Psalm 119:119

Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth like dross: therefore I love thy testimonies.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(119) Thou puttest away.—For this common Scriptural figure comp. Jeremiah 6:28-30; Ezekiel 22:18-20. This is indeed a process which is continually going on, and it is one test of the true religious character that it can discern it at work under the seeming contradictions of the world. Where apparently vice succeeds and prospers it is really marked out for expulsion,

“To those who

All treasures and all gain esteem as dross;

And dignities and powers, all but the Highest.”

MILTON.

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

Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth - Margin, "causest to cease." Literally: "Dross ... thou makest all the wicked of the earth to cease." They are seen by the psalmist as dross, and then he says that God had treated them as such.

Like dross - The "scoriae" of metals, or of a furnace. This dross is cast out as of no value. So the wicked are regarded by God.

Therefore I love thy testimonies - I love a law which condemns sin. I love a government which ferrets out and punishes the guilty. This is a leading object with all just governments; and this we approve in all governments. As the divine government makes this an object, and as it will accomplish this more perfectly than any other administration so it is more worthy of confidence than any other. As it is the only government that does this perfectly, so it is the only one that is worthy of unlimited confidence.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

118-120. But the disobedient and rebellious will be visited by God's wrath, which impresses the pious with wholesome fear and awe.

their deceit is falsehood—that is, all their cunning deceit, wherewith they seek to entrap the godly, is in vain.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Ver. 119. Thou puttest away; thou removest them from thy presence, and from the society of thy people, and from the land of the living.

Like dross; which, though for a season it be mixed with gold or silver, is not only separated from it as a useless and contemptible thing, but also is utterly consumed by fire.

Therefore I love thy testimonies; because they are the best preservatives against wickedness, and against those dreadful punishments attending upon it, of which he professeth his fear in the next verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth like dross,.... Which is of no worth and value, useless and unprofitable; which is cast into the fire, and separated from the choice metal. This expresses the character and state of wicked men; who are of no account with God, are of no profit and advantage to him; nor to men, but harmful and pernicious; are cast into the fire of God's judgments here, and into everlasting burnings hereafter; and will be separated from the righteous, and have no part and lot with them: these seem to be hypocrites also, who have made a show of being gold and silver, when they were nothing but dross; and being reprobate silver, were rejected of God as such;

therefore I love thy testimonies; which discover such persons when brought to be tried by them; and which require purity of heart and life, and caution against evil ways and evil men, and are a means of preserving from them.

Geneva Study Bible

Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth like {e} dross: therefore I love thy testimonies.

(e) Which infected your people, as dross does metal.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

119. Thou puttest away] God removes the wicked, as the refiner of metals throws away the dross. Cp. Jeremiah 6:28-30; Ezekiel 22:18-19; Malachi 3:2-3. LXX however reads I reckon, and Aq., Symm., Jer. thou reckonest (חשבח for השבח). The former does not suit the next line, but the latter may be the true reading.

therefore I love thy testimonies] That I may avoid their fate: or perhaps, because I see thy righteousness manifested in these judgements. Cp. the next verse.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 119. - Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth like dross. The wicked are ultimately separated from the righteous, and cast away "as dross," since they can serve no good end (comp. Matthew 13:30, 49, 50). Therefore I love thy testimonies. Not because the wicked suffer, but because they are prevented from injuring the righteous. Psalm 119:119

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.