Commentaries:
Barnes' Notes
Which my lips have uttered ... - Margin, "opened." The Hebrew word, however - pâtsâh - means properly to tear apart; to rend; and then, to open wide, as the mouth, for example - or the throat, - as wild beasts do, Psalms 22:13. Then it means to open the mouth in scorn Lamentations 2:16; Lamentations 3:46; and then, to utter hasty words, Job 35:16. The idea would be expressed by us by the phrases to bolt or blurt out; to utter hastily; or, to utter from a heart full and overflowing to utter with very little care as to the language employed. It is the fullness of the heart which would be suggested by the word, and not a nice choice of expressions. The idea is, that the heart was full; and that the vows were made under the influence of deep emotion, when the heart was so full that it could not but speak, and when there was very little attention to the language. It was not a calm and studied selection of words. Such vows are not less acceptable to God than those which are made in the best-selected language. Not a little of the most popular sacred poetry in all tongues is of this nature; and when refined down to the nicest rules of art it ceases to be popular, or to meet the needs of the soul, and is laid aside. The psalmist here means to say, that though these vows were the result of deep feeling - of warm, gushing emotion - rather than of calm and thoughtful reflection, yet there was no disposition to disown or repudiate them now. They were made in the depth of feeling - in real sincerity - and there was a purpose fairly to carry them out.
When I was in trouble - When the people were in captivity, languishing in a foreign land. Vows made in trouble - in sickness, in bereavement, in times of public calamity - should be faithfully performed when health and prosperity visit us again; but, alas, how often are they forgotten!
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