Commentaries:
Barnes' Notes
Thy statutes - Thy law; thy commandments.
Have been my songs - Have been to me a source of joy; have been my happiness, my consolation, my delight. I have found pleasure in meditating on them; I have had peace and joy in them in the day of loneliness and trouble. The psalmist rejoiced, doubtless, as the good now do,
(a) in law itself; law, as a rule of order; law, as a guide of conduct; law, as a security for safety;
(b) in such a law as that of God - so pure, so holy, so suited to promote "the happiness of man;
(c) in the stability of that law, as constituting his own personal security, the ground of his hope;
(d) in law in its influence on the universe, preserving order, and securing harmony.
In the house of my pilgrimage - In my life considered as a journey to another world; in my pilgrimage through the desert of this world; amidst rocks, and sands, and desolation; among tribes of savage men, wanderers, robbers, freebooters; with no home, no place of shelter; exposed to cold, and rain, and sleet, and ice, and snow, as pilgrims are - for to all these is the "pilgrim" - the way-farer - exposed, and all these represent the condition of one passing through this world to a better (compare Hebrews 11:13). Here, says the psalmist, I sang. I found joy in these scenes by thinking on the pure law - the pure and holy truth of God. I comforted myself with the feeling that there "is" law; that there is just government; that there is a God; that I am under the protection of law; that I am not alone, but that there is one who guides me by his truth. Compare the notes at Job 35:10. See Acts 16:25; Psalms 34:1.
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