108 Accept, I beg you, the willing offerings of my mouth. Yahweh, teach me your ordinances.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
O Jehovah! I beseech thee, let the flee-will-offerings of my mouth. This verse may be read in one connected sentence, as well as divided into two members. According to the former view, the sense will be, Receive, e Lord, my sacrifices, to this end, that thou mayest teach me thy commandments. If we prefer dividing the verse into two clauses, then it will consist of two separate prayers; first, a prayer that God would accept the prophet's sacrifices; and, secondly, a prayer that he would instruct him in the doctrine of the law. I am rather inclined to follow the first opinion. The prophet affirms, as we have seen elsewhere, that nothing was more precious to him than to understand the doctrine of the law. Lord, as if he had said, do thou, according to thy good pleasure, accept the sacrifices which I offer thee; and as my chief desire is, to be instructed aright in thy law, grant that I may be a partaker of this blessing, which I am so anxious to obtain. We should mark all the places in which the knowledge of divine truth is preferred to all the other benefits bestowed upon mankind; and doubtless, since it contains in it the pledge of everlasting salvation, there is good reason why it should be esteemed as an inestimable treasure. Yet the prophet begins at a point remote from this, praying that God would vouchsafe to approve of and accept his services. By the word ndvvt, nidboth, I have no doubt he denotes the sacrifices which were called free-will-offerings. I indeed grant that he speaks properly of vows and prayers; but as the chosen people to propitiate God, were wont to offer sacrifices, according as every man had ability, he alludes to that custom which prevailed under the law; even as Hosea (Hosea 14:2) designates the praises of God "the calves of the lips." It was the design of God, by that ceremony, to testify to the fathers that no prayers were acceptable to him, but those which were joined with sacrifice, that they might always turn their minds to the Mediator. In the first place, he acknowledges that he was unworthy of obtaining any thing by his prayers, and that, if God heard him, it proceeded from his free and unmerited grace. In the second place, he desires that God would be favorable to him in the way of enabling him to profit aright in the doctrine of the law. The verb, rtsh ratsah, which he uses: signifies to favor of mere good will. Whence it follows, that there is nothing meritorious in our prayers, and that, whenever God hears them, it is in the exercise of his free goodness.
Accept, I beseech thee, the free-will offerings of my mouth - Or, the meaning of the word here rendered "free-will," see the notes at Psalm 110:3. It conveys the idea that there is no constraint or compulsion; that the offering is a prompting of the heart. The offering might be that of flour, or grain, or fruits, or property of any kind, as devoted to God; or it might be, as here, an offering of the lips, expressed in prayer and praise. Either of them might be acceptable to God; their being accepted in either case would depend on the good pleasure of God, and hence, the psalmist prays that his offering might be thus acceptable. Compare Hebrews 13:15.
And teach me thy judgments - Thy commands; thy laws. See the notes at Psalm 119:12.
The freewill-offerings of my mouth - נדבות פי nidboth pi, the voluntary offerings which I have promised. Or, As we are in captivity, and cannot sacrifice to thee, but would if we could; accept the praises of our mouth, and the purposes of our hearts, instead of the sacrifices and offerings which we would bring to thy altar, but cannot.
Accept, I beseech thee, the (c) freewill offerings of my mouth, O LORD, and teach me thy judgments.
(c) That is, my prayer and thanksgiving which Hosea calls the calves of the lips, (Hosea 14:2).
Accept, I beseech thee, the freewill offerings of my mouth,
O Lord,.... Not sacrifices out of his flocks and herds, such as were the voluntary and freewill offerings brought to the priests under the law, though there may be an allusion to them; nor out of his substance, such as David and his people willingly offered towards the building of the temple; but these are not the freewill offerings of his hands, but of his mouth; the spiritual sacrifices of prayer praise: prayer is an offering; see Psalm 141:2; and it is a freewill offering, when a man is assisted by the free Spirit of God, and can pour out his soul freely to the Lord, in the exercise of faith and love. Praise is an offering more pleasing to God than an ox or bullock that has horns and hoofs, because it glorifies him; and it is a freewill offering when it is of a man's own accord, comes from his heart; when he calls upon his soul, and all within him, to bless the Lord: and as every good man is desirous of having his sacrifices accepted with the Lord, so they are accepted by him when offered up through Christ, 1-Peter 2:5;
and teach me thy judgments; for though he was wiser than his enemies, and had more understanding than his teachers, or than the ancients; yet needed to be instructed more and more, and was desirous of being taught of God. This petition, or what is similar to it, is often put up.
freewill offerings--the spontaneous expressions of his gratitude, as contrasted with the appointed "offerings" of the temple (Hosea 14:2; Hebrews 13:15). He determines to pursue this way, relying on God's quickening power (Psalm 119:50) in affliction, and a gracious acceptance of his "spiritual sacrifices of prayer and praise" (Psalm 50:5, Psalm 50:14, Psalm 50:23).
Offerings - The sacrifices of prayer and praise.
*More commentary available at chapter level.