Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 119:166
LORD, I have hoped for thy salvation, and done thy commandments.
Lord, I have hoped for thy salvation – As a prevailing habit or principle in my life. I have looked to thee for deliverance in the time of danger; I have looked to thee for salvation in the world to come.
And done thy commandments – That is, habitually. This is not, necessarily, a claim to absolute perfection.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 119:166-168
Lord, I have hoped for Thy salvation, and done Thy commandments.
A justifiable hope
There is a true hope and a false hope, a justifiable and an unjustifiable hope–the words direct us to the former.
I. Here is a hope that has a justifiable object. What is the object? Thy salvation. What does the real salvation of man involve?
1. Restoration to lost holiness. The soul was created in the image of God, that is, in moral perfection. That image it has lost, the restoration of that is salvation. The restoration of purity, love, spiritual freedom, loyalty.
2. The restoration of lost usefulness. The soul was made to be useful, to render by its true thoughts, pure sympathies, and wise counsels, service to other souls. But this usefulness it has lost. As a rule, men are injurious to each other. Salvation is the restoration of this usefulness. All souls ministering and inter-ministering to the good of one another. Now, is not this a justifiable object of hope? This is the hope which God has set before us in the Gospel.
II. Hero is a hope that has a justifiable reason. The reason here assigned for this hope is devotion to the right. A man who is loyally and livingly devoted to the right has undoubtedly a justifiable reason for hoping for salvation. It cannot be purchased, it cannot be given, it must grow out of the soul devoted to rectitude. (Homilist.)
The doing of Gods commandments
Set upon the practice of what you read. A student in physic doth not satisfy himself to read over a system or body of physic, but he falls upon practising physic. The life-blood of religion lies in the practical part. Christians should be walking Bibles. Xenophon said, Many read Lycurguss laws, but few observe them. The Word written is not only a rule of knowledge, but a rule of obedience; it is not only to mend our sight, but to mend our pace. David calls Gods Word a lamp unto his feet (verse 105). It was not only a light to his eyes to see by, but to his feet to walk by. By practice we trade with the talent of knowledge, and turn it to profit. This is a blessed reading of Scripture, when we fly from the sins which the Word forbids, and espouse the doctrines which the Word commands. Reading without practice will be but a torch to light men to hell. (T. Watson.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 166. Lord, I have hoped] Thou hast promised deliverance, and I have expected it on the ground of that promise.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Thus performing the condition which thou hast required, I justly and confidently hope for thy mercy promised.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
166-168. As they keep God’s lawfrom motives of love for it, and are free from slavish fear, the areready to subject their lives to His inspection.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Lord, I have hoped for thy salvation,…. Either temporal salvation and deliverance from enemies, and from afflictions, which God had promised, and therefore he had reason to hope for; or spiritual and eternal salvation, resolved on in the mind of God, provided in covenant, promised to be wrought out by Christ, and which since has been accomplished; and therefore there is a sufficient foundation to hope for it;
and done thy commandments: this was not the cause, ground, and foundation of his hope; for then it would not have been like an anchor, sure and steadfast, but as the hope of the hypocrite, which is as the spider’s web; but this was the effect of his hope; because he had a good hope of salvation, therefore he was studiously concerned to do the commandments of God; his hope prompted him to it, and encouraged him in it; see 1Jo 3:2. Kimchi’s note here is a good one; “and done thy commandments”, not for hope of reward; but I have done them as thy commandments are with me and I know that I shall have salvation, and I have hoped for it.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
166 LORD, I have hoped for thy salvation, and done thy commandments.
Here is the whole duty of man; for we are taught, 1. To keep our eye upon God’s favour as our end: “Lord, I have hoped for thy salvation, not only temporal but eternal salvation. I have hoped for that as my happiness and laid up my treasure in it; I have hoped for it as thine, as a happiness of thy preparing, thy promising, and which consists in being with thee. Hope of this has raised me above the world, and borne me up under all my burdens in it.” 2. To keep our eye upon God’s word as our rule: I have done thy commandments, that is, I have made conscience of conforming myself to thy will in every thing. Observe here how God has joined these two together, and let no man put them asunder. We cannot, upon good grounds, hope for God’s salvation, unless we set ourselves to do his commandments, Rev. xxii. 14. But those that sincerely endeavour to do his commandments ought to keep up a good hope of the salvation; and that hope will both engage and enlarge the heart in doing the commandments. The more lively the hope is the more lively the obedience will be.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
166 O Jehovah! I have waited for thy salvation. It is not without cause that the Prophet often repeats this sentence, which is in all men’s mouths, there being nothing easier than to ascribe to God the praise and office of saving, while yet there is hardly to be met with in the world a single example of steadfast hope, when men come to wrestle with temptations for any length of time. From the order of the words we learn, that if a man would keep himself in the fear of God, and the love of the law, it is necessary for him, above all things, (36) to seek for salvation in God. If faith in God’s grace be removed from our minds, or patience shaken off, we will be carried away hither and thither, and will cease any longer to cultivate godliness. The chief virtue of the faithful, therefore, is a patient endurance of the cross and mortification by which they calmly submit themselves to God; for so long as no adversity happens to hypocrites, they seem, also to be well-affectioned to the work of serving him. There are also other reasons why it behoves us to keep our minds intent upon the salvation of God, if we desire to regulate our life aright; for if the, allurements of the world hold us in their snares, we will immediately become discouraged. The reason, as we plainly see, why the hearts of the great majority fail, is because it is difficult to believe assuredly that salvation is to be hoped for only from the grace of God. That we may therefore persevere in serving God, it is indispensable that faith shine on the future before us, and next, that patience accompany us, to nourish within us the love of righteousness. For, as we have said, our alacrity in persevering proceeds from this, that with a patient spirit we suffer our salvation to lie hidden in the bosom of God, and that we doubt not of his at length, proving a faithful rewarder of all such as seek him, although he may withdraw his favor from the eye of sense. In the subsequent verse the Psalmist confirms this doctrine by other words, saying, that he kept God’s testimonies with his soul By the word soul he expresses still more forcibly than before, that he had the doctrine of the law enclosed within the deepest recesses of his heart. The cause of this peculiarly diligent keeping of the law, was the singular love which he had to it, as he states in the concluding clause of the verse. He who by constraint and in a slavish manner obeys the law, is so far from receiving it into the secret habitation of his heart to keep it there, that he would have it removed far away from him.
(36) “ Primum,” Lat — “ Devant toutes choses,” Fr.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
Psa 119:166 LORD, I have hoped for thy salvation, and done thy commandments.
Ver. 166. Lord, I have hoped for thy salvation ] This saying he borrowed from good old Jacob, Gen 49:18
And done thy commandments
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Lord: Psa 119:81, Psa 119:174, Psa 130:5-7, Gen 49:18
and done: Psa 4:5, Psa 24:3-5, Psa 50:23, Joh 7:17, 1Jo 2:3, 1Jo 2:4
Reciprocal: 1Ch 29:18 – keep Psa 39:7 – hope Psa 40:16 – love Psa 71:5 – For thou Lam 3:26 – quietly
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
119:166 LORD, I have {d} hoped for thy salvation, and done thy commandments.
(d) He shows that we must first have faith before we can work and please God.