Psalm 119 Introduction

Psalm 118

Introduction

This is the longest of the Psalms, it is also the longest chapter in the Bible, as opposed to Palm 117 which was the shortest Psalm and the shortest chapter! There are 176 verses in this Psalm which means that, if we take it verse by verse, every day, it is going to take nearly half a year to get through it! 

So, what is the point of the Psalm? The point is that it is a celebration of the Word of God. The Bible is the only book that humanity owns, that is written by a God, correction, by The God. It is therefore right and proper that we have a sizeable chunk of Scripture that explains that to us, and that correctly values and explains the sacred truth that God has spoken. We do not know the human author’s name, we don’t need to, these words came from the Lord and are given to instruct us in godliness and the right approach to the study of the Word of God. As we meditate on these verses, we will obtain a correct view of God’s discipline as well as His blessing. We will understand why we suffer the scorn and derision of those who claim to follow the Lord God but have little time for His Word. 

We need to bear in mind that the Psalm is an acrostic poem, and each stanza begins with a successive letter from the Hebrew alphabet, so we start with “Aleph” and end with “Taw”, the Alpha and Omega of the Hebrew language. In Hebrew, the verses of each stanza also begin with the successive letters of the alphabet. As we can see, a lot of thought and planning went into the composition of the Psalm.

We’re used to psalms that proclaim God’s creative acts and also His works of redemption and psalms that just praise God for who He is. This is different, it majors on what God has said we humans need for godly lives, and on how we can fulfil His promises by faith and obedience.  There are more than 8 different Hebrew terms used that describe God’s instructions and it will be helpful to try to identify these at the start, with their English translations: -

Torah               law or teaching                                   regulations or instructions from God

Edot                 statutes or testimonies                       covenant stipulations

Derek              ways                                                    paths for walking, way to life or death

Piqqudim        precepts                                              oversight of others

Miswot            commands or commandments          conditions of a covenant or contract

Mishpatim       laws                                                     directives laid down by a ruler or king

Huqqim           decrees                                               engraved statutes

Dabar              word                                                    communication or speech

Mar                 utterance                                            to speak to another or to oneself

Imrah              promise                                               impart knowledge or revelation

These terms occasionally overlap, they are used in all the stanzas, sometimes all of them are used! The meanings are complex and grow in complexity the more we look into them!  Let’s get going and see what this wonderful Psalm has to say to us.

 

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