As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.
As for me - in contrast to my enemies for whom the Lord is preparing destruction.
I will behold thy face in righteousness - righteousness which was the ground on which the Psalmist all along rested his prayer (Psalms 17:1-4), and against which the unrighteousness of his enemies seemed to prevail, shall at last triumph. I shall enjoy thy favour as one whose righteousness is vindicated before the world. The image is from Oriental kings, who permit their face to be seen only by those to whom they are propitious. The full sense must refer to the coming actual vision of Christ in glory, as the parallel passage, Psalms 16:11, proves. Compare also Psalms 65:4. The Old Testament saints must have had a glimpse of the good things to come, reaching far above the present world, in such plainly Gospel language (Revelation 22:4; Matthew 5:8; 1 Corinthians 13:12).
I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness - namely, when I awake from the sleep of death (Daniel 12:2), at the resurrection of the body, when the saints shall "bear the image of the heavenly" - i:e., of Yahweh-Messiah (1 Corinthians 15:49; Philippians 3:20-21; 1 John 3:2). David had in view the earnest given of this to Moses, who 'beheld the similitude of the Lord apparently' (Numbers 12:8). The ungodly find their satisfying portion in being full of "children," who bear their likeness (Psalms 17:14), and in whom they have a kind of posthumous existence; I, on the contrary, shall be satisfied with thy likeness. 'Their belly is now filled with thy hid treasure;' but 'I shall be filled' with thyself. I shall behold thy face, not, so much in riches of this perishing "world" (Psalms 17:14), as in everlasting "righteousness." Not that temporal prosperity did not enter into David's anticipation; but it certainly is not to be restricted to it, even from the Old Testament stand-point. The Septuagint, the Arabic, and the Vulgate translate, 'I shall be satisfied, when thy glory shall have appeared'-literally, 'when thy likeness is awakened.' Compare Colossians 3:4. The Hebrew accents are against this.