Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 119:84
How many [are] the days of thy servant? when wilt thou execute judgment on them that persecute me?
84. How many &c.] Few at the most. The brevity of life is an argument for the speedy punishment of the Psalmist’s persecutors, otherwise he may not live to see God’s justice vindicated. Cp. Psa 89:47; Psa 102:11 ff.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
How many are the days of thy servant? – I cannot hope to live long. I am sinking under my burdens. If I am, therefore, to see the accomplishment of my desires – my deliverance from my enemies and my troubles – it must be soon. This is not a desire to be told how long he was to live, as if it were an object of desire to know this, but it is a method of saying that he could not live long under these circumstances, and therefore he offered this earnest prayer that God would interpose and save him soon.
When wilt thou execute judgment on them that persecute me? – How long shall this be delayed? I look for this; I expect it; I rely on thy promise that it shall be done; but if done so that I shall see it, it must soon be done, for I shall soon sink into the grave. It is a prayer that God would come and do quickly what he felt assured he would do, in delivering him from his foes.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 119:84
How many are the days of Thy servant?
when wilt Thou execute judgment on them that persecute me?
A suggestive question
I. Gods knowledge of the length of mans life. To Him there are no accidental deaths, no premature graves.
II. Mans ignorance of the length of his life. This indicates
1. The goodness of God. Were man to know the exact time of his death, it would paralyze his energies and check his enjoyments.
2. The duty of man–to be always ready, awaiting his summons.
III. The trying element in mans life. The weight of years, the departure of old friends, the narrowing of the region of hope, the want of purpose not only reconcile him to his fate, but create in him a craving for the long rest of the long, long grave. I do not wish to die, says Cicero, but I care not if I were dead. A mans willingness to die is no proof of his religion. (Homilist.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 84. How many are the days of thy servants] Dost thou not know that I have few to live, and they are full of trouble?
When wilt thou execute judgment on them that persecute me?] Shall not the pride of the Chaldeans be brought down, the arm of their strength broken, and thy people delivered? In this verse there is none of the ten words used in reference to God’s law.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The days; either,
1. The days of my life, as the word days is commonly used, Gen 6:3; Job 7:1,6; Psa 39:5,6. I have but a little while to live in the world, give me some respite before I die, and help me speedily, otherwise it will be too late. Or rather,
2. The days of my misery, as the next clause implies, and as days are taken, Psa 37:13; 116:2, and elsewhere. How long, Lord, shall my miseries last? for ever?
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
84-87. The shortness of my liferequires that the relief afforded to me from mine enemies should bespeedy.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
How many [are] the days of thy servant?…. If this is to be understood of the days of his life, they were very few, as the days of every man be; and if of his days of joy and comfort, peace and prosperity, they were fewer still; but if of days of adversity and affliction, which seems to be the sense, they were many indeed;
when wilt thou execute judgment on them that persecute me? good men have their persecutors; there is a judgment that will be executed on them, if not here, yet hereafter; it is a righteous thing with God to do it; it is often deferred when the saints, through zeal for the glory of God, and the honour of his justice, as well as for their own deliverance and comfort, are at times somewhat impatient for it, and earnestly solicit it, as the psalmist here; see Re 6:9.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
84 How many are the days of thy servant? when wilt thou execute judgment on them that persecute me?
Here, I. David prays against the instruments of his troubles, that God would make haste to execute judgment on those that persecuted him. He prays not for power to avenge himself (he bore no malice to any), but that God would take to himself the vengeance that belonged to him, and would repay (Rom. xii. 19), as the God that sits in the throne judging right. There is a day coming, and a great and terrible day it will be, when God will execute judgment on all the proud persecutors of his people, tribulation to those that troubled them; Enoch foretold it (Jude 14), whose prophecy perhaps David here had an eye to; and that day we are to look for and pray for the hastening of. Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly. 2. He pleads the long continuance of his trouble: “How many are the days of thy servant? The days of my life are but few” (so some); “therefore let them not all be miserable, and therefore make haste to appear for me against my enemies, before I go hence and shall be seen no more.” Or rather, “The days of my affliction are many; thou seest, Lord, how many they be; when wilt thou return in mercy to me? Sometimes, for the elect’s sake, the days of trouble are shortened. O let the days of my trouble be shortened; I am thy servant; and therefore, as the eyes of a servant are to the hand of his master, so are mine to thee, until thou have mercy on me.”
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
84. How many are the days of thy servant? etc. Some read these two clauses apart, as if the first were a general complaint of the brevity of human life, such as is to be met with in other psalms, and more frequently in the book of Job; and next, in their opinion, there follows a special prayer of the Psalmist, that God would take vengeance upon his enemies. But I rather prefer joining the two clauses together, and limit both to David’s afflictions; as if it had been said, Lord, how long hast thou determined to abandon thy servant to the will of the ungodly? when wilt thou set thyself in opposition to their cruelty and outrage, in order to take vengeance upon them? The Scriptures often use the word days in this sense; as, for example, “the days of Egypt,” Eze 30:9; “the days of Babylon,” and “the days of Jerusalem,” Psa 137:7; a word which, in other places, is called “ the day of visitation,” Isa 10:3. By the use of the plural number, is denoted a certain determinate portion of time, which, in other places, is compared to the “days of an hireling,” Job 14:6; Isa 16:14. The Psalmist does not, then, bewail in general the transitory life of man, but he complains that the time of his state of warfare in this world had been too long protracted; and, therefore, he naturally desires that it might be brought to a termination. In expostulating with God about his trouble, he does not do so obstinately, or with a murmuring spirit; but still, in asking how long it will be necessary for him to suffer, he humbly prays that God would not delay to succor him. As to the point of his stirring him up by prayer to execute vengeance, we have elsewhere seen in what sense it was lawful for him to make such a request; namely, because the vengeance which he desired to see was such as is properly suitable to God. It is certain that he had divested himself of all the corrupt affections of the flesh, that he might, with a pure and undisturbed zeal, desire God’s judgment. He, however, in this passage, only wishes in general to be delivered by the hand of God from the wrongs which were inflicted upon him, without adjudging to perdition his adversaries; for he was quite contented, provided God appeared to defend him.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(84) As in Psa. 89:47-48, the psalmist here utters what was the dread of each generation of Israel, a dread lest it should have passed away before the day of deliverance should arrive.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 119:84. How many are the days of thy servant That is, “how long shall the days of that trouble and affliction last, which I am now forced to endure under the persecutions of Saul?”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psa 119:84 How many [are] the days of thy servant? when wilt thou execute judgment on them that persecute me?
Ver. 84. How many are the days of thy servant ] i.e. Mine evil days, Pro 15:15 . All the days of the afflicted are evil; see Psa 37:12 and these soon seem many to us.
When wilt thou execute judgment, &c.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
many: i.e. few at the most. Compare Psa 89:47. 2Sa 19:34.
execute judgment = vindicate.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
How: Psa 39:4, Psa 39:5, Psa 89:47, Psa 89:48, Psa 90:12, Job 7:6-8
when: Psa 7:6, Rev 6:10, Rev 6:11
Reciprocal: Gen 47:28 – the whole age Jer 15:15 – remember
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
119:84 How many [are] the {c} days of thy servant? when wilt thou execute judgment on them that persecute me?
(c) How long will you afflict your servant.