Psalm 119:33-40
33 Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes,
and I will observe it to the end.
34 Give me understanding,
that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart.
35 Lead me in the path of your commandments,
for I delight in it.
36 Turn my heart to your decrees,
and not to selfish gain.
37 Turn my eyes from looking at vanities;
give me life in your ways.
38 Confirm to your servant your promise,
which is for those who fear you.
39 Turn away the disgrace that I dread,
for your ordinances are good.
40 See, I have longed for your precepts;
in your righteousness give me life.
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 largely 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 essentially 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.
Psalm 119:33-40 is the fifth segment.
First, in Psalm 119: 33-35, he wants the Lord to be his teacher, 33 Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes, and I will observe it to the end. He then goes on to explain what he wants to be taught and what he wants to gain. The teaching outcome he desires is, first, 34 Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart. 35 Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it. The psalm-writer wants to learn God's statutes, laws and commandments -- not because there's value in memorizing a list of rules and regulations, but because these guidelines contain the way to life and peace.Think of the Ten Commandments, every one of which is designed to help us, not hurt us. Although they are challenging to follow, these commandments are intended to be life-enhancing and to give us a positive framework for our words and actions. The first four commandments offer guidance for our relationship with God, while the last six explain what it means to have healthy relationships with each other (Exodus 20:1-17).The Protestant reformer John Calvin noted that God divided his law into two parts. The first part dealt with the worship of God's majesty, and the second part dealt with "the duties of love" that have to do with people. The two are equally life-enhancing, and equally important for inner peace. No doubt Jesus had this approach in mind when he said that the greatest commandment challenged us both to "love the Lord your God" and to "love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:36-40). Nothing can be more calming than the knowledge that we are right with God and right with our neighbors, walking in God's ways.
Second, in Psalm 119: 36-7, he wants to avoid the ways of the stressful world we inhabit.36 Turn my heart to your decrees, and not to selfish gain. 37 Turn my eyes from looking at vanities; give me life in your ways.
Third, in Psalm 119: 38-9, such a life will have the promise of the Lord. 38 Confirm to your servant your promise, which is for those who fear you. 39 Turn away the disgrace that I dread, for your ordinances are good. 40 See, I have longed for your precepts; in your righteousness give me life. The Lord promises to give life to those who walk in the ways instructed by the Lord, ways that include right relationship with the Lord and right relationship with others. Such is the path of righteousness. Jesus said:
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst or right relationships, for they will be filled" (Matthew 5:6).
"Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of right relationships, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (v. 10).
"Unless your right relationships exceed those of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven" (v. 20).
The way of the Lord is all about right relationships. It is the key to experiencing inner calm. It puts us in touch with God's ways and helps us to avoid the ways of the stressful world around us. Put these two aspects together, and you receive God's promise of life. This is a righteous life -- a life of right relationships -- and it is the key to reducing stress and finding inner calm, in every time and place and situation.How would you like to have God as your teacher? A cartoon circulated around the Internet last year -- maybe it's still going around -- consisting of two panels. One showed two parents holding a report card in their hands, waving it in front of a terrified child, demanding an explanation for the D's and F's. This panel is titled 1961. The second panel (titled 2011) shows the same angry parents confronting, not the child, but a terrified teacher, demanding to know the meaning of the bad marks. In this psalm, the writer loves having God as a teacher, and is eager to receive instruction from God.
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