The law of Jehovah is perfect, restoring the soul; the testimony of Jehovah is sure, making wise the simple;
Psalm 19 sets two witnesses side by side. The first six verses point to the sky; from verse 7 the psalm turns to God's word and to what that word does to a person.
One commentator explains why the sky, on its own, is not enough:
What right-minded person can fail to admire the works of God displayed in the heavens or in the earth? They are surely there for our admiration and enjoyment. But it is a fatal mistake to be satisfied with them, beautiful as they are. They are tokens of God's creative power and goodness, but they leave the soul unconverted... Suppose you knew His eternal power and Godhead — His almightiness — and nothing more. That could only fill the soul with terror, and rightly so. Faith comes not by seeing the mighty works of creation but by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Readers often assume "law" means the Ten Commandments. Commentators take the word wider than that. (These writers quote an older translation: it reads "Jehovah" where the ESV has "the LORD," and "restoring" or "converting" the soul where the ESV has "reviving.")
"The law of Jehovah is perfect, restoring the soul." "Converting," in the broader sense of the word, would not be wrong — that is, turning it from any wrong path. Torah, "the law," means literally that which points out the way, and as "perfect" it is an infallible guide... How blessed to have the certainty that comes from listening to God's voice. It is clearly the first point of all for blessing. Apart from this, wisdom and folly, holiness and unholiness, are names and nothing else. We seek to please God and do not know whether we are offending Him.
Another writer says what that conversion is:
"The law of the Lord" in verse 7 is not confined to the ten commandments, but takes in everything God has revealed in His word as a perfect ruling principle. When any individual receives it as such, that is conversion. By nature we are not subject to God, but sinners in a state of self-will. The word of God has power in it to bring about conversion, a total change.
The psalm never asks whether anyone keeps the law. That silence is the point:
In Psalm 19 we have two great witnesses to the power and thoughts of God. First, from verses 1 to 6, the witness that creation gives, and especially the heavens... From verse 6 to the end, we have the perfection of the law. The psalm does not ask here whether man keeps it. What matters here is the perfection of the law itself, its value for the soul of man wherever it brings its light, and the moral power of its instructions.
The second half of the verse stands on different ground. That change shapes what faith is free to do:
"The testimony of Jehovah" takes quite different ground from that of the "law." Its appeal is not to authority, as the law's is. It appeals to fact and truth. And "the testimony of Jehovah is sure," beyond any possibility of being overthrown... So His testimony "makes wise the simple," or inexperienced, with the wisdom of experience. Faith, then, is not credulity. It is not necessary to faith that you shut your eyes. He who is Light leads in the light. Question, scrutinise, use every faculty He has given you: they will not be put to shame.
One writer sets the word beside the sky and finds two effects in both:
The works and the word of God have these two qualities — they glorify God and bless the creature, as this Psalm shows. The sky declares God's handiwork. It also carries the sun, which gives its heat to all creation. So the law is perfect, glorifying its Maker like the sky, but it also converts the soul... The earth needs no effort and shows no unwillingness to receive blessing from the heavens. Man is different. He must stir himself up, as the Psalmist does here, to get the blessing that the law or the word carries for his soul.
- Stars stop short. Creation displays God's power and goodness. But it leaves the soul unconverted. The word does what the sky cannot.
- Law points the way. Torah means what shows the road. Because it is perfect, it cannot mislead. It covers all God has revealed, not just ten commands.
- Perfect regardless. The psalm praises the law's own excellence, not man's success at keeping it.
- Sure, so wise. The testimony appeals to fact and truth, not to authority. So faith can question and examine with open eyes, and the inexperienced come away wise.
- Stir yourself. The earth takes the sun's heat without effort. But you must stir yourself to get the blessing the word carries.
The precepts of Jehovah are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of Jehovah is pure, enlightening the eyes;
Psalm 19 turns from the silent witness of the skies to the spoken word of God. Verse 8 says that word does two things at once: it gladdens the heart and it clears the sight.
The psalm sets creation and the word side by side. One writer notes that both share a quality man cannot touch.
Long ago man filled the earth with corruption and violence... The heavens are spread over all, and the sun goes on its tireless circuit from one end to the other. They are the bright, unchanging witnesses of the divine glory, and man's defiling hand cannot reach them. The law of the LORD changes just as little. Man cannot change the law, but he does disobey it.
The same writer adds that in these verses the issue is not whether man can keep it, but "its intrinsic perfection and its value for those who by grace profit by its light."
God's precepts are called "right." They are a standard with nothing wrong in them anywhere, and that is what makes the heart glad.
Where else could we find instruction that had in it no possibility of mistake? A little experience with the word of God convinces us that here we have truth that is completely pure, with every detail right. This fact expands the heart with pure joy.
Orders rarely feel like a gift. One writer explains why these do, then points to what a command shows us about the One who gives it.
"The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart." What is more welcome to the heart than to be directed in love along the way we want to go? "The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes." How much we learn of His mind by what He commands or forbids!
Older translations read "statutes" here where the ESV has "precepts." The joy comes from obeying the word, not from admiring it:
Happy the heart that finds its joy in the "statutes" of God. Remember that "statute" means a divine direction given for our obedience. What joy there is in obeying Him!
Commentators differ over what enlightened eyes means here. Some hear refreshment in it, like Jonathan tasting honey in the wood. One writer instead traces a line from the first half of the verse to the second.
The two lines are not mere repetition; the second advances on the first. In Ephesians we find "having the eyes of your heart enlightened" — an expression which joins the two parts of this together. The heart is largely what governs the eyes. When the heart rejoices in the LORD's precepts, the eyes can judge rightly. From the opposite of this all error, in fact, proceeds.
Others put the emphasis on the source of the light. The commandment is "pure" because "it is free from the least mixture, for it comes from God, and by this the eyes are enlightened: we see more clearly than we possibly could without it."
One writer sets this verse beside a scene from Israel's history, where a man's eyes were opened by another route.
Jonathan had his eyes opened by disobeying his father, for he ate some honey. David says the opposite: "the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes" (Psalm 19:8). This means that true enlightenment is found in the path of obedience to God.
Clear sight needs an object. One writer names what the opened eye ends up seeing.
The statutes of the law are right, they are perfect, a true standard. In every direction the commandment of the law is pure. The eyes are opened and enlightened, and we see correctly and clearly. This lets us see righteousness fulfilled: God has put Christ in the place of exaltation, crowned in heaven.
- Unchanging. Like the sun overhead, God's word stands above man's power to spoil it. Man can disobey the law, but he cannot change it.
- Right. God's precepts are right because there is no mistake in them. Every detail is true, and that certainty fills the heart with joy.
- Rejoicing. These precepts are directions given to be obeyed. The gladness comes from His guiding us the way we want to go — and from doing what He says.
- Pure. The commandment comes from God with nothing mixed in. It teaches us His mind by what He commands and what He forbids.
- Enlightening. The heart governs the eyes. Joy in His precepts brings clear sight, and true light comes on the path of obedience — light that ends by showing us Christ exalted.
The fear of Jehovah is clean, enduring for ever; the judgments of Jehovah are truth, they are righteous altogether
Psalm 19 sets two witnesses side by side: the silent sky and the spoken word of God. Verse 9 turns a corner — from what the law is to what it does inside a person, and from what God says to how God judges.
The psalm sets creation and the law side by side. Human hands cannot spoil either one. One writer notes that verses 7–11 do not ask whether anyone can keep the law. They describe what the law is in itself:
Here the point is not whether man can keep it or not, but its own perfection and its value for those who by grace profit by its light. No one can change either of these witnesses... The heavens are spread over all. The sun runs its tireless circuit from one end to the other. Both are bright, unchanging witnesses of the divine glory, beyond the reach of man's defiling hand. The law of the LORD varies just as little; but if man cannot change the law, he disobeys it.
The first four phrases in verses 7–8 describe the word itself. This one names something happening inside a person:
The first four references to scripture point to something outside us. This one points to something inside us, "the fear of the LORD," because it has to do with the real reception of God's truth in our hearts. It produces a healthy reverential fear of God. That fear is clean in its character and in its results, and the results endure forever. Wonderful assurance! Then "the judgments of the LORD" are connected with this — judgments that apply to specific circumstances, with decisions that appeal to those who have the fear of the LORD, as being "true and righteous altogether."
The word "clean" says what this fear does. It removes what keeps a person at a distance from God, and that is why it lasts:
We come to the principle that underlies all this. It is "the fear of the LORD" Himself, and it is "clean" — it frees us from the defilement that bars us from approaching Him or having communion with Him. So it has the real elements of endurance in it. The favour of God has that, and what is in harmony with His mind abides. The judgments of the LORD are truth in the same way, and the fear of Him makes us cling to them. Truth here carries the primary meaning of the word: firm and stable.
This fear is often confused with terror. Commentators are careful to separate the two:
This fear of the LORD is not the slavish dread that marks the superstitious. No. It is a reverent trust joined with a hatred of evil. "The fear of the LORD is hatred of evil" (Prov. 8:13). "The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever." Where this fear continues, the presence of the LORD is a reality and a joy.
Another writer calls this line the keynote for everything scripture says about the fear of the LORD:
I think this verse gives you the keynote of the scripture, as regards the fear of the LORD. Without this you cannot progress in practical holiness, or sanctification.
The ESV calls these "rules"; older translations call them "judgments." Faith owns them as right even when they hurt:
Disciplinary judgments are not joyful at the time, but painful (Heb. 12:11). Yet in the middle of trial faith owns them to be just and righteous. It never quarrels with the ways of God. As the Lord has said, "wisdom is justified by her deeds" (Matt. 11:19). Faith knows the aim and end of these judgments is blessed — that we should be partakers of His holiness.
Which way you look changes the effect — and both effects meet in Christ Himself:
Looking at God and His glory, the Psalmist says, "The judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold..." But when we look at man, the effect is the opposite, sad to say. His guilt and rebellion turn the sweet into bitter, the food into poison, life into death... One sees both effects in their perfection in the blessed Lord Himself.
God's judgments also guide. They map a path through a confusing world:
The judgments of the Lord on all human conduct warn us... We need the wisdom and good sense that can point out a divine path in the confusion of evil. It guides our steps out of the reach of evil here. God's word meets us even here. And in keeping His judgments there is great reward, great positive blessing and peace of heart here.
- Unchanged — Like the stars, God's law lies beyond the reach of human hands; man can disobey it, but he cannot alter it.
- Received — The earlier phrases describe the word. This one describes where it lands: a heart that takes God's truth in.
- Clean — This fear removes the defilement that blocks the way to God. That is why it endures.
- Reverent — Not the dread of the superstitious, but trust joined to a hatred of evil. Without it there is no progress in practical holiness.
- Righteous — God's decisions are firm and true. Faith owns them as just even under discipline, and keeping them brings reward and peace of heart.