Psalms 119:54

54 Thy justifyings were delightable to me to be sung; in the place of my pilgrimage. (Thy statutes were delightful for me to sing about; here on my pilgrimage.)

Psalms 119:54 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 119:54

Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my
pilgrimage.
] Meaning either his unsettled state, fleeing from place to place before Saul; or, literally, his house of cedar, his court and palace, which he considered no other than as an inn he had put into upon his travels homeward; or rather the earthly house of his tabernacle, in which, as long as he continued, he was but a pilgrim and stranger; or, best of all, the whole course of his life; which Jacob calls the days of the years of his pilgrimage, ( Genesis 47:9 ) ; so Hipparchus the Pythagorean ^F9 calls this life a sort of a pilgrimage; and Plato also. This world is not the saints house and home; this is not their rest and residence; they confess themselves pilgrims and strangers here; and that they belong to another city, and a better country, an heavenly one, which they are seeking and travelling to, ( Hebrews 11:13-16 ) . And as travellers sing songs to themselves as they pass on, which makes the way the more easy and pleasant to them, so the psalmist had his songs which he sung in his pilgrimage state; and these were the statutes, or word of the Lord, and the things in it, which were as delightful to him as the songs of travellers to them. Or the songs he made and sung were composed out of the word of God; and which may serve to recommend the psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, made by him, the sweet psalmist of Israel, to the Gospel churches, to be sung by them, ( Ephesians 5:19 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F9 De Anim. Tranquill. inter Fragm. Pythagor. p. 11. Ed. Gale.

Psalms 119:54 In-Context

52 Lord, I was mindful of thy dooms from the world; and I was comforted. (Lord, I remember thy judgements of long ago; and I am comforted.)

53 Failing held me; for sinners forsaking thy law. (Anger taketh hold of me; when I think of the sinners who desert thy Law.)

54 Thy justifyings were delightable to me to be sung; in the place of my pilgrimage. (Thy statutes were delightful for me to sing about; here on my pilgrimage.)

55 Lord, I had mind of thy name by night; and I kept thy law. (Lord, I remember thy name in the night; and I obey thy Law.)

56 This thing was made to me; for I sought thy justifyings. (And this is true of me; that I have kept thy precepts/that I have obeyed thy commands.)