Psalm 119:101

I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Psalm 119:101-102. I have refrained, &c., from every evil way — Every way which either is evil, or leads to evil; sin, and the temptations or occasions of sin; that I might keep thy word — Not for any worldly or carnal reasons, as some men abstain from divers sins for their credit or advantage: but out of pure respect to thy word; for thou hast taught me — Namely, by thy blessed Spirit illuminating my mind, and working in my heart, which other teachers cannot do.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

119:97-104 What we love, we love to think of. All true wisdom is from God. A good man carries his Bible with him, if not in his hands, yet in his head and in his heart. By meditation on God's testimonies we understand more than our teachers, when we understand our own hearts. The written word is a more sure guide to heaven, than all the fathers, the teachers, and ancients of the church. We cannot, with any comfort or boldness, attend God in holy duties, while under guilt, or in any by-way. It was Divine grace in his heart, that enabled the psalmist to receive these instructions. The soul has its tastes as well as the body. Our relish for the word of God will be greatest, when that for the world and the flesh is least. The way of sin is a wrong way; and the more understanding we get by the precepts of God, the more rooted will be our hatred of sin; and the more ready we are in the Scriptures, the better furnished we are with answers to temptation.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

I have refrained my feet from every evil way - I have walked in the path which thy law marks out. I have avoided the way of wickedness, and have not yielded to the seductions of a sinful life.

That I might keep thy word - I have avoided all those allurements which would turn me from obedience, and which would prevent a right observance of thy commands. This indicates a purpose and a desire to keep the law of God, and shows the method which he adopted in order to do this. That method was to guard against everything which would turn him from obedience; it was, to make obedience to the law of God the great aim of the life.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

101-104. Avoidance of sinful courses is both the effect and means of increasing in divine knowledge (compare Ps 19:10).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Ver. 101. Evil way; or, way of evil; which either is evil, or leads to it; sin, and the temptations or occasions of sin.

That, I might keep thy word; I did this not for any carnal reasons, as some men abstain from divers sins for their credit or advantage, but out of pure respect to thy word.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

I have refrained my feet from every evil way,.... Of error or immorality, forbidden and condemned by the word of God; every way that is evil in itself, or leads to evil, and in which evil men walk; and though there may be many snares and temptations to walk in such a way, yet a good man cannot allow himself to walk therein, as others do; he has not so learned the word of God; he is under the influence of divine grace, and withholds himself from it; he abstains from all appearance of evil, and lays a restraint, as upon his mouth and lips, so upon his feet, or guards his walk and conversation. This shows, that as David had an affection for the word of God, and made great proficiency in knowledge by it; so it had an influence on his life and conversation, and his knowledge appeared to be not merely speculative, but practical: his end, in laying such a restraint upon his feet, was not out of vain glory, and to gain popular applause nor through fear of losing his credit among men, nor of the wrath of God; but out of love to God, and to his word, as follows:

that I might keep thy word; such was his love to it, and his regard to the honour of it; considering whose word it was, and with whose authority it was clothed, and whose glory was concerned therein; that he was careful to walk according to it, and in the way that directed to, and shun every other way.

Geneva Study Bible

I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

101. The meaning may be either, that he has studiously avoided all places of temptation in order that he might observe the law, or, that the self-restraint which has marked his conduct has sprung from no lower aim than the desire to obey God.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 101. - I have refrained my feet from every evil way. This had been the psalmist's intention and endeavor, but he had not always succeeded in carrying it out (see vers. 67, 176). That I might keep thy Word. God's Word is not kept by such as allow themselves in any evil way. Psalm 119:101

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The eightfold Mem. The poet praises the practical wisdom which the word of God, on this very account so sweet to him, teaches. God's precious law, with which he unceasingly occupies himself, makes him superior in wisdom (Deuteronomy 4:6), intelligence, and judgment to his enemies, his teachers, and the aged (Job 12:20). There were therefore at that time teachers and elders (πρεσβύτεροι), who (like the Hellenizing Sadducees) were not far from apostasy in their laxness, and hostilely persecuted the young and strenuous zealot for God's law. The construction of Psalm 119:98 is like Joel 1:20; Isaiah 59:12, and frequently. היא refers to the commandments in their unity: he has taken possession of them for ever (cf. Psalm 119:111). The Mishna (Aboth iv. 1) erroneously interprets: from all my teachers do I acquire understanding. All three מן in Psalm 119:98-100 signify prae (lxx ὑπὲρ). In כּלאתי, Psalm 119:101, from the mode of writing we see the verb Lamed Aleph passing over into the verb Lamed He. הורתני is, as in Proverbs 4:11 (cf. Exodus 4:15), a defective mode of writing for הוריתני. נמלצוּ, Psalm 119:103, is not equivalent to נמרצוּ, Job 6:25 (vid., Job, at Job 6:25; Job 16:2-5), but signifies, in consequence of the dative of the object לחכּי, that which easily enters, or that which tastes good (lxx ὡς gluke'a); therefore surely from מלץ equals מלט, to be smooth: how smooth, entering easily (Proverbs 23:31), are Thy words (promises) to my palate or taste! The collective singular אמרתך is construed with a plural of the predicate (cf. Exodus 1:10). He has no taste for the God-estranged present, but all the stronger taste for God's promised future. From God's laws he acquires the capacity for proving the spirits, therefore he hates every path of falsehood ( equals Psalm 119:128), i.e., all the heterodox tendencies which agree with the spirit of the age.