Exposition
of Psalm 119
א
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.[1]
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 . . .”[2]
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.
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.
The Hebrew here for undefiled is tāmiym, 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, tāmiym speaks of truth, integrity, virtue, uprightness, and righteousness.[3] 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 torāh, 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.
As also mentioned in our Introduction, the term testimonies (or “testimony,” ‘ēdāh) 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.”[4] 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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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.