SEV Biblia, Chapter 119:96
Âĥ A toda perfección he visto fin; amplio sobremanera es tu mandamiento.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Psalms 118:96
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 defense against them. I will consider nbta 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. He compares it to all other things which we esteem as excellent and perfect, - riches, honours, crowns, sceptres, kingdoms, &c., over which the word of God has still the preeminence; they perish, but it endures for ever: "I have seen an end of all perfection." Jonah's gourd was smitten by a worm; the golden head had feet of clay; the most beautiful form shall dissolve into dust; Babylon, the wonder of the world, has perished from the face of the earth; the fairest day is succeeded by midnight; and so of other things: "but the commandment is exceeding broad:" all the principles of justice are contained in it; no just notion of God without it; all the rules of a holy life, and all the promises of life eternal, are found in it. It is the word of God, and it endureth for ever. When the heavens and the earth are no more, this word shall stand up and flourish.
LETTER µ MEM. - THIRTEENTH DIVISION
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 89-96 - The settling of God's word in heaven, is opposed to the changes an revolutions of the earth. And the engagements of God's covenant ar established more firmly than the earth itself. All the creatures answe the ends of their creation: shall man, who alone is endued with reason be the only unprofitable burden of the earth? We may make the Bible pleasant companion at any time. But the word, without the grace of God would not quicken us. See the best help for bad memories, namely, goo affections; and though the exact words be lost, if the meaning remain that is well. I am thine, not my own, not the world's; save me from sin, save me from ruin. The Lord will keep the man in peace, whose min is stayed on him. It is poor perfection which one sees and end of. Suc are all things in this world, which pass for perfections. The glory of man is but as the flower of the grass. The psalmist had seen the fulness of the word of God, and its sufficiency. The word of the Lor reaches to all cases, to all times. It will take us from all confidenc in man, or in our own wisdom, strength, and righteousness. Thus shal we seek comfort and happiness from Christ alone.
Original Hebrew
לכל 3605 תכלה 8502 ראיתי 7200 קץ 7093 רחבה 7342 מצותך 4687 מאד׃ 3966
