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Psalms 119
We have already noticed it as one of the alphabetical Psalms—being divided into as many equal parts as there are letters in the Hebrew alphabet, and the first word of all the verses in every one of these parts commencing with the same letter. We shall not dwell on this further than to notice, the evidence which we thus possess of the care which has been taken to preserve the sacred text of God’s word undisturbed; for here, in a Divine poem of considerable length, and of such antiquity as to be older by many ages than the celebrated writings of the Greeks and Romans, the alphabetic structure has been so preserved that not one of the initial letters has been lost or displaced.
The remarkable perfection of the several parts of this Psalm, and yet their connection with each other, is well entitled to our admiration. “Wherever we begin, we seem to be at the commencement, and wherever we stop the sense is complete; and yet the poem does not consist of detached sentences, but is a whole; consisting of many parts, all of which seem necessary to its perfection.” Note: Note to the translation of Calvin’s Commentary on the Psalms, vol, v. p. 51.
It is another peculiarity of this Psalm, that long as it is, and various as it is, the uniform and consistent object is to extol and magnify the law—the word of God. There are in the entire 176 verses not more than two or three in which there is not some word or other signifying the law of God. Ten different terms, correctly represented in our authorized version, are employed for the purpose—the law, the testimonies, the statutes, the commandments, the judgments, the precepts, the righteousness, the ordinances, the word, and the truth of God; and sometimes two of these terms present themselves in the same verse. These terms partly apply to, or rather they comprise, the intercourse between God and the soul of the believer, which give to it a law of spiritual life. But there is doubtless a primary reference in them to the written law—the word of God. And what was that at the time this Psalm was written? It could have comprised little more than the five Books of Moses. These to a pious Jew might be, and were, when rightly understood, full of heavenly instruction. This portion, however, comprises not quite one fifth of the word of God, as we have it in our possession. We have, besides it, the historical and poetical books, the prophecies, the gospels, the epistles; and if the Psalmist, knowing only so small a portion of the sacred Scripture, was so deeply impressed with a sense of its incalculable value—with what intensity of appreciation—with what strong emotions of thankfulness and gratitude, should not we regard our richer treasure in the completed word! It may not be that the expression of our reverence should surpass those of the Psalmist, or our feelings of joy and love be more intense than his. It is enough if, with far greater, or at least with far riper cause, we can but come near him in his sense of the unutterable value of the Lord’s testimonies; if they become to ourselves as to him, “A light unto our feet, and a lamp unto our path;” and if the can but say with him, “O, how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.” But we are left without excuse, if, with the greater blessing, our thankfulness is less than his; and if, with our higher obligations, our emotions, in the presence of the completed manifestations of God’s will and way, are but faint compared with his.
There is perhaps no equal portion of the Old Testament which is more nourishing than this noble Psalm, and this is from the striking manner in which it sets forth the workings of true godliness in the regenerated soul. This was perceived by Jonathan Edwards, who, in his work on the Religious Affections, says: “I know no part of the Holy Scriptures in which the nature and evidence of true godliness are so fully and largely insisted on and delineated as in Psalms 119. The Psalmist declares his design in the first verse of the Psalm, keeps his eye on it all along, and pursues it to the end. The excellence of holiness is represented as the immediate object, of a spiritual taste and delight. God’s law—that great expression and emanation of holiness to the creature—is all along represented as the object of the love, the complacence, and the rejoicings of the gracious nature which prizes God’s command, ‘above gold, yea, the finest gold,’ and to which they are sweeter than honey and the honey-comb.’”
It is this quality of the Psalm which so frequently brings us to a pause in the perusal of it, that we may ponder over some sacred maxim, treasure up some golden sentence, or try our own heart by some holy rule. We have been particularly interested in noting this process in Dr. Chalmers’s exercises upon this Psalm, some sentences selected from which afford us a most desirable opportunity of illustrating the statement.
Psa_119:18 “is among the most precious of our Scriptural notabilia. I indeed feel myself a stranger, and have marvellously little sympathy with my fellows; but hide not from me the knowledge of thy will, nor suffer me to hide myself from those of my own flesh. I have long fixed on [Psa_119:20] as the most descriptive of my own state and experience of any in the Bible. What straining have I had after a right understanding of God and his ways, more especially the way of salvation!” etc.
Psa_119:25; Psa_119:32 “I mark as eminent among the notabilia of Scripture. How strikingly descriptive of myself, and I believe of every natural man—that ‘my soul cleaveth unto the dust,’ unto the things of sight, and sense, and materialism—so as to be dead unto God and the things of faith! Quicken and make me alive unto thyself, O God.”
Psa_119:37 “has long been one of my notabilia. Let me shrink from the first beginnings of evil, by shutting or turning away the inlets of temptation; and O that, instead of being so alive unto sin, I were made alive unto God, and to the righteousness which He loves. Let me dedicate myself unto Thee, and be established in every good word and work, that I may see my way clearly before me.”
“I should rank [Psa_119:54] among the notable sayings of Scripture. Give me, O Lord, to delight in thy commandments, and let my meditations of Thee and of thy statutes be sweet to my soul. Let my relish for the law of God, and my practical observance thereof keep pace the one with the other. They have a reciprocal influence. If I have the pleasure of thinking of God’s law in the night watches, it is because I keep God’s precepts”
“The first clause of [Psa_119:68] is a notabile. Let not the provocations of calumny draw me from thy good word and way…. The first clause of [Psa_119:73] is also a notabile. O that I felt as I ought the subordination and dependence of myself, as a thing formed, on Him who formed and fashioned me! … What a noble text is [Psa_119:83], and let it henceforth be one of my notanda.—My God, in the midst of injustice and hostile machinations, let me adhere to Thee with firm trust and purpose of heart”
Psa_119:105 “is one of the notabiles of Scripture. Let me dedicate myself to thy service; and bind me to that covenant which is ordered in all things, and sure…. [Psa_119:130] ranks high above the notanda of Scripture. We have here the self-evidencing power of the Bible.—Give me through it, O Lord, of that wisdom which Thou revealest unto babes. Truly I long for brighter assurances and larger manifestations. Let me read and pray for them…. [Psa_119:133] is also one of the Scripture notanda. Deliver me, O God, from the injustice which I fear; but however this may be, let nothing so offend me as that I shall lose my hold of thy statutes…. I would make a notabile of [Psa_119:162].”
“What a high place belongs to [Psa_119:165] among the notabilia or memorabilia of Scripture! and [Psa_119:166] is one of the most important that can be adduced for the theology which advocates the inseparable alliance of faith and works, ab initio, or from the very commencement of the Christian life.”
Any earnest reader of the Psalm will make to himself an equally copious, but probably different list of notabilia, and when he returns to it again, another different still: for according to the state of the mind and spirit at the time we read, texts which impressed us but lightly yesterday, will today strike home to the heart; and others which today scarcely detain our thoughts, shall tomorrow arrest our minds with a giant’s grasp. This is true, indeed, of all Scripture, but is more perceptible in a piece like this, composed of sentences that seem but loosely connected with each other. And it is this quality which gives Scripture its exhaustless variety, and always freshening interest. We may read it continually, we may even learn it by heart, and yet always find something new, something very precious, that had before escaped our notice. Those who dig this mine come away with gold; and with more the last day than the first. We knew one who proposed to mark the Scripture notabilia with different inks at each reading through the sacred volume: but in the course of time almost every verse in the Bible became thus marked; the different colors of the ink serving to denote the impressions he had received at each reading, from texts which he had at previous readings passed over.