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Commentary on Psalms 39 verses 1–6
David here recollects, and leaves upon record, the workings of his heart under his afflictions; and it is good for us to do so, that what was thought amiss may be amended, and what was well thought of may be improved the next time.
I. He remembered the covenants he had made with God to walk circumspectly, and to be very cautious both of what he did and what he said. When at any time we are tempted to sin, and are in danger of falling into it, we must call to mind the solemn vows we have made against sin, against the particular sin we are upon the brink of. God can, and will, remind us of them (Jer 2:20, Thou saidst, I will not transgress), and therefore we ought to remind ourselves of them. So David did here.
1.He remembers that he had resolved, in general, to be very cautious and circumspect in his walking (Psa 39:1): I said, I will take heed to my ways; and it was well said, and what he would never unsay and therefore must never gainsay. Note, (1.) It is the great concern of every one of us to take heed to our ways, that is, to walk circumspectly, while others walk at all adventures. (2.) We ought stedfastly to resolve that we will take heed to our ways, and frequently to renew that resolution. Fast bind, fast find. (3.) Having resolved to take heed to our ways, we must, upon all occasions, remind ourselves of that resolution, for it is a covenant never to be forgotten, but which we must be always mindful of.
2.He remembers that he had in particular covenanted against tongue-sins - that he would not sin with his tongue, that he would not speak amiss, either to offend God or offend the generation of the righteous, Psa 73:15. it is not so easy as we could wish not to sin in thought; but, if an evil thought should arise in his mind, he would lay his hand upon his mouth, and suppress it, that it should go no further: and this is so great an attainment that, if any offend not in word, the same is a perfect man; and so needful a one that of him who seems to be religious, but bridles not his tongue, it is declared His religion is vain. David had resolved, (1.) That he would at all times watch against tongue-sins: "I will keep a bridle, or muzzle, upon my mouth." He would keep a bridle upon it, as upon the head; watchfulness in the act and exercise is the hand upon the bridle. he would keep a muzzle upon it, as upon an unruly dog that is fierce and does mischief; by particular stedfast resolution corruption is restrained from breaking out at the lips, and so is muzzled. (2.) That he would double his guard against them when there was most danger of scandal - when the wicked is before me. When he was in company with the wicked he would take heed of saying any thing that might harden them or give occasion to them to blaspheme. If good men fall into bad company, they must take heed what they say. Or, when the wicked is before me, in my thoughts. When he was contemplating the pride and power, the prosperity and flourishing estate, of evil-doers, he was tempted to speak amiss; and therefore then he would take special care what he said. Note, The stronger the temptation to a sin is the stronger the resolution must be against it.
II. Pursuant to these covenants he made a shift with much ado to bridle his tongue (Psa 39:2): I was dumb with silence; I held my peace even from good. His silence was commendable; and the greater the provocation was the more praiseworthy was his silence. Watchfulness and resolution, in the strength of God's grace, will do more towards the bridling of the tongue than we can imagine, though it be an unruly evil. But what shall we say of his keeping silence even from good? Was it his wisdom that he refrained from good discourse when the wicked were before him, because he would not cast pearls before swine? I rather think it was his weakness; because he might not say any thing, he would say nothing, but ran into an extreme, which was a reproach to the law, for that prescribes a mean between extremes. The same law which forbids all corrupt communication requires that which is good and to the use of edifying, Eph 4:29.
III. The less he spoke the more he thought and the more warmly. Binding the distempered part did but draw the humour to it: My sorrow was stirred, my heart was hot within me, Psa 39:3. He could bridle his tongue, but he could not keep his passion under; though he suppressed the smoke, that was as a fire in his bones, and, while he was musing upon his afflictions and upon the prosperity of the wicked, the fire burned. Note, Those that are of a fretful discontented spirit ought not to pore much, for, while they suffer their thoughts to dwell upon the causes of the calamity, the fire of their discontent is fed with fuel and burns the more furiously. Impatience is a sin that has its ill cause within ourselves, and that is musing, and its ill effects upon ourselves, and that is no less than burning. If therefore we would prevent the mischief of ungoverned passions, we must redress the grievance of ungoverned thoughts.
IV. When he did speak, at last, it was to the purpose: At the last I spoke with my tongue. Some make what he said to be the breach of his good purpose, and conclude that, in what he said, he sinned with his tongue; and so they make what follows to be a passionate wish that he might die, like Elijah (Kg1 19:4) and Job, Job 6:8, Job 6:9. But I rather take it to be, not the breach of his good purpose, but the reformation of his mistake in carrying it too far; he had kept silence from good, but now he would so keep silence no longer. He had nothing to say to the wicked that were before him, for to them he knew not how to place his words, but, after long musing, the first word he said was a prayer, and a devout meditation upon a subject which it will be good for us all to think much of.
1.He prays to God to make him sensible of the shortness and uncertainty of life and the near approach of death (Psa 39:4): Lord, make me to know my end and the measure of my days. He does not mean, "Lord, let me know how long I shall live and when I shall die." We could not, in faith, pray such a prayer; for God has nowhere promised to let us know, but has, in wisdom, locked up that knowledge among the secret things which belong not to us, nor would it be good for us to know it. But, Lord, make me to know my end, means, "Lord, give me wisdom and grace to consider it (Deu 32:29) and to improve what I know concerning it." The living know that they shall die (Ecc 9:5), but few care for thinking of death; we have therefore need to pray that God by his grace would conquer that aversion which is in our corrupt hearts to the thoughts of death. "Lord, make me to consider," (1.) "What death is. It is my end, the end of my life, and all the employments and enjoyments of life. It is the end of all men," Ecc 7:2. It is a final period to our state of probation and preparation, and an awful entrance upon a state of recompence and retribution. To the wicked man it is the end of all joys; to a godly man it is the end of all griefs. "Lord, give me to know my end, to be better acquainted with death, to make it more familiar to me (Job 17:14), and to be more affected with the greatness of the change. Lord, give me to consider what a serious thing it is to die." (2.) "How near it is. Lord, give me to consider the measure of my days, that they are measured in the counsel of God" (the end is a fixed end, so the word signifies; my days are determined, Job 14:5) "and that the measure is but short: My days will soon be numbered and finished." When we look upon death as a thing at a distance we are tempted to adjourn the necessary preparations for it; but, when we consider how short life is, we shall see ourselves concerned to do what our hand finds to do, not only with all our might, but with all possible expedition. (3.) That it is continually working in us: "Lord, give me to consider how frail I am, how scanty the stock of life is, and how faint the spirits which are as the oil to keep that lamp burning." We find by daily experience that the earthly house of this tabernacle is mouldering and going to decay: "Lord, make us to consider this, that we may secure mansions in the house not made with hands."
2.He meditates upon the brevity and vanity of life, pleading them with God for relief under the burdens of life, as Job often, and pleading them with himself for his quickening to the business of life.
(1.)Man's life on earth is short and of no continuance, and that is a reason why we should sit loose to it and prepare for the end of it (Psa 39:5): Behold, thou hast made my days as a hand-breadth, the breadth of four fingers, a certain dimension, a small one, and the measure whereof we have always about us, always before our eyes. We need no rod, no pole, no measuring line, wherewith to take the dimension of our days, nor any skill in arithmetic wherewith to compute the number of them. No; we have the standard of them at our fingers' end, and there is no multiplication of it; it is but one hand-breadth in all. Our time is short, and God has made it so; for the number of our months is with him. It is short, and he knows it to be so: It is as nothing before thee. he remembers how short our time is, Psa 79:1-13 :47. It is nothing in comparison with thee; so some. All time is nothing to God's eternity, much less our share of time.
(2.)Man's life on earth is vain and of no value, and therefore it is folly to be fond of it and wisdom to make sure of a better life. Adam is Abel - man is vanity, in his present state. He is not what he seems to be, has not what he promised himself. He and all his comforts lie at a continual uncertainty; and if there were not another life after this, all things considered, he were made in vain. He is vanity; he is mortal, he is mutable. Observe, [1.] How emphatically this truth is expressed here. First, Every man is vanity, without exception; high and low, rich and poor, all meet in this. Secondly, He is so at his best estate, when he is young, and strong, and healthful, in wealth and honour, and the height of prosperity; when he is most easy, and merry, and secure, and thinks his mountain stands strong. Thirdly, He is altogether vanity, as vain as you can imagine. All man is all vanity (so it may be read); every thing about him is uncertain; nothing is substantial and durable but what relates to the new man. Fourthly, Verily he is so. This is a truth of undoubted certainty, but which we are very unwilling to believe and need to have solemnly attested to us, as indeed it is by frequent instances. Fifthly, Selah is annexed, as a note commanding observation. "Stop here, and pause awhile, that you may take time to consider and apply this truth, that every man is vanity." We ourselves are so. [2.] For the proof of the vanity of man, as mortal, he here mentions three things, and shows the vanity of each of them, Psa 39:6. First, The vanity of our joys and honours: Surely every man walks (even when he walks in state, when he walks in pleasure) in a shadow, in an image, in a vain show. When he makes a figure his fashion passes away, and his great pomp is but great fancy, Act 25:23. It is but a show, and therefore a vain show, like the rainbow, the gaudy colours of which must needs vanish and disappear quickly when the substratum is but a cloud, a vapour; such is life (Jam 4:14), and therefore such are all the gaieties of it. Secondly, The vanity of our griefs and fears. Surely they are disquieted in vain. Our disquietudes are often groundless (we vex ourselves without any just cause, and the occasions of our trouble are often the creatures of our own fancy and imagination), and they are always fruitless; we disquiet ourselves in vain, for we cannot, with all our disquietment, alter the nature of things nor the counsel of God; things will be as they are when we have disquieted ourselves ever so much about them. Thirdly, The vanity of our cares and toils. Man takes a great deal of pains to heap up riches, and they are but like heaps of manure in the furrows of the field, good for nothing unless they be spread. but, when he has filled his treasures with his trash, he knows not who shall gather them, nor to whom they shall descend when he is gone; for he shall not take them away with him. He asks not, For whom do I labour? and that is his folly, Ecc 4:8. but, if he did ask, he could not tell whether he should be a wise man or a fool, a friend or a foe, Ecc 2:19. This is vanity.
“I said” [has] the sense, “I determined,” his meaning being, I determined within myself not to sin against my oppressor simply in action but also not to say anything against him by word of mouth, especially since what is initially verbal abuse turns to physical abuse, and the person who is determined not to do physical harm ought not have recourse to verbal abuse.
Have no doubt about it, when people annoy and torment you when you are doing the right thing, those people are the lackeys of the wickedest sinner of all. They are slaves of the author of every evil deed. David saw this with prophetic eyes and recognized the face of the evil one. So he kept quiet. He had no wish whatever to do the will of the evil one. So he kept quiet. He had no wish whatever to do the will of him who ruins one’s peace of mind. He simply said nothing. He closed his doors in silence; patience lay before him, and silence kept a sleepless vigil. No enemy could creep in, and from his cloistered lips no ambivalent speech, no heedless talk, could issue forth. Mightier far is the patient person who can govern himself than the valiant one who captures citadels. The just person is his own cloister; he is his own eternal guard.
It is a universal custom to be upset when you see your plans at the mercy of sinners, and to be upset also at your own misfortunes, especially when you are badly treated by wrongdoers while conscious of your own virtuous behavior. The general run of people react to such developments by turning to criticism and displeasure with the God of all. Hence, blessed David says, “I shall guard my ways so as not to sin with my tongue”: I kept my words to myself, that is, I made a decision and judgment to guard myself against any sin.
"I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue" [Psalm 39:1]....For it is not without reason that the tongue is set in a moist place, but because it is so prone to slip. Perceiving therefore how hard it was for a man to be under the necessity of speaking, and not to say something that he will wish unsaid, and filled with disgust at these sins, he seeks to avoid the like. To this difficulty is he exposed who is seeking to "leap beyond."...Although I have "leaped beyond" the pleasures of earth, although the fleeting passions for things temporal ensnare me not, though now I despise these things below, and am rising up to better things than these, yet in these very better things the satisfaction of knowledge in the sight of God is enough for me. Of what use is it for me to speak what is to be laid hold of, and to give a handle to cavillers? Therefore, "I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue. I keep my mouth with a bridle." Wherefore is this? Is it on account of the religious, the thoughtful, the faithful, the holy ones? God forbid! These persons hear in such a manner, as to praise what they approve; but as for what they disapprove, perhaps, among much that they praise they rather excuse than cavil at it; on account of what persons then do you "take heed to your ways," and place a guard on your lips "that you may not sin with your tongue"? Hear: it is, "While the wicked stands over against me." It is not "by me" that he takes up his station, but "against me." Why?...Even the Lord Himself says, "I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now." [John 16:12] And the Apostle, "I could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal." [1 Corinthians 3:1] Yet not as to persons to be despaired of, but as to those who still required to be nourished. For he goes on to say, "As babes in Christ, I have fed you with milk, and not with meat; for hitherto you were not able." Well, tell it unto us even now. "Neither yet now are you able." [1 Corinthians 3:2] Be not therefore impatient to hear that which as yet you are not capable of; but grow that you may be "able to bear it." It is thus we address the little one, who yet requires to be fed with kindly milk in the bosom of Mother Church, and to be rendered meet for the "strong meat" of the Lord's Table. But what can I say even of that kind to the sinner, who "takes his stand against me," who either thinks or pretends himself capable of what he "cannot bear;" so that when I say anything unto him, and he has failed to comprehend it, he should not suppose that it was not he that had failed to comprehend, but I who had broken down. Therefore because of this sinner, who "takes up his stand against me, I keep my mouth as it were with a bridle."
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SUMMARY
Psalm 39:1 introduces a profound and deeply personal meditation by King David on the critical discipline of speech and the fleeting nature of human existence. In this opening verse, David articulates a firm and deliberate resolve to meticulously guard his words, particularly when in the presence of those who do not share his spiritual convictions. His primary aim is to prevent any utterance that could lead to personal sin or bring dishonor to God's name, thereby setting a foundational tone for a psalm that will grapple introspectively with suffering, the brevity of life, and the ultimate sovereignty of God.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Psalm 39:1 effectively employs Metaphor and Imagery to convey its central message of disciplined speech. The phrase "I will keep my mouth with a bridle" is a powerful metaphor, comparing the human tongue, or the mouth that contains it, to a wild, untamed animal that requires forceful and deliberate restraint. This imagery vividly illustrates the challenge and conscious effort required to control one's speech. The "bridle" itself is a concrete image that evokes the ideas of control, discipline, and submission. Furthermore, the verse uses Synecdoche by using "tongue" (H3956, lâshôwn) to represent all forms of verbal communication and the "mouth" (H6310, peh) as the instrument of speech, highlighting the specific locus of this moral struggle. The overall tone is one of Resolution and Vigilance, setting a determined and disciplined mood for the psalm's subsequent exploration of suffering and human frailty.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Psalm 39:1 underscores a profound theological truth about the fallen human condition: even a righteous king like David recognized the inherent danger and sinfulness of the tongue, a member that often seems beyond our natural control. This verse highlights the biblical emphasis on internal discipline and self-governance as a prerequisite for external righteousness. It reflects the understanding that sin is not merely an external action but originates in the heart and finds its potent expression through words. David's commitment to guard his speech, especially in the presence of the wicked, speaks to the theological concept of witness and the paramount importance of not giving occasion for God's name to be dishonored or for the gospel to be maligned. It points to the deep human need for divine grace to truly master this powerful member, acknowledging human weakness while striving for holiness in every aspect of life.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
David's resolute commitment in Psalm 39:1 offers timeless and profoundly relevant wisdom for believers navigating a world saturated with unfiltered, often impulsive, communication. In an age where words are frequently cheap, amplified instantly through digital platforms, and often weaponized, David's discipline serves as a powerful call to intentionality, self-control, and spiritual maturity. We are challenged to consider the spiritual weight and moral implications of our words, recognizing their immense capacity to build up or tear down, to honor God or to bring Him disrepute. This verse encourages us to cultivate a spirit of discernment, particularly when confronted with opposition, criticism, or the temptation to engage in unhelpful or unholy discourse. It reminds us that true spiritual maturity involves not just what we say, but also what we choose not to say, and that silence, when born of wisdom, restraint, and reliance on God, can be a powerful and eloquent witness to Christ's character and the power of His Spirit. Our prayer should echo David's resolve, seeking God's help to bridle our tongues and ensure our speech always reflects grace, truth, and love, bringing glory to His name.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Why is David so concerned about his tongue specifically "while the wicked is before me"?
Answer: David's heightened concern about his tongue in the presence of "the wicked" stems from a deep awareness of the potential for his words to be misused, misunderstood, or to cause further harm to himself, others, or God's reputation. The "wicked" (H7563, râshâʻ) here refers to those who are morally corrupt, hostile to God, His covenant, or His people. In such a context, any misstep in speech—whether an angry outburst, a careless complaint, or a moment of despair—could provide an opportunity for them to mock God, blaspheme His name, or discredit David's integrity as God's anointed king. It is a strategic act of wisdom, not fear, to avoid giving an occasion for stumbling or for God's name to be reproached among the Gentiles (Romans 2:24). David seeks to protect his witness and God's honor by exercising extreme caution, choosing silence or carefully weighed words over impulsive speech that could be twisted or used against him or his faith.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Psalm 39:1, with its profound emphasis on the disciplined tongue and the vigilant guarding of one's words, finds its ultimate and perfect fulfillment in the person and ministry of Jesus Christ. While David struggled with the inherent sinfulness of his own tongue, confessing his need for divine restraint, Jesus perfectly embodied this self-control, never uttering a sinful, careless, or unedifying word. His speech was always seasoned with grace and truth (John 1:14), healing the sick, teaching with unparalleled authority, and speaking life into dead situations. Crucially, in the presence of "the wicked"—His accusers, the hostile religious elite, and the Roman authorities—Jesus often maintained a profound and powerful silence, thereby fulfilling prophetic words about the suffering servant who "opened not his mouth" (Isaiah 53:7). His silence before Pilate (Mark 15:5) was not weakness or fear, but a deliberate act of submission to the Father's redemptive will, a supreme demonstration of self-control that allowed for the ultimate atoning work to unfold. Through His perfect life, including His perfectly bridled tongue, Jesus fulfilled the righteous standard that David strived for, and through His atoning sacrifice, He offers forgiveness for the sins of our tongues and empowers believers by His indwelling Spirit to speak words that glorify God, build up others, and reflect His character (Ephesians 4:29).