Psalm 119:98 NKJV
98
You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies;
For they are ever with me.
Wisdom That Outlasts the Enemy
My Notes
Scripture: “You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies; for they are ever with me.” — Psalm 119:98 (NKJV)
My Thoughts
David lived surrounded by enemies—some wicked, others proud. Perhaps they boasted of their intellect, their education, or their cunning. Yet David was not intimidated. He had discovered a deeper wisdom, one not born of human achievement but of divine instruction. Through God’s commandments, he was made wiser than all his enemies.
This is the kind of wisdom that goes beyond knowledge. It is not merely knowing facts—it is knowing how to live. The Word of God teaches us through promises, doctrines, histories, and commands. It equips us with discernment, clarity, and strength to navigate life’s trials and confront its enemies.
The letter of Scripture may inform, but only the Spirit of God can transform. True wisdom is practical—it shows us how to respond, how to endure, how to hope. It is the kind of wisdom that silences the crafty and steadies the soul. The believer, taught by God, walks with a holy wisdom that surpasses even the serpent’s subtlety.
David kept the scriptures close—not just in study, but in obedience. It was his constant companion. If we wish to grow in wisdom, we must be tireless in our pursuit of the Lord; we must truly seek Him with all of our heart. When the Word is hidden in our hearts and present on our lips, we are prepared for every attack, every temptation, every burden.
God’s Word gives us:
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Clarity in confusion
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Counsel in conflict
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Comfort in suffering
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Courage in adversity
The law of the Lord was never far from David’s thoughts. It shaped his understanding of life, its purpose, and its responsibilities. It gave him insight that surpassed his enemies and anchored him in truth.
When the Word dwells richly within us, we find a ready help—a timely word for every need, direction for every decision, and hope for every hardship.
Cross Reference
“The entrance of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.” — Psalm 119:130 (NKJV)
Questions
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What enemies—in the world or spiritually—do you face regularly?
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How has God’s Word equipped you to respond with wisdom?
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What promise in the Word has recently guided your steps?
Prayer
Lord, Your Word makes me wise beyond my own strength. Teach me daily through Your commandments. Let Your truth be my constant companion and my defense against every enemy. May I walk in the wisdom that comes from knowing and obeying You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Summary of Commentaries:
Psalm 119:98 emphasizes the wisdom gained through God’s commandments, which surpasses that of one’s enemies. David, recognizing the persistence of adversaries, underscores that true wisdom stems from obedience to God’s word. The commentaries below highlight that obedience not only provides knowledge but practical wisdom that counters the cunning of foes. This wisdom is not a boastful claim but an acknowledgment of divine guidance. David’s constant engagement with God’s commandments equips him to navigate life’s challenges, suggesting that a steadfast focus on divine instruction enables one to outmaneuver adversaries effectively. Thus, God’s law becomes a lifelong companion, bringing strength and understanding.
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 98, which is in the 13th section, which is called “Mem מ”. The website https://www.abarim-publications.com/Hebrew_Alphabet_Meaning.html defines the meaning of the letter Mem מ as: ם (mayim) means waters in the sense of a larger body (sea, ocean). It is suggested that the letter Mem מ looks like a wave. The letter Mem מ is written ם when it occurs at the end of a word, and מ when it occurs at the beginning or halfway through a word.
……..Bill
Commentaries:
Charles Spurgeon
“Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies.” The commands were his book, but God was his teacher. The letter can make us know, but only the divine Spirit can make us wise. Wisdom is knowledge put to practical use. Wisdom comes to us through obedience: “If any man will do his will he shall know of the doctrine.”(Jhn 7:17) We learn not only from promise, and doctrine, and sacred history, but also from precept and command; in fact, from the commandments we gather the most practical wisdom and that which enables us best to cope with our adversaries. A holy life is the highest wisdom and the surest defense. Our enemies are renowned for subtlety, from the first father of them, the old serpent, down to the last cockatrice that has been hatched from the egg; and it would be vain for us to try to be a match with them in the craft and mystery of cunning, “for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light” (Luk 16:8). We must go to another school and learn of a different instructor, and then by uprightness we shall baffle fraud, by simple truth we shall vanquish deep laid scheming, and by open candor we shall defeat slander. A thoroughly straightforward man, devoid of all policy, is a terrible puzzle to diplomatists; they suspect him of a subtle duplicity through which they cannot see, while he, indifferent to their suspicions, holds on the even tenor of his way, and baffles all their arts. Yes, “honesty is the best policy.” He who is taught of God has a practical wisdom such as malice cannot supply to the crafty; while harmless as a dove, he also exhibits more than a serpent’s wisdom.
“For they are ever with me.” He was always studying or obeying the commandments; they were his choice and constant companions. If we wish to become proficient, we must be indefatigable. If we keep the wise law ever near us, we shall become wise, and when our adversaries assail us, we shall be prepared for them with that ready wit which lies in having the word of God at our fingers’ ends. As a soldier in battle must never lay aside his shield, so must we never have the word of God out of our minds; it must be ever with us.
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Enduring Word
You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies: The psalmist had many enemies, some of them evil and some proud. Perhaps the proud ones boasted that they were wiser or more educated than the writer of the psalm. Yet the writer was confident that God’s word had given him greater wisdom. (Guzik)
i. The psalmist is wiser and has more understanding than his enemies (Psalm 119:98), his teachers (Psalm 119:99), and the ancients (Psalm 119:100). “The comparison is not a prideful assertion of superiority, but a form of exultation in the Lord himself, whose wisdom is more direct and superior.” (VanGemeren)
b. For they are ever with me: The psalmist was real about the abiding presence of his enemies. They were with him ever, and he had to gain enough spiritual strength and enough strength of character to survive and even thrive with them with him. (Guzik)
i. “Neither grace received, nor experience attained, nor engagements regarded, will secure me for one moment without continual teaching from thyself.” (Bridges)
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Albert Barnes
Thou, through thy commandments – By the teaching and power of thy law.
Hast made me wiser than mine enemies – I have a better understanding of thee, of thy law, of the duties of this life, and in regard to the life to come, than my enemies have – not because I am naturally better, or because I have higher endowments by nature, but because thou hast made me wiser than they are. The rendering of this first clause of the verse, now most approved by interpreters, is, “Thy commandments make me more wise than my enemies are,” though this requires a singular verb to be construed with a plural noun (Professor Alexander). So DeWette renders it.
For they are ever with me – Margin, as in Hebrew, “it is ever with me.” The reference is to the law or commandments of God. The meaning is that that law was never out of his mind; that he was constantly thinking about it; and that it unfolded such wisdom to him as to make him superior to all his foes; to give him a better understanding of life, its design, its duties, and its obligations, than his enemies had. The best instructor in true wisdom is the revealed word of God – the Bible.
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John Gill
Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies,…. David had his enemies, as every good man has: and these are often cunning and crafty ones, at least in wickedness; many of them are wise and prudent as to natural things, wiser in worldly things and political matters than the children of light, and often lay deep schemes and take crafty counsel against the saints; and yet they, by attending to the word and commands of God, and being under his direction and counsel, counter work the designs of their enemies, and overturn their schemes and measures, which are brought to confusion; honesty being in the issue the best policy. However, the people of God are wiser than they in the best things; in the affair of salvation; in things relating to a future state, and their happiness there; which wisdom they attain unto through the Word of God, which is written for their learning; through the Scriptures, which are able to make men wise to salvation: these are the means, and no more; for it is God that is the efficient cause, or makes the means effectual, to make them wise, and wiser than others; it is owing to his divine teachings, to his Spirit and grace. The words may be rendered, “it hath made me wiser in thy commandments than mine enemies”; that is, the law; and so is another reason why it was so greatly loved by him: or, “thy commandments,” that is, every one of thy commandments, “have made me wiser,” &c. Joseph Kimchi gives this as the sense, “by mine enemies thou hast made me wise; thou hast learned me thy commandments, so that I see they cannot remove thy law from my mouth;”
for they [are] ever with me; that is, the commandments of God, or his law, and the precepts of it; they were his privy counsellors, with whom on all occasions he consulted, and so became wiser than his enemies, and outwitted them: these were always near him, in his heart and in his mouth; he was ever thinking and speaking of them, and so did not forget the instructions they gave him; they were ever before his eyes, as the rule of his conduct.
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Matthew Henry
The good method by which he got it. In his youth, he minded business in the country as a shepherd; from his youth, he minded business in the court and camp. Which way then could he get any great stock of learning? He tells us here how he came by it; he had it from God as the author: Thou hast made me wise. All true wisdom is from God. He had it by the word of God as the means, by his commandments and his testimonies. These are able to make us wise to salvation and to furnish the man of God for every good work.
1. These David took for his constant companions: “They are ever with me, ever in my mind, ever in my eye.” A good man, wherever he goes, carries his Bible along with him, if not in his hands, yet in his head and in his heart.
2. These he took for the delightful subject of his thoughts; they were his meditation, not only as matters of speculation for his entertainment, as scholars meditate on their notions, but as matters of concern, for his right management, as men of business think of their business, that they may do it in the best manner.
3. These he took for the commanding rules of all his actions: I keep thy precepts, that is, I make conscience of doing my duty in every thing. The best way to improve in knowledge is to abide and abound in all the instances of serious godliness; for, if any man do his will, he shall know of the doctrine of Christ, shall know more and more of it, Jn. 7:17. The love of the truth prepares for the light of it; the pure in heart shall see God here.
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The Pulpit Commentaries
Thou through thy command-meets but made me wiser than mine enemies (comp. Deuteronomy 4:6, Deuteronomy 4:8). The knowledge of God’s Law gives a wisdom and an understanding infinitely above the cunning and craft of worldly men. If to the knowledge is added a faithful and habitual obedience, a wisdom is attained which can be reached in no other way (see Psalms 119:100). For they are ever with me. Always present to my thoughts, as my rule of life.
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Miscellaneous Comments
“They are ever with me.” The meaning of the last clause is not merely “it is ever with me, but it is for ever to me,” i.e., mine, my inalienable, indefeasible possession.
—Joseph Addison Alexander.
“They are ever with me.” God gives knowledge to whom he pleaseth; but those that meditate most, thrive most. This may imply also that the word should be a ready help. Such as derive their wisdom from without cannot have their counsellors always with them to give advice. But, when a man hath gotten the word in his heart, he finds a ready help: he hath a seasonable word to direct him in all difficulties, in all straits, and in all temptations, to teach him what to do against the burden of the present exigence; to teach him what to do and what to hope for.
—Thomas Manton.
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Cross-References
Deuteronomy 4:6 (KJV)
6 Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.
1 Samuel 18:14 (KJV)
14 And David behaved himself wisely in all his ways; and the Lord was with him.
Colossians 3:16 (KJV)
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
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Proverb for Today
Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, But a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised. Proverbs 31:30 NKJV
מ MEM Loving the sweetness of God’s word.
97
Oh, how I love Your law!
It is my meditation all the day.
98
You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies;
For they are ever with me.
99
I have more understanding than all my teachers,
For Your testimonies are my meditation.
100
I understand more than the ancients,
Because I keep Your precepts.
101
I have restrained my feet from every evil way,
That I may keep Your word.
102
I have not departed from Your judgments,
For You Yourself have taught me.
103
How sweet are Your words to my taste,
Sweeter than honey to my mouth!
104
Through Your precepts I get understanding;
Therefore I hate every false way.
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