Psalm 119:115

Depart from me, ye evildoers: for I will keep the commandments of my God.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(115) For.—Better, and. The presence of the wicked was a hindrance to religion. It is Israel trying to purify itself from the leaven of evil influence that speaks. The first clause is from Psalm 6:8.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

119:113-120 Here is a dread of the risings of sin, and the first beginnings of it. The more we love the law of God, the more watchful we shall be, lest vain thoughts draw us from what we love. Would we make progress in keeping God's commands, we must be separate from evil-doers. The believer could not live without the grace of God; but, supported by his hand, his spiritual life shall be maintained. Our holy security is grounded on Divine supports. All departure from God's statutes is error, and will prove fatal. Their cunning is falsehood. There is a day coming which will put the wicked into everlasting fire, the fit place for the dross. See what comes of sin Surely we who fall so low in devout affections, should fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into heavenly rest, any of us should be found to come short of it, Heb 4:1.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Depart from me, ye evil-doers - Workers of iniquity; bad men. See the notes at Psalm 6:8. This indicates a determined purpose that nothing should deter or allure him from the service of God. A man who wishes to serve God, and lead a religious life, must separate himself from the society, as such, of unprincipled people.

For I will keep the commandments of my God - This is my fixed resolution. It may be remarked here

(1) that bad people will turn away from the society of one who has formed such a resolution, and who carries it out;

(2) the resolution is a necessary one to be formed and executed, if a man will serve God;

(3) the formation and execution of such a purpose, is the best way to get rid of the society of bad people.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

115-117. Hence he fears not wicked men, nor dreads disappointment, sustained by God in making His law the rule of life.

Depart from me—Ye can do nothing with me; for, &c. (Ps 6:8).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Ver. 115. And therefore will avoid your society and conversation, lest I should be hindered from that which is good, and drawn to sin by your evil counsel or example.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Depart from me, ye evildoers,.... The same with the evil thinkers, Psalm 119:113; According to Aben Ezra, they that think evil commonly do it; as they devise it, they commit it. This describes such persons whose course of life is, and who make it their constant business to do, iniquity; such the psalmist desires to depart his presence, to keep at a distance from him, as being very disagreeable to him; and who would be a great hinderance to him in keeping the commandments of God, as follows: these same words will be spoken by David's son and antitype, at the great day of account, Matthew 7:23;

for I will keep the commandments of my God; of God who has a fight to command, and not of men, especially when opposed to the commands of God; of God, who is the covenant God and Father of his people; and whose covenant, grace, and favour, in choosing, redeeming, regenerating, and adopting them, lay them under greater obligations still to keep his commandments; and whose commandments are not grievous: and though they cannot be perfectly kept by good men, yet they are desirous of keeping them as well as they can, and determine in the strength of divine grace so to do; and which they do out of love to God, and with a view to his glory, without any selfish or mercenary ends. The Syriac version renders it, "that I may keep", &c. to which end he desires to be rid of the company of wicked men; who are both a nuisance to good men, and an hinderance in religious duties.

Geneva Study Bible

{b} Depart from me, ye evildoers: for I will keep the commandments of my God.

(b) And hinder me not to keep the law of the Lord.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

115. Cp. Psalm 6:8.

for I will keep … my God] R.V. that I may keep. He would be rid of their presence, that they may no longer hinder him from keeping the law, by evil example or even by actual persecution. Significantly he calls God ‘my God,’ implying that though they profess to serve Him, He is not really theirs.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 115. - Depart from me, ye evildoers. There is no fellowship between light and darkness, between righteousness and unrighteousness (2 Corinthians 10:16). Good men must separate themselves from those who are manifestly workers of iniquity (comp. Psalm 6:8). For I will keep the commandments of my God (see ver. 106). Association with the wicked hinders men from keeping God's Law. Not only is there the danger of corruption (1 Corinthians 15:3;); but, at the best, attention is distracted, and energies weakened. Psalm 119:115

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The eightfold Samech. His hope rests on God's word, without allowing itself to be led astray by doubters and apostates. סעפים (the form of nouns which indicate defects or failings) are those inwardly divided, halting between two opinions (סעפּים), 1 Kings 18:21, who do homage partly to the worship of Jahve, partly to heathenism, and therefore are trying to combine faith and naturalism. In contrast to such, the poet's love, faith, and hope are devoted entirely to the God of revelation; and to all those who are desirous of drawing him away he addresses in Psalm 119:115 (cf. Psalm 6:9) an indignant "depart." He, however, stands in need of grace in order to persevere and to conquer. For this he prays in Psalm 119:116-117. The מן in משּׁברי is the same as in בּושׁ מן. The ah of ואשׁעה is the intentional ah (Ew. 228, c), as in Isaiah 41:23. The statement of the ground of the סלית, vilipendis, does not mean: unsuccessful is their deceit (Hengstenberg, Olshausen), but falsehood without the consistency of truth is their self-deceptive and seductive tendency. The lxx and Syriac read תּרעיתם, "their sentiment;" but this is an Aramaic word that is unintelligible in Hebrew, which the old translators have conjured into the text only on account of an apparent tautology. The reading השּׁבתּ or חשׁבתּ (Aquila, Symmachus, and Jerome; lxx ἐλογισάμην, therefore חשׁבתי) instead of חשׁבתּ might more readily be justified in Psalm 119:119; but the former gives too narrow a meaning, and the reading rests on a mistaking of the construction of השׁבית with an accusative of the object and of the effect: all the wicked, as many of them as are on the earth, dost Thou put away as dross (סגים( ssor). Accordingly משׁפטיך in Psalm 119:120 are God's punitive judgments, or rather (cf. Psalm 119:91) God's laws (judgments) according to which He judges. What is meant are sentences of punishment, as in Leviticus 26, Deuteronomy 28. Of these the poet is afraid, for omnipotence can change words into deeds forthwith. In fear of the God who has attested Himself in Exodus 34:7 and elsewhere, his skin shudders and his hair stands on end.