Psa 119:140-141 | TDavid | STEP | EXPOSITION Verse 140 . Thy word is very pure. It is truth distilled, holiness in its quintessence. In the word of God there is no admixture of error or sin. It is pure in its sense, pure in its language, pure in its spirit, pure in its influence, and all this to the very highest degree -- "very pure." "Therefore thy servant loveth it," which is a proof that he himself was pure in heart, for only those who are pure love God's word because of its purity. His heart was knit to the word because of its glorious holiness and truth. He admired it, delighted in it, sought to practise it, and longed to come under its purifying power. EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS Verse 140 . -- Thy word is very pure . In the original, "tried, purified, like gold in the furnace," absolutely perfect, without the dross vanity and fallibility, which runs through human writings. The more we try the promises, the surer we shall find them. Pure gold is so fixed, Boerhaave, informs us of an ounce of it set in the eye of a glass furnace for two months, without losing a single grain. --George Horne. Verse 140 . -- Thy word is very pure; therefore , etc. The word of God is not only "pure," free from all base admixture, but it is a purifier; it cleanses from sin and guilt every heart with which into comes into contact. "Now ye are clean," said Jesus Christ to his disciples, "by the word which I have spoken unto you": John 15:3 . It is this its pure quality combined with its tendency to purify every nature that yields to its holy influence, that endears it to every child of God. Here it is that he finds those views of the divine character, those promises, those precepts, those representations of the deformity of sin, of the beauty of holiness, which lead him, above all things, to seek conformity to the divine image. A child of God in his best moments does not wish the word of God brought down to a level with his own imperfect character, but desires rather that his character may be gradually raised to a conformity to that blessed word. Because it is altogether pure, and because it tends to convey to those who make it their constant study a measure of its own purity, the child of God loves it, and delights to meditate in it day and night. --John Morison. Verse 140 . -- Thy word is very pure . Before I knew the word of God in spirit and in truth, for its great antiquity, its interesting narratives, its impartial biography, its pure morality, its sublime poetry, in a word, for its beautiful and wonderful variety, I preferred it to all other books; but since I have entered into its spirit, like the Psalmist, I love it above all things for its purity; and desire, whatever else I read, it may tend to increase my knowledge of the Bible, and strengthen my affection for its divine and holy truths. --Sir William Jones, 1746-1794. Verse 140 . -- Thy word . Let us refresh our minds and our memories with some of the Scripture adjuncts connected with "the word," and realize, in some degree at least, the manifold relations which it bears both to God and our souls. It is called "the word of Christ," because much of it was given by him, and it all bears testimony to him...It is called "the word of his grace," because the glorious theme on which it loves to expatiate is grace, and especially grace as it is seen in Christ's dying love for sinful men. It is called ololoj tou staurou, "the word of the cross" ( 1 Corinthians 1:18 ), because in the crucifixion of the divine Redeemer we see eternal mercy in its brightest lustre. It is called "the word of the gospel," because it brings glad tidings of great joy to all nations. It is called "the word of the kingdom," because it holds out to all believers the hope of an everlasting kingdom of righteousness and peace. It is called "the word of salvation," because the purpose for which it was given is the salvation of sinners. It is called "the word of truth," because, as Chillingworth says, it has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth without mixture of error for its contents. And we will only add, it is called "the word of life," because it reveals to a sinful, perishing world the doctrines of life and immortality. -- IV. Graham, in "A Commentary on the First Epistle of John," 1857. Verse 140 . -- Therefore thy servant loveth it . Love in God is the fountain of all his benefits extended to us; and love in man is the fountain of all our service and obedience to God. He loved us first to do us good; and hereof it comes that we have grace to love him next to do him service. Love is such a duty that the want thereof cannot be excused in any; for the poorest both may and should love God: yet without it all the rest thou canst do in his service is nothing; nay, not if thou shouldest give thy goods to the poor, and offer thy body to be burned. Small sacrifices, flowing from faith and love, are welcome to him, where greater without these are but abomination to him. Proofs of both we have in the widow's mite and Cain's rich oblation; whereof the one was rejected, the other received. Happy are we though we cannot say, "We have done as God commands," if out of a good heart we can say, -- "We love to do what he commands." --William Cowper. Verse 140 . -- Therefore thy servant loveth it . Of all our grounds and reasons of love to the word of God, the most noble and excellent is to love the word for its purity. This showeth indeed that we are made partakers of the Divine nature: 2 Peter 1:4 . For I play you mark, when we hate evil as evil, and love good as good, we have the same love and hatred that God hat Is. When once we come to love things because they are pure, it is a sign that we have the same love that God hath. --Thomas Manton. Verse 140 . -- Thy servant loveth it . Otherwise, indeed, the Psalmist would not have been the Lord's servant at all. But he glories in the title because he delights in the pure service. --John Stephen. Verse 140-141 . -- God's own utterance is indeed without spot , and therefore not to be carped at; it is pure, fire proved, noblest metal, therefore he loves it, and does not, though young and lightly esteemed, care for the remonstrances of his proud opponents, who are older and more learned than himself. --Franz Delitzsch. HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS Verse 140 . -- An awakened sinner adoring the holy law. A saint loving it because the pure love the pure. A saint among sinners loving the law all the more for its contrast. Verse 140 . -- The crystal stream. (a) Flows from under the throne. (b) Mirrors heaven. (c) Undefiled through the ages. (d) Nourishes holiness as it flows. The enraptured pilgrim. (a) Keeping by its brink. (b) Delighted with its lucid depths. Pleased with its mirrored revelations -- self, heaven, God. Cleansed and refreshed by its waters. --W.B.H. Verse 140 . -- The purity of God's Word. (a) It proceeds from a perfectly pure source: "Thy word." (b) It reveals a purity otherwise unknown. (c) It treats impure subjects with absolute purity. (d) It inculcates the most perfect purity. (e) It produces such purity in those who are subject to its power. -- The love which its purity inspires in gracious souls. (a) They love it because, while it reveals their natural impurity, it shows them how to escape from it. (b) They love it because it conforms them to its own purity. (c) They love it because to a pure heart the purity of the word is one of its chief commendations. -- The evidences of this love to the pure word. (a) Desire to possess it in its purity. (b) Subjection to its spirit and teachings. (c) Zeal for its honour and diffusion. --W.H.J.P.

Psalms 119:140-141

EXPOSITION Verse 140 . Thy word is very pure. It is truth distilled, holiness in its quintessence. In the word of God there is no admixture of error or sin. It is pure in its sense, pure in its language, pure in its spirit, pure in its influence, and all this to the very highest degree -- "very pure." "Therefore thy servant loveth it," which is a proof that he himself was pure in heart, for only those who are pure love God's word because of its purity. His heart was knit to the word because of its glorious holiness and truth. He admired it, delighted in it, sought to practise it, and longed to come under its purifying power. EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS Verse 140 . -- Thy word is very pure . In the original, "tried, purified, like gold in the furnace," absolutely perfect, without the dross vanity and fallibility, which runs through human writings. The more we try the promises, the surer we shall find them. Pure gold is so fixed, Boerhaave, informs us of an ounce of it set in the eye of a glass furnace for two months, without losing a single grain. --George Horne. Verse 140 . -- Thy word is very pure; therefore , etc. The word of God is not only "pure," free from all base admixture, but it is a purifier; it cleanses from sin and guilt every heart with which into comes into contact. "Now ye are clean," said Jesus Christ to his disciples, "by the word which I have spoken unto you": John 15:3 . It is this its pure quality combined with its tendency to purify every nature that yields to its holy influence, that endears it to every child of God. Here it is that he finds those views of the divine character, those promises, those precepts, those representations of the deformity of sin, of the beauty of holiness, which lead him, above all things, to seek conformity to the divine image. A child of God in his best moments does not wish the word of God brought down to a level with his own imperfect character, but desires rather that his character may be gradually raised to a conformity to that blessed word. Because it is altogether pure, and because it tends to convey to those who make it their constant study a measure of its own purity, the child of God loves it, and delights to meditate in it day and night. --John Morison. Verse 140 . -- Thy word is very pure . Before I knew the word of God in spirit and in truth, for its great antiquity, its interesting narratives, its impartial biography, its pure morality, its sublime poetry, in a word, for its beautiful and wonderful variety, I preferred it to all other books; but since I have entered into its spirit, like the Psalmist, I love it above all things for its purity; and desire, whatever else I read, it may tend to increase my knowledge of the Bible, and strengthen my affection for its divine and holy truths. --Sir William Jones, 1746-1794. Verse 140 . -- Thy word . Let us refresh our minds and our memories with some of the Scripture adjuncts connected with "the word," and realize, in some degree at least, the manifold relations which it bears both to God and our souls. It is called "the word of Christ," because much of it was given by him, and it all bears testimony to him...It is called "the word of his grace," because the glorious theme on which it loves to expatiate is grace, and especially grace as it is seen in Christ's dying love for sinful men. It is called ololoj tou staurou, "the word of the cross" ( 1 Corinthians 1:18 ), because in the crucifixion of the divine Redeemer we see eternal mercy in its brightest lustre. It is called "the word of the gospel," because it brings glad tidings of great joy to all nations. It is called "the word of the kingdom," because it holds out to all believers the hope of an everlasting kingdom of righteousness and peace. It is called "the word of salvation," because the purpose for which it was given is the salvation of sinners. It is called "the word of truth," because, as Chillingworth says, it has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth without mixture of error for its contents. And we will only add, it is called "the word of life," because it reveals to a sinful, perishing world the doctrines of life and immortality. -- IV. Graham, in "A Commentary on the First Epistle of John," 1857. Verse 140 . -- Therefore thy servant loveth it . Love in God is the fountain of all his benefits extended to us; and love in man is the fountain of all our service and obedience to God. He loved us first to do us good; and hereof it comes that we have grace to love him next to do him service. Love is such a duty that the want thereof cannot be excused in any; for the poorest both may and should love God: yet without it all the rest thou canst do in his service is nothing; nay, not if thou shouldest give thy goods to the poor, and offer thy body to be burned. Small sacrifices, flowing from faith and love, are welcome to him, where greater without these are but abomination to him. Proofs of both we have in the widow's mite and Cain's rich oblation; whereof the one was rejected, the other received. Happy are we though we cannot say, "We have done as God commands," if out of a good heart we can say, -- "We love to do what he commands." --William Cowper. Verse 140 . -- Therefore thy servant loveth it . Of all our grounds and reasons of love to the word of God, the most noble and excellent is to love the word for its purity. This showeth indeed that we are made partakers of the Divine nature: 2 Peter 1:4 . For I play you mark, when we hate evil as evil, and love good as good, we have the same love and hatred that God hat Is. When once we come to love things because they are pure, it is a sign that we have the same love that God hath. --Thomas Manton. Verse 140 . -- Thy servant loveth it . Otherwise, indeed, the Psalmist would not have been the Lord's servant at all. But he glories in the title because he delights in the pure service. --John Stephen. Verse 140-141 . -- God's own utterance is indeed without spot , and therefore not to be carped at; it is pure, fire proved, noblest metal, therefore he loves it, and does not, though young and lightly esteemed, care for the remonstrances of his proud opponents, who are older and more learned than himself. --Franz Delitzsch. HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS Verse 140 . -- An awakened sinner adoring the holy law. A saint loving it because the pure love the pure. A saint among sinners loving the law all the more for its contrast. Verse 140 . -- The crystal stream. (a) Flows from under the throne. (b) Mirrors heaven. (c) Undefiled through the ages. (d) Nourishes holiness as it flows. The enraptured pilgrim. (a) Keeping by its brink. (b) Delighted with its lucid depths. Pleased with its mirrored revelations -- self, heaven, God. Cleansed and refreshed by its waters. --W.B.H. Verse 140 . -- The purity of God's Word. (a) It proceeds from a perfectly pure source: "Thy word." (b) It reveals a purity otherwise unknown. (c) It treats impure subjects with absolute purity. (d) It inculcates the most perfect purity. (e) It produces such purity in those who are subject to its power. -- The love which its purity inspires in gracious souls. (a) They love it because, while it reveals their natural impurity, it shows them how to escape from it. (b) They love it because it conforms them to its own purity. (c) They love it because to a pure heart the purity of the word is one of its chief commendations. -- The evidences of this love to the pure word. (a) Desire to possess it in its purity. (b) Subjection to its spirit and teachings. (c) Zeal for its honour and diffusion. --W.H.J.P.

EXPOSITION

Verse 141. I am small and despised: yet do I not forget thy precepts. That fault of forgetfulness which he condemned in others (Psalms 119:139) could not be charged upon himself. His enemies made no account of him, regarded him as a man without power or ability, and therefore looked down upon him. He appears to accept the situation and humbly take the lowest room, but he carries God's word with him. How many a man has been driven to do some ill action in order to reply to the contempt of his enemies: to make himself conspicuous he has either spoken or acted in a manner which he could not justify. The beauty of the Psalmist's piety was that it was calm and well balanced, and as he was not carried away by flattery, so was he not overcome by shame. If small, he the more jealously attended to the smaller duties; and if despised, he was the more in earnest to keep the despised commandments of God.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

Verse 141. -- I am small and despised, or, I have been. Some versions render it young; as if it had respect to the time of his anointing by Samuel, when he was overlooked and despised in his father's family (1 Samuel 16:11 17:28); but the word here used is not expressive of age, but of state, condition, and circumstances; and the meaning is, that he was little in his own esteem, and in the esteem of men, and was despised; and that on account of religion, in which he was a type of Christ (Psalms 24:6 Isaiah 53:3), and which is the common lot of good men, who are treated by the world as the filth of it, and the offscouring of all things. --John Gill.

Verse 141. -- I am small. They that love God may be reduced to a mean, low, and afflicted condition; the Lord seeth it meet for divers reasons:

Verse 141. -- Small. This applies to David in his early days of trouble and persecution. It is difficult to find any other individual to whom it is so suitable. --James G. Murphy.

Verse 141. -- A notable example to the shame of them, that perhaps will serve and praise God in their prosperity, and when they are increased; but let affliction or want come, and then they have little heart to do it. --Abraham Wright.

Verse 141. -- Yet do not I forget thy precepts. God observeth what we do in our trouble: "If we have forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a strange god: shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart": Psalms 44:20-21. If we slacken our service to God, or fall off to any degree of apostasy, the Judge of hearts knoweth all: God knoweth whether we would have depraved and corrupt doctrine, worship, or ordinances; or whether we will faithfully adhere to him, to his word, and worship, and ordinances, whatever it cost us.

In our poor and despicable condition we see more cause to love the word than we did before; because we experience supports and comforts which we have thereby: "Knowing that tribulation worketh patience," etc. (Romans 5:3); "For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ": 2 Corinthians 1:5. God hath special consolations for his afflicted and despised people, and makes their consolation by Christ to run parallel with, and keep pace with, their sufferings for Christ. --Thomas Manton.

Verse 141. -- Yet do not I forget thy precepts. We see by experience that our affection leaves anything from the time it goes out of our remembrance. We cease to love when we cease to remember; but earnest love ever renews remembrance of that which is beloved. The first step of defection is to forget what God hath commanded, and what we are obliged in duty to do to him; and upon this easily follows the offending of God by our transgression. Such beasts as did not chew their cud, under the law were accounted unclean, and not meet to be sacrificed unto God: that was but a figure, signifying unto us that a man who hath received good things from God, and doth not think upon them, cannot feel the sweetness of them, and so cannot be thankful to God. --William Cowper.

HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS

Verse 141-144. -- A mournful song arid a joyful refrain. Stanza 1: "I am small and despised." Refrain. The everlasting righteousness of God. Stanza 2: "Trouble and anguish have seized me." Refrain: The everlasting righteousness of God. --C.A.D.

Verse 141. -- Here is --

Verse 141. --

Verse 141. -- Unknown, yet well known.