Blessed Are Those Who Walk in the Law
1 Blessed are those whose ways are blameless, who walk according to Yahweh’s law. 2 Blessed are those who keep his statutes, who seek him with their whole heart. 3 Yes, they do nothing wrong. They walk in his ways. 4 You have commanded your precepts, that we should fully obey them. 5 Oh that my ways were steadfast to obey your statutes! 6 Then I wouldn’t be disappointed, when I consider all of your commandments. 7 I will give thanks to you with uprightness of heart, when I learn your righteous judgments. 8 I will observe your statutes. Don’t utterly forsake me. BETH 9 How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. 10 With my whole heart I have sought you. Don’t let me wander from your commandments. 11 I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. 12 Blessed are you, Yahweh. Teach me your statutes. 13 With my lips, I have declared all the ordinances of your mouth. 14 I have rejoiced in the way of your testimonies, as much as in all riches. 15 I will meditate on your precepts, and consider your ways. 16 I will delight myself in your statutes. I will not forget your word. GIMEL 17 Do good to your servant. I will live and I will obey your word. 18 Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things out of your law. 19 I am a stranger on the earth. Don’t hide your commandments from me. 20 My soul is consumed with longing for your ordinances at all times. 21 You have rebuked the proud who are cursed, who wander from your commandments. 22 Take reproach and contempt away from me, for I have kept your statutes. 23 Though princes sit and slander me, your servant will meditate on your statutes. 24 Indeed your statutes are my delight, and my counselors. DALETH
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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