Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 119:142
Thy righteousness [is] an everlasting righteousness, and thy law [is] the truth.
142. is the truth ] Is truth. Cp. Psa 119:151 ; Psa 119:160; Psa 19:9; Joh 17:17.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness – It never changes. The principles of thy law, of thy government, and of thy method of saving people, are the same under all dispensations, in every land, in all worlds; and they will remain the same forever. Human governments change. Old dynasties pass away. New laws are enacted under new administrations. Customs change. Opinions change. People change. The world changes. But as God himself never changes, so it is with his law. That law is founded on eternal truth, and can never change.
And thy law is the truth – It is founded on truth; on the reality of things. It is so essentially founded on truth, it springs so certainly out of truth, or out of the reality of things, that it may be said to be the truth itself. He who understands the law of God understands what truth is, for it is the expression and the exponent of that which is true.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 142. Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness] The word tsedek is a word of very extensive meaning in the Bible. It signifies, not only God’s inherent righteousness and perfection of nature, but also his method of treating others; his plan of redemption; his method of saving others. And the word , which answers to it, in the Septuagint and in the New Testament, is used with the same latitude of meaning, and in the same sense; particularly in that remarkable passage, Ro 3:25-26, where see the notes. Thy merciful method of dealing with sinners and justifying the ungodly will last as long as the earth lasts; and thy law that witnesses this, in all its pages, is the truth.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
An everlasting righteousness; constant and unchangeable, the same in all ages and places, and to all persons, of eternal truth and justice, never to be dispensed with, nor to be made void.
The truth; nothing but truth; or as true as truth itself.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
142-144. The principles of God’sgovernment are permanent and reliable, and in the deepest distressHis people find them a theme of delightful meditation and a source ofreviving power (Psa 119:17;Psa 119:116).
law is the truthIttherefore cannot deceive as to its promises.
everlasting (Ps111:3), though to outward appearance seeming dead.
KOPH.(Ps 119:145-152).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Thy righteousness [is] an everlasting righteousness,…. Or, “is for ever” z. The rectitude of his nature, his faithfulness in his promises, and his kindness and beneficence to his people; and particularly the righteousness of God revealed in the Gospel; the righteousness of his Son, which he approves and accepts of, and imputes to him that believes. This is a righteousness that will last for ever, will never be abolished; it will answer for them that have it in a time to come; it is of use throughout the whole of life, at death, in the day of judgment, and to all eternity; see Da 9:24;
and thy law [is] the truth; or “thy doctrine”; or “thy word”, as the Arabic version. The Scriptures are called the Scriptures of truth,
Da 10:21 they come from the God of truth, and all that is contained in them is truth; the legal part of them is truth, and so is the Gospel; that is called the word of truth, and truth itself: it is concerning Christ, who is the truth; and it is directed into and made effectual by the Spirit of truth, and contains in it many excellent truths; and is therefore deservedly valued and esteemed by all good men; see
Joh 17:17.
z “in seculum”, Pagninus, Montanus, Gejerus; “in aeternum”, V. L. Michaelis.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
142 Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is the truth.
Observe, 1. That God’s word is righteousness, and it is an everlasting righteousness. It is the rule of God’s judgment, and it is consonant to his counsels from eternity and will direct his sentence for eternity. The word of God will judge us, it will judge us in righteousness, and by it our everlasting state will be determined. This should possess us with a very great reverence for the word of God that it is righteousness itself, the standard of righteousness, and it is everlasting in its rewards and punishments. 2. That God’s word is a law, and that law is truth. See the double obligation we are under to be governed by the word of God. We are reasonable creatures, and as such we must be ruled by truth, acknowledging the force and power of it. If the principles be true, the practices must be agreeable to them, else we do not act rationally. We are creatures, and therefore subjects, and must be ruled by our Creator; and whatever he commands we are bound to obey as a law. See how these obligations are here twisted, these cords of a man. Here is truth brought to the understanding, there to sit chief, and direct the motions of the whole man; but, lest the authority of that should become weak through the flesh, here is a law to bind the will and bring that into subjection. God’s truth is a law (John xviii. 37) and God’s law is the truth; surely we cannot break such words as these asunder.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
142. Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness. Here the law of God is honored by the additional encomium, that it is everlasting righteousness and truth; as if it had been said, that all other rules of life, with whatever attractions they may appear to be recommended, are but a shadow, which quickly vanishes away. The Psalmist, no doubt, indirectly contrasts the doctrine of the law with all the human precepts which were ever delivered, that he may bring all the faithful in subjection to it, since it is the school of perfect wisdom. There may be more of plausibility in the refined and subtle disquisition’s of men; but there is in them nothing firm or solid at bottom, as there is in God’s law. This firmness of the divine law he proves in the following verse from one instance — the continual comfort he found in it when grievously harassed with temptations. And the true test of the profit we have reaped from it is, when we oppose to all the distresses of whatever kind which may straiten us, the consolation derived from the word of God, that thereby all sadness may be effaced from our minds. David here expresses something more than he did in the preceding verse; for there he only said that he reverently served God, although from his rough and hard treatment he might seem to lose his labor; but now when distressed and tormented, he affirms that he finds in the law of God the most soothing delight, which mitigates all grief’s, and not only tempers their bitterness, but also seasons them with a certain sweetness. And assuredly when this taste does not exist to afford us delight, nothing is more natural than for us to be swallowed up of sorrow. Nor ought we to omit noticing the form of expression which the Prophet employs, by which he teaches, that although he was besieged and shut up on all sides, he found a remedy sufficiently powerful in improving the consolation offered him by the word of God. As this could not be true of the bare commandments, which so far from remedying our distresses, rather fill us with anxiety, there is no doubt that under the word commandments there is comprehended by the figure synecdoche, the whole doctrine of the law, in which God not only requires what is right, but in which also calling his elect ones to the hope of eternal salvation, he opens the gate of perfect happiness. Yea, under the term law are comprehended both free adoption, and also the promises which flow from it.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(142) Thy . . .Better, Thy righteousness is right for ever, and Thy law is truth.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 119:142 Thy righteousness [is] an everlasting righteousness, and thy law [is] the truth.
Ver. 142. Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness ] When all other laws and sentences, though engraven in brass or marble, shall decay and determine, thy law lasteth for ever, and so shall they that observe it.
And thy law is the truth
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
is the truth = is truth (no Art.) Compare Joh 17:17.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Thy righteousness: Men, as Bp. Horne observes, may decree wickedness by a law; or they may change their decrees, and with them what is right to-day may be wrong to-morrow; but the law of God is righteousness, and it is truth, to-day and forever.
an everlasting: Psa 119:144, Psa 36:6, Isa 51:6, Isa 51:8, Dan 9:24, 2Th 1:6-10
and thy: Psa 119:151, Psa 19:9, Joh 17:17, Eph 4:21
Reciprocal: Psa 26:3 – and Psa 111:3 – righteousness Psa 119:86 – All thy Psa 119:160 – and every one Psa 119:172 – for all thy Dan 8:12 – and it cast Rom 3:25 – to declare Rev 14:6 – everlasting
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 119:142-144. Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness Constant and unchangeable, the same in all ages and places, and to all persons; of eternal truth and justice never to be dispensed with, nor to be made void. And thy law is truth Nothing but truth, or as true as truth itself. Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me Outward trouble and anguish of spirit; or great anguish and distress. Yet thy commandments are my delights My trouble and anguish do not take away my taste for the comforts of thy word: but I can still relish them, and find that peace and pleasure in them, which all the calamities of this present life cannot deprive me of. Indeed, the saints have frequently the sweetest enjoyment of the delights which there are in Gods word, when they are in a state of trouble and distress. Give me understanding, and I shall live I shall be kept from those sins which bring spiritual death, and expose to eternal death: I shall live a life of grace here, and glory hereafter.