Psalm 119:148

Mine eyes prevent the night watches, that I might meditate in thy word.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

119:145-152 Supplications with the whole heart are presented only by those who desire God's salvation, and who love his commandments. Whither should the child go but to his father? Save me from my sins, my corruptions, my temptations, all the hinderances in my way, that I may keep thy testimonies. Christians who enjoy health, should not suffer the early hours of the morning to glide away unimproved. Hope in God's word encourages us to continue in prayer. It is better to take time from sleep, than not to find time for prayer. We have access to God at all hours; and if our first thoughts in the morning are of God, they will help to keep us in his fear all the day long. Make me lively and cheerful. God knows what we need and what is good for us, and will quicken us. If we are employed in God's service, we need not fear those who try to set themselves as far as they can out of the reach of the convictions and commands of his law. When trouble is near, God is near. He is never far to seek. All his commandments are truth. And God's promises will be performed. All that ever trusted in God have found him faithful.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Mine eyes prevent the night watches - Luther renders this, "I wake up early." The Hebrew word means a "watch" - a part of the night, so called from military watches, or a dividing of the night to "keep guard." See the notes at Psalm 90:4. The idea of the psalmist here is, that he anticipated these regular divisions of the night in order that he might engage in devotion. Instead of waiting for their return, he arose for prayer before they recurred - so much did his heart delight in the service of God. The language would seem to be that of one who was accustomed to pray in these successive "watches" of the night - the early, the middle, and the dawn. This may illustrate what occurs in the life of all who love God. They will have regular seasons of devotion, but they will often anticipate those seasons. They will be in a state of mind which prompts them to pray; when nothing will meet their state of mind but prayer; and when they cannot wait for the regular and ordinary season of devotion - like a hungry man who cannot wait for the usual and regular hour of his meals. The meaning of the phrase, "mine eyes prevent," is that he awoke before the usual time for devotion.

That I might meditate in thy word - See the notes at Psalm 1:2.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

147. prevented—literally, "came before," anticipated not only the dawn, but even the usual periods of the night; when the night watches, which might be expected to find me asleep, come, they find me awake (Ps 63:6; 77:4; La 2:19). Such is the earnestness of the desire and love for God's truth.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Ver. 148. The night watches, Heb. the watches; which were kept only by night. And these watches were then three, as hath been more than once observed. And this is not to be understood of the first watch, which was at the beginning of the night, for the prevention thereof was very easy, and frequent, and inconsiderable; but of the middle watch, as it is called, Judges 7:19, which was set in the middle of the night; and especially of the morning watch, as it is called, Exodus 14:24, which was set some hours before the dawning of the day; and so this is an aggravation and addition to what he said Psalm 119:147.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Mine eyes prevent the night watches,.... The Targum is,

"the morning and evening watches.''

There were three of them; Kimchi interprets it of the second and third; the meaning is, that the psalmist was awake and employed in one religious exercise or another, praying, reading, or meditating; either before the watches were set, or however before the time that some of them took place, or at least before they were all over;

that I might meditate in thy word; he rose so early, in order to give himself up to meditation on the word of God; that he might be better instructed in the knowledge of divine things; that he might have solace and comfort from thence under his afflictions; and that he might be better furnished for the work of prayer; for the more familiar the word of God is to us, the better able we are to speak to God in his own language.

Geneva Study Bible

Mine eyes {b} prevent the night watches, that I might meditate in thy word.

(b) He was more earnest in the study of God's word, than they who kept the watch were in their charge.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

148. Mine eyes prevent [or are beforehand with, the same word as in Psalm 119:147] the night watches] The night was divided into three watches by the Israelites (Lamentations 2:19; Jdg 7:19; 1 Samuel 11:11). He compares himself to a sentinel who wakes before it is time for him to go on duty. Possibly, as Baethgen suggests, there is a reference to the author’s duties as a Levite. Before the hour when he must rise for his watch in the Temple he is awake, and meditating on God’s words. Cp. Psalm 119:62; Psalm 63:6.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 148. - Mine eyes prevent the night watches. As ver. 146 is a repetition of ver. 145, so this verse is very nearly a repetition of ver. 147. The only change of idea is in the second clause - that I might meditate in thy Word; or, "on thy promise" - which makes meditation rather than prayer the psalmist's object in his early rising. Psalm 119:148

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The eightfold Koph. Fidelity to God's word, and deliverance according to His promise, is the purport of his unceasing prayer. Even in the morning twilight (נשׁף) he was awake praying. It is not הנּשׁף, I anticipated the twilight; nor is קדּמתּי, according to Psalm 89:14, equivalent to קדמתיך, but ואשׁוּע...קדּמתּי is the resolution of the otherwise customary construction קדמתי לשׁוּע, Jonah 4:2, inasmuch as קדּם may signify "to go before" (Psalm 68:26), and also "to make haste (with anything):" even early before the morning's dawn I cried. Instead of לדבריך the Ker (Targum, Syriac, Jerome) more appropriately reads לדברך after Psalm 119:74, Psalm 119:81, Psalm 119:114. But his eyes also anticipated the night-watches, inasmuch as they did not allow themselves to be caught not sleeping by any of them at their beginning (cf. לראשׁ, Lamentations 2:19). אמרה is here, as in Psalm 119:140, Psalm 119:158, and frequently, the whole word of God, whether in its requirements or its promises. In Psalm 119:149 בּמשׁפּטך is a defective plural as in Psalm 119:43 (vid., on Psalm 119:37), according to Psalm 119:156, although according to Psalm 119:132 the singular (lxx, Targum, Jerome) would also be admissible: what is meant is God's order of salvation, or His appointments that relate thereto. The correlative relation of Psalm 119:150 and Psalm 119:151 is rendered natural by the position of the words. With קרבוּ (cf. קרב) is associated the idea of rushing upon him with hostile purpose, and with קרוב, as in Psalm 69:19; Isaiah 58:2, of hastening to his succour. זמּה is infamy that is branded by the law: they go forth purposing this, but God's law is altogether self-verifying truth. And the poet has long gained the knowledge from it that it does not aim at merely temporary recompense. The sophisms of the apostates cannot therefore lead him astray. יסדתּם for יסדתּן, like המּה in Psalm 119:111.