Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 119:88
Quicken me after thy lovingkindness; so shall I keep the testimony of thy mouth.
88. If he is to continue glorifying God by the observance of His law, God must preserve his life, and free it from the hindrances which impede its devotion to His service.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Quicken me – Cause me to live; revive me. See Psa 71:20, note; Eph 2:1, note. Compare Psa 80:18; Rom 8:11; 1Pe 3:18; Joh 6:63.
After thy loving-kindness – Thy mercy; thy grace; thy compassion. That is, Let the measure of the grace given to me be thine own benevolent nature, and not my deserts. That is all I ask; that is all I could desire.
So shall I keep the testimony of thy mouth – Which proceeds out of thy mouth. His hope of being able to keep it was founded on the grace and mercy which he besought God to bestow upon him.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 119:88
Quicken me after Thy lovingkindness; so shall I keep the testimony of Thy mouth.
Grappling irons
I. His intense desire that he might keep the testimony of Gods mouth.
1. This desire was founded in a high esteem of Gods Word. He viewed the Divine revelation as coming directly from Jehovahs own mouth. Those who have this reverence for Gods Word will long to cling to it; they will be afraid of misinterpreting it; and they will not venture to add any of their own words to it, lest they be called into judgment for such presumption.
2. This prayer of Davids, springing from his great reverence for the revealed will of God, includes within it many points of virtue.
(1) He means, no doubt, that he desired to be steadfast in the doctrine which the mouth of the Lord had spoken. This meaning of the prayer is worthy of solemn note in these evil days.
(2) There is another meaning which will seem to some more practical, though, indeed, it is not so; for there is as much real practice about right thinking as about right acting; and for the understanding to be obedient to God is as vital a thing as for the actions of the life to be conformed to His will. We ought to be anxious to be obedient to God in all His precepts; and our prayer should daily be that we may be preserved in the keeping of the testimony of Gods mouth.
(3) David further desired that he might be preserved in perfect and unwavering confidence in the promises of God. The testimony of Gods mouth is largely made up of exceeding great and precious promises. Oh, what rich and eternal things hath He promised to them that fear Him!
II. His consequent prayer. He did not pray immediately that he might keep the testimony of Gods mouth, but he offered the next prayer to it, the one which leads up to it right surely. As a man that goeth up to his chamber doth not leap up all at once, but climbeth the stairs, so doth David rise to the keeping of the Lords word by the prayer, Quicken me after Thy lovingkindness.
1. This prayer is wisdom. He that saith, I shall keep the testimony of Gods mouth, for I am fully resolved to do it, had better salt that resolution with prayer, or it will rot like all things, which come of the flesh.
2. This prayer was suggested, I do not doubt, by Davids inward state. He says, Quicken me. He means that he felt the power of death working in him. Before he is quite numbed he cries, Quicken me.
3. It is a prayer which met Davids condition. Carefully read the octave of verses with Caph at the head of them, and see how well it fits in at the end of each. Whatever your difficulty, whatever your doubt, whatever your sorrow, whatever your temptation, here is a prayer that meets every case: Quicken me after Thy loving-kindness.
4. It is a prayer especially which answered to Davids aim in presenting it. He prayed this prayer that he might be enabled to keep Gods testimony.
5. He presented this prayer on the right ground. He pleads the mercy and love of God.
6. This is a prayer which has a promise attached to it. When I have a lock I am always glad to find a key which fits it. Here is the lock–Lord, I feel as if I were dead; and here is the key–He that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. That answers the supplication as a glove fits the hand.
III. His holy example.
1. Offer the prayer of life when you feel that you are dead. Such a prayer will prove an antidote to the poison of death.
2. Living truth can only be held firmly by living men. Let Jesus reign in your soul, and then He will make you a priest and king unto Himself by His own divine power.
3. Regard Gods lovingkindness as a source of life. Unhappily, too many have viewed it as an excuse for death. Oh, yes, they say, I am one of Gods chosen; I need not trouble myself about holiness or activity. I shall be saved by sovereign grace. The man who dares to pervert truth is already a lost man; but he that knows the lovingkindness of the Lord says, Quicken thou me, Lord. Such love as this I must translate into life: grant that to me to live may be love. Those words love and live are very near akin in their conformation; they are joined together in spiritual things, let no man put them asunder.
4. Let Divine aid, whenever we seek it or obtain it, lead us to the practical use of it in obedience. Quicken me, and so shall I keep. I put those words together in that fashion, for they are together. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 88. Quicken me] Make and keep me alive.
So shall I keep] Without the spiritual life there is no obedience; we must therefore rise from the dead, and be quickened by the Spirit of Christ.
ANALYSIS OF LETTER CAPH. – Eleventh Division
I. In this section the psalmist laments his being grieved with some inward anguish.
II. Complains of his enemies.
III. Expresses his hope and constancy; and,
IV. Prays to God for comfort and grace.
I. 1. He begins with a sad complaint: “My soul fainteth.” As the body will fail if it want natural food, so will the soul if it get not the bread of life.
2. His eyes also failed with looking up. The blessing was long delayed.
3. Yet he hoped in God’s word. He knew that it would not fail.
4. He made complaint: “When wilt thou comfort me?”
5. His state was most deplorable; his body dried and shrivelled up through long fasting and affliction, so that it resembled a leathern bottle hung up in the smoke.
6. Yet still he continued faithful: “I do not forget thy statutes.”
II. He complains against his enemies.
1. How long he should be obliged to suffer them.
2. He inquires “when the Lord will execute judgments.”
He describes these enemies from their qualities: –
1. They were proud. They would not bow down to nor acknowledge God.
2. They were treacherous. They digged pits for him – used every kind of means in order to destroy him; cruel, treacherous, and cowardly.
3. They were impious. In heart and conduct they were not “according to God’s law.”
4. They acted without a shadow of justice; wrongfully against law and justice.
III. He prays for succour: “Help thou me.” Here are three things of especial note: 1. O Thou, who art infinite.. 2. Help; for thou hast all power in heaven and in earth. 3. Me, who cannot stand against my enemies; but “I trust in thee.”
IV. 1. He closes with a frequent petition: “Quicken thou me – make me alive.” All true religion consists in the LIFE of God in the SOUL of man.
2. The manner in which he wishes to be quickened: “After thy loving-kindness.” He wishes not to be raised from the death of sin by God’s thunder, but by the loving voice of a tender Father.
3. The effect it should have upon him: “So shall I keep the testimony of thy mouth.” Whatever thou speakest I will hear, receive, love, and obey.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Heb. and I will keep. I will testify my gratitude to thee by my obedience.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Quicken me after thy lovingkindness,…. According to it, and with it; let me have some discoveries of it, and of interest in it; and that will quicken me, revive and comfort me, under all the reproaches, ill usage, and persecutions of men. The love of God shed abroad in the heart comforts and supports under all sorts of afflictions; it quickens the graces of the Spirit, and brings them forth into lively exercise, as faith, hope, and love; and to a diligent and fervent discharge of every duty: it constrains to love the Lord, and live to him, to his glory, in obedience to his will;
so shall I keep the testimony of thy mouth; the word of God, which comes out of his mouth, testifies of him, and of his mind and will; and which is to be received and observed, as being greater than the testimony of men, 1Jo 5:9.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
88 Quicken me after thy lovingkindness; so shall I keep the testimony of thy mouth.
Here is, 1. David in care to be found in the way of his duty. His constant desire and design are to keep the testimony of God’s mouth, to keep to it as his rule and to keep hold of it as his confidence and portion for ever. This we must keep, whatever we lose. 2. David at prayer for divine grace to assist him therein: “Quicken me after thy lovingkindness (make me alive and make me lively), so shall I keep thy testimonies,” implying that otherwise he should not keep them. We cannot proceed, nor persevere, in the good way, unless God quicken us and put life into us; we are therefore here taught to depend upon the grace of God for strength to do every good work, and to depend upon it as grace, as purely the fruit of God’s favour. He had prayed before, Quicken me in thy righteousness (v. 40); but here, Quicken me after thy lovingkindness. The surest token of God’s good-will toward us is his good work in us.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
88. Quicken me according to thy goodness This verse contains nothing new. In the beginning of it David represents his life as depending on God’s mercy, not only because he was conscious of human frailty, but because he saw himself daily exposed to death in multiplied forms, or rather because he was convinced, that were God’s power withdrawn from him, he would be laid prostrate as if he were dead. He next promises, that when he shall be again restored to life, he will not be ungrateful, but will duly acknowledge this as a blessing from God, and that not only with the tongue, but also in his whole life. As the various instances in which God succors us and delivers us from dangers are so many new lives, it is reasonable that we should dedicate to his service whatever additional time is allotted to us in this world. When the law is called the testimony of God’s mouth, by this eulogium its authority is very plainly asserted.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
Psa 119:88 Quicken me after thy lovingkindness; so shall I keep the testimony of thy mouth.
Ver. 88. Quicken me after thy lovingkindness ] David under long affliction had his dumps and dullnesses; as the best faith, if long tried, will flag aud hang the wing. He, therefore, rouseth up himself, and wrestleth with God for quickening grace; which he promised to improve, and not to receive the grace of God in vain; “so shall I keep the testimony of thy mouth.”
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Quicken: Psa 119:25, Psa 119:40, Psa 119:159
so shall I: Psa 119:2, Psa 119:146, Psa 25:10, Psa 78:5, Psa 132:12
Reciprocal: Psa 119:107 – quicken Psa 143:11 – Quicken