Psalm 119:45

And I will walk at liberty: for I seek thy precepts.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(45) At liberty.—See margin. Literally, in a large place. (See Psalm 119:32; comp. Proverbs 4:12.)

Benson Commentary

Psalm 119:45-48. And I will walk at liberty — Having then no such encumbrances upon me as I now have in these straits and difficulties which beset and burden me, I shall enjoy great freedom and comfort in thy ways, and will do my duty with cheerfulness and joy. I will speak of thy testimonies also before kings — Who commonly entertain all godly discourses with scorn and contempt. I will delight myself, &c. — Whereas other princes place their delight in the glories and vanities of this world, and the study and practice of religion are generally irksome and disagreeable to them, thy law shall be my chief delight and pleasure. My hands also will I lift up — To receive and embrace thy precepts and promises, by faith and love, and cheerfully and vigorously to put them in practice.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

119:41-48 Lord, I have by faith thy mercies in view; let me by prayer prevail to obtain them. And when the salvation of the saints is completed, it will plainly appear that it was not in vain to trust in God's word. We need to pray that we may never be afraid or ashamed to own God's truths and ways before men. And the psalmist resolves to keep God's law, in a constant course of obedience, without backsliding. The service of sin is slavery; the service of God is liberty. There is no full happiness, or perfect liberty, but in keeping God's law. We must never be ashamed or afraid to own our religion. The more delight we take in the service of God, the nearer we come to perfection. Not only consent to his law as good, but take pleasure in it as good for us. Let me put forth all the strength I have, to do it. Something of this mind of Christ is in every true disciple.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And I will walk at liberty - Margin, "at large." Luther renders it, "freely." The Septuagint, "in a broad place." The Hebrew word means "wide, broad, large, spacious." The reference is to that which is free and open; that in which there are no limits, checks, restraints; where a man does what he pleases. The meaning here is, that he would feel he was free. He would not be restrained by evil passions and corrupt desires. He would be delivered from those things which seemed to fetter his goings. This does not here refer so much to external troubles or hindrances, to being oppressed and straitened by external foes, as to internal enemies - to the servitude of sin - to the slavery of appetite and passion. Compare the notes at Romans 7:9-14. See also Job 36:16; Psalm 118:5. The margin well expresses the sense of the passage.

For I seek thy precepts - I seek or endeavor to obey them. I seek them as the guide of my life. I ask nothing else to direct me.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

45-48. To freedom from reproach, when imbued with God's truth, there is added "great boldness in the faith" [1Ti 3:13], accompanied with increasing delight in the holy law itself, which becomes an element of happiness.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

I will walk at liberty; or, I shall walk at large, as it is in the margin; I shall be delivered from all my present straits, both of the outward and inward man, and enjoy great freedom and comfort in thy ways.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And I will walk at liberty,.... Not in licentious way, but in Gospel liberty, under the influence of the free spirit; where is liberty, in the exercise of grace and discharge of duty. Or, "I will walk at large" (g); or, "in a broad way", as Aben Ezra and Kimchi supply it: not in the broad road that leads to destruction, but in the law of God, which is exceeding broad, Psalm 119:96; as the Targum,

"in the breadth of the law.''

So a man walks when he walks in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord: and who also may be said to walk at large when delivered out of straits and difficulties; when he is brought into a large place, and his steps are enlarged under him; and having his heart enlarged with the love of God, and fear of him, and with spiritual joy, and having every grace in exercise, he not only walks in, but runs the way of God's commandments; see Psalm 119:32; and See Gill on Psalm 118:5;

for I seek thy precepts; out of love and affection to them, to know more of them, the mind and will of God in them, and to practise them.

(g) "in latitudine", Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version, &c.

Geneva Study Bible

And I will {c} walk at liberty: for I seek thy precepts.

(c) They who simply walk after God's word have no nets to entangle them, while they who do contrary are ever in nets and snares.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

45. And I will walk at liberty] Lit. in a broad place, for God’s commandment is “exceeding broad”; its observance is no restraint but the truest freedom. Or the meaning may be, Let me walk at liberty, free from the constraint of anxiety and persecution. Cp. Psalm 119:32; Psalm 118:5.

I seek] Or, I have studied, given diligent heed to.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 45. - And I will walk at liberty. Rekhabah is literally "the open square of a city," hence "a wide, open, free space." In obeying God's commandments the psalmist will not feel himself under constraint, but a wholly free agent. For I seek thy precepts. Inclination, not constraint, makes him obey God's precepts - he "seeks" them, "loves" them (ver. 47), "delights in" them (vers. 16, 24, 47). Psalm 119:45

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The eightfold Vav. He prays for the grace of true and fearlessly joyous confession. The lxx renders Psalm 119:41: καὶ ἔλθοι ἐπ ̓ ἐμε ̓ τὸ ἔλεός σου; but the Targum and Jerome rightly (cf. Psalm 119:77, Isaiah 63:7) have the plural: God's proofs of loving-kindness in accordance with His promises will put him in the position that he will not be obliged to be dumb in the presence of him who reproaches him (חרף, prop. a plucker, cf. Arab. charûf, a lamb equals a plucker of leaves or grass), but will be able to answer him on the ground of his own experience. The verb ענה, which in itself has many meanings, acquires the signification "to give an answer" through the word, דּבר, that is added (synon. השׁיב דּבר). Psalm 119:43 also refers to the duty of confessing God. The meaning of the prayer is, that God may not suffer him to come to such a pass that he will be utterly unable to witness for the truth; for language dies away in the mouth of him who is unworthy of its before God. The writer has no fear of this for himself, for his hope is set towards God's judgments (למשׁפּטך, defective plural, as also in Psalm 119:149; in proof of which, compare Psalm 119:156 and Psalm 119:175), his confidence takes its stand upon them. The futures which follow from Psalm 119:44 to Psalm 119:48 declare that what he would willingly do by the grace of God, and strives to do, is to walk בּרחבה, in a broad space (elsewhere בּמּרחב), therefore unstraitened, which in this instance is not equivalent to happily, but courageously and unconstrainedly, without allowing myself to be intimidated, and said of inward freedom which makes itself known outwardly. In Psalm 119:46 the Vulgate renders: Et loquebar de (in) testimoniis tuis in conspectu regum et non confundebar - the motto of the Augsburg Confession, to which it was adapted especially in connection with this historical interpretation of the two verbs, which does not correspond to the original text. The lifting up of the hands in Psalm 119:48 is an expression of fervent longing desire, as in connection with prayer, Psalm 28:2; Psalm 63:5; Psalm 134:2; Psalm 141:2, and frequently. The second אשׁר אהבתי is open to the suspicion of being an inadvertent repetition. שׂיח בּ (synon. בּ הגה) signifies a still or audible meditating that is absorbed in the object.