Biblion Bible Commentary
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Blessed Are Those Who Walk in the Law
Psalms 119:1-24
1 Blessed are those whose ways are blameless, who walk according to Yahweh’s law. · WEB
The longest chapter in Scripture is an alphabet exercise about one subject, and it starts with a young man asking how to stay clean.
Blessed are those whose ways are blameless, who walk according to Yahweh's law Psalms 119:1.
The longest chapter in the Bible, and its construction is the first thing to understand. Twenty-two stanzas, one for each Hebrew letter, and every one of the eight verses in a stanza begins with that letter. The whole is a hundred and seventy-six verses on a single subject.
And almost every verse contains one of eight words for that subject: law, statutes, precepts, commandments, ordinances, word, promise, testimonies. The synonyms are not padding. They are the psalm's way of turning one thing over and looking at each face of it.
The opening echoes the first psalm deliberately — the same word for blessed, the same subject, and the same two ways.
Oh that my ways were steadfast to obey your statutes! Psalms 119:5.
The fifth verse is where the psalm becomes bearable. After four verses of description, a sigh: he is not the man of verse one and knows it. Almost everything that follows is a request rather than a claim.
How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word Psalms 119:9.
The question is asked plainly and answered in six words. It assumes what most advice about young men avoids assuming — that the difficulty is real and that a rule outside himself is what meets it.
I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you Psalms 119:11.
Hidden as treasure is hidden, stored where it cannot be taken. And the purpose is preventive: memorized in advance of the temptation, because a rule consulted afterward is no use.
I have rejoiced in the way of your testimonies, as much as in all riches Psalms 119:14.
The comparison to money recurs throughout the psalm and it is always the same claim: this is worth what that is worth, and the writer clearly expects the reader to find it surprising.
Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things out of your law Psalms 119:18.
The request assumes the wonders are already there and the eyes are the problem. It is the psalm's most-quoted prayer and its most modest: nothing is asked to be added to the text.
I am a stranger on the earth. Don't hide your commandments from me Psalms 119:19.
A traveler in a foreign country needs directions more than a resident does.
Though princes sit and slander me, your servant will meditate on your statutes Psalms 119:23.
The first glimpse of the psalmist's situation, and it recurs: he is under attack from people with power, and what he does about it is study.
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