Psalms 31:5

Into thine hand I commit my spirit,.... Either his life, as to a faithful Creator and Preserver, who was the God of his life, gave him it, and upheld his soul in it; or his soul, and the eternal

Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth. Into ... - Christ's dying words (Luke 23:46). Redeemed.

Into thine hand, i.e. to thy care and custody, I commit my spirit, i.e. my soul or life, called a man’ s spirit, as 12:7, &c. Either, 1. To receive it; for my case is almost desperate, and I am ready to give up the ghost. Or, 2. To preserve it from the plots and malice of mine enemies. Thou hast redeemed me; thou hast delivered me formerly in great dangers, and therefore I willingly and cheerfully commit myself to thee for the future. O Lord God of truth; who hast showed thyself to be so to me, in making good thy promises.

Psalms 31:5 Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth.Ver. 5. Into thine hand I commit my spirit] So did our Saviour, so did St Stephen, and divers of the dying martyrs, with these very words, most apt and apposite surely for such a purpose. But what a wretch was that Huberus, who died with these words in his mouth, I yield my goods to the king, my body to the grave, and my soul to the devil. Thou hast redeemed] And so hast best right unto me. O Lord God of truth] I know whom I have trusted.

(5) I commit.—Most memorable, even among expressions of the Psalms, as the dying words of our Lord Himself (Luke 23:46), and a long line of Christian worthies. Polycarp, Bernard, Huss, Henry V., Jerome of Prague, Luther, Melancthon, are some of the many who have passed away comforted and upheld by the psalmist’s expression of trust. But death was not in his thought, it was in life, amid its troubles and dangers, that he trusted (Hebrew, deposited as a trust) his spirit (rûach, comp. Isaiah 38:16) to God. But the gift brought to the altar by the seer of old, has been consecrated anew and yet anew. Lord God of truth.—Comp. 2 Chronicles 15:3, where, as here, there is a contrast between Jehovah and idols; but also, as in Deuteronomy 32:4, the “faithful God.”

Verse 5. Into thine hand I commit my spirit] These words, as they stand in the Vulgate, were in the highest credit among our ancestors; by whom they were used in all dangers, difficulties, and in the article of death. In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum, was used by the sick when about to expire, if they were sensible; and if not, the priest said it in their behalf. In forms of prayer for sick and dying persons, these words were frequently inserted in Latin, though all the rest of the prayer was English; for it was supposed there was something sovereign in the language itself. But let not the abuse of such words hinder their usefulness. For an ejaculation nothing can be better; and when the pious or the tempted with confidence use them, nothing can exceed their effect. "Into thy hands I commend my spirit; for thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth." I give my soul to thee, for it is thine: thou hast redeemed it by thy blood; it is safe nowhere but in thy hand. Thou hast promised to save them that trust in thee; thou art the God of truth, and canst not deny thyself. But these words are particularly sanctified, or set apart for this purpose, by the use made of them by our blessed Lord just before he expired on the cross. "And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Πατερ, ειςχειραςσουπαρατιθεμαιτοπνευμαμου· 'Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit,'" Lu 23:46. The rest of the verse was not suitable to the Saviour of the world, and therefore he omits it; but it is suitable to us who have been redeemed by that sacrificial death. St. Stephen uses nearly the same words, and they were the last that he uttered. Acts 7:59.

5. I commit &c.] Or, as P.B.V. and R.V., I commend my spirit. To God’s care he entrusts as a precious deposit the life inbreathed by God Himself (Job 10:12; Job 17:1). The context makes it plain that it is for the preservation of his life that he thus entrusts himself to God; but the further application of the words to the departing spirit is obvious and natural, and it is sanctioned and consecrated by our Lord’s use of them on the Cross (Luke 23:46). Cp. the noble words of Wis 3:1; “The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God:” and John 10:28 f.; 2 Timothy 1:12; 1 Peter 4:19 (noting how a faithful Creator corresponds to thou God of truth here). “The many instances on record, including St Polycarp, St Basil, Epiphanius of Pavia, St Bernard, St Louis, Huss, Columbus, Luther, and Melancthon—of Christians using these words at the approach of death, represent how many millions of unrecorded cases!” Kay. The words, Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord, thou God of truth, give the double ground of this confidence, in his own past experience, and the known character of Jehovah as the God of faithfulness. Redeemed primarily means delivered from temporal distress (2 Samuel 4:9); but for the Christian the word must bear a deeper significance.

Into thine hand I commit my spirit - The Saviour used this expression when on the cross, and when about to die: Luke 23:46.

5. Into thine hand I commit my spirit—Both the Hebrew ψεη, (rooahh,) and the Septuagint πνευμα, (pneuma,) are the strongest words in either language for the intellective and immortal nature of man.