Psalm 119:23 NKJV

23 

Princes also sit and speak against me,
But Your servant meditates on Your statutes.

 

My Thoughts

As I was reading the commentaries for this verse, I was reminded of Philippians 4:8, which says:

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.

We will all, at some point, face people saying unkind, negative things about us. In this passage, David chose to stay in the Word and let God take care of those who were slandering him. 

In Psalm 119:23, David reflects on the scorn he faces from influential figures, noting their contempt as they sit and speak against him. Despite this, he remains steadfast in meditating on God’s statutes, finding solace and strength in his faith. The verse emphasizes the importance of divine guidance amid trials and the resilience in adhering to spiritual principles regardless of external slander and criticism. Commentators highlight this contrast between the worldly accusations of princes and the psalmist’s commitment to God’s word, portraying a deeper spiritual truth that withstands social pressures and injustices.

Note: Psalm 119 is an acrostic pattern. There are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet; each of the 22 sections is given a letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and each line in that section begins with that letter. Today, we’re looking at verse 23, which is in the 3rd section which is called Gimel ג. According to the hebrews4christians.com website: “the letter Gimmel is the third letter of the ‘Aleph-Bet’, having the numerical value of three. The pictograph for Gimmel is a camel. In the Talmud, it is said that the Gimmel symbolizes a rich man running after a poor man (the next letter Dalet) to give him tzedakah (charity).”

…..Bill

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Commentaries:

 

Charles Spurgeon

“Princes also did sit and speak against me.” David was high game, and the great ones of the earth went a hawking after him. Princes saw in him a greatness which they envied, and therefore, they abused him. On their thrones, they might have found something better to consider and speak about, but they turned the seat of judgment into the seat of the scorner. Most men covet a prince’s good word, and to be spoken ill of by a great man is a great discouragement to them, but the Psalmist bore his trial with holy calmness. Many of the lordly ones were his enemies, and made it their business to speak ill of him: they held sittings for scandal, sessions for slander, parliaments of falsehood, and yet he survived all their attempts upon him.

“But thy servant did meditate in thy statutes.” This was brave indeed. He was God’s servant, and therefore he attended to his Master’s business; he was God’s servant, and therefore felt sure that his Lord would defend him. He gave no heed to his princely slanderers, he did not even allow his thoughts to be disturbed by a knowledge of their plotting in conclave. Who were these malignants that they should rob God of his servant’s attention, or deprive the Lord’s chosen of a moment’s devout communion. The rabble of princes were not worth five minutes’ thought, if those five minutes had to be taken from holy meditation. It is very beautiful to see the two sittings: the princes sitting to reproach David, and David sitting with his God and his Bible, answering his traducers by never answering them at all. Those who feed upon the word grow strong and peaceful, and are by God’s grace hidden from the strife of tongues.

Note that in the close of the former octave, he had said, “I will meditate,” and here he shows how he had redeemed his promise, even under great provocation to forget it. It is a praiseworthy thing when the resolve of our happy hours is duly carried out in our seasons of affliction.

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Albert Barnes

Princes also did sit and speak against me – This would have been applicable to David many times in his life, but it was also applicable to many others, and there is nothing in the language which would limit it to David. It is evident that the author of the psalm had been subject to reproach from those who were of exalted rank; it is clear also that he felt this keenly. It is natural, whether proper or not, that we should feel the reproach and contempt of those in elevated life – the rich, the honored, the learned – more than of those in humbler life. Their good opinion can be of value only as they may be better qualified than others to judge of what constitutes true excellence, or as they may have it in their power to do us more harm, or to do more to aid us in doing good, than others have; but truth and principle are never to be sacrificed that we may secure their favor; and if, in the faithful discharge of our duty, and the zealous adherence to the principles of our religion, we incur their frowns, we are to bear it – as the great Lord and Savior of his people did. Hebrews 13:13.

But thy servant did meditate in thy statutes – I was engaged in this; I continued to do it; I was not deterred from it by their opposition; I found comfort in it, when they sat and talked against me. This would seem to have reference to some occasion when they were together, in public business, or in the social circle. They, the princes and nobles, engaged in the ordinary topics of conversation, or in conversation connected with revelry, frivolity, or sin. Unwilling to participate in this – having different tastes – feeling that it was improper to be one of their companions in such a mode of spending time, or in such subjects of conversation, “he” withdrew, he turned his thoughts on the law of God, he sought comfort in meditation on that law and on God. He became, therefore, the subject of remark – perhaps of their jests – “because” he thus refused to mingle with them, or because he put on what seemed to be hypocritical seriousness, and was (what they deemed) stern, sour, unsocial, as if he thus publicly, though tacitly, meant to rebuke them. Nothing will be more “likely” to subject one to taunting remarks, to rebuke, to contempt, than to manifest a religious spirit, and to introduce religion in any way in the circles of the worldly and the frivolous.

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John Gill

Princes also did sit [and] speak against me,…. The princes in the court of Saul, who suggested to him that David sought his hurt; the princes of his own court, Absalom, his own son, a prince of the blood, and Ahithophel, a counsellor of state: or the princes of the Gentiles, as Jarchi; so the princes of the Philistines spake against him in a very disdainful manner, “make this fellow return to his place again,” 1 Samuel 29:4. Such as these might speak against him, as they sat and rode in their chariots; when at their tables, conversing together; or at their council boards, forming schemes against him: the phrase denotes their constant practice, as Kimchi observes; see Psalm 50:20; herein David was a type of Christ, whom the princes of this world conspired against, and whose life they took away, Psalm 2:2;

[but] thy servant did meditate in thy statutes; what the princes did or said against him did not divert his mind, or take off his thoughts from the word of God, and the ordinances of it; he thought of them, he spoke and discoursed of them; he declared them, as the word sometimes signifies, and so the Targum takes it here; he was not afraid nor ashamed to profess his regard unto them: as Daniel, when he knew that the presidents and princes had obtained a royal decree, and the writing was signed; yet went into his chamber, as at other times, and kneeled down and prayed to God, Daniel 6:10.

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Matthew Henry

See here,

1. How David was abused even by great men, who should have known better his character and his case, and have been more generous: Princes did sit, sit in council, sit in judgment, and speak against me. What even princes say is not always right, but it is sad when judgment is thus turned to wormwood, when those that should be the protectors of the innocent are their betrayers. Herein, David was a type of Christ, for they were the princes of this world that vilified and crucified the Lord of glory, 1 Co. 2:8.

2. What method he took to make himself easy under these abuses: he meditated in God’s statutes, went on in his duty, and did not regard them; as a deaf man, he heard not. When they spoke against him, he found that in the word of God which spoke for him, and spoke comfort to him, and then none of these things moved him. Those that have pleasure in communion with God may easily despise the censures of men, even of princes.

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Miscellaneous Quotes

“Princes also did sit,” under the shadow of justice, “and speak against me.” Now this was a great temptation to David, that he was not only mocked and scorned at the taverns and inns, being there blazoned by dissolute jesters and scoffers, and talked of in the streets and market places; but even in the place of justice (which ought to be holy); it could not therefore be chosen but that they also would utterly defame and slander him, and condemn him to be, as it were, a most wicked and cursed man. When David then did see that he was thus unjustly entreated and handled, he makes his complaint unto God, and says, “O Lord, the princes and governors themselves do sit and speak evil against me; “and yet for all that I have kept thy testimonies.” Here in sum we are to gather out of this place, that if it so fall out, when we have walked uprightly and in a good conscience, that we are falsely slandered, and accused of this and that whereof we never once thought; yet ought we to bear all things patiently; for let us be sure of that, that we are not better than David, whatever great protestation of our integrity and purity we may dare to make.—John Calvin.

“But thy servant did meditate in thy statutes.” As husbandmen, when their ground is overflowed by waters, make ditches and water furrows to carry it away; so, when our minds and thoughts are overwhelmed with trouble, it is good to divert them to some other matter. But every diversion will not become saints, it must be a holy diversion: “In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul“ (Psa 94:19). The case was the same with that of the text, when the throne of iniquity frameth mischief by a law; as you shall see here, when he had many perplexed thoughts about the abuse of power against himself. But now, where lay his ease in diversion? Would every diversion suit his purpose? No; “Thy comforts,”—comforts of God’s allowance, of God’s providing, comforts proper to saints. Wicked men in trouble run to their pot and pipe, and games and sports, and merry company, and so defeat the providence rather than improve it: but David, who was God’s servant, must have God’s comforts. So, elsewhere, when his thoughts were troubled about the power of the wicked: “I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end“ (Psa 73:17). He goeth to divert his mind by the use of God’s ordinances, and so cometh to be settled against the temptation.

—Thomas Manton.

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Cross-References

Psalm 119:78 (KJV )

⁷⁸  Let the proud be ashamed; for they dealt perversely with me without a cause:

But I will meditate in thy precepts.

 

Matthew 5:44 (KJV )

⁴⁴ But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

 

Psalm 2:2 (KJV )

²  The kings of the earth set themselves,

And the rulers take counsel together,

Against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying,

 

Psalm 119:48 (KJV )

⁴⁸  My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments, which I have loved;

And I will meditate in thy statutes.

 

Daniel 6:4 (KJV )

⁴ Then the presidents and princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find none occasion nor fault; forasmuch as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him.

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Closing Thoughts

Now to him who is able to establish you in accordance with my gospel, the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ, in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all the Gentiles might come to the obedience that comes from faith— to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen. Romans 16:25-27 NIV

 

Gimel ג: The word of God and the trials of life.

17

Deal bountifully with Your servant,
That I may live and keep Your word.

18 

Open my eyes, that I may see
Wondrous things from Your law.

19 

I am a stranger in the earth;
Do not hide Your commandments from me.

20 

My soul breaks with longing
For Your judgments at all times.

21 

You rebuke the proud—the cursed,
Who stray from Your commandments.

22 

Remove from me reproach and contempt,
For I have kept Your testimonies.

23 

Princes also sit and speak against me,
But Your servant meditates on Your statutes.

24 

Your testimonies also are my delight
And my counselors.

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Posted on 6/6/2025 by Bill Stephens

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