Psalm 116:9

I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Psalm 116:9. I will walk — Hebrew, אתהלךְ, ethhalleck, I will set myself to walk; before the Lord — I determine, in the strength of divine grace, to set him before me; to live as in his presence, and as under his eye; to speak and act in a manner becoming his presence, and the relation in which I stand to him as his servant and worshipper, his son and heir; to walk worthy of him unto all pleasing. It is the psalmist’s promise and resolution, in return for the blessings acknowledged in the preceding verse. In the land of the living — Among living men in this world. Observe, reader, the land of the living is a land of mercy, which we ought to be very thankful for; it is a land of opportunity, which we ought to improve; and the consideration that we are in this land should engage and quicken us to walk before God.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

116:1-9 We have many reasons for loving the Lord, but are most affected by his loving-kindness when relieved out of deep distress. When a poor sinner is awakened to a sense of his state, and fears that he must soon sink under the just wrath of God, then he finds trouble and sorrow. But let all such call upon the Lord to deliver their souls, and they will find him gracious and true to his promise. Neither ignorance nor guilt will hinder their salvation, when they put their trust in the Lord. Let us all speak of God as we have found him; and have we ever found him otherwise than just and good? It is of his mercies that we are not consumed. Let those who labour and are heavy laden come to him, that they may find rest to their souls; and if at all drawn from their rest, let them haste to return, remembering how bountifully the Lord has dealt with them. We should deem ourselves bound to walk as in his presence. It is a great mercy to be kept from being swallowed up with over-much sorrow. It is a great mercy for God to hold us by the right hand, so that we are not overcome and overthrown by a temptation. But when we enter the heavenly rest, deliverance from sin and sorrow will be complete; we shall behold the glory of the Lord, and walk in his presence with delight we cannot now conceive.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

I will walk before the Lord ... - Compare Psalm 27:13, note; Isaiah 38:20, note. This expresses a full belief that he would live, and a purpose to live "before the Lord;" that is, as in his presence, in his service, and enjoying communion with him.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

9. walk before the Lord—act, or live under His favor and guidance (Ge 17:1; Ps 61:7).

land of the living—(Ps 27:13).

The Treasury of David

9 I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.

10 I believed, therefore have I:spoken: I was greatly afflicted:

11 I said in my haste, All men are liars.

12 What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me?

13 I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord.

Psalm 116:9

"I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living." This is the Psalmist's second resolution, to live as in the sight of God in the midst of the sons of men. By a man's walk is understood his way of life: some men live only as in the sight of their fellow men, having regard to human judgment and opinion; but the truly gracious man considers the presence of God, and acts under the influence of his all-observing eye. "Thou God seest me" is a far better influence than "My master sees me." The life of faith, hope, holy fear, and true holiness is produced by a sense of living and walking before the Lord, and he who has been favoured with divine deliverances in answer to prayer finds his own experience the best reason for a holy life, and the best assistance to his endeavours. We know that God in a special manner is nigh unto his people: what manner of persons ought we to be In all holy conversation and godliness?

Psalm 116:10

"I believed, therefore have I spoken." I could not have spoken thus if it had not been for my faith: I should never have spoken unto God in prayer, nor have been able now to speak to my fellow men in testimony if it had not been that faith kept me alive, and brought me a deliverance, whereof I have good reason to boast. Concerning the things of God no man should speak unless he believes; the speech of the waverer is mischievous, but the tongue of the believer is profitable; the most powerful speech which has ever been uttered by the lip of man has emanated from a heart fully persuaded of the truth of God. Not only the Psalmist, but such men as Luther, and Calvin, and other great witnesses for the faith, could each one most heartily say, "I believed, therefore have I spoken." "I was greatly afflicted." There was no mistake about that; the affliction was as bitter and as terrible as it well could be, and since I have been delivered from it, I am sure that the deliverance is no fanatical delusion, but a self-evident fact; therefore am I the more resolved to speak to the honour of God. Though greatly afflicted, the Psalmist had not ceased to believe. his faith was tried but not destroyed.

Psalm 116:11

"I said in my haste, All men are liars." In a modified sense the expression will bear justification, even though hastily uttered, for all men will prove to be liars if we unduly trust in them; some from want of truthfulness, and others from want of power. But from the expression, "I said in my haste," it is clear that the Psalmist did not justify his own language, but considered it as the ebullition of a hasty temper. In the sense in which he spoke his language was unjustifiable. He had no right to distrust all men, for many of them are honest, truthful, and conscientious; there are faithful friends and loyal adherents yet alive; and if sometimes they disappoint us, we ought not to call them liars for failing when the failure arises entirely from want of power, and not from lack of will. Under great affliction our temptation will be to form hasty judgments of our fellow men, and knowing this to be the case we ought carefully to watch our spirit, and to keep the door of our lips. The Psalmist had believed, and therefore he spoke; he had doubted, and therefore he spoke in haste. He believed, and therefore he rightly prayed to God; he disbelieved, and therefore he wrongfully accused mankind. Speaking is as ill in some cases as it is good in others. Speaking in haste is generally followed by bitter repentance. It is much better to be quiet when our spirit is disturbed and hasty, for it is so much easier to say than to unsay; we may repent of our words, but we cannot so recall them as to undo the mischief they have done. If even David had to eat his own words, when he spoke in a hurry, none of us can trust our tongue without a bridle.

Psalm 116:12

"What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me?" He wisely leaves off fretting about man's falsehood and his own ill humour, and directs himself to his God. It is of little use to be harping on the string of man's imperfection and deceitfulness; it is infinitely better to praise the perfection and faithfulness of God. The question of the verse is a very proper one: the Lord has rendered so much mercy to us that we ought to look about us, and look within us, and see what can be done by us to manifest our gratitude. We ought not only to do what is plainly before us, but also with holy ingenuity to search out various ways by which we may render fresh praises unto our God. His benefits are so many that we cannot number them, and our ways of acknowledging his bestowments ought to be varied and numerous in proportion. Each person should have his own peculiar mode of expressing gratitude. The Lord sends each one a special benefit, let each one enquire, "What shall I render? What form of service would be most becoming in me?"

Psalm 116:13

continued...

Matthew Poole's Commentary

I will walk before the Lord; or, I shall walk, &c. This is either,

1. The psalmist’s promise to God in requital of the favour last mentioned; I will therefore please God, as this phrase is used, Genesis 5:24, compared with Hebrews 11:5 Genesis 17:1. I will devote myself to the worship and service of God. Or,

2. His thankful acknowledgment of God’s further favour. Though I be now banished from the place of thy presence and worship, yet I assure myself that I shall be restored to it, and shall spend my days in thy house and service, which is the one thing that I desired above all other things, Psalm 27:4.

In the land of the living; amongst living men of this world. See Poole "Psalm 27:13".

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. As in the sight of the omniscient God, according to his word and will, and in such manner as to please him. So Enoch's walking with God is by the apostle explained of pleasing him; compare Genesis 5:22, and so the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Arabic versions render it, "I will please the Lord"; or, as the Syriac and Ethiopic versions; "that I may please the Lord"; be grateful to him; or walk gratefully and acceptably before him, sensible of the obligations I am under to him: and this, in the strength of grace, he determined to do "in the land of the living"; in this world, where men live, and as long as he lived in it; or in the church of God, among the living in Jerusalem, with whom he resolved to walk in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord. The land of Canaan is thought by Jarchi and Kimchi to be meant; and this being a type of heaven, the meaning may be, that he should walk and dwell where living and glorified saints are to all eternity; and so it is an expression of his faith of future glory and happiness, agreeably to what follows.

Geneva Study Bible

I will {e} walk before the LORD in the land of the living.

(e) The Lord will preserve me and save my life.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 9. - I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living; rather, lands of the living; i.e. my deliverance will enable me to walk at leisure, unhurried and free from care, in the broad regions of earth inhabited by the living. Psalm 116:9

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

With "gracious" and "compassionate" is here associated, as in Psalm 112:4, the term "righteous," which comprehends within itself everything that Jahve asserts concerning Himself in Exodus 34:6. from the words "and abundant in goodness and truth" onwards. His love is turned especially toward the simple (lxx τὰ νήπια, cf. Matthew 11:25), who stand in need of His protection and give themselves over to it. פּתאים, as in Proverbs 9:6, is a mode of writing blended out of פּתאים and פּתיים. The poet also has experienced this love in a time of impotent need. דּלּותי is accented on the ultima here, and not as in Psalm 142:7 on the penult. The accentuation is regulated by some phonetic or rhythmical law that has not yet been made clear (vid., on Job 19:17).

(Note: The national grammarians, so far as we are acquainted with them, furnish no explanation. De Balmis believes that these Milra forms דּלּותי, בּלּותי, and the like, must be regarded as infinitives, but at the same time confirms the difference of views existing on this point.)

יהושׁיע is a resolved Hiphil form, the use of which became common in the later period of the language, but is not alien to the earlier period, especially in poetry (Psalm 45:18, cf. Psalm 81:6; 1 Samuel 17:47; Isaiah 52:5). In Psalm 116:7 we hear the form of soliloquy which has become familiar to us from Psalm 42:1; Psalm 103. שׁוּבי is Milra here, as also in two other instances. The plural מנוּחים signifies full, complete rest, as it is found only in God; and the suffix in the address to the soul is ajchi for ajich, as in Psalm 103:3-5. The perfect גּמל states that which is a matter of actual experience, and is corroborated in Psalm 116:8 in retrospective perfects. In Psalm 116:8-9 we hear Psalm 56:14 again amplified; and if we add Psalm 27:13, then we see as it were to the bottom of the origin of the poet's thoughts. מן־דּמעה belongs still more decidedly than יהושׁיע to the resolved forms which multiply in the later period of the language. In Psalm 116:9 the poet declares the result of the divine deliverance. The Hithpa. אתהלּך denotes a free and contented going to and fro; and instead of "the land of the living," Psalm 27:13, the expression here is "the lands (ארצות), i.e., the broad land, of the living." There he walks forth, with nothing to hinder his feet or limit his view, in the presence of Jahve, i.e., having his Deliverer from death ever before his eyes.