psa 119:85; Psa 119:122) and translated arrogant, which denotes an attitude of rebellion. In this context it refers to known sins.
4. Let them not rule over me. This verb is a Qal imperfect but is used in a jussive sense. This is another point of prayer. Sin is a slave-master (cf. Rom 5:21; Rom 6:9; Rom 6:14; Rom 6:17; Rom 6:23).
The last two lines of Psa 19:13 state the requested results of the psalmist’s prayer.
1. I shall be blameless
2. I shall be acquitted of great transgression
The psalmist had great confidence in YHWH’s desire and ability to forgive and forget sin/sins (cf. Isa 1:18; Isa 38:17; Isa 43:25; Isa 44:22; Mic 7:19). We only learn of the mechanism of this forgiveness in the NT record and interpretation of the life, teachings, death, resurrection, ascension, and return of Jesus the Christ (i.e., the gospel). As the Psalm extols the wonder and greatness of God’s written revelation, only the NT reveals the splendor of God’s incarnate revelation (i.e., the Living Word)! Jesus is the ultimate revelation of God (cf. Joh 1:1-14; Col 1:13-17; Heb 1:2-3).
Psa 19:14 In light of the power of God’s revelation and His marvelous forgiveness, the psalmist continues his prayer.
1. Let the words of my mouth (one verb, BDB 224, KB 243, Qal imperfect used in a jussive sense, controls #1,2,3)
2. Let the meditations of my heart
3. Acceptable (BDB 953) is
a. a common sacrificial term in Leviticus
b. a very common word in Wisdom Literature
NIV translates it as
1) pleased/pleasing/pleasure
2) acceptable/accepted
3) favor/favored
4) fitting
5) delight
Once we know Him and are changed by Him, we want to live in a way that pleases Him. A way that brings others to Him. True forgiveness must issue in a changed and changing life of godliness (cf. Rom 8:28-30; 2Co 3:18; Gal 4:19; Eph 1:4; Eph. 4:13; 1Th 4:3; 1Th 5:23; 2Th 2:13; Tit 2:14; 1Pe 1:15)! The goal of biblical faith is not heaven when we die but Christlikeness now!
Several descriptive titles close this Psalm as they started Psalms 18 (i.e., Psa 19:2).
1. YHWH (i.e., ever-living, ever-present, only God)
2. Rock
3. Redeemer (Qal participle)
SPECIAL TOPIC: RANSOM/REDEEM
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
This is a study guide commentary, which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.
These discussion questions are provided to help you think through the major issues of this section of the book. They are meant to be thought-provoking, not definitive.
1. What is general revelation? What can it tell you about God?
2. What is included in special revelation? What can it tell you about God?
3. Why are two different names for God used in this Psalm?
4. Do you find as much joy in the Law of God as this Psalm describes?
5. List characteristics of the Law.
6. What should I do about unknown sins?
7. What are presumptuous sins? What is so serious about them in the OT?
8. What is the meaning of Psa 19:14 to you?
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
law. Note the synthetic parallelism of the second half of this Psalm, which compares the written words in the Scripture with the words written in the heavens, and preserved in the names of the signs of the Zodiac and the constellations. See App-12. Note in verses: Psa 19:7-9 the six titles of the Word, its six attributes, and its six effects (see App-10).
the LORD. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4. The Covenant God, in contrast with El (Psa 19:1) the Creator. Occurs seven times in this latter half of the Psalm.
perfect: like all His other works. Note the six words in verses: Psa 19:7-9.
converting = returning. As the sun returns in the heavens, so here the same word is used of the sinner’s conversion (or returning). Note that all the verbs in this second half are astronomical, as those in the first half are literary. See note above.
the soul. Hebrew. nephesh. App-13.
testimony = witness. Compare Psa 89:37.
sure = faithful and enduring; as the sun is “the faithful witness in the heavens” (Psa 89:37).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 19:7-11
Psa 19:7-11
“The law of Jehovah is perfect, restoring the soul.
The testimony of Jehovah is sure, making wise the simple.
The precepts of Jehovah are right, rejoicing the heart:
The commandment of Jehovah is pure, enlightening the eyes.
The fear of Jehovah is clean, enduring forever;
The ordinances of Jehovah are true, and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than fine gold, yea, than much fine gold;
Sweeter also than honey and the droppings of the honeycomb.
Moreover by them is thy servant warned:
In keeping them there is great reward.”
There are six synonyms used here for the Word Book, namely, the Old Testament, which was the Bible of that dispensation. These are Law, Testimony, Precepts, Commandment, Fear and Ordinances. These words seem to be merely different references to God’s Word; but, as Taylor said, “What is here said about these words is of major significance.
“The law of Jehovah is perfect, converting the soul.” This statement that God’s Word is “perfect” does not correspond with what critics generally think. In 1Co 13:10, “That which is perfect” is undoubtedly a reference to the completed Canon of the New Testament; but a critic of that view stated that, “Such an interpretation fails to find any support in the Biblical usage of `perfect.’
The reason that the law of the Lord is perfect is that it is able to convert the souls of men, as witnessed by countless generations of the faithful. Nothing except God’s Word has ever been able to register an achievement as important as that.
“The testimony of Jehovah is sure, making wise the simple.” God’s Word is dependable. A single sentence of it outweighs the opinions of a thousand of the most learned men who ever lived. The Word of God has withstood the unrelenting attacks of Satan for thousands of years; but every single word of it is not merely intact; it is still believed, trusted, and accepted as truth by millions of devoted people. Men who are ignorant of the Bible can never, in any sense whatever, be truly “educated.” Only God’s Word has any dependable information about who man actually is, where he came from, what his duty is, and what is significant about his life. Only in the Bible can men learn of death, hereafter, the eternal Judgment, and many other subjects of the most urgent importance to all men. Without such a knowledge from the Bible, every man is a simpleton and will continue to be so.
“The precepts of Jehovah are right, rejoicing the heart.” Precepts are not caused to be true merely by their being recorded in the Bible; but, because they are true, they are found there. True rejoicing of the heart derives altogether from that “peace which passeth understanding,” a peace from God Himself; and that is directly connected with respect for and obedience of God’s precepts. As John Greenleaf Whittier put it:
“We search the world for truth; we cull
The good, the pure, the beautiful
From all old flower fields of the soul:
And weary seekers of the best,
We come laden from our quest,
To find that all the sages said
Is in the book our mothers’ read!”
“The commandment of Jehovah is pure, enlightening the eyes.” It is not physical eyesight that is in view here, but the human intellect. Animals are provided by their Creator with instinct to guide them; but men are privileged to be guided by the “commandments” of the Lord. Refusing or neglecting to obey them can result in the utter debauchery of men, a condition in which they sink even lower than the animals, indulging in shameful practices that instinct forbids even an animal to do.
“The fear of Jehovah is clean, enduring forever.” The “fear” mentioned here is a reference to honoring God’s commandments. The fact of its being “clean,” as Taylor said, “It is free from all the abominations of pagan religions.
“The ordinances of Jehovah are true and righteous altogether.” The only righteousness is that of keeping all the statutes and ordinances of the Lord. “All thy commandments are righteousness” (Psa 119:172). The evangelist Luke, commenting upon the righteousness of Zacharias and Elizabeth, said concerning them, “They were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, blameless.” (Luk 1:6).
Psa 19:10-11 here speak of the desirability of God’s commandments.
“More to be desired than gold … much fine gold. Sweeter than honey … or droppings of the honeycomb.” These two lines are parallel, “the droppings of the honeycomb,” meaning the very finest of honey, corresponding to the “much fine gold” in the first line.
Walking in the statutes and ordinances of the Lord makes a noble and beautiful person in the sight of God and man; but gold never had any such ability; but on the other hand has betrayed some who either had it or sought it into the most shameful deeds, disastrous both to its owners and to others.
By them is thy servant warned. If not instructed in the truth of God’s Word, men inevitably fall into the snare of the devil, a tragedy which is prevented by the timely warnings against sin to be found in the commandments of God.
“In keeping them there is great reward.” What reward is comparable to that of God’s approval? As Jesus said, “Great is your reward in heaven”! Apart from the promised reward of God’s faithful servants in Christ, what does human life have to offer? Its pitiful struggle through the uncertainties of childhood, its pitifully brief years of maturity, its constant strivings for earthly success, its constant threat of disease and death, its awful brevity, and the promise of a grave at the end of the struggle – that is what human life promises without the blessed hope of the resurrection to eternal life “in Christ Jesus.” The understatement here is amazing, “In keeping them, there is great reward”!
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 19:7. Having devoted 6 verses to the creation of the material world, David takes up the subject of God’s Word in its various phases. Law is a general reference to the rule of God for the conduct of man. It is perfect in its ability to convert a soul, which would mean that no human law is needed to be added to it. Testimonies has special reference to the words of the Lord that have been tested and proved to be true. They will add wisdom to those who are simple or uninstructed.
Psa 19:8. Statutes means the set ordinances of God. They are just and right so that they cause the heart to rejoice instead of dreading the Lord. Commandment specifically refers to personal action and gives instructions and warnings to the (mental) eyes. It is pure which means it is not mixed with any human weakness.
Psa 19:9. Fear has two phases of meaning; one to dread, the other to respect the Lord, the latter is its meaning here. It is clean in the sense of being free from elements of decay; that is why it endures forever. Judgments refers to the verdicts or decisions of God. The full definition of this word is quoted at Exo 21:1 in the first volume of the commentary. The decisions of the Lord are always according to truth and hence are altogether righteous.
Psa 19:10. The value of spiritual things cannot be fully estimated by temporal things. The best that can be done, therefore, is to compare them with such values; things that we prize and enjoy. Gold was one of the most precious metals known in olden times. The first occurrence in this verse is from a word that is defined in the lexicon, “something goldcolored.” In the second instance the word fine is not in the original as a separate word. Gold is from a different Hebrew word from the one above and is defined, “pure (gold); hence gold itself (as refined).” Strong. The statement in comparison is interesting. David first compared the Word of God to things that looked attractive, then intensified it by naming the article that not only looked desirable but was of genuine worth. In other words, the things of God not only look good to the man who will give them his attention, but upon closer inspection they will be found to be of real value. Honeycomb by itself is not sweet, hence the comparison must be seen by a closer study of the words. The first use of the word honey is from an original that means the entire product that we call by that name, including the comb. The word honeycomb is from two Hebrew words and means extracted honey. Of course we would understand that the per cent of sweetness in the extracted product would be greater than it would be in the whole article including the comb.
Psa 19:11. The antecedent of them is the Word of God with its various classifications. Warned means, “to enlighten (by caution).”–Strong. To be warned of danger should not be the only purpose of the law of God and it is not. The next part of the verse states the affirmative benefits; they consist in great reward.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
The Perfect Law
The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul:
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.
The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart:
The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.
The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever:
The judgements of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether.
Psa 19:7-9.
1. This Psalm consists of two partsso distinct that some have held that their union was an afterthought, and that they must originally have belonged to different hymns. The supposition is scarcely necessary, for surely the transition is not an unnatural or a violent onefrom the thought of God in nature to that of God in revelation. And very instructive is it to note how the Psalmist suggests a contrast between the two by the different names for God which he employs in the two parts of the Psalm. The Hebrew tongue has many names for God, but there are two principal ones, and it is often interesting to see which is employed. There is first the ordinary name for God, Elohim, or El, a name which simply speaks of the Supreme Being, the Maker and Creator of all things visible and invisible, but tells us nothing of His nature and character. But there is also the name by which God specially revealed Himself as entering into covenant with man, which spoke of His personal relations to His own people, His manifestation to them, and His unchanging love for them. This is what we might reverently call the proper name of God. It is sometimes represented in our Bibles as Jehovah, more often simply as the Lord, the translators having followed Jewish custom, which shrank, from motives of reverence, from pronouncing the word Jehovah because of its sacredness, and ordinarily substituted for it another word meaning Lord. Now when we turn to the Psalm before us, what do we find? In the first part, consisting of verses 1 to 6, of which the subject is Nature, we are told that the heavens declare the glory of God. It is GodEl, the strong, the mightywhom the world around reveals. Of God as Power you can learn from Nature. Would you know Him as Love, as entering into personal relations with manfor this, the Psalmist seems to say, you must go to Revelation. And therefore, in the second part of the Psalm, from verse 7 onwards, where he describes the glory of the revealed law, the name of Him who gives it is changed. He no longer speaks of Him simply as God. It is the law of the Lord that is perfect. The Lordthat is, Jehovah, the covenant name under which the Almighty revealed Himself to Moses at the bush, the name which spoke to every Jew of One who had set His love upon man, who was mindful of him, and entered into closest personal relations with him.1 [Note: 1 E. C. S. Gibson, The Old Testament and its Messages, 128.]
2. The Psalm may perhaps have been written in the first flush of an Eastern sunrise, when the sun was seen as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoicing as a strong man to run his course. The song breathes all the life and freshness, all the gladness and glory of the morning. The devout singer looks out, first, on the works of Gods fingers, and sees all creation bearing its constant though silent testimony to its Maker; and then he turns himself with a feeling of deep satisfaction to that yet clearer and better witness concerning Him to be found in the moral law. Thus he begins the day; thus he prepares himself for the duties that await him, for the temptations that may assail, and the sorrows that may gather as a cloud about him. He has made trial of the preciousness of that word. He knows its deep, hallowing, soul-sustaining power. He knows that it is full of life and healing. But he knows also that it is a word that searches and tries the heart, that reveals the holiness of God, and the sinfulness of man; and therefore he bows himself in prayer, saying, As for errors,who can understand them? Cleanse thou me from secret faults.2 [Note: J. J. Stewart Perowne, The Psalms, i. 86.]
The twofold subject of this Psalm is one which in all ages has served (with variations according to the nature of the religion of the thinker) as the theme of pious meditation. Those eternal Lieder ohne Worte, the music of the spheres, have ever sung to the thoughtful heart the glory of the Creator. Plato declares that the wondrous order of the heavens is a proof of Gods existence. Hafiz enlarges on the same topic, telling us how even the sweet scent and beauteous hue of the tiniest floweret that decks the field is but an efflux of the perfections of the Divinity. St. Paul shows how the heathen were not left without a witness of God, either in the external world or in their own conscience. Kant is said to have remarked that the two things which most forcibly impressed him with a feeling of the sublime were the starry heavens above him and the moral sense within him. And Lord Bacon, in the very spirit of this Psalm, writes, I have delighted in the brightness of Thy temple. Thy creatures have been my books; but Thy Scriptures much more. I have sought Thee in the courts, fields, and gardens; I have found Thee in Thy temples.1 [Note: Jennings and Lowe, The Psalms , 76.]
I.
The Scope of Gods Law
1. The Psalmist opens his eyes and sees in all nature the manifestation of law, of regularity, of reason. His eyesight, turning its native simplicity upon the scene before him, is quite enough to reveal to him this rude secret which it is the whole duty of science to elucidate, this august rhythm, so firm and so tireless, in which the endless succession of day and night proceeds. This it is that overpowers him, Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledgeeach arrives at its turn without disorder, without accident, or chance, or perplexity. There is about it all, as the mighty drama discloses itself, the calmness, the majesty, of rational knowledge. As far as imagination can go, still the same reasonable law holds good, still those ordained successions proceed, still all move along allotted pathways, still the evidence of conscious thought meets the searching gaze, still it is as if the round earth everywhere were trembling on the verge of speech. This language of theirs which is heard in the silence reaches unto the very ends of the world. And so, too, with this leaping sun, this bridegroom, which travels with such steady precision, with such unfaltering certainty, along the course set before him. He also never comes to the close of his mission, he also is universal in his range. His going forth is from the uttermost part of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it, and there is nothing hid from the heat thereofuniversal law acting in silence, with absolute security of rhythm.
That is the vision which overawes the Psalmist; and is not that the very essence of our scientific presentation of Nature? Law acting in silence, that is Nature as science discloses it. Silently, in dumb show, world within world of intricate law work out their allotted transformations. We look upon the strange and busy process, as in and out, with sure accuracy, all ply their business. Most amazing! But it is dumb, some say, as they gaze; it tells nothing, it works, works in a silence that is as death; there is no voice, neither any to answer; it offers no interpretation of itself, it suggests no language and responds to no thought; it is dumb mechanism beating out an aimless task. No, we cry with the Psalmist, silent it may be, but this perfect law, this undeviating order, this calm precision, this infinite regularity of succession, this steady certainty of movement, this unbroken universality, these disciplined forces, this rhythmic harmony, this balance, this precaution, this response of day to day and night to night, that is intelligence, that is reason, that is consciousness, that is speech! No one can face it in its wholeness, part answering to part, and each to all, without becoming aware of its mystic eloquence. It all speaks, speaks as it works, speaks without a language, speaks without a sound. Reason answers to reason as deep to deep. There may be no speech or language in these dumb motions, but for all that, voices are heard among them, their sound goes out unto all the lands, and their words unto the ends of the world.
It is noticeable that the very period in which science has given svich astounding development to our astronomical knowledge should also have been marked by a poetical development which, through the genius of Wordsworth, restored to us that primitive vision of nature with a purity, an austerity, and a vitality which has never been paralleled since the Psalms were written. Through him we see again the earth and sky as the Psalmist saw them. We see them not as under the conceits of a rhetorical emotion which can afford to disregard science only because its purpose is so superficial and trifling. That is precisely the conception of poetry which Wordsworth overthrew. He renewed its seriousness; he stripped it of poetic fiction; he made us see nature as men who are being disciplined for eternity, who can allow themselves no idle dreams, being far too much in earnest to take the beauty of nature as the plaything of a passing hourmen who abhor shows and outward vanities, and who press through by strenuous patience into the deep heart of things. It was no rhetorician, no emotional sentimentalist, who found, in that primeval outlook over the things of the earth, the solidity of a revelation. It was in the service, in the solemn service, of modern duty that he sang in words that breathed the innermost spirit of the text
Thou dost preserve the stars from wrong!
And the most ancient heavens, through Thee, are fresh and strong.1 [Note: H. Scott Holland.]
I remember well my first visit to Chamounix. I had read of it, I had heard about it, and I had imagined it; and now I can only say to you, that no vigour of imagination can paint in your mind a scene which is ineffably glorious, and which can be believed only by being seen. But before I got to Chamounix the sun went down, night came, and the shadows went stealing up the mountains till they drove the suns golden feet from where they lingered on the highest peak. And then we came to the place, and we heard the wind moaning among the hills, and the sounds of mighty torrents that made one shudder. Here and there a feeble light in the darkness only made the scene more desolate and awful. You threaded your way at last into the hotel, and then with a sigh you said, What did I come here for? It was a much better place at home. And seven hours passed by, and there came from heaven the glorious light, and the vapours and darkness vanished, and before me Gods mighty and manifold works stood in all their beauty. The eyes saw what tongue cannot tell, and what the soul can never forget. The light revealed it all, it did not create it. Gods great work was there, and the light had revealed it to me; so that my experience was that of the pilgrim at Bethel, Surely this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.2 [Note: C. Vince, The Unchanging Saviour, 168.]
I asked the earth, and it answered me, I am not He; and all the things that are in it confessed the same. I asked the sea and the depths, and the moving creatures, and they answered, We are not thy God; seek above us. I asked the air, and the whole air, with the inhabitants thereof, answered, Anaximenes was wrong; I am not thy God. I asked the heavens, sun, moon, and stars. Nor, say they, are we the God whom thou seekest. And I replied unto all the things around, Ye have told me of my God, that ye are not He: tell me something of Him. And they cried out with a loud voice, He made us.1 [Note: Augustine, Confessions, x. 9.]
Not only in the Book
Is found Gods word,
But in the song of every brook
And every bird.
In sun and moon and star
His message shines!
The flowers that fleck the green fields are
His fragrant lines.
His whisper in the breeze,
And His the voice
That bids the leaves upon the trees
Sing and rejoice.
Go forth, O soul! nor fear
Nor doubt, for He
Shall make the ears of faith to hear
The eyes to see.2 [Note: F. D. Sherman.]
2. But the Psalmist turns his eyes in upon himself, and he finds another worlda world, too, of law, of certainty, of regularity, of order, no less than the world of Nature. Still here, too, the same harmonies hold good, the same successions move in appointed sequence; part answers to part, and every part to the whole. Here, too, all is sane, rational, secure, quiet, and sure, as the silent stars in the night; this great work proceeds according to allotted precautions, by rule and measure and mind, punctual and precise as the sun moving out of his chamber in the morning. This higher order of life moves along the course set before it, and its laws never flag or fail; no chance confuses it, and no unruly accident disturbs it. Man can count on these laws with the same absolute validity as that with which he counts on sunrise or on sunset. And what is this wonderful world that spreads away on every side to this ancient watcher of the skies? What are these undeviating laws which lay themselves alongside of those unbroken uniformities which govern the stars in their courses? We know it is the world of consciousness, the world of the moral law, the world of the religious spirit, the world of the fear of the Lord.
As fire burns, as water runs, so the fear of the Lord holds on its way with undeviating certitude. Look up at the strong sun moving through its unalterable successions! It cometh, we say, from the uttermost part of the earth, and runneth about unto the ends of the world, and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof. It is the very type of necessity. Sure as the sun in the heavens, sure as the sun will rise to-morrowso we say. Just such is the law of the Lord, the law of the moral life. It works with the same relentless accuracy, with the same clearness, with the same persistence: nothing can hold it back or turn it aside, or hide it, or deny it, or escape it, or defy it. There is nothing hid from the heat thereof. On and on it bears down upon us, and its light pierces, and embraces, and searches, and reveals! We must stand in it! The soul is laid bare under it, wrapped round by that dread heat which burns its way in! Nothing can be hid! Oh, the severity of such a searching fire! Who can relieve the strain? Who can soften the flame? What may not we be proved to have done under such a scrutiny!1 [Note: H. Scott Holland.]
We call it the law of God. It is so in the sense in which it is your law and mine. It is greater than Gods throne, nay, His throne rests upon it. He obeys it, rules by it,else He might be Zeus, or Jupiter, the fickle, wayward, unrighteous tyrant of classic mythology, but not the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and our Father. The law is inherent in its subject-matter, in the very nature of things, and omnipotence can no more set it aside than it can make two and two five, or a circle equal to the polygon that incloses it. A Zeus might ignore the law; but though he held in his grasp all created beings and things, he could not make the wrong right, or the right wrong.2 [Note: A. P. Peabody, The Kings Chapel Sermons, 95.]
3. The Psalmist is first attracted by the external glory. He opens his eyes upon the world of Nature, and beholds it with a gaze of childlike joy. To him it is, at a first glance, the personification of gladness. All things are messengers of the Divine glory. The heavens are telling the glory of the Lord; day communicates the message to day, and night to night. The sun is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoicing as a strong man rejoices to run his course. The message of joy is widespread and catholic, presenting a striking contrast to the limited scope of Judaism; its voice has gone forth unto all the earth, and its words unto the end of the world. And yet, with all its catholicity and with all its widespread power, the eloquence of Nature is a silent eloquence: There is no speech, nor language; their voice cannot be heard. The aspect of the outer universe, as it appears to the eye of the Psalmist, is that of an all-pervading, joyous, yet silently working power, uniting the lives of men in a common brotherhood; and, as we read his opening expressions of enthusiasm, we are fully prepared to find the keynote of his strain prolonged through the entire meditation.
But suddenly there is a hiatus in the song. The Singer seems to interrupt himself in the midst of his enthusiastic melody, as if a string of the harp were broken. At the very moment when he seems lost in the admiration of the world of Nature, he all at once breaks out into a strain which sounds like a revolt from the external: The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever; the judgements of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. Can we account for this seeming break in the harmony? Can we explain the apparent abruptness in the transition of thought, and restore unity to the Psalmists theme? If we call in the aid of something more than the canons of criticism, if we fall back upon the standpoint of intellectual sympathy, we shall find no difficulty in seeing that the unity has never been broken. For is it not evident that the seeming abruptness of the transition is in reality the result of a close continuity of thought? The Psalmist has been expatiating on the wonders of Nature; he has been revelling in the declaration of Gods visible glory and in the traces of His creative power. Yet in the very midst of his exultation he feels that his mind is not filled. This calm beautiful Nature, where is no speech nor language, is too silent to satisfy his soul. He feels somehow that its voice is not for him, that its sympathy is not for him, that he is receiving no answer to the communings of his heart. In the momentary reaction he turns his eye inward, and there opens to his sight a new worldthe world of Conscience. He finds himself in the presence of another glory of God, another manifestation of the Infinite. All at once there breaks upon his mind the conviction that the second glory is strong just where the first glory seemed weak; that the world of Conscience supplies to a human soul the very elements which it lacks in the world of Nature, and that in supplying these elements it becomes the other side of the Divine revelation, the second half of the twofold Majesty.
The day closed with heavy showers. The plants in my garden were beaten down before the pelting storm, and I saw one flower that I had admired for its beauty and loved for its fragrance exposed to the pitiless storm. The flower fell, shut up its petals, drooped its head, and I saw that all its glory was gone. I must wait till next year, I said, before I see that beautiful thing again. And the night passed, and morning came, and the sun shone again, and the morning brought strength to the flower. The light looked at it, and the flower looked at the light. There was contact and communion, and power passed into the flower. It held up its head, opened its petals, regained its glory, and seemed fairer than before. I wonder how it took placethis feeble thing coming into contact with the strong thing, and gaining strength!
By devout communion and contact a soul gains strength from Christ. I cannot tell how it is that I should be able to receive into my being a power to do and to bear by this communion, but I know that it is a fact.1 [Note: C. Vince, The Unchanging Saviour, 173.]
II.
The Character of Gods Law
The Law is characterized by six names and nine epithets and by nine effects. The names are law, testimony, statutes, commandments, fear, judgments. To it are applied nine epithets, namely, perfect, sure, right, pure, holy, true, righteous, desirable, sweet. To it are ascribed nine effects, namely, it converts the soul, makes wise the simple, rejoices the heart, enlightens the eyes, endures for ever, enriches like gold, satisfies like honey, warns against sin, rewards the obedient.
The six names here given to the word of God are the same six names that are spread through the 119th Psalm. These six names are law, testimony, statutes, commandment, fear (what produces fear), and judgments. Studied more closely, it suggests that law and testimony have a close relation, as also have statutes and commandments, and fear and judgments. There is here even a deeper and profounder suggestion than possibly has ever struck many a readernamely, that as law has three main features or departments, first, common law,principles or precepts upon which all specific statutes are based,next statute law, or the commandments and precepts themselves, built up on the basis of common law,and then legal sanctions, of reward and penalty, which sustain both common and statute law, giving the law authority, certainty of execution, and glory in the eyes of men, so these three things are distinctly referred to in this inspired poem. Law and testimony concern the common law. Law is the one word of the six, most general and covering the largest meaning. Testimony is another name very wide in its application, for it is Gods witness to men concerning His will and His character. Statutes, however, represent specific precepts; and so do commandments. But, when we come to consider that which in the law produces fear in the subject, and overawes by its judgments or irreversible decisions, we at once think of the sanctions which sustain the whole fabric of law and rule, as we have already been reminded of common law and statute law.1 [Note: A. T. Pierson, The Hopes of the Gospel, 10.]
God needs for the manifold illustration of His perfect law, and man needs for example and encouragement in keeping it, that it show its resplendent beauty and reveal its transcending loveliness alike on the throne and on the cross, in prosperous and in adverse fortunes, in buoyant strength and vigour, and in infirmity, illness, and suffering, with the praise and under the frowns of men, in honour and beneath scorn and contempt. I have never forgotten what was said many years ago by a clerical friend of mine on his death-bed, My words are few and feeble; but the pulpit from which I utter them must give them weight and power. Have we not, all of us, witnessed in the patience, resignation, and trust of those most severely afflicted such demonstration as no words could convey of the peace which God gives to those who love and keep His law? Thus the faithful law-keepers have numbered in their ranks equally those for whom the world has done its best, and those who have endured its severest privations and trials.2 [Note: A. P. Peabody, Kings Chapel Sermons, 100.]
1. The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul. In the world of Nature there is no provision for the restoration of the soul. It neither praises nor blames; it neither weeps nor laughs; it neither applauds nor condemns the acts of struggling humanity; and, amidst all the speech which day utters unto day and night to night, there is no evidence that one word is spoken of interest in a fallen spirit.
But when the Psalmist turns his eye inward, he finds in the revelation of Conscience that which in Nature he sought in vain: The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul. The perfection which he sees is the adaptation to a world of imperfection. He hears a voice speaking to his humility, to his nothingness, to his abasement. He is in communion with a revelation which recognizes him in his ruin, which speaks to him in his fallen majesty. True it is a rough voice uttering a stern command, speaking in an accent of strong rebuke; but it is precisely this that endears it to his soul. It is not the placid tone of the indifferent universe, which seems to pass him by on the other side; it is the stern speech of a wounded parent who, in the depth of offended love, cannot pass him by.
If the mountain would have come to Mahomet, Mahomet would not have gone to the mountain. If we could twist and bend the law at pleasure, we could convert it, instead of its converting us. In our sins, great or small, we virtually try to evade the law, to get round it, to violate it and shirk its penalty, to make for ourselves a law independent of itbut in vain. When we will not keep the law, the law executes itself upon and in us, body, mind, and soul, all three, it may be. To find this true is our unspeakable blessedness; for when we learn that we cannot escape the law, we embrace it, take it to our hearts, incarnate it in our lives; and then it becomes our light and our joy, and we experience the full meaning of those good words of the early time, Great peace have they who love thy law. It becomes, too, not our restraint, but our freedom; for when the finite range of things forbidden by it is cut off for us, we emerge into unbounded liberty of choice in the infinite scope of things excellent, Divine, eternal.1 [Note: A. P. Peabody, Kings Chapel Sermons, 96.]
2. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. It is a definite voice, a voice addressed to the child in the man, and therefore capable of being understood by all men. It speaks to the conscience in the prohibitory form in which law speaks to the child: Thou shalt; thou shalt not. It gives no reason for its command beyond the fact that it has commanded; it is what Kant grandly calls the categorical imperative; it speaks as the ultimate authority from which there can be no appeal. It is this that makes its testimony so sure, and that renders it so powerful in making wise the simple. It realizes the fine image of the poet Cowper when he says that the words Believe and live are legible only by the light which radiates from them. The child-life is not perplexed by an effort to find the reason of the thing; this thing is itself the reason; it shines by its own light.
A well-informed writer in the Kilmarnock Standard states that Thomas Carlyle, not long before his death, was in conversation with the late Dr. John Brown, and expressed himself to the following effect: I am now an old man, and done with the world. Looking around me, before and behind, and weighing all as wisely as I can, it seems to me there is nothing solid to rest on but the faith which I learned in my old home, and from my mothers lips.1 [Note: The Treasury of Religious Thought, Oct. 1903, p. 487.]
Sometime when all lifes lessons have been learned,
And sun and stars for evermore have set;
The things which our weak judgment here has spurned,
The things oer which we grieved with lashes wet,
Will flash before us out of lifes dark night,
As stars shine most in deeper tints of blue;
And we shall see how all Gods plans were right,
And how what seemed reproof was love most true.
3. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. Nature is a revelation of many things which are very nearly allied to morality: it is a revelation of the beautiful; it is a revelation of the useful; it is, in some sense, a revelation of the true. But while beauty, utility, and truth are all included in the conception of the moral consciousness, neither any of them singly nor all of them united would suffice to give that consciousness. A moral action is more than beautiful, more than useful, more than intellectually true; it is right. The difference between right and wrong is fundamentally distinct from the difference between beauty and deformity, expediency and inexpediency, intellectual truth and intellectual error. It cannot be ascribed to any other sense than the moral consciousness, just as light cannot be ascribed to any other sense than the eye. The physical universe cannot implant the moral idea in one who is not already in possession of that idea. Therefore it is that, according to the implication of the Psalmist, the physical universe cannot rejoice the heart. If a heart is already joyful it can minister to that joy; but it cannot put joy into a sad heart; it has no power to make glad. And it has no power for this reason, that it cannot say to the soul of its own sadness, It is right; it cannot tell a man in the season of his calamity that his calamity is a moral ordinance designed to make him spiritually strong. It can tell him that the calamities of life are forces of Nature; it may even promise him that they will be found to be in harmony with the symmetry of the universe: but it cannot say to him the one thing which alone can give him peace, that they are the will of God for his salvation.
In Conscience he finds that personal comfort in calamity which he lacked in the voice of Naturesomething which tells him to be still and know that the Judge of all the earth does right. It is not the mere testimony to a future symmetry of all things; it is not the mere prophecy of a completed harmony which shall vindicate the minor chords of the universe: such testimonies speak beautifully in favour of the universe, but they say little in favour of man. If my individual life is to be begun, continued, and ended in sorrow, it is small comfort to me that the completed harmony of creation will make use of my discord. But when in the hour of my calamity I hear a voice saying, This is right for you: this is good for you as an individual man, I hear something which can rejoice the heart. I am no longer forced to come out of my private sorrow to contemplate the eternal harmonies to which my groans are an unconscious and an unwilling contribution. I am allowed to look into my private sorrow itself and to see in it a Divine statute given to my soul, a species of sacramental bread administered to my spiritual being which is bitter in its appropriation, but certain in its promise of nourishment; and I am able with some appreciation to echo the Psalmists words, The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart.
To the growing soul, there are, with maturing life, deeps of joy and an ever-increasing capacity for delight. Ever grander are the chords of happiness struck by experienceprovided we keep near the Author and Giver of all, who has more yet to bestow. Experience worketh hope. It is simple fact, absolute truth, verifiable science, that delighting oneself in the Lord means constant joy. As surely as Huyghens demonstrated the wave theory, of which Marconis wireless was but practical proof, so have the prophets, martyrs and common saints shown in their lives the truth of the psalm of delights. They have fulfilled the joy of Jesus. Even the Son of God in humanity did not disdain the motive of happiness. He for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame. Surely, this is a challenge to us to do the same. So ought we to learn that the daily cultivation of joy is both a duty and the best strengthener for lifes burdens. It prepares us for whatever mortal existence may, and the eternities certainly will, bring us. Life is short, and affliction light. Joy is for ever. He who is made after the power of an endless life teaches this.1 [Note: W. Elliot Griffis, The Call of Jesus to Joy, 9.]
4. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The metaphor is perhaps that of pure water, in whose uninterrupted medium a man can see himself reflected. It suggests that the revealing medium of Nature is not uninterrupted. Nature does not convey the impression of an unmixed revelation of love. It has its storms as well as its calms, its clouds as well as its sunshine, its thunders and earthquakes and fires as well as its still small voices. To-day it is all gentle, serene, placid; tomorrow its brow may be furrowed with wrath and its accents hoarse with anger. The Psalmist cannot see in Nature a pure reflexion of his human wants. It adapts itself to his wants chiefly in those points in which he is allied to the beast of the field; meets him rather as a creature than as a human creature; fails to supply his needs the moment his needs rise above the level of the irrational creation. But when he enters the secret places of his own soul, he looks upon a pure water of life in which he sees himself reflected at full length. It is true there are storms here also; indeed, we are not sure that Schenkel is not right when he says that the very idea of Conscience implies a disturbance in the moral nature. But here lies the difference between the storms of Nature and the storms of Conscience: in the former my destiny is obscured, in the latter it is made manifest. In the moral tempest of the heart I see myself more clearly. I recognize in the very sense of struggle an adaptation to my deepest wants as a human being; for I find in the sense of struggle the prophetic intimation that this is not my rest, and I hear the ever-repeated command which was heard by the ancient patriarch, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred. The struggles of Conscience are the souls premonitions of an unfulfilled destiny; and the human portraiture bulks larger when reflected through the troubled waters. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.
Another abstract theme which Watts has impersonated is Conscience, or the Dweller in the Innermost. A female figure with stern gesture and eyes like a flame of fire, is seen in the centre of a luminous mist that ripples round it to the edge. There is a radiant star in the middle of her forehead, and on either side are doves with soft plumage and half-outstretched wings. The breast is covered with a downy, loosely-fitting mantle, out of which at regular intervals protrude large dark feathers, which form a strange kind of halo around the face and neck. One arm is laid across her bosom, and the other supports her head in an attitude of meditation. In her lap are the arrows with which she pricks the hearts of men into conviction, and the trumpet which shall ultimately summon to the judgment-seat all mankind, there to be tried for the deeds done in the body, whether good or bad. The star on the brow may mean the eternal light of truth, of which conscience is the presentment; the doves that surround the head, the innocence and purity that characterize all her thoughts and ways; and the feathers in the mantle may remind us of the rapid flight and the keen vision of birds, with which the quick decisions, and the all-discerning, all-penetrating insight of conscience may be suitably compared. Conscience is thus light, is winged, dwells in the heart of life, is armed with avenging weapons, and looks into the unseen. We ask ourselves when gazing upon that mysterious Being with the fiery eyes and the sharp arrows and the trumpet of judgment, why it is that the Dweller in the Innermost has not a more complete control of our lives. Why is it that it enables us to see what is right, and yet we care little for it when we have seen it; that it gives us the knowledge of what is wrong, and yet we are not pained in doing that wrong? As conscience is constituted, it is never what it ought to be in the best of men, and it is never without some witnessing power in the worst.1 [Note: H. Macmillan, Life Work of G. F. Watts, 187.]
I was ashamed, I dared not lift my eyes,
I could not bear to look upon the skies;
What I had done! sure, everybody knew!
From everywhere hands pointed where I stood,
And scornful eyes were piercing through and through
The moody armour of my hardihood.
I heard their voices too, each word an asp
That buzzd and stung me sudden as a flame:
And all the world was jolting on my name,
And now and then there came a wicked rasp
Of laughter, jarring me to deeper shame.
And then I looked, but there was no one nigh,
No eyes that stabbed like swords or glinted sly,
No laughter creaking on the silent air:
And then I found that I was all alone
Facing my soul, and next I was aware
That this mad mockery was all my own.2 [Note: James Stephens, The Hill of Vision, 65.]
5. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever. The metaphor here is probably that of the unblemished offering. Nothing which was unclean was allowed to have part in the life of the nation; nothing which had a blemish in it was suffered to ascend in sacrifice to the Fountain of Life. The unblemished sacrifice, whatever else it symbolized, was a symbol of immortality; it marked the transition of the soul into a higher life; and it implied that such a transition could be made only by a soul emancipated from its uncleanness. What, then, is the bearing of this metaphor on the Psalmists meditation? What does he mean by the implication that the revelation of God in physical Nature is a less clean manifestation than the revelation of God in Conscience? He clearly means to suggest that the revelation of Nature does not convey to the mind the notion of immortality. It is not that the eye, as it looks upon the face of Nature, is impressed with its frailty and its perishableness; its silence on the subject of immortality would be equally profound although we knew, as a matter of fact, that Nature would endure for ever. For the silence lies here: even if the universe were everlasting, it would still be a contingent universe; it does not convey the impression of something which must be. It would always be felt that its eternity lay in some force external to its own.
What the spirit of man wants is something whose death is inconceivable, which not only will be, but must be, which cannot even in thought be associated with the idea of annihilation. It f seeks what the Egyptians are supposed to have sought when they built those colossal pyramidsa sign of immortality, an emblem of eternity, an image of life that cannot die. This is what the Egyptians failed to find in the pyramids; this is what the Psalmist failed to find in Nature. Nature did not convey to him the idea of cleanness, did not suggest to him the thought of a necessary existence, of a life whose very essence was incorruptible, of a world which must live in the very nature of things; he missed in it the sign of immortality. But when he turned his eye inward, he was once more arrested by the very thing he wanted. In the commandment of Conscience he was confronted by the sign of immortality, and found that which even in thought he could not imagine not to be.
The great German philosopher, at the distance of three millenniums, has not been ashamed to reproduce the same experience. We can, as we have said, imagine a time when other systems shall circle other suns, and other physical forces shall obey other laws. But we can never imagine a time, go where this spirit may, when the forces of the moral universe shall cease to be what they are. We can never conceive a period when right shall be anything but right, or wrong anything but wrong. We can never figure to ourselves a world where malice and hatred and envy and all uncharitableness shall be other than loathsome and repulsive, where integrity, uprightness, purity of heart, benevolence, the love of love, the scorn of scorn, and the hate of hate shall be other than things of beauty and joys for ever. In this world of Conscience the Psalmist finds the sign of immortality; for he meets with that whose negation is inconceivable. Heaven and earth might pass away; their existence hung upon a thread of contingency; there was no reason in the nature of things why they should not cease to be: but this Divine word of Conscience, this word spoken in the inner chamber of the soul, could not pass away; once spoken, it must reverberate through all time.1 [Note: G. Matheson.]
6. The judgements of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. Law and love are not opposed to one another. One of the sure tokens of Gods Fatherhood is the inflexibility of His moral administration, by which alone we are turned to the right and kept in the right. The retributions of the world to come are the merciful discipline of Him who wills not that any should perish.
The Psalmist perceived that in Nature the retribution and the payment take no account of moral character; they are given simply for the special work omitted, and for the special work accomplished. The missionary may be the most pious of men, but if he goes to sea in a bad ship he will probably go to the bottom. The judgment is righteous so far as it goes; Nature exacts respect to its laws of cohesion, and if a man disregards these, she punishes him. But what of the missionary zeal, what of the fervent piety, what of the enthusiasm for humanity, which has prompted the enterprise? Has the judgment of Nature been in congruity with that? We feel instinctively that it has not; we feel that the judgment is only physically true, that the violated elements in avenging their infringement have failed to appreciate the moral grandeur of the mans character. As long as we fix our eye exclusively on the physical universe, we are perpetually confronted by the same experience: He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good. Nature is morally impartial. No special sunbeam follows the upright; no special cloud tracks the course of the ungodly. The lightning does not dart from the sky to paralyse the hand of the murderer, nor does the thunder roll displeasure on the deed of crime.
But in his own conscience a man is confronted by a direct judgment upon its right and wronga judgment which speaks to it only as a moral being, and refuses to deal with any other sphere than that of actions. It is a judgment invisible to every eye save that of him for whom it is intended, a sentence inaudible to every ear save that of him to whom it speaks. A man basking in the outward sunshine may be under its cloud; a man wrapt in the outward cloud may be under its illumination. But however silent and however invisible is its operation, its force to him who experiences it is terribly real. The judgment of Conscience upon goodness is the gift bequeathed by the Divine Founder of Christianity: Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you. Christianity has brought into the world a joy which the world knows not, a peace which, like its illustrious Giver, shines in an uncomprehending darkness. Into this invisible joy, into this uncomprehended peace, the pure soul enters and finds repose. He passes noiselessly into the paradise of God, and receives in the midst of the world that crown of which the world is unconscious. He obtains from the silent testimony of a reconciled Conscience that recognition of moral purity which the many voices of Nature fail to yield; and in that recognition he reaches the supply of the last remaining want in the physical revelation: The judgements of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether.
The years
Roll back; and through a mist of tears
I see a child turn from her play,
And seek, with eager feet, the way
That led her to her fathers knee.
If God is wise and kind, said she,
Why did He let my roses die?
A moments pause, a smile, a sigh,
And then, I do not know, my dear,
Some questions are not answered here.
But is it wrong to ask? Not so,
My child. That we should seek to know
Proves right to know, beyond a doubt;
And some day we shall yet find out
Why roses die.
And then I wait,
Sure of my answer, soon or late;
Secure that love doth hold for me
The key to lifes great mystery;
And oh! so glad to leave it there!
Though my dead roses were so fair.
III.
The Joy of Obedience
1. Law is the expression of highest love, and can be fulfilled only by love. The perfectness of this law-keeping life we have in Jesus, and of all the praises which the worship of these nineteen centuries has heaped upon His name, the superlative ground of reverence, love, loyal discipleship, thankful commemoration of Him on earth till we fall at His feet in heaven, is that in Him alone we have the living lawthe law of the Lord which is perfect, incarnate in a life no less perfect.
The Psalmist saw a great deal more than most people of Gods loving spirit, as embodied in the law. By his aspirations and by his prayers, the law had become greater and dearer to him than to most men: and when in moments of deep devotion he asked God for greater delight in His law, he cried not out, Give me more law, but he cried, Give me light, Open mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. And the answer to his devout prayer has been given to us through Jesus.1 [Note: C. Vince, The Unchanging Saviour, 170.]
2. When love is the motive, obedience becomes not only a privilege, but a delight. The moments when for duty, for righteousness sake, in the service of God, and of man as the child of God, we have made strenuous effort or costly sacrifice, have been the great moments of our lives,they have given us immeasurably more than happiness,we would have incurred what we call unhappiness in order to secure them. When, too, our lives have flowed on in an even course of faithful duty, with no breaks of supineness, negligence, waywardness, discontent, or unkindness, with no intervals on a lower plane than the table-land on which we can walk at equal pace with God and with man, it has been for us an experience immeasurably more blessed than we have derived from any fulness of enjoyment beside. Even if at such periods there has been disappointment, loss, or grief, the current of a more than earthly joy has flowed on, pure and transparent, through the turbid stream of the lower life, if sometimes beneath, much oftener above, the surface of the troubled waters. If we would only thus live always, though it were under the heaviest pressure of calamity, and with not a ray of hope as to things earthly, there would still be that in our souls which would give a most indignant negative to Satans question about Job, Does he serve God for nought?1 [Note: A. P. Peabody, Kings Chapel Sermons, 101.]
If we see law not as something external, an obligation imposed on us from without, a despotism against which we cannot rebel, and to which we can only sullenly submit; if we see law as the law of our own life, the fruit of the tenderest and highest love, the commandments are seen not to be grievous, and obedience becomes sweet and natural. We know the difference between obedience dictated by fear and obedience dictated by love. When we are brought into a personal relation to God and enter into fellowship with Him, we realize that even in the making of our own moral life, in the creating of our own character, we are fellow-workers with God. We desire the same end as He does, and it is the best end.2 [Note: H. Black, Edinburgh Sermons, 75.]
If people would but read the text of their Bible 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 Psalms) it is always the law which is spoken of with chief joy. The Psalms 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 ithe 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.3 [Note: Ruskin, Modern Painters (Works, vii. 192).]
There is a beautiful little sentence in the works of Charles Lamb concerning one who had been afflicted: He gave his heart to the Purifier, and his will to the Sovereign Will of the Universe. But there is a speech in the third canto of the Paradiso of Dante, spoken by a certain Piccarda, which is a rare gem. I will only quote this one line: In la sua volontade nostra pace (In His will is our peace). The words are few and simple, and yet they appear to me to have an inexpressible majesty of truth about them, to be almost as if they were spoken from the very mouth of God. It so happened that (unless my memory much deceives me) I first read that speech on a morning early in the year 1836, which was one of trial. I was profoundly impressed and powerfully sustained, almost absorbed, by these words. They cannot be too deeply graven upon the heart. In short, what we all want is that they should not come to us as an admonition from without, but as an instinct from within. They should not be adopted by effort or upon a process of proof, but they should be simply the translation into speech of the habitual tone to which all tempers, affections, emotions, are set. In the Christian mood, which ought never to be intermitted, the sense of this conviction should recur spontaneously; it should be the foundation of all mental thoughts and acts, and the measure to which the whole experience of life, inward and outward, is referred. The final state which we are to contemplate with hope, and to seek by discipline, is that in which our will shall be one with the will of God; not merely shall submit to it, not merely shall follow after it, but shall live and move with it, even as the pulse of the blood in the extremities acts with the central movement of the heart. And this is to be obtained through a double process; the first, that of checking, repressing, quelling the inclination of the will to act with reference to self as a centre; this is to mortify it. The second, to cherish, exercise, and expand its new and heavenly power of acting according to the will of God, first, perhaps, by painful effort in great feebleness and with many inconsistencies, but with continually augmenting regularity and force, until obedience become a necessity of second nature.1 [Note: W. E. Gladstone in Life, by John Morley, i. 215.]
Time was, I shrank from what was right
From fear of what was wrong;
I would not brave the sacred fight,
Because the foe was strong.
But now I cast that finer sense
And sorer shame aside;
Such dread of sin was indolence,
Such aim at Heaven was pride.
So, when my Saviour calls, I rise,
And calmly do my best;
Leaving to Him, with silent eyes
Of hope and fear, the rest.
I step, I mount where He has led;
Men count my haltings oer;
I know them; yet, though self I dread,
I love His precept more.2 [Note: Cardinal Newman, Verses on Various Occasions, 83.]
Literature
Fox (W. J.), Collected Works, iii. 175.
Gibson (E. C. S.), The Old Testament and its Messages, 128.
Hanna (H.), The Church on the Sea, 384.
Irving (E.), Collected Writings, iii. 383.
Lee (R.), Sermons, 325.
Morrison (J.), Sheaves of Ministry, 13.
Peabody (A. P.), Kings Chapel Sermons, 95.
Pierson (A. T.), The Hopes of the Gospel, 3.
Spencer (J. S.), Sermons, ii. 7.
Spurgeon (C. H.), Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, l. (1904) No. 2870.
Christian World Pulpit, xlvii. 24 (Scott Holland).
Church of England Magazine, viii. (1840) 112 (Dixon).
Expositor, 1st Ser., xii. 89 (Matheson).
Homiletic Review, New Ser., xix. 566.
Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible
law: or, doctrine, Psa 78:1-7, Psa 119:72, Psa 119:96-100, Psa 119:105, Psa 119:127, Psa 119:128, Psa 147:19, Psa 147:20, Deu 6:6-9, Deu 17:18-20, Jos 1:8, Job 23:12, Rom 3:2, Rom 15:4
perfect: Psa 18:30, Psa 111:7, Deu 32:4, Rom 12:2, Jam 1:17
converting: or, restoring, Psa 23:3, Psa 119:9, Jam 1:21-25
testimony: Psa 93:5, Psa 119:14, Psa 119:24, Psa 119:111, Psa 119:152, Isa 8:16, Isa 8:20, Joh 3:32, Joh 3:33, Joh 5:39, Act 10:43, 2Ti 1:8, 1Jo 5:9-12, Rev 19:10
sure: Psa 111:7, 2Sa 23:5, 2Ti 2:19, Heb 6:18, Heb 6:19
making: Psa 119:130, Pro 1:4, Pro 1:22, Pro 1:23, Col 3:16, 2Ti 3:15-17
Reciprocal: Exo 32:15 – the testimony Deu 4:6 – this is your Deu 4:8 – General Deu 31:12 – men 2Sa 16:23 – oracle of God 1Ki 2:3 – testimonies 2Ki 23:3 – his commandments Ezr 7:10 – the law Ezr 7:25 – the wisdom Neh 9:13 – gavest Neh 13:3 – when they Job 28:23 – General Job 33:27 – right Psa 51:13 – converted Psa 56:4 – In God I will Psa 116:6 – preserveth Psa 119:47 – which Psa 119:138 – testimonies Pro 2:6 – out Pro 7:7 – the simple Pro 8:5 – General Pro 8:6 – for Pro 8:9 – General Pro 9:4 – General Isa 35:8 – the wayfaring Isa 45:19 – speak righteousness Jer 8:9 – lo Eze 18:9 – walked Eze 20:19 – walk Hos 14:9 – for Mic 2:7 – do not Mat 24:35 – my Mar 13:31 – my Joh 6:63 – the words Joh 17:17 – Sanctify Act 11:14 – words Rom 7:7 – I had Rom 7:12 – the law Rom 16:18 – the simple 2Co 3:7 – was 1Ti 1:8 – the law 1Ti 4:6 – good doctrine 2Ti 3:16 – and is Jam 1:25 – the perfect 1Pe 2:2 – the sincere 2Pe 1:19 – a more 1Jo 5:3 – and
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 19:7. The law of the Lord The doctrine delivered to his church, whether by Moses, or by other prophets and holy men of God after him: for the title law is not only given to the ten commandments, or the moral law, as Rom 2:23-29; but also to the whole word of God, as Psa 1:2; Psa 119:70; Jer 8:8, and elsewhere; and in this general sense it must be here understood, because the effects here mentioned are not produced by, much less are they appropriated to, one part of it merely, but belong to the whole, the doctrines, declarations, narrations, precepts, counsels, exhortations, promises, threatenings, and particularly to that covenant made with man, therein revealed. Having discoursed hitherto of the glory of God, shining forth in, and demonstrated by, the visible heavens, he now proceeds to another demonstration of Gods glory, which he compares with, and prefers before, the former. Is perfect Completely discovering both the nature and will of God, and the whole duty of man, what he is to believe and practise, and whatsoever is necessary to his present and eternal happiness. Whereas the creation, although it did declare so much of God as left all men without excuse, yet did not fully manifest the will of God, nor bring men to eternal salvation. Converting the soul From error to truth, from sin to righteousness, from sickness to health, from death to life; Hebrew, , meshibath nephesh, restoring, or bringing back the soul; namely, to God, from whom it had revolted, 1Pe 3:18, to his favour, his image, and communion with him. This law, or word, convinces of sin, holds forth a Saviour, is a mean of grace, and rule of conduct. The testimony of the Lord The same word, so called, because it is a witness between God and man, testifying what God requires of man, and what, upon the performance of that condition, he will do for man; is sure Hebrew, , neemanah, faithful, or true, a quality most necessary in a witness: it will not mislead or deceive any man that trusts to it, and follows it, but will infallibly bring him to happiness, Making wise Unto salvation, as is expressed 2Ti 3:15, which is the only true wisdom; the simple The humble and teachable, who are little in their own eyes; or rather, the weak and foolish, even persons of the lowest capacities, and such as are apt to mistake and are most easily seduced. Even these, if they will hearken to the instructions of Gods word, shall become wise, when those who profess themselves wise shall, by leaning to their own understanding, and despising or neglecting the directions of the divine oracles, become and prove themselves to be fools, Rom 1:22.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
19:7 The {f} law of the LORD [is] perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD [is] sure, making wise the simple.
(f) Though the creatures cannot serve, yet this should be sufficient to lead us to him.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
2. Revelation from Scripture 19:7-11
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
The revealed Word of God has the same dominant influence over humankind as the sun does over nature. Whereas the sun restores natural life, God’s law restores the life of the human soul. The sun dispels physical darkness, but the Word of God removes the darkness of ignorance from our understanding. It is flawless and reliable.