Psalm 119:134

Psalm 119:134

Redeem me Lord

This is a bit of a puzzling verse! When a man or woman pleaded to be delivered from human oppression it usually signified that they were slaves. If they asked to be redeemed, it meant that there was a price to be paid, their freedom needed to be bought. The circumstances of this psalmist do not seem to suggest he was in slavery. We know that the author was a deep-thinking soul, and he was also oppressed by numerous antagonists, it may be that his cries for redemption were genuine because it felt like he was enslaved. 

There is another reason for his cry for liberty, this was a man who was very conscious of his own weaknesses and failings; his heartfelt plea, throughout the Psalm, is that he might understand and obey the precepts of God. Maybe the plea here was for his own inner redemption, freedom from sin that no lamb on the sacrificial altar of the Temple could ever atone for. Freedom from impure desires and thoughts, freedom from the darkness of his own soul. He had grasped the relevance and liberty that inner redemption could bring. Sadly, for him, such liberty could only be obtained through Christ whose coming was still awaited. However, the heart cries of men like this would never go unheard, one day he would be liberated, one day the Redeemer would come, and people like him would be set free to enjoy the complete redemption that the Lord God made possible through the altar of Christ’s suffering. 

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