Psalms 119:21 - Exposition

Thou hast rebuked the proud . It is difficult to connect this with the preceding. But perhaps the link may be found in the double sense of mishpatim , "judgments," which includes verbal sentences against sinners delivered in the Law, and also actual sentences upon them in deed and fact. These last are in the writer's mind in the present verse—such judgments as those upon Pharaoh ( Exodus 14:23-31 ), Zerah ( 2 Chronicles 14:9-15 ), and Sennacherib ( 2 Kings 19:32-37 ). That are cursed. This clause is questioned, as metrically redundant. But Hebrew metrology is scarcely as yet an exact science. And the clause finds its justification in Deuteronomy 27:26 . Which do err from thy commandments . Such error brings under a curse those who commit it. If it be a blessed thing to walk in God's Law ( Deuteronomy 27:1 ), it must be a cursed thing to transgress against it.