Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 119:91
They continue this day according to thine ordinances: for all [are] thy servants.
91. This verse may be rendered,
According to thine ordinances [ judgements ] they abide [ stand ] this day,
For all things are thy servants.
The thought of the preceding verses is developed. Heaven and earth obey and subserve the ordinances of God. His Will is the universal law of Nature.
A slightly different rendering however agrees better with the second line: For thy judgements they (heaven and earth) stand ready this day; they are constantly prepared to perform Thy behests, for all things subserve Thy Will.
Either of these renderings is preferable to that of R.V. marg., As for thy judgements, they abide this day.
this day ] i.e. unto this day.
“From the ministering of the Archangel to the labour of the insect, from the poising of the planets to the gravitation of a grain of dust, the power and glory of all creatures, and all matter, consist in their obedience, not in their freedom.” Ruskin, The Two Paths, Lect. v., quoted by Kay.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
They continue this day according to thine ordinances – According to thy judgments (Hebrew); that is, thy commands. They stand (Hebrew) as thou hast appointed; they are what thou didst design them to be. The original purpose in their creation is carried out, and they thus furnish an illustration of the stability of thy government and the permanency of thy law.
For all are thy servants – All worlds obey thy commands; all are under thy control. They show that they are thy servants by the conformity of their movements to the laws which thou hast impressed on them.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 119:91
All are Thy servants.
All things are Thy servants
The psalmist finds Gods Word in nature, in the whole physical universe. To him the universal order spoke of One who ordered all things according to the good pleasure of His will. Behind all forces and laws he saw a Hand which still governed them, and a Heart which could still feel for those who suffered under the iron necessities of nature. Having found God in the outer world of nature he finds Him also in the inner world of providence. As life can only spring from life, so he believed that our life could only have come from the Living One. And human life is guided through its whole course, from generation to generation, and amid all the changes of time, by the true and faithful will in which it had its origin. If this is too large an inference to draw from the words, Thy faithfulness is unto all generations, it is amply warranted by these other words, All things are Thy servants, and the application of them which the psalmist makes to his own conditions and prospects. What is most difficult for us to grasp is the practical conclusion at which the psalmist arrives. We find much in nature which is friendly; we also find much that seems cruel and inimical to us. The evidence is not all on one side; and hence our verdict often hangs in doubt. It would be an unspeakable comfort to us to believe that all things serve God, and therefore serve us; but how can we believe it in the teeth of the cruel and sorrowful facts with which experience daily confronts us? If it was not impossible for him to believe in the truth and goodness of God, even when God hid Himself from him in clouds so dense and dark as these, it should not be impossible for us to know God better than he did, and have much more reason to trust Him. What else can we do? As we stand before the frowning mysteries of time and change, only one alternative is before us. Either we must understand them all ourselves, or hope to understand them, or we must confide in One who does understand them, though we do not. Therefore our only hope of rest and peace lies in trusting Him from whom nothing is hid, in believing that, because all things serve Him, all must serve us. Is such a faith impossible, or even unreasonable? Not if we believe in God at all, and in the Word of God. Faith is inevitable to those who know as little as we do. The only question is, what we shall believe, in whom we shall put our trust. (Samuel Cox, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 91. They continue this day] This verse should be thus read: All are thy servants; therefore, they continue this day according to thy ordinances. “All the celestial bodies are governed by thy power. Thou hast given an ordinance or appointment to each, and each fulfils thy will in the place thou hast assigned it.”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
They continue; the heaven and the earth last mentioned.
According to thine ordinances; as thou hast appointed, and by virtue of thine appointment.
All are thy servants; all things are subject to thy power and pleasure, and none can resist thy will or word.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
91. Theythe heaven (Ps119:89) and the earth (Ps119:90). HENGSTENBERGtranslates, “They stand for thy judgment,” that is,ready, as obedient servants, to execute them. The usage of this Psalmfavors this view. But see Jer33:25.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
They continue this day according to thine ordinances,…. That is, the heavens and the earth do, before mentioned, just as they were from the beginning of the creation. The heavenly bodies have the same motion, magnitude, distance, and influence; the sun rises and sets as it did; the moon keeps her appointed seasons of full and change, of increase and decrease; the fixed stars retain their place, and the planets have their exact revolutions: and on earth things are as they were; seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night; thus they are at this day, and will continue, according to the wise order and appointment of God. Aben Ezra and Kimchi interpret it,
“they stand or continue unto this day to do the will of God; to execute his judgments and decrees, or observe his order and ordinances.”
for all [are] thy servants; or “they”, or “these all” a; the heavens and earth, and all that is in them, all the works of God; he called them into being, and they rose up at his command; he calls them to service, and they stand up as obedient ones to do his will; he “commandeth the sun, and it riseth not” before its time; and “he sealeth up the stars”, that they shine not when he pleases; once he commanded the sun to stand still on Gibeon, and the moon in the valley of Ajalon, and they obeyed him; see Isa 48:13. Hence it appears that the hosts of heaven, the sun, moon, and stars, ought not to be served and worshipped; but the Lord, the Maker of them, only, since they are his servants; and that men ought surely to serve the Lord, if these do, and especially such who are his chosen, redeemed, and called ones.
a “illa omnia”, Junius Tremellius “universa haec”, Gejerus.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
91. By thy judgments they continue to this day. The word, היום, hayom, which, following other interpreters, I have translated to this days might not improperly rendered daily, or every day. In that case, however, the sense would be substantially the same; for the prophet means, that the whole order of nature depends solely upon the commandment or decree of God. In using the term judgments, he makes an allusion to the law, intimating, that the same regard to rectitude which is exhibited in the law is brightly displayed in every part; of God’s procedure. From this it follows, that men are very perverse, when, by their unbelief, they do what they can to shake and impair the faithfulness of God, upon which all creatures repose; and, moreover, when by their rebellion they impeach his righteousness, and deny the authority of his commands, upon which the stability of the whole world depends. It is a harsh manner of expression to say, that all the elements are God’s servants; but it expresses more than if it had been said, that all things are ready to yield obedience to him. How can we account for it, that the air, which is so thin, does not consume itself by blowing incessantly? How can we account for it, that the waters do not waste away by flowing, but on the principle that these elements obey the secret command of God? By faith, it is true, we perceive that the continued existence of the world is owing to the fiat of God; but all who have the smallest pretensions to understanding are led to the same conclusion, from the manifest and undoubted proofs of this truth, which every where meet their eye. Let it then be thoroughly impressed upon our minds, that all things are so governed and maintained by the secret operation of God, as that their continuing in the same state is owing to their obeying his commandment or word. We must always remember the point which the prophet aims at; which is, that God’s faithfulness, which shines forth in his external works, may gradually conduct us higher, until we attain such a persuasion of the truth of heavenly doctrine as is entirely free from doubt.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(91) They (the heavens and the earth) continue to this day according to Thine ordinances: for all (i.e., all creation) are Thy servants.In Hebrew the all, i.e., the universe. The parallelism is in this way preserved, while in the alternative, as for Thy judgments, Thy, &c., it is lost.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 119:91 They continue this day according to thine ordinances: for all [are] thy servants.
Ver. 91. They continue this day ] God never brake promise with them, Jer 33:20 ; Jer 33:25 , much less will he with his people, for whose use he made them.
For all are thy servants
a A thing or person that deviates from the ordinary rule; an “anomaly”.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
They: i.e. heaven and earth.
continue = stand, as in Psa 119:90.
this day = [to] this day, or to-day.
ordinances = regulations. Hebrew. mishpat. The seventh of the ten words. App-73. Compare Psa 119:132.
all. With Art. = the whole [universe].
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
They continue this: Psa 148:5, Psa 148:6, Gen 8:22, Isa 48:13, Jer 33:25
all are: Deu 4:19, Jos 10:12, Jos 10:13, Jdg 5:20, Mat 5:45, Mat 8:9
Reciprocal: Gen 1:14 – Let there Job 37:15 – Dost Job 38:33 – the ordinances Psa 33:9 – and it stood Psa 78:69 – earth Psa 100:5 – and his truth Ecc 1:4 – but Ecc 3:14 – whatsoever
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
119:91 They {b} continue this day according to thine ordinances: for all [are] thy servants.
(b) Seeing the earth and all creatures remain in that estate in which you have created them, much more your truth remains constant and unchangeable.