The proud have forged falsehood against me I will observe thy precepts with [my] whole heart.
Proud men are inventing charges against the psalmist. He does not defend his name; he takes a fresh grip on God's precepts. That raises two questions. Why does faithfulness attract lies, and what should a slandered believer do?
The ESV calls these men "the insolent"; older translations read "the proud," and the writers quoted here use that older wording. One writer traces the word back to its root and shows why such men cannot leave a godly man alone.
The psalmist is suffering from the slander of men. Their character is plain to see: they are the proud. They have a spirit of rebellion against restraint — literally, they boil up, like water. Simply bringing the heart under God stirs up their opposition. They slander what they have no wish to copy. In answer, he declares that he keeps the LORD's precepts with his whole heart.
The timing of the attack is worth noticing. One commentator asks when the wicked began to take any interest in this man at all.
While the godly man was going astray, the wicked took no notice of him. Now that he has returned to the path of obedience, they tell lies about him. But the lies of the enemy only energize the psalmist to keep the truth with his whole heart. In their prosperity the wicked care nothing for God's law. The restored soul delights in it.
Where does a made-up charge come from? One writer traces it past the men who tell it, to the enemy behind them.
Here we have the first mention of the adversary. Verses 69 and 70 show how much we need the Word of God to strengthen us in trouble, as the title over this section points out. Satan is called "the accuser of our brothers," and also "a liar and the father of lies." His children of course share the same character. This verse says they "have forged a lie" against the godly man.
Notice what the psalmist does not do. He does not answer the charge, trace its source, or clear his name. He turns to the precepts — and the same writer draws the practical line for us.
Let us never be surprised when this happens to us. However, if they are busy forging lies, let us who love the truth be busy with the Word of God. The verse here helps us as it goes on: "with my whole heart I keep your precepts."
But does the lie not still do its damage? Another commentator meets that worry head on.
"The proud," that is, those who think they are good, have forged a lie against others they think are not as good as themselves. But in the end, will a lie ever hurt us? No! God makes all things work together for good to those who love Him. So our hearts can be free to keep God's precepts. This very attitude gains a complete victory over all the falsity of the enemy.
The phrase "with my whole heart" keeps returning in this psalm. One writer turns it into a test for the reader.
You should earnestly seek to be whole-hearted in your Christian life and testimony. Observe how many times the phrase, "whole heart," occurs in Psalm 119. It carries the thought that thoroughness must mark everyone who has to do with God.
Keeping God's law with the whole heart can sound like hard labour. One writer links it instead to staying power and to freedom.
"Give me understanding," he says again in his earnestness, "that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart." Two things belong together here: the "whole heart" and keeping the law "to the end." In the next verse he says again, "I delight in your law." So there is no slavery in this. A man held by his affections is the freest man there is, and that is the case here.
- Provoked — Bring your heart under God and the proud take offence. They slander obedience they will not copy.
- Timed — While he wandered they ignored him; his return to the path is what drew their lies.
- Sourced — The father of lies is also the accuser, and those who forge charges share his character.
- Answered — They are busy with lies; be busy with the Word. Occupation, not self-defence, is the reply the verse models.
- Whole — Thoroughness marks every dealing with God. A heart held by love keeps His precepts to the end, and that is freedom, not slavery.
Their heart is as fat as grease as for me, I delight in thy law.
The psalmist sets two hearts side by side. One is unfeeling like fat. His own delights in God's law. Older translations read the first line "their heart is as fat as grease," and commentators work from that image to ask one question: what makes a person unable to feel God's word?
The Hebrew word in this line is about feeling, not body weight. One writer gives its plain sense:
Verse 70: TAH-PHASH … "without feeling (fat as grease)"
Fat carries a settled meaning across Scripture. One writer collects the places where Scripture uses fat of people:
The use of this symbol, fat, is familiar enough in the word. "Their heart is fat as grease." "Jeshurun grew fat and kicked." "They are enclosed in their own fat; with their mouth they speak proudly." It is the energy and force of the inward will, the inward parts of a man's heart.
Comfort is part of the problem here. One commentator reads this verse with the one before it, and traces what changed when the psalmist came back to God:
When he was going astray the wicked were indifferent to the godly man. Now that he has returned to the path of obedience, they speak lies about him. But the lies of the enemy only energize the psalmist to keep the truth with his whole heart. The wicked in their prosperity are completely indifferent to God's law. The restored soul delights in it.
The slander is not random. A heart set on God provokes people who want no restraint on themselves:
The psalmist is suffering from the slander of men. Their character is plain: they are the proud. They have a spirit of rebellion against restraint — literally, men who boil up, like water. The mere subjection of the heart to God rouses the opposition of such men, who slander what they have no mind to imitate. In answer he says that he keeps Jehovah's precepts with his whole heart. But their heart is as fat as grease. Their coarse nature hinders every right affection: "for me," he says, "I delight in Your law."
The dullness is self-made. Pride wraps the layer around the heart:
"Their heart is as fat as grease" (v. 70). That is, those who were proud of themselves had in effect insulated their hearts against the truth of God. That leaves people grossly dull. How great is the contrast in the believer, who delights in God's law!
One writer reads the fat heart as no link with God at all. He sets it beside the psalmist's own story of straying, discipline and return:
He had been under discipline. Before this he had gone astray. Now he had come into the spirit and path of obedience. He sees the proud lying against him, and their heart fat as grease — no link in state or obedience with Jehovah. And he sees how good it was to have been afflicted, so that he might learn Jehovah's statutes.
The same image has another side. Here the fat is not kept for self but given to God:
The kidneys, the seat of the feelings, and the fat, the expression of human will in the energy of life (Job 15:27; Ps. 17:10; Ps. 119:70), are here offered to God — surely expressing Him who came not to do His own will, but the will of Him who sent Him (John 6:38).
- Feeling. The Hebrew word behind "fat as grease" means without feeling. Such a heart has lost the power to be moved, not just the will to obey.
- Will. In Scripture fat stands for the energy and force of a person's inward will. A fat heart keeps that will; on the altar the same fat was given to God.
- Insulation. Self-satisfaction wraps a layer around the heart that shuts out the truth of God and leaves the mind dull.
- Opposition. A heart subject to God stirs up the proud. They slander what they have no intention of copying.
- Delight. The psalmist answers both the lies and the deadness with appetite. He delights in God's law — the mark of a soul brought back.