This is an Alphabetical Psalm - the longest, and most perfect in its kind, in the collection of Psalms. The peculiarity of the composition consists in this - that the first eight verses of the psalm begin with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet - Aleph (א '); the next eight verses with the second letter - Beth (ב b); and so on, through the twenty-two letters of the alphabet. These parts are designated in our common version by the names of the Hebrew letters respectively indicating the parts - Aleph, Beth, Gimel, Daleth, etc.
The general subject of the psalm is the law of God considered as a rule of life; as sanctifying the soul; as a support in trial; as imparting happiness to the mind - in its contemplation, and in obedience to it. The psalm appears to have been intended to set forth the excellency of that law, and the happy effects of obeying it, in every variety of form, and with every variety of expression. In its great length, extending to one hundred and seventy-six verses, there was ample opportunity to illustrate this; and the purpose of the author of the psalm seems to have been to see how much could be said on this, and to say all that could be said on it. It is remarkable that a single subject could be pursued so far with so much variety, and with so little that can be regarded as repetition, for there are perhaps no two verses in the psalm so exactly similar that there cannot be seen, either in themselves, or in their connection, some new phase given to the subject, or some new shade of thought not expressed elsewhere. So marked is this design of the psalm, so constant is the reference to the law of God - the testimonies of God - the statutes of God - that, according to the Masora, there is “only one verse in the psalm which does not contain some title or description of the word of God.”
The psalm seems to be a record of the personal experience of the author, or the result of his meditations on the subject. It is not the Jewish people speaking, or the church, as many have supposed, but it is evidently an individual - not improbably a man of years - giving the result of his experience in regard to the influence of the law or the word of God in the various circumstances of life: in regard to what he had found that to be to himself personally. At the same time, the language is such as will express the experience of others, and is such as might be employed in public worship.
It is not probable, however, that a psalm so long was commonly used in public worship, as many of the shorter psalms were. It is a great storehouse of truths, most precious and valuable, on one of the most important subjects of religion - the word of God; and it may have been intended, as would seem not improbable from the alphabetical arrangement, to be committed to memory by the young, that their minds might be early stored with valuable precepts to be their guide in the journey of life. A young man could not have a better treasure laid up in his mind than he would possess by committing this psalm to memory.
Whether the psalm was the work of David or of some later writer cannot be ascertained. Many have ascribed it to David; and it has been supposed that he wrote it either when he was an exile among the Philistines 1 Samuel 27:1-12, or when he was young, and had not yet obtained the authority of the government. This last opinion is derived - Rosenmuller thinks correctly - from Psalms 119:9, Psalms 119:23, Psalms 119:46,Psalms 119:141, Psalms 119:161. Gurlitt supposed that its author was some youth who was made captive by the Assyrians, and who composed the psalm in his captivity, as expressive of his attachment to his religion: a youth who could not, though away from his country and home, and surrounded by temptations, be turned away from the religion of his fathers by threats or bribes; who rejected all the allurements and blandishments which could be presented to him to induce him to abandon that religion, and to conform to the customs of idolatry - or who resisted all temptations to sensual gratifications.
This idea is derived from Psalms 119:22-23, Psalms 119:25, Psalms 119:28-29, Psalms 119:36, Psalms 119:39, Psalms 119:42-43, Psalms 119:46, Psalms 119:50-51, Psalms 119:53, Psalms 119:56, Psalms 119:67, Psalms 119:72, Psalms 119:74, Psalms 119:78, Psalms 119:83 father on come then man Chapter then I thou man day. Thus understood, it would be appicable to the condition of such a young Hebrew as Joseph or Daniel, and would express the feelings which such young men would have in the temptations by which they were surrounded, and the firmness of their attachment to the principles of the religion in which they had been trained. The idea is a beautiful one, and may properly be used for an illustration, but there is no certain evidence that the psalm was composed under those circumstances. Others have supposed that the psalm was written by Jaddo Nehemiah 12:22, the high priest in the time of Alexander the Great - amidst the troubles which then existed in Judea, and amidst the opposition of the Samaritans - and that the design was to show his own firmness in the Jewish religion, and to excite the Hebrews to the same firmness by setting forth the authority and excellence of the word of God, and the authority of the law.
Rudinger supposes that it was composed in the time of the persecutions under Antiochus - the times of the Maccabees - with the same design. All these are mere conjectures, and it is now impossible to ascertain the occasion on which the psalm was composed, or to determine who was its author. Nor is it necessary. The psalm is so applicable to the people of God at all times, so suited to strengthen the mind in trial, so adapted to guide, comfort, and support the soul, and so true in regard to the influence and value of the law of God, that it is not needful to know when it was composed, or who its author was. It is sufficient to know that it was composed under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and is a repository of truths which will be of inestimable value in all ages of the world.
There is no grouping or arrangement of the subjects in the psalm, and little or no connection between the sentiments in the verses of it. Much in it has a proverbial cast, or is presented in the form of aphorisms; and the order of thought seems to have been suggested by the necessity of choosing a particular letter with which to commence each verse, and the succession of eight verses under each letter. It might be possible to make an arrangement of the psalm under particular heads - such as the following, under the general title of the word of God, or the law of God:
I. In youth
II. In trial
III. In duty
IV. In meditation
V. At night
VI. In public
VII. In private
VIII. In prosperity
IX. In adversity, etc., etc.
But, in an exposition of the psalm, such an arrangement or classification, changing the structure of the psalm, might be of doubtful propriety, and it will be right to adhere to the order which the Spirit of Inspiration has seen fit to observe.