Psalm 119:65-72

⁶⁵ You have dealt well with Your servant,
O Lord, according to Your word.

⁶⁶ Teach me good judgment and knowledge,
For I believe Your commandments.

⁶⁷ Before I was afflicted I went astray,
But now I keep Your word.

⁶⁸ You are good, and do good;
Teach me Your statutes.

⁶⁹ The proud have forged a lie against me,
But I will keep Your precepts with my whole heart.

⁷⁰ Their heart is as fat as grease,
But I delight in Your law.

⁷¹ It is good for me that I have been afflicted,
That I may learn Your statutes.

⁷² The law of Your mouth is better to me
Than thousands of coins of gold and silver.

In this stanza, the psalmist seems to be explaining how God’s Word brought him through a time of persecution and/or sickness.

The ideal goal [of God’s lovingkindness — vs. 64 and 76], achieving that which is best for the child, is further emphasized by the repetition of the term usually translated “good,” though here intended in the sense of “best.” This perspective also provides reassurance by reminding the believer who meditates on the biblical examples of God’s lovingkindness that one expression of such is chastisement (Proverbs 3:11-12; Hebrews 12:5ff). Hence, the believers’ affliction itself becomes a source of reassurance and comfort, insofar as it testifies to God’s paternal love expressed in chastisement—a notion unquestionably here affirmed by the psalmist (v.67). — Wechsler, page 285.

judgment (v.66) = discernment

fat as grease (v.70) — insensible and stupid

The speaker here, as always, is the Messiah. He speaks for Himself and for His people. This appears specially in verses 67 and 71. These verses illustrate His offices as the Sin-Offering and the Peace-Offering (Leviticus 4:8). He takes the sins of His people upon Himself, and transfers to them the perfections which belong to Himself. Thus He makes their defections from God’s Law His own. As a true Priest and Advocate He presents Himself as the guilty one, and at the same time credits them with the perfection of the obedience which He personally rendered to the Word of God. — Williams, page 393.