Such declarations are certainly not to be interpreted as a promise of long life in this world in every instance, as the result of obedience to God's commands. There are promises to Israel of their days being prolonged in the land which are greatly mistaken when interpreted of the life of individuals; and as pledging in every case its prolongation to all the good. Such passages relate to the continued possession of the land of promise by the people, if they, in their successive generations, continued to serve God.--_Wardlaw._ Simple duration of life in itself to Jewish mind, a great gift of God. "Years of _life_," _i.e._, of a life truly such, a life worth living, not the lingering struggle with pain and sickness (compare the use of "life" in Psalm xxx. 5, xliii. 8).--_Plumptre._ Verse 3. There was such a similitude of nature between the twins of love that at once they wept, and at once they smiled; they fell sick together, and they recovered jointly. Such are these twins of grace. In policy, mercy without truth is a sweet shower dropping upon barren sands, quite spilt, and no blessing following it; truth without mercy is extreme right and extreme injury. Consider them toward God and heaven. A faith of mere protestation without good works, such as truth without mercy, and all the integrity of the heathen, all the goodness that Socrates could teach, such is mercy without truth.--_Bishop Hacket._ The _neck_ is, in Solomon's writings, the organ and symbol of _obedience_. To bind God's law about the neck is not only to _do_ it, but to _rejoice_ in doing it; to put it on and exult in it as the fairest ornament.--_Wordsworth._ +I. The matter to be recorded+--mercy and truth. These two, meeting and kissing in the Mediator, constitute the revealed character of God Himself; and He desires to see, as it were, a miniature of His own likeness impressed upon His children. +II. The tablet for receiving it+--the human heart. The reference is obviously to the tables of stone. The tables were intended to be not a book only, but a type. An impress should be taken on our own hearts, that we may always have the will of God hidden within us.--_Arnot._ Let these graces be, as with God, in combination. The want of one buries the commendation of the other. "Such a one is merciful to the poor, but there is no truth in him." "Such a one is very just in his dealings, but he is as hard as a flint." Nor must these virtues be in occasional and temporary exercise. "Let them not _forsake_ thee."--_Bridges._