Salvation is far from the wicked; for they seek not thy statutes.
Psalm 119:155 states a hard fact, in a section where the writer is under attack and pleading with God to take up his case. The verse ties the distance of salvation not to a limit in God, but to something the wicked themselves never do.
The verse gives a reason for the distance. One writer traces it to what the wicked themselves do not feel:
"Salvation is far from the wicked" (v. 155). They recognize no need of salvation and have no interest in seeking God's statutes. They are so blind they have no idea of the greatness of God's tender mercies. But the psalmist has full confidence in those mercies, and so counts on God to revive him in line with His judgments.
Another writer states the same link the other way round, and adds the side the psalmist stands on:
The wicked has no thought of Jehovah, and so God is far from him. But how precious and sure His ear is, listening to the prayers of the righteous!
The writer has been asking God to plead his cause, and he admits he is weak as he asks. The wicked make the contrast: weakness is not the same as indifference:
The trouble he is in makes him look for rescue. So — since the wicked can have no hope of it — he asks God to take up his cause: yes, that Jehovah, who knows everything, would plead it Himself. He has not forgotten Jehovah's law, though from the start he admits that he needs Him to give him living energy, and God has pledged Himself to him for that very need. So his utter weakness is admitted: he does not need to hide it. But he is not among the wicked, who do not seek God's statutes.
Salvation here means rescue out of present trouble, and that is what the psalmist is asking for. One writer shows where his heart is by this point in the psalm:
The one who pours out his heart to God is now taken up far more with the persecutors and enemies, with God's deliverance, and with his need of help, than he was at the beginning… Still there is no uncertainty of heart. Salvation is needed — that is, deliverance now — but it is far from the wicked. Yet where the heart and the way are righteous, the affliction is a ground for pleading with God.
The psalmist asks for more than escape from his enemies. He also asks for power to live by the word he is standing on:
Along with deliverance, he also asks to be revived — for the practical power of a life that follows the word and the revealed judgments of God. When the heart loves righteousness, it asks for righteousness in liberty and power. He asks for outward security in the word, but for inward power too. Thinking of Jehovah's tender mercies, he asks to be revived in keeping with God's judgments. The felt goodness of God always leads to a desire for His will.
- Cause — Salvation is far from the wicked because they do not seek God's statutes. The distance starts with their own lack of interest, not with a limit in God.
- Blindness — They feel no need, so they have no idea how great God's tender mercies are. The psalmist counts on those same mercies.
- Contrast — The psalmist is weak and afflicted, and says so. What separates him from the wicked is not strength, but that he has not forgotten God's law.
- Deliverance — The salvation in view is rescue now, out of real persecution. Where the heart and the way are right, the affliction becomes a ground for pleading with God.
- Life — Alongside rescue he asks to be revived. He wants outward security in the word and inward power to live by it, both from the same tender mercies.
Many are thy tender mercies, O Jehovah; quicken me according to thy judgments.
This part of the psalm is the prayer of a man under pressure, surrounded by people who despise God's word. In the middle of his trouble he names something bigger — the greatness of God's mercy — and he asks first for life, not rescue, measured by God's own rules.
The verse sits inside a section shaped by opposition. The psalmist does not answer his attackers; he holds his ground and takes his case to God.
The wicked surround him. They have no respect for God's Word, and they hate and persecute the godly. Still he remains faithful to God. As he says, "yet I do not swerve from your testimonies." He finds that his enemies are "many." Again he asks to be revived, or sustained in a life that follows the Word.
He does not ask once. The same request runs through the whole section.
Verses 153-160. Here he cries for deliverance from affliction, for the Lord to plead the cause of the righteous, and for redemption. Three times over (verses 154, 156, 159) he cries to be revived, so that life in the power of God's word becomes real in practice.
He has stayed on the path under attack. But he does not rest his plea on that record; he rests it on God's tender mercies.
So he throws himself again on Jehovah's tender mercies to get this living power — a life shaped by the judgments of His truth and holiness. His enemies are many, but they have not turned him away from the path of His testimonies, or from seeing things as He has declared them.
There is a movement in the verse from God's kindness to God's will, and one commentator traces it as a rule of the heart.
But along with deliverance he also asks to be revived — for the practical power of a life shaped by the word and revealed judgments of God… He seeks outward safety in the word, but inward power too. Thinking of Jehovah's tender mercies, he asks to be revived according to God's judgments. Feeling the goodness of God always leads to wanting His will.
The verse just before this one says salvation is far from the wicked. This verse names great mercies — and the wicked cannot see them.
"Salvation is far from the wicked" (v. 155). They recognize no need of salvation and have no interest in seeking God's statutes. They are so blind they have no idea of the greatness of God's tender mercies. But the psalmist has full confidence in those mercies, and counts on God therefore to revive him (v. 156) in accordance with His judgments.
The psalmist is already alive, so what is he asking for? Older translations put his request as "quicken me." Writers point out that he wants renewed strength of life, not life he never had.
The Psalmist says that God's Word has quickened him in verse 50, yet again and again he asks to be quickened. He uses the word here mainly to mean being revived, being restored to stronger life.
Another writer adds one thing: the life he asks for takes its character from God's own mind.
Still he looked to God, as we shall — with a true heart, in distress (Christ Himself did the same, so that He might be heard), and counting on the kindness of Jehovah. But he wanted God to work with power in him: to be quickened, to receive life according to the mind of God. That is, a life whose nature and desires match God's judgment. He does not speak as a dead man; he speaks of moral quickening.
The ESV's "rules" is what these writers call God's "judgments." Why is it safe to have a life measured by them? Because they carry His own character.
Jehovah's word is what Jehovah is: if He is righteous, so are His judgments. And so are His testimonies, whatever they are about: He can only be a faithful witness in whatever He has chosen to testify about.
- Pressure. A man under attack speaks this verse. He refuses to turn from God's testimonies and takes his case to God instead of answering his enemies.
- Mercies. His plea rests not on his own faithfulness but on the greatness of God's tender mercies — the very thing the wicked are too blind to see.
- Life. "Give me life" asks for reviving, for restored strength. The same cry comes three times in this short section.
- Shape. The life he asks for is life according to the mind of God — inward power to match the outward security he seeks in the word.
- Measure. God's judgments are a safe measure because they carry His own character: if He is righteous, so are they.
Many are my persecutors and mine oppressors; I have not declined from thy testimonies.
In this part of Psalm 119 the writer is under open attack. He counts the people lined up against him, and in the same breath says he has not moved. The verse holds two facts together: the opposition is large, and his hold on God's word is unbroken.
He does not soften the number or the hostility. One commentator sets the verse beside the wicked who surround him:
He is surrounded by the wicked. They have no respect for God's Word, and they hate and persecute the godly. Still he remains faithful to God, as he says, "I do not swerve from Your testimonies." He finds that his enemies are "many." Again he asks God to revive him, and to sustain him in a life that follows the Word.
He faces their strength without letting it change his course. One writer names what they are after:
He does not underestimate the strength of his many persecutors and enemies. But he will not let them intimidate him. That is exactly what they intend, so that he would turn from obeying God's testimonies. This is the faith that overcomes the world (1 John 5:4).
Another writer puts their failure in terms of a path:
His adversaries are many. But they have not turned him aside from the path of His testimonies, or from seeing things as He has declared them to be.
Standing firm here does not take the form of self-defence. Earlier in the same section the writer asks God to take up the dispute for him:
The psalmist knows that God is not indifferent to the trials of those who stay faithful to His Word. So he asks the Lord to look on his affliction. And the interest of God's people must be God's own interest, so the psalmist can put his case into God's hands. He does not try to answer his enemies. He asks God to plead his cause, to deliver him from his afflictions, and to keep his soul in the energy of life.
This steady refusal sits inside eight verses that keep returning to one request:
Here the cry is for deliverance from affliction, for the Lord to plead the cause of the righteous, and for redemption. Three times over (verses 154, 156, 159) he cries out to be revived, so that life in the power of God's word might be real in practice.
The three requests do not all rest on the same ground, and one writer reads the repetition as a confession:
The weakness of the flesh is such that for the third time in this section he asks the Lord to revive him, this time according to His lovingkindness. The first time (v. 154) he asks according to God's Word, and the second time according to His judgments (v. 156). So he admits his own weakness and need, yet this is the true character of the overcomer.
The verse is quoted elsewhere among a run of lines from this psalm about facing enemies, where God's word is treated as the two things a person under attack most needs:
If they were without the normal guidance and protection, which that twofold provision represents, he was not only not to eat but to hold them as a horror. But all that had divine direction and protection, he could freely use and appropriate fearlessly… "Many are my persecutors and my oppressors: I have not declined from Your testimonies."
Another writer explains the peace this psalm speaks of, starting with what it does not mean:
Peace here is not the absence of outward conflict. We have seen some of the troubles and problems the psalmist was facing, and there were many…
- Many. He counts his persecutors and adversaries honestly. He does not underestimate their strength.
- Aim. They mean to intimidate him, so that he will turn from obeying God's testimonies.
- Unmoved. They never turned him aside from the path of God's testimonies. One writer calls this the faith that overcomes the world.
- Given over. He does not answer his enemies. He asks God to plead his cause, because the interest of God's people is God's own interest.
- Revived. Three times in these eight verses he asks for life — by God's word, by His judgments, and by His lovingkindness. Admitting weakness like this is the true character of the overcomer.