The earth is filled with Your loving devotion, O LORD; teach me Your statutes.
This psalm pursues two chief ends: to exhort God's children toward a holy life, and to establish the Law as the rule and form of true worship. The psalmist weaves in promises to animate believers to live justly, and complaints against the wicked who despise the Law, lest the faithful be corrupted by their example. Though he moves from one matter to another, the composition is not a heap of scattered thoughts, but holds together by a living connection.
AI summary
Commenting on Psalm 119:1-176
Here, 1. David pleads that God is good to all the creatures according to their necessities and capacities; as the heaven is full of God's glory, so the earth is full of his mercy, full of the instances of his pity and bounty.
Before I was afflicted, I went astray,.... From God; from his word, his ways and worship; like a lost sheep from the shepherd, the fold, the flock, and the footsteps of it; see Psa 119:176; Not that he wilfully, wickedly, maliciously, and through contempt, departed from his God; this he denies, Psa 18:21; but through the weakness of the flesh, the prevalence of corruption, and...