Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 19:9
The fear of the LORD [is] clean, enduring forever: the judgments of the LORD [are] true [and] righteous altogether.
9. The fear of the Lord ] Another synonym for the ‘law,’ inasmuch as its aim and object is to implant the fear of God in men’s hearts. (Deu 4:10). It is clean or pure (Psa 12:6), in contrast to the immoralities of heathenism. It is like Jehovah Himself (Hab 1:13), and like Him, it stands fast for ever (Psa 102:26); for “righteousness is immortal” ( Wis 1:15 ).
The judgments ] Decisions, ordinances. These are truth (Joh 17:17); one and all they are in accordance with the standard of absolute justice (Deu 4:8).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The fear of the Lord – The word rendered fear in this place – yir’ah – means properly fear, terror, Jon 1:10; then, reverence, or holy fear, Psa 2:11; Psa 5:7; and hence, reverence toward God, piety, religion – in which sense it is often used. Compare Pro 1:7; Job 28:28; Isa 11:2. Hence, by metonymy, it means the precepts of piety or religion. It is used evidently in this sense here, as referring to revelation, or to revealed truth, in the sense that it promotes proper reverence for God, or secures a proper regard for his name and worship.
Is clean – The word used here – tahor – means properly clear, pure, in a physical sense, as opposed to filthy, soiled; then, in a ceremonial sense, as opposed to that which is profane or common Lev 13:17, and then, in a moral sense, as a clean heart, etc., Psa 12:6; Psa 51:10. It is also applied to pure gold, Exo 25:11. The sense here is, that there is nothing in it that tends to corrupt the morals, or defile the soul. Everything connected with it is of a pure or holy tendency, adapted to cleanse the soul and to make it holy.
Enduring for ever – Standing to all eternity. Not temporary; not decaying; not destined to pass away. It stands firm now, and it will stand firm for ever. That is, the law of God, considered as adapted to make the heart holy and pure, is eternal. What it is now it will always be. What its teaching is now it will continue to be forever.
The judgments of the Lord – The word here rendered judgments refers also to the revealed truth of God, with the idea that that has been judged or determined by him to be right and to be best. It is the result of the divine adjudication as to what is true, and what is best for man. The word is often used in this sense. Compare Exo 21:1; Lev 18:5; Lev 26:43; compare Psa 9:7, Psa 9:16; Psa 10:5.
Are true – Margin, truth. So the Hebrew. That is, they accord entirely with the truth, or are a correct representation of the reality of things. They are not arbitrary, but are in accordance with what is right. This supposes that there is such a thing as truth in itself, and the divine law conforms to that; not that God determines a thing by mere will, and that it is, therefore, right. God is infinitely perfect, and what he does will be always right, for that is in, accordance with his nature; but still his judgments are right, not because he makes that to be right which is determined by his will, but because his will is always in accordance with what is right.
And righteous altogether – That is, they are, without exception, just; or, they are altogether or wholly righteous. There is no one of them which is not just and proper. All that God determines, whether in giving or in executing his laws – all in his requirements, and all in the administration of his government – is always and wholly righteous. It is precisely what it should be in the case, and is, therefore, worthy of universal confidence.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 19:9
The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever.
The Word of God enduring forever
We are to consider the abiding and habitual effect of the Word of God upon believing hearts. And this effect is expressed in this phrase, the fear of the Lord. Note what is said of it.
I. It is clean–its purity. It is so, because it is the only true and sound basis of a due social regard to man, and the only valid bond of union, whether domestic, private, or public. Every believer ought to bear witness to the cleansing, purifying power of the fear of the Lord.
II. Its perpetuity–enduring forever. This tells of the effect of the principle rather than of the principle itself, though this latter is not to be omitted. But in its effects it is consistent, unswerving, abiding, all-powerful. It enters into the man, and goes with him wherever he goes. He cannot and would not shake it off. And its effects are eternal, they can never pass away. And all may possess it, through Christ. It shall be for your peace here and happiness hereafter. (Thomas Dale, M. A.)
The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
The Word of God altogether true and righteous
I. Consider these judgments as matters of fact. Take–
1. The expulsion of our first parents from Eden. None can understand why God created man capable of falling, and foreknowing that he would fall. But this does not say that God made him on purpose that he should fall. This would be to assume that we know all Gods purpose in creating man, which we do not. We cannot reconcile the supremacy of God and the free agency of man. It is of no use to attempt to be wise above what is written, but our duty is to take man as he is–capable of understanding and obeying Gods command, which Adam unquestionably was. There was in him no moral difficulty as in us, since the imagination of his heart was not, as ours, evil continually. We must deplore the instability of the man, bat we cannot on that account take exception to the judgments of the Lord. And the transmission to offspring of the properties of the parent–this law had been ordained before this fatal event, and what right have we to think that He who made all things very good should remodel or reverse His laws in consequence of that event? Hence, although in Adam all die, was it unrighteous in God to act in accordance with His own previously established law? Adam himself caused, of his own choice, that it should work ill to him and his. But are we to blame God for that?
2. The judgment upon Cain. Surely this was far less than he deserved. And the gate of mercy and of grace was not closed upon him.
3. The deluge, the overthrow of Jerusalem, and many others. In reference to each of these we might prove it to be altogether righteous. For by righteous we understand perfect consistency with previous revelations given by God–with the laws enacted and bearing on each case, and with the penalties threatened by God and consciously incurred by man. And when men object to these judgments they do not attempt to justify the conduct of the sinner, but only to condemn the law under which, and the Judge by whom, he was condemned. They affirm that God is without compassion for human frailty, and without consideration for human folly.
II. As matters of faith–they are altogether true. Necessarily, many of the judgments of God are matters of faith. For the interpositions of God, though sometimes seen in the crisis and agony of nations, are, in the case of individuals, scarcely, if at all, discernible.
III. In their bearing upon ourselves. As we cannot impeach Gods righteousness in His judgments in the past, can we, in what we expect in the future, doubt His truth? Meantime the victory that overcometh the world is this, even our faith. (Thomas Dale, M. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 9. The fear of the Lord] yirah, from yara, to fear, to venerate; often put for the whole of Divine worship. The reverence we owe to the Supreme Being.
Is clean] tehorah, from tahar, to be pure, clean; not differing much from barah, (see above,) to be clean and bright as the heavens; as purified SILVER. Its object is to purge away all defilement, to make a spotless character.
Enduring for ever] omedeth laad, standing up to PERPETUITY. The fear that prevents us from offending God, that causes us to reverence him, and is the beginning as it is the safeguard of wisdom, must be carried all through life. No soul is safe for a moment without it. It prevents departure from God, and keeps that clean which God has purified. This is ITS use.
The judgments of the Lord] mishpatim, from shaphat, he judged, regulated, disposed, All God’s regulations, all his decisions; what he has pronounced to be right and proper.
Are true] emeth, truth, from am, to support, confirm, make stable, and certain. This is the character of God’s judgments. They shall all stand. All dispensations in providence and grace confirm them; they are certain, and have a fixed character.
And righteous altogether.] They are not only according to truth; but they are righteous, tsadeku, they give to all their due. They show what belongs to God, to man, and to ourselves. And hence the word altogether, yachdav, equally, is added; or truth and righteousness united.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The fear of the Lord; by which he understands not the grace of Gods fear, as this phrase is commonly taken; nor the whole worship of God, as it is taken Psa 34:9,11; Mt 15:9; but the law and word of God, which is the only thing that is here commended, and which is meant by all the other parallel titles of his testimony, and statutes, and commandments, and judgments, and consequently by this of his fear, which is as it were hemmed in within them. And this may well be so called by a usual metonymy, because it is both the object, and the rule, and the cause of this grace of holy fear, as God himself is called fear for the like reason, Gen 31:53, and in the Hebrew, Psa 76:1. Clean, i.e. sincere, not adulterated with any mixture of vanity, or falsehood, or vice; not requiring nor allowing any uncleanness or wickedness, as the religion of the Gentiles did.
Enduring for ever; constant and unchangeable, the same for substance in all the ages of the church and the world: which is most true, both of the moral law, and of the doctrine of Gods grace and mercy to sinful and miserable man; which two are the principal parts of that law, of which he here speaks, as is evident from the whole context. For as for the difference between the Old and the New Testament, that lies only in circumstantial, and ceremonial, or ritual things, which are not here intended; and that alteration also was foretold in the Old Testament, and consequently the accomplishment of it did not destroy, but confirm, the certainty and constancy of Gods word. This also is opposed to human laws, wherein there are and ought to be manifold changes, according to the difference of times, and people, and circumstances.
The judgments of the Lord, i.e. Gods laws, frequently called his judgments, because they are the declarations of his righteous will, and as it were his legal or judicial sentence by which he expects that men should govern themselves, and by which he will judge them at the last day.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
The fear of the Lord [is] clean,…. Still the word of God is intended, which teaches men to fear the Lord; gives a full account of the worship of God, which is often meant by the fear of God; it instructs in the matter and manner of worship; and nothing more powerfully engages to serve the Lord with reverence and godly fear than the Gospel does: and this is “clean”; and the doctrines of it direct to the blood of Christ, which cleanses from all sin, and to the righteousness of Christ, the fine linen, clean and white; the promises of it put the saints on cleansing themselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit; and the whole of it is the word of truth, by which God and Christ sanctify the church and the members of it,
Joh 15:2. And this word is
enduring for ever; the law is done away; the ceremonial law entirely, and the moral law, as a covenant of works, and as to the ministration of it by Moses; but the Gospel continues; it is an everlasting one; it endures for ever, notwithstanding all the opposition made to it by open persecution, or false teachers;
the judgments of the Lord [are] true, [and] righteous altogether; “the judgments of the Lord” are the same with “the word of God”, as appears from Ps 119:25; and these seem to design that part of the word, which contains rules of God’s judging and governing his people; or the laws, orders, and ordinances of Christ in his house, which his people should observe, and yield a cheerful obedience to, he being their King, Judge, and Lawgiver: and these are “true”, or “truth” g itself; being wisely made, according to the truth of things, and agreeable to the holiness and righteousness of God, and so righteous; not at all grievous, but easy, pleasant, and delightful, one and all of them.
g “veritas”, Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius, Gejerus, Rivetus.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
9. The fear of Jehovah is clean. By the fear of God we are here to understand the way in which God is to be served; and therefore it is taken in an active sense for the doctrine which prescribes to us the manner in which we ought to fear God. The way in which men generally manifest their fear of God, is by inventing false religions and a vitiated worship; in doing which they only so much the more provoke his wrath. David, therefore, here indirectly condemns these corrupt inventions, about which men torment themselves in vain, (456) and which often sanction impurity; and in opposition to them he justly affirms, that in the keeping of the law there is an exemption from every thing which defiles. He adds, that it endures for ever; as if he had said, This is the treasure of everlasting happiness. We see how mankind, without well thinking what they are doing, pursue, with impetuous and ardent affections, the transitory things of this world; but, in thus catching at the empty shadow of a happy life, they lose true happiness itself. In the second clause, by calling the commandments of God truth, David shows that whatever men undertake to do at the mere suggestion of their own minds, without having a regard to the law of God as a rule, is error and falsehood. And, indeed, he could not have more effectually stirred us up to love, and zealously to live according to the law, than by giving us this warning, that all those who order their life, without having any respect to the law of God, deceive themselves, and follow after mere delusions. Those who explain the word judgments, as referring only to the commandments of the second table, are, in my opinion, mistaken: for David’s purpose was to commend, under a variety of expressions, the advantages which the faithful receive from the law of God. When he says, They are justified together, the meaning is, They are all righteous from the greatest to the least, without a single exception. By this commendation he distinguishes the law of God from all the doctrines of men, for no blemish or fault can be found in it, but it is in all points absolutely perfect.
(456) “ Apres lesquelles les hommes se tourmentent en vain.” — Fr.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(9) The fear of the Lord.Here plainly not a moral quality of the individual, but, as in Pro. 15:33 (comp. Deu. 17:19), religion, the service demanded by the Law, which, being pure and undented, endures, while the false systems of idolatrous nations perish. Based on the eternal principle of right, the judgments of God, it is eternal as they are.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
9. The fear of the Lord We must accept this as another title of “the law,” Psa 19:8, by metonomy of the effect, that is, taking the effect, “fear,” for the cause, “law,” because it is the office of the latter to create fear, or reverence, in the mind, as Deu 17:19. , ( yeerath,) translated “fear,” seems to take the signification of instruction, doctrine, from its verbal root , ( yahrah,) which in Hippil has the sense of to instruct, teach. From the same root comes , law. The connexion the parallel word “judgments” in the next line and the predicates pure and enduring forever require the sense we have given.
Clean Pure, unmixed. The word is often applied to the purity of metals. Exo 25:11; Exo 25:17, Psa 12:6; the purity of water, etc., Eze 36:25. There is no alloy of error in God’s word.
Enduring for ever For the reason just given its purity it will never change or pass away. Unlike human laws, which often contain mixtures of good and evil, the divine law is essential holiness, justice, and love; the living word, which abideth for ever.
Judgments So called because God’s laws are the rule and measure of his judicial decisions on moral conduct.
Are true Truth, faithfulness, the abstract for the concrete.
Altogether Wholly and harmoniously. Whether viewed separately or as a collective body, the divine laws are perfect in themselves and in their harmony. The poetic measure of Psa 19:7-9 is very regular. Each verse is of two lines, each line having five words, making ten words in each verse, the number of commandments in the decalogue.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 19:9 The fear of the LORD [is] clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD [are] true [and] righteous altogether.
Ver. 9. The fear of the Lord is clean ] That is, the doctrine which teacheth the true fear of God is such as cleanseth the conscience, ferreteth out corruption, sanctifieth the whole man, Joh 17:17 ; Joh 15:3 Act 20:32 ; Act 26:18 .
Enduring for ever
The judgments of the Lord are true
And righteous altogether
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
fear = reverence.
clean = cleansing (especially Levitically). Compare Lev 16:30. Num 8:7, Num 8:21. Eze 36:33, &c. Hebrew. taher.
judgments = judicial requirements.
true = faithful (in perpetuity).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
fear of the Lord
The “fear of the Lord,” a phrase of the O.T. piety, meaning reverential trust, with hatred of evil.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
The fear: Psa 34:11-14, Psa 36:1, Psa 115:13, Gen 22:12, Gen 42:18, 1Sa 12:24, 1Ki 18:3, 1Ki 18:4, 1Ki 18:12, Neh 5:15, Pro 8:13, Act 10:22, Rom 3:10-18
enduring: Psa 111:10, Psa 112:1-6
judgments: Psa 10:5, Psa 36:6, Psa 72:1, Psa 72:2, Psa 119:7, Psa 119:39, Psa 119:62, Psa 119:75, Psa 119:106, Psa 119:137, Psa 119:138, Psa 119:142, Psa 119:160, Psa 119:164, Psa 147:19, Exo 21:1, Deu 4:8, Isa 26:8, Rom 2:2, Rom 11:22, Rev 15:3, Rev 16:7, Rev 19:2
true: Heb. truth
Reciprocal: Lev 25:17 – fear 2Sa 22:23 – judgments 1Ch 16:12 – the judgments Neh 1:7 – the commandments Job 23:12 – I have esteemed Psa 111:8 – are done Psa 119:86 – All thy Pro 19:23 – fear Act 10:35 – feareth 2Co 7:1 – in
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 19:9. The fear of the Lord True religion and godliness, prescribed in the word, reigning in the heart and practised in the life; or rather, that word or law itself is intended, and called the fear of the Lord, because it is both the rule and cause of that fear, or of true religion; is clean Sincere, not adulterated with any mixture of vanity, falsehood, or vice; not countenancing or allowing any sin or impurity of any kind, and preservative of the purity and holiness of the soul; enduring for ever Constant and unchangeable, the same for substance in all ages. Which is most true, both of the moral law and of the doctrine of Gods grace and mercy to sinful and miserable man, which two are the principal parts of that law of which he here speaks. For as to the difference between the Old Testament and the New, that lies only in circumstantial and ritual things, which are not here intended. And that alteration also was foretold in the Old Testament, and consequently the accomplishment of it did not destroy, but confirm, the certainty and constancy of Gods word. This also is opposed to human laws, in which there are, and ought to be, manifold changes, according to the difference of times, and people, and circumstances. The judgments of the Lord His laws, frequently called his judgments, because they are the declarations of his righteous will; and, as it were, his judicial sentence, by which he expects that men should govern themselves, and by which he will judge them at the last day; are true Grounded on the most sacred and unquestionable truths; and righteous altogether Without the smallest exception; not like those of men, often wrong and unrighteous, but perfectly and constantly equitable, just, and holy.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
19:9 The fear of the LORD [is] clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD [are] {g} true [and] righteous {h} altogether.
(g) So that all man’s inventions and intentions are lies.
(h) Everyone without exception.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The special revelation of God in Scripture is also free from any mixture of truth and error; it is consistent with reality. Consequently it is enduring and completely righteous. The word "fear" refers to the whole of divine law. Knowledge of God’s law puts the fear (reverential trust) of God in people’s hearts (cf. Deu 4:10 AV).