Psalms 119:2

Psa 119:2 Blessed [are] they that keep his testimonies, [and that] seek him with the whole heart.

Ver. 2. Blessed are they that keep his testimonies] Angels do so, and are blessed, Rev 22:9.

And that seek him] Sincere ac sollicite; that seek not his omnipresence (what need they?), but his gracious presence.

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_119:2

Blessed are they that keep His testimonies, and that seek Him with the whole heart.

The best pursuit

I. The pursuit specified.

1. The object proposed. They seek God--His enlightening truth--His pardoning mercy--His sanctifying grace--His indwelling presence--His communicable fulness--and His eternal fruition beyond the grave (Psa_17:15; Rom_2:7).

2. The conduct described. With the whole heart--not hypocritically and lukewarmly; but with all the powers and energies of the soul, the understanding, the will, the conscience, and the affections; supremely, above every other object; diligently, in all the means of salvation; immediately, without delay, or procrastination; earnestly, with zealous and undivided hearts; continually, being faithful unto death, etc. (Psa_27:4; Isa_55:6-7; Jer_29:13, etc.).

II. The obedience required.

1. It must be regulated by His Word, the only perfect and infallible standard of Christian faith and practice.

2. It must be conformable to His will. The Divine testimonies must be kept in our memories--in our affections--and in our practices. We must keep them sincerely, not in name and profession only; believingly, in the exercise of a lively and vigorous faith; affectionately, from a principle of love filling and ruling the heart; universally, having impartial respect unto all His commandments; faithfully, through all opposition, and indefatigable perseverance in well-doing (1Co_15:58).

III. The happiness enjoyed.

1. They have blessed enjoyments. They are blessed with inconceivable peace--unspeakable joy--the testimony of a good conscience, and the witness of the Holy Spirit.

2. They have blessed anticipations. The present holiness is an earnest of their future blessedness. (Sketches of Four Hundred Sermons.)

Right use of the Bible

A workman has the plan of the house he is to build; but he must use plumb-line and spirit-level and foot-rule if he is to build securely. The engineer has his beautiful engine, his marvellously constructed piece of mechanism; but it is useless to him unless it is joined up with the lathe it is to turn or the loom it is to work. Your electric generating station is a place of wonder and mystery, a marvel of skill and knowledge; but it is useless if it is only kept to look at and wonder about; it only becomes effective as the electricity generated there is carried to your electric motors for power, to your filaments of carbon for light. And what we so often forget is that, in the same way, the Gospel of Jesus is of no practical use to us while we keep it isolated from our daily life; it is no use in a book, or in theological syllogisms; it only becomes of use as it becomes the power of God in our daffy lives. We must take it as the guide of our daily conduct, as the inspiration of thought and emotion, as the determining factor in our daily actions, as the light to lead us along lifes dark and difficult ways, As the food upon which the soul is nourished it must affect all our thought and feeling, speech and action; it must penetrate to the remotest corners of our life and give form and colour and character to every experience. (B. A. Millard.)

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

Ver. 2. Blessed are they that keep his testimonies. What! A second blessing? Yes, they are doubly blessed whose outward life is supported by an inward zeal for God's glory. In the first verse we had an undefiled way, and it was taken for granted that the purity in the way was not mere surface work, but was attended by the inward truth and life which comes of divine grace. Here that which was implied is expressed. Blessedness is ascribed to those who treasure up the testimonies of the Lord: in which is implied that they search the Scriptures, that they come to an understanding of them, that they love them, and then that they continue in the practice of them. We must first get a thing before we can keep it. In order to keep it well we must get a firm grip of it: we cannot keep in the heart that which we have not heartily embraced by the affections. God's word is his witness or testimony to grand and important truths which concern himself and our relation to him: this we should desire to know; knowing it, we should believe it; believing it, we should love it; and loving it, we should hold it fast against all comers. There is a doctrinal keeping of the word when we are ready to die for its defence, and a practical keeping of it when we actually live under its power. Revealed truth is precious as diamonds, and should be kept or treasured up in the memory and in the heart as jewels in a casket, or as the law was kept in the ark; this however is not enough, for it is meant for practical use, and therefore it must be kept or followed, as men keep to a path, or to a line of business. If we keep God's testimonies they will keep us; they will keep us right in opinion, comfortable in spirit, holy in conversation, and hopeful in expectation. If they were ever worth having, and no thoughtful person will question that, then they are worth keeping; their designed effect does not come through a temporary seizure of them, but by a persevering keeping of them: "in keeping of them there is great reward."

We are bound to keep with all care the word of God, because it is his testimonies. He gave them to us, but they are still his own. We are to keep them as a watchman guards his master's house, as a steward husbands his lord's goods, as a shepherd keeps his employer's flock. We shall have to give an account, for we are put in trust with the gospel, and woe to us if we be found unfaithful. We cannot fight a good fight, nor finish our course, unless we keep the faith. To this end the Lord must keep us: only those who are kept by the power of God unto salvation will ever be able to keep his testimonies. What a blessedness is therefore evidenced and testified by a careful belief in God's word, and a continual obedience thereunto. God has blessed them, is blessing them, and will bless them for ever. That blessedness which David saw in others he realized for himself, for in Ps 119:168 he says, "I have kept thy precepts and thy testimonies, "and in Ps 119:54-56 he traces his joyful songs and happy memories to this same keeping of the law, and he confesses, "This I had because I kept thy precepts." Doctrines which we teach to others we should experience for ourselves.

And that seek him with the whole heart. Those who keep the Lord's testimonies are sure to seek after himself. If his word is precious we may be sure that he himself is still more so. Personal dealing with a personal God is the longing of all those who have allowed the word of the Lord to have its full effect upon them. If we once really know the power of the gospel we must seek the God of the gospel. "O that I knew where I might find HIM, "will be our wholehearted cry. See the growth which these sentences indicate: first, in the way, then walking in it, then finding and keeping the treasure of truth, and to crown all, seeking after the Lord of the way himself. Note also that the further a soul advances in grace the more spiritual and divine are its longings: an outward walk does not content the gracious soul, nor even the treasured testimonies; it reaches out in due time after God himself, and when it in a measure finds him, still yearns for more of him, and seeks him still.

Seeking after God signifies a desire to commune with him more closely, to follow him more fully, to enter into more perfect union with his mind and will, to promote his glory, and to realize completely all that he is to holy hearts. The blessed man has God already, and for this reason he seeks him. This may seem a contradiction: it is only a paradox.

God is not truly sought by the cold researches of the brain: we must seek him with the heart. Love reveals itself to love: God manifests his heart to the heart of his people. It is in vain that we endeavour to comprehend him by reason; we must apprehend him by affection. But the heart must not be divided with many objects if the Lord is to be sought by us. God is one, and we shall not know him till our heart is one. A broken heart need not be distressed at this, for no heart is so whole in its seeking after God as a heart which is broken, whereof every fragment sighs and cries after the great Father's face. It is the divided heart which the doctrine of the text censures, and strange to say, in scriptural phraseology, a heart may be divided and not broken, and it may be broken but not divided; and yet again it may be broken and be whole, and it never can be whole until it is broken. When our whole heart seeks the holy God in Christ Jesus it has come to him of whom it is written, "as many as touched Him were made perfectly whole."

That which the Psalmist admires in this verse he claims in the tenth, where he says, "With my whole heart have I sought thee." It is well when admiration of a virtue leads to the attainment of it. Those who do not believe in the blessedness of seeking the Lord will not be likely to arouse their hearts to the pursuit, but he who calls another blessed because of the grace which he sees in him is on the way to gaining the same grace for himself.

If those who seek the Lord are blessed, what shall be said of those who actually dwell with him and know that he is theirs?

"To those who fall, how kind thou art!

How good to those who seek I

But what to those who find? Ah! this

Nor tongue nor pen can show:

The love of Jesus what it is,

None but his loved ones know."

Ver. 2. The doubling of the sentence, Blessed... Blessed, in the first verse and second, is to let us see the certainty of the blessing belonging to the godly. The word of God is as true in itself when it is once spoken, as when it is many times repeated: the repetition of it is for confirmation of our weak faith. That which Isaac spake of Jacob, "I have blessed him, and he shall be blessed, "is the most sure decree of God upon all his children. Satan would fain curse Israel, by the mouth of such as Balaam was; but he shall not be able to curse, because God hath blessed. William Cowper.

Ver. 2. Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart. In the former verse a blessed man is described by the course of his actions, "Blessed are the undefiled in the way": in this verse he is described by the frame of his heart. Thomas Manton.

Ver. 2. Keep his testimonies. The careful keeping in mind of God's testimonies is blessedness; for though there is a keeping of them in conversation mentioned in the former verse, here another thing is intimated diverse from the former; he that keepeth this plant or holy seed so that the devil cannot take it out of his heart, he is happy. The word here used signifieth such a careful custody as that is wherewith we use to keep tender plants. Paul Bayne.

Ver. 2. Testimonies. The notion by which the word of God is expressed is "testimonies"; whereby is intended the whole declaration of God's will in doctrines, commands, examples, threatenings, promises. The whole word is the testimony which God hath deposed for the satisfaction of the world about the way of their salvation. Now because the word of God branches itself into two parts, the law and the gospel, this notion may be applied to both. First, to the law, in regard whereof the ark was called "the ark of the testimony" (Ex 25:16), because the two tables were laid up in it. The gospel is also called the testimony, "the testimony of God concerning his Son." "To the law, and to the testimony" (Isa 8:20); where testimony seems to be distinguished from the law. The gospel is so called, because therein God hath testified how a man shall be pardoned, reconciled to God, and obtain a right to eternal life. We need a testimony in this case, because it is more unknown to us. The law was written upon the heart, but the gospel is a stranger. Natural light will discern something of the law, and pry into matters which are of a moral strain and concernment; but evangelical truths are a mystery, and depend upon the mere testimony of God concerning his Son. Thomas Manton.

Ver. 2. Testimonies. The word of God is called his testimony, not only because it testifies his will concerning his service, but also his favour and goodwill concerning his own in Christ Jesus. If God's word were no more than a law, yet were we bound to obey it, because we are his creatures; but since it is also a testimony of his love, wherein as a father he witnesseth his favour towards his children, we are doubly inexcusable if we do not most joyfully embrace it. William Cowper.

Ver. 2. Blessed are they... that seek him with the whole heart. He pronounces "blessed" not such as are wise in their own conceit, or assume a sort of fantastical holiness, but those who dedicate themselves to the covenant of God, and yield obedience to the dictates of his law, Farther, by these words, he tells us that God is by no means satisfied with mere external service, for he demands the sincere and honest affection of the heart. And assuredly, if God be the sole Judge and Disposer of our life, the truth must occupy the principal place in our heart, because it is not sufficient to have our hands and feet only enlisted in his service. John Calvin, 1509-1564.

Ver. 2. The whole heart. Whosoever would have sound happiness must have a sound heart. So much sincerity as there is, so much blessedness there will be; and according to the degree of our hypocrisy, will be the measure of our misery. Richard Greenham, 1531-1591.

Ver. 2-3. Observe the verbs seek, do, walk, all making up the subject to whom the blessedness belongs. Henry Hammond, 1605-1660.

Ver. 2. Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.

1. The sacred Quest:"Seek him." He has been sought among the trees, the hills, the planets, the stars. He has been sought in his own defaced image, man. He has been sought amid the mysterious wheels of Providence. But these quests have often been prompted simply by intellect, or compelled by conscience, and have therefore resulted but in a cold faint light. He has been sought in the word which this psalm so highly extols, when it has led up the smoke covered and gleaming peaks of Sinai. It has been followed, when it has led beneath the olives of Gethsemane to witness a mysterious struggle in blood sweating and anguish; to Calvary, where, in the place of a skull, life and immortality are brought to light. The sacred quest but there begins.

2. The Conduct of the Quest. Seekers might be mistakenly dejected by so literal an interpretation of the "whole heart." We do not hesitate to say a stream is in its whole volume flowing towards sea while there are little side creeks in which the water eddies backward; or to say the tide is coming despite receding waves; or that spring is upon us despite hailstorm and biting wind. Indication of,

(a) Unity

(b) Intensity.

(c) Determination.

No one conducts this quest aright who is not prompted to or sustained in it by the gracious Spirit.

3. Blessedness both in the pursuit and issue.

(a) Blessedness in the bitterness of penitence. The

door handle touched by him drops of myrrh. The rising sun

sends kindling beams upon the highest peaks.

(b) Blessedness in the happy findings of salvation and

adoption.

(c) Blessedness in the perpetual pursuit. William Anderson, of Reading, 1882.

Ver. 2. The double blessing.

1. On keeping the testimonies.

2. On seeking the Lord.

Ver. 2. That seek him with the whole heart.

1. Seek what? God himself. No peace until he is found.

2. Seek where? In his testimonies.

(a) By studying them.

(b) By keeping to them.

3. Seek how? With the Whole heart. George Rogers.

Ver. 2. Seeking for God.

1. The Psalmist's way of seeking God.

(a) He sought God with the heart. Only the heart can find

God. Sight fails.

"The scientific method" fails. All reason fails. Only love

and trust can succeed. Love sees much where all other

perception finds nothing. Faith generally goes with

discovery, and nowhere so much as in finding God.

(b) He sought God with all his heart.

(1) Half heartedness seldom finds anything worth

having.

(2) Half heartedness shows contempt for God.

(3) God will not reveal himself to

half heartedness. It would be putting the highest

premium possible upon indifference.

2. The Psalmist's plea in seeking God: "Let me not wander from thy commandments"

(a) God's commandments lead, presently, into his own

presence. If we take even the moral law, every one of the

ten commandments leads away from the world, and sin, into

that seclusion of holiness in which he hides. It is thus

with all the commandments of the Scriptures.

(b) The earnestness of the souls search for God becomes, in

itself, a plea with God that he will be found of us. God,

who loves importunity in prayer, loves it no less when it

takes the form of searching with all the heart. He who

seeks with all the heart finds special encouragement to

pray: "Let me not wander from thy commandments." F.G. Marchant.

Ver. 2. That seek him. We must remember six conditions required in them who would seek the Lord rightly.

1. We must seek him in Christ the Mediator. Joh 14:6.

2. We must seek him in truth. Jer 10:10 Joh 4:24 Ps 7:6.

3. We must seek him in holiness. 2Ti 2:19 Heb 12:14 1Jo 1:3.

4. We must seek him above all things and for himself.

5. We must seek him by the light of his own word.

6. We must seek him diligently and with perseverance, never resting till we find him, with the spouse in the Canticles. William Cowper.

Ver. 2,4-5,8. Blessed are they that keep. "Thou hast commanded; us to keep." "O that my ways were directed to keep." "I will keep." Blessedness of keeping God's precepts displayed (Ps 119:2), commanded (Ps 119:4), for (Ps 119:5), resolved upon (Ps 119:8). C.A.D.

Psalms 119:3*

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

2. (Psa 119:2) Happy the keepers of his testimonies (who) with a whole heart seek him. Keepers, observers, those obeying. Testimonies, the divine precepts, which bear witness against sin and in behalf of holiness. With all the heart, undivided affection. See above, Psa 111:1, and compare 2Ki 23:3. Seek him, the knowledge of his will and the enjoyment of his favour.

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

2. Dâbâr, ‘word,’ LXX λόγος (20 times), in plur. ‘words’ (3 times), is the most general term for God’s communication of His Will to man, especially through prophets. It will be remembered that the “Ten Commandments” are literally the “Ten Words” (Deu_4:13). Cp. Deu_4:2; Deu_4:10; &c.

2. testimonies] See above, p. 704.

and that seek him &c.] Omit and. Cp. Psa_119:10; Deu_4:29. The word includes not only approaching God in prayer and worship, but studying to understand His Will expressed in His law.

with the whole heart] See above, p. 705.

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.

Blessed are they that keep his testimonies,.... The whole word of God, the Scriptures of truth, are his testimonies: they testify of the mind of God, and of his love and grace in the method of salvation by Christ; they testify of Christ, his person, offices, and grace; of the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow; and of all the happiness that comes to the people of God thereby. The law is called a testimony, which being put into the ark, that had the name of the ark of the testimony. This is a testimony of the perfections of God, his holiness, justice, and goodness displayed in it; and of his good and perfect will, what should or should not be done. The Gospel is the testimony of Christ, of what he is, has done and suffered for his people, and of the blessings of grace by him; the ordinances of it, baptism and the Lord's supper, testify of the love of God, and grace of Christ; and all these good men keep: they keep the Scriptures as a sacred "depositum"; they hold fast the faithful word of the Gospel, that no man take it from them; and are desirous of observing both the law of God, as in the hands of Christ; and the ordinances of the Gospel, as delivered by him, from a principle of love to him; and such are happy persons in life, at death, and to all eternity;

and that seek him with the whole heart; that is, that seek the Lord by prayer and supplication, with a true heart, and in sincerity; that seek to know more of him, and that in good earnest; that seek for communion and fellowship with him, with the Spirit within them, with all their heart and soul; that seek Christ, and God in Christ, his kingdom, and his righteousness, and that in the first place, early, earnestly, and diligently. The Targum is,

"they seek his doctrine with the whole heart.''

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

Blessed are they that keep his testimonies - His commandments or laws, considered as what he bears witness to concerning that which is just, wise, good. Every law of a parent is to his children a testimony on his part of what is wise and right and good; and so every law of God is his solemn testimony as to what is right and good for man. See Psa 19:7, note; Psa 25:10, note.

And that seek him with the whole heart - With a sincere desire to know his will and to do it; without hypocrisy or guile; with no selfish or sinister aims. As God knows the heart, all other modes of “seeking” him must be in vain. It is impossible for man to impose on him by appearances.

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

That keep, in mind and heart, that carefully and diligently observe,

his testimonies; his precepts. For the reason of this and the other titles of God’s word, see the argument or preface to this Psalm.

That seek him, to wit, the Lord, expressed Psa 119:1, that seek his presence, and favour, and acquaintance.

With the whole heart; sincerely, industriously, and fervently, above all other things. This is opposed to hypocrisy, and sloth, and lukewarmness in religion.

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

Blessed are they that keep his testimonies. A variant expression for keeping the Law, rather than the specification of a particular part of it. And that seek him with the whole heart. This is the emphatic portion of the verse. An obedience "from the heart" is alone acceptable to God. (see Psa_36:10 Psa_64:10 Psa_119:34, Psa_119:58, Psa_119:69, Psa_119:145)

Vers. 2, 4, 10, 34, 58. Whole-heartedness.

Success in every sphere of action is attained by thoroughness, by concentrating our forces, and working "with our whole heart." Many a man has allowed his life to be a failure because he has dissipated his strength. He "has done a great many things badly." But in no sphere of thought or action is thoroughness so much demanded as in that of religion. Surely we should offer the very best, our whole self, to our Creator, to our Savior. This applies to

I OUR APPROACH TO HIM AND PURSUIT OF HIS FAVOR. (Vers. 2, 10, 58) To engage in the worship of God, or to read his Word, or to seek his friendship and forgiving love, in a formal and ceremonious fashion, with little seriousness and no earnestness of spirit, is to make a sad mistake; it is to lose the battle. Our relation to God is immeasurably higher than any other relation can be; his claims are absolutely supreme; our interest in his merciful regard is surpassingly great; and there cannot possibly be any engagement of the soul that demands such strenuousness, such concentration of powers, such fixedness and fullness of soul, as prayer, as devotion, as the seeking after God.

II OUR LIFE-SERVICE. (vers. 4, 34) The languid and listless efforts which some "religious" men make in the service of God must be wholly unacceptable, as they are altogether unbecoming. "Worthy is the Lamb to receive riches the riches of our remembrance, our obedience, our submission, our service. To make a few feeble efforts to subdue our temper, to quell our repining, to preserve a sustained tranquility or cheerfulness of spirit, to show friendliness to Christian brethren, or to speak words of guidance or warning, but to give up the attempt because we do not immediately succeed, this is not to keep God"s precepts "diligently," to observe his will with our whole heart." It is to relegate religion to the second or third place in our esteem. Christ claims the first. He tells us that if we love any one or anything more than him, we are not worthy of him. He promises us that if we subordinate all other things to him and to his service, we shall receive a large reward at his hands. (see Mat_10:37 Mar_10:28-30)

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