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TOPIC: Spurgeon - C.H. - The Golden Alphabet (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 18 Exposition of Psalm 119:137-144
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Exposition of Psa_119:137-144
by Charles Spurgeon
137. Righteous art thou, O LORD and upright are thy judgments.
138. Thy testimonies that thou hast commanded are righteous
and very faithful.
139. My zeal hath consumed me, because mine enemies have
forgotten thy words.
140. Thy word is very pure; therefore thy servant loveth it.
141. I am small and despised: yet do not I forget thy precepts.
142. Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and
thy law is the truth.
143. Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me: yet thy
commandments are my delights.
144. The righteousness of thy testimonies is everlasting; give
me understanding, and I shall live.
This passage deals with the perfect righteousness of Jehovah and his word,
and expresses the struggles of a holy soul in reference to that
righteousness. The initial letter with which every verse commences has a
sound which reminded the Hebrew reader of the word for righteoueness.
The keynote of this section is righteousness. Oh, for grace to delight
ourselves in righteousness!
137. “Righteous art thou, O Lord, and upright are thy judgments.”
“Righteous art thou, O LORD.” The Psalmist has not often used the
name of Jehovah in this vast composition. The whole psalm shows him to
have been a deeply religious man, thoroughly familiar with the things of
God; and such persons never use the holy name of God carelessly, nor do
they even use it at all frequently in comparison with the thoughtless and the
ungodly. Familiarity begets reverence in this case. Here he uses the sacred
name in worship. He praises God by ascribing to him perfect righteousness.
God is always right, and he is always actively right, that is, righteous. This
quality is bound up in our very idea of God. We cannot imagine an
unrighteous God. Let us praise him by ascribing righteousness to him, even
when his ways to us are painful to flesh and blood.
“And upright are thy judgments.” Here he extols God’s word, or
recorded judgments, as being right, even as their Author is righteous. That
which comes from the righteous God is itself righteous. Jehovah both saith
and doth that which is right, and that alone. This is a great stay to the soul
in time of trouble. When we are sorely afflicted, and cannot see the reason
for the dispensation, we may fall back upon this most certain fact, that God
is righteous, and his dealings with us are righteous too. It should be our
glory to sing this brave confession when all things around as suggest the
contrary. That is the richest adoration which rises from the lips of faith
when carnal reason mutters about undue severity, and the like.
138. “Thy testimonies that thou hast commanded are righteous and very
faithful.” All that which God hath testified in his word is right and
truthful. His testimonies are righteous, and may be relied upon for the
present; they are faithful, and may be trusted in for the future. About every
portion of the inspired testimonies there is a divine authority: they are
published by God’s command, and they bear the impress of the royal style
which carries omnipotence in it. Not only the precepts but the promises
also are commanded of the Lord, and so are all the teachings of Scripture.
It is not left to our choice whether we will accept them or not; they are
issued by royal command, and are not to be questioned. Their
characteristic is that they are like the Lord who has proclaimed them, they
are the essence of justice and the soul of truth. God’s word is righteous,
and cannot be impeached; it is faithful, and cannot be questioned; it is true
from the beginning, and it will be true unto the end.
Dwell upon that sweet word — “very faithful.” What a mercy that we
have a God to deal with who is scrupulously faithful, true to all the items
and details of his promises, punctual to time, steadfast during all time! Well
may we risk all upon a word which is “ever faithful, ever sure.”
Since in these verses the Psalmist dwells upon the righteousness of God
and of his words, it becomes us to consider the divine character, and to
endeavor to imitate it.
“If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth
righteousness is born of him”: 1 John 2:29.
139. In the last two verses David spoke concerning his God and his law;
here he speaks of himself, and says, “My zeal hath consumed me, because
mine enemies have forgotten thy words”: this was no doubt occasioned by
his having so clear a sense of the admirable character of God’s word. His
zeal was like a fire burning within his soul. The sight of man’s forgetfulness
of God acted as a fierce blast to excite the fire to a more vehement flame,
and it blazed until it was ready to consume him. David could not bear that
men should forget God’s words. He was ready to forget himself, ay, to
consume himself, because these men forgot God. The ungodly were
David’s enemies: his enemies, because they hated him for his godliness; his
enemies, because he abhorred them for their ungodliness. These men had
gone so far in iniquity, that they not only violated and neglected the
commands of God, but they appeared actually to have forgotten them. This
put David into a great heat; he burned with indignation. How dare they
trample on sacred things! How could they utterly ignore the commands of
God himself! He was astonished, and filled with holy anger.
Have we not some who profess to be Christians, who know the truth, but
live as if they had forgotten it?
140. “Thy word is very pure: therefore thy servant loveth it.”
“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 practice it, and longed to
come under its purifying power.
141. “I am small and despised: yet do not I forget thy precepts.” That
fault of forgetfulness which he condemned in others (verse 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 he was
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.
142. “Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is
the truth.”
“Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness.” Having in a
previous verse ascribed righteousness to God, he now goes on to declare
that that righteousness is unchanging, and endures from age to age. This is
the joy and glory of the saints, that what God is he always will be, and his
mode of procedure towards the sons of men is immutable: having kept his
promise, and dealt out justice among his people, he will do so world
without end. Both the righteousness and the unrighteousness of men come
to an end, but the righteousness of God is without end.
“And thy law is the truth.” As God is love, so his law is the truth, the
very essence of truth: truth applied to ethics, truth in action, truth upon the
judgment-seat. We hear great disputes about “What is truth?” The holy
Scriptures are the only answer to that question. Note, that they are not
only true, but the truth itself. We may not say of them that they contain the