Psalm 111:6

Psalm 111 is an acrostic. In the Hebrew each half-line begins with the next letter of the alphabet, a pattern lost in English that sets out the praise of God in full and in order, and that also helped those who sang it to remember it. The psalm opens with “Praise ye the LORD”, Hallelujah in Hebrew, and is often grouped with the psalms after it, Psalms 111 to 118, as songs of praise. Its twin is Psalm 112, also an acrostic, which describes the blessings of the person who fears the LORD and shows in that person the same qualities Psalm 111 praises in God.

The first five verses (Psalm 111:1–5) begin with praise “with my whole heart” in the assembly of the upright. They go on to God’s great works, “sought out of all them that have pleasure therein”, to the wonderful works he has made to be remembered, to the food he gives those who fear him, and to his covenant. Verses 6 to 10 carry that praise to its height: the land given to Israel, the truth of God’s works and commands, redemption and covenant and the holiness of his name, and at last the wisdom that begins in fearing him.

Verse 6 names one great work above the rest: “He hath shewed his people the power of his works, that he may give them the heritage of the heathen.” The verb nâgad, “shewed”, means to make known, to announce or declare. God made his power known by what he did, openly and in front of his people, so that they would see it, learn from it and praise him. His maʻăseh, “works”, are his deeds, the things he has done and made. Their kôach, “power”, is strength or might, and the verse gives all of it to God.

The works in view are the deeds of the Exodus and the conquest: the plagues in Egypt, the crossing of the Red Sea (Exodus 14), the fall of Jericho (Joshua 6) and the settling of Canaan. Israel won these victories by God’s hand, and the credit for them is his.

The verse also gives the purpose of those works: “that he may give them.” The nachălâh, “heritage”, is an inheritance, an estate or portion handed down, something received as a gift or by right of succession. Canaan became Israel’s heritage because God gave it, as he had promised Abraham that he would give this land to his seed (Genesis 12:7) and confirmed in his covenant with him (Genesis 15). Another psalm tells how God cast out the nations before Israel and allotted Israel its inheritance (Psalm 78:55).

Verse 7 says what kind of works these are: “The works of his hands are verity and judgment; all his commandments are sure.” The works of his hands are everything God does, from the making of the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1) to his daily care for all he has made and his saving deeds in Israel’s history.

They are ʼemeth, “verity”, a word for stability, certainty and truth. What God does is firm and dependable, and there is no deceit in it. They are also mishpâṭ, “judgment”, which is first a verdict given by a judge, and from there justice, right rule and just ordinances. So every deed of God is true to his word and right in its judgment. Moses sang the same of him: “He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he” (Deuteronomy 32:4).

The second half of the verse turns from God’s works to his words. “Commandments” here takes in all of his revealed will, his statutes, precepts, laws and promises, from the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20) onward. They are “sure”. The verb ʼâman at its root means to support, nourish or foster, as a nurse or foster-parent does, and in the form that means firm and established it gives us “sure” here. His commandments hold and can be trusted in every generation: “For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven” (Psalm 119:89).

The two halves of the verse belong together, because what God does and what God says come from the same faithful character. He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant (Deuteronomy 7:9), and the prophets call his people to the same justice: “let judgment run down as waters” (Amos 5:24). Israel lived among nations whose kings changed their laws at will and whose gods were thought fickle, and in the middle of them the LORD’s works and words could be relied on.

Verse 8 goes on: “They stand fast for ever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness.” “They” are the works and the commandments of verse 7 together. To “stand fast” is çâmak, to prop up, lean upon, uphold or sustain. God’s works and words stand because he himself holds them up, and so they last. The Hebrew lāʿad lᵉʿôlām, “for ever and ever”, is a strong way of saying for all time, and the doubling adds weight. Isaiah says that the word of our God shall stand for ever (Isaiah 40:8), and Jesus said of the law, “Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled” (Matthew 5:18). They last because God himself stays the same (Malachi 3:6). He is the Father of lights, with whom there is no shadow of turning (James 1:17).

They are “done”, ʿaśûyîm, made or carried out, “in truth”, bᵉʾĕmeṯ, the word of verse 7 again, “and uprightness”. Yâshâr means straight, right and just. God’s works and laws are straight all the way through, and that is why they last, since what is made in truth has nothing false in it to give way. The law of the LORD is perfect (Psalm 19:7), and the long praise of his word in Psalm 119 rests on that same trust.

Verse 9 gathers the psalm’s praise into three statements: “He sent redemption unto his people: he hath commanded his covenant for ever: holy and reverend is his name.”

Pᵉdûwth, “redemption”, is deliverance or ransom, the freeing of someone from bondage or danger by paying a price or by power. “Sent” (shâlach) marks it as God’s own deliberate act. For Israel the word called up the Exodus first of all, when God promised to redeem his people from their bondage (Exodus 6:6) and brought them out on the night of the Passover (Exodus 12). It also takes in every rescue he has worked for his people since.

Bᵉrîyth, “covenant”, is a solemn and binding agreement, an alliance or treaty. God made covenants with Noah (Genesis 9), with Abraham (Genesis 15:18) and with Israel at Sinai through Moses (Exodus 19:5), and through Jeremiah he promised a new covenant (Jeremiah 31:31–34). These covenants made a lasting bond between God and his people, and the redemption he sends is that covenant worked out in history.

Psalm 111 ends with its best-known sentence: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.” Yirʼâh, “fear”, here means reverent awe and humble submission before God’s majesty, power and holiness, the right response to who he is. Chokmâh, “wisdom”, is the skill of living: practical skill, moral discernment, prudence, the ability to live rightly and well by God’s ways. “Beginning”, rêʼshîyth, is the starting point, and the word also carries the sense of the first and chief part, the foundation from which wisdom keeps growing.

So wisdom starts with God. A person may know a great deal, and wisdom in the Bible’s sense still begins only when we bow before the LORD. Proverbs opens with the same truth, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge” (Proverbs 1:7), and the fear of the LORD runs through Proverbs, Job and Ecclesiastes. Moses joined fearing the LORD with keeping his statutes and commandments (Deuteronomy 6:2).

The land given in verse 6 points ahead to a greater gift. Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29), and on the cross he triumphed over the principalities and powers (Colossians 2:15), a greater victory than any in Canaan. Through him believers receive an inheritance “incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven” (1 Peter 1:4). We are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17), blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places (Ephesians 1:3), and in him we have obtained an inheritance (Ephesians 1:11). The heritage at the end is the new heaven and the new earth, where God dwells with his people for ever (Revelation 21:1–4).

The verity of verse 7 has a face in Christ: “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). His works bore witness that the Father was in him (John 10:37–38). At the cross God judged sin and showed his righteousness, being just while he justifies the one who believes in Jesus (Romans 3:25–26). Jesus came to fulfil the law and the prophets (Matthew 5:17), and Christ is the end of the law (Romans 10:4), having obeyed it perfectly and borne its curse for us. He is the sure foundation: “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11). The Word who was God in the beginning (John 1:1) is the Alpha and Omega (Revelation 22:13), and the covenant sealed in his blood is everlasting (Hebrews 13:20).

The redemption God sent reaches its height in Christ. He delivered us from the power of darkness, and in him we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins (Colossians 1:13–14), redemption through his blood (Ephesians 1:7). We were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish (1 Peter 1:18–19). At the Last Supper Jesus called the cup the new testament in his blood (Luke 22:20), and he is the mediator of a better covenant (Hebrews 8:6). The holy name of verse 9 is made known in him, for whoever has seen him has seen the Father (John 14:9). Salvation is found in his name alone (Acts 4:12), and God has given him the name above every name, at which every knee shall bow (Philippians 2:9–11).

Christ is also the wisdom of verse 10. He is “the power of God, and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24), and in him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:3). He lived the fear of the LORD perfectly, humbling himself and becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the cross (Philippians 2:8). He “of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30). God gives believers the spirit of wisdom and revelation (Ephesians 1:17), so that we walk in good understanding and obey him out of love and gratitude. The praise that endures for ever rises at last from every creature to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb (Revelation 5:13).

These five verses give us a God who can be relied on completely. He has shown his power in what he did for his people, and he gave them what he had promised. Everything he does is true and right, his commands are sure, and they stand for ever because they were made in truth and uprightness. He sent redemption, he has bound himself by a covenant that lasts for ever, and his name is holy and awesome.

That is why wisdom begins with him. The fear of the LORD is the fitting answer to such a God, and it opens into good understanding for all who do what he says. His praise endures for ever, and those who fear him are given a part in it.