Blessed is the man whom thou shalt instruct, O Lord: and shalt teach him out of thy law.

“"Blessed is the man whom You chasten, O Lord: and teachest him from Your law" [Psalm 94:12]. Behold, you have the counsel of God, wherefore He spares the wicked: the pit is being dug for the sinner. You wish to bury him at once: the pit is as yet being dug for him: do not be in haste to bury him. What mean the words, "until the pit be dug up for the sinner"? Or whom does He mean by sinner? One man? No. Whom then? The whole race of such that are sinners? No; them that are proud; for he had said before, "Reward the proud after their deserving." For that publican, who would not so much as lift up his eyes to heaven, but "smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner," [Luke 18:13] was a sinner; but since he was not proud, and since God will render a recompense to the proud; the pit is being dug not for him, but for them that are such, until He render a recompense to the proud. In the words then, "until the pit be dug up for the ungodly," understand the proud. Who is the proud? He who does not by confession of his sins do penance, that he may be healed through his humility. Who is the proud? He who chooses to arrogate to himself those few good things which he seems to possess, and who does detract from the mercy of God. Who is the proud? He who although he does ascribe unto God his good works, yet insults those who do not those good works, and raises himself above them....This then is the Christian doctrine: no man does anything well except by His grace. A man's bad acts are his own: his good he does of God's bounty. When he has begun to do well, let not him ascribe it unto himself: when he has not attributed it to himself, let him give thanks to Him from whom he has received it. But when he does well, let him not insult him who does not as he does nor exalt himself above him: for the grace of God is not stayed at him, so that it cannot reach another.”

“And again, in another place, he [David] ascribeth blessedness to the man who feareth God, and he maketh known what good things the fear of God worketh in him that feareth [Him], saying, "Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord", and here the fearer of God is accounted blessed. And although our Lord ordained blessings for other things, the prophet David accounted blessed the fearer of the Lord. "Blessed is the man who hath not walked in the way of the wicked", and it is well known that he walketh not in the way of the wicked because he feareth God. And again he saith, "Blessed is the man whom Thou shalt correct, O Lord, and whom Thou shalt teach Thy law", and it is manifest that the fear of God teacheth the laws, and that the man who feareth confesseth his correction. And again he said, "Blessed are those who are without blemish in the way, and who walk in the law of the Lord", and here again the fear of the Lord preserveth [a man] from blemishes, and urgeth him to walk in the way of the law. And again he saith, "Blessed is the man whose iniquity is forgiven, and whose sins are covered", and it is well known that here also the fear of God bringeth to repentance, through which the forgiveness of sins is given, and through the suffering and tears which are produced by the fear of God the form of a man's sins is covered before his eyes. And again he saith, "Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord, and who walketh in His ways", and here again the prophet David sheweth that a man walketh in the way of the commandments through the fear of God. And in another place he saith concerning him that feareth the Lord, "He taketh heed to the commandments which are given by the Lord."”

“Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord,.... Much more happy now, and hereafter, than the proud insulting persecutor of him; he is chastened of the Lord, that he might not be condemned with the world; he is chastened not in wrath, but in love; not with the chastisement of a cruel one, nor indeed of a magistrate nor a master; but of a tenderhearted father, who always does it for his profit and advantage, and therefore is he "blessed", or happy; for these chastenings are tokens of God's love, evidences of sonship, or of a man's being an adopted child of God; are for, and do work for good, either temporal, spiritual, or eternal, and even in every sense; and, besides, the Lord grants his presence in them, supports under them, and teaches by them, as follows: and teachest him out of thy law; or "doctrine" (f); and may be understood of the doctrine of the Gospel, as well as of the law; the Lord teaches by his Spirit, his word, and providences; and, even by afflictive ones, he teaches men their sins and transgressions, and shows them wherein they have exceeded; brings them to a sense and confession of them, repentance and reformation; he teaches them hereby their duty, both to himself and all men, which they have neglected, and departed from; he teaches many lessons of faith, patience, humility, self-denial, and submission to his will in the school of affliction; here they learn much of God, of his power and faithfulness, truth, goodness, grace, and love, and of evangelical doctrines; of his everlasting love, of eternal election, the covenant of grace, the righteousness of Christ, and salvation by him; which the Lord makes known unto them at such seasons, and on which account they are pronounced blessed, or happy persons. (f) "ex lege", sc. "doctrina verbi tui", Michaelis.”

“The fourth strophe praises the pious sufferer, whose good cause God will at length aid in obtaining its right. The "blessed" reminds one of Psa 34:9; Psa 40:5, and more especially of Job 5:17, cf. Pro 3:11. Here what are meant are sufferings like those bewailed in Psa 94:5., which are however, after all, the well-meant dispensations of God. Concerning the aim and fruit of purifying and testing afflictions God teaches the sufferer out of His Law (cf. e.g., Deu 8:5.), in order to procure him rest, viz., inward rest (cf. Jer 49:23 with Isa 30:15), i.e., not to suffer him to be disheartened and tempted by days of wickedness, i.e., wicked, calamitous days (Ew. 287, b), until (and it will inevitably come to pass) the pit is finished being dug into which the ungodly falls headlong (cf. Psa 112:7.). יּהּ has the emphatic Dagesh, which properly does not double, and still less unite, but requires an emphatic pronunciation of the letter, which might easily become inaudible. The initial Jod of the divine name might easily lose it consonantal value here in connection with the preceding toneless û, (Note: If it is correct that, as Aben-Ezra and Parchon testify, the וּ, as being compounded of o (u) + i, was pronounced like the u in the French word pur by the inhabitants of Palestine, then this Dagesh, in accordance with its orthophonic function, is the more intelligible in cases like תיסרנו יּה and קראתי יּה, cf. Pinsker, Einleitung, S. 153, and Geiger, Urschrift, S. 277. In קומו צּאו, Gen 19:14; Exo 12:31, קומו סּעו, Deu 2:24, Tsade and Samech have this Dagesh for the same reason as the Sin in תשׁביתו שּׁאור, Exo 12:15 (vid., Heidenheim on that passage), viz., because there is a danger in all these cases of slurring over the sharp sibilant. Even Chajug' (vid., Ewald and Dukes' Beitrge, iii. 23) confuses this Dag. orthophonicum with the Dag. forte conjunctivum.) and the Dag. guards against this: cf. Psa 118:5, Psa 118:18. The certainty of the issue that is set in prospect by עד is then confirmed with כּי. It is impossible that God can desert His church - He cannot do this, because in general right must finally come to His right, or, as it is here expressed, משׁפּט must turn to צדק, i.e., the right that is now subdued must at length be again strictly maintained and justly administered, and "after it then all who are upright in heart," i.e., all such will side with it, joyously greeting that which has been long missed and yearned after. משׁפּט is fundamental right, which is at all times consistent with itself and raised above the casual circumstances of the time, and צדק, like אמת in Isa 42:3, is righteousness (justice), which converts this right into a practical truth and reality.”