Psalms 119:160

Thy word [is] true [from] the beginning,.... Every word of promise God made from the beginning of the world, and in any period of time; as to Adam, to Abraham, to the Israelites, or to any other

Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.

Ver. 160. From the beginning; either from the beginning of the world, or ever since thou hast revealed thy mind by thy word to the sons of men; all thy words have been found to be true and certain, and so they will be to the end of the world, as is implied in the next clause. Or, as it is in the margin, the beginning (or, as others render it, the sum, as this very word is used, 31:26, to wit, the whole of it, there is not the least part of it which is not so) of thy word is true.

Psalms 119:160 Thy word [is] true [from] the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments [endureth] for ever.Ver. 160. Thy word is true from the beginning] Heb. The beginning of thy word is true; Primarium illud est in verbo tuo quod est firmissimum, this is a special praise of thy word, that it is very sure. These words are faithful and true, Revelation 22:6, from the one end of the Bible to the other. Some render it thus, Thy most excellent word is truth. This most excellent word Kimchi interpreteth to be particularly that in the head or preface to the decalogue, Hear, O Israel, Jehovah thy God, Jehovah is one. Theodoret will have it to be that promise made to Abraham that in his seed all nations of the earth should be blessed. Some read it, every chapter of thy word is truth.

(160) Beginning.—Heb., head; but here, as in Psalms 139:17, it might be rendered sum. (Comp. Proverbs 1:7.) The translation “from the beginning,” of the Authorised Version must at all events be abandoned.

Verse 160. Thy word is true from the beginning] ראש rosh, the head or beginning of thy word, is true. Does he refer to the first word in the Book of Genesis, בראשית bereshith, "in the beginning?" The learned reader knows that ראש rash, or raash, is the root in that word. Every word thou hast spoken from the first in Bereshith (Genesis) to the end of the law and prophets, and all thou wilt yet speak, as flowing from the fountain of truth, must be true; and all shall have in due time, their fulfillment. And all these, thy words endure for ever. They are true, and ever will be true. ANALYSIS OF LETTER RESH. - Twentieth Division I. 1. The psalmist begins with a petition: "Consider my affliction." 2. Begs that God would help him: "Deliver me." 3. The reason for both: "I do not forget thy law." 4. He begs God to be his Advocate: 1. "Plead my cause." At the bar of men a just cause often miscarries for want of an able advocate, and is borne down by an unjust judge. Be thou my Advocate, and I shall not fail. 2. "Quicken me:" Revive my hopes, give new life to my soul. II. He believes he shall be heard, because - 1. "Salvation is far from the wicked:" But he does not forget God's law. 2. "They seek not God's statutes:" But he meditates in God's law day and night. III. If he ever miscarries, or comes short, he flees to God for mercy. 1. On God's mercies he bestows two epithets: 1. They are great or many, and they endure for ever. 2. They are tender; they are misericordiae, q.d., miseria cordis, feelings which occasion pain and distress to the heart. רחמים rachamim, such as affect and flow from the tender yearnings of the bowels. The word signifies what a mother feels for the infant that lay in her womb, and hangs on her breast. 2. He prays to be quickened. Let me not die, but live. IV. He complains of his adversaries: - 1. They are many: Many devils, many men; many visible, more invisible. 2. Yet he continued steadfast: "I do not decline," c. 3. They were "transgressors:" Not simple sinners, but workers of iniquity. 4. He was greatly distressed on their account: "I beheld them, and was grieved." V. He brings this as a proof of his attachment to God. 1. "Consider how I love:" No man dare say to God, "Look upon me," but he who is persuaded that when God looks upon him he will like him. This was a sure proof of the psalmist's sincerity. 2. He loves not merely the blessings he receives from God, but he loves God's law and none will love this, who does not delight in obedience. And how few are there of this character, even in the Church of God! 3. And because he loves he prays to be quickened. The soul only which is spiritually alive, can obey. VI.

160. The sum of thy word is truth, or perhaps, as LXX, Jer., of thy words. If he reckons up all God’s words of command or promise, their sum total is truth. Cp. John 14:6.

Thy word is true from the beginning - literally, “The head of thy word is truth.” Probably the meaning is, that the “principles” of God’s word were truth, or were based on truth.

ø, Resh.153-160. Plead my cause—The prayer is here as if the honour of God were involved in the deliverance of those who put their trust in him. The pleading is, for that very reason, the more earnest.