Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 63:3
Because thy lovingkindness [is] better than life, my lips shall praise thee.
3. Because thy lovingkindness &c.] R.V. renders, For thy lovingkindness &c., a further reason for the longing of Psa 63:1. But it is best to retain the rendering of the A.V. He has waited to see God’s power and glory, yet after all it is the lovingkindness of which he has personal experience that tunes his lips to praise. When Moses desired to see God’s glory, he was granted a revelation of His goodness (Exo 33:18 ff). It is better than life, than that which men count most precious, for without it life would be a desert. His life was threatened, but the danger fades out of sight in the consciousness of God’s love. Note the connexion of God’s strength and lovingkindness ( Psa 63:2-3), as in Psa 62:11-12.
shall praise thee ] Shall laud thee, a different word from that in Psa 63:5. The word is supposed to be a proof of the late date of the Psalm, as it is an Aramaic word, and is found elsewhere only in the later parts of the O.T. But it is precarious to argue from a single word, when the remains of Heb. literature are so comparatively scanty.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
3 5. The joy of grateful praise.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Because thy loving-kindness is better than life – Thy favor; thy mercy. This is of more value than life; more to be desired than life. Life is the most valued and valuable thing pertaining to this world which we can possess. See the notes at Job 2:4. But, above this, David valued the favor and friendship of God. If one or the other was to be sacrificed, he preferred that it should be his life; he would be willing to exchange that for the favor of God. Life was not desirable, life furnished no comforts – no joys – without the divine favor.
My life itself, without Thy love,
No taste of pleasure could afford;
Twould but a tiresome burden prove,
If I were banished from the Lord.
My lips shall praise thee – That is either
(a) because of this loving-kindness; because I have this trust in thy character; or
(b) because thou wilt restore me to the place of public worship, and I shall be permitted again to praise thee.
Probably the latter is the true idea.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 63:3
Because Thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise Thee.
The saints estimate of Gods lovingkindness
This psalm is called A psalm of David when he was in the wilderness of Judah. What prayers have been prayed by men in the wilderness,–by men in the darkness and mystery of life,–by men in their perplexity seeking for guidance,–by men whose souls were discouraged because of the way. What prayers from men in dungeons,–from men in darkened homes,–from men who said that all Gods waves and billows had gone over them. Men pray better in darkness than in light, in adversity than in prosperity; they pray then with their whole heart–they mean what they say. If you had written your prayers, and had affixed the titles, you would find the heading of one, A prayer after I had fallen into some great sin. It would contain the wail and lament of the heart, it would breathe the truest contrition and reveal the sorrow of a broken heart. It would be your penitential psalm. You would find another headed, A prayer after backsliding. In it you would see the shame and humiliation which marked your return to God, and the fresh and earnest consecration of yourself to His service. There would be singular tenderness about it, for its words had been baptized with tears. Another prayer would have this title, A prayer after I had lost my child. There are men who have a conscious thirst for God. O God, Thou art my God; early will I seek Thee: my soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth, etc. Now, do you thirst for God? Can you say that the lovingkindness of God is better to you than life? Life stands to us for all that is valuable and precious, and if we wish to express our estimate of something that is all the world to us, we say–It is dear as life. What is a man profited, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Life is valuable not only in its highest, but its lowest forms, without its accessories and its ministration. I do not speak of the life that is clothed in purple and fine linen, and that fares sumptuously every day, but life in toil and penury. Let a man be stript of everything–like a tree on an eminence, which has been scathed by the lightning, which boars the marks of many a storm, and tosses its bare branches in the bleak wind–and he will cling to life as much as if full of strength, as if he were crowned with verdure and fruitfulness. Take life in its best estate, surround it with all that can meet its needs, and even its imaginings–life in a palace rather than a cottage–there is something better, grander–something without which life is not worth living. Thy lovingkindness is better than life. Why is lovingkindness better than life? Because it meets all the needs of life. Man has a physical nature, and its needs are met in the outward world, or it could not live. Light is for the eye–music for the ear–a thousand influences minister to the senses. Man has a higher nature; he has mind, he has capacity for thought; he has an emotional nature, a heart with boundless wealth. What is mind without culture, education, converse, literature? What is the heart without friends, relatives, love? Without lovingkindness how little is known of life! God can come to man; lie can dwell in man; He can reveal His love to man. The mind has life only in receiving truth. The heart has life only in love. You have life only in God. There is a sense in which the lovingkindness of God is so much better than life that it even reconciles us to the loss of life. We are delivered from the fear of death. To die is gain. So shall we, divesting ourselves of the mortal, become immortal. (H. J. Boris.)
Gods lovingkindness better than life
I. The proposition.
1. To take it literally; Gods lovingkindness is better than life; that is, than life properly so called, namely, this temporal life which we lead here below.
(1) It Is better than life, by taking life in the perfections and excellencies of it; if there be anything more than ordinarily desirable or commendable in this natural life, Shore is that in the favour of God which does transcend it and go exceedingly beyond it.
(2) It is better than life, by taking life in the imperfections and defects of it; if there be anything wanting in this life, which does fail and come short of our desires, there is that again in the favour of God which does abundantly supply it, and make it up. Now, the improvement of this point by way of application comes to this–
(1) It seems to teach us what we should chiefly look after and pursue. Let us with Mary choose the better part, let us not forsake the better, and give ourselves wholly to the worse.
(2) This gives us a hint of the excellency of a Christians condition above all other men in the world. All the happiness of others is confined only to this life; it they be miserable here they are the miserablest creatures that are, they have nothing in the earth to sustain them, and uphold them. Yea, it is otherwise now with the children of God, if they should miss of these earthly comforts and their cheerings of this natural life here below; yet they have somewhat better to refresh them, and to keep up their hearts. If their hopes were only in this life, they were of all men most miserable, as the apostle speaks. But now this is their comfort, that they have hope of better than life, even of the favour and lovingkindness of God. Gods favour is better than life, because it brings us to a better life. It is better than life temporal, because it brings us to life eternal (2Co 5:1).
2. We may also take it in the moral, according to that which it implies and holds forth to us; and that is this, That Gods favour is better than all. The lovingkindness of the Lord is the greatest happiness and advantage of a Christian. And here again, for our further explication and enlargement of this truth in hand, we must know, that by Gods lovingkindness we may understand two things especially: either first of all, the affection; or secondly, the expression of the affection, either as it is immanent in Himself, or else as it is transient upon us. You know that in parents and friends there are both of these considerable. There is the favour in the thing itself; and there is the breathings of this favour in regard of outward manifestation of it towards the person whom it is fastened upon. Now, both of these from God to a Christian are exceeding beneficial and comfortable; Gods favour, as ye may take it for His love; and Gods favour, as ye may take it for His embracements and love expressed. Now, the application of all to ourselves will run out in a fourfold question. How shall we know whether we have it? How shall we get it if we want it? How shall we keep it when we have it? How shall we recover it when we have lost it?
1. How shall we know whether we have it? This is known divers ways.
(1) By His countenance. God looks otherwise upon us, as Jacob to his wives about Laban (Gen 31:5).
(2) By His presence and communion. Can two walk together and not be agreed? God converses with those which are His favourites (Gen 17:22). Talked with Abraham. And so with Moses (Exo 33:11).
(3) By His love-tokens and sprinklings of favour. The hidden manna (Rev 2:17). The earnest of the spirit (2Co 1:22), etc.
2. How shall we get it if we want it?
(1) By labouring to be acquainted with those which are about Him. Thus men get to be acquainted with great ones.
(2) Circumspect carriage and behaviour, walking exactly (Eph 5:15).
(3) Industry and diligence in a mans place.
(4) Study the temper and disposition of Him whom we seek to.
3. How shall we keep it when we have it?
(1) By universal compliance; indulge no one lust whatsoever.
(2) By sobriety and humility of enjoyment, not proud and lifted up.
(3) By shunning of all occasions of offence.
4. How shall we recover it when we have lost it?
(1) By an ingenious acknowledgment of our miscarriages past.
(2) By doing our first works (Rev 2:5).
(3) By double diligence and zealousness for time to come.
II. The inference. My lips shall praise Thee. When it is said here his lips, we must not take it exclusively, his lips and nothing else; but effectively, his praise should break forth at his lips; this he promised. As where the inward man is rightly qualified, it will show itself in the outward. The connection seems to be double; either referring to the former verse, Early will I seek Thee, because Thy lovingkindness is better, etc. And so heres an account of his importunity. Or else referring it to the latter, My lips shall praise Thee, because Thy lovingkindness is, etc, And in this latter we now take it. David praises God for the excellency of His lovingkindness. First, what it was in itself, in its own nature, considered in God Himself; God is to be praised for that which He is (Psa 92:12). Secondly, for what he was to David; because I do enjoy this lovingkindness of Thine, which is better than life. David did not bless God only for a notion, but for an experiment, and the sense of Gods love to Himself. And here now comes in the second notion of Gods lovingkindness in the expression of it. First, out of a principle of joy which is communicated and full of diffusion. Secondly, out of a principle of love, as desiring to make others which were his brethren sensible of the same favour. Thirdly, out of a principle of thankfulness and ingenuity. Heres the difference betwixt the saints and the world. The world thinks the favour of God not worth the observing; Gods people do much rejoice in it, and bless Him for it. (T. Horton, D. D.)
Gods lovingkindness
The wisdom of the human mind is manifested by the estimate which it forms of principles and of things. But, as it requires a good ear to be a judge of music, and a good eye to be a judge of colours, so it requires an enlightened and spiritual mind to form a just estimate of things eternal. We often estimate things by comparison; we draw our conclusions of their importance and value from their different natures, use, and duration. Thus we compare gold with silver, and jewels with gold; and we say gold is better than silver, rubies are better than gold; but skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath, will he give for his life. Such is the estimate which men form of life, that they will give gold and silver, and all that they have for food, when they are likely to perish without it. But David rises still higher in his estimate, and says, Thy lovingkindness is better than life.
I. We have an interesting subject. The Iovingkindness of God.
1. The excellence of the principle. Its want the cause of all misery; its presence, of all joy.
2. Its comprehensive import. It includes all the attributes of God. All are of His love. We sometimes speak of water as conveying to our minds an idea of that one element; but to vary it, we speak of the ocean; and for limitation, we speak of the Atlantic, the Pacific, the German Ocean; to limit ourselves still more, we speak of the sea; and then we name the Red Sea, the Mediterranean, the Baltic Sea; sometimes we speak of the shores it washes, as the Ganges, the Mississippi, the Thames, or we name some of its various forms, as rain, dew, snow, etc. But we are still speaking of water; it is still the same element we have in view. On the same principle we speak of the subject in the text. When God pities the miserable, we call it compassion–when He shows favour to the unworthy, we call it grace–when He exercises it in a way of pardon, we call it mercy–when He fulfils His promises, and accepts the penitent, and justifies him, we call it faithfulness: still it is only lovingkindness–it is so many various means of making us happy. Thy lovingkindness is better than life.
3. Its powerful and beneficial influence. The power of love has often been evinced. God so loved the world, etc.
4. Its duration. It is immutable, it is everlasting love. Those who are delivered from guilt and depravity by it shall be preserved by it for ever.
II. An important truth affirmed. Thy lovingkindness is better than life.
1. It makes up all the deficiencies of life.
2. It alleviates lifes sorrows.
3. It adds blessedness to the blessings of life.
III. The resolution here formed. My lips shall praise Thee. For the manifestation and the application of Thy love. My lips shall do this, by commending Thee to others. (J. Griffin.)
Lovingkindness better than life
This utterance is somewhat extraordinary, for–
1. What is lovingkindness without life? Had we no existence, though lovingkindness flooded the universe, it would he nothing to us. Life is necessary to discern and appreciate lovingkindness.
2. What would life be without lovingkindness? A desert unrelieved by a single blade, a midnight without a ray. Certainly lovingkindness is better than life in such a state. In truth the language implies that life in itself, life even apart from lovingkindness, is a good thing. To be is better than not to be. In many respects the text has a meaning.
I. Lovingkindness is independent of life. Had no creature existed, had the Eternal existed alone, without one solitary existence in any part of immensity, lovingkindness would have been as full and complete as now. It would have been the life and consciousness of the Infinite. God is love.
II. Lovingkindness is the cause of life. The universe is a tree rooted in the river of love, ever growing, ever green, ever fruitful. From love it sprang, by love it grows. As clouds to the ocean, so is all life to lovingkindness, they rise from its boundless billows and break into their fathomless depths again.
III. Lovingkindness is the redemption of life. Lovingkindness expressed, embodied, and administered by Christ redeems the fallen race. What lovingkindness there is here, God so loved the world, etc. He that spared not His only son, etc.
IV. Lovingkindness is the heaven of life. It is the beauty of every leaf, the fragrance of every flower, the brightness of every star, the life of every breeze, the music of every sound, the charm of every scene, the flavour of every fruit in Paradise. (Homilist.)
Something better than life
I. The text refers to something, that is good–Life. Life is a mystery which no subject of it can understand, any more than a machine can understand the force that propels it. God understands it, because He is its Author. Life in man is threefold; animal, moral, intellectual. In these there are degrees. This trinity of life in man lifts him up to supremacy among all earthly living existences. Man, with his threefold life, has accomplished marvellous things for himself and for humanity, looked at only as an inhabitant of earth. But good as life may be, as a gift from God, and used by man in the spheres of his present being, there is something better. Hence–
II. Let us notice in the text what that something is: Thy lovingkindness is better than life.
1. The lovingkindness of God is better than life in its nature. What is life but a dream, a vapour, a shadow, a tale that is told, subject in its brevity to numberless vicissitudes? But the lovingkindness of God is a substantial reality. It comes to us in ten thousand ways of good things, both in providence and in the Gospel.
2. It is better in its promises. What are the promises of life but few and feeble? But the lovingkindness of God comes to us not only with promises of present good, but with exceeding great and precious promises of good things in the future.
3. It is better in its pleasures. The pleasures of life are carnal, fickle, superficial, unsatisfying. But the pleasures of Gods lovingkindness are spiritual, real, enduring, satisfying. Gods lovingkindness is a feast of fat things. It is a river. It is the fulness of God.
4. It is better in its pursuits. The pursuits of life, how low, how little, how transitory! But the pursuits of Gods lovingkindness, as it influences us, are prayer, praise, obedience, and heaven; spiritual, noble, eternal.
5. Better in its issues. The issues of life are often disappointment, mortification, loss, and inevitably death. But the issues of Gods lovingkindness are the realization of our hopes, answers to our prayers, increase in every good thing, and at last everlasting life.
III. The reason for praising God, as contained in the text.
1. To praise God for His lovingkindness is good. It is pleasant. It is comely (Psa 145:1).
2. It is in harmony with all His works: All Thy works praise Thee; with the angels; with the saints glorified.
3. It is a becoming return for Gods lovingkindness. If a father does well for his child, does not the child praise him? If you give a charity to a beggar of an unusual kind, does he not praise you? Then, how much more ought we to praise our God for His unmerited, abundant, and unparalleled lovingkindness bestowed upon us! My lips shall praise Thee. In the congregation of Thy people. In my family. In my private life. In all times and places. (J. Bate.)
Gods lovingkindness.
I. How it is manifested.
1. In the gift of Christ.
2. In affliction.
3. In providence.
4. In the promise of the future life.
II. Its value. It is better than life, because–
1. Not brief as is life.
2. It fully satisfies.
III. The effect it should have upon us. My lips shall praise Thee. This should be–
1. A life work.
2. A heart work.
IV. Conclusion.
1. We all receive of Gods lovingkindness.
2. Do we all praise Him? (Frederic Bell.)
Gratitude and devotion
I. The favour recognized. Thy lovingkindness.
1. Its source. Thy. The fountain of wisdom, love, and power.
2. Its quality. Lovingkindness. Not kind acts merely, but the kindness of love.
3. Its constancy.
4. Its comprehensiveness.
II. The estimate formed. It is better than life. The second death consists not in the destruction of being, but of well-being. Sin destroyed mans eternal well-being, but the lovingkindness of God restores it.
1. It harmonizes man with his surroundings.
2. It extracts the sting of death.
3. It sanctifies lifes sorrows.
4. It endears and sweetens lifes comforts.
III. The resolution made. My lips shall praise Thee.
1. Piety is intensely personal. My lips. If my lips have no praise, my heart has no love. Internal life must find external expression.
2. Piety is joyous devotion. Shall praise.
3. Piety is personal, joyous devotion to a personal God. (Thomas Kelly.)
The saint celebrating the lovingkindnees of God
I. Concerning the lovingkindness of the Lord. It appears–
1. In the constitution of the Mediator between God and man.
2. In the establishment of the covenant with His own Son in the office of mediation.
3. In the mission of His only-begotten Son to do the work of mediation in our nature;
4. In reconciling sinners to Himself by the death of His Son.
5. In drawing men to Christ.
6. In crowning men in Christ with all spiritual blessings.
7. In the work of providence. This work is long, and exceeding broad. Hold the glass to the right eye, and look through it on these pieces or dispensations which seem to have a dark ground, and praise the lovingkindness of the Lord, and magnify the work that is after the counsel of His own will.
II. Concerning the comparative excellence of the lovingkindness, which is a glory in the face of God reconciling the world to Himself through the mediation of His beloved and only begotten Son in our nature. Comparing it with life, the psalmist pronounces it better.
1. Lovingkindness appearing in the face of God toward us in Christ Jesus is earlier than life.
2. Longer than life. In its duration is neither beginning nor end of days.
3. Richer than life. Lovingkindness is the fountain of redemption, reconciliation, pardon, acceptance, holiness; of the earnest, the seal, the anointing of the Spirit; and of all the streams of grace, and mercy, and goodness, which enrich the valleys of Zion, and make her wastes to shout and sing.
4. Sweeter and more pleasant than life.
5. Gives seasonings and relishes to the blessings and comforts of life.
III. Concerning our praising the lovingkindness of the Deity. This includes–
1. The perception of His lovingkindness in Christ Jesus by the understanding. Christ dying for sinners is the commendation of loving-kindness.
2. The belief of His lovingkindness with the heart. If we believe, we will praise; and when we praise, we will believe.
3. The exercise of our affections toward the lovingkindness which is a glory of the face of God in Christ Jesus. The lovingkindness of God is transcendently amiable. When He lifts up the light of it upon the new creation, their affections are aloft, and mount up in joy and praise with wings as eagles. Their affections are fruits of His Spirit, dwelling and working by His Word in their heart.
4. A conversation becoming His lovingkindness.
5. Offering thanksgiving continually for the kindnesses of His love in Christ Jesus. Let the praises of it be founded with the voice of thanksgiving in His courts, and around His holy hill, in our chambers, and houses, and villages, and in all the forests and wastes where we sojourn. (A. Shanks.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 3. Thy loving-kindness is better than life] This is the language of every regenerate soul. But O how few prefer the approbation of God to the blessings of life, or even to life itself in any circumstances! But the psalmist says, Thy loving-kindness, chasdecha, thy effusive mercy, is better mechaiyim, than LIVES: it is better than, or good beyond, countless ages of human existence.
My lips shall praise thee.] Men praise, or speak well, of power, glory, honour, riches, worldly prospects and pleasures; but the truly religious speak well of GOD, in whom they find infinitely more satisfaction and happiness than worldly men can find in the possession of all earthly good.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
This is the reason of the foregoing thirst after God.
Thy loving-kindness, i.e. the discoveries and influences of thy grace and favour, which thou usually impartest to thy people in the sanctuary.
Is better than life; is more durable, and comfortable, and satisfactory than the present life, with all imaginable advantages belonging to it.
My lips shall praise thee, both for my former taste and experiences of this truth, and for the assurance of my restitution to the same blessed enjoyments.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3. Experiencing God’s mercy,which exceeds all the blessings of life, his lips will be opened forhis praise (Ps 51:15).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Because thy lovingkindness [is] better than life,…. For life without the love of God is nothing else than death: a man that has no share in the love of God is dead while he lives; all the enjoyments of life, health, riches, honour, friends, c. are nothing without the love of God the meanest temporal blessings with it are preferable to the greatest without it, Pr 15:17; it lasts longer than life, and therefore must be better than that; death cannot separate from it; it continues to all eternity. And that the saints prefer it to this natural life appears by their readiness to lay it down for the sake of Christ and his Gospel, in which the lovingkindness of God is so richly manifested unto them; to which may be added, that it is the love of God which gives to his people spiritual life, and which issues in eternal life, and therefore must be better than a temporal one. The Targum is,
“for better is thy kindness, which thou wilt do for the righteous in the world to come, than the life which thou givest the wicked in this world;”
my lips shall praise thee; that is, for thy lovingkindness, and because it is better than life, and any enjoyment of it.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| Joyful Praises. | |
3 Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. 4 Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name. 5 My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips: 6 When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches.
How soon are David’s complaints and prayers turned into praises and thanksgivings! After Psa 63:1; Psa 63:2 that express his desire in seeking God, here are some that express his joy and satisfaction in having found him. Faithful prayers may quickly be turned into joyful praises, if it be not our own fault. Let the hearts of those rejoice that seek the Lord (Ps. cv. 3), and let them praise him for working those desires in them, and giving them assurance that he will satisfy them. David was now in a wilderness, and yet had his heart much enlarged in blessing God. Even in affliction we need not want matter for praise, if we have but a heart to it. Observe,
I. What David will praise God for (v. 3): Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, than lives, life and all the comforts of life, life in its best estate, long life and prosperity. God’s lovingkindness is in itself, and in the account of all the saints, better than life. It is our spiritual life, and that is better than temporal life, Ps. xxx. 5. It is better, a thousand times, to die in God’s favour than to live under his wrath. David in the wilderness finds, by comfortable experience, that God’s lovingkindness is better than life; and therefore (says he) my lips shall praise thee. Note, Those that have their hearts refreshed with the tokens of God’s favour ought to have them enlarged in his praises. A great deal of reason we have to bless God that we have better provisions and better possessions than the wealth of this world can afford us, and that in the service of God, and in communion with him, we have better employments and better enjoyments than we can have in the business and converse of this world.
II. How he will praise God, and how long, v. 4. He resolves to live a life of thankfulness to God and dependence on him. Observe, 1. His manner of blessing God: “Thus will I bless thee, thus as I have now begun; the present devout affections shall not pass away, like the morning cloud, but shine more and more, like the morning sun.” Or, “I will bless thee with the same earnestness and fervency with which I have prayed to thee.” 2. His continuance and perseverance therein: I will bless thee while I live. Note, Praising God must be the work of our whole lives; we must always retain a grateful sense of his former favours and repeat our thanksgivings for them. We must every day give thanks to him for the benefits with which we are daily loaded. We must in every thing give thanks, and not be put out of frame for this duty by any of the afflictions of this present time. Whatever days we live to see, how dark and cloudy soever, though the days come of which we say, We have no pleasure in them, yet still every day must be a thanksgiving-day, even to our dying-day. In this work we must spend our time because in this work we hope to spend a blessed eternity. 3. His constant regard to God upon all occasions, which should accompany his praises of him: I will lift up my hands in thy name. We must have an eye to God’s name (to all that by which he has made himself known) in all our prayers and praises, which we are taught to begin with,–Hallowed be thy name, and to conclude with,–Thine is the glory. This we must have an eye to in our work and warfare; we must lift up our hands to our duty and against our special enemies in God’s name, that is, in the strength of his Spirit and grace, Psa 71:16; Zec 10:12. We must make all our vows in God’s name; to him we must engage ourselves and in a dependence upon his grace. And when we lift up the hands that hang down, in comfort and joy, it must be in God’s name; from him our comforts must be fetched, and to him they must be devoted. In thee do we boast all the day long.
III. With what pleasure and delight he would praise God, v. 5. 1. With inward complacency: My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, not only as with bread, which is nourishing, but as with marrow, which is pleasant and delicious, Isa. xxv. 6. David hopes he shall return again to the enjoyment of God’s ordinances, and then he shall thus be satisfied, and the more for his having been for a time under restraint. Or, if not, yet in God’s loving kindness, and in conversing with him in solitude, he shall be thus satisfied. Note, There is that in a gracious God, and in communion with him, which gives abundant satisfaction to a gracious soul, Psa 36:8; Psa 65:4. And there is that in a gracious soul which takes abundant satisfaction in God and communion with him. The saints have a contentment with God; they desire no more than his favour to make them happy: and they have a transcendent complacency in God, in comparison with which all the delights of sense are sapless and without relish, as puddle-water in comparison with the wine of this consolation. 2. With outward expressions of this satisfaction; he will praise God with joyful lips. He will praise him, (1.) Openly. His mouth and lips shall praise God. When with the heart man believes and is thankful, with the mouth confession must be made of both, to the glory of God; not that the performances of the mouth are accepted without the heart (Matt. xv. 8), but out of the abundance of the heart the mouth must speak (Ps. xlv. 1), both for the exciting of our own devout affections and for the edification of others. (2.) Cheerfully. We must praise God with joyful lips; we must address ourselves to that and other duties of religion with great cheerfulness, and speak forth the praises of God from a principle of holy joy. Praising lips must be joyful lips.
IV. How he would entertain himself with thoughts of God when he was most retired (v. 6): I will praise thee when I remember thee upon my bed. We must praise God upon every remembrance of him. Now that David was shut out from public ordinances he abounded the more in secret communion with God, and so did something towards making up his loss. Observe here, 1. How David employed himself in thinking of God. God was in all his thoughts, which is the reverse of the wicked man’s character, Ps. x. 4. The thoughts of God were ready to him: “I remember thee; that is, when I go to think, I find thee at my right hand, present to my mind.” This subject should first offer itself, as that which we cannot forget or overlook. And they were fixed in him: “I meditate on thee.” Thoughts of God must not be transient thoughts, passing through the mind, but abiding thoughts, dwelling in the mind. 2. When David employed himself thus–upon his bed and in the night-watches. David was now wandering and unsettled, but, wherever he came, he brought his religion along with him. Upon my beds (so some); being hunted by Saul, he seldom lay two nights together in the same bed; but wherever he lay, if, as Jacob, upon the cold ground and with a stone for his pillow, good thoughts of God lay down with him. David was so full of business all day, shifting for his own safety, that he had scarcely leisure to apply himself solemnly to religious exercises, and therefore, rather than want time for them, he denied himself his necessary sleep. He was now in continual peril of his life, so that we may suppose care and fear many a time held his eyes waking and gave him wearisome nights; but then he entertained and comforted himself with thoughts of God. Sometimes we find David in tears upon his bed (Ps. vi. 6), but thus he wiped away his tears. When sleep departs from our eyes (through pain, or sickness of body, or any disturbance in the mind) our souls, by remembering God, may be at ease, and repose themselves. Perhaps an hour’s pious meditation will do us more good than an hour’s sleep would have done. See Psa 16:7; Psa 17:3; Psa 4:4; Psa 119:62. There were night-watches kept in the tabernacle for praising God (Ps. cxxxiv. 1), in which, probably, David, when he had liberty, joined with the Levites; and now that he could not keep place with them he kept time with them, and wished himself among them.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
3 Because thy mercy is better than life, etc. I have no objections to read the verse in this connected form, though I think that the first clause would be better separated, and taken in with the verse preceding. David would appear to be giving the reason of his earnestness in desiring God. By life is to be understood, in general, everything which men use for their own maintenance and defense. When we think ourselves well provided otherwise, we feel no disposition to have recourse to the mercy of God. That being (to speak so) which we have of our own, prevents us from seeing that we live through the mere grace of God. (428) As we are too much disposed to trust in aids of a carnal kind, and to forget God, the Psalmist here affirms that we should have more reliance upon the divine mercy in the midst of death, than upon what we are disposed to call, or what may appear to be, life. Another interpretation has been given of the words of this verse, but a very meagre and feeble one, — That the mercy of God is better than life itself; or, in other words, that the divine favor is preferable to every other possession. But the opposition is evidently between that state of secure prosperity, in which men are so apt to rest with complacency, and the mercy of God, which is the stay of such as are ready to sink and perish, and which is the one effectual remedy for supplying (if one might use that expression) all defects.
The word which I have rendered life, being in the plural number in the Hebrew, has led Augustine to assign a meaning to the sentence which is philosophical and ingenious, but without foundation, as the plural of the word is quite commonly used in the singular signification. He considered that the term lives was here used in reference to the truth, That different men affect different modes of life, some seeking riches, and others pleasure; some desiring the luxuries, and some the honors of this world, while others are given to their sensual appetites. He conceived that there was an opposition stated in the verse between these various kinds of life and eternal life, here by a common figure of speech called mercy, because it is of grace, and not of merit. But it is much more natural to understand the Psalmist as meaning, that it was of no consequence how large a share men possess of prosperity, and of the means which are generally thought to make life secure, the divine mercy being a better foundation of trust than any life fashioned out to ourselves, and than all other supports taken together. (429) On this account the Lord’s people, however severely they may suffer from poverty, or the violence of human wrongs, or the languor of desire, or hunger and thirst, or the many troubles and anxieties of life, may be happy notwithstanding; for it is well with them, in the best sense of the term, when God is their friend. Unbelievers, on the other hand, must be miserable, even when all the world smiles upon them; for God is their enemy, and a curse necessarily attaches to their lot.
(428) “ Denique nostrum esse, ut ita loquar, perstringit nobis oculos, ne cernamus sola Dei gratia nos subsistere.” — Lat. “ Brief, notre Etre, si ainsi faut parler, nous eblouit les yeux, tellement que nous ne voyons pas que c’est par la seule grace de Dieu que nous subsistons.” — Fr.
(429) “Thy loving-kindness, חסדך, chasdeca, thy effusive mercy is better, מחיים, me-chayim than Lives: it is better, or good beyond, countless ages of human existence.” — Dr Adam Clarke
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(3) Because.Such a sense of the blessedness of Divine favourhere in its peculiar sense of covenant favourthat it is better than life itself, calls for gratitude displayed all through life. Love is the ever-springing fountain from which all goodness proceeds, and a sense of it is even more than the happy sense of being alive. The following lines convey in a modern dress the feeling of this part of the psalm:
So gazing up in my youth at love,
As seen through power, ever above
All modes which make it manifest,
My soul brought all to a single test
That He, the Eternal, First and Last,
Who in His power had so surpassed
All man conceives of what is might,
Whose wisdom too showed infinite
Would prove as infinitely good.
R. BROWNING: Christmas Eve.
Thusi.e., in the spirit in which he now speaks. For the attitude of the uplifted hands, see Note, Psa. 28:2.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. Thy loving kindness is better than life Thy mercy, by which life eternal is provided, is better than natural life with kingly honours super-added. Compare 1Jn 3:1. The words, as Mrs. Conant beautifully says, are “an implication of immortality. In what sense could his ‘ loving kindness’ be ‘better than life,’ if it ceased with the cessation of ‘ life?’ A conscious possession, independent of the earthly ‘life’ and superior to it something for which the earthly life might properly be sacrificed, something therefore indestructible by the death of the body can alone come up to the measure of the thought here expressed.” See Dr. Conant’s version of the Psalms, in loc. These “implications of immortality” are everywhere scattered over the pages of the Old Testament.
My lips shall praise thee Because, notwithstanding all my sufferings, the paramount good remains.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Every verse in this beautiful Psalm is a pearl, because every part and portion of it points to Jesus. Whether we hear Christ during his wilderness-exercises thus express himself, or whether David, as one of his redeemed, during his persecutions, or the Church in any of her afflicted members; in either case, or altogether, how fully do these words convey the universal sentiment which runs through and pervades the whole body! What can satisfy an awakened soul but God, who is the life and portion of the soul? Thy love (saith the church, speaking to Christ) is better than wine. And so it is indeed. For though wine may comfort the afflicted, yet it cannot give life to the dead. But Jesus’s love hath given everlasting life to sinners who were dead in trespasses and sins. Son 1:2 ; Eph 2:1 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 63:3 Because thy lovingkindness [is] better than life, my lips shall praise thee.
Ver. 3. Because thy lovingkindness is better than life ] Mr Bradford, being threatened by Stephen Gardiner (then Lord Chancellor), answered, I know to whom I have committed my life, even into his hands which will keep it, so that no man may take it away before it be his pleasure, therefore his goodwill be done; life in his displeasure is worse than death, and death in his true favour is true life (Acts and Mon. fol. 1459). This made him and the rest of the holy martyrs that they loved not their lives unto the death, Rev 12:11 . The sight of God, though but in that dark glass of the ceremonies, would have been better to David than life with the appurtenances, those B , riches, honours, pleasures, &c. See Psa 4:7-8 .
My lips shall praise thee
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
lovingkindness = grace.
praise = commend, or extol. Hebrew. ahabah; used only by David and Solomon.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 63:3-4
Psa 63:3-4
“Because thy lovingkindness is better than life,
My lips shall praise thee.
So will I bless thee while I live:
I will lift up my hands in thy name.”
“Better than life” (Psa 63:3). That God’s lovingkindness toward those who enjoy fellowship in Him is indeed “better than life” is indeed attested by the thousands of martyrs through many centuries who have sealed with their blood the sacred truth of these blessed words. As Paul himself stated it, “I hold not my life of any account as dear unto myself, so that I may accomplish my course … to testify the gospel of the grace of God” (Act 20:24).
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 63:3. Lovingkindness really is equivalent to life. The comparison means that life without this kindness of God would not be worth living.
Psa 63:4. While I live did not imply that David would be unconscious after the death of the body. It means he would praise God all the days of his life. Lift up hands is a gesture of respect for God.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Because: Psa 4:6, Psa 21:6, Psa 30:5, Phi 1:23, 1Jo 3:2
lips: Psa 30:12, Psa 51:15, Psa 66:17, Hos 14:2, Rom 6:19, Rom 12:1, 1Co 6:20, Heb 13:15, Jam 3:5-10
Reciprocal: Deu 26:11 – rejoice 1Ch 16:27 – Glory Psa 26:8 – where Psa 48:9 – lovingkindness Psa 69:16 – for thy Psa 73:25 – Whom Psa 81:15 – submitted themselves Psa 90:14 – satisfy Psa 96:6 – Honour Psa 109:21 – thy mercy Psa 147:1 – for it is good Pro 3:15 – all Pro 3:17 – ways of Son 1:2 – thy love Son 7:12 – there will I give thee Isa 63:7 – mention Eph 5:18 – but
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 63:3. Because, &c. Here we see the reason of the psalmists thirst after God, as is expressed in the two preceding verses; thy loving-kindness is better than life That is, the discoveries and influences of thy grace and favour, which thou usually impartest to thy people in thy sanctuary, are more durable, and comfortable, and satisfactory than the present life, with all the imaginary advantages belonging to it. Mark well this declaration of the psalmist, reader. Gods loving-kindness is in itself, and in the account of all the saints, better than life, and all the comforts of life; life in its best estate; long life and prosperity. It is our spiritual and eternal life, and that is better than our natural and temporal life. It is better, a thousand times, to die in Gods favour, than to live under his wrath, under which we should of course be if we were deprived of his loving-kindness. My lips shall praise thee Both for my former tastes and experiences of this truth, which I have just expressed, and for the assurance I have of being restored to the same blessed enjoyments which I have formerly had. Observe again, reader, those that have their hearts refreshed with the tokens of Gods favour, ought to have them enlarged in his praises. Great reason indeed have such to bless God, for they have better provisions and better possessions than the wealth of this world could afford them; and in the service of God, and in communion with him, have better employments and better enjoyments than they could have in the business and converse of this life.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2. David’s satisfaction with God 63:3-8
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
David’s thirst for God found relief as he praised Him. He considered the Lord’s loyal love even better than life itself. God’s love nourished and refreshed David more than the water he needed. Lifting up the hands toward God was a gesture of prayer (cf. Psa 28:2; Lam 2:19) or respect (cf. Psa 119:48).