Psalm 119 is wisdom psalm. The date is around 625-600 BC. A contrary dating places it in post-exilic time when the law had begun to replace the Temple as the focal point of Israelite religion, with a concomitant rise in the influence of wisdom schools on biblical thinking and literature. The psalm is acrostic in form. Each eight verses begin with the same letter of the letter Hebrew alphabet, continuing in such form for 22 segments. The Babylonian Theodicy, composed about 1000 BC, is an acrostic poem that has twenty-seven stanzas of eleven lines each. In that case, the acrostic reads, “I, Saggil-kinam-ubbib, the incantation priest, am an adorer of the god and the king.” Several psalms are structurally acrostic (e.g., Psalms 9-10 [a single psalm originally], 25, 34, 37, 111, 112 and others). Acrostics are elsewhere in the OT (e.g., the opening chapters of the book of Lamentations), and the form appears to have been used as a mnemonic device to assist student scribes in memorizing the poems. Such compositions may have originated in wisdom circles in Israel or ancient scholars may have redacted (edited) them in those circles from earlier sources. It is as though the psalmist is giving his readers the basic ABCs of human life and how to best live from beginning to end. The psalm is the longest in the Hebrew Psalter. While Weiser thinks the psalm repeats similar thoughts in a wearisome way, Dahood sees a richness of expression. The central theme is that the word and law of God are decisive in every sphere of life. Weiser sees this psalm making a shift toward what we know later as Pharisaism. In any case, the psalm is a remarkable example of Israelite devotion to the law. It becomes a hymn in praise of God’s law and a sustained meditation on the role of that law in the life of the person of faith. Reading this long psalm, one gets the impression that it’s very repetitive. It has 167 lines and says the same thing 167 ways. At least eight different words appear throughout that refer to the Torah or law of God: law, decrees, statutes, commandments, ordinances, word, precepts, and promise. According to Old Testament scholar James L. Mays, the use of the Hebrew alphabet as the form of the psalm signals completeness, while the vocabulary represents comprehensiveness. In other words, the repetition in the psalm is really the whole point. The more one engages the repetition of words and concepts, the more they have a chance to influence the imagination. In its exaltation of the law, Psalm 119 is similar in theme to Psalms 1 because of its description of those who “delight” in the law of the Lord and “meditate” upon it day and night (v. 2) and 19 because of its assertion that obedience to the law of God is the key to a successful life. This psalm is an assertion of steadfast devotion to God’s law in the face of affliction. No matter what happens, the psalmist asserts, he will remain devoted to doing what God has instructed. The entire psalm is a paean to God’s law — torah, instruction or teaching — and bears many marks of having influence by the wisdom tradition in Israel. In this psalm, the law is glorious because it gives Israel a direction it is to gladly hear and obey because in it God has revealed divine mercy.[1] If we approach the psalm from the standpoint of what Paul says about the Law, we will miss the point in a profound way. We need to carefully consider its guidance.[2] The psalmist will say that he studies and meditates upon the command, word, and promise of the Lord. His urging of both intellectual understand and prayerful reflection is good guidance in reading the Bible for pastors and laity, but theologians and scholars as well.
In the eighteenth segment (verses 137-144), we have a stanza devoted to the Hebrew letter Ts (Tsade). 137 You are righteous, in the right in any dispute, almost by definition, but not beyond dispute from the faithful, O Lord. Ezra affirms in this prayer that the Lord is righteous (Ezra 9:15). The righteousness of God refers to the faithfulness with which God acts. Such faithfulness is in accord with the commitments to the people of God and with the status of the Lord as their divine king. Further, your judgments (laws) are right. At Sinai, the Lord gave regulations and laws that are just (Nehemiah 9:13). 138 You have appointed your decrees in righteousness (also affirmed in verse 75) and in all faithfulness. The psalm has already affirmed the commands of the Lord are trustworthy (verse 86). This segment will also affirm the law of the Lord is true (verse 42b). The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy (Psalm 19:7). 139 My zeal consumes me like a consuming fire because my foes forget your words. Zeal for the law of God awakens a form of righteous indignation or anger against those who reject it. Thus, this psalm has already referred to the wicked who have forsaken the law of the Lord gripping him with indignation (verse 53). Zeal for the house of the Lord consumes the psalmist (Psalm 69:9, John 2:17). Such zeal brings abhorrence of all that is contrary to it, while drawing together those who honor the Lord and the Law (verse 63). Those of us who have faith in the God of Israel and therefore the Father of Jesus of Nazareth need to admit that zealousness has been the source of many atrocities. Exodus 32:25-27 depicts Levites, at the command of Moses, striking down fellow Israelites right and left after the making of the golden calf. The Levites showed their zeal for the cause of God and for family honor in avenging the wrong done to their sister Dinah (Genesis 34), an act referred to in the blessing of Jacob on them (Genesis 49:5-7). Genuine zeal resides next door to fanaticism. 140 Your promise (‘imrah, synonym of dabar, word) is well tried (refined, having nothing worthless or useless in it, as Psalm 12:6 puts it, flawless, like silver refined and purified in a furnace seven times). Not one of the promises of God have failed and God has kept every promise (Joshua 23:14). Further, your servant loves it, already affirmed in verse 47. 141 I am small and despised, using the common language of belittling oneself in addressing God. Thus, we need not take it as an experience that suggests others regarded him as puny and of no consequence. Abraham refers to himself as dust and ashes (Genesis 18:27). Moses declared his lack of eloquence and slowness of speech (Exodus 4:10). However, this psalm refers to the sorrow, suffering, and affliction of the writer. Life has laid him low in the dust (verse 25). His soul is weary with sorrow (verse 28). His comfort in his suffering is the promise of the Lord (verse 50). He admits that prior to his affliction he had gone astray (verse 67). His affliction turned out to be good since it brought him back to the decrees of the Lord (verse 71). His affliction derives from the faithfulness of the Lord (verse 75). He is like wineskin in the smoke (verse 83). He could have perished in his affliction (verse 92). He has suffered much, and thus asks the Lord to preserve his life (107). Trouble and distress have come upon him (verse 143). He asks the Lord to look upon his suffering and deliver him (verse 153). Yet I do not forget your precepts (also verse 61, 134). 142 Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and your law (commands in verse 151 and words in verse 160 is the truth. 143 Trouble and anguish have come upon me, but your commandments (also verse 47, statutes in verse 24) are my delight. 144 Your decrees are righteous forever; give me understanding (verse 34 as well) that I may live. Such decrees, judgments, promises, and words of the Lord give him understanding for life. In other words, this word stands him perfectly, or situates him, right in the center of life, a life lived for God. He thus has unlocked the secret of understanding the meaning of life. This word or promise “stands” him in the center of the will of God. Is there a better place to be?
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