For I have kept the ways of the Lord
Not those which the Lord himself walks in, his ways of
providence, or of grace; though these are and should be taken
notice of and observed by good men, as the word F25 used
will bear to be rendered; but the ways which he has prescribed
and directed men to walk in, the ways of his commandments, in
which they should go; these were, in some measure, kept by David,
who often, in the hundred nineteenth psalm speaks of his keeping
the testimonies and statutes, and commandments of the Lord; as
they are by good men, with some degree of pleasure, they take
delight to walk in them; and with some degree of constancy, they
keep walking in them, without turning to the right hand or the
left, though solicited to it; but yet not perfectly, for they
have many a slip and fall in them; wherefore this cannot be a
reason of their being rewarded according to their righteousness:
in strict justice, the words better agree with Christ, who kept
the law of God perfectly, did his will completely; he came from
heaven to do it; it was his meat and drink to accomplish it; and
he always did the things which pleased his father, wherefore he
rewarded him;
and have not wickedly departed from my God;
which was, in some sense, true of David; not as by disbelieving
the power and providence, the promises, truth, and faithfulness
of God, and his covenant interest in him; which to do would have
been a wicked departure from God; see ( Hebrews 3:12
) ; nor by forsaking the house and worship of God; though he was
driven from thence by wicked men, yet sore against his will, and
which during his exile he frequently laments and complains of;
nor by sinning wilfully and presumptuously, only through error,
inadvertency, infirmity, and temptation: but when it is observed,
how much unbelief, which is a partial departing from the living
God, and how many there are that neglect private and public
worship, and what a proneness there is to sin and wickedness, and
how much there is of the will in sinful actions, in the best of
men; it is right and best to understand this of Christ, who never
was guilty of sin, nor committed any wickedness in departing from
God in the least: as man, God was his God, and he always believed
his interest in him, and claimed it even when he forsook him on
the cross; nor did he quit his service, desert his cause, nor
depart from the work and business he enjoined him, till it was
finished.