Psalm
119:57-60, 64; antiphon, Psalm
119:103— Psalm 119:57-64 is brought
to you by the Hebrew Letter “”Heth”
The Lord is the Psalmist’s true homestead because it is God’s law that fills
the earth with all that makes life secure and joyous. So God’s promises are his
hope and God’s righteous laws are his delight.
Psalm 119 –
The Greatness and Glory of God’s Holy Word
This long psalm deserves a long introduction. The
author is unnamed; older commentators almost universally said it is a psalm of
David, composed throughout his entire life. More modern commentators sometimes
conclude that it is post-exilic, coming from the days of Nehemiah or Ezra. It
may be that David was the author, but we can’t say this with certainty, and it
is not necessary to know; if it were important, God would have preserved the
name of David to this psalm. No matter who the author was, it was likely
written over some period of time and later compiled, because there is not a
definite flow of thought from the beginning of the psalm to the end. The sections
and verses are not like a chain, where one link is connected to the other, but
like a string of pearls where each pearl has equal, but independent value.
Psalm 119 is arranged in an acrostic pattern. There
are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet, and this psalm contains 22 units of 8
verses each. Each of the 22 sections is given a letter of the Hebrew alphabet,
and each line in that section begins with that letter. The closest parallel to
this pattern in Scripture is found in Lamentations 3, which is also divided
into 22 sections, and a few other passages in the Hebrew Scriptures use an
acrostic pattern.
Since this is a psalm glorifying God and His word, it
refers to Scripture over and over again. Psalm 119 is remarkable for how often
it refers to God’s written revelation, His word. It is referred to in almost
every verse. The Masoretes (a group of Jewish scholars between the 6th and 10th
centuries AD) said that the word of God is mentioned in every verse except
Psalm 119:122. Other people analyze this differently (with disagreement about
verses 84, 90, 121, and 132). But Scripture is mentioned in at least 171 of the
176 verses.
In this psalm there are eight basic words used to
describe the Scriptures, God’s written revelation to us:
Law (torah, used 25 times in Psalm 119): “Its parent verb means ‘teach’ or ‘direct’;
therefore coming from God it means both ‘law’ and ‘revelation.’ It can be used
of a single command or of a whole body of law.” (Derek Kidner)
Word (dabar, used 24 times): The idea is of the spoken
word, God’s revealed word to man. “Proceeding
from his mouth and revealed by him to us…” (Matthew Poole)
Judgments (mispatim, used 23 times): “…from shaphat, to judge, determine, regulate, order, and discern,
because they judge concerning our words and works; show the rules by which they
should be regulated; and cause us to discern what is right and wrong, and
decide accordingly.” (Adam Clarke)
Testimonies (edut/edot, used 23 times): This word is related to
the word for witness. To obey His testimonies “…signifies loyalty to the terms of the covenant made between the Lord
and Israel.” (Willem VanGemeren)
Commandments (miswah/miswot, used 22 times): “This word emphasizes the straight authority of what is said…the right
to give orders.” (Derek Kidner)
Statutes (huqqim, used 21 times): The noun is derived from the
root verb “engrave” or “inscribe”; the idea is the written word
of God and the authority of His written word: “…declaring his authority and power of giving us laws.” (Matthew
Poole)
Precepts (piqqudim, used 21 times): “This is a word drawn from the sphere of an officer or overseer, a man
who is responsible to look closely into a situation and take action…. So the
word points to the particular instructions of the Lord, as of one who cares
about detail.” (Derek Kidner)
Word (imrah, used 19 times): Imrah is similar in meaning
to dabar, yet a different term. “The
‘word’ may denote anything God has spoken, commanded, or promised.” (Willem
VanGemeren)
The theme of the glory of Scripture is diligently
explored in this psalm, but always in connection with God Himself. Derek Kidner
remarks: “This untiring emphasis has led
some to accuse the psalmist of worshipping the Word rather than the Lord; but
it has been well remarked that every reference here to Scripture, without
exception, relates it explicitly to its Author; indeed, every verse from 4 to
the end is a prayer for affirmation addressed to Him. This is true piety: a
love of God not desiccated by study but refreshed, informed and nourished by it.”
Being such a long psalm – and the longest chapter in
the Bible – this psalm has been of great historical interest. There have been
many lengthy works written on this psalm; one of them is by Thomas Manton, a
Puritan preacher and writer, who wrote a three-volume work on Psalm 119. Each
volume is between 500 and 600 pages, with a total of 1,677 pages. There are 190
chapters in his work, more than one chapter for each verse.
“Luther
professed that he prized this Psalm so highly, that he would not take the whole
world in exchange for one leaf of it.” (Charles Bridges)
Some great people have memorized this whole psalm and
found great blessing in doing so: John Ruskin (19th century British writer),
William Wilberforce (19th century British politician who led the movement to
abolish the slave trade in the British Empire), Henry Martyn (19th century
pioneer missionary to India), and David Livingstone (19th century pioneer
missionary to Africa).
Matthew Henry – the great 18th century Bible
commentator – was introduced to Psalm 119 as a child. His father, Philip Henry,
told his children to take one verse of Psalm 119 every morning to meditate on,
and thereby go through the entire psalm twice in the year. Philip said to his
children, “That will bring you to be in
love with all the rest of the Scriptures.” Perhaps that practice was why
Matthew Henry loved the Bible so much that he wrote commentary that is used
still today.
George Wishart was the Bishop of Edinburgh in the 17th
century (not to be confused with another Scot by the same name who was martyred
a century earlier). Wishart was condemned to death for his faith. But when he
was on the scaffold, he made use of a custom that allowed the condemned person
to choose one psalm to be sung, and he chose Psalm 119. Before two-thirds of
the psalm had been sung, his pardon arrived and his life was spared. [2]
Next Sunday may be called “Hospitality Day.” Human entertain divine beings at dinners. In the
Gospel (Luke 10:38-42) Martha and Mary have Jesus in their home for
dinner, but only Mary gets fed by Christ while Martha is busy getting the meal
ready. In the Old Testament lesson (Genesis 18:1-18a) Abraham offers
hospitality to three men from God and receives a blessing from them. The
Epistle lesson (Colossians 1:21-28) is a continuation from last Sunday’s
lesson from Colossians. Because of the cross which reconciled us to God, we may
appear before Him with holiness. Before Christ, we could not approach God or be
in His presence because were estranged from Him. Now we are reconciled; and
access to the Father’s throne room of grace is wide open to us.
Collect for
Psalm 119: Lord, you are just and your commandments are eternal.
Teach us to love you with all our hearts and to love our neighbor as ourselves,
for the sake of Jesus our Lord.[3]
[1] Luther’s Seal, copyright © Ed Riojas, Higher things
[2] https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/psalm-119/
[3] Collect for Psalm 119, For All the Saints, A Prayer Book For and By the Church, Vol. II © 1995 The American Lutheran Publicity Bureau, Delhi, NY
[4] Collect for Monday of the week of Pentecost 6, ibid
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