Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 25:5
Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou [art] the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.
5. Lead me &c.] R.V., Guide me in thy truth: not, as at first sight would seem to be the meaning, into a fuller knowledge of revealed truth. Jehovah’s truth, so often coupled with His lovingkindness, means His faithfulness; and the sense is either ‘guide me in virtue of thy faithfulness’; or ‘let me live in the experience of thy faithfulness’ (Psa 26:3).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Lead me in thy truth – In the way which thou regardest as truth, or which thou seest to be true. Truth is eternal and unchanging. What God sees and regards as truth is true, because he sees things as they are; and when we have the divine estimate of anything, we understand what the thing is. It is not that he makes it to be true, but that he sees it to be true. Such is the perfection of His nature that we have the utmost assurance that what God regards as truth is truth; what He proclaims to be right is right. It is then His truth, as He adopts it for the rule of His own conduct, and makes it known to His creatures to guide them.
And teach me – Since this would be understood by the psalmist, it would be a prayer that God would teach him by His law as then made known; by His Spirit in the heart; by the dispensations of His providence. As applicable to us, it is a prayer that He would instruct us by all the truths then made known, and all that have since been revealed; by His Spirit in its influences on our hearts; by the events which are occurring around us; by the accumulated truth of ages; the knowledge which by all the methods He employs He has imparted to people for their guidance and direction.
For thou art the God of my salvation – The word salvation is not to be understood here in the sense in which it is now commonly used, as denoting deliverance from sin and future ruin, but in the more general sense of deliverance – deliverance from danger and death. The phrase is synonymous with preservation, and the idea is that the psalmist regarded God as his preserver; or that he owed his protection and safety in the time of danger to Him alone.
On thee do I wait – That is, I rely on Thee; or, I am dependent on Thee. He had no other source of reliance or dependence.
All the day – Continually, always. He was really dependent upon Him at all times, and he felt that dependence. It is always true that we are dependent upon God for everything; it is not true that we always feel this. It was a characteristic of the piety of the psalmist that he did feel this.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 25:5
Lead me in Thy truth, and teach me.
Guiding and teaching
A short but expressive prayer. All need it. We need it when we are surrounded with gloom, when we are tempted, and when we find bur path very rough.
I. The petition for guidance. We need it because–
1. We are ignorant of the future.
2. The way is dark.
3. We need thus to pray, from a deep conviction that we dare not go alone.
4. Because we are so weak. The Psalmist asks that God will lead him according to His own revealed will. In Thy truth.
II. The petition for instruction. How much we need to learn. How little we know after all these years. We dont know our bodies, still less our souls. We know not about time, how precious it is, but yet less of eternity. How little we know of life or of men, Therefore we need to pray, Lord, teach me. (William Scott.)
On Thee do I wait all the day.
How to spend the day with God
Who can truly say this? Who among us lives such a life of communion with God? This waiting is that of patient expectation and constant attendance. God was keeping David in suspense. He could not tell what was the mind and will of God. But he waits continually on Him. And so, in like circumstances, must we.
I. What is it to wait upon God?
1. It is to live a life of desire towards Him. Our desire should be, not only towards the good things God gives, but towards God Himself.
2. It is to live a life of delight in God. Desire is love in motion, as a bird upon the wing. Delight is love at rest, as a bird upon the nest.
3. It is a life of dependence on God, as the child waits on the father.
4. It is a life of devotedness to God, as the servant waits on his master.
5. And it is to make His will our rule; for our practice or for our patience, as the will of His providence may ordain.
II. This we must do every day, and all day long.
1. Every day. Servants in the courts of princes have their weeks or months of waiting appointed them, and are tied to attend only at certain times; but Gods servants must never be out of waiting. Sabbath days and weekdays, idle days and busy days, days of prosperity and of adversity.
2. Toto die,–or all the day through. By casting our daily care upon Him. By managing our daily business for Him. Receiving our daily comforts from Him. Resisting our daily temptations, and doing our daily duties, in the strength of His grace. Application: Consider this need of waiting on God at particular times. At family worship. When teaching your children. At shop or business. At meal times. On friendly visits. God waits to be gracious to those who wait on Him. (Matthew Henry.)
Waiting on God
I. Illustrate the spirit and meaning of this verse.
1. It does not mean that David was incessantly occupied with religious exercises.
2. The words are quite consistent with a knowledge of many transgressions.
3. The words involve a figurative meaning. This waiting is the spirit of trust, of loving obedience, of hope and confidence, of a most intimate friendship, of the deepest reverence.
II. In what way would a day be spent by one who sincerely uttered these words?
1. The day would be begun with God.
2. One who has begun the day with God will remember His presence, and seek His favour through the day. What is wanted of all of us is to carry the habit of religion into our ordinary pursuits. (W. G. Barrett.)
Prolonged waiting upon God
The thoughtless rush before God, in which we expect to get all we covet and away again, is worse than sacrilege. The unapproachable glories cannot be known in the twinkling of an eye. One of Ruskins pupils once said to him, The instant I entered the gallery at Florence I knew what you meant by the supremacy of Boticelli. In an instant, did you? was the somewhat withering reply. It took me twenty years to find it out. If we wait before God for a lifetime we shall only just begin to feel His enchantments. (Thomas G. Selby.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 5. On thee do I wait] This is the line in which vau, the sixth letter in the order of the alphabet, is lost; for the line begins with aleph, othecha, “on thee.” But four of Kennicott’s and De Rossi’s MSS. have veothecha, “AND upon thee.” This restores the lost vau, which signifies “and.” The Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate, Arabic, AEthiopic, and Anglo-Saxon, preserve it.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
In thy truth, i.e. in the true and right way prescribed in thy word, which is oft called truth, as Psa 119:30; Joh 8:45,46; 16:13, &c. Or, by or because of thy truth, i.e. because thou art faithful, do thou lead or guide me as thou hast promised to do.
The God of my salvation, i.e. who hast saved me formerly, and hast engaged to save me, and from whom alone I expect salvation.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Lead me in thy truth, and teach me,…. Meaning the word of God, the Scriptures of truth; and the Gospel, which is the word of truth, and truth itself, Joh 17:17; and the sense is, either that God would lead him by his Spirit more and more into all truth, as contained in his word; or that he would lead him by it and according to it, that he might form his principles and his conduct more agreeably to it, which is the standard and rule of faith and practice: which leading is by teaching; and reasons urged for granting all the above petitions follow,
for thou [art] the God of my salvation; who, in infinite wisdom, contrived scheme and method of it in his Son, and by him effected it, and by his Spirit had made application of it to him: and since the Lord had done such great things for him, he hoped the requests he had made would be granted: he adds,
on thee do I wait all the day; or continually, in public and in private, attending to all the duties of religion, yet not trusting in them, but in the Lord; and therefore he entreated he might not be ashamed of his hope and expectation for deliverance and salvation.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
His truth is the lasting and self-verifying fact of His revelation of grace. To penetrate into this truth and to walk in it (Psa 26:3; Psa 86:11) without God, is a contradiction in its very self. Therefore the psalmist prays, as in Psa 119:35, (lxx Cod. Alex.; whereas Cod. Vat. …, cf. Joh 16:13). He prays thus, for his salvation comes from Jahve, yea Jahve is his salvation. He does not hope for this or that, but for Him, all the day, i.e., unceasingly,
(Note: Hupfeld thinks the accentuation inappropriate; the first half of the verse, however, really extends to , and consists of two parts, of which the second is the confirmation of the first: the second half contains a relatively new thought. The sequence of the accents: Rebia magnum, Athnach, therefore fully accords with the matter.)
for everything worth hoping for, everything that can satisfy the longing of the soul, is shut up in Him. All mercy or grace, however, which proceeds from Him, has its foundation in His compassion and condescension.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
At the same time, we ought to observe the argument which David here employs to enforce his prayer. By calling God the God of his salvation, he does so in order to strengthen his hope in God for the future, from a consideration of the benefits which he had already received from him; and then he repeats the testimony of his confidence towards God. Thus the first part of the argument is taken from the nature of God himself, and the duty which, as it were, belongs to him; that is to say, because he engages to maintain the welfare of the godly, and aids them in their necessities, on this ground, that he will continue to manifest the same favor towards them even to the end. But as it is necessary that our confidence in God should correspond to his great goodness towards us, David alleges it, at the same time, in connection with a declaration of his perseverance. For, by the expression all the day, or every day, he signifies that with a fixed and untiring constancy he depended upon God alone. And, doubtless, it is the property of faith always to look to God, even in the most trying circumstances, and patiently to wait for the aid which he has promised. That the recollection of the divine blessings may nourish and sustain our hope, let us learn to reflect upon the goodness which God has already manifested towards us, as we see that David did in making this the ground of his confidence, that he had found in his own personal experience God to be the author of salvation.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(5) Lead me in thy truth.Better, make me walk ini.e., make me to have an actual experience of the Divine faithfulness in my passage through life.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
5. Lead in thy truth “Truth,” here, may be taken either in the sense of doctrine or of faithfulness. The former gives the sense of Psa 25:4, the latter the experience of divine faithfulness in keeping covenant and promise, and is the more probable sense, according to the connexion.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 25:5 Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou [art] the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.
Ver. 5. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me ] i.e. Assidue doce et urge. David was a great proficient in God’s school, and yet he would learn more; so sweet is divine knowledge. Four times together here prayeth David to be further instructed. See Moses in like manner holily encroaching upon God, Exo 33:12-13 ; Exo 33:16 ; Exo 33:18 , as if his motto had been that of Charles V, Ulterius, More yet.
For thou art the God of my salvation
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
On = For. Hebrew. ki. Some codices, with Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate, read Veki, “and for”, thus restoring the Vav (consonant), which otherwise is wanting.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Lead: Psa 25:8, Psa 25:10, Psa 43:3, Psa 43:4, Psa 107:7, Isa 35:8, Isa 42:16, Isa 49:10, Jer 31:9, Joh 8:31, Joh 8:32, Joh 14:26, Joh 16:13, Rom 8:14, Eph 4:21, 1Jo 2:27, Rev 7:17
teach: Psa 119:26, Psa 119:33, Psa 119:66, Neh 9:20, Job 36:22, Isa 54:13, Jer 31:33, Jer 31:34, Joh 6:45, Eph 4:20, Eph 4:21
God: Psa 24:5, Psa 68:20, Psa 79:9, Psa 88:1
on thee: Psa 22:2, Psa 86:3, Psa 88:1, Psa 119:97, Pro 8:34, Pro 23:17, Isa 30:18, Luk 18:7
Reciprocal: Exo 4:12 – General 2Sa 2:1 – inquired 1Ki 8:36 – thou teach 2Ch 6:27 – when thou hast Job 34:32 – which Psa 5:8 – Lead Psa 18:46 – the God Psa 26:3 – and Psa 27:11 – Teach Psa 31:3 – lead Psa 62:1 – my soul Psa 119:7 – when Psa 119:12 – teach Psa 143:8 – cause me Psa 143:10 – Teach Pro 2:3 – if Pro 4:11 – led Pro 8:20 – lead Isa 40:31 – they that Jer 42:3 – General Mic 7:7 – wait Hab 3:18 – the God Act 10:2 – and prayed Gal 5:5 – wait Gal 5:18 – if
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 25:5. Lead me in thy truth In the true and right way prescribed in thy word, which is often called truth; or, through, or, because of, thy truth; because thou art faithful, lead and guide me as thou hast promised to do. For thou art the God of my salvation Who hast saved me formerly, and hast engaged to save me, and from whom alone I expect salvation. On thee do I wait all the day In the midst of all my concerns, however important, I am always desiring and expecting thy teaching and direction, being continually disposed and determined to comply with thy will, as far as it is made known.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
25:5 Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou [art] the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait {d} all the day.
(d) Constantly and against all temptations.