Psalm 119:55

I have remembered thy name, O LORD, in the night, and have kept thy law.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

119:49-56 Those that make God's promises their portion, may with humble boldness make them their plea. He that by his Spirit works faith in us, will work for us. The word of God speaks comfort in affliction. If, through grace, it makes us holy, there is enough in it to make us easy, in all conditions. Let us be certain we have the Divine law for what we believe, and then let not scoffers prevail upon us to decline from it. God's judgments of old comfort and encourage us, for he is still the same. Sin is horrible in the eyes of all that are sanctified. Ere long the believer will be absent from the body, and present with the Lord. In the mean time, the statutes of the Lord supply subjects for grateful praise. In the season of affliction, and in the silent hours of the night, he remembers the name of the Lord, and is stirred up to keep the law. All who have made religion the first thing, will own that they have been unspeakable gainers by it.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

I have remembered thy name, O Lord, in the night ... - I have thought on thee in the night, when on my bed; I have done it in the night of calamity and sorrow. See the notes at Psalm 63:6.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

54. songs—As the exile sings songs of his home (Ps 137:3), so the child of God, "a stranger on earth," sings the songs of heaven, his true home (Ps 39:12). In ancient times, laws were put in verse, to imprint them the more on the memory of the people. So God's laws are the believer's songs.

house of my pilgrimage—present life (Ge 17:8; 47:9; Heb 11:13).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Thy name; thy holy nature and attributes, thy blessed word, and thy wonderful works; all which come under the title of God’s name.

In the night, when darkness causeth fear in others, I took pleasure in remembering thee; and when others abandon all business, and wholly give themselves up to rest and sleep, my thoughts and affections were working towards thee.

And have kept thy law; this was the fruit of my serious remembrance of thee.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

I have remembered thy name, O Lord, in the night,.... In the night of distress and affliction, as Jarchi; or rather literally, in the night season, when on his bed and awake: while others were asleep, he revolved in his mind the greatness of the divine Being; the perfections of his nature; his wonderful works of creation, providence, and grace; his word and ordinances, by which he was made known unto the sons of men; and these he called to mind and meditated upon in the night watches, to encourage his faith and hope in the Lord, and draw out his love and affection to him;

and have kept thy law: though imperfectly, yet spiritually, sincerely, heartily, and from a principle of love and gratitude, and with a view to the glory of God, and without mercenary and sinister ends.

Geneva Study Bible

I have remembered thy name, O LORD, in the {f} night, and have kept thy law.

(f) Even when others sleep.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

55. The constant recollection of the Lawgiver and all that He has revealed Himself to be, is the most powerful motive to observance of His laws.

in the night] Cp. Psalm 119:62; Psalm 1:2.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 55. - I have remembered thy Name, O Lord, in the night (comp. Psalm 63:6; Psalm 149:5; and Job 35:10). And have kept thy Law. The night is the time when wicked men do their most wicked deeds (Job 24:14-16). I keep thy Law both night and day. Psalm 119:55

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The eightfold Zajin. God's word is his hope and his trust amidst all derision; and when he burns with indignation at the apostates, God's word is his solace. Since in Psalm 119:49 the expression is not דּברך but דּבר, it is not to be interpreted according to Psalm 98:3; Psalm 106:45, but: remember the word addressed to Thy servant, because Thou hast made me hope (Piel causat. as e.g., נשּׁה, to cause to forget, Genesis 41:51), i.e., hast comforted me by promising me a blessed issue, and hast directed my expectation thereunto. This is his comfort in his dejected condition, that God's promissory declaration has quickened him and proved its reviving power in his case. In הליצוּני (הליצוּני), ludificantur, it is implied that the זדים eht taht d are just לצים, frivolous persons, libertines, free-thinkers (Proverbs 21:24). משׁפּטיך, Psalm 119:52, are the valid, verified decisions (judgments) of God revealed from the veriest olden times. In the remembrance of these, which determine the lot of a man according to the relation he holds towards them, the poet found comfort. It can be rendered: then I comforted myself; or according to a later usage of the Hithpa.: I was comforted. Concerning זלעפה, aestus, vid., Psalm 11:6, and on the subject-matter, Psalm 119:21, Psalm 119:104. The poet calls his earthly life "the house of his pilgrimage;" for it is true the earth is man's (Psalm 115:16), but he has no abiding resting-place there (1 Chronicles 29:15), his בּית עולם (Ecclesiastes 12:5) is elsewhere (vid., supra, Psalm 119:19, Psalm 39:13). God's statutes are here his "songs," which give him spiritual refreshing, sweeten the hardships of the pilgrimage, and measure and hasten his steps. The Name of God has been in his mind hitherto, not merely by day, but also by night; and in consequence of this he has kept God's law (ואשׁמרה, as five times besides in this Psalm, cf. Psalm 3:6, and to be distinguished from ואשׁמרה, Psalm 119:44). Just this, that he keeps (observat) God's precepts, has fallen to his lot. To others something else is allotted (Psalm 4:8), to him this one most needful thing.