Psalm 119:23

Psalm 119:23

Those who sit together

This is an interesting verse for it throws a little light on the social status of the author, he writes, “Though rulers sit together and slander me.” Verse 46 says, “I will speak of your statutes before kings,” and verse161, “Rulers persecute me without cause.” In other words, this man must have held some kind of official position, maybe he was a priest? Although priests would have been expected to follow God’s law and to demonstrate a devotion to the truth. Maybe he was a lower official who mixed with the high and mighty? What is even more intriguing is that he may have been a king himself, like David, and those who spoke against him were the rulers and kings of the surrounding nations.

When the Scriptures use the term “sit together” they speak of men and women who are comfortable in each other’s company and who are settled in their place in the world. In this instance, they conspire against the man of God and hold him in contempt, which is why, in verse 19, he speaks of being a “stranger on earth.”

This sense of isolation is common to all who truly believe and who “meditate on the Lord’s decrees.” As we’ve already noted, it begins with the gangs at school and the cliques of young people who regularly socialise together. It transfers to the workplace and the office parties, or Friday lunchtimes at the pub! It is sensed at family gatherings when everyone else is drinking and gossiping and abusing God’s Name. There have been countless occasions in my life when I have felt out of place, my face did not fit, and I sought to avoid certain events simply because the language and the behaviour were not honouring to the Lord. This is the first time in the Psalm when we get a sense of the writer’s moral dilemma, he has had to choose his company and what he is saying is that the one who meditates on God’s decrees will never feel at home with those who ignore Him.