Psalm 91:16

With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(16) Long Life.—The promise of a long life, while in accordance with the general feeling of the Old Testament, is peculiarly appropriate at the close of this psalm, which all through speaks of protection from danger that threatened life.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

91:9-16 Whatever happens, nothing shall hurt the believer; though trouble and affliction befal, it shall come, not for his hurt, but for good, though for the present it be not joyous but grievous. Those who rightly know God, will set their love upon him. They by prayer constantly call upon him. His promise is, that he will in due time deliver the believer out of trouble, and in the mean time be with him in trouble. The Lord will manage all his worldly concerns, and preserve his life on earth, so long as it shall be good for him. For encouragement in this he looks unto Jesus. He shall live long enough; till he has done the work he was sent into this world for, and is ready for heaven. Who would wish to live a day longer than God has some work to do, either by him or upon him? A man may die young, yet be satisfied with living. But a wicked man is not satisfied even with long life. At length the believer's conflict ends; he has done for ever with trouble, sin, and temptation.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

With long life will I satisfy him - The margin here, is "length of days;" that is, days lengthened out or multiplied. The meaning is, I will give him length of days as he desires, or until he is satisfied with life; implying

(1) that it is natural to desire long life;

(2) that long life is to be regarded as a blessing (compare Proverbs 3:2, Proverbs 3:16; Exodus 20:12);

(3) that the tendency of religion is to lengthen out life; since virtue, temperance, regular industry, calmness of mind, moderation in all things, freedom from excesses in eating and in drinking - to all of which religion prompts - contribute to health, and to length of days (see Psalm 34:12-14, notes; Psalm 37:9, note; Psalm 55:23, note); and

(4) that a time will come, even under this promised blessing of length of days, when a man will be "satisfied" with living; when he will have no strong desire to live longer; when, under the infirmities of advanced years, and under his lonely feelings from the fact that his early friends have fallen, and under the influence of a bright hope of heaven, he will feel that he has had enough of life here, and that it is better to depart to another world.

And shew him my salvation - In another life, after he shall be "satisfied" with this life. The promise extends beyond the grave: "Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." See the notes at 1 Timothy 4:8. Thus, religion blesses man in this life, and blesses him forever. In possession of this, it is a great thing to him to live long; and then it is a great thing to die - to go to be forever with God.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

16. show him—literally, "make him see" (Ps 50:23; Lu 2:30).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

With long life will I satisfy him; either in this world, when it is expedient for my service, and for his benefit; or, at least, in the next world, where he shall live to eternity in the blissful sight and enjoyment of God in glory.

Show him my salvation, either here or hereafter.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

With long life will I satisfy him,.... In this world: the saints live in it as long as they choose to live; and when they come to die, be it when it will, they are, like Abraham, full of years, or satisfied with them; they have had enough of them, and would not live always here; but, with good old Simeon, desire to depart in peace; and in the other world they shall be satisfied with length of days, for ever and ever, even with eternal life; and nothing short of this will satisfy a good man:

and show him my salvation; Jesus Christ, the author of salvation, whom God appointed to do it, and who has finished it; salvation itself, wrought out by him; its fulness and suitableness, and interest in it; and also eternal glory and happiness, the completion and consummation of salvation: the former is shown unto and seen by faith here; the latter will be seen and enjoyed in heaven to all eternity. Aben Ezra and Kimchi refer this salvation to the days of the Messiah.

Geneva Study Bible

With {k} long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.

(k) For he is content with that life that God gives for by death the shortness of this life is recompensed with immortality.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 16. - With long life (or, length of days) will I satisfy him. Length of days is always viewed in the Old Testament as a blessing, and a special reward for obedience (Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:16; 2 Kings 20:6; 2 Chronicles 1:11; Psalm 21:4; Proverbs 3:2, 16, etc.). It is only in the New Testament that we learn how much "better" it is "to depart, and be with Christ" (Philippians 1:23). And show him my salvation (comp. Psalm 50:23); i.e. "make him experience what salvation is." "Salvation," as Professor Cheyne observes, "is both an act and a state" - an act on God's part, a state on man's.



Psalm 91:16

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The first voice continues this ratification, and goes on weaving these promises still further: thou hast made the Most High thy dwelling-place (מעון); there shall not touch thee.... The promises rise ever higher and higher and sound more glorious. The Pual אנּה, prop. to be turned towards, is equivalent to "to befall one," as in Proverbs 12:21; Aquila well renders: ου ̓ μεταχθήσεται πρὸς σὲ κακία. לא־יקרב reminds one of Isaiah 54:14, where אל follows; here it is בּ, as in Judges 19:13. The angel guardianship which is apportioned to him who trusts in God appears in Psalm 91:11, Psalm 91:12 as a universal fact, not as a solitary fact and occurring only in extraordinary instances. Haec est vera miraculorum ratio, observes Brentius on this passage, quod semel aut iterum manifeste revelent ea quae Deus semper abscondite operatur. In ישּׂאוּנך the suffix has been combined with the full form of the future. The lxx correctly renders Psalm 91:12: μήποτε προσκόψῃς πρὸς λίθον τὸν πόδα σου, for נגף everywhere else, and therefore surely here too and in Proverbs 3:23, has a transitive signification, not an intransitive (Aquila, Jerome, Symmachus), cf. Jeremiah 13:16. Psalm 91:13 tells what he who trusts in God has power to do by virtue of this divine succour through the medium of angels. The promise calls to mind Mark 16:18, ὄφεις ἀροῦσι, they shall take up serpents, but still more Luke 10:19 : Behold, I give you power to tread ἐπάνω ὄφεων καὶ σκορπίων καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν δύναμιν τοῦ ἐχθροῦ. They are all kinds of destructive powers belonging to nature, and particularly to the spirit-world, that are meant. They are called lions and fierce lions from the side of their open power, which threatens destruction, and adders and dragons from the side of their venomous secret malice. In Psalm 91:13 it is promised that the man who trusts in God shall walk on over these monsters, these malignant foes, proud in God and unharmed; in Psalm 91:13, that he shall tread them to the ground (cf. Romans 16:20). That which the divine voice of promise now says at the close of the Psalm is, so far as the form is concerned, an echo taken from Psalm 50. Psalm 50:15, Psalm 50:23 of that Psalm sound almost word for word the same. Genesis 46:4, and more especially Isaiah 63:9, are to be compared on Psalm 50:15. In B. Taanith 16a it is inferred from this passage that God compassionates the suffering ones whom He is compelled by reason of His holiness to chasten and prove. The "salvation of Jahve," as in Psalm 50:23, is the full reality of the divine purpose (or counsel) of mercy. To live to see the final glory was the rapturous thought of the Old Testament hope, and in the apostolic age, of the New Testament hope also.