Psalm 119:131

Psalm 119 is the longest psalm and the longest chapter in the Bible. It is an acrostic poem of 22 stanzas, one for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and every stanza has eight verses that each begin with its letter. Verses 129 to 136 make up the stanza of PE (פ), the seventeenth letter. The letter can be heard in many of the words explained below: peleʼ (wonderful), pêthach (entrance), pâʻar (opened), pânâh (look), pâdâh (deliver), pânîym (face) and peleg (rivers). The whole poem is a meditation on God’s word from the first letter to the last, a complete and ordered devotion to his instruction.

Nearly every verse names that word by one of a family of terms: law, testimonies, precepts, statutes, commandments, judgments and word. They are used side by side, and all of them point to the one body of truth God has revealed to guide our lives, comfort us and make us wise. This stanza alone speaks of his testimonies, words, commandments, word, precepts, statutes and law, and once of his name. In the verses before it the psalmist has been longing for God’s word and grieving over those who disregard it, and here he declares its wonder afresh.

“Thy testimonies are wonderful: therefore doth my soul keep them.” The word for wonderful, peleʼ, means something extraordinary, a marvel too great to be fully grasped. Scripture uses it for God’s mighty acts, such as the wonders he promised to do in Egypt (Exodus 3:20). The psalmist gives that same word to what God has said. The song of Moses and the Lamb in heaven calls God’s works “great and marvellous” (Revelation 15:3), and his testimonies share in that greatness. Another psalm puts it this way: “The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple” (Psalm 19:7).

The word for testimonies, ʻêdûwth, comes from a root meaning to bear witness. God’s testimonies are his solemn declarations, given in his covenant with Israel and closely tied to the law given through Moses at Sinai. They bear witness to who God is, to what he wills, and to his faithfulness to his people. That is why they are wonderful. They come from God, they carry his wisdom, and in them we meet God himself.

“Therefore” joins the wonder to the keeping. Because the testimonies are so great, the psalmist keeps them, and his obedience grows out of awe and delight. The soul that keeps them is his nephesh, a word that comes from a verb meaning to breathe. It means a living, breathing creature, and so life, soul, self or person, and it can even mean appetite. When the psalmist says that his soul keeps them, he means that he himself, the living man, keeps them. This is the love Israel was commanded to give, “with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might” (Deuteronomy 6:5), with God’s words laid up in the heart (Deuteronomy 6:6).

The verb for keep is nâtsar, to guard, preserve and obey. The psalmist watches over God’s testimonies the way a man guards something precious, and he does what they say. Moses told Israel that the LORD required them to fear him, walk in his ways, love and serve him, and keep his commandments for their good (Deuteronomy 10:12–13). Jesus said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15), and James calls us to be doers of the word who look into it and continue in it (James 1:22–25).

“The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.” The word translated entrance, pêthach, means an opening, and so a disclosure or an entrance. It describes God’s words opening up to us and coming in, the point at which they gain entry to the mind and heart. Light follows when they are received and take root there.

The verb for giveth light is ʼôwr. It means to be or become light, and also to make something light. The light here is understanding, truth and guidance. It clears away the darkness of ignorance, confusion and sin, shows us God and ourselves, and shows the right path to take. Earlier in the psalm the psalmist wrote, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105). The same verb comes back in verse 135, where God’s face shines.

The light God’s words give is understanding, from bîyn, to understand or discern. It is the insight to see what is right and the practical ability to live by it.

“I opened my mouth, and panted: for I longed for thy commandments.” The psalmist describes his desire in the language of the body. The verb for opened, pâʻar, means to yawn, to open wide or to gape. Panted is shâʼaph, to inhale eagerly or pant, a word that can also mean to desire earnestly or to swallow up. Together they picture a man with his mouth wide open, gasping, like a runner at the end of a race or a traveller desperate for water.

The second half gives the reason. yâʼab means to desire or long, and it names the longing inside that the gasping shows outside. Its object is God’s commandments. To the psalmist they are as necessary as breath and water, the sustenance of his life. Another psalm uses the same picture of thirst: “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God” (Psalm 42:1). God’s judgments are “more to be desired … than gold, yea, than much fine gold” (Psalm 19:10). Jeremiah found God’s words and ate them, and they became the joy and rejoicing of his heart (Jeremiah 15:16). And Jesus promises that those who hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be filled (Matthew 5:6).

The verse shows how highly the psalmist values God’s instruction. He wants it as a hungry man wants food, and his desire is strong because he knows what the word gives.

“Look thou upon me, and be merciful unto me, as thou usest to do unto those that love thy name.” The verb for look, pânâh, means to turn or to face, so the psalmist asks God to turn toward him. The kindness of that look comes from the words that follow it. God saw the affliction of his people in Egypt and heard their cry (Exodus 3:7), and when God turns to his people, help follows.

Be merciful is chânan, which means to bend or stoop in kindness to an inferior, to favour, to bestow. This is kindness freely given by the greater to the lesser. The psalmist asks for a gift, and he asks on the ground of God’s own character.

That ground is the last clause. “As thou usest to do” appeals to God’s custom, his settled way with his people. The LORD proclaimed himself to Moses as merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth (Exodus 34:6–7), and Lamentations says that his compassions are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22–23). The psalmist asks for what God has always given, that God would treat him as he treats all who love him. His confidence rests on God’s faithfulness, and the request is a plea for grace.

To love is ʼâhab, to love, to have affection for. The name, shêm, stands for the character, reputation and authority of the one who bears it. So to love God’s name is to love God himself as he has made himself known: his holiness, faithfulness, mercy and will. Those who know his name put their trust in him (Psalm 9:10), and they give him the glory due unto his name (Psalm 29:2). This love is real affection, and it shows itself in obedience. Jesus said that whoever has his commandments and keeps them loves him, and that such a one will be loved of his Father (John 14:21).

“Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.” The verb for order, kûwn, comes from a root meaning to be erect, and it means to set up, establish, fix, prepare or direct. The psalmist asks God to make his steps firm and set them in the right direction, free from wavering and stumbling. His steps are his whole course of life: his actions, decisions and conduct. “In thy word” names the standard. He asks to be guided by what God has already said.

Scripture speaks this way elsewhere. Those who trust in the LORD with all their heart will find that he directs their paths (Proverbs 3:5–6), and “The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD” (Psalm 37:23–24). The psalmist has already called God’s word a lamp unto his feet (Psalm 119:105), and here he asks God to set those feet in its light.

The second half asks God to keep him from a cruel master. Iniquity, ʼâven, means nothingness, trouble, vanity and wickedness, moral evil with its guilt and its ruin. Have dominion, shâlaṭ, means to dominate, govern, rule or have power over. Sin is pictured as a tyrant that wants to rule a man’s choices and lead him away from God. The psalmist prays about “any” iniquity, so his prayer covers every sin, great or small. Paul gives believers the promise that answers this prayer: “sin shall not have dominion over you” (Romans 6:12–14).

The two halves belong together. God’s word directing his steps and sin ruling them are the two powers that contend for his life, and the psalmist asks God to establish the first and break the second.

“Deliver me from the oppression of man: so will I keep thy precepts.” The verb for deliver, pâdâh, means to sever, to ransom, to release or preserve. It is used of God’s great acts of rescue, as when he redeemed Israel out of the house of bondmen (Deuteronomy 7:8). The oppression, ʻôsheq, is injury, fraud, distress or unjust gain. It means being wronged, cheated or weighed down by others, often by those with power. It could come from corrupt officials or ungodly rulers, from pressure to conform, or from open persecution for keeping God’s law. It is a force too strong for the psalmist, so he asks God to step in. Other psalms pray in the same way: “save me from all them that persecute me” (Psalm 7:1), and “He delivered me from my strong enemy” (Psalm 18:17). Paul warns that all who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution (2 Timothy 3:12).

The second half tells what he will do with his freedom. The Hebrew reads “and I will keep”, and the psalmist pledges to use his deliverance for obedience. Oppression makes righteous living hard, and freedom from it opens the way to serve God wholeheartedly. The precepts, piqqûwd, are God’s appointed mandates, his specific instructions for life and conduct. The verb for keep here is shâmar, to observe and guard, a different Hebrew word from the nâtsar of verse 129, though the KJV uses keep for both.

Jesus said that if we continue in his word, we shall know the truth, and the truth shall make us free (John 8:31–32). Paul says that those made free from sin became the servants of righteousness (Romans 6:18), and James calls God’s word the perfect law of liberty (James 1:25). In each of them the freedom God gives leads into his service.

“Make thy face to shine upon thy servant; and teach me thy statutes.” The word for face, pânîym, is plural in form but always used as a singular, and its other senses, surface, front and presence, all extend from the face itself. It is the part of a person that turns, and in verse 132 the psalmist asked God to turn (pânâh) toward him. Here he asks God to let his face shine. The verb is ʼôwr, the same verb that gave light in verse 130. There God’s words give light, and here God’s face shines, and both lights come from God himself.

These words echo the blessing the priests spoke over Israel: “The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee” (Numbers 6:24–26). God’s shining face meant his favour, acceptance, blessing and peace, much as a king’s bright and favourable look meant approval and protection, while a hidden or turned face meant displeasure. Other psalms make the same request: “LORD, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us” (Psalm 4:6), and “Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved” (Psalm 80:3).

The psalmist calls himself thy servant, ʻebed, a bondservant or one given to another’s service. The word marks a man who belongs to God, depends on him and is ready to do his will.

Then comes the request for teaching. The statutes, chôq, from a root meaning to engrave or decree, are what God has prescribed: laws, decrees, customs, tasks, an allotted portion or a set limit. To ask to be taught them is to ask God himself to be his teacher, so that he understands God’s will and lives by it. The psalm has prayed this before: “Teach me, O LORD, the way of thy statutes” (Psalm 119:33), and another psalm prays, “Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths” (Psalm 25:4–5). God’s favour and God’s teaching come together, because when God’s face shines on his servant he also shows him how to live.

“Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy law.” The word for rivers, peleg, means a rill or stream, a small channel of water like those used to water fields. The verb for run down, yârad, means to go or come down, or to flow down. The psalmist’s tears run down his face in streams, and the picture is of sorrow too great to hold back.

The cause is the sin of others. The law, tôwrâh, is God’s instruction and guidance, his whole revealed will, which takes in his statutes, precepts, testimonies and commandments. It includes the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20) and all the rest of what God taught his people. It is the way of life and wisdom given in the covenant at Sinai (Exodus 19), where God set before Israel blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience (Deuteronomy 28) and called them to choose life (Deuteronomy 30:19–20). To break it is to be unfaithful to the covenant, to dishonour God and to bring harm on the whole people.

The psalmist weeps because he loves the law: “O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day” (Psalm 119:97). Whoever loves God’s law grieves to see it trampled, for God’s honour and for the sake of those who are walking away from life. His tears carry a holy zeal for God’s honour along with compassion for the people. Jeremiah longed for his eyes to be a fountain of tears so that he could weep day and night for his people (Jeremiah 9:1). Paul had great heaviness and continual sorrow in his heart for Israel (Romans 9:1–3). Jesus wept over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41), and God himself was grieved at his heart over the wickedness of man before the flood (Genesis 6:6). Such tears belong to the godly sorrow that “worketh repentance to salvation” (2 Corinthians 7:10), and they lead to prayer for those who wander.

Every desire in this stanza is met in Jesus Christ. If God’s written testimonies are wonderful, the Word made flesh is more wonderful still (John 1:1–14), for in him “are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3). He came to fulfil the law and the prophets (Matthew 5:17), and he kept God’s word perfectly. He said, “I do always those things that please him” (John 8:29), he was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15), and he became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross (Philippians 2:8). The steps the psalmist asked to have ordered were ordered perfectly in him.

The light of verse 130 shines fully in Christ. He said, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12). God has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of his glory in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6), and the Son is the brightness of God’s glory (Hebrews 1:3). So the shining face the psalmist prayed for is seen in Christ. The understanding promised to the simple is given through the gospel to all, for “God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise” (1 Corinthians 1:27), and Paul prays that the Spirit of wisdom and revelation would enlighten the eyes of believers’ understanding (Ephesians 1:17–18).

Christ also answers the prayers for mercy and freedom. He manifested the Father’s name to those the Father gave him (John 17:6), so those who love God’s name now love and trust the Son. He is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6), and through him we come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy (Hebrews 4:16). He declared that the prince of this world would be cast out (John 12:31), and “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1–2). Joined to him we walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4), his Spirit guides us into all truth (John 16:13), and “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16). So the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in those who walk after the Spirit (Romans 8:4), and creation itself waits for the glorious liberty of the children of God (Romans 8:21). Under the new covenant God writes his law in the hearts of his people (Jeremiah 31:33, Hebrews 8:10), and the longing of verse 131 becomes a delight that comes from within.

The tears of verse 136 are found in him too. He wept over Jerusalem, and zeal for his Father’s house moved him to cleanse the temple (John 2:13–17). And he carried the sin he wept over, for God “hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin” (2 Corinthians 5:21). He is “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

This stanza gives us a way to hold God’s word. It begins in wonder at what God has said, and the wonder becomes keeping, longing, prayer and, at last, tears. Everything the psalmist asks for is something God delights to give: his turned face, his mercy, firm steps, freedom, his shining face and his teaching.

The stanza also shows who God is. His testimonies are marvels in the same class as his mighty acts. His words bring light to the simplest mind that receives them. His mercy has a settled habit toward those who love his name. His face shines on his servants, and he teaches them himself. And his law is so good that those who love it weep when it is despised.

Verse 130 holds a promise for anyone who comes to God’s word with little understanding, because the opening of his words gives light. Verse 136 shows the heart that grows from loving that light, a heart that grieves for those who walk without it.