Psalms 119:32

I will run the way of thy commandments,.... Not only walk but run in it; which is expressive of great affection to the commands of God, of great readiness and cheerfulness, of great haste and

I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart.

I will run the way of thy commandments, I will obey thy precepts with all readiness, fervency, and diligence, when thou shalt enlarge my heart: either, 1. When thou shalt bring me out of my present straits or distresses. This in deed is called enlarging, as 18:36, but never, to my remembrance, the enlarging of the heart. Or rather, 2. When thou shalt replenish my heart with more wisdom and love to and delight in thee and thy law; for this enlargement of heart in Scripture is ascribed to wisdom, , and love, , and joy, ; when thou shalt knock off those fetters of remaining corruption, and give me a more noble and generous disposition towards thee, and stablish me with thy free spirit, as it is expressed, . Thus David both owns his duty, and asserts the absolute necessity of God’ s grace to the performance of it.

Psalms 119:32 I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart.Ver. 32. I will run the way] Do thy work with utmost diligence and delight, come off roundly and readily therein, take long strides toward heaven. When thou shalt enlarge my heart] By thy free spirit, and by the joy of faith; when thou shalt have oiled my joints, and nimbled my feet, then shall I run and not be weary, walk and not faint, Isaiah 40:31; our promises of obedience must be conditional, since without Christ we can do nothing, John 15:5.

(32) Run the way.—Plainly the psalmist means that he will not only be able to walk in the Divine way, but even to run in it when certain restraints are removed which now confine and check him. Hence we may understand, by the enlargement of the heart, not so much the expansion of the faculties as deliverance from oppressing fears, &c, as Psalms 4:1; Psalms 18:36, and render “when thou hast set my heart at large.” So the Prayer Book Version, “set my heart at liberty.”

Verse 32. I will run] The particle כי, which we translate when, should be translated because: Because thou shalt enlarge, or dilate, my heart; make plain my path by cleansing me from my impurity, and taking the hinderances out of my way. I will then run without dread of stumbling, and every day make sensible progress. ANALYSIS OF LETTER DALETH. - Fourth Division The psalmist - I. Sets down the state of an imperfect man. II. Confesses it. III. Asks grace and mercy. IV. Professes what in consequence he would do. I. 1. "My soul cleaveth unto the dust:" His affections cleaved to things below, instead of being set on things above. 2. "Quicken thou me:" Give me a life according to thy law. By cleaving to the earth, he was earthly; by cleaving to the flesh, he was carnal; but by living according to the spiritual law, he was to become one spirit with God. II. He confesses his imperfections. 1. "I have declared my ways." I acknowledge all my wanderings, sins, follies, and unfaithfulness, I have hidden nothing from thee. 2. Thou didst hear me; forgavest me out of thy mere mercy. 3. Do the like now: "Teach me thy statutes." These two things should be sought together: mercy to pardon, and grace to assist and renew. III. He proceeds in this prayer. 1. "Make me to understand:" Where the mind is darkened, the heart cannot be well ordered. 2. He that asks good things from God should ask them for a good end: "Make me to understand; so shall I talk," &c. 3. He would show God's wondrous works: I shall talk of thy wondrous law, - thy wondrous Gospel, - thy wondrous mercy in saving sinners, - the wondrous means thou usest, &c. IV. He returns to his confession, and states what he purposes to do. 1. "My soul melts:" I am full of trouble and distress. 2. "Strengthen thou me:" Give me the grace thou hast promised. 3. "Remove from me the way of lying:" Give me power to avoid all sin. 4. "Grant me thy law graciously:" Print the matter of it in my heart, and abolish my corruption. 5. He chooses the truth. 6. He adheres to it. 7. He will continue in it. 8. Yea, and with greater diligence than ever. To make up for lost time, he will now run: and, while running, keep in God's way. Some run, but they run out of it.

32. When his heart is set free from the cramping constraint of trouble and anxiety, the Psalmist will use his liberty for more energetic service. Cp. Psalms 25:17 note; Isaiah 60:5. Another explanation makes the second clause the reason for the first, I will run … for thou dost enlarge &c.: I will serve Thee with alacrity, for when I do so, Thou dost expand my heart with a sense of joy and freedom.

I will run the way of thy commandments - That is, I will not merely keep them - which might be expressed by “I will walk in them,” but I will hasten to keep them; I will do it with alacrity, as when

ã, Daleth.25-32. My soul cleaveth unto the dust—Now is presented a soul in deep affliction, as if the trial in the previous division had gone against him; as if he had suffered the loss of all things, and worse was yet to follow.