testimony · noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
meditation
שִׂ֣יחָהSi.chah
H7881
reflection · noun, common feminine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Matthew 11:25 At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and…
Matthew 13:11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
Psalms 119:24 Thy testimonies also are my delight and my counsellors.
2 Timothy 3:15-17 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ…
Matthew 23:24-36 Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.
2 Chronicles 29:15-36 And they gathered their brethren, and sanctified themselves, and came, according to the commandment of the king, by the words of the LORD, t…
2 Chronicles 30:22 And Hezekiah spake comfortably unto all the Levites that taught the good knowledge of the LORD: and they did eat throughout the feast seven…
Jeremiah 2:8 The priests said not, Where is the LORD? and they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophet…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 119:98-100
We have here an account of David's learning, not that of the Egyptians, but of the Israelites indeed.
I. The good method by which he got it. In his youth he minded business in the country as a shepherd; from his youth he minded business in the court and camp. Which way then could he get any great stock of learning? He tells us here how he came by it; he had it from God as the author: Thou hast made me wise. All true wisdom is from God. He had it by the word of God as the means, by his commandments and his testimonies. These are able to make us wise to salvation and to furnish the man of God for every good work. 1. These David took for his constant companions: "They are ever with me, ever in…
I have more understanding than all my teachers,.... Such as had been or would have been his teachers, who were bad ones in religious matters; especially such might be the religious teachers in Saul's time, when David was a young man: as the priests, whose lips should keep knowledge, and deliver it to the people, were in the times of Malachi; and as the Scribes and Pharisees, who, sat in Moses's chair, were in Christ's time; and as those legal teachers were in the apostles' times, who would be teachers of the law, not knowing what they said, nor whereof they affirmed; such as these David exceeded in spiritual understanding. Or his good teachers are meant; and though in common it is true that…
Psalm 119:97-104
m 97. O how have I loved thy law! it is my meditation all the day. m 98. Thou hast made me wiser than my adversaries by thy commandments: for they are ever with me. m 99. Thou hast made me to know more than all my teachers; for thy testimonies are my meditation. m 100. I excelled the aged in understanding; for I have kept thy statutes. m 101. I have restrained my feet from every evil path, that it may keep thy word. m 102. I have not declined from thy judgments; for thou hast taught me. m 103. O how sweet/save been thy words to my palate! sweeter than honey to my mouth! m 104. By thy statutes I have acquired understanding; therefore I have hated every false way.
97. O how…
The Church Fathers
But what means the following verse, "I have more understanding than my teachers"? [Psalm 119:99]. Who is he who had more understanding than all his teachers? Who, I ask, is he, who dares to prefer himself in understanding above all the Prophets, who not only by speaking taught with so excellent authority those who lived with them, but also their posterity by writing?...What is here said, could not have been spoken in Solomon's person....I recognise plainly Him who had more understanding than His teachers, since when He was a boy of twelve years of age, Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, and was found by His parents after three days' space, "sitting in the temple among the doctors, hearing them and asking them questions." [Luke 2:42-46] The Son Himself has said, "As My Father has taught Me, I speak these things." [John 8:28] It is very difficult to understand this of the Person of the Word; unless we can comprehend that it is the same thing for the Son to be taught as to be begotten of the Father...."He took upon Himself the form of a servant;" [Philippians 2:7] for when He had assumed this form, men of more advanced age might think Him fit to be taught as a boy; but He whom the Father taught, had more understanding than all His teachers. "For Your testimonies," He says, "are my study." For this reason He had more understanding than all His teachers, because He studied the testimonies of God, which, as concerning Himself, He knew better than they, when He spoke these words: "You sent unto John, and he bore witness unto the truth. But I receive not testimony from man," etc. [John 5:33-36]
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Poetry — Has been well defined as “the measured language of emotion.” Hebrew poetry deals almost exclusively with the great question of man’s relation to God. “Guilt, condemnation, punishment, pardon,…
Meditation · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Scriptures, The · Saints: Meditate in — Saints: Meditate in
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
The eightfold Mem. The poet praises the practical wisdom which the word of God, on this very account so sweet to him, teaches. God's precious law, with which he unceasingly occupies himself, makes him superior in wisdom (Deu 4:6), intelligence, and judgment to his enemies, his teachers, and the aged (Job 12:20). There were therefore at that time teachers and elders (πρεσβύτεροι), who (like the Hellenizing Sadducees) were not far from apostasy in their laxness, and hostilely persecuted the young and strenuous zealot for God's law. The construction of Psa 119:98 is like Joe 1:20; Isa 59:12, and frequently. היא refers to the commandments in their unity: he has taken possession of them for ever…
Mem (מ): The instruction and wisdom of God through his word are far superior to the best that human teachers can offer.
119:97-102 make me wiser: God’s word provides wisdom and perspective. God is the true source of wisdom.
