Any discussion of Psalm 119 must begin with its structure. It is a work of 22 stanzas, each containing eight thoughts corresponding to a letter in the Hebrew alphabet. Readers of the original language text will find that every line in a particular stanza begins with the Hebrew letter associated with that stanza. The form served a function and helped stir the memories of those being taught these thoughts from God. It is a remarkably poetic piece exalting His Word and its power.
Poetry is language pressed into a form for the sake of function. For creative communication, poetry represents the result of much thought and hard work. Poets are devoted and disciplined communicators. Thoughts come to the poet and he has authority over those thoughts and how they are to be expressed. The poet has a will to exercise. He carries the authority to say what he wants to say in whatever way he wants to say it. The writer of Psalm 119 decided to organize his thoughts according to a certain pattern; he had that authority from God. However, authority that is exercised sets in motion responsibility and accountability. Maintaining the pattern of communication within the psalm is now the poet’s duty. He made himself accountable and responsible. The poet is responsible to stick to the form; he has accountability to it. To depart from this accountability and to fracture the pattern creates confusion for any reader.
The poet of Psalm 119 took on a great responsibility. He carefully crafted the words God gave him into an inspired order. He was not sloppy, nor was he deterred. He stuck to his pattern and as a result we have 176 verses suitable for our edification and equipping. Just the writer’s accountability to the form provides for us a good study of an attribution of the character of God. The Lord is immutable; He changes not. And the writer of Psalm 119 changed not his mode of communication.
Psalm 119 provides a glorious celebration of the Word of God. In these verses, we ride a momentum of inspiration. Thought builds upon thought. We sense the writer’s passion for truth. His – and our – necessity also is among the revelations here. The phrases stir in us the hunger for God’s personal, specific, and timely communication in the way that they must have stirred the poet. Something rich and fulfilling is here for us if we will allow the Holy Spirit to open the words to us.
This is the first entry in this series, which will examine each of this psalm’s stanzas.
ALEPH
“Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD.
“Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.
“They also do no iniquity: they walk in his ways.
“Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently.
“O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes!
“Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments.
“I will praise thee with uprightness of heart, when I shall have learned thy righteous judgments.
“I will keep thy statutes: O forsake me not utterly” (verses 1-8)
The writer gets right to his point in the opening part of this psalm. His theme is the Word of God, and only five of the 176 verses written here are without some reference to God’s Truth. For starters, he presents us with six words – law, testimonies, precepts, statutes, commandments, and judgments. These words provide insight into the varied and specific ways God speaks to us as believers.
“Law” makes reference to the Torah, the five books of Moses, which are considered the authoritative body of teaching for Israel and for its direction as a nation. This collection of truths is to be believed, cherished, and heeded.
“Testimonies” represent witnesses or evidences of God’s real work in creation and in particular, on earth. These were classified as things observed such as the sea opening for Israel and then swallowing Egypt’s soldiers and chariots.
“Precepts” are foundational premises. Such communications come to us before we need them. We receive these instructions during seasons of preparation in our lives. In driving classes, our teachers told us many things and we also read about the rules of the road. Then, we were put behind the steering wheel and asked to practice what we had learned. We turned the key and began putting precepts into practice as we moved into traffic.
“Statutes” carry a different meaning. They are instructions that are highly personal. The Hebrew phrasing explains that statutes are prescriptive; that is, as with a medical prescription, these words deal with something close to us. Each of us develops convictions through hearing and reading the Word of God. God inscribes right words into our hearts and we build content for character.
“Commandments” form the code of conduct for our relationships with God and with others. These primarily relate to the covenants the Lord established with His people. The picture is of a superior giving a verbal communication to a subordinate. God’s commands are unique. They require an inner commitment, not mere superficial obedience.
“Judgments” represents a category of truth related to God’s decrees. A forensic, judicial element is implied. God told Adam that the wages of sin would be death. The first man was given one regulation and he did not keep it. The Lord made the decree. God meant what He said. The forensic evidence of Adam and Eve’s violation provoked the consequence of death. Something innocent had to die to pay the penalty required according to righteousness. In the Old Testament, innocent animals were offered and their shed blood spoke in answer to the sinner’s debt. Once and for all, judgment was accomplished at Calvary when the perfect man, Jesus Christ, became sin for us.
The Cross represents the finished work of judgment. Jesus paid the debt He did not owe for us who owed debts we could never pay. This thought comes through right here in verse 1 of Psalm 119: “Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD.” This sentence could be worded this way: Straight are those who are made complete, whole, and entire in accord with the truth they hold and the path that they have been placed into.
In the same way that Jesus began His Sermon on the Mount, the writer of Psalm 119 defines the “blessed” in his opening sentences. With these two statements, the psalmist addresses the two aspects of sanctification – the permanent, positional and the present, experiential. Verse 1 declares that ‘blessed” or “straight” are those who are undefiled – made complete in accord with truth and fact. The finished work fact of Christ’s death at Calvary makes us complete and therefore undefiled, for He has imputed to us His righteousness. God robes us with righteousness because Justice has been fully satisfied; the sin penalty of humanity was fully paid in the offering of the Lamb of God. He “puts” His righteousness on us once and for all. We became hid with Christ in God at the moment of our salvation. Daily, however, the Lord “imparts” His righteousness to us. He gives us power to live moment by moment as we receive the filling of His Holy Spirit. His power is “parted” to us as we choose to rely on Him and His leading in Spirit and in Truth.
According to Psalm119:2, a right walk with God involves keeping His testimonies and seeking Him with a whole heart. The instruction here is to guard the memories of things God does. Hold those things close, allow them to provide counsel, see them as precious. The Hebrew verb for “seek” implies that believers should possess a continuous element of pursuit for the face of God. “Resort” might be the best word to think of here. This word carries with it the idea of going somewhere with a restful purpose. Those who rest in Christ accomplish things without striving.
Rest diminishes my predilection to live for self in the efforts of the flesh. Iniquity’s power is short-circuited somewhat. That nature to sin is still with me and always shall be. However, my heart is whole. Its needs are being met as I hold to the Word and walk in God’s ways.
The forceful language of verses 4 and 5 include two instances of “keep” — shamar in the Hebrew. This word was used to describe hedging a garden with thorns in order to protect the planting from wild foragers. What are we to hedge? The precepts and statutes God communicates to us.
Think of the word shamar and picture Christ upon the Cross with His crown of thorns. Terrible beatings staggered Jesus, and He was weak from the bleeding that began during His prayers in Gethsemane. Even the Roman soldiers comprehended this and so they pressed Simon the Cyrenian to help Christ get His Cross up the hill of Golgotha. Yet, on the Cross, Christ spoke from Psalm 22. He cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me,” and His other sayings indicate His connection with the Word during these dark hours. To accomplish the final details contained in the redemptive plan, Jesus guarded His mind. The painful, thorny crown crammed on his brow demonstrates how He hedged His own thinking. Truth was His frame of reference, and the Scriptures governed His thoughts while His human emotions sensed the abandonment of the Father and the Spirit. As the Son was made all sin for all men, the Face of Absolute Holiness had to turn away and allow judgment to be rendered fully and finally before the crowd on earth and to an unseen atmosphere crowded with angelic and demonic witnesses. The Word made flesh exercised faith in the eternal Word He was and is.
This method of thinking preserves us from being ashamed. Shame is not necessarily a bad thing, for it is something we should sense in our hearts when we have done wrong. Ashamedness develops when we allow this sense of failure to fester and deepen, leaving us with thought patterns that are confused, confounded, and disappointed. Our mind becomes surrounded with poor emotions that lie and tell us we are alone, that we have no foundation, and that we have no place in God’s plan.
The answer for such troubles is to respect the Word of God. See what Truth has to say about failure and then put those instructions into practice. 1 John reveals that God is faithful and just to forgive our sins. Even when our natural heart whispers condemnation, God declares that He is greater than our hearts. Shame goads us; it pricks the heart, but only so that the heart shall hasten its way to the Throne of Grace for confession and restoration. May we look rightly and view properly all of the Lord’s commandments. His revealed wisdom guides us, and the divine code of conduct brings light to the darkness of our doubts and fears.
“Learned” in verse 7 is a word derived from goad. The infinitive form of the verb implies that the goading of God in our lives is unceasing; that is, we are always learning more and also learning things all over again. This process brings understanding to us as we perceive the perfection of all His ways. Our praise then becomes straight, which is the meaning of uprightness. We worship the Lord for who He is, and selfish motives wither in the Light.
The Aleph stanza concludes with a seeming paradox. The psalmist’s determination to guard the statutes of God collides with a plea for divine perseverance; his commitment to keep the Word is followed by a cry for help. Because “diligently” (verse 4) and “utterly” (verse 8) are the same adverb in the Hebrew text, a connection becomes clear that zealousness for God’s precepts and statutes requires the steady sense of His presence.
At the start of this stanza, the psalmist recognizes the objective reality of his blessedness in the finished work of Christ. With his close, he prays his soul be kept and his emotions comforted in Omnipotence and he casts himself upon the Cornerstone. There is a great lesson here: “Even when we possess a good measure of truth, the fear of the Lord remains the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 1:7).
Let us hold fast to our reverence of Him.