Psalm 119:92

Unless thy law had been my delights, I should then have perished in mine affliction.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Psalm 119:92-95. Unless thy law had been my delight — Unless I had known, believed, and delighted in it, as the subject of my meditation; I should then — At the very instant; have perished in mine affliction — My heart would have failed me, and I should have been undone; I could not have outlived one stroke of thine afflicting hand. I will never forget thy precepts — I will always retain a remembrance of, and a regard to, thy word, as my rule; for with them thou hast quickened me — Revived and cheered me when my heart was ready to sink and die within me. I am thine — By creation, redemption, and manifold obligations; as also by my own choice and designation. I have devoted myself to thy service, and committed myself to thy care. Save me — Both from sin and ruin. Those that in sincerity give up themselves to God, to be his subjects and servants, obeying his will and living to his glory, may be sure that he will protect them and preserve them to his heavenly kingdom, Malachi 3:17. The wicked have waited to destroy me — Watching for an opportunity so to do; but I will consider thy testimonies — As my best counsellors and comforters, and also my defenders against the designs and assaults of mine enemies.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

119:89-96 The settling of God's word in heaven, is opposed to the changes and revolutions of the earth. And the engagements of God's covenant are established more firmly than the earth itself. All the creatures answer the ends of their creation: shall man, who alone is endued with reason, be the only unprofitable burden of the earth? We may make the Bible a pleasant companion at any time. But the word, without the grace of God, would not quicken us. See the best help for bad memories, namely, good affections; and though the exact words be lost, if the meaning remain, that is well. I am thine, not my own, not the world's; save me from sin, save me from ruin. The Lord will keep the man in peace, whose mind is stayed on him. It is poor perfection which one sees and end of. Such are all things in this world, which pass for perfections. The glory of man is but as the flower of the grass. The psalmist had seen the fulness of the word of God, and its sufficiency. The word of the Lord reaches to all cases, to all times. It will take us from all confidence in man, or in our own wisdom, strength, and righteousness. Thus shall we seek comfort and happiness from Christ alone.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Unless thy law had been my delights - See Psalm 119:16, note; Psalm 119:24, note. Unless I had had pleasure in thy law, thy word, thy truth; unless I had derived support and consolation in that.

I should then have perished in mine affliction - I should have sunk under my burden. I should not have been able to hold up under the weight of sorrow and trial. How often the people of God can say. this! How often may each one in the course of his life say this! "I should have sunk a thousand times," said a most excellent, but much afflicted, man to me, "if it had not been for one declaration in the word of God - 'The Eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.'"

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

92-94. Hence the pious are encouraged and inclined to seek a knowledge of it, and persevere amidst the efforts of those planning and waiting to destroy them.

my delights—plural, not merely delight, but equal to all other delights.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Then; at the very instant; I could not have outlived one stroke of thine afflicting hand.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Unless thy law had been my delights,.... Not the law of works, the voice of words, which they that heard entreated they might hear no more; which is terrible, and works wrath in the conscience; is a cursing and damning law to the transgressors of it; and so not delightful, unless as considered in the hands of Christ, the fulfilling end of it: but the law of faith, the doctrine of faith, or of justification by the righteousness of Christ, received by faith, which yields peace, joy, and comfort, even in tribulation: or the whole doctrine of the Gospel, the law of the Messiah, the isles waited for; the doctrine of peace, pardon, righteousness, and eternal life by Christ, which is exceeding delightful to sensible sinners;

I should then have perished in mine affliction; referring to some particular time of affliction he was pressed with, either through the persecution of Saul, or the conspiracy of Absalom which was very great and heavy upon him, so that he almost despaired of deliverance from it; and must have perished, not eternally, but as to his comforts: his heart would have fainted in him, and he would have sunk under the weight of the affliction, had it not been for the relief he had from the word of God, the doctrines and promises of it; he was like one in a storm, tossed with tempests, one wave after another beat upon him, and rolled over him, when he thought himself just perishing; and must have given all over for lost, had it not been for the delight and pleasure he found in reading and meditating on the sacred writings.

Geneva Study Bible

Unless thy law had been my delights, I should then have perished in mine affliction.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

92. then] emphatically, in that case. But for the refreshment of God’s law, he would have utterly lost heart in affliction (Isaiah 40:29-31). This had revived him (Psalm 119:93), in this (Psalm 119:95) he had found consolation when his life was in peril.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 92. - Unless thy Law had been my delights, I should then have perished in mine affliction (comp. vers. 16, 24, 35, 47, 70, 77). Only a real love of God's commandments can sustain men under severe affliction. Psalm 119:92

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The eightfold Lamed. Eternal and imperishable in the constant verifying of itself is the vigorous and consolatory word of God, to which the poet will ever cling. It has heaven as its standing-place, and therefore it also has the qualities of heaven, and before all others, heaven-like stability. Psalm 89 (Psalm 89:3) uses similar language in reference to God's faithfulness, of which here Psalm 119:90 says that it endureth into all generations. The earth hath He creatively set up, and it standeth, viz., as a practical proof and as a scene of His infinite, unchangeable faithfulness. Heaven and earth are not the subjects of Psalm 119:91 (Hupfeld), for only the earth is previously mentioned; the reference to the heavens in Psalm 119:89 is of a very different character. Hitzig and others see the subject in למשׁפּטיך: with respect to Thy judgments, they stand fast unto this day; but the עבדיך which follows requires another meaning to be assigned to עמדוּ: either of taking up one's place ready for service, or, since עמד למשׁפט is a current phrase in Numbers 35:12; Joshua 20:6; Ezekiel 44:24, of placing one's self ready to obey (Bttcher). The subject of עמדוּ, as the following הכּל shows, is meant to be thought of in the most general sense (cf. Job 38:14): all beings are God's servants (subjects), and have accordingly to be obedient and humble before His judicial decisions - היּום, "even to this day," the poet adds, for these judicial decisions are those which are formulated beforehand in the Tra. Joy in this ever sure, all-conditioning word has upheld the poet in his affliction, Psalm 119:92. He who has been persecuted and cast down as it were to death, owes his reviving to it, Psalm 119:93. From Him whose possession or property he is in faith and love he also further looks for his salvation, Psalm 119:94. Let evil-doers lie in wait for him (קוּוּ in a hostile sense, as in Psalm 56:7, קוּה, cf. חכּה, going back to קוה, Arab. qawiya, with the broad primary signification, to be tight, firm, strong) to destroy him, he meditates on God's testimonies. He knows from experience that all (earthly) perfection (תּכלה) has an end (inasmuch as, having reached its height, it changes into its opposite); God's commandment (singular as in Deuteronomy 11:22), on the contrary, is exceeding broad (cf. Job 11:9), unlimited in its duration and verification.