NOTES for Psa 119:1-39

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¹Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD.

²Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.

³They also do no iniquity: they walk in his ways.

⁴Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently.

⁵O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes!

⁶Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments.

⁷I will praise thee with uprightness of heart, when I shall have learned thy righteous judgments.

⁸I will keep thy statutes: O forsake me not utterly.

⁹Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.

¹⁰With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments.

¹¹Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

¹²Blessed art thou, O LORD: teach me thy statutes.

¹³With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth.

¹⁴I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as much as in all riches.

¹⁵I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways.

¹⁶I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word.

¹⁷Deal bountifully with thy servant, that I may live, and keep thy word.

¹⁸Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.

¹⁹I am a stranger in the earth: hide not thy commandments from me.

²⁰My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto thy judgments at all times.

²¹Thou hast rebuked the proud that are cursed, which do err from thy commandments.

²²Remove from me reproach and contempt; for I have kept thy testimonies.

²³Princes also did sit and speak against me: but thy servant did meditate in thy statutes.

²⁴Thy testimonies also are my delight and my counsellors.

²⁵My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word.

²⁶I have declared my ways, and thou heardest me: teach me thy statutes.

²⁷Make me to understand the way of thy precepts: so shall I talk of thy wondrous works.

²⁸My soul melteth for heaviness: strengthen thou me according unto thy word.

²⁹Remove from me the way of lying: and grant me thy law graciously.

³⁰I have chosen the way of truth: thy judgments have I laid before me.

³¹I have stuck unto thy testimonies: O LORD, put me not to shame.

³²I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart.

³³Teach me, O LORD, the way of thy statutes; and I shall keep it unto the end.

³⁴Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart.

³⁵Make me to go in the path of thy commandments; for therein do I delight.

³⁶Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness.

³⁷Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken thou me in thy way.

³⁸Stablish thy word unto thy servant, who is devoted to thy fear.

³⁹Turn away my reproach which I fear: for thy judgments are good.

Those who walk in the Lord's Law and keep His revelations are mentioned together and in parallel; observing the Law and being open to the word that comes from God are almost synonymous here, and those who keep the commandments are called blessed. But is it possible to remain steadfast in walking before Him if we are constantly falling and stumbling? Yes, according to God's word, it is possible.

We seem to be facing a closed circle from which there is no escape: keeping the commandments is possible with the help of God who gave them, while faithfulness to Him presupposes keeping the commandments. Where, then, should we begin? But the chain is broken if the Lord is at the center of our attention, for then we become able to receive from Him both the capacity to be faithful and the possibility of keeping the commandments.

Faithfulness to the Lord and observance of His commandments are not merely a “practical necessity.” To those who follow Him, He gives joy and fills them with strength. He will not allow those who hope in Him to turn aside from His paths. If only we do not turn away from Him.

Other notes

For Psa 119:7

⁷I will praise thee with uprightness of heart, when I shall have learned thy righteous judgments.

In various psalms, confidence is repeatedly expressed that God will preserve His faithful from every evil. At first glance these statements can seem overly optimistic... Read more

In various psalms, confidence is repeatedly expressed that God will preserve His faithful from every evil. At first glance these statements can seem overly optimistic. Who does not know that in every age quite a lot of troubles and sufferings usually fall to the righteous? But such an answer seems entirely unambiguous only at first glance.

What can be considered evil for a person? The answer depends entirely on the system of values and priorities by which this or that person is guided. Good for one can quite well turn out to be evil for another. In the psalm, however, the question is not simply about a person, but about a person of God, about such a person who has set out on the path of righteousness. Here the question of good and evil is wholly determined by God's will, by the Torah, by the commandments.

And in principle it is also resolved differently than when a person lives according to the laws of this world. What can be considered the main goal of the righteous person? What is his highest good? As for every person, for the righteous person the highest good would be the possibility of reaching the goal toward which the path he has chosen leads him.

In this world it often happens that a person who strove for a goal and reached it then becomes disappointed in it, not finding in it what he was seeking. This cannot happen with the righteous person: he will not be disappointed in his goal. And the goal, taking the path of righteousness as a whole, from beginning to end, is the Kingdom.

Before Christ's coming it was still too early to speak of this, but after His coming it became clear: the path of every righteous person ends exactly there, in the Kingdom. Therefore, the only evil for the righteous person will be whatever hinders him from walking the path of righteousness and reaching the Kingdom.

In that case the confidence of the hymnographers that God will preserve His faithful from evil takes on a new meaning: it is about God helping them walk to the end the path they have chosen and reach the goal that awaits them at the end. The troubles and hardships awaiting them on the way, in that case, will no longer be evil in themselves. They, like all circumstances of life, are only a kind of raw material, initial material, which can work either for the benefit or for the harm of the one walking the path of righteousness, which of course in no way justifies those who seek to make the righteous person's path harder and complicate his life.

God promises His faithful that He will not leave them and will do everything so that they reach the goal, obtaining the Kingdom and salvation at the end of the road.

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NOTES for Psa 119:1-39

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Readings for 16 April 2019

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