Psalm 119:19

[oswinium]

What does the Psalmist mean by "stranger"? Is is that we are strangers to the worldly ways? Or is it that he is asking God to "do good" to him since he is a stranger (to God - and doesn't know His ways fully) and we are all meant to be kind to strangers? Or is it something else?

Also, why would God hide His commands from His servants? So that we keep seeking Him? Or does it mean the same thing as Luke 9:45 meant? Or is it something else?

God bless you all

 

[jari]

Psalm 119:19
King James Version (KJV)
19I am a stranger in the earth: hide not thy commandments from me.




Psa 25:12 What man is he that feareth the LORD? him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose.


Maybe David thought God would not just give His commandments to everybody. But he appealed to the fact that he is stranger on earth and would like God's way and not earthly way to be known to him.

 

[Davy]

Consider this explanation for Psalms 119:19.

A more modern translation of this would be: "I am in this world, but no part of this world or its wicked ways!"--"I am a stranger" (or foreigner as some bibles put it.) The Psalmist wishes to identify himself as separate from the world and its wicked ways, as he has dedicated his life unto God. As a result, in the next part of the verse he says: "Do not hide your commandments (or laws) from me." Here, the Psalmist is demonstrating an earnest desire to fully understand God's commandments, to guide his steps, so that he might remain a stranger or an outsider to the goings on of the wicked around him.

Key points taken from "The Treasury of David" by Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-92)