Psalm 119, Part C

... in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.  Amen.  Through the prayers of our holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us.  Amen.  Glory to You, our God, Glory to You.

O Heavenly King, the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, You are everywhere and fill all things, Treasury of blessings, and Giver of life: come and abide in us, and cleanse us from every impurity, and save our souls, O Good One.

Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us (three times).

Psalm 119, Part C

ל Lamed[1]

Forever, Lord, Your word is settled in heaven.  Your faithfulness [is] to all generations.  You have established the earth.  It abides.  They continue this day according to Your ordinances: for [all] are Your servants.  Unless Your law [had been] my delight, I should then have perished in my affliction.  I will never forget Your precepts: for with them You have brought me to life.  I [am] Yours.  Save me: for I have sought Your precepts.  The wicked have waited for me to destroy me.  I will consider Your testimonies.  I have seen an end of all perfection.  Your commandment [is] exceeding broad.

מ Mem[2]

Oh how I love Your law!  It [is] my meditation all the day.  You, through Your commandments, have made me wiser than my enemies: for they [are] ever with me.  I have more understanding than all my teachers: for Your testimonies [are] my meditation.  I understand more than the ancients: because I keep Your precepts.  I have refrained my feet from every evil way, so that I might keep Your word.  I have not departed from Your judgments: for You have taught me.  How sweet are Your words to my taste!  [Sweeter] than honey [is] to my mouth!  Through Your precepts, I get understanding.  Therefore, I hate every false way.

נ Nun[3]

Your word [is] a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path.  I have sworn, and I will perform, that I will keep Your righteous judgments.  I am afflicted very much.  Make me alive, Lord, according to Your word.  Accept, I beseech You, the freewill offerings of my mouth, Lord.  Teach me Your judgments.  My soul [is] continually in my hand.  Yet I forget not Your law.  The wicked have laid a snare for me.  Yet I erred not from Your precepts.  Your testimonies have I taken as a heritage forever: for they [are] the rejoicing of my heart.  I have inclined my heart to perform Your statutes always, [to] the end.

ס Samech[4]

I hate [vain] thoughts.  But Your law I love.  You [are] my hiding place and my shield.  I hope in Your word.  Depart from me, you evildoers: for I will keep the commandments of my God.  Uphold me according to Your word, so that I may live.  Let me not be ashamed of my hope.  Hold me up, and I shall be safe.  I will have respect to Your statutes continually.  You have trodden down all those who err from Your statutes: for their deceit [is] falsehood.  You put away all the wicked of the earth [like] dross.  Therefore I love Your testimonies.  My flesh trembles for fear of You.  I am afraid of Your judgments.

ע Ain[5]

I have done judgment and justice.  Leave me not to my oppressors.  Be security for Your servant for good.  Let not the proud oppress me.  My eyes fail for Your salvation, for the word of Your righteousness.  Deal with Your servant according to Your mercy.  Teach me Your statutes.  I [am] Your servant.  Give me understanding, that I may know Your testimonies.  [It is] time for [You], Lord, to work.[6]  They have made void Your law.  Therefore I love Your commandments above gold, yes, above fine gold.  Therefore I treasure all [Your] precepts [concerning] all [things to be] right.  I hate every false way.

פ Pe[7]

Your testimonies [are] wonderful.  Therefore, my soul keeps them.  The entrance of Your words gives light.  It gives understanding to the simple.  I opened my mouth, and panted: for I longed for Your commandments.  Look on me, and be merciful to me, as You use to do to those who love Your name.  Order my steps in Your word.  Let not any iniquity have dominion over me.  Deliver me from the oppression of man.  So I will keep Your precepts.  Make Your face shine on Your servant.  Teach me Your statutes.  Rivers of waters run down my eyes, because they keep not Your law.

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[1] Lamed moves beyond Resurrection to the Ascension, Glorification, and Enthronement of Christ on the throne of David (Acts 2:30-31), which is certified and sealed to The Church by and on the Day of Pentecost 33 AD.  A great number of moral issues are debated among men.  Not one of these is open for discussion in heaven.  Man’s responsibility is not to debate, but rather to get in step, “Your word is settled in heaven.”  The defiant can only be destroyed.  This heavenly reality forms the basis of the psalmist’s delight in the Law.  God’s very faithfulness prevents his annihilation (perished).  Consequently, he does not forget the Law, because he is already a dead and resurrected man.  This resurrection enables him to seek, and overthrows his wicked enemies, who in the service of Satan seek to destroy him.  The Law expresses heavenly perfection.  Its scope covers the Universe (it’s exceeding broad).

[2] Mem shows that increased love for Your Law grows from understanding its heavenly nature.  The Law is not merely another set of earthy ordinances, like the code of Hammurabi; it is specifically, Your Law.  The Law is Yahweh’s loving instrument that imparts wisdom to His child, the psalmist.  Because the psalmist meditates on the Law day and night, he is wiser than his enemies, his earthly teachers, and even the ancients.  Commitment to God’s Law constructs a building wherein each generation is able to build on previous ones.  We are wiser because we stand on our father’s shoulders.  This is indeed sweet, filled with understanding, and the power to reject falsehood.  The psalmist does not yet understand what this sweetness will do to his belly (Revelation 10:10).  Ultimately, God’s Word lights a fire in the belly that cannot be extinguished.

[3] Nun discloses that the Law (word) is a light to ward off encroaching darkness.  The day of life is spent and evening approaches rapidly.  The afflictions of age are increasing.  Resurrection (Make me alive) through the Law becomes more intense.  The psalmist does not take for granted that his offerings are acceptable.  He still needs to be taught.  All his remaining human faculties and powers are committed to the Law, “I have sworn … will perform … keep….”  He does not forget or err.  He is determined to follow God anywhere he leads, even to the grave, and beyond the grave.

[4] Samech brings a certain peacefulness.  Much of life is seen as vanity, but the Law remains supreme.  The Law shows that Yahweh is the psalmist’s hiding place: he is safe and protected in God.  He brushes off evildoers in order to rush to God and His Law.  He confesses his need for continuing help.  He realizes that despisers of the Law are being trampled down to death by death.  As the force of this life and death reality sinks in, the psalmist is not so old or so wise that he does not fear.  He trembles and is afraid.  Fear does not mean respect.  Fear means fear; he trembles.

[5] Ain pictures the Divine Judgment that is coming swiftly.  The psalmist does not wish to be left in the hands of proud oppressors: the strength to resist them is declining with age.  He cries out to Yahweh for rescue, for security, for help with failing eyesight, for mercy.  He is still God’s servant and still needs to be taught: he has not arrived at perfection.  The Law becomes more and more valuable, as if it were fine gold, better than gold; so the psalmist treasures it and hates falsehood all the more.

[6] “[It is] time for [You], Lord, to work.”  Yahweh’s Law time is not human time: it is not time for man to work.  Yahweh’s Law time is time for Christ to arise as our Champion, with healing in His wings (Malachi 4:2); and to make the Law come to life through His Incarnation, life, sufferings, death, Resurrection, Ascension, Glorification, and Seating until all His enemies are put under His feet (1 Corinthians 15:24-25; Hebrews 10:13).  This is not about an earthly healing ministry.  This healing does not consist of the mere healing of earthly disease, although it certainly includes that in heaven; it involves especially the treading down of the wicked and the smiting of the earth with a curse.

[7] Pe begins with praises for all the wonderful things the psalmist has learned from Yahweh, from and about His Law throughout life.  Yet, he realizes that all of these, even his thirst (panted) for the Law, are only the gifts of God’s mercy.  He still needs to have his steps ordered in God’s Word of Law.  He still needs protection from the dominion of iniquity.  He still needs to see the face of God; this is the principal thing, the beatific vision.  He still needs to be taught.  Human oppression blocks the path of love for the Law.  Yet, he is still God’s servant.  The psalmist breaks down in tears; sobbing because of the realization of how far short he comes from the Law, from the face of Yahweh.

Psalm 119, Part B

... in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.  Amen.  Through the prayers of our holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us.  Amen.  Glory to You, our God, Glory to You.

O Heavenly King, the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, You are everywhere and fill all things, Treasury of blessings, and Giver of life: come and abide in us, and cleanse us from every impurity, and save our souls, O Good One.

Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us (three times).

Psalm 119, Part B

ו Vav[1]

Let Your mercies come also to me, Lord, Your salvation, according to Your word.  So shall I have wherewith to answer him who reproaches me: for I trust in Your word.  And take not the word of truth utterly from my mouth: for I have hoped in Your judgments.  So I shall keep Your law continually forever and ever.  I will walk at liberty: for I seek Your precepts.  I will speak of Your testimonies also before kings, and will not be ashamed.  I will delight myself in Your commandments, which I have loved.  My hands also will I lift up to Your commandments, which I have loved.  I will meditate in Your statutes.

ז Zain[2]

Remember the word to Your servant, on which You have caused me to hope.  This is my comfort in my affliction: for Your word has made me alive.  The proud have had me greatly in derision.  I have not declined from Your law.  I remembered Your judgments of old, Lord, and have comforted myself.  Horror has taken hold on me because of the wicked who forsake Your law.  Your statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage.  I have remembered Your name, Lord, in the night, and have kept Your law.  This I had, because I kept Your precepts.

ח Cheth[3]

 [You are] my portion, Lord.  I have said that I would keep Your words.  I begged Your favor with [a] whole heart.  Be merciful to me according to Your word.  I thought on my ways, and turned my feet to Your testimonies.  I made haste, and delayed not to keep Your commandments.  The bands of the wicked have robbed me.  I have not forgotten Your law.  At midnight I will rise to give thanks to You, because of Your righteous judgments.  I [am] a companion of all who fear You, and of those who keep Your precepts.  The earth, Lord, is full of Your mercy.  Teach me Your statutes.

ט Teth[4]

You have dealt well with Your servant, Lord, according to Your word.  Teach me good judgment and knowledge: for I have believed Your commandments.  Before I was afflicted I went astray.  But now I have kept Your word.  You [are] good, and do good.  Teach me Your statutes.  The proud have forged a lie against me.  I will keep Your precepts with a whole heart.  Their heart is as fat as grease.  I delight in Your law.  [It is] good for me that I have been afflicted: so that I might learn Your statutes.  The law of Your mouth [is] better to me than thousands of gold and silver.

י Jod[5]

Your hands have made me and fashioned me.  Give me understanding, so that I may learn Your commandments.  Those who fear You will be glad when they see me: because, I have hoped in Your word.  I know, Lord, that Your judgments [are] right.  In faithfulness You have afflicted me.  Let, I pray, Your merciful kindness be for my comfort, according to Your word to Your servant.  Let Your tender mercies come to me, that I may live: for Your law [is] my delight.  Let the proud be ashamed: for they dealt perversely with me without a cause.  I will meditate in Your precepts.  Let those who fear You turn to me, those who have known Your testimonies.  Let my heart be sound in Your statutes: so that I be not ashamed.

כ Caph[6]

My soul faints for Your salvation.  I hope in Your word.  My eyes fail for Your word, saying, “When will You comfort me:” for I am become like a bottle in the smoke?  I forget not Your statutes.  How many [are] the days of Your servant?  When will You execute judgment on those who persecute me?  The proud have dug pits for me, which [are] not after Your law.  All Your commandments [are] faithful.  They persecute me wrongfully.  Help me.  They had almost consumed me on earth.  I forsook not Your precepts.  Make me alive after Your lovingkindness.  So I shall keep the testimony of Your mouth.

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[1] Vav sees that the Law is the path of mercy and salvation: mercy, not merit; salvation, not self-preservation.  Now, because the psalmist has such a relationship with God, through the gift of the Law, and the gift of the Holy Ghost in making the Law alive in his life, the psalmist also has an obligation.  Because the psalmist has answers, he must speak.  He hopes, he walks, he seeks, he speaks shamelessly, he delights, he prays (lifts up hands), he meditates even more.  The observer of truth is not free to repose in silence; he has an obligation to the worshiping community, to all of society, even pagan society, to all the remainder of earthly creation, indeed, to the entire Universe.  Make no mistake, the Law is a Cosmological event: both star shaking and earth shattering.  The observer of truth has an obligation to witness, to testify about what he has seen.

[2] Zain continues the questions of life about relationships with the wicked proud, who afflict deride, and horrify the psalmist.  Relationships with the wicked proud are anything but pleasant.  How are they to be handled?  They are handled by clinging to God’s Word of Law, which have become the psalmist’s life songs.  God’s Word of Law has developed a remembrance of Yahweh’s name that comforts him in the night.  Keeping the Law involves loving the Law more than obeying the Law.  Had the psalmist attained perfect obedience to the Law through his own efforts, He would not be asking God to remember it to him, he would not be praying the Law into his life.  He wouldn’t need to pray at all, he would already be a perfect man.  The key idea is: when faced with affliction, remember the Law, which is repeated three times here.

Why should the psalmist be horrified?  Not for his own sake.  All of us have watched the wicked lapse into madness and tear themselves to shreds.  This is indeed horrifying to watch another human being self-destruct.  At the core of such self-destruction lies the active forsaking of the Law.  The person who forsakes the Law loses his anchor point, puts himself adrift, fails to cope, and without peace, soon lapses into self-destructive madness.  The Law, which is also a form of the Gospel, provides the necessary anchor (Hebrews 6:19).  Believing in God’s Law and His fulfillment of that Law overthrows this desperation and brings peace.  The psalmist, as a living witness, has an obligation to lift up the fallen world to Yahweh: here, the psalmist is beginning to understand that obligation.

[3] Cheth discusses the effects and reactions that affliction raises in the psalmist’s life.  First of all, the psalmist realizes that he is also a sinner, with a self-destructive bent, and cries out for Yahweh’s mercy.  Yahweh is his source (portion).  He adds “feet to his prayers.”  He vows “I would keep;” he thinks, and repents (turns); he rushes to love (keep), and try to obey.  Rubbing elbows with the self-destructive wicked every day, robs something from the believers life.  Robbery is an act of criminal violence.  The psalmist again finds the answers he needs: he does not forget the Law or his prayers, not even at midnight.  He conclude with praise for the scope of Yahweh’s mercy (the earth is full).  Therefore, he wants to be taught the Law, which would be unnecessary, were he able to grasp it by his own power.

[4] Teth shows that affliction and sin have deepened the psalmist’s desire and need to be taught.  His understanding about what he needs to learn has multiplied.  He sees the Law more deeply.  He sees the necessity of learning the Law, and also the judgment and knowledge that flow from it.  He begins to see affliction as a friend, rather than an enemy: he rushes to embrace it, to own it.  He begins to see the wicked proud as encumbered by a kind of spiritual obesity.  Affliction, coupled with love of the Law, provides the spiritual workout that prohibits the development of spiritual obesity in his own life.  Affliction is a good thing: he learned that as one of his great lessons from the Law.  The Law, and the wisdom it teaches, is much more valuable than the world’s gold and silver.  Yet, what are we striving to attain in life?  How foolish we sometimes are.

[5] In Jod the psalmist suddenly realizes the profound relationship between Creation and Law.  Because the psalmist is a creature, he needs understanding in order to learn (even more).  This brings joy to the whole community of believers: what is done in one, is done for all.  This is right judgment.  Affliction is Yahweh’s faithfulness.  The psalmist sees his growing need for God’s mercy at a whole new level.  He prays that wicked proud would experience personal shame, which is the starting place for repentance and faith.  He thinks on the Law (precepts) and the Gospel it proclaims and prays for the gathering of The Church (turn to me).  The Law has power to give the psalmist a sound heart, made free of shame by grace and mercy.

[6] Caph reveals the full intensity of sin.  When faith begins the giant sins are seen, shame develops around these, repentance takes place, and faith is born.  As faith grows, minuscule sins come into view, even the dust of sin is revealed and the psalmist faints at the enormity of sin: it is clear that he must be saved from these as well.  He longs more and more for this salvation: for, the dust of sin has made him like a smoke covered and stained bottle, burned in the fire and blackened with the soot of sin.  He sees death approaching rapidly, even though he is still young.  He begins to understand life in terms of crucifixion, which is the judgment of the wicked proud.  He cries out, “Help me,” which is prophetic of “eli, eli, lama sabachthani” (Matthew 27:46).  Approaching death, he prays for resurrection, “Make me alive.”  In the resurrection, the psalmist discovers the ability to keep the Law, “the testimony of Your mouth.”  Christ dies under the weight of man’s sin.  He conquers “death by death” in the resurrection.

Psalm 119, Part A

... in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.  Amen.  Through the prayers of our holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us.  Amen.  Glory to You, our God, Glory to You.

O Heavenly King, the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, You are everywhere and fill all things, Treasury of blessings, and Giver of life: come and abide in us, and cleanse us from every impurity, and save our souls, O Good One.

Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us (three times).

Psalm 119, Part A[1]

א Aleph[2]

Blessed [are] the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord.  Blessed [are] those who keep His testimonies, [who] seek Him with the whole heart.  They also do no iniquity.  They walk in His ways.  You have commanded [us] to keep Your precepts diligently.  Oh that my ways were directed to keep Your statutes!  Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect to all Your commandments.  I will praise You with uprightness of heart, when I shall have learned Your righteous judgments.  I will keep Your statutes.  Forsake me not utterly.

ב Beth[3]

Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?  By taking heed according to Your word.  With my whole heart, I have sought You.  Let me not wander from Your commandments.  Your word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against You.  Blessed [are] You, Lord.  Teach me Your statutes.  With my lips, I have declared all the judgments of Your mouth.  I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies, as in all riches.  I will meditate in Your precepts, and have respect to Your ways.  I will delight myself in Your statutes.  I will not forget Your word.

ג Gimel[4]

Deal bountifully with Your servant, [so that] I may live, and keep Your word.  Open my eyes, so that I may behold wondrous things from Your law.  I [am] a stranger in the earth.  Hide not Your commandments from me.  My soul breaks for the longing [it has] for Your judgments at all times.  You have rebuked the cursed proud, who err from Your commandments.  Remove from me reproach and contempt: for I have kept Your testimonies.  Princes also sat [and] spoke against me.  Your servant meditated in Your statutes.  Your testimonies also [are] my delight, my advisors.

ד Daleth[5]

My soul clings to the dust.  Make me alive according to Your word.  I have declared my ways.  You heard me.  Teach me Your statutes.  Make me understand the way of Your precepts.  I shall talk of Your wondrous works.  My soul melts for heaviness.  Strengthen me according to Your word.  Remove from me the way of lying.  Grant me Your law graciously.  I have chosen the way of truth.  Your judgments have I laid [before me].  I have clung to Your testimonies.  Lord, put me not to shame.  I will run the way of Your commandments, when You shall enlarge my heart.

ה He[6]

Teach me, Lord, the way of Your statutes.  I shall keep it [to] the end.  Give me understanding, and I shall keep Your law.  Yes, I shall observe it with whole heart.  Make me go in the path of Your commandments: for in them I delight.  Incline my heart to Your testimonies, and not to covetousness.  Turn away my eyes from beholding vanity.  Make me alive in Your way.  Establish Your word to Your servant, who [is devoted] to Your fear.  Turn away my reproach, which I fear: for Your judgments [are] good.  Behold, I have longed after Your precepts.  Make me alive in Your righteousness.

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If you have been blessed or helped by any of these meditations in Psalms, please repost or share all of them.

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[1] As is commonly understood, Psalm 119 is an acrostic Psalm written in praise of God’s Law (Exodus 20).  While God’s Law is not limited to the Decalogue, we suspect that the Ten Commandments are this Psalm’s focal point.  At the very least, the serious student of this Psalm should give equal attention to the words, meaning, and life of the Ten Commandments.  Being that this is an acrostic Psalm, each sentence in segment Aleph, begins with the Hebrew (Chaldean) letter Aleph: so, we have arbitrarily decided to treat each segment of this Psalm as a separate chorus, a distinct little Psalm, with the common thread of the Law of God.

Christians, especially, should note, because of the prominence of this Psalm, that Paul’s words, “under the Law (Romans 6:14; Galatians 5:18),” cannot possibly mean that the Law does not apply to Christians or Christianity.  Neither, can it mean that Christians are above the Law.  We believe that Paul’s meaning in Christ, is that Christians and Christianity now build on the foundation of the Law by the gift of the Holy Ghost, through faith.  We also believe that this is what the Law meant to Moses and this Psalmist.  The Law cannot be kept by mere works.  The Law can only be kept by faith, hope, and love; but there is no such thing as faith without works.  Sincere believers always put their hearts into obeying God’s Law; knowing full well that it is only God’s grace, when they actually accomplish this; in Christ, knowing equally that they are not under condemnation for their many failures; knowing that God accepts their stumbling, timid faith, hope, and love, as though these were the perfections of Christ Himself.  The idea that there is a free salvation without the Law, without the strenuous efforts of faith, without works of faith, is not found in the Bible, it is a demonic and hell destined lie.

[2] Aleph stresses that following (walking in) the Law is a beatitude, a blessing: and therefore, a gift.  If obedience to the Law could ever be accomplished by human effort, the psalmist would not cry out about receiving help: direction, shame, learning, forsakenness.  We conclude that there is a synergy involved in the righteous obedience to the Law.  God works, and the Psalmist works.  Nevertheless, this is not a synergy of equals, working side by side to accomplish something together, that they could not do alone.  This is the synergy created by God, wherein God dwells in the believer, empowering the believer to do His works.  Thus, only in Christ, the believer becomes godlike, and is lifted up to heaven.  If mere works sufficed, the psalmist need not have wasted his time and breath praying for what he had already accomplished.  The necessity of prayer proves that mere human works can never be sufficient.  Only works done in, by, and through Christ can ever suffice.

[3] Beth examines the start of the process of obedience to the Law by grace and faith.  The believer treasures God’s Word: he hears, reads, studies, memorizes, and meditates on it day and night (Psalm 1).  Even so, this effort does not rest on human effort.  God teaches; therefore, the psalmist learns, declares, rejoices, respects, delights, remembers, and is blessed.  The blessing is not that of ordinary studies in lessons well learned; rather it is in the growing love relationship that Yahweh is giving the psalmist, as a Father loves His child.

[4] Gimel reveals that God’s living relationship with the psalmist through the Law, is the source of life, vigor, and vitality itself.  This is not the stuff of drudgery; this is the stuff of fun: there is no higher happiness, no higher joy, than joy and happiness in God.  Obedience to the Law expresses the love between a Father and His children: it is wonderful.  It shows that we are citizens of heaven, and strangers on earth.  It is a game of hide and seek; it fills us with longing.  It deserves and receives scolding for sin.  This invokes a prayer for removal of shame (reproach), with resultant forgiveness and restoration.  The Law warns and protects from false friends, frenemies that give evil advice.  God’s Law is the best advice: never trust anyone or anything that goes against it.  Following evil advisors is the path of death.  God’s Law is the path of life.

[5] Daleth introduces the problem of mortality.  Having found life in the Law, the psalmist questions the inevitability of death, he knows that he is a creature, made out of dust; he knows that he is Adam’s child and bent to sin.  Try as hard as he must, the psalmist’s life is stalked by death, instability (melting under pressure), weakness, lying, and doubting (small heartedness).  The psalmist’s prayer shows that God is the giver of all good: “make me alive” (resurrect me from the dead), “hear me”, “teach me”, “make me understand”, “strengthen me”, “remove me”, “grant me”, “enlarge my heart”.  While the psalmist waits for God’s gracious answer, he holds on for dear life (clings).  His soul clings to dust (death), he clings to the Law.  The psalmist already knows that God’s answer is, Yes!  In all appropriate humility he does not take such marvelous grace for granted.

[6] He (the Chaldean letter) sees approaching mortality and asks for the Divine inner strength to finish well (to the end).  The Law, properly understood, is the way to finish well.  God will not forsake the relationship because life grows dim: He teaches, gives understanding, keeps us on path, brings us delight, destroys covetousness and emptiness, creates life (resurrection, healing), establishes the Law, removes shame (reproach), gives life in righteousness (justification, absolution, and inability to sin any more).  The psalmist prays for all these things because he knows that they are sourced in God Himself; he has them only because of God’s relationship with him: therefore, they cannot fail.