Psalms 119:159

Psa 119:159 Consider how I love thy precepts: quicken me, O LORD, according to thy lovingkindness.

Ver. 159. Consider how I love thy precepts] And love facilitateth duty, helping us over all the hardship of holiness. It yieldeth also much boldness to a man to offer it to God, as here, for a proof of his sincerity.

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.

159. (Psa 119:159) See how I love thy precepts, Jehovah; according to thy mercy, quicken me. See how, literally see that, which is tantamount to saying, thou seest that.

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

It is a sure sign of our adoption, when we love the Law of God.

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

Here is, 1. David's appeal to God concerning his love to his precepts: "Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love them; consider it then, and deal with me as thou usest to deal with those that love thy word, which thou hast magnified above all thy name." He does not say, "Consider how I fulfil thy precepts;" he was conscious to himself that in many things he came short; but, "Consider how I love them." Our obedience is pleasing to God, and pleasant to ourselves, only when it comes from a principle of love. 2. His petition thereupon: "Quicken me, to do my duty with vigour; revive me, keep me alive, not according to any merit of mine, though I love thy word, but according to thy lovingkindness;" to that we owe our lives, nay, that is better than live itself. We need not desire to be quickened any further than God's lovingkindness will quicken us.

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

159. Behold, O Jehovah how I have loved thy commandments. What I have state before must be remembered — that when the saints speak of their own piety before God they are not chargeable with obtruding their own merits as the ground of their confidence; but they regard this as, a settled principle, that God, who distinguishes his servants from the profane and wicked, will be merciful to them because they seek him with their whole heart. Besides, an unfeigned love of God’s law is an undoubted evidence of adoption, since this love is the work of the Holy Spirit. The Prophet, therefore, although he arrogates nothing to himself, very properly adduces his own piety for the purpose, of encouraging himself to entertain the more assured hope of obtaining his request, through the grace of God which he had experienced. At the same time we are taught that there can be no true keeping of the law but what springs from free and spontaneous love. God demands voluntary sacrifices, and the commencement of a good life is to love him, as Moses declares, (Deuteronomy 10:12,)

“And now, O Israel! what doth the Lord require of thee, but to love him.”

The same thing is also repeated in the summary of the law: (Deuteronomy 6:5,) “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God.” For this reason David has previously stated, that the law of God was not only precious but also delightful to him. Now as in keeping the law it behoves us to begin with voluntary obedience, so that nothing may delight us more than the righteousness of God, so on the other hand, it must not be forgotten that a sense of the free goodness of God and of his fatherly love is indispensably necessary in order to our hearts being beheld to this affection. So far are the bare commandment’s from winning men to obey them, that they rather frighten them away. Hence it is evident, that it is only when a man shall have tasted the goodness of God from the teaching of the law, that he will apply his heart to love it in return. The frequency with which the Prophet repeats the prayer, that God would quicken him, teaches us that he knew well the frailty of his own life, so that in his estimation men live only in so far as God every moment breathes life into them. Besides, it is probable that he had been continually besieged by many deaths, to the end he might the more earnestly betake himself to the fountain of life. He again rests his faith upon the goodness of God as its foundation — quicken me according to thy loving-kindness — from which we perceive how far he was from boasting of his own merits when he protested in the preceding sentence that he loved God’s law.

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.

159. Consider how &c.] Lit. see that &c.; or possibly (cp. Psa_119:153), look upon me, for I love thy precepts.

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.

Seven times a day do I praise thee,.... That is, very often in a day; not a day passed over his head but he praised the Lord, and often in the day; so the phrase "seven times" is used, Psa 12:6. Praise is comely for the saints, delightful and well pleasing to God, being offered up in faith and through Christ; and should be frequent, since our mercies, temporal and spiritual, are daily renewed; and therefore we should always, in everything, for everything, and at all seasons, give thanks to God, Eph 5:20, Th1 5:18;

because of thy righteous judgments: either upon his enemies, the persecuting princes, as Aben Ezra; so saints may and should, and will praise the Lord, for his righteous judgments on the enemies of his church and people, because not only of their deliverance from them, but because of the honour of his justice, and the glory of his name; see Rev 18:20; or because of the word of God, the precepts, ordinances, and doctrines of it, which are all righteous; for his knowledge of them, and for the benefit and comfort received from them; see Psa 119:7.

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

Consider how I love thy precepts - Search me. Behold the evidence of my attachment to thy law. This is the confident appeal of one who was conscious that he was truly attached to God; that he really loved his law. It is similar to the appeal of Peter to the Saviour Joh 21:17, “Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee.” A man who truly loves God may make this appeal without impropriety. He may be so confident - so certain - that he has true love for the character of God, that he may make a solemn appeal to him on the subject - as he might appeal to a friend, to his wife, to his son, to his daughter, with the utmost confidence that he loved them. A man “ought” to have such love for “them,” that he could affirm this without hesitation or doubt; a man “ought” to have such love for God, that he could affirm this with equal confidence and propriety.

Quicken me ... - See the notes at Psa 119:25.

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

I love thy precepts; which was the cause of my grief for their violation of them.

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

Ver. 159. Consider, or see, how I love thy precepts. A second time he asks for consideration. As he said before, "Consider mine affliction, "so now he says, "Consider mine affection." He loved the precepts of God loved them unspeakably loved them so as to be grieved with those who did not love them. This is a sure test: many there are who have a warm side towards the promises, but as for the precepts, they cannot endure them. The Psalmist so loved everything that was good and excellent that he loved all God had commanded. The precepts are all of them wise and holy, therefore the man of God loved them extremely, loved to know them, to think of them, to reclaim them, and principally to practise them. He asked the Lord to remember and consider this, not upon the ground of merit, but that it should serve as an answer to the slanderous accusations which at this lime were the great, sting of his sorrow.

Quicken me, O LORD, according to thy lovingkindness. Here he comes back to his former prayer, "Quicken me" (ver. 154), "quicken me" (ver.

156). "Quicken me." He prays again the third time, using the same words. We may understand that David felt like one who was half stunned with the assaults of his foes, ready to faint under their incessant malice. What he wanted was revival, restoration, renewal; therefore he pleaded for more life. O thou who didst quicken me when I was dead, quicken me again that I may not return to the dead! Quicken me that I may outlive the blows of my enemies, the faintness of my faith, and the swooning of my sorrow. This time he does not say, "Quicken me according to thy judgments, "but, "Quicken me, O Lord, according to thy lovingkindness." This is the great gun which he brings up last to the conflict: it is his ultimate argument, if this succeed not he must fail. He has long been knocking at mercy's gate, and with this plea he strikes his heaviest blow. When he had fallen into great sin this was his plea, "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness, "and now that he is in great trouble he flies to the same effectual reasoning. Because God is love he will give us life; because he is kind he will again kindle the heavenly flame within us.

Ver. 159. Consider how I love thy precepts. Search me. Behold the evidence of my attachment to thy law. This is the confident appeal of one who was conscious that he was truly attached to God; that he really loved his law. It is similar to the appeal of Peter to the Saviour (Joh 21:17), "Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee." A man who truly loves God may make this appeal without impropriety. He may he so confident, so certain, that he has true love for the character of God, that he may make a solemn appeal to him on the subject, as he might appeal to a friend, to his wife, to his son, to his daughter, with the utmost confidence that he loved them. A man ought to have such love for them, that he could affirm this without hesitation or doubt; a man ought to have such love for God, that he could, affirm this with equal confidence and propriety. Albert Barnes.

Ver. 159. Consider how I love thy precepts. He saith not, consider how I perform thy precepts; but how I love them. The comfort of a Christian militant, in this body of sin, is rather in the sincerity and fervency of his affections than in the absolute perfection of his actions. He fails many times in his obedience to God's precepts, in regard of his action; but love in his affection still remains; so that both before the temptation to sin, and after it, there is a grief in his soul, that he should find in himself any corrupt will or desire, contrary to the holy will of the Lord his God; and this proves an invincible love in him to the precepts of God. William Cowper.

Ver. 159. Consider, etc. Translate (the Hebrew being the same as in verse 158) "Behold how I love thy precepts, "as is evinced in that when "I beheld the transgressors I was grieved." He begs to God to behold this, not as meritorious of grace, but as a distinctive mark of a godly man. A. R. Fausset.

Ver. 159. I love thy precepts: quicken me. The love wherewith he loved God came from that love wherewith God first loved him. For by seeing the great love wherewith God loved him, he was moved and refereed to love God again. So that his meaning is thus much: Thou seest, Lord, that I am an enemy to sin in myself, for I forget not thy law; thou seest that I am an enemy to sin in others, for I am grieved to see them transgress thy law; wherefore, O Lord, "quicken me, "and let thy loving mercy whereby thou hast created me and redeemed me in Christ, whereby thou hast delivered me from so many troubles, and enriched me with so many and continual benefits, renew, revive, quicken, and restore me. Richard Greenham.

Ver. 159. Quicken me. Often as the Psalmist had repeated his prayer for quickening grace, *it was not a "vain repetition, "or an empty sound. Each time was it enlivened with abundant faith, intense feeling of his necessity, and the vehemency of most ardent affection. If the consciousness of the faintness of our strength and the coldness of our affections should lead us to offer this petition a hundred times a day in this spirit, it would never fail of acceptance. Charles Bridges.

*Nine times is the petition urged, verses 25, 37, 40, 88, 107, 149 154, 156, and 159.

Ver. 159. According to thy lovingkindness. We need not desire to be quickened any further than God's lovingkindness will quicken us. Matthew Henry.

Ver. 159.

1. His own love avowed.

2. God's love pleaded.

3. Renewed life implored.

Ver. 159.

1. Attention invited: "Consider how."

2. Profession made: "I love thy precepts."

3. Petition offered: "quicken me, "etc.

4. Plea suggested: "according to, "etc.

G.R.

Ver. 159. My love and thy lovingkindness. The saint's love.

1. Avowed. "Thou knowest all things, "etc.

2. Submitted. In humble insistence on its sincerity. In sense of its insufficiency. In prayer to God not to over look it.

3. Lost sight of in the sudden glory of God's lovingkindness. Where is my love now?

4. Recovered and humbly brought for quickening. Lord, I'll say no more about it: "Quicken me." W.B.H.

Ver. 159. Quicken, me for love's sake.

1. A prayer for quickened life.

2. Awakened by love to the divine rule of life.

3. Enforced by the plea of that love.

4. Addressed to the God of love.

C.A.D.

Ver. 159. Consider,

1. The holy unsatisfaction of the believer: "Quicken me, "etc.

(a) A prayer frequently occurring in the psalm, and always

urged with great earnestness.

(b) Its importunity proves the possession of spiritual

life; in fact, none but the living ones crave quickening.

(c) The most earnest feel the most acutely their indwelling

sin, and appreciate most highly thorough sanctification.

(d) Thus, this is, perhaps, the only unsatisfaction

perfectly pure in its character.

2. The assuring Divine attribute to which he can appeal: "According to thy lovingkindness."

(a) An attribute, not only made known in tile word, but made

manifest to us in our experience of its gentle dealing.

(b) An attribute that covers sin, and is touched with a

feeling of our infirmities.

(c) An attribute that must be affected with the cry for

quickening grace.

3. The consideration he ought to be able to lay before God: "Consider how I love thy precepts."

(a) Because from the word he learnt of the lovingkindness,

and through it received life.

(b) Without it the prayer cannot be genuine.

(c) It is a good reason for expecting more grace; for

"whosoever hath, to him shall be given, "etc.

J.F.

Psalms 119:160*

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

Consider how I love thy precepts (comp. vers. 97, 113, 119, 127, 163). Quicken me, O Lord, according to thy loving-kindness. Slightly varied from ver. 149.

Love-inspired obedience.

The psalmist "loved the precepts of God. Many there are who have a warm side towards the promises, but as for the precepts they cannot endure them. The psalmist so loved everything that was good and excellent, that he loved all God had commanded. The precepts are all of them wise and holy, therefore the man of God loved them extremely, loved to know them, to think of them, to proclaim them, and principally to practice them." As a matter of fact, what may, and what actually does, inspire obedience in the relationships of life?

I PATRIOTISM MAY INSPIRE OBEDIENCE. There is a sentiment which possesses the soldiers of an army, which we call "patriotism," though it but poorly represents that term, and which makes the soldier a model of strict, exact, unquestioning, but, to a great extent, unintelligent, obedience. There are answering sentiments, in the religious sphere, which have similar and no higher powers of inspiring obedience. They carry us over into obedience as a big wave carries a boat over the bar.

II FEAR MAY INSPIRE OBEDIENCE. Of this principle animals are, for the most part, trained to obey. And fear is effective on men just in the measure in which the animal in them is trained and the spiritual undeveloped. Fear has its moral influence at least in its coarser forms on those who occupy low and servile positions in society. Culture a man, and one thing you do is deliver him from fear.

III DUTY MAY INSPIRE OBEDIENCE. Relationship involves duty; and obligation creates duty. And man is a higher being as the sense of duty grows in him. But a certain hardness, self-restraint, characterizes all obedience that is inspired only by duty. The man does what he must.

IV LOVE MAY INSPIRE OBEDIENCE. Then the man is in the obedience. His feeling runs with it as well as his will. The whole man is borne into the service. There are no resistances to occasion distress. In obeying the man has the joy of doing just what he wishes to do. R.T.

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

See

"Look at me so you can see"

by your covenant faithfulness

The abstract noun "faithfulness" can be translated with an adjective. AT: "because you are faithful to your covenant" (See: Abstract Nouns)

The essence of your word is truth

"Your word is completely true" or "Your word can be trusted"

translationWords

love

life

promise

covenant faithfulness

eternity

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