Verse 21. “Bind them continually” signifieth such a care of firm binding as when one, to be sure of binding strong, doth as it were always hold the strings in his hands, and is continually pulling them. And surely we had need so to bind continually God’s commandments and law to our hearts and necks, for they are but loose knots which the best of us make, and they are ever and anon slipping back, unless our diligence be still pulling hard to keep them close. To bind that to our hearts which bindeth us to godliness, is to loose ourselves; to tie that about our necks which ties us to religion, is to free ourselves. A good father’s commandment, a good mother’s law, doth tie us in observance unto God’s law; if, therefore, we shall bind the one upon our hearts continually, if we shall tie the other about our necks, this will give us the freedom of true sons, both with God and man. This hearty binding, and willing tying of ourselves, taketh away all burdensome feeling of any tie or binding for us.—Jermin.
Bind them upon thine heart “for ever,” because through all eternity these commandments will be the very highest objects of affection. Holiness will be the greatest treasure of the blessed. And, second, “tie them about thy neck” for a still higher reason Holiness is a bright ornament. It is precious on its own account. It is worthy, not on account of what it does, or of what it seems, but of what it is. That is, if we neither had joy in it or won profit by it, it would be glorious like a necklace upon the blind, intrinsically, and on its own account.—Miller.
Verse 22. No such guide to God as the Word, which, while a man holds to, he may safely say, “Lord, if I be deceived, Thou hast deceived me; if I be out of the way, Thy Word has misled me.” If thou sleep with some good meditation in thy mind it shall keep thee from foolish and sinful dreams and fancies, and set thy heart in a holy frame when thou awakest. He that raketh up his fire at night shall find fire in the morning. “How precious are Thy thoughts unto me, O God” (Psa. cxxxix. 17). What follows? “When I awake, I am still with Thee” (verse 18).—Trapp.
I. The thing to be done. The Word of God is to talk with us. A man’s character is obviously much influenced by his habitual talk. Sentiments received in conversation powerfully affect the mind. . . . The idea of dealing with the Holy Scripture as a conversible companion is implied in the very name, “The Word of God,” and in the statement that “God, who in sundry times, and in divers manners, spoke to the Fathers, by the prophets, has spoken to us by His son” (Heb. i. 1). 1. The Word of God will talk to us instructively. No part is addressed to mere speculation or curiosity. It has always in view the object of furnishing the mind with that which shall be useful in the highest sense, and for the longest duration. 2. It will talk without flattery. Our best friends seldom dare to tell us all that is thought of us. But the Word of God tells us what we actually are, and where our faults and danger lie. 3. It will talk with us affectionately. “Faithful are the wounds of a friend,” yet they may be “wounds” after all, to minds too susceptible. But there is a depth of love even in the sternest rebukes of the Word of God. II. The particular time when the Word of God may talk with us. “When thou wakest.” 1. To forewarn us. Every day is a little life, and who can say what the coming hour may bring forth. 2. To fore-arm us. There is not an hour in which some temptation may not present itself, or some principle be severely tried. A spiritual armour is therefore necessary, while a part of that armour, which is indispensable, is “the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God” (Eph. vi. 17). 3. To pre-occupy us. “How is it,” said a friend to a learned physician, “that amidst such employment and continual exercise of mind you preserve such unruffled tranquillity?” “It is,” said he, “because I give the first hour of every morning to the Holy Scriptures and to prayer.” Much benefit may well be expected from a pre-occupation of the mind and heart, so entirely consonant to the whole tenor of man’s relations to his Maker and perpetual benefactor.—Bullar.
Observe three benefits of keeping instruction, and in each the fit time and the act. A man walking, needs a guide; sleeping, needs a watchman; awaking, needs a friend to talk with him.—Francis Taylor.
Verse 23. The reproofs of the law may alarm and terrify, but they are not to be less valued on that account. The threatenings of hell guard the way to heaven, and strongly urge us to keep the King’s highway, the only way of safety.—Lawson.
The parallelism with Psalm cxix. 105, deserves special notice. The alliteration, “the law is light,” like the Vulgate, “lex, lux,” reproduces a corresponding paronomasia in the Hebrew.—Plumptre.
He that hath the word of Christ richly dwelling in him, may lay his hand upon his heart and say, as dying Ecolampadius did: “Here is plenty of light.” Under the law all was in riddles; Moses was veiled; and yet that saying was then verified. There was light enough to lead men to Christ “the end of the law” (Rom. x. 4). “Reproofs of instruction,” or “corrections of instruction.” A lesson set on with a whipping is best remembered.—Trapp.
main homiletics of the paragraph.—Verses 24–35.
A Special Sin and Its Penalties from Which He Who Keeps God’s Law Will Be Kept.