Psalm 119:63 NKJV
63
I am a companion of all who fear You,
And of those who keep Your precepts.
Why Companionship Matters
My Notes
Birds of a feather flock together, an old saying to be sure, but one that is as true today as when it was first spoken. If we use it as a litmus test it can tell us about ourselves in that if we look at those we keep close to us, to those we look to for spiritual truths, to those we know that have testimonies that have helped us, then we can look at a verse like this and understand if we are traveling the road of life with like minded people.
It leads to another old saying, “A man is known by the company he keeps”, that’s not to say that we shouldn’t be out in the world, for how else will the lost know about Christ Jesus? But when our “company” is fellow believers, those who look at us will understand that our beliefs are with like-minded people, and those who look at us will see the difference.
Not to be political, but if you walked into a room full of conservatives and liberals, it wouldn’t be hard to distinguish the beliefs of the two groups and gravitate to the group that you aligned with.
Psalm 119:63 reflects David’s profound connection with those who fear God and adhere to His commandments. The commentaries below highlight the importance of companionship among believers, emphasizing that sincere love for God naturally translates into love for His people. David, despite his status as king, chose to associate with those who honored God, regardless of their background. This highlights a humility in faith, where true companionship arises from shared reverence for the Lord. Believers are encouraged to seek fellowship with the devout, as such relationships enhance spiritual growth and reflect their commitment to God and His teachings.
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 63, which is in the 8th section, which is called “Heth ח”. According to the hebrews4christians.com website has this letter is listed as “CHET where the NKJV lists it as “HETH”, the letter Heth ח is the 8th letter of the Aleph-Bet, having the numeric value of eight. The pictograph for Heth ח looks like a wall or fence, whereas the classical Hebrew script is constructed of the preceding two letters, Vav and Zayin, joined at the top with a thin connecting line.
Hebrewtoday.com lists this as the letter “HET” and has this to say:
The Hebrew letter Het is associated with a number of positive character traits. For example, the Hebrew word “hohma” (חוכמה), meaning “wisdom,” begins with the letter Het, as does the word “hasidut” (חסידות), which means “righteousness,” and “hen” (חן), meaning “grace.” The numerical value of the letter Het is eight, which is often associated with super-spirituality or holiness, as it is one more than seven, which represents the holy realm of the Sabbath. When Jewish boys are circumcised and enter into their faith’s holy ancient covenant, it is commanded to be performed on the eighth day.
……..Bill
Commentaries:
William Cowper
“I am a companion,“ etc. He said in the first verse of this section that God was his portion; now he saith that all the saints of God are his companions. These two go together—the love of God and the love of his saints. He that loveth not his brother, made in God’s image, whom he seeth, how shall he love God whom he hath not seen? Seeing our goodness extends not to the Lord; if it be showed to his saints and excellent ones upon earth, for his sake, it shall be no small argument of our loving affection towards himself.
Godly David, when Jonathan was dead, made diligent inquisition. Is there none of Jonathan’s posterity to whom I may show kindness for Jonathan’s sake? And at length, he found a silly, lame Mephibosheth. So if we enquire diligently, is there none upon earth to whom I may show kindness for Christ’s sake who is in heaven? We shall ever find some, to whom whatsoever we do shall be accepted as done to himself.
His great modesty is to be marked. He saith not, I am companion of all that follow thee, but of all that fear thee. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. He places himself among novices in humility, though he excelled ancients in piety.—William Cowper.
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Matthew Henry
David had often expressed the great love he had to God; here he expresses the great love he had to the people of God, and observe,
1. Why he loved them; not so much because they were his best friends, most firm to his interest and most forward to serve him, but because they were such as feared God and kept his precepts, and so did him honor and helped to support his kingdom among men. Our love to the saints is then sincere when we love them for the sake of what we see of God in them and the service they do to him.
2. How he showed his love to them: He was a companion of them. He had not only a spiritual communion with them in the same faith and hope, but he joined with them in holy ordinances in the courts of the Lord, where rich and poor, prince and peasant, meet together. He sympathized with them in their joys and sorrows (Heb. 10:33); he conversed familiarly with them, communicated his experiences to them, and consulted theirs. He not only took such to be his companions as did fear God, but he vouchsafed himself to be a companion with all, with any, that did so, wherever he met with them. Though he was a king, he would associate with the poorest of his subjects that feared God, Ps. 15:4; Jam. 2:1.
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Charles Spurgeon
“I am a companion of all them that fear thee.” The last verse said, “I will,” and this says, “I am.” We can hardly hope to be right in the future unless we are right now. The holy man spent his nights with God and his days with God’s people. Those who fear God love those who fear him, and they make small choice in their company so long as the men are truly God fearing. David was a king, and yet he consorted with “all” who feared the Lord, whether they were obscure or famous, poor or rich. He was a fellow commoner of the College of All Saints.
He did not select a few specially eminent saints and leave ordinary believers alone. No, he was glad of the society of those who had only the beginning of wisdom in the shape of “the fear of the Lord,” he was pleased to sit with them on the lower forms of the school of faith. He looked for inward godly fear, but he also expected to see outward piety in those whom he admitted to his society; hence he adds, and of them that keep thy precepts. If they would keep the Lord’s commands, the Lord’s servant would keep their company. David was known to be on the godly side, he was ever of the Puritanic party: the men of Belial hated him for this, and no doubt despised him for keeping such unfashionable company as that of humble men and women who are straitlaced and religious; but the man of God is by no means ashamed of his associates; so far from this, he even glories to avow his union with them, let his enemies make what they can of it. He found both pleasure and profit in saintly society: he grew better by consorting with the good, and derived honor from keeping right honorable company. What says the reader? Does he relish holy society? Is he at home among gracious people? If so, he may derive comfort from the fact. Birds of a feather flock together. A man is known by his company. Those who have no fear of God before their eyes seldom desire the society of saints; it is too slow, too dull for them. Be this our comfort, that when we are let go by death, we shall go to our own company, and those who loved the saints on earth shall be numbered with them in heaven.
There is a measure of parallelism between this seventh of its octave and the seventh or Teth (Psa 119:71) and of Jod (Psa 119:79); but, as a rule, the similarities which were so manifest in earlier verses are now becoming dim. As the sense deepens, the artificial form of expression is less regarded.
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Enduring Word
I am a companion of all who fear You: The psalmist enjoyed the special fellowship present among those who honor and hold God’s word, of those who keep Your precepts. (Guzik)
i. This wonderful companionship is the testimony of countless Christians, who experience warm fellowship across the lines of race, class, nationality, and education. (Guzik)
ii. “These then are the Lord’s people; and union with him is in fact union with them…. To meet the Christian in ordinary courtesy, not in unity of heart, is a sign of an unspiritual walk with God.” (Bridges)
iii. “If then we are not ashamed to confess ourselves Christians, let us not shrink from walking in fellowship with Christians. Even if they should exhibit some repulsive features of character, they bear the image of him, whom we profess to love.” (Bridges)
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Albert Barnes
I am a companion of all them that fear thee – I find my associates and friends among those who worship thee, not with the profane and the wicked. “A man is known by the company that he keeps,” and it is an evidence of piety when we seek our companions and friends among the pious. It shows where the heart is; what the preferences are; what are the tastes; what is the real condition of the soul. We seek our friends in accordance with our tastes and preferences; our love to God is indicated by our love to his friends. Compare Psalms 139:21-22.
And of them that keep thy precepts – That obey thy law. On the sentiment here, compare the notes at Psalms 1:1. A man may determine much in regard to his own character by asking himself what is the character of his chosen friends and companions. A member of a church should regard it as a dark sign against himself in regard to his piety, if his chosen friends are taken from the world, and not from the professed friends of God; if he finds more pleasure in their society, and in the scenes where they meet, than he does in the society of Christians however humble, or in places where they assemble for prayer and praise.
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John Gill
I [am] a companion of all [them] that fear thee,…. Not of the rich and mighty, much less of the wicked and ungodly; but of such who had the true fear of God upon their hearts, and before their eyes; who feared the Lord and his goodness, and truly served and worshipped him; even “all” of these, whether poor or rich, of whatsoever condition, or of whatsoever nation, being no respecter of persons. With these he was a partner in the blessings of the covenant, in the promises of it, in the graces of the Spirit, and in a right and meetness for the same eternal glory and happiness: he went in company with them to the house of God, and joined with them in all acts of religious worship; he conversed privately with them about what God had done for the souls of him and them; he delighted in their company; he sympathized with them in their troubles; and was a companion with them in their tribulation, sorrows, and sufferings, as well as in their joys and comforts;
and of them that keep thy precepts; as all such do who truly fear the Lord; for by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil, and cannot do those things that others do; cannot allow themselves in a willful transgression of the divine precepts; but, influenced by the fear of God, observe and keep them.
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Miscellaneous Comments
“I am a companion of all them that fear thee.” Birds of a feather will flock together. Servants of the same Lord, if faithful, will join with their fellows, and not with the servants of his enemy. When a man comes to an inn, you may give a notable guess for what place he is bound by the company he enquires after. His question, “Do you know of any traveling towards London? I should be heartily glad of their company,” will speak his mind and his course. If he hears of any bound for another coast, he regards them not; but if he knows of any honest passengers that are to ride in the same road, and set out for the same city with himself, he sends to them, and begs the favor of their good company. This world is an inn, all men are in some sense pilgrims and strangers, they have no abiding place here. Now the company they enquire after, and delight in, whether those that walk in the “broad way” of the flesh, or those who walk in the “narrow way” of the Spirit, will declare whether they are going towards heaven or towards hell. A wicked man will not desire the company of them who walk in a contrary way, nor a saint delight in their society who go cross to his journey. “Can two walk together except they be agreed?” The young partridges hatched under a hen go for a time along with her chickens, and keep them company, scraping in the earth together; but when they are grown up, and their wings fit for the purpose, they mount up into the air, and seek for birds of their own nature. A Christian, before his conversion, is brought up under the prince of darkness, and walks in company with his cursed crew, according to the course of this world; but when the Spirit changes his disposition, he quickly changes his companions, and delights only in the saints that are on earth.
—George Swinnock.
“I am a companion“ etc., as if he would say, This is a sign to me that I belong to thy family; because “I am the companion of all those fearing thee” with a filial fear, and keeping “thy precepts.”
—Paulus Palanterius.
Shun the company that shuns God, and keep the company that God keeps. Look on the society of the carnal or profane as infectious, but reckon serious, praying persons the excellent ones of the earth. Such will serve to quicken you when and warm you when cold. Make the liveliest of God’s people your greatest intimates, and see that their love and likeness to Christ be the great motive of your love to them, more than their love or likeness to you.
—John Willison, 1680-1750.
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Cross-References
Psalm 119:79 (KJV)
79 Let those that fear thee turn unto me,
And those that have known thy testimonies.
Psalm 16:3 (KJV )
3 But to the saints that are in the earth,
And to the excellent, in whom is all my delight.
Hebrews 2:11 (KJV)
11 For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren,
Malachi 3:16 (KJV)
16 Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another:
And the Lord hearkened, and heard it,
And a book of remembrance was written before him
For them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name.
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Closing Thoughts
but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. “Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments; Deuteronomy 7:8-9 NKJV
ח HETH – Hurrying to God with all my heart.
57
You are my portion, O Lord;
I have said that I would keep Your words.
58
I entreated Your favor with my whole heart;
Be merciful to me according to Your word.
59
I thought about my ways,
And turned my feet to Your testimonies.
60
I made haste, and did not delay
To keep Your commandments.
61
The cords of the wicked have bound me,
But I have not forgotten Your law.
62
At midnight I will rise to give thanks to You,
Because of Your righteous judgments.
63
I am a companion of all who fear You,
And of those who keep Your precepts.
64
The earth, O Lord, is full of Your mercy;
Teach me Your statutes.
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