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Psalms 119:99

Adam Clarke
Bible Commentary

I have more understanding than all my teachers - As he had entered into the spiritual nature of the law of God, and saw into the exceeding breadth of the commandment, he soon became wiser than any of the priests or even prophets who instructed him.

Albert Barnes
Notes on the Whole Bible

I have more understanding than all my teachers - Referring perhaps to those who had given him instruction in early life. By constant meditation on the law of God, he had, in the progress of years, advanced to a point beyond that to which they had arrived. He had improved upon their suggestions and instructions, until he had surpassed them in knowledge. His “design” in saying this was to set forth the excellency and the fullness of the law of God, and to show how the study of it was suited to enlarge the understanding. In early life the wisdom of teachers seems to be far beyond anything that we can hope to reach; yet a few years of study and meditation may place us far beyond them. What those teachers seemed to be to us, however, when we were young, may serve ever onward as a means of comparison when we wish to speak of the greatness of human attainments. So the psalmist says that he had now reached a point which seemed to him in early life to be wonderful, and to be beyond what he had then hoped ever to attain. He had now reached that point; he had gone beyond it.

For thy testimonies are my meditation - Compare Psalm 1:2; 2 Timothy 3:15. All this knowledge he had obtained by meditation on the law of God; by the study of divine truth. The effect of that constant study was seen in the knowledge which he now possessed, and which seemed to surprise even himself as compared with the brightest anticipations of his early years.

Matthew Henry
Concise Bible Commentary
What we love, we love to think of. All true wisdom is from God. A good man carries his Bible with him, if not in his hands, yet in his head and in his heart. By meditation on God's testimonies we understand more than our teachers, when we understand our own hearts. The written word is a more sure guide to heaven, than all the fathers, the teachers, and ancients of the church. We cannot, with any comfort or boldness, attend God in holy duties, while under guilt, or in any by-way. It was Divine grace in his heart, that enabled the psalmist to receive these instructions. The soul has its tastes as well as the body. Our relish for the word of God will be greatest, when that for the world and the flesh is least. The way of sin is a wrong way; and the more understanding we get by the precepts of God, the more rooted will be our hatred of sin; and the more ready we are in the Scriptures, the better furnished we are with answers to temptation.
Ellen G. White
The Ministry of Healing, 464

“The sum of Thy word is truth;
And every one of Thy righteous ordinances endureth forever.”
MH 464.1

“Let my soul live, and it shall praise Thee;
And let Thine ordinances help me.”
“Great peace have they that love Thy law;
And they have no occasion of stumbling.
MH 464.2

“I have hoped for Thy salvation, O Jehovah,
And have done Thy commandments.
My soul hath observed Thy testimonies;
And I love them exceedingly.”
MH 464.3

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Ellen G. White
Testimonies for the Church, vol. 8, 324

“O how love I Thy law!
It is my meditation all the day.”
“Thy statutes have been my songs
In the house of my pilgrimage.”
“Thy testimonies are wonderful;
Therefore doth my soul keep them.
The opening of Thy words giveth light;
It giveth understanding unto the simple.”
“Thy commandments make me wiser than mine enemies;
For they are ever with me.
I have more understanding than all my teachers;
For Thy testimonies are my meditation.
I understand more than the aged,
Because I have kept Thy precepts....
Through Thy precepts I get understanding:
Therefore I hate every false way.”
8T 324.1

“Thy word is very pure;
Therefore Thy servant loveth it.”
“The sum of Thy word is truth;
And every one of Thy righteous ordinances endureth forever.”
8T 324.2

“Great peace have they that love Thy law;
And they have no occasion of stumbling.
I have hoped for Thy salvation, O Jehovah,
And have done Thy commandments.
My soul hath observed Thy testimonies;
And I love them exceedingly.”
8T 324.3

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Ellen G. White
The Great Controversy, 602

When the testing time shall come, those who have made God's word their rule of life will be revealed. In summer there is no noticeable difference between evergreens and other trees; but when the blasts of winter come, the evergreens remain unchanged, while other trees are stripped of their foliage. So the falsehearted professor may not now be distinguished from the real Christian, but the time is just upon us when the difference will be apparent. Let opposition arise, let bigotry and intolerance again bear sway, let persecution be kindled, and the halfhearted and hypocritical will waver and yield the faith; but the true Christian will stand firm as a rock, his faith stronger, his hope brighter, than in days of prosperity. GC 602.1

Says the psalmist: “Thy testimonies are my meditation.” “Through Thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.” Psalm 119:99, 104. GC 602.2

“Happy is the man that findeth wisdom.” “He shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.” Proverbs 3:13; Jeremiah 17:8. GC 602.3

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Ellen G. White
The Desire of Ages, 398

The disciples noted the rage of the spies as their false teaching was exposed. They saw the angry looks, and heard the half-muttered words of dissatisfaction and revenge. Forgetting how often Christ had given evidence that He read the heart as an open book, they told Him of the effect of His words. Hoping that He might conciliate the enraged officials, they said to Jesus, “Knowest Thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying?” DA 398.1

He answered, “Every plant, which My heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.” The customs and traditions so highly valued by the rabbis were of this world, not from heaven. However great their authority with the people, they could not endure the testing of God. Every human invention that has been substituted for the commandments of God will be found worthless in that day when “God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” Ecclesiastes 12:14. DA 398.2

The substitution of the precepts of men for the commandments of God has not ceased. Even among Christians are found institutions and usages that have no better foundation than the traditions of the fathers. Such institutions, resting upon mere human authority, have supplanted those of divine appointment. Men cling to their traditions, and revere their customs, and cherish hatred against those who seek to show them their error. In this day, when we are bidden to call attention to the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, we see the same enmity as was manifested in the days of Christ. Of the remnant people of God it is written, “The dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Revelation 12:17. DA 398.3

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