Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 119:96

"I have seen an end of all perfection; [But] thy commandment is exceeding broad." — Psalms 119:96 (ASV)

I have seen an end of all perfection. The word that is here rendered "perfection"—תכלה tiklâh—occurs only in this place. However, a similar word from the same root—תכלית taklı̂yth—occurs in the following places: in Nehemiah 3:21 and Job 26:10, rendered "end"; in Job 11:7 and Job 28:3, rendered "perfection"; and in Psalm 139:22, rendered "perfect."

This word properly means "completion, perfection," or, as others suppose, "hope, confidence." It is rendered "consummation" in the Septuagint and Latin Vulgate. Luther renders it "of all things."

It is proper here to apply it to character: to perfect virtue, or to claims to perfect virtue—either in oneself or in others. The word rendered "end" here refers not to the fact of its existence, or to its duration, but to a limit or boundary as to its extent. To all claims to perfection made by people, he had seen an end or limit.

He had examined all that claimed to be perfect; he had found it defective. He had so surveyed and examined the matter as to be able to say that there could be no claim to perfection that would prove good. All claim to perfection on the part of people must be abandoned forever.

But thy commandment is exceeding broad. The word "but" is not in the original and weakens the sense. The idea is that the law of God, as he now saw it, was of such a nature—was so "broad"—as to demonstrate that there could be no just claim to perfection among people.

All claims to perfection had arisen because the law was not properly understood and its true nature was not seen. People thought they were perfect, but this was because they had no just view of the extent and the spirituality of the law of God.

They set up an imperfect standard, and when they conformed to that standard, as they could, they imagined themselves to be perfect. However, when their conduct was compared with a higher and more just standard—the law of God—it could not help but be seen that they were imperfect people.

That law had claims that they had not met, and never would meet, in this life. It is very easy to flatter ourselves that we are perfect if we make our own standard of character; it is not possible for people to set up a claim to perfection if they measure themselves by the standard of God’s word. Indeed, all claims of people to perfection are made simply because they do not properly understand what the law of God requires. .