Psalms 119:170

Psa 119:170 Let my supplication come before thee: deliver me according to thy word.

Ver. 170. Let my supplication, &c.] The same again; neither is this battology, {a} but fervency in begging audience.

{a} A needless and tiresome repetition in speaking or writing.

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.

Ver. 170. Let my supplication come before thee. It is the same entreaty with a slight change of words. He humbly calls his cry a supplication, a sort of beggar's petition; and again he asks for audience and for answer. There might be hindrances in the way to an audience, and he begs for their removal let it come. Other believers are heard let my prayer come before thee.

Deliver me according to thy word. Rid me of mine adversaries, clear me of my slanderers, preserve me from my tempters, and bring me up out of all my afflictions, even as thy word has led me to expect thou wilt do. It is for this that he seeks understanding. His enemies would succeed through his folly, if they succeeded at all; but if he exercised a sound discretion they would be baffled, and he would escape from them. The Lord in answer to prayer frequently delivers his children by making them wise as serpents as well as harmless as doves.

Ver. 170. Let my supplication come before thee, etc. The sincere worshipper cannot be contented with anything short of actual intercourse with God. The round of duty cannot please where the spirit of grace and supplication has not been vouchsafed. A filial disposition will pour itself forth in earnest longings after communion with God. Nor will the hope of gracious audience be founded on any other plea save that of the sure word of Jehovah's promise. It is in accordance with that word, and not in opposition to it, that the child of God expects to be heard. All his deliverance he feels to be from the Lord, and all that he looks for from heaven he anticipates in answer to prayer. O for more of that faith which makes its appeal to the divine veracity, and which looks with steadfast eye to the promise of a covenant keeping God. John Morison.

Ver. 170. Let my supplication come before thee. Observe the order of the words here and in the preceding verse. First we had, "Let my cry come near; "then "Give me understanding, "and that "according to thy word, "and now we have "Let my prayer enter in (LXX., Syr., Arb., Vulg.,)before thee." Just so, if you wish for an interview with a man of very high rank, first you come near his house, then you ask for information and instruction as to his intentions, then you ask permission to enter, lest you should be driven away and refused admittance. Knock therefore at the door of the heavenly palace: knock, not with your bodily hand, but with the right hand of prayer. For the voice can knock as well as the hand, as it is written, "It is the voice of my Beloved that knocketh": So 5:2. And when you have knocked, see how you go in, lest after entering you should not get the sight of the King. For there are many who make their way into palaces, and do not at once get an audience of an earthly sovereign, but have to watch constantly to obtain an interview at last. Nor have they the choice of the opportunity, they come when they are sent for, and then present their petition, if they wish to be favourably received. Ambrose, in Neale and Littledale.

Ver. 170-174. The pleader: Ps 119:170. The singer: Ps 119:171. The preacher: Ps 119:172. The worker: Ps 119:173. The waiter: Ps 119:174.

Ver. 170.

1. Access sought.

2. Answer entreated.

3. Argument employed.

Psalms 119:171*

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

170. (Psa 119:170) Let my supplication come before thee; according to thy promise, free me (or deliver me). The first noun, according to its etymology, denotes a prayer for grace or favour. See above, Psa 6:9, Leviticus 2 (1). In this and the preceding verse, the prayer for deliverance from outward troubles is subjoined, and as it were subordinated, to that for grace to do the will of God. The same connection may be traced in Psa 90:11-17.

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

170. Let my prayer come into thy presence. After having made supplication that the gift of right understanding might be imparted to him, the Psalmist now implores God for deliverance, by which he acknowledges that he was continually involved in multiplied dangers from which he found it impossible to escape, unless God stretched forth his hand from heaven to his aid. We know, indeed, that whenever any distress was pressing hard behind him, he called upon God for succor; but as he does not here specify any particular distress, I have no doubt that, in commending his life in general terms to the protection of God, he thought again and again how he was shut up on every side by innumerable deaths, from which he could not escape if God did not prove his continual deliverer. But this is an inestimable comfort to us, that God assures us that in all dangers he will be ready and prepared to help us.

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.

Let my soul live, and it shall praise thee,.... The psalmist desires the continuance of his natural life, not for his own personal advantage, nor for the sake of his family, nor with any worldly, sinister, and selfish views; but for the glory of God, and for the sake of praising him: or his desire is, that his soul might be lively and comfortable; or that he might be in a lively and cheerful frame of spirit, and so be in fit and proper circumstances to praise the Lord; for it is the living man in both senses, natural and spiritual, that is capable of praising the Lord, Isa 38:19;

and let thy judgments help me; that is, to praise him: meaning either judgments on his enemies, as Aben Ezra; which furnish out matter and occasion of praise and thanksgiving; see Rev 15:3; or the word of God, the doctrines and precepts of it; see Psa 119:164.

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

Let my supplication come before thee - The word here rendered “supplication” properly means “favor, mercy, pity,” Jos 11:20; Ezr 9:8; then, that by which favor or mercy is sought - prayer or petition, Psa 6:9; Psa 55:1.

Deliver me according to thy word - From my enemies, my sins, my dangers. According to thy promises; according to the arrangements in thy word.

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

Let my supplication come before thee. A repetition of the "cry" in the preceding verse, which is distinctly shown by the next clause to be a cry for deliveranceDeliver me according to thy Word; or, "according to thy promise" (imrathka). God had "promised" to deliver all those who in the day of trouble should call upon him. (Psa_1:1-5 Psa_91:15)

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