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Psalm 119
Schin
161 Princes have persecuted me without a
cause: but my heart standeth in awe of thy
word.
162 I rejoice at thy word, as one that findeth
great spoil.
163 I hate and abhor lying: but thy law do
I love.
164 Seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgments.
165 Great peace have they which love thy law:
and nothing shall offend them.
166 LORD, I have hoped for thy salvation,
and done thy commandments.
167 My soul hath kept thy testimonies; and
I love them exceedingly.
168 I have kept thy precepts and thy testimonies: for all my ways are before thee.
This is the twenty-first section of Psalm 119. Having
covered a more detailed overview of the Psalm,
it is my intention to go more thoroughly through
each section. Briefly, each section is according to
the letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Each letter contains 8
verses that begin with that specific letter.
Schin is the twenty-first letter, so each verse, in
the Hebrew, begins with a word starting with the
letter Schin.
In Hebrew, unlike English, each letter was originally also a word. We do not know the meaning of
every letter today, but we do know most. Schin
means, 'A tooth (as sharp)'.
Since the Psalmist
built the Psalm based on the letters, it is likely the
meaning of each letter played in his thoughts as he
composed each section. In this section, it is difficult
to come to a solid conclusion. If the thought of God's
Word being sharp, like the edge of the two-edged
sword, was in view, then I would say that's a possibility.
If the thought played on a word beginning
with the letter, then I would have to say the word
is 'Keep' or 'Kept', for the last two lines begin
with that word, and it is indeed a running theme
through this section.
This Psalm is also based upon the usage of a host
of words that are 'legal' terms in the Hebrew. I
have gone into a more thorough definition of each
word, as it has been encountered, in the previous
sections. I would recommend going there to find
those expansions. I will cover additional words as
we come across them.
Fear of Man or God?
161 Princes have persecuted me without a
cause: but my heart standeth in awe of thy
word.
'Princes' are not just the sons of kings. The
word translated means rulers and leaders of every
kind. They may be political, but they might also be
religious. The word translated 'without a cause'
has some interesting meanings such as, 'freely,
for nothing, gratis'. For the leaders to pursue the
godly is simply counted as 'gratis'. No, thank you! I
think I'll pass. The word translated 'awe' is a word
meaning 'fear, dread, tremble'.
We find a balance weighed between the first half
and the second. The issue is that of fear. Men fear
before authorities because of their power to bring
suffering for walking in opposition to them. It may
be from a fine, to confiscation of property, to death.
In a religious setting, it may be excommunication,
with its resultant shunning in the community. Such
may even destroy one's business. In a work setting,
it may cost one his job. There are many ways leaders can bring suffering.
That possibility effects
all of our lives. Before we cross lines in ways that
may bring such consequences, we will take serious
consideration as to whether or not the crossing is
worth the consequences. In this section, we see the
Psalmist is facing such assaults, and he hasn't done
a thing wrong. The leaders are simply committed
to their agenda, so become enraged when they are
made to look criminal by godly witness.
The only way to avoid such suffering, is to compromise, so as not to
live in a way which makes
them look bad or feel condemned. To do so, would
mean to chose to walk in opposition to God's Word.
The core of the issue lies in the heart. Will we fear
man or God? To fear man will mean to sin against
God's Word, hence the heart fears man more than
God. To fear God will mean to live in a manner,
conduct and speech which will contradict the leaders of men. We will not enjoy their persecution, but
we will not even consider disobedience to God's
Word, if we fear God. This is what the Psalmist is
presenting before us in this verse. There is no such
thing as neutrality. To please the one is to displease
the other. If the leaders are walking in the fear of
God, such would be different. Apart from that,
there will be conflict.
The Secret Treasure of God's Word
162 I rejoice at thy word, as one that findeth
great spoil.
This verse expounds on his choice of following
God's Word. This is the other term for 'word', it
being in the plural. He has read and understood.
The words are living to him. He doesn't just tremble
greater at God's Word than man's decrees. He is exceedingly joyful
in beholding His Words. For those
who have not seen and understood God's Words, if
they do what is right, they might be doing it because
they have seen the printed page of dos and don'ts.
For the man who has truly come to God, it will look
like verse 162 and the following:
3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his
commandments: and his commandments are not
grievous.
1 John 5:3
I must ask you to consider the question, 'Do
you look at God's Word as if you were a poor man
who had just found a chest of gold? Is it the joy
and rejoicing of your heart?'
163 I hate and abhor lying: but thy law do
I love.
In verse 113, under Samech, we had looked at
this verse somewhat. As was covered, we see a
doubling of the statement of hatred. Before, it
was only once and was applied to an inner heart
condition. Here, in the doubling, it is applied to
the manifestation of the heart in an outward act of
lying. In consideration of verse 113, the lying may
be very pertinent to the specific lying of hypocrisy.
It deals with those claiming to be God's people.
That should always be considered first.
Secondly, the lying that is apart from claiming
to be in the path of the LORD. We are surrounded
today by lies of this sort. They are not even trying to claim their 'truth' is of Yahweh. They even
scorn anything related to the Bible. They work at
spreading their lies, to purposely discredit the
Holy Bible. We can see, and should likewise share,
the view the Psalmist presents. Unfortunately, I
am afraid many do not.
They follow the lie of 'tolerance' of all lies. Even
that doctrine is a lie. Consider that if you really
believe in 'tolerance', you tend to become the
most intolerant of all! Those who hold to that lie,
say everyone has the freedom to believe anything,
and all beliefs are equally valid. If that be true,
how is it those adherents can't tolerate it when
someone of a religious belief holds to a system of
'absolute truth'. True Christians believe Christ
is the only way, the only truth and the only life.
Apart from Christ, all men will go to an eternity
in the Lake of Fire. That is absolute truth. Comes
along the 'tolerance' promoter, and he says our
belief is not to be 'tolerated' because it doesn't
hold to his belief of 'toleration', or view that you
don't have to believe the same as us to go to some
eternal place of bliss.
This Psalmist is definitely 'intolerant'. He
outspokenly commits his position to loving God's
law (torath). God's directions to mankind. God's
directions to mankind are absolute truth. If He says
something is wrong, that's it. There is no, 'How do
you feel about it?'. As you might have perceived,
there is a distinctly different world view in scripture
to what is being passed around today. We must
recommit ourselves to the hatred and abhorrence
of the lies, and to loving God's Word.
164 Seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgments.
Whether it be most literal, or figurative, in the
use of the number seven, it clearly presents a state
of constant focus on God in a heart of praise.
Look at what the foundation of his praise rests
upon. We see he considers God's righteous dealings
with man and praises God for that. He reads what
God has done, and sees what God is doing, and
gives glory to God for that.
We see this persecuted man, who is holding fast
to God's Word, is not some snide, bitter individual.
He hates the wicked assaults that challenge God's
Word as truth, but he is not consumed with it. He
shows us that he maintains a jubilant and rejoicing
heart through remembering God's dealings. I have
seen a sad condition where good men and women
become cynical and snide. They assume the worst
about everyone's motives. A point comes in their
downward spiral when they talk of almost nothing,
but how corrupt this and that is. What they say
might even be accurate, but they have become sour
grapes. This verse gives an antidote to that disease:
meditating upon God's Word and praising Him on
a constant basis.
165 Great peace have they which love thy
law: and nothing shall offend them.
Continuing with the joyful heart and cure for
bitter snideness of heart and speech, we see this
continued focus. Forget your psychology counselors
folks, here's the answer to a sound mind and heart.
The word found here for 'peace' is that wonderful
word 'Shalom'! That word 'Shalom' means “completeness and soundness'. The lesson here, is that
a great soundness of mind and heart awaits those
who: what? Those who LOVE God's laws (torath).
Torath being all God's instructions for us in the
path we should go. Don't blame God's Word for
being wrong in this, if you don't LOVE God's Word.
Do you read it constantly? Do you delight in reading it? Does your heart delight more in it than the
movies? If you answer, 'no', you have no claim to
say it doesn't work, you simply haven't fulfilled the
conditions for the promise.
The Hebrew word translated as 'offend' means
'a cause of stumbling, stumbling block'. Not only
do we find the promise of a great completeness and
soundness, we find the antibodies to protect against
a mental reinfection of disease. HOW WONDERFUL! God's Word is the answer, not some twelve
step program, not some book on how to win friends
and influence people, not some false religious
experience of feeling power or the like.
The Qualifications of the Psalmist
166 LORD, I have hoped for thy salvation,
and done thy commandments.
These last three verses give us a brief testimony
of the one who has made the preceding statements.
We see the course he has gone, to come to where he
can assuredly make the statements that he has.
The Psalmist addresses God by His name of
Yahweh. This is telling us of coming into that
personal relationship as one of God's people. We
find two very important scales of balance to note.
What he reveals here is the same that we must do
to find the same results down the line. He becomes
one of God's people in his hoping for His provided
salvations. The Hebrew word translated 'salvation' here is in the plural. He put his trust in the
LORD to save him. Following that trust, or act of
faith, in God for all His salvations, he obeyed God's
commands (mitzvoth).
I am going to quote a passage that I hear quoted
often, but rarely is it quoted in entirety. Once, I
think I actually surprised a pastor with its content,
when he stopped his quote at verse 9 and I continued to 10, for context. He seemed slightly taken
aback at what it was saying, like he hadn't seen it
before. If such be for a pastor, how much confusion
reigns among the general congregations?
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and
that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of
works, lest any man should boast. 10 For we are
his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto
good works, which God hath before ordained that
we should walk in them.
Ephesians 2:8-10
167 My soul hath kept thy testimonies; and
I love them exceedingly.
For those who have tried the pathways of the
psychologists, you might be interested to note
the specific part of a person singled out here. The
Psalmist's 'soul' is the active part. It doesn't say
his heart did the keeping, or his spirit, or even
his 'id' or 'ego'! It was his soul. Our soul is the
active part that makes decisions. It has likes and
dislikes. It thinks and evaluates. We are told that
his soul was the master of his actions. He didn't
do it because he had the right feelings. Regardless
of feelings, he marched, like a soldier marches,
whether he enjoys the journey or not.
The word translated 'kept' means 'keep, observe, guard'. The Psalmist obeyed, treasured and
observed that part of God's Word that tells of His
character. Jesus is the living 'testimony' of the
Father. Essentially, the Psalmist became a disciple.
This is contained in the Great Commission:
19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to
observe all things whatsoever I have commanded
you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the
end of the world. Amen.
Matthew 28:19,20
Now, actions without heart holds no promise.
The soul does make choices, and follow through
with commitment, whether the going is pleasant
or not, but love cannot be absent. We are told he
'loved' them exceedingly. Love is also more than
feeling, for true love remains even if feelings flip
flop. It was in this very area of love, the Ephesian
church failed. In the letter to the Ephesians in
Revelation 2:1-7, we find they were wonderful in
soldier-like precision in regards to the testimonies, but their love had grown cold:
4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee,
because thou hast left thy first love.
Revelation 2:4
This Psalmist had been faithful in both keeping
and in loving.
168 I have kept thy precepts and thy testimonies: for all my ways are before thee.
Though there is an uncertainty as to what all is
included in 'precepts', I would venture to say they
are listed here because they are an itemization of
the commandments, found in the end of verse 166.
I believe he is looking back to what he has detailed
over verses 166 and 167. The 'precepts' showing
a more exacting accountability in every detail of
doing God's commandments. The 'testimonies'
recalling back just one verse.
He pulled these two items back to view, so he
could focus on one last detail we needed to consider. That is brought into view with the important
'for'. 'For' all of his ways are before, or open to the
sight of God. You may wonder why that would be
a motivating factor. Much more, why that would
be the final closing thought of his testimony that
leaves him a qualified authority of the words of
promise. If we look back to that first verse, we will
see the weighing of the fear of man and the fear
of the LORD. That is what we are seeing as the
closing point of his testimony. He knows God is
watching and will call him to accountability. Like
the government leaders will bring suffering for
violating its policies, so will God. The Psalmist has
not changed from that healthy respect for keeping
God's policies.
Walking in the fear of the LORD, is a critical path
for seeing the blessings of being immersed in God's
Word. If you come to God just for a 'sound mind',
you might just as easily depart for some temporary
benefit the enemy offers you along the way. If you
come to Him in the fear of the LORD, fearing God's
wrath on your violations of His law over the fear of
man, you will not depart for some promised token
of something you would desire. The sound mind
will be the result of a proper fear of the LORD and
following through in obedience and love.
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