Exposition of Psalm
119
?
ALEPH
God’s
Word Brings Happiness
Ps.
119:1-8
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.
As one writer well puts
it,
This giant among the Psalms shows
the full flowering of that ‘delight . . . in the law of
God’ which is described in Psalm 1 and gives its
personal witness to the many sided qualities of
Scripture praised in Psalm 19:7ff.[i]
Indeed, besides the
parallels between Psalm 19 and 119, the opening verse of
119 is similar to the opening verses of the entire
Psalter:
Blessed is the man that walketh
not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the
way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his
law doth he meditate day and night (Ps.
1:1-2).
We observe that both start
out with a beatitude, a solemn benediction concerning
the place the Word of God should have in the Believer’s
life. As we noted in our Introduction, if this Psalm
does anything to us, it should underscore that the Word
of God should be the very core of our being, that it
should be everything to us. This passion for the Word
should drive us constantly to it, motivate us to allow
nothing to take us away from it, and compel us that
nothing will deter us from keeping it.
The very first word
we encounter in this Psalm is blessed. The Hebrew
behind this word is ‘esher, a
masculine noun meaning a person’s state of bliss. It’s
never used of God, rather always of people, and is
exclamatory in emphasis, as in “O the bliss of . .
.”[ii]
It is extremely
significant that the Septuagint translates ‘esher
using the Greek makarios, which our Lord used
nine times in the Beatitudes (Matt. 5:3–11). While many
Bible teachers come to this word and say that it just
means “happy,” that is not the whole story. The word happy, in fact,
comes from the Middle English hap, which in
turn comes from the Old Norse happ, meaning
“good luck.” The underlying cause of happiness is good
circumstances, or “good luck,” as people will say. In
contrast, makarios speaks of
much more than happy. It means “contentedness,” an
inward contentedness that is not affected by
circumstances. This is indeed the kind of happiness and
contentedness that God desires for His children—a state
of joy and well-being that does not depend upon
physical, temporary circumstances (cf. Phil.
4:11–13).
The opening verses
of this Psalm, therefore, are about what brings about
such blissful contentedness. While men search and grope
for happiness, and try everything to capture it, we find
here four realities that produce real bliss and
contentment. How important these realities are! In his
classic exposition of the Psalms, The Treasury of
David, which was one of the
great blessings I received in preparing this series,
Charles Spurgeon writes here:
As David thus begins his Psalm,
so should young men begin their lives, so should new
converts commence their profession, so should all
Christians begin every
day.
What a statement! At every
level of life, here we find the right beginning. Let us,
therefore, begin each day with these qualities because
they will bring true bliss.
I. Purity of Life (vs.
1a, 3)
Blessed
are the undefiled in the way . . . They also do no
iniquity: they walk in his ways.
How significant it is that
this is first! Nothing is more basic to right living
than purity of life. Many people live a life of
immorality, or at least self-indulgence to one extent or
another, and believe that such a life style will make
them happy. But the psalmist declares that true
happiness and contentedness comes from a life of purity.
So important is such purity that he describes it in
three ways.
“Undefiled
in the way” (v. 1)
The Hebrew here for
undefiled is tamiym,
an adjective that speaks of being blameless, complete,
and without blemish. In over half of its Old Testament
occurrences, it describes an animal to be sacrificed to
the Lord, whether a ram, a bull, or a lamb, since such
animals were required to be “without blemish” (e.g.,
Exo. 29:1; Lev. 4:3; Lev. 14:10). It is also used to
refer to time, as in a “whole” day (Josh. 10:13), a
“complete” seven Sabbaths (i.e., weeks, Lev. 23:15), and
a “full” year (Lev. 25:30). When used in a moral sense,
as it is here, tamiym speaks of truth, integrity, virtue, uprightness,
and righteousness.[iii] It appears, for example
in Psalm 18:13, where the psalmist again declares, “I was also
upright before [God], and I kept myself from mine
iniquity.” Solomon echoes this principle in Proverbs
11:5, “The righteousness of the perfect shall direct his
way: but the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness.”
(See also Josh. 24:14 [“sincerity”] and Prov. 2:21
[“perfect”]).
Added to this word
is the word way. The Hebrew here is derek,
which in the literal sense speaks of a road or trodden
path. Metaphorical, then, it refers to a marked out
pattern of life, as in Proverbs 3:6, “In all thy
[patterns of life] acknowledge him, and he shall direct
thy paths.” Deuteronomy 8:6 likewise commands, “Thou
shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, to walk
in his [patterns of life], and to fear him.” We find
other verses that speak of either righteous, pleasant,
and wise patterns of life (II Sam. 22:22; Prov. 3:17;
6:6), or patterns that are evil and dark (I Kings 22:52;
Prov. 2:13).
Putting all this
together, then, true bliss and contentedness comes
when our pattern of life is characterized by unblemished
behavior. How ironic (and
tragic) that the world looks for happiness in the exact
opposite, looking for happiness in lawlessness and just
living their own way, but they will never find it there.
Every young person should be challenged with this
principle. They might think that they will be happy by
doing what they want, but they will not. Hopefully, they
will not have to find out the hard way that true
contentment, bliss, meaning, purpose, and peace will
come by a life of unblemished behavior, a lifestyle that
characterized by purity. Spurgeon put it well when he
wrote, “Doubtless, the more complete our sanctification
the more intense our blessedness.” In other words, the
holier we live, the more content we will
be.
“Do no
iniquity” (v. 3)
The Hebrew behind
iniquity (‘evel) paints a graphic picture.
It comes from a root (‘ul)
that means “to deviate from a right standard, to act
contrary to what is right.” It is used many times in the
Old Testament to show what things are contrary to the
right standard, such as: partiality in judgment (Lev.
19:15); dishonest trade dealings (Deut. 25:16; Ezek.
18:8), robbing (Ezek. 33:15), murder (2 Sam. 3:34),
oppression (II Sam 7:10; I Chron. 17:9; Ps. 37:1; 89:22;
25:3; Prov. 22:8; Hos. 10:9; Mic. 3:10; Hab. 2:12), and
even vicious words (Job 6:30; 1:14; 13:7; 15:16; 27:4;
Is. 59:3; Hos. 10:13).
Very simply put,
therefore, this is what we just call “right living,”
that is, doing what is right simply because it
is right. Young people should again be encouraged
here. One day they will be on their own, with no one
looking over their shoulder to make sure they are doing
right. While they might be able to do what they want and
“get away with it,” but they should do right
because it is right.
Again, this is not
the world’s view. Most people’s think is, “I’ll do what
I want, what’s right for me, what feels good to me.”
That was the same philosophy that permeated the nation
of Israel in the days of judges, when “there was no king
in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his
own eyes” (Judg. 17:6; cf. 21:25). That is, in fact, the
very relativism that rules our own day. What such people
forget, however, is that while they can chose to do what
they please, they will also suffer the consequences. As
God promises, “be sure your sin will find you out” (Num.
32:23), and, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for
whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Gal.
6:7). If we may repeat one more time, true happiness is
found in doing right simply because it
is right. This leads to one
other description of this purity of
life.
“Walk in His
ways” (v. 3)
Let us first note
Ephesians 2:1-3:
And you hath he quickened, who
were dead in trespasses and sins: Wherein in time past
ye walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, the
spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Among whom also we all had our conversation in times
past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the
children of wrath, even as
others.
We once walked in
iniquity, but the true Believer now walks in God’s
ways, which as mentioned earlier is a marked
out pattern of life, that trodden path that God has
made by His law, the trail that God Himself, through
Christ, blazed though the jungle of earthly existence.
It simply is not enough to just “not do wrong.”
We must do right. Yes, we can be law-abiding
citizens and do nothing illegal but at the same time do
nothing positive or helpful. As Spurgeon put it, “The
surest way to abstain from evil is to be fully occupied
in doing good.” Think of it this way: if we concentrate
on the positive, the negative will come easily. If we
concentrate on doing good, doing wrong will not be an
issue. We should also note that this walk is a
consistent one, a day-by-day continuous
walk in the things of God.
Spurgeon is again right on the mark:
The holy life is a walk, a steady
progress, a quiet advance, a lasting continuance. Enoch
walked with God. Good men always long to be better, and
hence they go forward. Good men are never idle, and
hence they do not lie down or loiter, but they are still
walking onward to their desired end. They are not
hurried, and worried, and flurried, and so they keep the
even tenor of their way, walking steadily towards
heaven; and they are not in perplexity as to how to
conduct themselves, for they have a perfect rule, which
they are happy to walk
by.
And what is that “perfect
rule”? The path our Lord Himself hacked through the
jungle.
II. The Word of God (vs.
1b-2)
who
walk in the law of the LORD. Blessed are they that keep
his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole
heart.
The Psalmist again
describes this in several ways.
“Walk in the
law of the LORD” (v. 1b)
As we saw in the
Introduction to our study, law is the most used
word in this psalm to refer to the word of God, some
twenty-five time, in fact. The Hebrew is torah, a
feminine noun meaning “instruction or direction.” It’s
most often used to refer to a body of teaching. The idea
here, then, is that the body of God’s teaching (i.e.,
all of it) brings true happiness. In stark contrast to
the world, which tries to find happiness in lawlessness
and doing whatever makes one feel good, true bliss is
found only in God’s law, in knowing the
boundaries of right and wrong. Just as children are
happier and more content when they know the boundaries,
we too will know bliss when we walk according to God’s body of revealed
truth.
“Keep His
testimonies” (v. 2a)
As also mentioned in
our Introduction, the term testimonies (or
“testimony,” ‘edah) eventually came to be used
for a solemn testimony of the will of God, a sober and
serious expression of God’s standards for human
behavior. Right behavior is not “up for grabs,” not left
to our own definition. It is a marked out standard from
God. Keep translates the Hebrew
natsar, “a verb meaning to
guard, to keep, to observe, to preserve, to hide” and
“refers to people’s maintaining things entrusted to
them, especially to keeping the truths of God in both
actions and mind.”[iv] David uses it again in
verse 100, “I understand more than the ancients, because
I keep thy precepts,” and once again in verse 115,
“Depart from me, ye evildoers: for I will keep the
commandments of my God.”
Man tries to find
happiness by following his own will, but bliss
and contentment come only by observing, guarding, and
preserving God’s will, by conducting ourselves
according to His standards. This manifests itself, as
Spurgeon puts it, as both “a doctrinal keeping of
the word when we are ready to die for its defence, and a
practical keeping of it when we actually live
under its power” (emphasis added). What a challenge God
has given us to truly keep
His Word!
“Seek Him
with a whole heart” (v. 2b)
Here is a thrilling
principle! David plants a seed here that grows through
the whole Psalm. He starts here by speaking of seeking
God with a whole heart, repeats it in verse 10,
adds that he hides God’s Word in his heart in verse 11,
and then builds on that idea by writing many times of
his “delight” (16, 24, 35, etc.) and “love” (97, 113,
119, etc.) for the Word. True bliss and contentment,
therefore, come only when we seek God’s presence
through His Word.
A growing trend in
our day is to seek God by various “experiences,” “inner
urgings,” visions, and emotionalism. We find God,
however, only in His Word. Why? Because that is where He
reveals Himself. While it is true that God reveals His
existence through nature (Rom. 1:20), that is all
He reveals in that way. Other than that, we know
nothing of Him apart from His Word. That is the
reason for in-depth Bible preaching and teaching, which
are absolutely essential if
we are to “grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (II Pet. 3:18).
We should also add
that this is not just intellectual knowledge. As
Spurgeon puts it, “It is in vain that we endeavour to
comprehend him by reason; we must apprehend him by
affection.” Oh, the passion we should have to know Who
God is! (See our study of verses 54-56.) And what does
it mean to seek God? Spurgeon
again gives us the answer. He mentions five principles
that we would do well to memorize:
Seeking after God signifies a
desire to commune with him more closely, to follow him
more fully, to enter into more perfect union with his
mind and will, to promote his glory, and to realize
completely all that he is to holy
hearts.
III. Obedience (vs.
4-6)
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.
While the psalmist has
already touched on obedience in the words “law” and
“way,” we here further note two principles: God’s
command and our response.
God’s
Command (v. 4)
Thou
hast commanded us to keep thy precepts
diligently.
God’s command is to
keep His precepts. As we
noted in the Introduction, The Hebrew behind precepts (piqqud) is a poetic word,
found only in the Psalms and always in the plural, that
speaks of injunctions and moral obligations that God has
laid down. But obedience to these precepts does
not come easily, to say the least. If we decide to stand
for right, we must be warned that it will be difficult
in the extreme. That is undoubtedly why the psalmist
adds the word diligently. It
is easy to be immoral, to live according to the flesh,
to live like everybody else, so we must concentrate on
the moral obligations God has given in His
Word.
We should also note
a subtlety here. The command is to keep
His precepts, not make up our own. We have
a tendency to make our own lists of “dos and don’ts,” to
create our own gauges of spirituality. But God has given
us His standards in Scripture
in such passages as Proverbs 6:6-9 and Ephesians
4:17-32. If we stick with His standards, we will do
well.
Our Response
(vs. 5-6)
O
that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes! Then
shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy
commandments.
In short, our
response to God’s command is the desire to obey. How
important it is that the psalmist recognizes that we
cannot obey within ourselves. Verse 5 is a plea for
divine aid; we must be directed to obey. Every
parent knows that their children never direct themselves
to do right; they have to be directed. The idea
here in the Hebrew (kuwn), in
fact, is “to cause to stand in an upright position.” How
often we try in ourselves to keep God’s commands, but
the more we try the more we fail, and the more we fail
the more frustrated we become, and the more frustrated
we become the more we just want to quit. We cannot stand
on our own, rather it is God Who can make us stand. I
love Spurgeon’s treatment of this
verse:
This verse is a
sigh of regret because the Psalmist feels that he
has not kept the precepts diligently, it is a cry of
weakness appealing for help to one who can aid, it
is a request of bewilderment from one who has
lost his way and would fain be directed in it, and it is
a petition of faith from one who loves God and
trusts in him for grace (emphasis
added).
“I can’t do it!” is
David’s cry. “It is only God’s grace that can direct
me.”
Note further that
our response causes no feeling of shame. Then shall I
not be ashamed, David writes. Young people again
should be warned that the things they do now can give
great cause for shame later in life. Immorality and
rebellion will eventually bring shame. In contrast, no
shame will ever come when we have respect
unto (literally, “focus our attention on, regard
with pleasure”; Hebrew nabat) God’s
commandments.
IV. Praising God (vs.
7-8)
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.
One more thing that brings
blissful contentment is worship, which the Psalmist
expresses in two ways.
We Praise in
Word
A constantly recurring
theme throughout the Psalms is praising God in word.
There is no true happiness in praising men because they
are wretched and changeable. Such glory is fleeting and
serves only to feed our wicked pride. True bliss is
found only in praising God alone, for only He is worthy.
Spurgeon challenges us, “We must learn to praise, learn
that we may praise, and praise when we have
learned.”
We Praise in
Action
As wonderful as
words are, they are cheap and totally empty without
action. We, therefore, prove that we are praising God
through our uprightness of heart. It is a holy
walk that truly glorifies God. Following after His
righteous judgments (i.e., judicial
decisions that establish precedents and a binding laws),
and again His statutes, are the things that truly
praise Him. Mark it down: if you want to truly praise
God, keep His Word. Many a
“worship service” in churches today are just words
because the Word of God is not central. Since the whole
counsel of God is not preached (Acts 20:27), people are
not told to do much of anything biblically, and without
that they are not truly worshipping.
This stanza of the
psalm ends with the words, O forsake me not
utterly. It is a sobering
prayer, indeed, that means “never leave me to my own
strength, nor to my own heart.” Realizing he can never
in himself be upright in heart or keep God’s Word, David
expresses the utter horror it would be if he were left
to himself. Oh, let this be our prayer as well! As John
Calvin put it in his sermon on this
passage:
Is it possible for us to have one
good desire or thought in us? No, it is impossible, but
we shall wholly decline to all evil and mischief, yea
and we shall become his enemies and adversaries. We must
therefore, having all our refuge from God, beseech him
with David, that he will not forsake
us.
And oh, what assurance
there is in God’s promise of Hebrew 13:5 (which is
actually a quote of Deuteronomy 31:6): “I will never
leave thee, nor forsake thee.”
How, then, can we live in
blissful contentment in this life?—purity of life,
seeking God in His Word, obedience to God, and worship.
Let those principles start each day of your
life.
[i] Derek Kidner,
Psalms 73-150, p. 416. Cited
in Boice.
[ii] Baker and Carpenter,
#835.
[iii] Baker and Carpenter,
#8549.
[iv] Baker and Carpenter,
#5341.
