Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 119:56
This I had, because I kept thy precepts.
56. Either, This I have had, all this comfort and steadfastness and joy in the midst of the trials and sorrows of life have been mine, because I have kept thy precepts: or, This I have had, that I have kept thy precepts; whatever advantages others may have had which I have not enjoyed, this supreme privilege has been mine, the keeping of Thy precepts. If this is the meaning, it strikes the keynote of the next stanza.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
This I had, because I kept thy precepts – literally, This was to me; that is, This has happened to me; this has occurred. This joyful remembrance of thy law in the night of affliction Psa 119:50; this stability and firmness on my part in keeping thy law when proud men have derided me Psa 119:51; this comfort which I have derived from meditating on thy statutes Psa 119:52; this solicitude for the welfare of others Psa 119:53; this peace which I have enjoyed in thy law in the house of my pilgrimage Psa 119:54; and this consolation which I have had in thee in the night-season Psa 119:55; – all this has been granted to me because I have kept thy statutes; because I have sought to be obedient – to serve time – to find my happiness in thee. These are the proper fruits and effects of keeping the law of God. Such peace does it impart; so much does it do to sustain and comfort the soul.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 56. This I had, because I kept thy precepts.] Though thou didst leave us under the power of our enemies, yet thou hast not left us without the consolations of thy Spirit.
ANALYSIS OF LETTER ZAIN. – Seventh Division
In this part the psalmist –
I. Prays.
II. Shows his trust in God, notwithstanding his discouragements.
III. Commends the word of God, by showing what blessed effects it had produced in him.
I. 1. He prays: “Remember;” accomplish and perfect thy promise. God’s promises are made to prayer and faith; if men do not exert these, God will not fulfil the others.
2. “Made to thy servant:” The promises are made to the obedient. It is in vain to desire God to remember his promises made to us, if we make no conscience to perform our promises made to him.
3. “Wherein thou hast caused me to put my trust:” This is a forcible argument to induce God to fulfil his promises. They are thy promises; thou hast made them to us; and thou hast caused us to hope, because made by thee, that they shall be fulfilled.
II. He shows that the hope he had in God made him steady, even in afflictions.
1. “This is my comfort in affliction:” That is, God’s word and promise.
2. “Thy word hath quickened me;” brought me life, strength, and courage.
3. He mentions his afflictions. 1. The proud have had me in derision. 2. Yet I have not declined from thy law. 3. For in my afflictions I remembered thy judgments; his casting down the proud and exalting the humble. And, 4. From these considerations he derived comfort.
III. His knowledge of God’s purity and judgments caused him to commiserate the state of the wicked.
1. “Horror hath taken hold upon me:” For those who trampled under foot God’s word, and persecuted the righteous, he grieved; not because of the evil they did him, but of the evil they did themselves. He describes those men.
2. They forsook God’s laws. Probably apostate Israelites.
3. He was not without consolation, though much afflicted and harassed. He took delight in God’s law, and made his songs of it.
4. And this was a source of joy to him both day and night.
5. He concludes with this acclamation: “This I had;” I had this spirit, this power, this comfort, “because I kept thy precepts.” While I suffered for God, I was enabled to rejoice in God. As I made him my portion, so he has been my praise.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
This I had, this comfortable and profitable remembrance and contemplation of thy name and statutes, of which he spoke Psa 119:54,55, because I kept thy precepts; which if I had wilfully and wickedly broken, the remembrance of these things would have been sad and frightful to me, as now it is comfortable, because I kept them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
56. Rather, “This ispeculiarly mine (literally, to me), that I keep Thy precepts”[HENGSTENBERG and MAURER].
CHETH.(Ps 119:57-64).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
This I had, because I kept thy precepts. Either the comfort he had from the word, the pleasure and delight he had in it, being his songs in his pilgrimage, Ps 119:50; see Ps 119:165; or this knowledge of the name of God, and the remembrance of it, and his carefulness and diligence in it in the night season, were of the Lord, and gifts of his: or rather this he had from the Lord, that he kept the precepts and commands of God in the manner that he did; it was all owing to grace and strength received from him; for so the words may be rendered, “this was [given] unto me, that I have kept thy precepts” k.
k “quod”, Pagninus, Montanus.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
56. This was done to me. I doubt not that the prophet, under the term זאת, zoth, comprehends all God’s benefits; but as he comes before God in relation to blessings then being enjoyed by him, he speaks as if he were pointing to them. Hence, under this term is included an acknowledgment of all the benefits with which he had been crowned; or, at all events, he declares that God had borne testimony, by some signal deliverance, to the integrity of his conduct. He does not boast of meriting any thing, as the Pharisees in our day do, who, when they meet with any such matter in Scripture, pervert it to prove the merit of works. But the prophet had no other design, than to set himself in diametrical opposition to the despisers of God, who either impute all their prosperity to their own industry, or ascribe it to chance, and malignantly overlook or conceal God’s superintending providence. He therefore calls upon himself to return to God, and invites others to follow his example, and exhorts them, that as God is an impartial judge, he will always reserve a recompense for piety. Probably, too, by this holy boasting he repels the base slanders of the ungodly, by which we lately saw he was grievously assailed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(56) This I had, because . . .Literally, This was to me, &c, i.e., this consoling recollection of the mercies of God, of His covenant grace, was to him, happened, or came to him, in consequence of his habitual obedience. Virtue is indeed then most its own reward, in times of quiet reflection, like the night, when to the guilty come remorse and apprehension, but to the good man calm thoughts regular as infants breath.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 119:56. This I had, &c. That is, “this sweet composure of mind, this cheerfulness of spirit, under all these afflictions.”
CHETH.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psa 119:56 This I had, because I kept thy precepts.
Ver. 56. This I had ] This comfort, or this remembrance, or this ability to keep thy law.
Because I keep thy precepts
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
This. Supply Ellipsis (App-6) thus: “This [comfort] I had”.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
because: Psa 119:165, Psa 18:18-22, 1Jo 3:19-24
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
119:56 {g} This I had, because I kept thy precepts.
(g) That is, all these benefits.