17 Deal bountifully with Thy servant, that I may live, So will I observe Thy word. 18 Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonders out of Thy law. 19 A stranger am I on the earth, Hide not from me Thy commandments. 20 Crushed is my soul with longing Towards Thy judgments at all times. 21 Thou hast rebuked the proud [so that they are] cursed, Those who wander from Thy commandments. 22 Remove from me reproach and shame, For Thy testimonies do I keep. 23 Princes also sit and speak with one another against me, Thy servant meditates on Thy statutes. 24 Also Thy testimonies are my delight, The men of my counsel. In ver. 17 the psalmist desires continued life, mainly because it affords the opportunity of continued obedience. He will "observe Thy word," not only in token of gratitude, but because to him life is precious chiefly because in its activities he can serve God. Such a reason for wishing to live may easily change to a willingness to die, as it did with Paul, who had learned that a better obedience was possible when he had passed through the dark gates, and therefore could say, "To die is gain." Vv. 18, 19, are connected, in so far as the former desires subjective illumination and the latter objective revelation. Opened eyes are useless, if commandments are hidden; and the disclosure of the latter is in vain unless there are eyes to see them. Two great truths lie in the former petition--namely, that scales cover our spiritual vision which only God can take away, and that His revelation has in its depths truths and treasures which can only be discerned by His help. The cognate petition in ver. 19 is based upon the pathetic thought that man is a stranger on earth, and therefore needs what will take away his sense of homelessness and unrest. All other creatures are adapted to their environments, but he has a consciousness that he is an exile here, a haunting, stinging sense, which vaguely feels after repose in his native land. "Thy commandments" can still it. To know God's will, with knowledge which is acceptance and love, gives rest, and makes every place a mansion in the Father's house. There may possibly be a connection between vv. 20 and 21--the terrible fate of those who wander from the commandments, as described in the latter verse, being the motive for the psalmist's longing expressed in the former. The "judgments" for which he longed, with a yearning which seemed to bruise his soul are not, as might be supposed, God's judicial acts, but the word is a synonym for "commandments," as throughout the psalm.