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Wednesday 04/02/25
Thru the Bible: Psalm Book V: Chapter 119
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I belong to You!
Psalm 119 from ט (Teyt) to ל (Lamed) [Verses 65-96]
ט (Teyt) 65-72
Pictographic: This letter is said to resemble a basket. It is pronounced tet. Baskets were important in that they contained supplies such as food and clay. The ideas and meanings associated with this letter therefore are basket, contain, surround & clay.
“(65) You are good to your servant, O LORD, just as You promised.” [or according to Your word]
The next phrase is literally “teach me goodness of taste” where “taste” is said to refer to godly discernment, but I think it means more.
It reads,
“(66) Teach me proper discernment and understanding! For I consider Your commands to be reliable.”
Like a similar passage in Hebrews where we are told that the mature in Christ are those who through putting to practise the good word of God or strong meat of the word, train their senses not only to discern good from evil but to prefer good to evil. I think the silent intention here is the same.
The psalmist does not just want to have a taste for the finer things – meaning for godliness, but the wisdom to always choose it.
In this request we see another condition of heart revealed. This psalmist trusts in the reliability of God’s word – he has faith in it – and such is the basis of his request and his confidence of a favorable answer. “For I believe in your commands”!
Next we see him gaining wisdom through his experiences. We have the advantage of the parables and teaching of Jesus, Who told us that when the word is sown in a heart, the enemy attempts to uproot it immediately. This can be done through various means. The first has already been addressed and that is by neglect of the word through not recognizing its true value.
The psalmist dodged this bullet in that he admits to finding value in God’s words.
The next tactic of satan is to encourage us to let go of the word sown in our hearts by means of persecution, affliction and suffering which is what this man is about to reveal of his own experience.
“(67) Before I was afflicted I used to stray off, but now I keep Your instructions.”
Here we see the attack of the enemy backfired on him. The devil thought to loosen his grip and soften his resolve regarding the value and treasure of God’s word through affliction, but it produced the opposite effect.
This is the value of possessing a “taste for goodness”. Having eyes to see the true value of God and His word, enables the heart to treasure what it once treated lightly. That value has staying power. It creates disciples who under difficulty say, “where would we go? You have the words of eternal life!”
Once the word is seen as our haven of safety, we multiply the difficulties of the devil in pulling us away! When he turns up the adversity we double down and draw even closer.
Like the words to a Rascal Flatts song entitled, ‘I like the sound of that’:
“Love the sound of the thunder rolling, it makes you move a little closer to me.”
So our psalmist with refined taste buds reflects upon how good God is by says,
“(68) You are good and You do good. Teach me Your statutes!”
Now at this point in a disciples advance towards the Lord the only recourse satan has is challenging our resolve indirectly. No frontal attack will work – it is too obvious. Now he must resort to the subtler tactics of everyday life to slowly replace our allegiance through daily business and distractions. One of the most effective of which is having our reputations challenged by those who are themselves ungodly and arrogant. As we will see this psalmist is not spared this tactic either!
“(69) Arrogant people smear my reputation with lies, but I observe your precepts with all my heart. (70) Their hearts are calloused, but I find delight in Your law.”
Having passed the final test, this man is free to delight in God’s law. He has recognized value where it really exists and placed all his hopes there and so gains a heart of wisdom which is seen in his closing words…
“(71) It was good for me to suffer, so that I might learn Your statutes.
(72) The law You have revealed is more important to me than thousands of pieces of gold and silver.”
The pictographic meaning of ט (Teyt) seems pretty well represented here in that the word of God is symbolically represented as food one should protect and store up in the heart. So a basket which in that day largely served this purpose seems appropriate.
י (Yod) [yood] 73-80
Pictographic: This is the 10th Hebrew letter. It is pronounced Yood. It gets its name from the Hebrew word Yod which means “hand”. So it is that the pictograph associated with this letter is a hand and it carries the implied meaning of work, throw and worship.
Now the shape of this letter looks a lot like a serifed single quote or comma which is said by some to look like a person kneeling in prayer or worship. Both prayer and worship often include or at very least imply hands either folded in reverence or lifted in praise. So it is that this letter gets its symbolic meaning as much from the parent Hebrew word Yod as it does from its actual shape.
There is much complexity which is said to be inherent in this letter. Certain sages claimed the Yood was the little that contains much or by extension with the pictographic symbol, it is the hand that holds much.
Examples of this can be found in the creation of the world and the calling of Israel.
God began the process of creation with this very letter when He said, “Let there be light”
Regarding Israel, God called one man out of a pagan nation to worship and follow Him. Out of this man God made a fledgling nation. A small and externally insignificant nation and bestowed upon it many names, Israel being but one, but all of them begin with the letter Yod! Even the holy city Jerusalem in the Hebrew language begins with the Yod and it was established upon the smallest rather than the largest of the mountains in the region.
All of this suggests humility is an unspoken aspect of this letter. Interestingly enough the name God gave to His only Son, begins with a Yod – Jesus as does God’s personal name Yahweh.
This is the Hebrew letter which Jesus was referring to in Greek when He said, “Not one jot of tittle of the law will in any way pass away until all has been fulfilled.” The jot was the Greek equivalent of the Yood – the smallest of all the Hebrew letters.
Interestingly enough this series of 8 verses begins with a mention of God’s hands.
“(73) Your hands made me and formed me. Give me understanding so that I might learn Your commands.
(74) Your loyal followers will be glad when they see me, for I find hope in Your word.
(75) I know, LORD, that Your regulations are just. You disciplined me because of Your faithful devotion to me. (76) May Your loyal love console me, as You promised Your servant. (77) May I experience Your compassion, so I might live! For I find delight in Your law.
(78) May the arrogant be humiliated, for they have slandered me! But I meditate on Your precepts.
(79) May Your loyal followers turn to me, those who know Your rules. (80) May I be fully committed to Your statutes, so that I might not be ashamed.”
There is a lot here which I will just briefly touch on.
First off, like all of God’s creation, the psalmist looks to God’s open hand for understanding. He acknowledges that God is His Creator and so it logically follows that in order for his mind to comprehend the whys and wherefores of God’s commands he will need God’s gracious permission and help. He wisely admits, embraces and submits to the fact that his ability to learn comes from His Maker!
There is joy in the individual who follows after God and sets their hope – their favorable expectations in Him. But there is also a collective joy as well. When one rejoices we all rejoice, to borrow from Job, Paul and the writer of Hebrews (Romans 12:15 : 1 Cor. 12:26; [Job 30:25; Heb. 13:3]). The righteous are glad to see the one who hopes in the Lord.
Then we see further evidence of surrendered wisdom in him because instead of chafing under the Lord’s hand of discipline, he sees it as an expression of God’s faithful love. As it says in Hebrews 12:5-8 & 11-13,
“(5) And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: “MY SON, DO NOT DESPISE THE CHASTENING OF THE LORD, NOR BE DISCOURAGED WHEN YOU ARE REBUKED BY HIM; (6) FOR WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE CHASTENS, AND SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES.” (7) If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? (8) But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.”
and
“(11) Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. (12) Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, (13) and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.”
Furthermore he calls upon the Lord to follow His disciple with expressions of loyal love for the sake of comfort. That in God’s compassion he will find life!
This is beautiful!
He wraps up by again pointing out the slander of his enemies, but instead of focusing on their verbal attacks, he turns his attention to meditate on God’s commands. This is Peter, being warned by Jesus to not worry about what happens with John, but to resolve in his own heart to follow God. [John 21:22]
Finally he wants to be the kind of worshipper to which others can turn in times of need and cries out again to God his Maker to be fully committed to His statues that he might not be ashamed.
As I have taught you several times, shame in the Jewish mind was immediately tethered to the removal of the presence and glory of God over Israel. For God’s glory to lift would expose the shame of their nakedness without Him. Both the person and the glory of God served as a covering for Israel and shame was felt with and if it lifted from them. So the psalmist’s cry for help in being fully committed to God’s word that His presence and glory be not removed.
You may remember a similar instance when the presence and glory of God lifted from Saul in a time of sin as well as the cry of David, who after his audacious sins against Uriah and his wife Bathsheba, begged the Lord to not cast him away from His presence and to not take His Holy Spirit from him. – Psalm 51:11
כ (Kaf) 81-88
Pictographic: This Hebrew letter is pronounced “cough”. In the ancient pictographic script this is said to resemble the palm of the hand or the sole of a foot. Its suggested meanings were open, bend or tame (as in subduing or bending another’s will).
“(81) I desperately long for Your deliverance. I find hope in Your word.
(82) My eyes grow tired as I wait for Your promise to be fulfilled. I say, “When will You comfort me?” (83) For I am like a wineskin dried up in smoke. I do not forget Your statutes. (84) How long must Your servant endure this? When will You judge those who pursue me?
(85) The arrogant dig pits to trap me, which violates Your law.
(86) All Your commands are reliable. I am pursued without reason. Help me! (87) They have almost destroyed me here on the earth, but I do not reject Your precepts.
(88) Revive me with Your loyal love, that I might keep the rules You have revealed.”
This is a sincere heart cry of a devoted follower of God. In his words you can see both hope and discouragement. Weariness and tenacity to persevere.
It is the crucible all true followers of God are familiar with. We know what it is to trust and be completely confident that God will come through, but there are times when the perseverance needed seems greater than our resolve. If it were not for the anchor of the soul which we spoke over earlier – that revelation of intrinsic value and treasured reliability of the God behind the promise, we would utterly lose hope. But because He is faithful and true and watches over His word to perform it, we don’t cast our confidence away. As the writer of Hebrews encourages us,
“(35) Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. (36) For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise: (37) “FOR YET A LITTLE WHILE, AND HE WHO IS COMING WILL COME AND WILL NOT TARRY. (38) NOW THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH; BUT IF ANYONE DRAWS BACK, MY SOUL HAS NO PLEASURE IN HIM.” (39) But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.”– Hebrews 10:35-39
Nevertheless, we see this man again turn to God for help even regarding his resolve in his final line – “Revive me with Your loyal love, that I might keep the rules You have revealed.”
Even our ability to honor Him… comes from Him and in that way you can possibly see a connection between the pictograph and the direction of this section. We need God’s hand extended and open to us for strength to persevere as the soles of our feet stick doggedly to the path of life.
ל (Lamed) 89-96
Pictographic: This Hebrew letter is pronounced La-med. Its pictographic symbol is from the Hebrew word m’lamed (malamed) which is an ox goad. The word M’lamed (malamed) comes from the Hebrew root Lamad which means to teach through the idea of goading and thus driving another in the direction you need them to go.
You may remember Jesus’ words to Paul that it was hard from him to kick against the pricks or goads. This was an instrument used to “encourage” herd animals in the direction you wanted them to go. Paul had set his own course through his misunderstanding of what the law had revealed regarding Messiah, but the Holy Spirit was attempting to lead him towards the correct knowledge of Who Messiah was and to surrender to that truth. Thus, Paul’s resistance up to this point was a kicking against the goad of the Spirit attempting to lead him to truth.
Unlike English where we write our letters on a line (remember the ruled paper from grade school) whereas Hebrew letters are written below the line or rather hang from the line. The letter La-med is the central letter in the Hebrew alphabet and is the ONLY letter to breach that line. Meaning, it is the only letter whose top goes above the line used to form Hebrew letters. So it literally is central to their alphabet and stands higher than them all.
Pictographically this seems to symbolize the central role that teaching and learning plays in the Hebrew mind and Jewish faith. It is an expression of humility in that the proud can learn nothing and therefore is resisted by God’s influence, but it is exalted by the learning. This concept is seen in Peter’s first letter who tells us to humble ourselves under God’s mighty hand which will result in our being exalted in due time. This is repeated in James where we are also told humble ourselves under God’s hand of correction that He may lift us up at the appropriate time – which is to say after we have learned from Him and our behavior has been transformed to be in accordance with His likeness. (See 1 Peter 5:6 & James 4:8-10)
So the lamed is seen as symbolic of a shepherd’s staff or crook. As we know from studying the 23rd Psalm, this crook not only led and restrained the sheep, but also served as a weapon of defense to protect the sheep. Thus the phrase,
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.” – Psalm 23:4
With all of this in place we can see why the suggested meaning of La-med is to teach, yoke (leading) or bind.
However, in this case, though instruction and learning are clearly represented in these verses, I would not say that they are stressed more than in other places so it would seem a stretch to unduly press that meaning upon this segment.
“(89) O LORD, Your instructionsendure; they stand secure in heaven. (90) You demonstrate Your faithfulness to all generations. You established the earth and it stood firm.
(91) Today they stand firm by Your decrees, for all things are Your servants.
(92) If I had not found encouragement in Your law, I would have died in my sorrow.
(93) I will never forget Your precepts, for by them you have revived me.
(94) I belong to You. Deliver me! For I seek Your precepts.
(95) The wicked prepare to kill me, yet I concentrate on Your rules.
(96) I realize that everything has its limits, but Your commands are beyond full comprehension.”
Blessings!
Tri
