Psalm 119 (1)

Psalm 119 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Aleph. Verses 1 - 8

How blessed are those whose way is blameless,
Who walk in the law of the Lord.
How blessed are those who observe His testimonies,
Who seek Him with all their heart.
They also do no unrighteousness;
They walk in His ways.
You have ordained Your precepts,
That we should keep them diligently.
Oh that my ways may be established
To keep Your statutes!
Then I shall not be ashamed
When I look upon all Your commandments.
I shall give thanks to You with uprightness of heart,
When I learn Your righteous judgments.
I shall keep Your statutes;
Do not forsake me utterly!

This, the longest psalm in the Bible, and indeed the longest “chapter” in the Bible (remember that the original Biblical texts did not have chapters and verses), is certainly The Psalm of the Word of Yahweh (Yahweh is the covenant name of God and is typically translated into English “LORD” - all caps; there are exceptions, if you see GOD capitalized then that is usually Yahweh or Yah).

It has 22 sections with each section corresponding to a consecutive letter in the Hebrew alphabet; there are other structures in the psalm but that is beyond the scope of this meditation, as are conjectures regarding its author and time and place.

There is no substitute for reading this psalm at one sitting, it reinforces the Presence of the Word of God and the center of gravity that the Word should have in our souls. There have been a time or two when I have broken up my reading of Psalm 119, for instance, I may have spread it out over a week. My experience has been that this practice lacks the richness and depth of taking the entire journey at one sitting; but of course this is just me and perhaps if I were to read the psalm more frequently I would benefit more from shorter readings.

Some might say that there is unnecessary redundancy in the psalm, with themes repeated again and again. This is the observation of those who think the Bible is a data bank and that their relationship with it is geared to obtaining information - this is an error. The same complaint might be lodged against the book of Proverbs and the first epistle of John in the NT. The Scriptures are God’s self-disclosure to us, they are God’s invitation to us to listen to Him, to watch for Him, and to respond to Him in prayer and obedience. If we listen to a symphony and discern a motif, a texture, a recurring point and counterpoint, we do not leave the audience and say, “I don’t need to hear anymore, I know the composer’s pattern”; no, we stay and allow ourselves to be drawn into the music and its patterns as the composer and the conductor and the musicians escort us on a journey.

Perhaps these first 8 verses are an overture, perhaps they set the stage for what is to follow.

What do you see in these 8 verses? Do you see a similarity between them and Psalm 1?

What themes are introduced in this first movement of 8 verses?