Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 116:9
I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living.
I will walk before the Lord … – Compare Psa 27:13, note; Isa 38:20, note. This expresses a full belief that he would live, and a purpose to live before the Lord; that is, as in his presence, in his service, and enjoying communion with him.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 116:9
I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.
The nature and necessity of good works
1. The matter of the duty in which the psalmist promiseth to engage–I will walk. It signifies the practice of what is good and lovely, as the words following intimate.
2. The manner in which he purposed to walk before the Lord, that is, in such a manner, that God, the searcher of hearts, would be pleased with it, and approve of it.
3. The place and time: while he continued on earth, and remained among the living.
I. Confirm the proposition, that inward affection to God must be declared by our outward conversation.
1. The one cannot be without the other.
2. This duty is frequently pressed in Scripture. Abraham; Noah; Zacharias; and Elizabeth.
3. Walking before the Lord has been abundantly rewarded. Enoch.
II. Show why our inward affection to God must be declared by our outward conversation.
1. In this way God is glorified.
2. Others are benefited.
3. Our own good is promoted. It is by a good conversation, that the security of our hearts, the integrity of our consciences, the soundness of our faith, and, in a word, the truth of all graces are clearly manifested, cherished, and increased.
III. Consider the necessity of good works.
1. They are commanded and expressly required by God Himself.
2. They are the way to the Kingdom of God.
3. They are an evidence or demonstration of our faith.
4. The not doing of them merits eternal death.
5. They are necessary as expressions of our gratitude.
IV. Conclusion.
1. This subject teacheth us that those who walk not in Gods ways cannot be esteemed His affectionate people.
2. The knowledge, affection and profession of persons who walk not before the Lord are all in vain.
3. Walking with God, in the external duties of religion, will best stop the mouths of the adversaries of the truth.
4. Those who walk not before the Lord in the land of the living are exposed to the most dreadful ruin. (G. Faitoute, M.A.)
The Christians walk before God
I. To walk before the Lord in the land of the living includes reconciliation with God as a pardoned sinner.
II. To walk before God in the land of the living requires a realizing sense of His presence and perfections.
III. To walk before God in the land of the living comprehends a supreme regard to the authority and the requirements of His Word.
IV. That we may walk before the Lord in the land of the living, we must have respect unto the recompense of reward. (J. Smyth, D.D.)
Walking before the Lord
I. To walk before the Lord is a style of speaking made use of to represent that manner of life peculiar to good men. It may be considered as including in it–
1. That men live under a lively impression of the presence of God.
2. The exercise of a sincere love to Him, and such friendly intercourse with Him as this imperfect state admits.
3. To live in dutiful and constant subjection to His will.
II. The excellence of such a course of life.
1. There is joy in it. If you are really desirous to know whether it be so, go and consult the words of Him who cannot lie. They say that gladness is sown for the upright in heart; that the voice of rejoicing is in the tabernacles of the righteous; that great peace have they who love Gods law; that everlasting joy shall be upon them. If you ask, again, how these things are so, they will reply, that the righteous rejoice before God; that their hearts rejoice in Him, because they have trusted in His holy name; that their rejoicing is this, the testimony of their conscience, that, in simplicity and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, they have their conversation in the world.
2. There is honour in it. There is a dignity connected with walking before the Lord superior to everything celebrated by that name among men. I will, says the Almighty, guide them with Mine eye. I will never leave them nor forsake them. I will be to them a God, and they shall be to Me a people.
3. There is a preparation for heaven in it. Every step they take in walking before the Lord in the land of the living is just so much progress in the path of life–every temptation overcome is a new advance to glory–every good disposition acquired will increase their happiness in the paradise of God. (W. F. Ireland, D.D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 9. I will walk before the Lord] ethhallech, I will set myself to walk. I am determined to walk; my eyes are now brightened, so that I can see; my feet are strengthened, so that I can walk; and my soul is alive, so that I can walk with the living.
The Vulgate, the Septuagint, the AEthiopic, the Arabic, and the Anglo-Saxon end this Psalm here, which is numbered the cxivth; and begin with the tenth verse another Psalm, which they number cxvth; but this division is not acknowledged by the Hebrew, Chaldee, and Syriac.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
I will walk before the Lord; or, I shall walk, &c. This is either,
1. The psalmists promise to God in requital of the favour last mentioned; I will therefore please God, as this phrase is used, Gen 5:24, compared with Heb 11:5; Gen 17:1. I will devote myself to the worship and service of God. Or,
2. His thankful acknowledgment of Gods further favour. Though I be now banished from the place of thy presence and worship, yet I assure myself that I shall be restored to it, and shall spend my days in thy house and service, which is the one thing that I desired above all other things, Psa 27:4.
In the land of the living; amongst living men of this world. See Poole “Psa 27:13“.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
9. walk before the Lordact,or live under His favor and guidance (Gen 17:1;Psa 61:7).
land of the living (Ps27:13).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. As in the sight of the omniscient God, according to his word and will, and in such manner as to please him. So Enoch’s walking with God is by the apostle explained of pleasing him; compare Ge 5:22, and so the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Arabic versions render it, “I will please the Lord”; or, as the Syriac and Ethiopic versions; “that I may please the Lord”; be grateful to him; or walk gratefully and acceptably before him, sensible of the obligations I am under to him: and this, in the strength of grace, he determined to do “in the land of the living”; in this world, where men live, and as long as he lived in it; or in the church of God, among the living in Jerusalem, with whom he resolved to walk in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord. The land of Canaan is thought by Jarchi and Kimchi to be meant; and this being a type of heaven, the meaning may be, that he should walk and dwell where living and glorified saints are to all eternity; and so it is an expression of his faith of future glory and happiness, agreeably to what follows.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
9 I will walk in the presence of Jehovah. To wall in the presence of God is, in my opinion, equivalent to living under his charge. And thus David expects to enjoy his safety continually. For nothing is more desirable than that God should be upon the watch for us, that our life may be surrounded by his protecting care. The wicked, indeed, regard themselves as secure, the farther they are from God; but the godly consider themselves happy in this one thing, that he directs the whole tenor of their life. God adding, in the land of the living, he means to point out to us the course that we are expected to pursue; and that, almost every moment of time, fresh destructions press upon us, if he overlook us.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
Psa 116:9. In the land of the living In the Hebrew the lands; pointing at the lands or mansions whither Christ was to go, and prepare a place for all who truly follow him; in the view and full assurance of which, he is represented as saying in the former verse, Thou hast delivered my soul from death. See Fenwick.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
The apostle quotes part of what is here said, by way of showing that one and the same spirit of faith actuates all true believers, and though men may be false, yet God abideth true, 2Co 4:13 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 116:9 I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living.
Ver. 9. I will walk before the Lord ] Indesinenter ambulabo. I will not only take a turn or two with God, go three or four steps with him, &c., but walk constantly and in all duties before him, with him, after him. Hypocrites do not walk with God, but halt with him, they follow him as a dog doth his master, till he comes by a carrion; they will launch no farther out into the main than they may be sure to return at pleasure safe again to the shore.
In the land
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
walk: Psa 61:7, Gen 17:1, 1Ki 2:4, 1Ki 8:25, 1Ki 9:4, Luk 1:6, Luk 1:75
in the land: Psa 27:13, Isa 53:8
Reciprocal: Gen 5:22 – General Psa 52:5 – the land Psa 56:13 – walk Ecc 6:8 – the poor Isa 38:11 – General Jer 11:19 – from Eze 32:23 – the land
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 116:9. I will walk Hebrew, , ethhalleck, I will set myself to walk; before the Lord I determine, in the strength of divine grace, to set him before me; to live as in his presence, and as under his eye; to speak and act in a manner becoming his presence, and the relation in which I stand to him as his servant and worshipper, his son and heir; to walk worthy of him unto all pleasing. It is the psalmists promise and resolution, in return for the blessings acknowledged in the preceding verse. In the land of the living Among living men in this world. Observe, reader, the land of the living is a land of mercy, which we ought to be very thankful for; it is a land of opportunity, which we ought to improve; and the consideration that we are in this land should engage and quicken us to walk before God.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
116:9 I will {e} walk before the LORD in the land of the living.
(e) The Lord will preserve me and save my life.