Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 119:54

"Thy statutes have been my songs In the house of my pilgrimage." — Psalms 119:54 (ASV)

Your statutes – Your law; Your commandments.

Have been my songs – They have been a source of joy to me; they have been my happiness, my consolation, my delight. I have found pleasure in meditating on them; I have had peace and joy in them in the day of loneliness and trouble. The psalmist rejoiced, doubtless, as the good now do:

• In law itself; law, as a rule of order; law, as a guide of conduct; law, as a security for safety;
• In such a law as that of God – so pure, so holy, so suited to promote “the happiness of man”;
• In the stability of that law, as constituting his own personal security, the ground of his hope;
• In law in its influence on the universe, preserving order, and securing harmony.

In the house of my pilgrimage – In my life considered as a journey to another world; in my pilgrimage through the desert of this world, amidst rocks, sands, and desolation; among hostile tribes, wanderers, robbers, plunderers; with no home, no place of shelter; exposed to cold, rain, sleet, ice, and snow, as pilgrims are.

For the “pilgrim”—the wayfarer—is exposed to all these conditions. And all these represent the state of one passing through this world to a better one . Here, says the psalmist, I sang.

I found joy in these scenes by thinking on the pure law – the pure and holy truth of God.

I comforted myself with the feeling that there “is” law; that there is just government; that there is a God; that I am under the protection of law; that I am not alone, but that there is one who guides me by his truth.

Compare the notes at Job 35:10. See Acts 16:25; Psalms 34:1.