Psalm 119:65-72

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Psalms 119:65-66

Here, 1. David makes a thankful acknowledgment of God's gracious dealings with him all along: Thou hast dealt well with thy servant. However God has dealt with us, we must own he has dealt well with us, better than we deserve, and all in love and with design to work for our good. In many instances God has done well for us beyond our expectations. He has done well for all his servants; never any of them complained that he had used them hardly. Thou hast dealt well with me, not only according to... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Psalms 119:67

David here tells us what he had experienced, 1. Of the temptations of a prosperous condition: ?Before I was afflicted, while I lived in peace and plenty, and knew no sorrow, I went astray from God and my duty.? Sin is going astray; and we are most apt to wander from God when we are easy and think ourselves at home in the world. Prosperity is the unhappy occasion of much iniquity; it makes people conceited of themselves, indulgent of the flesh, forgetful of God, in love with the world, and deaf... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Psalms 119:68

Here, 1. David praises God's goodness and gives him the glory of it: Thou art good and doest good. All who have any knowledge of God and dealings with him wilt own that he does good, and therefore will conclude that he is good. The streams of God's goodness are so numerous, and run so full, so strong, to all the creatures, that we must conclude the fountain that is in himself to be inexhaustible. We cannot conceive how much good our God does every day, much less can we conceive how good he is.... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Psalms 119:69-70

David here tells us how he was affected as to the proud and wicked people that were about him. 1. He did not fear their malice, nor was he by it deterred from his duty: They have forged a lie against me. Thus they aimed to take away his good name. Nay, all we have in the world, even life itself, may be brought into danger by those who make no conscience of forging a lie. Those that were proud envied David's reputation, because it eclipsed them, and therefore did all they could to blemish him.... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Psalms 119:71

See here, 1. That it has been the lot of the best saints to be afflicted. The proud and the wicked lived in pomp and pleasure, while David, though he kept close to God and his duty, was still in affliction. Waters of a full cup are wrung out to God's people, Ps. 73:10. 2. That it has been the advantage of God's people to be afflicted. David could speak experimentally: It was good for me; many a good lesson he had learnt by his afflictions, and many a good duty he had been brought to which... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Psalms 119:72

This is a reason why David reckoned that when by his afflictions he learned God's statutes, an the profit did so much counterbalance the loss, he was really a gainer by them; for God's law, which he got acquaintance with by his affliction, was better to him than all the gold and silver which he lost by his affliction. 1. David had but a little of the word of God in comparison with what we have, yet see how highly he valued it; how inexcusable then are we, who have both the Old and New... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 119:65

ט , TETH.--The Ninth Part . TETH. Thou hast dealt well with thy servant ,.... In a providential way, ever since he had a being; by the protection and preservation of him, by following and loading him with benefits, by raising him from a low estate to the throne of Israel, by delivering him from many dangers and enemies, and by giving him rest from them all; and in a way of special grace and mercy, by making an everlasting covenant with him, by blessing him with all spiritual... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 119:66

Teach me good judgment and knowledge ,.... Or, "a good taste" F16 טוב טעם "bonitatem gustus", Piscator, Michaelis. : of the Lord himself, how good and gracious he is; of his grace and love, which is better than wine; of his word and the truths of it, which are sweeter to a spiritual taste than honey or the honeycomb; and of the things of the Spirit of God, which are seventy to a spiritual man, a distinguishing taste of things; for as "the taste discerns perverse things" in food, so... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 119:67

Before I was afflicted, I went astray ,.... From God; from his word, his ways and worship; like a lost sheep from the shepherd, the fold, the flock, and the footsteps of it; see Psalm 119:176 ; Not that he wilfully, wickedly, maliciously, and through contempt, departed from his God; this he denies, Psalm 18:21 ; but through the weakness of the flesh, the prevalence of corruption, and force of temptation, and very much through a careless, heedless, and negligent frame of spirit, he got... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 119:68

Thou art good, and doest good ,.... Essentially, originally, and only good, and the fountain of all goodness to his creatures; who does good to all men in a providential way, and especially to his own people; to whom he is good in a way of special grace and mercy, in and through his Son Jesus Christ; and even he is good to them, and does good to them, when he afflicts them; he makes their afflictions work for their good, either temporal, spiritual, or eternal; teach me thy statutes ;... read more

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