John Calvin Commentary Psalms 119:128

"Therefore I esteem all [thy] precepts concerning all [things] to be right; [And] I hate every false way. PE." — Psalms 119:128 (ASV)

Therefore I have esteemed all thy commandments to be altogether right. This verse, like the preceding one, is connected with the 26th. The connection can be clarified by observing that the Prophet—waiting patiently for God’s judgments and also earnestly calling for their infliction—had subscribed to God's law in every particular and embraced it without a single exception, and moreover, that he hated every false way.

Literally, it is all the commandments of all; but the words of all are to be understood as referring to things and not to persons, as if he had said that he approved of all the laws which God had ordained, whatever they enjoined. A similar form of expression occurs in Ezekiel 44:30, all oblations of all things—that is to say, whatever kind of oblations people offer.

The Prophet has not stated this sentiment in such explicit terms without good reason, for there is nothing to which we are naturally more inclined than to despise or reject whatever in God’s law is not agreeable to us. Every person, as they are tainted by this or that particular vice, would desire that the commandment which forbids it be erased from the law.

But we cannot lawfully make any addition to it, or take anything away from it. Since God has joined His commandments together by a sacred and inviolable bond, separating any one of them from the rest is altogether unwarrantable. We perceive then how the Prophet, inspired with a holy jealousy for the law, contended against the wicked rebellion of those who despised it.

And assuredly, when we see that the ungodly mock God with such effrontery, at one time rising up audaciously against Him, and at another perverting every part of the law, it is then fitting for us to be more inflamed with zeal, and more courageous in upholding God's truth.

The extreme impiety of our age especially demands that all the faithful exercise themselves in this holy zeal. Profane people strive to outdo one another in scornfully aspersing the doctrine of salvation and endeavor to bring God’s sacred Word into contempt with their derisive jeers. Others pour forth their blasphemies unceasingly.

Therefore, we cannot avoid being guilty of treacherous indifference if our hearts are not warmed with zeal and do not burn with a holy jealousy. The Prophet not only says that he approved of God’s law wholly and without exception, but he adds, that he hated every way of lying, or every false way.

And, undoubtedly, no one truly subscribes to God's law unless they also reject all the slanders by which the wicked taint or obscure the purity of sound doctrine. By way of lying, the Prophet undoubtedly means whatever is opposed to the purity of the law, implying that he detested all corruptions which are contrary to the Word of God.