What does “My goodness extendeth not to Thee” mean in Psalms 16:2?

by Pastor Ricky Kurth

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“I need your help to understand what the words ‘my goodness
extendeth not to Thee’ mean in Psalm 16:2.”

 

We know that this is a messianic psalm, for Psalm 16:10 speaks of Christ’s resurrection (cf. Acts 2:27-31). The Lord’s “goodness” was His righteousness (cf. Psa. 145:7). The word “extendeth” means to give or impart, as when God promises to extend peace to Jerusalem (Isa. 66:10-12). David is prophetically quoting something the Lord Jesus would say when He was here on the earth “unto the LORD” (His Father). He predicts that the Lord would pray and say that His righteousness wasn’t something that He needed to give or impart to His Father, for He had His own righteousness. The next verse goes on to say that His righteousness extended “to the saints that are in the earth” instead. They needed the righteousness that only the Lord could give them. Verse 3 calls them “the excellent” because once the Lord imparted righteousness to them, it could be said of them that “the righteous is more excellent than his neighbor” (Prov. 12:26). The Lord says of the saints in Jerusalem, “in whom is My delight” (v. 3) because once the Lord makes them righteous, He can say of Jerusalem, “the LORD delighteth in thee” (Isa. 62:4).
—Pastor Ricky Kurth

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