Psalm 119:60

I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

119:57-64 True believers take the Lord for the portion of their inheritance, and nothing less will satisfy them. The psalmist prayed with his whole heart, knowing how to value the blessing he prayed for: he desired the mercy promised, and depended on the promise for it. He turned from by-paths, and returned to God's testimonies. He delayed not. It behoves sinners to hasten to escape; and the believer will be equally in haste to glorify God. No care or grief should take away God's word out of our minds, or hinder the comfort it bestows. There is no situation on earth in which a believer has not cause to be thankful. Let us feel ashamed that others are more willing to keep from sleep to spend the time in sinful pleasures, than we are to praise God. And we should be more earnest in prayer, that our hearts may be filled with his mercy, grace, and peace.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

I made haste - This language further describes the process of conversion. There was no delay; there was no excuse offered. He acted at once under his conviction of what was right. He did not ask permission to defer it to a future time; he did not attempt to avoid the duty; not plead inability; he did not give himself merely to the "use of means;" he did not rely on prayer, and reading, and reflection; but "he did the thing, and he did it at once." This is conversion; and if all convicted sinners would follow this example, and do at once that which they are commanded to do, and which they know they ought to do, there would be in no case any difficulty about conversion, for the main difficulty in conversion lies in the fact that the sinner is not willing to obey God at once; that he will not break away from his sins; that he endeavors to excuse himself; that he pleads for delay; that he waits for God to do what he himself ought to do.

And delayed not to keep thy commandments - I did not continue to go on in a course of sin, but I forsook my sin and obeyed.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

59. So the prodigal son, when reduced to straits of misery (Lu 15:17, 18).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Being fully convinced of the necessity and excellency of obedience, I presently resolved upon it, and immediately put it in execution.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments. As soon as he was sensible of his duty, he immediately complied with it; he consulted not with flesh and blood, but at once yielded a cheerful obedience to the commands of God. Instances of evangelical obedience of this kind we have in the three thousand converts, in Saul, and in the jailer and his house, Acts 2:41.

Geneva Study Bible

I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 60. - I made haste. Men are apt to put off their repentance - to delay it to a more "convenient season" (Acts 24:25). The psalmist was not so foolish - he "made haste," he says; and delayed not to keep God's commandments. This was wise, for "now is the accepted time" (2 Corinthians 6:2). Psalm 119:60

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The eightfold Heth. To understand and to keep God's word is his portion, the object of his incessant praying and thanksgiving, the highest grace or favour that can come to him. According to Psalm 16:5; Psalm 73:26, the words חלקי ה belong together. Psalm 119:57 is an inference drawn from it (אמר ל as in Exodus 2:14, and frequently), and the existing division of the verse is verified. חלּה פּני, as in Psalm 45:13, is an expression of caressing, flattering entreaty; in Latin, caput mulcere (demulcere). His turning to the word of God the poet describes in Psalm 119:59 as a result of a careful trying of his actions. After that he quickly and cheerfully, Psalm 119:60, determined to keep it without any long deliberation with flesh and blood, although the snares of wicked men surround him. The meaning of חבלי is determined according to Psalm 119:110 : the pointing does not distinguish so sharply as one might have expected between חבלי, ὠδῖνας, and חבלי, snares, bonds (vid., Psalm 18:5.); but the plural nowhere, according to the usage of the language as we now have it, signifies bands (companies), from the singular in 1 Samuel 10:5 (Bttcher, 800). Thankfulness urges him to get up at midnight (acc. temp. as in Job 34:20) to prostrate himself before God and to pray. Accordingly he is on friendly terms with, he is closely connected with (Proverbs 28:24), all who fear God. Out of the fulness of the loving-kindness of God, which is nowhere unattested upon earth (Psalm 119:64 equals Psalm 33:5), he implores for himself the inward teaching concerning His word as the highest and most cherished of mercies.