Nation’s Notes on the Bible
THE WORD AND THE WAY
part i, the blessed way
Psalm 119:1-8
Overview
1-3. The Promise
The necessary condition for The Good Life (“Blessed”) is obedience—not the slavish obedience of one who is trying to gain favor by fulfilling obligations, but the wholehearted obedience of the true believer.
This is the point of the word “blameless,” i.e., sincerity--not emotional sincerity, but the sincerity of one who has seen the truth and bought into the program.
4. The Bridge between the promise and the prayer: Obedience is not an option.
5-8. The prayer
“Lord, I want to be the guy I talked about in verses 1-3.” It is an aspiration, but not yet a fact. “Let it be, dear Lord, let it be.”
Verse 1.
This plea shows that, for all its technique and intricate design as a work of poetry, this psalm is not merely an exercise in clever psalm writing, nor is it a religious anthem someone wrote for church. The psalmist reveals early the fact that he is desperate. “O God, don’t leave me here!” It is his desperation that has brought him (back, as we shall see) to renewing his allegiance to God’s Word.
How many synonyms for “the Scriptures” can you think of?
Here in the first stanza several synonyms are introduced for God’s revealed truth and will—specifically, 7 of the 8 that will be used throughout the psalm.
-
✦ Law, i.e., the Torah. The primary meaning of this word is to the body of writings also known as the Books of Moses, but the root meaning is not “law” in the Roman sense of lexus; and it certainly isn’t law as opposed to the gospel. Not here, not in this psalm. The fundamental meaning is the instruction of God for his people concerning who he is, who they are, and what he expects from them. The Torah is the written revelation of God and his will. Torah corresponds to our use of the phrase “Word of God.”
-
✦ Testimonies, the terms and stipulations of the covenant, the principles of the will of God.
-
✦ Ways, a lifestyle that is congruent with the character of God.
-
✦ Precepts, the details of God’s law, the nitty gritty, the applications by which the “testimonies” are lived out.
-
✦ Statutes, covenant conditions, clearly articulated, written down and preserved.
-
✦ Commandments, the directive will of God—using a term that is particularly characteristic of the vocabulary of Deuteronomy.
-
✦ Judgments, or rulings, or decrees (I’m not thrilled with the ESV translation, “rules”), the specific verdicts of God on the interests and conflicts of people that are encoded in the Law, and thus become a figure of speech for the whole Law; indicating the practical applicability of God’s revelation to human problems and needs.
Illuminating Parallelisms
1 – Blameless way = walking in the law of the Lord
2-3 – To keep his testimonies = to seek him with your whole heart = to do no wrong = to walk in his ways (which brings it full circle: to walk in the law of the Lord, therefore is to keep a blameless way. Cf. 1 Jn 1:7a, “But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, then we have fellowship with one another)
5 – “Oh that my ways may be steadfast.” This follows the admonition that God has commanded that his precepts be “kept diligently” (v 4). But the key is in the words “walk” and “ways.” It is not about perfection of performance for the believer, but devotion, persistence, and consistency; the pursuit, the “seeking.” Psalm 119 is not about righteousness that is by the law, but for the law, the fellowship with God that proceeds from faith.
Key Word #1: Way
1 - “Blessed are they whose way is blameless” (Lit., “the upright in the way”)
3 – “They walk in his ways.”
5 – “O that my ways may be steadfast.”
How much has modern life cheapened our language and devalued our ability to express ideas forcefully and directly! Since we no longer walk everywhere we go, we have lost the impact that the metaphors of “walk” and “way” should have—not because they are less expressive, but that we are softer targets.
The closest thing we have in modern idiom is “lifestyle,” which doesn’t even come close to conveying the thought of a consistent pattern of behavior and choice that reveals the character of the person and the commitments of his heart.
The Good Life, the fulfilled life, is lived not by one who devises his own way, but who conforms his life to God’s ways. Nevertheless, even though he knows that the God and the Righteous go together, it is not by that simple realization an easy or automatic thing to achieve. He longs for it, and prays for it, and—crucially—makes two vital commitments that must occur if he is to successfully establish (or renew) his walk in the ways of God:
-
1) To place the highest value on divine principles a priori. “I will praise you…when I learn your righteous rulings.” (7) I.e., “I won’t wait to find out what they are before I decide whether to praise you. I am pre-committed to giving you praise for whatever your word may teach me to do.”
-
2) To follow the way regardless of immediate consequences or apparently adverse results. “I will keep your statutes. Do not…forsake me!” (8) I.e., “I’m going to keep your law no matter what. Please don’t leave me stranded out here!”
Key Word #2: Keep
“Keep” is the most repeated verb, although two different Hebrew words are used.
2 - “Blessed are those who keep his testimonies.” Keep here (and in 33, 34, 69, 100, 129) is natsar, to watch, to guard, to preserve; it is the same in modern as in ancient Hebrew. There is a protective connotation to the verb, but otherwise it is virtually interchangeable with shamar (used in all 19 other verses in this psalm where “keep” appears), to keep, tend, watch over, give attention to. The primary connotation is of shamar is of responsibility and trust.
What does the psalmist really mean by the word “keep” ? He tells us in parallel ideas that follow:
-
•To seek God with a whole heart (2b)
-
•To do no wrong. “Wrong” is awal, crookedness, dishonesty, underhandedness, cheating.
-
•To walk in God’s ways. To live the kind of life (1) that is prescribed by God, and (2) that is pleasing to him because it is consistent with his righteous character, and (3) that stays in fellowship with the God who also is to be found in the away, because it is the way He Himself has taken.
4 - “You have commanded that your precepts be kept diligently.” Keeping is clearly not a passive matter of mere maintenance. There is to be intensity and passion in the keeping.
5 – “O that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes.” For “be steadfast” the KJV has “be directed.” The verb kun is about being established, fixed, secured. “Steadfast” speaks of perseverance; “directed” implies navigation. Both uses seem to be valid.
8 – “I will keep your statutes.” Between 5-8 several more modifiers explain how to keep the Word.
-
•To have the eyes fixed on all God’s commandments. (6) This is a free expansion of the verb navat, to look at, regard, behold. Its first use in the Bible is Gen 15:5, where God tells Abram to ‘take a good look at the sky and count the stars.’ To Samuel God gave instructions: ‘Don’t look on his appearance.’ (1 Sam 16:7) It’s about paying attention, about looking to really see, and take into full consideration.
-
•To learn God’s righteous judgments. The word is actually a participle: “in my learning.” Its an ongoing process.
The Beatitudes of the Covenant of Law (1-3)
The first three verses are an emphatic reminder of the blessedness of the Law, and of the benign intention of the Lawgiver who instituted the covenant. The commandments of God are not toward the impoverishment of life, but its enrichment; not to denude us of happiness and pleasure, but to clothe us with a life that is beautiful and wears well.
-
Blessed are those whose way is blameless.
-
[Blessed are those] who walk in the law of the Lord.
-
Blessed are thosethose who keep his testimonies.
-
[Blessed are those] who seek him with their whole heart.
-
[Blessed are those] who also do no wrong, {but}
-
[Blessed are those][who] walk in His ways.
The Blameless Way (v. 1)
‘Blameless’ in v. 1 (esv. ‘undefiled’ in kjv.) is tam (tahm), the adjective form of taman, to be perfect, complete, finished. In can mean finished in the sense of used up, all gone. But it also has the sense roughly corresponding to the Greek telos: complete, whole, sound, having integrity.
The KJV ‘undefiled’ misses the mark by implying a negative, and to some extent the same fault exists in the present translation. What is depicted here is not the absence of flaws, but the presence of excellence. The same adj. describes the excellence and integrity of Job’s character (Job 1:10, and serves as a pet name for the bride in Song of Songs (5:2; 6:9).
Also this translation takes slight liberty with the phraseology: their ‘way is blameless.’ Literally: they are ‘perfect in the way.’
Now tam does not mean perfection in the absolute sense of infallibility, but in the more accessible (but still challenging, even daunting) sense of wholeness, integrity, sincerity.
Those who are perfect in the way are fully committed to it. They are not double-minded, they do not compromise their principles, they don’t seek exception or look for loopholes. They take God at His word, see that there is a clear and unequivocal path of righteousness, and set out to follow it without question.
The corresponding use of the substantive adjective in the Song of Solomon is instructive and beautiful. The bride is called ‘perfect one,’ and it is a sign of his pleasure in her, and also an encouragement to her in times when she is discouraged.
To us the thought of being ‘perfect in the way’ may seem like a far off goal, and unreachable attainment. Yet even under the old covenant of law, faith laid hold of God’s promise and the assurance of his covenant love. How much more under the new covenant of grace should we be encouraged to strive for perfection—i.e., wholeness—since that is our endowment in Christ, and that is how the Father himself sees us. (Col 2:10; Eph 1:3-5)
Therefore, just as Abraham was chosen and called by God to walk before him and be perfect (Gen 17:1), so also are we, even with the understanding that such perfection is the project of God. (Eph 2:10; 4:13; Phil 1:6; Col 1:10,28)
The “blameless” way or the “perfect” way, then, doesn’t mean flawless or sinless, but neither is it merely a matter of public reputation, as though the “way” is a life that is in the public view. To be sure, your way cannot be blameless if those who really know you can impeach you for wrongdoing and are only hindered from following through by their feelings of good will. On the other hand, just because the world accuses you of terrible things, it does not mean your way is not perfect, “for so persecuted they the prophets who were before you.”
So a person may be a public scandal, yet have a perfect way; and one may be a public paragon, yet be a whitewashed sepulcher. Obviously a perfect way is judged so only by God. We do not want to be like fools who measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another (2 Cor 10:12). On the other hand, “If we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged.” (1 Cor 11:31) There are two persons who really know our ways: ourselves and God. The same two persons also know whether our ways are perfect—i.e., whether our life’s direction is to do right and to live right.
Someone may protest that only God knows, that we ourselves do not, but that is a dodge. We know when we’re doing right, and we know when we’re not. We know when we miss the mark, and we know when we are deliberately going astray.
We know, that is, unless we are deceived. Therefore we are repeatedly warned, “Do not be deceived.”
True, the final judgment of our way belongs to the Lord and not to us (1 Cor 4:3-5). A clear conscience is not an absolute guarantee of a blameless way, but it is a pretty good and fairly reliable indicator, provided that it hasn’t been seared by self-deception. (1 Tim 4:2) In fact, it is a clear conscience, a pure heart, and a sincere faith that provide the necessary soil in which the fruit of love can be produced.
A blameless way is a habit of life that is established on a persistent pattern and habit of obedience to God, within the mission and calling that one has received.
It means, first of all, a life that is ordered within the general directive will of God, viz., His commandments. This is primary and universal. But there is also a specific sense: obedience to the specific responsibilities, mission, and purpose God has assigned to the individual.
A blameless way is one that does not abide outside of God’s will in either the general or the specific spheres, nor is either the public, domestic, or private spheres. The community knows you as blameless, but what about the church? Or vice versa? Or your wife and children.
All others know your way to be perfect—but is your life always under their scrutiny? What would it be if they were not watching? What is it in your private thoughts and behaviors when you are all alone? Do you deviate from the way if you think no one who knows you will find out? Isn’t this the very appeal that the city of Las Vegas is making with its ad campaign, “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas”? Is that true?
No, it isn’t true. There is going to come a day when the secrets of every heart is opened. Then it will be proved that there is none righteous, no not one. Oh, how great is our need of God’s grace!
Blessed is he whose way is “excellent.”
-
•Way is a direction.
-
•Way is a path.
-
•Way is a behavioral pattern.
-
•Way is a habit of thinking.
-
•Way is an attitude.
-
•Way is a method.
“Excellent”? “Perfect”? The problem with superlatives is that they must be compared with lesser things in order to be understood. Excellent what? Perfect what? What is the excellent, or perfect way? That is revealed in the rest of v. 1, followed by 2 and 3.
The heart of “the excellent way” is the revelation of the point, purpose, and destination of the way. It is the way of those “who seek Him with their whole heart.” (2b)
The significant issue here is the unity of motive and behavior. The keepers of this way:
-
•Walk in the law of the Lord (1);
-
•Keep His testimonies (2);
-
•Do no wrong—i.e. they purposely avoid violating God’s commandments (3a);
-
•Walk in His ways (3b). And the full circle is reached. It’s all about living within the law.
But the obedience spoken here is not slavish. The obedience is not the end, but the means to an end—or, to say it more truly, the path one takes en route to achieving the end.
The end, the purpose, the destination is to know God. To seek God with a whole heart is to follow the paths of righteousness that He Himself has created. It will not do to seek God in places He does not ‘go.’
So the excellent way, the perfect way, is not to be defined by the quality of our obedience (the implication of the esv ‘blameless’), but by the destination one will reach if he stays on that way.
Verses 4-8
Now the principle becomes a prayer, and the first words of that prayer are a reflecting back to God of His own words, of things He already knows. It’s the kind of prayer that, when spoken in public, makes the hearers wonder whether the pray-er is praying or preaching. He is preaching—to himself, by way of confession. “You have commanded your precepts* to be kept diligently.”
*Precepts = piqqudim, the regulations that implement the covenant.
Where does He so command? In Deuteronomy.
5:1, “You shall learn them and be careful to do them.”
5:32, “ You shall be careful to do as the Lord your God has commanded you.”
6:3, “Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them….”
6:17, “You shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God and His testimonies and His statutes which He commanded you.”
11:18,22,25, “You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and soul…. For if you will be careful to do all this commandment that I command you to do, loving the Lord your God, walking in all His ways, and holding fast to them…no one shall be able to stand against you.”
The obedience that proceeds from seeking God with the whole heart is not a matter of the emotions, not is it a vague statement of overall sympathy with God’s commandments. It is a diligent endeavor to put God’s word into practical application.
Summary, 1-8
Verses 1-3 are a statement of faith, a declaration of principles, a corollary confession to the monotheism of Israel (Cf. Dt. 6:4-5)
The 5 verses that follow are a prayer, but one that does not get down to the nitty-gritty until the last clause of v. 8.
While verses 4-5 include a tacit admission of sin, i.e. of falling short—the main point is a testimony of heart’s desire. (Surely that should count for something!) As Herbert wrote, “I aspire to a full consent.”
‘Then I shall not be put to shame.’ Confidence. Assurance. ‘I will praise you with an upright heart.’ Victory over sin and over his foes. ‘I will keep your statutes.’ Intention. Commitment. Consecration.
But at last, the crux of the matter: ‘Do not utterly forsake me.’ Desperation, anxiety, fear—and guilt.
Yes, guilt. 7 ½ verses of the psalm have assured us that God does not abandon, but upholds and enriches those who keep His law. But the psalmist knows he doesn’t qualify. Moreover, God has turned away from the psalmist already. It is not, ‘Do not forsake me,’ but ‘Do not utterly,’ finally, completely, irretrievably ‘forsake me.’
The psalmist is out of favor with the Lord, has lost his sense of fellowship. Now he is in trouble, and he knows that his ground of prayer has been damaged by his own failure of obedience.
Why, then, does it take so long to get to the point with God?
-
1) Do we need to work up courage enough to admit the truth first to ourselves before we can lay it open ‘before the eyes of Him with whom we have to do’?
-
2) Or is it rather advisable, even necessary, to remind ourselves of the truth about God before we get around to the truth about ourselves?
-
3) Or both of the above?
Jesus, it should be observed, did not teach his disciples to immediately lay out either their sins or their troubles as soon as they hit their knees in prayer, but rather first to be still and to quiet their souls, acknowledging their relationship with the Heavenly Father, the holiness of His name, and the supreme priority of His kingdom.
In his own way the psalmist seems to be doing that.
There is a natural human reluctance to admit either fault or weakness. But it is not an avoidance of these that should lead us to open our prayers and supplications with confessions of faith and declarations of praise. It is rather that the telling of the truth about God will lead His children to confession of the truth about ourselves.
