Psalm 119:56

KJV

56 This I had, because I kept thy precepts.

NKJV

56 

This has become mine,
Because I kept Your precepts.

The Rewards of Keeping God’s Precepts

My Notes

In this, the final verse of the section of “Zayin ז” of Psalm 119, David looks and remembers the blessings that he has received because of:

1. Having a heart to obey the will of God and being obedient to Him.

2. He speaks of remembering the Word in the night of affliction.

3. Of keeping the Word when men disparaged him.

4. The comfort that comes from meditating on the Word.

5. The concern for the welfare of others who are in need.

6. The peace from the Word while he was on his pilgrimage.

7. The peace that he had in the night season.

All these things were given to him because He kept God’s precepts. Matthew Henry reminds us that the branch that bears fruit is made more fruitful, John 15:2. These blessings are His because not because he knows the words of God, but because he obeys them.

Psalm 119:56 emphasizes the connection between obedience to God’s precepts and the blessings that follow. David reflects on the comfort, strength, and joy derived from following God’s commands, asserting that these gifts stem from a life lived in faithfulness. Despite acknowledging human imperfection in obedience, he maintains that a general commitment to God’s word leads to spiritual rewards. The commentaries below point out the importance of living according to God’s Word, suggesting that such obedience results in deeper blessings and comforts, illustrating a reciprocal relationship between obedience and spiritual fulfillment.

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 56, which is in the 7th section, which is called “Zayin ז”. According to the hebrews4christians.com website, the letter Zayin ז  is the 7th letter of the Aleph-Bet, having the numeric value of seven.  The pictograph for Zayin ז  looks like a sword. Since Zayin ז represents both the number seven and a sword, it is not surprising that it is used to divide or cut up time (z’man) into units of sevens:

• Shabbat – the 7th day of the 7-day week (the week of days)

• Shavu’ot – the 49th day after Passover (the week of weeks)

• Tishri – the 7th month of the year (the week of months)

• Shemitah – the 7th year of rest for the land (the week of years)

• Yovel – the 49th year (the week of weeks of years)

• The Millennial Kingdom – the 7th millennium of human history (week of 1,000’s)

The Rabbi’s pronounced “All sevens are blessed”, and the number seven has always been regarded in the Jewish tradition as the number of completion, wholeness, blessing, and rest.

……..Bill

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Commentaries:

Charles Spurgeon

“This I had, because I kept thy precepts.” He had this comfort, this remembrance of God, this power to sing, this courage to face the enemy, this hope in the promise, because he had earnestly observed the commands of God and striven to walk in them. We are not rewarded for our works, but there is a reward in them. Many a comfort is obtainable only by careful living: we can surely say of such consolations, “This I had because I kept thy precepts.” How can we defy ridicule if we are living inconsistently? How can we comfortably remember the name of the Lord if we live carelessly? It may be that David means that he had been enabled to keep the law because he had attended to the separate precepts: he had taken the commands in detail, and so had reached to holiness of life. Or, by keeping certain of the precepts, he had gained spiritual strength to keep others: for God gives more grace to those who have some measure of it, and those who improve their talents shall find themselves improving. It may be best to leave the passage open just as our version does, so that we may say of a thousand priceless blessings, “these came to us in the way of obedience.” All our possessions are the gifts of grace, and yet some of them come in the shape of reward; yet even then, the reward is not of debt, but of grace. God first works in us good works, and then rewards us for them.

Here we have an apt conclusion to this section of the psalm, for this verse is a strong argument for the prayer with which the section commenced. The sweet singer had evidence of having kept God’s precepts, and therefore he could the more properly beg the Lord to keep his promises. All through the passage we may find pleas, especially in the “remembers.” “I have remembered thy judgments,” and “I have remembered thy name;” “Remember thy word unto thy servant.”

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Enduring Word

This has become mine: This is a glorious, triumphant statement from the psalmist. The power, goodness, comfort, and strength of God’s word are not only ideas or theories to him. By faith – faith that has come by God’s word (Romans 10:17) – he can rightly say, This has become mine! (Guzik)

“…‘this’ being the cheer and comfort so tellingly described in Psalm 119:54. Although obedience does not earn these blessings, it turns us around to receive them.” (Kidner)

Because I kept Your precepts: The psalmist enjoys this triumph not only because he knows the word of God, but also because he obeys them (I kept Your precepts). It isn’t that the psalmist claims perfect obedience (as shown in the next verses, Psalm 119:57-58), but a life generally lived in faithfulness to the word of God. (Guzik)

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Albert Barnes

This I had, because I kept thy precepts – literally, “This was to me;” that is, This has happened to me; this has occurred. This joyful remembrance of thy law in the night of affliction Psalms 119:50; this stability and firmness on my part in keeping thy law when proud men have derided me Psalms 119:51; this comfort which I have derived from meditating on thy statutes Psalms 119:52; this solicitude for the welfare of others Psalms 119:53; this peace which I have enjoyed in thy law in the house of my pilgrimage Psalms 119:54; and this consolation which I have had in thee in the night-season Psalms 119:55; – all this has been granted to me because I have kept thy statutes; because I have sought to be obedient – to serve time – to find my happiness in thee. These are the proper fruits and effects of keeping the law of God. Such peace does it impart; so much does it do to sustain and comfort the soul.

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John Gill

This I had, because I kept thy precepts. Either the comfort he had from the word, the pleasure and delight he had in it, being his songs in his pilgrimage, Psalm 119:50; see Psalm 119:165; or this knowledge of the name of God, and the remembrance of it, and his carefulness and diligence in it in the night season, were of the Lord, and gifts of his: or rather this he had from the Lord, that he kept the precepts and commands of God in the manner that he did; it was all owing to grace and strength received from him; for so the words may be rendered, “this was [given] unto me, that I have kept thy precepts”

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Matthew Henry

The advantage he got by it (v. 56): This I had because I kept thy precepts. Some understand this indefinitely: This I had (that is, I had that which satisfied me; I had every thing that is comfortable) because I kept thy precepts. Note, all that have made a business of religion will own that it has turned to a good account, and that they have been unspeakable gainers by it. Others refer it to what goes immediately before: “I had the comfort of keeping thy law because I kept it.” Note, God’s work is its own wages. A heart to obey the will of God is a most valuable reward of obedience; and the more we do the more we may do, and shall do, in the service of God; the branch that bears fruit is made more fruitful, Jn. 15:2.

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Miscellaneous Comments

“This I had, because I kept thy precepts.” As sin is a punishment of sin, and the wicked waxeth ever worse and worse; so godliness is the recompense of godliness. The right use of one talent increaseth more, and the beginnings of godliness are blessed with a growth of godliness. David’s good exercises here held him in memory of his God, and the memory of God made him more godly and religious.—William Cowper.

“This I had,” etc. The Rabbins have an analogous saying:—The reward of a precept is a precept, or, A precept draws a precept. The meaning of which is that he who keeps one precept, to him God grants, as if by way of reward, the ability to keep another and more difficult precept. The contrary to this is that other saying of the Rabbins, that the reward of a sin is a sin; or, Transgression draws transgression.—Simon de Muis, 1587-1644.

“This I had,” etc. What is that? This comfort I had, this supportation I had in all my afflictions, this consolation I had, this sweet communion with God I had. Why? “Because I kept thy precepts,” I obeyed thy will. Look, how much obedience is yielded to the commands of God, so much comfort doth flow into the soul: God usually gives in comforts proportionally to our obedience. O the sweet, soul satisfying consolation a child of God finds in the ways of God, and in doing the will of God, especially when he lies on his deathbed; then it will be sweeter to him than honey and the honeycomb; then will he say with good king Hezekiah, when he lay upon his deathbed, “Lord, remember how I have walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done that which was good in thy sight.” O the sweet satisfaction that a soul shall find in God, when he comes to appear before God!—James Nalton, 1664.

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Cross-References

Psalm 18:18–22 (KJV)

¹⁸  They prevented me in the day of my calamity:

But the Lord was my stay.

¹⁹  He brought me forth also into a large place;

He delivered me, because he delighted in me.

²⁰  The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness;

According to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me.

²¹  For I have kept the ways of the Lord,

And have not wickedly departed from my God.

²²  For all his judgments were before me,

And I did not put away his statutes from me.

 

Romans 10:3 (KJV)

³ For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.

 

1 John 3:19–24 (KJV)

¹⁹ And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. ²⁰ For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. ²¹ Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. ²² And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. ²³ And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. ²⁴ And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.

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Closing Thoughts

Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein. Jeremiah 6:16

 

ז ZAYIN – The power of God’s word to comfort and strengthen. (Completion, Wholeness, Blessing, and Rest.)

49 

Remember the word to Your servant,
Upon which You have caused me to hope.

50 

This is my comfort in my affliction,
For Your word has given me life.

51 

The proud have me in great derision,
Yet I do not turn aside from Your law.

52 

I remembered Your judgments of old, O Lord,
And have comforted myself.

53 

Indignation has taken hold of me
Because of the wicked, who forsake Your law.

54 

Your statutes have been my songs
In the house of my pilgrimage.

55 

I remember Your name in the night, O Lord,
And I keep Your law.

56 

This has become mine,
Because I kept Your precepts.

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Posted on 7/11/2025 by Bill Stephens

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