Psalm 119:72

The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(72) Better unto me—i.e., better for me.

Thousands of.—We must supply shekels or pieces.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

119:65-72 However God has dealt with us, he has dealt with us better than we deserve; and all in love, and for our good. Many have knowledge, but little judgment; those who have both, are fortified against the snares of Satan, and furnished for the service of God. We are most apt to wander from God, when we are easy in the world. We should leave our concerns to the disposal of God, seeing we know not what is good for us. Lord, thou art our bountiful Benefactor; incline our hearts to faith and obedience. The psalmist will go on in his duty with constancy and resolution. The proud are full of the world, and its wealth and pleasures; these make them senseless, secure, and stupid. God visits his people with affliction, that they may learn his statutes. Not only God's promises, but even his law, his percepts, though hard to ungodly men, are desirable, and profitable, because they lead us with safety and delight unto eternal life.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The law of thy mouth - The law which proceeds out of thy mouth, or which thou hast spoken.

Is better unto me - The Hebrew is, "Good to me is the law of thy mouth above thousands of gold and silver."

Than thousands of gold and silver - Than any amount of wealth. It is to me the most valuable possession; that which I prize above all other things. Compare the notes at Psalm 19:10.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

71, 72. So also affliction of any kind acts as a wholesome discipline in leading the pious more highly to value the truth and promises of God.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Not only thy promises, but even thy precepts, which are so unpleasant and hard to ungodly men, to me they are more desirable and more needful and profitable, because they do not only give me abundant satisfaction and comfort in this life, but also they conduct me with safety and delight unto that eternal and most blessed life, where gold and silver bear no price.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver. The word of God, the doctrines contained in it; which, coming out of the mouth of God, and spoken by him, carries in it weight and authority, commands reverence and respect; and ought to be considered as indeed the word of God and not of man; and so of more value than thousands of pieces of gold and silver; or, as the Targum, than a thousand talents of gold and silver. The truths and doctrines of the word of God are not only comparable to gold and silver for their intrinsic worth and value; but are preferable to them, and to be received before them: David had his thousands of gold and silver, but he esteemed the word of God above them all; and willingly suffered afflictions, that he might understand it better; see Psalm 119:127.

Geneva Study Bible

The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

72. This is the lesson he has learnt in the school of affliction—the inestimable preciousness of God’s law. Cp. Psalm 119:14; Proverbs 8:10-11.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 72. - The Law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver; i.e. I value it more than any amount of earthly riches. Psalm 119:72

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The eightfold Teth. The good word of the gracious God is the fountain of all good; and it is learned in the way of lowliness. He reviews his life, and sees in everything that has befallen him the good and well-meaning appointment of the God of salvation in accordance with the plan and order of salvation of His word. The form עבדּך, which is the form out of pause, is retained in Psalm 119:65 beside Athnach, although not preceded by Olewejored (cf. Psalm 35:19; Psalm 48:11; Proverbs 30:21). Clinging believingly to the commandments of God, he is able confidently to pray that He would teach him "good discernment" and "knowledge." טעם is ethically the capacity of distinguishing between good and evil, and of discovering the latter as it were by touch; טוּב טעם, good discernment, is a coupling of words like טוּב לב, a happy disposition, cheerfulness. God has brought him into this relationship to His word by humbling him, and thus setting him right out of his having gone astray. אמרה in Psalm 119:67, as in Psalm 119:11, is not God's utterance conveying a promise, but imposing a duty. God is called טּוב as He who is graciously disposed towards man, and מתיב as He who acts out this disposition; this loving and gracious God he implores to become his Teacher. In his fidelity to God's word he does not allow himself to be led astray by any of the lies which the proud try to impose upon him (Bttcher), or better absolutely (cf. Job 13:4): to patch together over him, making the true nature unrecognisable as it were by means of false plaster or whitewash (טפל, to smear over, bedaub, as the Targumic, Talmudic, and Syriac show). If the heart of these men, who by slander make him into a caricature of himself, is covered as it were with thick fat (a figure of insensibility and obduracy, Psalm 17:10; Psalm 73:7; Isaiah 6:10, lxx ἐτυρώθη, Aquila ἐλιπάνθη, Symmachus ἐμυαλώθη) against all the impressions of the word of God, he, on the other hand, has his delight in the law of God (שׁעשׁע with an accusative of the object, not of that which is delighted, Psalm 94:19, but of that which delights). How beneficial has the school of affliction through which he has attained to this, been to him! The word proceeding from the mouth of God is now more precious to him than the greatest earthly riches.