Psalms 119:109

Psa 119:109 My soul [is] continually in my hand: yet do I not forget thy law.

Ver. 109. My soul (or life) is continually in my hand] i.e. Continually hazarded and ready to be laid down for righteousness’ sake. I am neither fond of life nor afraid of death in this case; I make no more of life than a child doth of his bird, which he carrieth in the palm of his hand held open. See Jdg 12:3 Job 13:14.

Yet do I not forget thy law] Notwithstanding all these dangers; nay, I love it, and like it so much the better, as those, Psa 44:17 Rom 8:2-4, and that holy martyr who caught up the Revelation cast into the same fire with himself, and cried, O beata Apocalypsis, &c. Oh blessed revelation.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Psa_119:109-112

My soul is continually in my hand.

Religion

Religion is here presented in three aspects.

I. As a deeply felt need in the immediate prospect of death. My soul is continually in my hand. That is, my life is in constant danger: death confronts me.

II. As a spirit of persevering faithfulness through all trials.

1. It is a persevering spirit. Yet I do not forget Thy law.

2. It holds on through all trials. The wicked have laid a snare for me, still I erred not.

3. It holds on through all trials to the end, Even unto the end.

III. As a precious inheritance and a permanent joy.

1. Genuine religion is an inheritance. A heritage for ever. It is the only intrinsic, inalienable inheritance.

2. Genuine religion is a permanent joy. For they are the rejoicing of my heart. True goodness never fails to flood the soul with joy. It is indeed a well of water. (Homilist.)

Mans bodily life

Let soul here stand for mans bodily life, and then we have two thoughts suggested.

I. It is something outside of himself. The human frame, with its complicated parts and various organs is no more the man than the house is the resident, the costume the wearer, the harp the lyrist. We carry it in our hand.

II. It is sometimes that he must surrender. This implies--

1. A sense of temporariness.

2. A sense of obligation. We should always be ready to present our bodies, as well as our souls and spirits, a sacrifice unto God. (Homilist.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Psa 119:109-110. My soul is continually in my hand — Exposed to perpetual and extreme danger, as any precious and frail thing is which a man carries openly in his hand, and which he may easily let fall, or be deprived of by violence. This is true of us all: we stand in jeopardy every hour, and there is but a step between us and death. But David considered himself as being peculiarly in danger, because, as he says in the next verse, the wicked had laid a snare for him — Intending, probably, Saul and his courtiers, who were unwearied in their endeavours to get him into their power, that they might take away his life.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

109. (Psa 119:109) My soul is in my hand always, and (yet) thy law I have not forgotten. The sense of the strong figure in the first clause is clear from Jdg 12:13, 1Sa 19:5; 1Sa 28:21, where he who risks or jeopards his own life, in war or otherwise, is said to put his soul into his hand, as if to have it ready to give up or throw away at any moment. The same expression reappears in Job 13:14. The meaning of the whole verse is, that even amidst the deadly perils which environed him, he still remembered the divine law, as an object of supreme affection.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Psalms Translated and Explained (1850) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

That is, I am in continual danger of my life.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Here is, 1. David in danger of losing his life. There is but a step between him and death, for the wicked have laid a snare for him; Saul did so many a time, because he hated him for his piety. Wherever he was he found some design or other laid against him to take away his life, for it was that they aimed at. What they could not effect by open force they hoped to compass by treachery, which made him say, My soul is continually in my hand. It was so with him, not only as a man (so it is true of us all; wherever we are we lie exposed to the strokes of death; what we carry in our hands is easily snatched away from us by violence, or if sandy, as our life is, it easily of itself slips through our fingers), but as a man of war, a soldier, who often jeoparded his life in the high places of the field, and especially as a man after God's own heart, and, as such, hated and persecuted, and always delivered to death (Co2 4:11), killed all the day long. 2. David in no danger of losing his religion, notwithstanding this, thus in jeopardy every hour and yet constant to God and his duty. None of these things move him; for, (1.) He does not forget the law, and therefore he is likely to persevere. In the multitude of his cares for his own safety he finds room in his head and heart for the word of God, and has that in his mind as fresh as ever; and where that dwells richly it will be a well of living water. (2.) He has not yet erred from God's precepts, and therefore it is to be hoped he will not. He had stood many a shock and kept his ground, and surely that grace which had helped him hitherto would not fail him, but would still prevent his wanderings.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 109. My soul is continually in my hand] נפשי naphshi, my life; that is, it is in constant danger, every hour I am on the confines of death. The expression signifies to be in continual danger. So Xenarchus in Athenaeus, lib. xiii., c. 4: Εν τῃ χειρι την ψυχην εχοντα, "having the life in the hand;" which signifies continual danger and jeopardy. There is some thing like this in the speech of Achilles to Ulysses, HOM. Il. ix., ver. 322: -

Αιει εμην ψυχην παραβαλλομενος πολεμιζειν·

"Always presenting my life to the dangers of the fight."

My soul is in thy hand, is the reading of the Syriac, Septuagint, AEthiopic, and Arabic; but this is a conjectural and useless emendation.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

109. My soul is continually in my hand. He declares, that no calamities, afflictions, or dangers, which he had experienced: had withdrawn him from the service of God, and the observance of his law. To bear his soul in his hand, is equivalent to his being in danger of his life, so that the soul was, as it were abandoned to the wind. Thus Job, (Job 13:14,) when he pines in his miseries: and is looking for death every moment, and dreading it, complains that his soul was in his hand; as if he had said, It is plucked from its own dwelling-place: and is under the dominion of death. This form of expression is therefore unhappily wrested to an absurd meaning by ignorant people, who understand the prophet as intimating, that it was in his own power to govern his life as he pleased. So far from intending to convey such an idea, by this circumstance he commends his own piety, declaring, that although he was tossed among shipwrecks, and death in a hundred forms hovered before his eyes, so that he could not rest in security for a single moment, yet he had not cast from him the love and study of the Divine law. Here, again, it is well to notice the severe and arduous conflicts by which the fathers, under the law, were tried, that dangers and fears may not frighten us, or, by the weariness they produce, deprive us of courage, and thus prevent the remembrance of the Divine law from remaining impressed on our hearts.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(109) My soul.—For this figure of peril see Jdg_12:3; 1Sa_19:5, &c.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

109. ‘To put one’s life in one’s hand’ is a metaphor for hazarding it (Jdg_12:3; 1Sa_19:5; 1Sa_28:21; Job_13:14), apparently because a treasure carried in the hand instead of being concealed is liable to be lost or snatched away. The reading of some MSS of the LXX in thy hands is doubtless a correction of a phrase which was not understood.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

SAMECH.--The Fifteenth Part.

SAMECH. I hate vain thoughts,.... Or thoughts: evil thoughts are undoubtedly meant, no other can be the object of hatred to a good man; they are such as are contrary to the law of God, and forbidden by it, mentioned in the next clause as the object of love, in opposition to these; and which are abominable to God, and defiling to men; should be forsaken, need pardon; and, if not pardoned, will be brought into judgment, and there exposed, and men punished for them. There are multitudes of these rise up in the minds of men, not only bad men, but good men; even sometimes atheistical blasphemous thoughts, as well as proud, haughty, revengeful, lustful, impure, and worldly ones; which, when observed by a good man, give him great concern and uneasiness, and raise a holy indignation in him against them. The word is used for the "opinions" of men; the ambiguous, doubtful, wavering, and inconstant sentiments of the mind, Kg1 18:21, and is used of branches, or the tops of trees, waved with the wind to and fro: and may be applied to all heterodox opinions, human doctrines, damnable heresies; such as are inconsistent with the perfections of God, derogate from his grace, and from the person and offices of Christ; and are contrary to the word, and which are therefore rejected and abhorred by good men. The Targum is,

"I hate those who think vain thoughts;''

and so Jarchi and Aben Ezra interpret it of persons, thinkers, or devisers of evil things; and to this sense are the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and all the Oriental versions; and which is approved of by Gussetius (k); even free thinkers, such as devise things out of their own brains, and regard not the law, doctrine, or word of God;

but thy law do I love; which forbids and condemns such vain and wicked thoughts, and requires pure and Holy Ones. Or, "thy doctrine"; which comes from God, is concerning him, and reveals his mind and will, his grace and love, to men; the doctrine of Christ, concerning his person, office, and work; the doctrine of the Scriptures, which contain the whole Gospel of Christ, as well as the law of God; the doctrine according to godliness, and which is good, sound, and wholesome, and to be received in the love of it.

(k) Ebr. Comment. p. 564.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

My soul is continually in my hand - The Septuagint renders this, “My soul is always in thy hands,” but the Hebrew will not admit of this construction. The idea in the original is that his soul - his life - was always in jeopardy. The expression seems to be proverbial. Anything taken in the hand is liable to be rudely snatched away. Thus a casket of jewels, or a purse of gold in the hand, may at any moment be seized by robbers. See the notes at Job 13:14. Compare 1Sa 19:5; Jdg 12:3. The meaning here is, that his life was constantly in danger.

Yet do I not forget thy law - Notwithstanding the danger to which I am exposed, and the care necessary to defend my life, I do not allow my mind to be turned from meditating on thy law, nor do I suffer any danger to deter me from obeying it. Compare the notes at Psa 119:61.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

In my hand; exposed to perpetual and extreme danger, as any precious and frail thing is which a man carrieth openly in his hand, whence it may easily fall or be snatched away by a violent hand. See the same or like phrase, Jdg 12:3; 1Sa 19:5; Job 13:14.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ver. 109. My soul is continually in my hand. He lived in the midst of danger. He had to be always fighting for existence hiding in caves, or contending in battles. This is a very uncomfortable and trying state of affairs, and men are apt to think any expedient justifiable by which they can end such a condition: but David did not turn aside to find safety in am, for he says,

Yet do I not forget thy law. They say that all things are fair in love and war; but the holy man thought not so: while he carried his life in his hand, he also carried the law in his heart. No danger of body should make us endanger our souls by forgetting that which is right. Trouble makes many a man forget his duty, and it would have had the same effect upon the Psalmist if he had not obtained quickening (Ps 119:107) and teaching (Ps 119:108). In his memory of the Lord's law lay his safety; he was certain not to be forgotten of God, for God was not forgotten of him. It is a special proof of grace when nothing can drive truth out of our thoughts, or holiness out of our lives. If we remember the law even when death stares us in the face, we may be well assured that the Lord is remembering us.

Ver. 109. My soul is continually in my hand. He had his soul in his hand, ready to give whenever God should take it. And this is to be observed, that there is no trouble so ready to take away the life of God's children, as they are ready to give it. As Elijah came out to the mouth of his cave to meet with the Lord; and Abraham in the door of his tent to speak to the angel; so the soul of the godly stands ready in the door of the tabernacle of this body to remove when the Lord shall command it; whereas the soul of the wicked lies back, hiding itself, as Adam among the bushes, and is taken out of the body perforce; as was the soul of that worldling; "This night thy soul shall be required of thee; "but they never sacrifice their souls willingly to the Lord. William Cowper.

Ver. 109. My soul is continually it, my hand. If any one carry in the hand a fragile vessel, made of glass or any other similar material, filled with a precious liquor, especially if the hand be weak, or if from other causes dangers be threatening, he will scarcely be able to avoid the breaking of the vessel and the running out of the liquor. Such is the condition of my life, which I, set upon by various enemies, carry as it were in my hand; which, therefore, is exposed to such great danger, as that I always have death present before my sight, my life hanging on the slenderest thread. Andreas Rivetus, 1572-1651.

Ver. 109. My soul is continually in my hand. The believer is always in the very jaws of death. He lives with wings outstretched to fly away. Paul testified, "I die daily." In the extremity of persecution, the fervent desire was to know what God would have him to do. Henry Law.

Ver. 109. My soul is continually in my hand. I make no more of life than a child doth of his bird which he carrieth in the palm of his hand held open. John Trapp.

Ver. 109. My soul is continually in my hand, etc. Why doth David say, "My soul is in mine hand"; had he called it out of the hand of God, and taken the care of it upon himself? Nothing less. His meaning is only this, I walk in the midst of dangers and among a thousand deaths continually; I am in deaths often, my life is exposed to perils every day, yet do I not forget thy law: I keep close to thee, and will keep close to thee whatsoever comes of it. Augustine upon that place doth ingeniously confess that he understood not what David meant, by having his soul in his hands; but Jerome, another of the ancients, teacheth us, that it is an Hebraism, signifying a state of most extreme peril. The Greeks also have drawn it into a proverb speaking the same thing.

But why doth the holding or putting the life in the hand signify the exposing of the life to peril? There is a twofold reason of it.

First. Because those things which are carried openly in the hand are apt to fall out of the hand, and being carried in sight, they are apt to be snatched or wrested out of the hand. And, therefore, though to be in the hand of God signifies safety, because his hand is armed with irresistible power to protect us; yet for a man to carry a thing in his own hand is to carry it in danger, because his hand is weak, and there are safer ways of carrying or conveying a thing than openly in the hand. If a man be to ride a long journey with any treasure about him, he doth not carry it in his hand, but puts it in some secret and close place where it may be hidden, and so be more secure. The Chaldee paraphrast, to express the elegancy of that place forecited out of the Psalm, gives it thus, "My life is in as much danger as if it stood upon the very superficies or outside of my hand, "as if he had no hold of it, but it stood barely upon his hand; for that which is set upon the palm of the hand, and not grasped, is in greater danger. Things safe kept are hidden or held fast.

Secondly. There is another reason of that speech, because when a man is about to deliver a thing or to give it up, he takes it in his hand. They that put themselves upon great perils and dangers for God and his people, deliver up their lives and their all to God. Hence that counsel of the Apostle (1Pe 4:19): "Let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator." So here, the life of men in danger is said to be put in the hand, because such are, as it were, ready to deliver and commit their lives unto God, that he would take care of their lives to preserve them from the danger, or to take them to himself if they lose them in his service. Joseph Caryl.

Ver. 109. The soul's life in jeopardy. The life of the soul secured.

Ver. 109-110. Here is,

1. David in danger of losing his life. There is but a step between him and death; for "the wicked have laid a snare" for him. Wherever he was he found some design or other laid against him; which made him say, "My soul is continually in my hand." It was not so only as a man it is true of us all that we are exposed to the strokes of death but as a man of war, and especially as "a man after God's own heart."

2. David in no danger of losing his religion through this peril; for,

(a) He "doth not forget the law, "and therefore is likely

to persevere.

(b) He hath not yet erred from God's precepts, and

therefore it is to be hoped he will not. M. Henry.

Psalms 119:110*

Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

My soul is continually in my hand; i.e. my life is in constant jeopardy. (comp. Jud_1:12:3 1Sa_19:5 1Sa_28:21) Yet do I not forget thy Law (comp. vers. 16, 83, 93, etc.).

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Is - Exposed to perpetual danger.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

My life is always in my hand

This is an idiom that means the writer's life is always in danger. AT: "My enemies are often trying to kill me" (See: Idiom)

I do not forget your law

This can be stated in positive form. AT: "I always remember your laws" (See: Litotes)

The wicked have set a snare for me

Wicked people trying to capture and kill the writer is spoken of as if they were hunters setting a trap to catch an animal. (See: Metaphor)

The wicked

This nominal adjective can be stated as an adjective. AT: "Wicked people" (See: Nominal Adjectives)

I have not strayed from your instructions

Not disobeying God's instructions is spoken of as if the writer has not walked away from God's instructions. This can be stated in positive form. AT: "I obey your instructions" (See: Metaphor and Litotes)

translationWords

law

evil

snare

astray

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

My soul is constantly in my hand I have very often been in serious danger, close to death, but nonetheless, I have not forgotten Your Torah (following the pattern of “Whoever has a headache should engage in the Torah”).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.