Psalm 119:81-96

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Psalms 119:81-82

Here we have the psalmist, I. Longing for help from heaven: My soul faints; my eyes fail. He longs for the salvation of the Lord and for his word, that is, salvation according to the word. He is not thus eager for the creatures of fancy, but for the objects of faith, salvation from the present calamities under which he was groaning and the doubts and fears which he was oppressed with. It may be understood of the coming of the Messiah, and so he speaks in the name of the Old-Testament church;... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Psalms 119:83

David begs God would make haste to comfort him, 1. Because his affliction was great, and therefore he was an object of God's pity: Lord, make haste to help me, for I have become like a bottle in the smoke, a leathern bottle, which, if it hung any while in the smoke, was not onl 8000 y blackened with soot, but dried, and parched, and shrivelled up. David was thus wasted by age, and sickness, and sorrow. See how affliction will mortify the strongest and stoutest of men! David had been of a ruddy... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Psalms 119:84

Here, I. David prays against the instruments of his troubles, that God would make haste to execute judgment on those that persecuted him. He prays not for power to avenge himself (he bore no malice to any), but that God would take to himself the vengeance that belonged to him, and would repay (Rom. 12:19), as the God that sits in the throne judging right. There is a day coming, and a great and terrible day it will be, when God will execute judgment on all the proud persecutors of his people,... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Psalms 119:85-87

David's state was herein a type and figure of the state both of Christ and Christians that he was grievously persecuted; as there are many of his psalms, so there are many of the verses of this psalm, which complain of this, as those here. Here observe, I. The account he gives of his persecutors and their malice against him. 1. They were proud, and in their pride they persecuted him, glorying in this, that they could trample upon one who was so much cried up, and hoping to raise themselves on... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Psalms 119:88

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... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Psalms 119:89-91

Here, 1. The psalmist acknowledges the unchangeableness of the word of God and of all his counsels: ?For ever, O Lord! thy word is settled. Thou art for ever thyself (so some read it); thou art the same, and with thee there is no variableness, and this is a proof of it. Thy word, by which the heavens were made, is settled there in the abiding products of it;? or the settling of God's word in heaven is opposed to the changes and revolutions that are here upon earth. All flesh is grass; but the... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Psalms 119:92

Here is, 1. The great distress that David was in. He was in affliction, and ready to perish in his affliction, not likely to die, so much as likely to despair; he was ready to give up all for gone, and to look upon himself as cut off from God's sight; he therefore admires the goodness of God to him, that he had not perished, that he kept the possession of his own soul, and was not driven out of his wits by his troubles, but especially that he was enabled to keep close to his God and was not... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Psalms 119:93

Here is, 1. A very good resolution: ?I will never forget thy precepts, but will always retain a remembrance of and regard to thy word as my rule.? It is a resolution for perpetuity, never to be altered. Note, The best evidence of our love to the word of God is never to forget it. We must resolve that we will never, at any time, cast off our religion, and never, upon any occasion, lay aside our religion, but that we will be constant to it and persevere in it. 2. A very good reason for it: ?For... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Psalms 119:94

Here, 1. David claims relation to God: ?I am thine, devoted to thee and owned by thee, thine in covenant.? He does not say, Thou art mine (as Dr. Manton observes), though that follows of course, because that were a higher challenge; but, I am thine, expressing himself in a more humble and dutiful way of resignation; nor does he say, I am thus, but, I am thine, not pleading his own good property or qualification, but God's propriety in him: ?I am thine, not my own, not the world?s.? 2. He... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Psalms 119:95

Here, 1. David complains of the malice of his enemies: The wicked (and none but such would be enemies to so good a man) have waited for me to destroy me. They were very cruel, and aimed at no less than his destruction; they were very crafty, and sought all opportunities to do him a mischief; and they were confident (they expected, so some read it), that they should destroy him; they thought themselves sure of their prey. 2. He comforts himself in the word of God as his protection: ?While they... read more

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