Exposition of Psalm
119
?
NUN
God’s
Word Provides Guidance
Psalm
119:105-112
Thy
word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my
path.
I
have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep thy
righteous judgments.
I
am afflicted very much: quicken me, O LORD, according
unto thy word.
Accept,
I beseech thee, the freewill offerings of my mouth, O
LORD, and teach me thy judgments.
My
soul is continually in my hand: yet do I not forget thy
law.
The
wicked have laid a snare for me: yet I erred not from
thy precepts.
Thy
testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever: for
they are the rejoicing of my
heart.
I
have inclined mine heart to perform thy statutes alway,
even unto the end.
We live a world that
is characterized by a lack of direction. People go from
one idea to another in an attempt to find their way. The
Christian, however, has the blessed benefit of
absolute guidance—the light
of the Word of God. This is not theory or “fly by the
seat of your pants,” as the expression goes. The Word of
God provides perfect guidance in every area of life. In
the stanza before us, we see that Scripture illuminates
our path, weaknesses, worship, dangers, and
inheritance.
I.
Illuminates our Path (vs. 105-106)
Thy
word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my
path.
I
have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep thy
righteous judgments.
These verses set the stage
for the whole stanza by providing three foundational
principles.
The Truth of
Light (v. 105b)
and
a light unto my path.
As one Hebrew
authority tells us, the Hebrew behind light
('owr) “is always used as a
positive symbol, such as for good fortune (Job 30:26);
victory (Mic. 7:8-9); justice and righteousness (Is.
59:9); guidance (Psa. 119:105); and a bearer of
deliverance (Is. 49:6).”[i] A dramatic occurrence of
this word appears in the pillar of fire that was a light
for the wandering Israelites (Ex. 13:21).
One of the most
graphic illustrations of this principle is seen in the
Reformation. There is no doubt whatsoever that it was
the Reformation that began to bring light into
the world. It was Roman Catholicism that dominated men
during the Dark Ages. Indeed, everything about
Catholicism has its roots in ancient pagan religion and
it was this that kept God’s light from
shining into the hearts of men. It was the reformers who
proclaimed the light of
the Gospel, and it was this that changed darkness into
light. The Reformation was certainly not perfect, but
it did bring back the truth of salvation that had been
lost for centuries.
So pivotal was this
thinking to the reformers, in fact, that that they
carefully systemized what they called the perspicuity
of Scripture, which simply means
“the Bible is a plain and clear book.” As theologian
Charles Hodge puts the
matter:
Protestants hold that the Bible,
being addressed to the people, is sufficiently
perspicuous [i.e., clear and plain] to be understood by
them, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit; and that
they are entitled and bound to search the Scripture, and
to judge for themselves what is its true
meaning.[ii]
In other words, flying in
the face of the Roman Catholic teaching that only “The
Church” (pope, cardinal, bishops, priests) can
understand the Bible, the Reformation was founded on the
principle of the clarity of Scripture to every believer,
that every believer possessed the illumination of the
Holy Spirit and could understand Scripture. Yes, some
subjects are deep and require great study, and sometimes
even special study is required, such as language and
history. Neither does this doctrine rule out the need
for interpretation, explanation, and exposition of the
Bible by qualified and trained leaders. Rather it means
that Scriptures is clear enough for the simplest person
to understand and is clear in its essential
truths.
Nowhere is this
better demonstrated than in Scripture being called
light. As
II Peter 1:19a declares: “We have also a more sure word
of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as
unto a light that shineth in a dark place.” What is our
light? The sure word of Scripture. This leads us to a
second principle.
The Types of
Lamps (v. 105a)
Thy
word is a lamp unto my feet,
While “light” refers
to light itself, not the source of the
light, David still illustrates with picture of a
lamp. This
light of which he speaks is not something mystical,
ethereal, or theoretical. It is real and practical and
has literal source. What kind of lamp, however, does David picture? Historically, this
refers to oil fed lamps that took on various shapes as
the centuries passed. What is the application for us
thousands of years later?
The Bible is a
reading lamp, with which we can read the very
thoughts of God. It is a miner’s lamp, which
illumines the darkest places in the pit but also reveals
the gems that are buried there. It is a safety
lamp, which, like the one used by miners many years ago
that prevented the lamp flame from igniting dangerous
gases, protects us from the dangers lurking unseen
around us. It is the lighthouse lamp, which lights the shore and reveals the
rocks of ruin that await.[iii] It is a
hurricane lamp, which like its namesake can never
blown out no matter how strong the wind. It is a
street lamp, which illumines the shadows of the
night and reveals enemies that hide there. And it is the
hand lamp, the simple
flashlight, that we can easily carry and point in any
needed direction.
The Tenacity
of Loyalty (v. 106)
I
have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep thy
righteous judgments.
Here is the
Psalmist’s tenacious, resolute vow that he will stay
loyal to the Word of God because it is his only light.
Oh, how we need to voice such a vow like today! How
often we are loyal only to our changing feelings, our
childish thoughts, and our humanistic ideas. We have
never needed a resolve like this more than since the
days of the Reformation. We compromise truth, we
capitulate error, and we contradiction God’s very words.
As the Hebrew for sworn
indicates (shaba'), we each need “to take an oath” of our loyalty
to the Word of God alone as our light and authority.
There is no light in Plato, Socrates, Nietzsche, Sarte,
or any other philosopher past or present.
II.
Illuminates our Weaknesses (v. 107)
I
am afflicted very much: quicken me, O LORD, according
unto thy word.
We have seen the
word afflicted
several times (vs. 67, 71, 75). As noted back in verse
75, one of the meanings of the Hebrew for
('anah) is “to be humbled, but more severally, it
speaks of being oppressed, as were the children of
Israel in Egypt (Gen. 15:13; Ex. 1:11-12). It is even
used of raping a woman in Genesis 34:2, where it is
translated “defiled.”
As David has come to
realize in this Psalm, however he was afflicted,
whatever his weakness, wherever he was oppressed, there
was only one remedy: God’s word. It
alone will quicken.
As we have seen several times (vs. 25, 37, 88), quicken
(hayâ) means to
live, be alive, and to sustain life and also speaks of
reviving someone, as in reviving them from sickness or
discouragement. We cannot heal our own weakness, rather
we can only be revived by God’s
Word.
III.
Illuminates our Worship (v. 108)
Accept,
I beseech thee, the freewill offerings of my mouth, O
LORD, and teach me thy judgments.
It is a sad fact
that “worship,” as carried on in many (if not most)
churches today, is based almost exclusively on
man-centered methods and, more than anything else, on
the feelings of the worshipper. In contrast, this
verse provides a picture of true worship. Clearly
demonstrating what worship is, David says two things: he
asks God to accept the
praises of his
mouth and
desires God to teach him
His judgments.
That is worship: praising God
with the mouth and being taught His
Word.
First,
worship involves praising God. To illustrate, deep
doctrinal hymns have all but vanished, being replaced by
“praise choruses,” which are
specifically designed to be
simplistic, ambiguous in their theology, and a means of
generating emotionalism. Literally anyone, from Roman
Catholic, to liberal protestant, to staunch
fundamentalist can sing such little ditties in total
unison.
But that is not
worship. The term freewill
offerings (one word in the Hebrew,
nedabah)
is pivotal here. Unlike “tithes,” which were mandatory
for operating Israel’s government, freewill
offerings were voluntary gifts given to God,
such as the gifts given toward the building of the
tabernacle and temple (Ex. 35:29; 36:3-6; Lev. 7:16;
Ezra 1:4; 3:5; 8:28; 46:12; Amos 4:5). The instance in
Exodus 36 is especially compelling because the people
brought so much that Moses finally had to say, “Stop
giving.” True praise in worship is sacrificial and
selfless, not self-serving and
selfish.
Second,
worship involves the preaching and teaching of the Word.
This
is the climax; everything points to this and has
prepared for it. There is nothing of equal importance
than the expository preaching of God’s Word. I
personally love music, but we could sing all day, but
until we preach the Word, we have not worshipped.
Nothing praises God as does the proclaiming of His Word
as absolute Truth. Such preaching is not the norm today,
rather today’s diet is pop-psychology, anecdotes,
entertaining stories, and emotional appeals. I
greatly appreciated these comments by the late pastor
and great expositor James Boice:
There is nothing more important
for Christian growth and the health of the church than
sound Bible teaching. Yet sadly, serious Bible teaching
is being widely neglected in our day, even in so-called
evangelical churches. Instead of Bible teaching, people
are being fed a diet of superficial pop-psychology,
self-help therapy, feel-good stimulants, and
entertainment, and the ignorance of the Bible in
churches is appalling. George Gallup has followed the
rise of biblical illiteracy for decades, and he reports
that although Americans revere the Bible highly—almost
every home in America has a Bible, and most people say
they believe it—only small percentages know who preached
the Sermon on the Mount, are able to name the four
Gospels, or recall even one of the Ten
Commandments.[iv]
IV.
Illuminates Dangers (v. 109-110)
My
soul is continually in my hand: yet do I not forget thy
law.
The
wicked have laid a snare for me: yet I erred not from
thy precepts.
These two verse greatly
encourage us in two ways.
The Danger
to the Soul (v. 109)
My
soul is continually in my hand: yet do I not forget thy
law.
The fascinating
phrase, My
soul is continually in my hand, is an idiom.
The Hebrew literally reads, “My life
[nephesh] is in my hand
continually.” In other words, it is in constant danger;
I am at the brink of death every hour of the
day.[v] This same idiom actually
appears several times in the Old Testament. One of the
most vivid, in fact, involves David. After delivering
Israel from Goliath, Saul became jealous of David and
ordered him killed. Jonathon, however, came to David’s
defense and said, “For he did put his life in his hand,
and slew the Philistine, and the LORD wrought a great
salvation for all Israel: thou sawest it, and didst
rejoice: wherefore then wilt thou sin against innocent
blood, to slay David without a cause?” (I Sam. 19:5; cf.
Judg. 12:3; 1 Sam. 28:21; Job 13:14).
What then was his
protection? Never did he forget
God’s law. Oh,
how we need to realize that God’s Word is the only
protection we have! As the Apostle Paul outlines so
graphically in Ephesians 6:11-20, we are in constant
danger from “spiritual wickedness in high places” and
must therefore put on “the whole armour of God, that
[we] may be able to withstand in the evil day, and
having done all, to stand” (vs. 12-13). We put it on and
never forget to leave it on.
The Danger
of the Snare (v. 110)
The
wicked have laid a snare for me: yet I erred not from
thy precepts.
What immediately comes to
mind whenever I read this verse are the booby traps that
I’ve read and heard about in the Vietnam War. The
diabolical nature of some of them make me both cringe at
their evil but at the same time marvel at their
cleverness.
One of the most infamous
booby traps of the Viet Cong, of course, was the “punji
pit.” Sharpened bamboo sticks were placed in pits that
were then concealed under a mat with a covering of dirt
and vegetation. The punji “bear trap” was made of two
boards or steel plates with spikes driven through them;
when stepped on, they would pivot, driving the spikes
into the leg. The “whip” was a larger piece of bamboo
bent tight and wedged in place; when a trip wire
released it, the spikes imbedded in it would impale the
victim. Similarly, the “mace” was a large rock fitted
with spikes and suspended on a camouflaged rope; when
tripped, the mace would swing like a pendulum across the
trail with devastating results. Even more diabolic was
coating the tips of punji sticks with poison, or even
human excrement, to greatly increase blood
poisoning.
Cleverer still was the
“toe-popper,” a rifle cartridge that was inserted into a
bamboo sleeve, its primer resting lightly on a nail for
a firing pin and its tip protruding out of the ground; a
heavy footstep would set it off, firing the bullet into
the victim’s foot. One of the simplest of all was to
push a hand grenade (with the pin pulled but safety
handle still in place) into a tin can, attach the can to
a tree, and stretch a trip wire across the trail that
pulled the grenade out of the can.
We note all those
examples because, as David says, The wicked have laid
a snare. How we need to see this! Each one
those examples involved camouflage, making the danger
blend in with the surrounding. Likewise, Satan hides the
danger when he sets the snare for
us. Thankfully, however, just as a good squad leader,
platoon sergeant, or other trainer would teach their men
how to avoid such things, the precepts
of God’s Word are what illumine the far more devastating
spiritual booby traps that the wicked so
diabolically set for us. And also, as those trained
soldiers are careful not to err from their training and
multiple warnings, we do not err from God’s precepts. Spurgeon writes here:
[David] was not snared, for he
kept his eyes open, and kept near his God. He was not
entrapped and robbed for he followed the King’s highway
of holiness, where God secures safety to every
traveller. He did not err from the right, and he was not
deterred from following it, because he referred to the
Lord for guidance, and obtained it. If we err from the
precepts, we part with the promises; if we get away from
God’s presence, we wander into the wilds where the
fowlers freely spread their nets. From this verse let us
learn to be on our guard, for we, too, have enemies both
crafty and wicked. Hunters set their traps in the
animals’ usual runs, and our worst snares are laid in
our own ways. By keeping to the ways of the Lord we
shall escape the snares of our adversaries, for his ways
are safe and free from
treachery.
Especially significant in
Spurgeon’s comment is that the “worst snares are laid in
our own ways,” that is, it is in our everyday activities
and normal situations are laid the greatest
dangers.
V.
Illuminates Our Inheritance (v. 111-112)
Thy
testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever: for
they are the rejoicing of my
heart.
I
have inclined mine heart to perform thy statutes alway,
even unto the end.
As this stanza closes, we
see two wonderful truths.
First, we see
our present heritage. The word heritage
(nachal)
is actually a verb that means to receive, to take
property as a permanent possession. The more literal
idea, then, is, “I have inherited Thy testimonies.” Many
of us get very concerned about what a relative might
leave us in a will, and boy do we get happy when someone
does leave us something valuable! But all that is merely
temporal. God’s Word, however, is the greatest
inheritance that we possess? Did you get that?
Nothing, absolutely nothing,
equals the value of the Word of God.
Do we, therefore,
say with the Psalmist that God’s testimonies
they are the
rejoicing of my heart? Is our greatest joy
God’s Word? Do we then say with David, I have inclined mine
heart to perform thy statutes always? The
Hebrew behind perform
('asah) “conveys the central notion of performing an
activity with a distinct purpose, a moral obligation, or
a goal in view.”[vi] Is that our attitude to
His Word? Do we obey it? Do we apply what we read and
hear preached? Do we have the ultimate goal in mind?
What is that goal? That leads us to a final
truth.
Second, we
see our future heaven. Twice David tells us that
this inheritance is eternal: it is for ever
and is unto
the end. That is
the goal! We keep our eyes on the eternal, keep on focus
on the glory in Christ that awaits.
Oh, Dear Christian, I
would encourage you again, do you love the Word of God?
I pray so, for It is the only place you will ever find
the right guidance, the only place you will find light
to illumine your path, your weaknesses, your worship,
the dangers that lurk, and your inheritance.
[i] Baker and Carpenter,
#216.
[ii] Systematic
Theology, Vol 1, p. 183.
[iii] The first four
types adapted from an outline in Handfuls On
Purpose (Peabody, MA:
Hendrickson Publishers, 2004), Series VIII, p.
305.
[v] As John Gill observes,
the Septuagint, Latin Vulgate, Syriac, and Arabic
versions are in error here with “in thy hands.” As
another puts it, “this is a conjectural and useless
emendation” (Clark). It is possible that these ancient
interpreters simply did not understand the idiom, and so
expressed it according to what they thought might be the
original reading.
[vi] Baker and Carpenter,
#6213.
