Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 119:36

Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness.

36. covetousness ] Or, unjust gain. With this and the following verse cp. Isa 33:15.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Incline my heart unto thy testimonies – Cause my heart to be inclined to them, or to be disposed to keep them. This, too, is a recognition of dependence, and a prayer for guidance.

And not to covetousness – To gain; to the love of money. This seems to be referred to here as the principal thing which would turn away the heart from religion, or as that from which the most danger was to be feared. There are undoubtedly many other things which will do this – for all sin will do it; but this was the chief danger which the psalmist apprehended in his own case, and perhaps he meant to refer to this as the principal danger on this subject which besets the path of man. There are manymore persons turned away from the service of God, and kept away from it, by covetousness than there are by any other one sin. When the psalmist prays that God would not incline his heart to covetousness, the language is similar to that in the Lords prayer – And lead us not into temptation. That is, Restrain us from it; let us not be put in circumstances where we shall be in danger of it. We are not to suppose that God exerts any positive influence either to make a man covetous, or to tempt him. See Jam 1:13-14.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Psa 119:36

Incline my heart unto Thy testimonies, and not to covetousness.

The bane and the antidote

I. The evil of man and its antidote.

1. The evil of man is covetousness. This is the root of the moral Upas.

2. The antidote of this evil is Divine truth. The Word of God not only condemns covetousness, but inspires the soul with that love to God and man that expels it.

II. The heart of man and its tendency.

1. The heart of man is his moral self. According to it so he is, right or wrong.

2. According to its tendency will be his destiny.

(1) It has a tendency to covetousness, and this leads to ruin.

(2) It must have a tendency to Divine truth, and this requires Divine help. (Homilist.)

Covetousness a mother-sin

He prays in particular that his heart may be diverted from covetousness, which is not only an evil, but the root of all evil. David here opposes it as an adversary to all the righteousness of Gods testimonies; it inverts the order of nature, and makes the heavenly soul earthly. It is a handmaid of all sins, for there is no sin which a covetous man will not serve for his gain. We should beware of all sins, but specially of mother-sins. (Bishop Cowper.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 36. Not to covetousness.] Let me have no inordinate love for gain of any kind, nor for any thing that may grieve thy Spirit, or induce me to seek my happiness here below.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Unto thy testimonies; to the love and practice of them.

Not to covetousness; not to the inordinate love and desire of riches: which particular lust he mentions, partly, be cause this lust is most spreading and universal, and there is scarce any man who doth not desire riches either for the love of riches, or upon pretence of necessity, or for the service of pride or luxury, or some other lust; partly, because, this lust is most opposite to Gods testimonies, and doth most commonly hinder men from receiving Gods word, and from profiting by it; see Mat 13:22; Luk 16:2 and partly, because this lust is most pernicious, as being the root of all evil, 1Ti 6:10, and is most mischievous in princes and governors, such as David was, and therefore in a special manner forbidden to them, Exo 18:21.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

Incline my heart unto thy testimonies,…. To read the word of God, to hear it opened and explained, to observe and keep the things contained in it; to which there is a disinclination in men naturally: but the Lord, who fashions the hearts of men, and has them in his hands, can bend and incline them by his efficacious grace to regard these his testimonies; which, as Aben Ezra observes, are more precious than all substance, and so are opposed to what follows:

and not to covetousness; not to mammon or money, as the Targum; the love of it, which is the root of all evil, and very pernicious and harmful; in hearing the word it chokes it, and makes it unfruitful, 1Ti 6:9. Not that God inclines the heart to evil, as he does to good; but he may suffer the heart to be inclined, and may leave a man to the natural inclinations of his heart, and to the temptations of Satan, and the snares of the world, which may have great influence upon him; and this is what is here deprecated; see Ps 141:4.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

36. Incline my heart In this verse he confesses the human heart to be so far from yielding to the justice of God, that it is more inclined to follow an opposite course. Were we naturally and spontaneously inclined to the righteousness of the law, there would be no occasion for the petition of the Psalmist, Incline my heart It remains, therefore, that our hearts are full of sinful thoughts, and wholly rebellious, until God by his grace change them. This confession on the part of the prophet must not be overlooked, That the natural corruption of man is so great, that he seeks for any thing rather than what is right, until he be turned by the power of God to new obedience, and thus begin to be inclined to that which is good.

In the second clause of the verse the prophet points to those impediments which prevent mankind from attaining to the desire of righteousness; their being inclined to covetousness. By a figure of speech, (412) in which a part is put for the whole, the species is put for the genus. The Hebrew term, בצע batsang, signifies to use violence, or to covet, or to defraud; but covetousness is most in accordance with the spirit of the passage, provided we admit the prophet to have selected this species, “the root of all evils,” to demonstrate that nothing is more opposed to the righteousness of God, (1Ti 6:10). We are here instructed generally, that we are so much under the influence of perverse and vicious affections, our hearts abhor the study of God’s law, until God inspire us with the desire for that which is good.

(412) Per Synecdochen.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(36) Covetousness.Literally, rapine, prey. In Psa. 30:9 simply, gain.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

Psa 119:36. Not to covetousness That is, an immoderate desire of worldly goods.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Psa 119:36 Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness.

Ver. 36. Incline my heart ] Through the exercises of thy word, and the working of thy Spirit.

And not to covetousness ] Which draweth away the heart from all God’s testimonies, and is the root of all evil, 1Ti 6:10 . Some think it is put here for all other vices. The Chaldee hath it, and not to mammon, that mammon of iniquity, as Christ calleth it, the next odious name to the devil. Now, to good God inclineth man’s heart efficiently (say the schools), but to evil, deficiently, sc. by withdrawing his grace; for he is a free agent, and not bound to any. David prayeth God to supersede him from this wickedness, and Luther saith he was never tempted to it.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Incline: Psa 51:10, Psa 141:4, 1Ki 8:58, Jer 32:39, Eze 11:19, Eze 11:20

and not to: Psa 10:3, Exo 18:21, Eze 33:31, Hab 2:9, Mar 7:21, Mar 7:22, Luk 12:15, Luk 16:14, Eph 5:3, Col 3:5, 1Ti 6:9, 1Ti 6:10, 1Ti 6:17, Heb 13:5, 2Pe 2:3, 2Pe 2:14

Reciprocal: Exo 20:17 – thy neighbour’s house Psa 119:5 – General Psa 119:35 – Make me Psa 119:112 – inclined Pro 16:1 – preparations Pro 23:5 – thou Ecc 5:11 – they Isa 63:17 – why Jer 22:17 – thine eyes Phi 2:13 – to will Col 3:2 – Set 2Th 3:5 – the Lord 1Jo 2:16 – and the lust

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Psa 119:36. Incline my heart, &c. As the wisdom of man may conceive, and his tongue utter, great things of God and holiness, while his heart is averse from both; therefore David saith, not only, Give me understanding, but, incline my heart unto thy testimonies To the love and practice of them; and not to covetousness He mentions this in particular, because it is most opposite to Gods testimonies, and does most commonly hinder men from receiving his word, and from profiting by it; and because it is most pernicious, as being the root of all evil.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

119:36 Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to {c} covetousness.

(c) By this, meaning all other vices, because covetousness is the root of all evil.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes