5 Guide me in your truth, and teach me, For you are the God of my salvation, I wait for you all day long.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
Lead me in thy truth - In the way which thou regardest as truth, or which thou seest to be true. Truth is eternal and unchanging. What God sees and regards as truth is true, because he sees things as they are; and when we have the divine estimate of anything, we understand what the thing is. It is not that he makes it to be true, but that he sees it to be true. Such is the perfection of His nature that we have the utmost assurance that what God regards as truth is truth; what He proclaims to be right is right. It is then His truth, as He adopts it for the rule of His own conduct, and makes it known to His creatures to guide them.
And teach me - Since this would be understood by the psalmist, it would be a prayer that God would teach him by His law as then made known; by His Spirit in the heart; by the dispensations of His providence. As applicable to us, it is a prayer that He would instruct us by all the truths then made known, and all that have since been revealed; by His Spirit in its influences on our hearts; by the events which are occurring around us; by the "accumulated" truth of ages; the knowledge which by all the methods He employs He has imparted to people for their guidance and direction.
For thou art the God of my salvation - The word "salvation" is not to be understood here in the sense in which it is now commonly used, as denoting deliverance from sin and future ruin, but in the more general sense of "deliverance" - deliverance from danger and death. The phrase is synonymous with "preservation," and the idea is that the psalmist regarded God as his preserver; or that he owed his protection and safety in the time of danger to Him alone.
On thee do I wait - That is, I rely on Thee; or, I am dependent on Thee. He had no other source of reliance or dependence.
All the day - Continually, always. He was really dependent upon Him at all times, and he felt that dependence. It is always true that we are dependent upon God for everything; it is not true that we always feel this. It was a characteristic of the piety of the psalmist that he did feel this.
On thee do I wait - This is the line in which ו vau, the sixth letter in the order of the alphabet, is lost; for the line begins with א aleph, אותך othecha, "on thee." But four of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS. have ואותך veothecha, "And upon thee." This restores the lost ו vau, which signifies "and." The Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate, Arabic, Ethiopic, and Anglo-Saxon, preserve it.
Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou [art] the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait (d) all the day.
(d) Constantly and against all temptations.
Lead me in thy truth, and teach me,.... Meaning the word of God, the Scriptures of truth; and the Gospel, which is the word of truth, and truth itself, John 17:17; and the sense is, either that God would lead him by his Spirit more and more into all truth, as contained in his word; or that he would lead him by it and according to it, that he might form his principles and his conduct more agreeably to it, which is the standard and rule of faith and practice: which leading is by teaching; and reasons urged for granting all the above petitions follow,
for thou art the God of my salvation; who, in infinite wisdom, contrived scheme and method of it in his Son, and by him effected it, and by his Spirit had made application of it to him: and since the Lord had done such great things for him, he hoped the requests he had made would be granted: he adds,
on thee do I wait all the day; or continually, in public and in private, attending to all the duties of religion, yet not trusting in them, but in the Lord; and therefore he entreated he might not be ashamed of his hope and expectation for deliverance and salvation.
His truth is the lasting and self-verifying fact of His revelation of grace. To penetrate into this truth and to walk in it (Psalm 26:3; Psalm 86:11) without God, is a contradiction in its very self. Therefore the psalmist prays, as in Psalm 119:35, οδήγησόν με ἐν τῇ ἀληθείᾳ σου (lxx Cod. Alex.; whereas Cod. Vat. ἐπὶ τὴν..., cf. John 16:13). He prays thus, for his salvation comes from Jahve, yea Jahve is his salvation. He does not hope for this or that, but for Him, all the day, i.e., unceasingly,
(Note: Hupfeld thinks the accentuation inappropriate; the first half of the verse, however, really extends to ישׁעי, and consists of two parts, of which the second is the confirmation of the first: the second half contains a relatively new thought. The sequence of the accents: Rebia magnum, Athnach, therefore fully accords with the matter.)
for everything worth hoping for, everything that can satisfy the longing of the soul, is shut up in Him. All mercy or grace, however, which proceeds from Him, has its foundation in His compassion and condescension.
*More commentary available at chapter level.