Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 119:64
The earth, O LORD, is full of thy mercy: teach me thy statutes.
64. Cp. Psa 33:5; Psa 145:9. Jehovah’s universal lovingkindness makes the Psalmist long to know more of His Will.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The earth, O Lord, is full of thy mercy – Full of the proofs of thy goodness and compassion. See the notes at Psa 33:5. This is the expression of a heart full of love to God and to his word. In such a state of mind as the psalmist was in, the goodness of God is seen everywhere. The best preparation for seeing evidence that God is good is a heart full of love. Then the proofs of that love spring up on every side – as when we truly love a friend we find constant proofs of his excellency of character.
Teach me thy statutes – I desire to see more and more of thy law. Thou art so gracious and merciful, the evidence of thy goodness is so widespread round about me, that it leads me to desire to see more and more of thyself and thy law.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 119:64
The earth, O Lord, is full of Thy mercy: teach me Thy statutes.
Man and the earth
I. Man realizing the abounding of Gods mercy on the earth.
II. Man imploring Gods counsels on the earth. Teach me Thy statutes. These statutes are required in order to guide men–
1. To a right appreciation of His goodness.
2. To a right use of His goodness. (Homilist.)
Gods bountihood in Nature
I. It fills the earth. Goodness streaming from the heavens, flowing in the atmosphere, budding on the earth, sparkling in the river, and bounding in the ocean.
II. It entails moral obligation. Teach me Thy statutes.
1. A knowledge of the Divine statutes. Unless we know them they cannot regulate us.
2. An instruction in the Divine statutes. We must have God to interpret them to the mind and heart. (Homilist.)
A God-filled world
The psalmist looks all around and everywhere sees the signature of a loving Divine hand. The earth is full to brimming of Thy mercy. It takes faith to see that; it takes a deeper and a firmer hold of the thought of a present God than most men have to feel that. For the most of us the world has got to be very empty of God now. We hear rather the creaking of the wheels of a great machine, or see the workings of a blind impersonal force. But I believe that all that is precious and good in the growth of knowledge since the old days when this psalmist wrote may be joyfully accepted by us, and deep down below it we may see the larger truth of the living purpose and will of God Himself. And I know no reason why nineteenth-century men, full to the finger-tips of modern scientific thought, may not say as heartily as the old psalmist, The earth, O Lord, is full of Thy mercy. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 64. The earth is full of thy mercy] What an astonishing operation has the grace of God! In the midst of want, poverty, affliction, and bondage, it makes those who possess it happy! When Christ dwells in the heart by faith, we have nothing but goodness around us. Others may complain; but to us even the earth appears full of the mercy of the Lord.
ANALYSIS OF LETTER CHETH. – Eighth Division
In this part we have –
I. The assertion of the psalmist, that God was his portion; and his resolution upon it to keep God’s law.
II. His prayer for grace to enable him to do it.
III. His profession of duty and a holy life.
IV. His concluding acclamation and prayer.
I. “Thou art my portion:” Let others choose as they please, thou art sufficient for me; I ask no more.
1. And on this I resolve to be thy obedient servant: “I have said, that I would keep thy words.”
2. But thou knowest I am unable without thy grace to do this; therefore I must entreat thy favour: “Be merciful unto me.” There are three helps to a godly life, all which we meet here, viz.: –
1. Determination. This makes a man begin well: “I have said.”
2. Supplication. This makes a man continue well: “I entreated.”
3. Consideration. This makes a man, when he errs, come back to the way again.
II. He was ready to co-operate with grace: “I have thought on my ways.” If we be not workers with God, vain are our prayers. Two things are required of us: 1. Aversion from evil. 2. Conversion to good. Both must meet together.
1. Aversion from evil: “I thought on my ways.” But he did not rest here.
2. Conversion to good: “I turned my feet unto thy testimonies.”
III. And his sincerity is shown many ways: –
1. By his readiness and zeal: “I made haste, and delayed not.”
2. By his courage and constancy. Though he was plundered, for his adherence to God, by the bands of the wicked, yet he did not forget God’s law.
3. By his fervour about it. He was always employed in the work; and would rather take something from his natural rest, than not gratify his hunger and thirst after righteousness: “At midnight I will rise to give thanks.”
4. By selecting his company. “He who walks with the lame will learn to limp:” therefore avoiding the society of the wicked, he seeks the company of them that fear the Lord and keep his precepts.
IV. He concludes with an acclamation and prayer.
1. “The earth, O Lord, is full of thy mercy.” There is not a creature that is not a partaker of thy goodness; let me have my portion in it.
2. “Teach me thy statutes.” That is, continue to instruct me. I need constant teaching, line upon line, and precept upon precept. Teach thou, and I will learn; and as I learn from thy teaching, I will practise by thy grace.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Thou dost satisfy the just desires and necessities of all men and all creatures with the fruits of thy goodness. The generality of other men chiefly desire the blessings of this life; but, Lord, give me thy spiritual blessings, the saving knowledge, love, and practice of thy law.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
64. While opposed by the wicked,and opposing them, the pious delight in those who fear God, but,after all, rely for favor and guidance not on merit, but mercy.
TETH.(Ps 119:65-72).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The earth, O Lord, is full of thy mercy,…. “Goodness” or “grace” o; both of the providential mercy and goodness of God, which extends to all his creatures; and of his special grace and goodness to his own people, held forth in his word and ordinances; see Ps 33:5;
teach me thy statutes: as an instance of mercy, grace, and goodness; see Ps 119:12.
o “gratia tua”, Cocceius, Gejerus.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
64 The earth, O LORD, is full of thy mercy: teach me thy statutes.
Here, 1. David pleads that God is good to all the creatures according to their necessities and capacities; as the heaven is full of God’s glory, so the earth is full of his mercy, full of the instances of his pity and bounty. Not only the land of Canaan, where God is known and worshipped, but the whole earth, in many parts of which he has no homage paid him, is full of his mercy. Not only the children of men upon the earth, but even the inferior creatures, taste of God’s goodness. His tender mercies are over all his works. 2. He therefore prays that God would be good to him according to his necessity and capacity: “Teach me thy statutes. Thou feedest the young ravens that cry, with food proper for them; and wilt thou not feed me with spiritual food, the bread of life, which my soul needs and craves, and cannot subsist without? The earth is full of thy mercy; and is not heaven too? Wilt thou not then give me spiritual blessings in heavenly places?” A gracious heart will fetch an argument from any thing to enforce a petition for divine teaching. Surely he that will not let his birds be unfed will not let his children be untaught.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
64. O Jehovah! the earth is full of thy mercy Here the prophet beseeches God, in the exercise of his infinite goodness, which is reflected in every part of the world, graciously to make him a partaker of the treasure of heavenly wisdom — a manner of prayer which is very emphatic. When, therefore, he says that the earth is full of God’s mercy, it is a kind of earnest entreaty. He not only magnifies the goodness of God, in general, (as he does in other places,) in leaving no part of the world devoid of the proofs of his liberality, and in exercising it not only towards mankind, but also towards the brute creation. What does he then? He desires that the mercy of God, which is extended to all creatures, may be manifested towards him in one thing, and that is, by enabling him to make progress in the knowledge of the Divine law. Whence we gather, that he accounted the gift of understanding as an inestimable treasure. No if to be endued with the spirit of understanding is a chief token of God’s favor, our want of this, proceeding from our own unbelief, is an indication of our alienation from him. It behooves us to remember what we have stated elsewhere, that it is an evidence that we have given ourselves up to the most shameful sloth, when, contented with a superficial knowledge of Divine truth, we are, in a great measure, indifferent about making further progress, seeing so renowned a teacher of the Church labored with the greatest ardor to become more and more acquainted with God’s statutes. Besides, it is certain that he does not here treat of external teaching, but of the inward illumination of the mind, which is the gift of the Holy Spirit. The law was exhibited to all without distinction; but the prophet, well aware that unless he were enlightened by the Holy Spirit, it would be of little advantage to him, prays that he may be taught effectually by supernatural influence.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
Psa 119:64 The earth, O LORD, is full of thy mercy: teach me thy statutes.
Ver. 64. The earth, O Lord, is full of thy mercy ] Thy mercy is over all thy works. This is thy general goodness, But
Teach me thy statutes
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psalms
A STRANGER IN THE EARTH
Psa 119:19
There is something very remarkable in the variety-in-monotony of this, the longest of the psalms. Though it be the longest it is in one sense the simplest, inasmuch as there is but one thought in it, beaten out into all manner of forms and based upon all various considerations. It reminds one of the great violinist who out of one string managed to bring such music and melody.
The one thought is the infinite preciousness of God’s law, by which, of course, is not meant the written record of that law which lies in Scripture, but the utterances of God’s law in any form, by which men may receive it. You will find that that wider signification of the word ‘law,’ ‘commandment,’ ‘statute,’ is essential to the understanding of every portion of this psalm.
And now these two petitions which I have put together base the prayer, which they both offer, in slightly varied form ‘Teach me Thy statutes,’ or ‘Hide not Thy commandments from me,’ upon two diverse considerations, which, taken in conjunction, are extremely interesting.
The two facts on which the one petition rests, are like two great piers on two opposite sides of a river, each of which holds one end of the arch. ‘The earth is full of Thy mercy’; ay! but ‘I am a stranger upon the earth.’ These two things are both true, and from each of them, and still more from both of them taken together, rises up this petition. Let us look then at the facts, and then at the prayer that is built upon them.
Take first that thought of the rejoicing earth, full of God’s mercy as some cup is full of rich wine, or as the flowers in the morning are filled with dew. The Bible does not look at the external world, the material universe, from a scientific point of view, nor does it look at it from a poetical point of view, but from a simply religious one. Nothing that modern science has taught us to say about the world in the least affects this principle which the Psalmist lays down, that it is all full of God’s mercy. The thought is intended to exclude man and man’s ways and all connected with him, as we shall see presently, but the Psalmist looks out upon the earth and all the rest of its inhabitants, and he is sure of two things: one, that God’s direct act is at work in it all, so as that every creature that lives, and everything that is, lives and is because God is there, and working there; and next, that everything about us is the object of loving thoughts of God’s; and has, as it were, some reflection of God’s smile cast across it like the light of flowers upon the grass. Spring days with life ‘re-orient out of dust,’ and the annual miracle beginning again all round, with the birds in the trees, that even dwellers in towns can hear singing as if their hearts would burst for very mirth and hopefulness, the blossoms beginning to push above the frosty ground, and the life breaking out of the branches that were stiff and dry all through the winter, proclaim the same truth as the Psalmist was contemplating when he spoke thus. He looks all round, and everywhere sees the signature of a loving divine Hand.
The earth is full to brimming of Thy mercy. It takes faith to see that; it takes a deeper and a firmer hold of the thought of a present God than most men have, to feel that. For the most of us, the world has got to be very empty of God now. We hear rather the creaking of the wheels of a great machine, or see the workings of a blind, impersonal force. But I believe that all that is precious and good in the growth of knowledge since the old days when this Psalmist wrote may be joyfully accepted by us, and deep down below all we may see the deeper, larger truth of the living purpose and will of God Himself. And I know no reason why twentieth-century men, full to the fingertips of modern scientific thought, may not say as heartily as the old Psalmist said, ‘The earth, O Lord! is full of Thy mercy.’
But then there is another side to all this. Amidst all this sunny play of gladness, and apocalypse of blessing, there stands one exception. Hearken to the other word of my texts, ‘I am a stranger upon the earth.’ Man is out of joint with the great whole, out of harmony with the music, the only hungry one at the feast. All other creatures are admirably adapted for the place they fill, and the place they fill is sufficient for them. But I stand here, knowing that I do not belong to this goodly fellowship, feeling that I am an exception to the rule. As Colonel Gardiner said, ‘I looked at the dog, and I wished that I was a dog.’ Ah! many another man has felt, Why is it that whilst every creature, the motes that dance in the sunbeam, and the minutest living things, however insignificant, are all filled to the very brim of their capacity-why is it that I, the roof and crown of things, stand here, a sad and solitary stranger, having made acquaintance with grief; having learned what they know not, the burden of toil and care, cursed with forecast and anticipation, saddened by memory, torn by desires? ‘We look before and after, and pine for what is not.’ All other beings fit their place, and their place fits them like a glove upon a fair hand, but I stand here ‘a stranger upon the earth.’ And the more I feel, or at least the more I am convinced that it is full of God’s mercy, the more I feel that there is something else which I need to make me, in my fashion, as really and as completely blessed as the lowest of His creatures.
The Psalmist tells us what that something more is: ‘I am a stranger upon the earth; hide not Thy commandments from me.’ That is my food, that is what I need; that is the one thing that will make our souls feel at rest, that we shall have not merely a Bible in our hands, but the will of God, the knowledge and the love of the will of God, in our hearts. When we can say ‘I delight to do Thy will, and my whole being seeks to lay itself beneath the mould of Thine impressing purpose, and to be shaped accordingly’; Oh! then, then the care and the toil and the sorrow and the restlessness and the sense of transiency, all change. Some of them pass away altogether; those of them that survive are transfigured from darkness to glory. Just as some gloomy cliff, impending over the plain, when the rising sun smites upon it, is changed into a rosy and golden glory, so the frowning peaks that look down upon us, are all transmuted and glorified, when once the light of God’s recognised will falls upon them.
‘All is right that seems most wrong,
If it be His sweet will.’
Oh, dear friends! we shall be cursed with restlessness and ‘weighed upon with sore distress’; and a fleeting world will, by its very fleetingness, be a misery to us, until we have learned to yield our wills to God, and to drink in His law as the joy and the rejoicing of our hearts. A stranger upon the earth needs the statutes of the Lord, he needs no more, and then they will be as the Psalmist says in another place, ‘his song in the house of his pilgrimage.’
But the first of our two texts suggests further to us the certainty that this petition shall not be in vain. If the thought, ‘I am a stranger in the earth,’ teaches us our need of God’s commandments, the thought, ‘the earth is full of Thy mercies,’ assures us that we shall get what we need.
Surely it is not going to be the case that we only are to be left hungry when all other creatures sit at His table and feast there. Surely He who knows what each living thing requires, and opens His hand, and satisfies their desires, is not going to leave the nobler famishing of an immortal soul uncared for.
Surely if all through the universe besides, we see that the measure of a creature’s capacity is the measure of God’s gift to it, there is not going to be, there need not be, any disproportion between what we require and what we possess. Surely if His ear can hear and translate, and His loving hand can open to satisfy, the croaking of the young raven when it cries, He will neither mistake nor neglect the voice of a man’s heart, when it is asking what is so in accordance with His will as that He should let him know and love His statutes.
It is not meant to be the case that we lie in the middle of His creation, the one exception to the universal law, like Gideon’s fleece, dry and dusty, while every poor bit of bush and grass round about is soaked with His dew. If ‘the earth is full of Thy mercy,’ Thou thereby hast pledged Thyself that my heart shall be full of Thy law and Thy grace, if I desire it.
And so, dear brethren! whilst the one of these twin considerations should send us to our knees, the other should hearten and wing our prayers. And if, on the one hand, we feel that to bring us up to the level of the poorest of His creatures, we need a firm grasp and a hearty love of His law deep in our spirits, on the other hand, the fact that the feeblest and the poorest of His creatures is saturated and soaked with as much of God’s goodness as it can suck in, may make us quite sure that our souls will not vainly pant after Him in a ‘dry and thirsty land where no water is.’ ‘The earth, O Lord! is full of Thy mercy.’ Am I to be empty of the highest mercy, the knowledge of Thy will? Never! never!
And so, ‘Say not, Who shall ascend up into the heavens? say not, Who shall pass over the sea to bring Thy law near, that we may hear and do it? Behold! the word is very nigh thee.’ The law, the will of God, and the power to perform it are braided together, in inextricable union, in Jesus Christ Himself; and the prayer of my psalm most deeply understood, turns itself all into this:-Give me Christ, more of the knowledge of Him who is my law and Thine uttered will; more of the love of Him whom to love is to be at home everywhere, and to be filled with Thy mercy; more of the likeness to Him whom to imitate is holiness; whom to resemble is perfection. ‘The earth is full of Thy mercy.’ ‘The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us; and we beheld His glory, full of grace and truth.’ And of that fulness can all we receive. Then will we be strangers here no longer; and our hearts will be replenished with a better mercy than all the universe beside is capable of containing.
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
mercy = lovingkindness, or grace.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 119:64-67. The earth, O LORD, is full of thy mercy: teach me thy statutes. Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, O LORD, according unto thy word. Teach me good judgment and knowledge: for I have believed thy commandments. Before I was afflicted I went astray:
Prosperity had been to the psalmist like the gap in the hedge through which the sheep wander from the shepherd; but affliction had been to him like the prickly bushes that often stop the sheep from wandering still further, so he says, Before I was afflicted I went astray:
Psa 119:67. But now have I kept thy word.
What a benefit, then, affliction had been to him; and what a blessing it often is to us! So, instead of dreading it, as we usually do, we ought to welcome it, and be on the look-out for the blessing which is to come to us through it. Many a child of God has joined with Dr. Watts in singing,
Father, I bless thy gentle hand;
How kind was thy chastising rod;
That forced my conscience to a stand,
And brought my wandering soul to God!
Foolish and vain, I went astray
Ere I had felt thy scourges, Lord;
I left my guide, and lost my way;
But now I love and keep thy Word.
Psa 119:68. Thou art good, and doest good;
What a delightful description this is of God and his works! Who is good? Our Lord Jesus supplies the answer, There is none good but one, that is, God. And his works are like himself: Thou art good, and doest good.
Psa 119:68. Teach me thy statutes.
In the 25th Psalm, David wrote, Good and upright is the Lord: therefore will he teach sinners in the way; and here, because the Lord is good, and does good, the psalmist prays, Teach me thy statutes. He will teach us that which is good because he is himself good. What a blessing it is for us to have such a Teacher! How wonderful it is that God should be so condescending as to take us into his school!
Psa 119:69. The proud have forged a lie against me:
They have kept on hammering away until they have finished the falsehood; they have forged it, as one forges a deadly weapon in the fire.
Psa 119:69. But I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart.
It is no use for me to trouble about them. When they have forged one lie, they will probably forge another, and there is practically no end to that black business. It is no use for me to try to answer them; I will turn to a far more profitable occupation: I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart.
Psa 119:70. Their heart is as fat as grease;
Insensible, lifeless; they have no conscience, no feeling; they are so proud of their prosperity that they are afflicted with fatty degeneration of the heart.
Psa 119:70. But I delight in thy law.
What a blessing it is for us to find our fatness there, to delight in the marrow and fatness of Gods law!
Psa 119:71. It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.
The psalmist, was so impressed with the benefits which he had derived from his afflictions, that he returned to the subject: It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes. There is much teaching power about Gods rod. He always keeps one in his school, and it is greatly needed for such dull scholars as we are. Many a child of God can repeat the psalmists testimony: It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes. Thou hast whipped a little knowledge into me, and not much has come in any other way.
Psa 119:72. The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.
David had a great deal of gold and silver, far more than any of us have; but yet he thought very little of it in comparison with Gods law. Many people despise gold and silver because they have not got any. The fox said the grapes were sour because they were beyond his reach. But here is a case, in which a man had as much gold and silver as he could ever want; yet he says that the law of Gods mouth was better than all of it, and he was wise in saying so. For gold and silver can be stolen; riches often take to themselves wings, and fly away; even great wealth may soon be spent and gone; but Gods law never leaves those who love it, nor lets them lose it. When all our spending money is gone, then is the commandment of God our treasure still. Happy is everyone who can say, with David, The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible
earth: Psa 33:5, Psa 104:13, Psa 145:9
teach: Psa 119:12, Psa 119:26, Psa 27:11, Isa 2:3, Isa 48:17, Isa 48:18, Mat 11:29
Reciprocal: Psa 5:8 – Lead Psa 119:7 – when
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
119:64 The earth, O LORD, is full of thy mercy: {e} teach me thy statutes.
(e) For the knowledge of God’s word is a singular token of his favour.