Psalms 119:96

gVer. 96. I have seen an end of all perfection,.... An end, limit, or border, to every country, as the Syriac version; as there is to every kingdom and state, and to the whole world; but none to the

I have seen an end of all perfection: but thy commandment is exceeding broad. I have seen an end of all perfection: but thy commandment is exceeding broad.

I have seen an end of all perfection; I have observed by my experience that the greatest and most perfect accomplishments and enjoyments in this world, the greatest glory, and riches, and power, and wisdom, are too narrow and shortlived to make men happy. Thy commandment; thy word; one part of it being synecdochically put for the whole. Broad, or large, both for extent and for continuance; it is useful to all persons in all times and conditions, and for all purposes, to inform, direct, quicken, comfort, sanctify, and save men; it is of everlasting truth and efficacy; it will never deceive nor forsake those who trust to it, as all worldly things will, but will make men happy both here and for ever.

Psalms 119:96 I have seen an end of all perfection: [but] thy commandment [is] exceeding broad.Ver. 96. I have seen an end of all perfection] viz. Here below. Tempore tacta ruunt praetoria - Fairest buildings, strongest persons, goodliest empires, have their times and their turns, their rise and their ruin, Omnis finis finem vidi (Syr. Interp.). Omnia sunt hominum tenui pendentia filo; Et subito casu quae valuere ruunt; Omnia fortunae variis stant obvia telis: Aut etiam longo tempore victa cadunt. But thy commandment is exceeding broad] It is endless, infinite, perpetual, and withal of largest extent; witness that of charity, which is the complement of the law, and the supplement of the gospel. David, though he had proceeded further in the discovery of divine truths than those before him, Psalms 119:99, yet he was still to seek of that which might be known; like as those great discoverers of the newly found land confess still a plus-ultra.

(96) I have seen.—The exact thought of the psalmist here is doubtful, and it offers such a wide application, embracing so many truths of experience, that possibly he had more than one meaning in his mind. Keeping as close to the context as possible, the meaning will be: “To all perfection (or apparent perfection) a limit is visible, but the Divine Law is boundless alike in its scope and its requirements.” This, translated into the language of modern ideas, merely says that the actual can never correspond with the ideal: “Who keeps a spirit wholly true To that ideal which he bears?”But in the word end in Hebrew, as in English, there is a limitation in time, as in space (see Job 26:10; Job 28:3; comp. Symmachus, “I have seen the end of all settled things”), and the Prayer Book version may really give the psalmist’s thought as indicating the difference between mere change and progress. “The old order changeth, yielding place to new, And God fulfils Himself in many ways, Lest one good custom should corrupt the world.” : Morte d’Arthur.

Verse 96. I have seen an end of all perfection] Literally, "Of all consummations I have seen the end:" as if one should say, Every thing of human origin has its limits and end, howsoever extensive, noble, and excellent. All arts and sciences, languages, inventions, have their respective principles, have their limits and ends; as they came from man and relate to man, they shall end with man: but thy law, thy revelation, which is a picture of thy own mind, an external manifestation of thy own perfections, conceived in thy infinite ideas, in reference to eternal objects, is exceeding broad; transcends the limits of creation; and extends illimitably into eternity! This has been explained as if it meant: All the real or pretended perfection that men can arrive at in this life is nothing when compared with what the law of God requires. This saying is false in itself, and is no meaning of the text. Whatever God requires of man he can, by his grace, work in man. ANALYSIS OF LETTER LAMED. - Twelfth Division This section contains an encomium of the WORD of GOD; of its perfection and immutability; and of the comfort the psalmist received from it. I. In the three first verses the psalmist shows that God's word is immutable, by an instance in the creatures. 1. In the HEAVENS. They continue to this day as he made them in the beginning. 2. In the EARTH. As it was established in the beginning, so it abideth. 3. So also of the other heavenly bodies. They also abide as they were created; and answer still, most exactly, the ends for which they were made. 4. The reason of which is, "All are God's servants," made to obey his will: and from obedience they never swerve. II. He shows the excellence of this word by a rare effect it had on himself: "Unless thy law had been my delight, I should have perished." No such comfort in trouble as God's word and promise. This he remembers with gratitude. 1. "I will never forget thy precepts." Only those forget them who reap no good from them. 2. This word had quickened him, i.e., God speaking and working by that word. 3. He will therefore be the Lord's servant for ever: "I am thine." 4. He knows he cannot continue so, but by Divine help: "Save me!" 5. He shows his love to God's word: "He seeks his precepts," that he may obey them. III. He needed the help of God, because he had inveterate enemies. These he describes: 1. By their diligence: "The wicked have waited for me." 2. By their cruelty: "They waited to destroy me." 3. His defence against them. I will consider אתבנן ethbonen, I will set myself to consider. I will use all proper means to enable me to understand them. IV. Having shown the perfection of God's word, - 1. In establishing and upholding the frame of the world. 2. In bringing comfort to the soul. In the close, 3.

96. The meaning may be, ‘I have learnt by experience that all earthly perfection has its limit; but God’s commandment is unlimited in extent and value.’ The word for ‘perfection’ (tiklâh) however occurs here only, and if its sense is to be determined by that of the most closely cognate word taklîth, it would seem to mean rather ‘completeness,’ the sum of things. The sum of earthly things is limited, Jehovah’s law is infinite.

I have seen an end of all perfection - The word which is here rendered “perfection” - תכלה tiklâh - occurs only in this place; but a similar word from the same root - תכלית taklı̂yth - occurs in the

ì, Lamed.89-96. Thy word is settled in heaven—This lofty declaration of the character of the word, gives the reason why it may be trusted.