What’s Up With Psalm 119? Part One
Most readers of this blog probably know that Psalm 119, the Bible's longest chapter, is all about the Word of God. If you’re studying or teaching it, here are some key facts and insights to consider.
There are 22 stanzas of 8 verses each. The famous preacher F.B. Meyer summarized that the psalm is an elaborate acrostic. In the original, each verse in a given section begins with the same letter, so that the twenty-two sections present the complete Hebrew alphabet. So that’s a bit about the style. Another tidbit is that there are seven words repeated over and over throughout the 176 verses to refer to the word of God. Below I’ve distilled the meanings of each of the seven words.
Word: Spoken or revealed word
Law: A revelation or single command—all the way to the whole body of the law (first five books of the Bible)
Judgments: Regulations
Testimonies: The biblical witnesses or truth examples
Commandments: Given orders
Statutes, Authority of what God wrote
Precepts: Particular, detailed instructions
You could actually call this Psalm the “full mention” of the Word of God. Full mention is a term we use to describe a passage that stands out as the most comprehensive on any given topic. For example, the full mention of charity would be 1 Cor. 13. It’s good to pick out full-mention passages as a starting point for any topic you want to study further. Some of the most-quoted verses about the Bible come from Psalm 119. Find a favorite verse from this full-mention chapter and look up the cross references to it on any Bible phone app or computer Bible program that contains the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK). The TSK is the most exhaustive list of cross references you can find. I have the Blue Letter Bible app on my phone because it contains TSK cross references.
Now some observations and meditations I had on Psalm 119 after I completed studying it.
In every stanza, the psalmist incorporates at least six of the seven words for the Word, and in some cases, he uses all seven (word, law, judgments, testimonies, commandments, statutes and precepts). I think the repetition is why some consider the Psalm a little intimidating.
I find it instructional that there are seven words to denote the Word of God. Seven is the number of perfection or completion.
And here’s a meditation question with an “ah ha” answer. Besides the fact that seven is the number of perfection or completion, why does God use a spate of words to describe His word? To get to that, you have to look at a truth you may have overlooked. The Word is part of the trinity. No, you say. The trinity is the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. Well, how about this verse: 1 John 5:7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. Stunning, I know. Jesus and the Word prove to be interchangeable, and that shouldn’t surprise us, because Jesus is the Word pointed out in John 1:1-2, 14 and elsewhere. (Notice 1 John 5:7 capitalizes the W in Word, denoting deity.)
There’s not a single word to encapsulate all that God is in any of His forms. Jesus has several names in the Bible (Christ, Emmanuel, Messiah, Son of God, Lord, the Word etc.). So does God (Jehovah, Abba, Father, the Ancient of Days, etc.). So does the Holy Spirit (Holy Ghost, comforter, spirit of truth, spirit of glory, etc.)
Psalm 119 shows us the many nuances of the Word of God in seven terms. But we’re just getting started with the value of Psalm 119. In part 2, we are going to look at the context and prophetic value of Psalm 119. It’s a study angle you likely have never considered before.
R&J Shee