14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, Yahweh, my rock, and my redeemer. For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart. David asks still more expressly to be fortified by the grace of God, and thus enabled to live an upright and holy life. The substance of the verse is this: I beseech thee, O God, not only to keep me from breaking forth into the external acts of transgression, but also to frame my tongue and my heart to the obedience of thy law. We know how difficult it is, even for the most perfect, so to bridle their words and thoughts, as that nothing may pass through their heart or mouth which is contrary to the will of God; and yet this inward purity is what the law chiefly requires of us. Now, the rarer this virtue -- the rarer this strict control of the heart and of the tongue is, let us learn so much the more the necessity of our being governed by the Holy Spirit, in order to regulate our life uprightly and honestly. By the word acceptable, the Psalmist shows that the only rule of living well is for men to endeavor to please God, and to be approved of him. The concluding words, in which he calls God his strength and his redeemer, he employs to confirm himself in the assured confidence of obtaining his requests.
Let the words of my mouth - The words that I speak; all the words that I speak.
And the meditation of my heart - The thoughts of my heart.
Be acceptable in thy sight - Be such as thou wilt approve; or, be such as will be pleasing to thee; such as will give thee delight or satisfaction; such as will be agreeable to thee. Compare Proverbs 14:35; Isaiah 56:7; Isaiah 60:7; Jeremiah 6:20; Exodus 28:38; Leviticus 22:20-21; Leviticus 19:5. This supposes:
(a) that God has such control over our thoughts and words, that he can cause us to order them aright;
(b) that it is proper to pray to him to exert such an influence on our minds that our words and thoughts may be right and pure;
(c) that it is one of the sincere desires and wishes of true piety that the thoughts and words may be acceptable or pleasing to God.
The great purpose of the truly pious is, not to please themselves, or to please their fellow-men, (compare Galatians 1:10), but to please God. The great object is to secure acceptance with him; to have such thoughts, and to utter such words, that He can look upon them with approbation.
O Lord my strength - Margin, as in Hebrew, rock. Compare the note at Psalm 18:2.
And my redeemer - On the word used here, see the note at Job 19:25; compare Isaiah 41:14; Isaiah 43:14; Isaiah 44:6, Isaiah 44:24; Isaiah 47:4; Isaiah 63:16. The two things which the psalmist here refers to in regard to God, as the appellations dear to his heart, are
(a) that God is his Rock, or strength; that is, that he was his defense and refuge; and
(b) that he had rescued or redeemed him from sin; or that he looked to him as alone able to redeem him from sin and death.
It is not necessary to inquire here how far the psalmist was acquainted with the plan of salvation as it would be ultimately disclosed through the great Redeemer of mankind; it is sufficient to know that he had an idea of redemption, and that he looked to God as his Redeemer, and believed that he could rescue him from sin. The psalm, therefore, which begins with a contemplation of God in his works, appropriately closes with a contemplation of God in redemption; or brings before us the great thought that it is not by the knowledge of God as we can gain it from his works of creation that we are to be saved, but that the most endearing character in which he can be manifested to us is in the work of redemption, and that wherever we begin in our contemplation of God, it becomes us to end in the contemplation of his character as our Redeemer.
Let the words of my mouth - He has prayed against practical sin, the sins of the body; now, against the sins of the mouth and of the heart. Let my mouth speak nothing but what is true, kind, and profitable; and my heart meditate nothing but what is holy, pure, and chaste.
Acceptable in thy sight - Like a sacrifice without spot or blemish, offered up with a perfect heart to God.
O Lord, my strength - צורי tsuri, "my fountain, my origin."
My redeemer - גאלי goali, my kinsman, he whose right it is to redeem the forfeited inheritance; for so was the word used under the old law. This prayer is properly concluded! he was weak, he felt the need of God's strength. He had sinned and lost all title to the heavenly inheritance, and therefore needed the interference of the Divine kinsman; of Him who, because the children were partakers of flesh and blood, also partook of the same. No prayer can be acceptable before God which is not offered up in his strength; through Him who took our nature upon him, that he might redeem us unto God, and restore the long-lost inheritance. Lord my helpar and my byer. - Old Psalter. He who is my only help, and he that bought me with his blood. This prayer is often, with great propriety, uttered by pious people when they enter a place of worship.
Let the words of my mouth, and the (o) meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.
(o) That I may obey you in thought, word and deed.
Let the words of my mouth,.... Meaning either his speech in common conversation, which should not be filthy and foolish, rotten and corrupt; but such as ministers grace to the hearer: or else his address to God, both in prayer and thanksgiving;
and the meditation of my heart; his inward thoughts continually revolving in his mind; or his meditation on the word of God and divine things; or mental prayer, which is not expressed, only conceived in the mind;
be acceptable in thy sight; as words and thoughts are, when they are according to the word of God; and as the sacrifices of prayer, whether vocal or mental, and of praise, are through Jesus Christ our Lord. The psalmist, in order to strengthen his faith in God, that he should be heard and answered in the petitions he put up, makes use of the following epithets:
O Lord, my strength, or "rock" (l),
and my Redeemer; who had been the strength of his life and of his salvation, the rock on which he was built and established, and the Redeemer who had redeemed his life from destruction, and out of the hands of all his enemies, and from all his iniquities.
(l) "rupes mea", Musculus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius; "mea petra", Pagninus, Montanus, Rivetus; so Ainsworth.
Let - Having prayed that God would keep him from sinful actions, he now prays that God would govern, and sanctify his words and thoughts: and this was necessary to preserve him from presumptuous sins, which have their first rise in the thoughts. Redeemer - This expression seems to be added emphatically, and with special respect to Christ, to whom alone this word Goel can properly belong.
*More commentary available at chapter level.