Psalms 119:66

66 Teach thou me goodness, and lore, either chastising, and knowing; for I believed to thy behests. (Teach thou me goodness, and knowledge, or discipline; for I trust in thy commandments.)

Psalms 119:66 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 119:66

Teach me good judgment and knowledge
Or, "a good taste" {p}: of the Lord himself, how good and gracious he is; of his grace and love, which is better than wine; of his word and the truths of it, which are sweeter to a spiritual taste than honey or the honeycomb; and of the things of the Spirit of God, which are seventy to a spiritual man, a distinguishing taste of things; for as "the taste discerns perverse things" in food, so a man of a spiritual taste distinguishes good from evil, truth from error; discerns things that differ, and approves of those that are most excellent, and abides by them. Or, "a good sense" F17, as it may be rendered; a good sense of the Scriptures, the true and right sense of them; and to have the mind of God and of Christ, and of the Spirit of Christ, in the word; and to have distinguishing light in it, and a well established judgment in the truths of it, is very desirable: as is also a spiritual and experimental "knowledge" of them, a growing and increasing one; a knowledge of God in Christ, and of his will; a knowledge of Christ, his person and offices, and the mysteries of his grace; which a truly gracious and humble soul desires to be taught, and is taught of God more or less;

for I have believed thy commandments;
the whole word of God, and all that is said in it; that it is of God, is the word of God and not the word of man; and therefore he was desirous of being taught the true meaning of it, and to be experimentally acquainted with it; the word of God is called his commandment, ( Psalms 19:7 ) . Or the precepts of the word; he believed these were the commandments of God, and not of men; delivered out by him, and enforced by his authority; and therefore he gave credit to them, and loved them, and desired better to understand and do them: or the promises and threatenings annexed to them, which he believed would be punctually fulfilled upon the doers or transgressors of them; and as for himself, he cheerfully yielded the obedience of faith unto them.


FOOTNOTES:

F16 (Mej bwj) "bonitatem gustus", Piscator, Michaelis.
F17 "Bonitatem sensus", Montanus; i.e. "sensum bonum", Gejerus.

Psalms 119:66 In-Context

64 Lord, the earth is full of thy mercy; teach thou me thy justifyings. (Lord, the earth is full of thy love; teach thou me thy statutes.)
65 [Teth]. Lord, thou hast done goodness with thy servant; by thy word. (Lord, thou hast been kind to thy servant; yea, according to thy word.)
66 Teach thou me goodness, and lore, either chastising, and knowing; for I believed to thy behests. (Teach thou me goodness, and knowledge, or discipline; for I trust in thy commandments.)
67 Before that I was made meek, I trespassed; therefore I kept thy speech. (Before that I was punished, I trespassed; but thereafter, I have obeyed thy word.)
68 Thou art good; and in thy goodness teach thou me thy justifyings. (Thou art good, and thou doest good; teach thou me thy statutes.)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.