Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 119:174
I have longed for thy salvation, O LORD; and thy law [is] my delight.
I have longed for thy salvation, O Lord – See the notes at Psa 119:166. The word rendered I have longed denotes an earnest desire or wish. Compare the notes at Psa 42:1, and the notes at Psa 119:20.
And thy law is my delight – It is so much the object of my delight that I earnestly long or desire to see more and more of its richness and fullness.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 119:174
I have longed for Thy salvation, O Lord; and Thy law is my delight.
Longing for salvation
I. The state of mind of which he was the subject. This phraseology implies, that of all other benefits, none are of such great value as the salvation of the soul; also that we cannot save ourselves, neither is salvation to be hoped for from the hills or the mountains, or from the creature in any form which it can wear. It is the grace of God alone that brings salvation. Then in what does this salvation consist? It consists in emancipation from the curse of the law, deliverance from the anger of God. It is a salvation with the possession of the blessings of forgiveness, of renewal, of progressive sanctification, of preparation for the joys in the immediate presence of God and of the Lamb.
II. The grand test by which we may judge of the integrity of this ardent desire which is here expressed, Thy law is my delight. The law of God presents us with the first and most beautiful exhibition of Gods moral character and His attributes. The law of God, by its types and shadows, directs us to the grand remedial means–the great propitiation which was to take away the sin of the world. The law of God, considering it as embracing the whole lively oracles, points us to the Saviour, Christ the Lord. The law of the Lord says, that those who come to Him He will in no wise cast out. There is everything, therefore, in the Word of God, and in the Gospel of our salvation, to awaken our reverence, our admiration, and our most affectionate desire. (J. Clayton, M. A.)
Davids longing and Davids love
I. His longing. By salvation is meant here no other thing but that which in the Scripture is sometimes called life eternal, sometimes the kingdom of heaven, sometimes the glory which shall be showed hereafter, sometimes the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living, sometimes the price of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, sometimes an inheritance, immortal and undefiled, which fadeth not; in a word, those unspeakable, and not to be conceived, blessings, which God hath prepared for those that love Him. This was the object, the mark of Davids longing. This salvation he calleth the Lords (Thy salvation); because, as for us, it is neither an inheritance which we are born unto, nor a purchase which by any desert we can compass, so it is the Lords every way: it is He which hath first prepared it: it is He which hath freely disposed it according to the good pleasure of His own will: it is He which reserveth it in heaven for those who are reserved unto Jesus Christ. There are three things required of a Christian: first, by a feeling of sin to seek Christ. Secondly, by a holy faith to find Christ. Thirdly, by newness of life to dwell with Christ. The first of these three is the same longing for salvation which I entreat of; and therefore, as in a ladder there is no coming to the upper step but by the nethermost, so there is no dwelling with Christ, which is the height of happiness in this life, but by finding Him; found He cannot be but by seeking; to seek Him and to long for Him are all one; no man seeks Him but he which longs for Him, and no man longs for Him but he will care to seek Him.
II. His love. Thy law is my delight. It is not enough for a man to say he longs and desires to be saved, unless he make conscience to use the appointed means to bring him thereunto. It had been but hypocrisy in David to say he longed for salvation, if his conscience had not been able to witness with him, that the law was his delight. It is mere mockery for a man to say he longeth for bread, and prayeth to God every day to give hint his daily bread, if he either yet walk in no calling, or else seek to get by fraud and rapine, not staying himself at all upon Gods providence. Who will imagine that a man wishes for health, who either despiseth or neglecteth the means of his recovery? God hath in His wisdom appointed a lawful means for every lawful thing: this means being obediently used, the comfortable obtaining of the end may be boldly looked for; the means being not observed, to think to attain to the end is mere presumption. There is nobody almost, but if he be asked, for shame he will say he loveth Gods Word, and that he were a very wretch if he should not. But come to the undeceivable marks and unseparable signs of this love, it will then appear that Gods Word hath but a very few friends. The very sign of love to the Word of God is love to the public ministry thereof in Gods Church: the reason is plain. He which loveth the Word unfeignedly, must needs love the means by which the Word shall become most profitable unto him. The next sign of love to the Word is the private use of it. If a man should be stinted to one meal a week, he would have a pined body at the weeks end; what shall then become of our souls if we think it enough that they once a week be fed with the Word of God, and do not give them some other private refreshing. The third sign of love to the Word is love to the obedience of the Word. If ye love me (saith Christ), keep My commandments: so, if we love the Word, we cannot but make conscience to do that which is commanded by the Word. The reason is this: he which truly loveth the Word must needs tender the credit of it, and labour by all means to maintain it. Now, it is the greatest honour to the Word of God that may be, when men which possess it are ruled by it, and walk according to it. The fourth sign of love to the Word is hatred of all false religion which is contrary to the Word. I hate vain inventions (saith David), and again, I esteem all Thy precepts most just, and hate all false ways. The last sign of our love to the Word is to love it when the profession of it is most despised. This is noted as a special fruit of Davids love. Examine but this one psalm (verses 23, 51, 61, 69, 110, 141). (S. Hieron.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
For thy salvation; either,
1. For deliverance from my present straits and calamities, that I may serve thee with more freedom, and may glorify thy name in a more solemn and public manner; or,
2. That thou wouldst completely save me, not only from my outward pressures, but also from my sins, from my dulness and deadness in thy service, from all inclinations and temptations to apostacy and impiety, and from my other indispositions and corruptions, against which he prayeth in divers parts of this Psalm; and that at last thou wouldst crown me with eternal salvation in thy kingdom, which it is apparent that David did believe and expect, and hath been already proved from divers passages of this book.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
I have longed for thy salvation, O Lord,…. For temporal salvation and deliverance from enemies; and for spiritual and eternal salvation by the Messiah; and for the Messiah himself, the author of it: Kimchi interprets it of the salvation of the soul in the world to come; see Ps 119:81;
and thy law [is] my delight; or “delights” n; his exceeding great delight, as being pure and perfect, holy, just, and good; a transcript of the divine nature, a revelation of the divine will; as in the hands of Christ, his surety and Saviour, who had engaged to fulfil it for him; and as written in his heart; and as delivered from the curse and condemnation of it, through the suretyship engagements of Christ.
n “deliciae meae”, Montanus, Tigurine version.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
174. I have longed for thy salvation, O Jehovah! Although all men desire to be in happy circumstances, and no man avowedly repudiates God’s favor; yet so confused and uncertain are the ideas which they entertain of that in which a life of happiness or propriety consists, that very few are to be found directing their aspirations to God. Some are carried away by their own ambition, some are wholly possessed with avarice, and others burn with lust, all imagining, that the farther they recede from God, everything will prosper so much the better with them. In short, in proportion as each man is desirous to be safe, in the same proportion does he provoke the anger of God, by seeking the means of his safety in all directions. The construction in the Hebrew text denotes steadfastness, or constancy of desire; for literally it is, that He Had longed for the salvation of God, and not that he only at the present time began to long for it. He next expresses the manner in which we are patiently to long for salvation; which is, by seeking consolation and relief in all our calamities from the word of God; for whoever does not comfort himself by a reliance on the grace promised in the word, will quail at the slightest assault made upon him. The Prophet then wisely kept his thoughts close upon the divine word, that he might not be turned away from hoping for the salvation of God.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
Psa 119:174 I have longed for thy salvation, O LORD; and thy law [is] my delight.
Ver. 174. I have longed for thy salvation ] So do all men; but then David will take a right course for it (so will not all).
And thy law is my delight
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
longed: Psa 119:81, Psa 119:166, Gen 49:18, 2Sa 23:5, Pro 13:12, Son 5:8, Rom 7:22-25, Rom 8:23-25, Phi 1:23
and thy law: Psa 119:16, Psa 119:24, Psa 119:47, Psa 119:77, Psa 119:111, Psa 119:162, Psa 119:167, Psa 1:2
Reciprocal: Deu 12:20 – I will Neh 8:12 – because Psa 119:20 – soul Psa 119:131 – I longed Pro 3:17 – ways of Jer 6:10 – delight Lam 3:26 – quietly Rom 12:2 – good 2Co 3:7 – was