Christ made some of these explicit for us (Matt. 5:21–48). Another passage uses a different metaphor to indicate that God’s revelation is unfathomable: “thy judgments are a great deep” (36:6b).79 Thus we look with amazement at God’s Law, indeed at the whole of Scripture. Three times in 119 the author uses words from the Hebrew root פלא (pala’, “to be marvelous, extraordinary, or difficult”) to specify this characteristic: “Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law” (v. 18); “Make me to understand the way of thy precepts: so shall I talk80 of thy wondrous works” (v. 27); “Thy testimonies are wonderful” (v. 129a).
Propositions
Of course, each of these characteristics has been stated above as a proposition, but this section will treat four of the many propositions which express actions rather than attributes. With regard to His word God acts on mankind, and the saints react. Constantly, the psalmists tell us that (1) God has revealed His word to mankind. “The Lord gave the word” (68:11a).81 This is also the request for the king: “Give the king thy judgments [laws]” (72:1). In Psalm 119 God’s statutes are the object of the verb למד (lamad), “teach,” 7x in requests by the psalmist: “teach me thy statutes” (vv. 12, 26, 64, 68, 108,82 124, and 135). Additionally in verse 33 he says, “Teach me [hiphil of ידע (yada‘), ‘cause me to know’], O Lord, the way of thy statutes.” And the author of this psalm affirmed that God has indeed done that: “for thou hast taught me” (vv. 102 & 171, using different Hebrew verbs; also 71:17). Other ways of making this request are “grant me thy law graciously” (119:29b) and “Incline my heart unto thy testimonies” (v. 36). In 147:19 three of the synonyms are the direct objects of God’s reporting: “He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel.”
(2) The saints habitually think about God’s word. That is their first reaction to God’s revelation. They must remember what God has said and consciously meditate on divine revelation. “Remember … the judgments uttered by His mouth” (105:5, NASB). God approves of “those that remember his precepts to do them” (103:18b). The psalmist affirms that he “remembered thy judgments of old” (119:52). Many times this idea is stated in the negative: the psalmist has not forgotten God’s instruction (119:16, 61, 83, 93, 109, 141, 153, 176). What makes this possible is his constant meditation on God’s word: the verb (שׂיח, siyakh) occurs in 119:15, 23, 27, 48, 78, and 148; the noun (שִׂיחָה, siykhah) occurs in verses 97 and 99. In fact, meditation about God’s instructions seems to be the defining characteristic of the righteous person: “and in his law doth he meditate [a different verb here: הגה, hagah] day and night” (1:2b).83
(3) The saints emotionally react to God’s word by delighting in and loving it. The first part of Psalm 1:2 is “But his delight [חֵפֶץ, kheyphets] is in the law of the Lord.”84 The verb חפץ (khaphats), “to delight,” appears twice in reference to God’s instructions: “Blessed is the man … that delighteth greatly in his commandments” (112:1); “Make me to go in the path of thy commandments; for therein do I delight” (119:35). In Psalm 119 a different verb (שׁעע, sha‘a‘) for this concept appears three times: “I will delight myself in thy statutes/commandments” (vv. 16a, 47a); “I delight in thy law” (v. 70b). The noun (שַׁעֲשֻׁעִים, sha‘eshu‘iym)85 related to this second verb occurs five times: “my delight” (vv. 24 [thy testimonies], 77, 92, & 174 [thy law], and 143 [thy commandments]). Relative to this proposition are two verses that speak about joy over the Lord’s “customs” (48:11; 97:8).86 Closely connected to this pleasure is the heart-felt love for the word: in Psalm 119 the author expresses his love ten times for Yahweh’s “law” (vv. 97, 113, 163), “testimonies” (vv. 119, 167), “precepts [פִּקּוּדִים, piqquwdiym]” (v. 159), “commands” (vv. 47, 48, 127), or “word [אִמְרָה, ’imrah]” (v. 140).87
(4) The saints are regularly obedient to God’s word. The emotional response leads to actions. Repeatedly in Psalm 119 there is the promise to “keep” the word: verses 8, 33, 34, 44, 57, 69, 106, 145, and 146 (at least 9x). Furthermore, there are the psalmist’s affirmations that he has done this: verses 55, 56, 60, 67, 100, 129, 167, and 168. For this action Hebrew uses two verbs (שׁמר, shamar; נצר, natsar), which appear in parallel (for example, 105:45) and are semantically equivalent.88 Sometimes these verbs have been translated as “guard” (for example, NASB 20 and 2x respectively; for example, 91:11), and that would give a better picture of what is involved with this concept. Guarding requires conscious diligence as well as a carefulness about one’s actions; thus “guarding a commandment” cannot be done casually, but requires a careful attention that avoids even an accidental violation. Only in this fashion can one achieve integrity of conduct.
New Testament Echoes
The terms “law” (νόμος, nomos, 194x) and “word” (λόγος, logos, 330x) are extremely common in the New Testament, though many of these uses do not relate to God’s instructions (for example, Rom. 7:21 and Col. 3:17). In New Testament usage “Law” can refer to the holy Scriptures of the Old Testament (for example, John 12:34 and Rom. 3:19), attesting to the idea that all of God’s communication with mankind is instruction.
The Septuagint translated the eight Hebrew synonyms of Psalm 119 by using seven different Greek words.89 The 175 Hebrew nouns in Table 2.1 are matched by 173 uses of these Greek terms.90 The following verses represent some of the significant uses in the New Testament of these seven Greek synonyms for God’s instructions. (1) Christ affirmed both the permanence and truthfulness of the Law (νόμος, nomos): “Til heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall not pass from the law till all be fulfilled” (Matt. 5:18). (2) In Matthew 24:14 we find an example of God’s word serving as a testimony of the truth: “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness [μαρτύριον, marturion] unto all nations.” (3) Christ did not hesitate to identify the two greatest commandments (ἐντολάς, entolas) in the Law (Matt. 22:37–39). (4) These instructions are identified with the revelation God gave to Moses: “Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances [δικαιώματα, dikaiōmata] of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary” (Heb. 9:1). (5) In Romans 11 Paul employs the special use of κρίματα (krimata), “judgments,”91 for God’s customs or directives: “how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out” (v. 33). (6) The New Testament affirms the effectiveness of God’s word: “For the word [λόγος, logos] of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Heb. 4:12). (7) We find four cases of the word λόγια (logia) being used for the oracles of God (Acts 7:38; Rom. 3:2; Heb. 2:12; 1 Pet. 4:11).
As a fitting conclusion to this study of God’s instructions, let us each affirm with the psalmist, “O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day” (119:97). May our love not terminate with just thoughts, but may it prompt us to spread the good news, to evangelize: “My tongue shall speak of thy word: for all thy commandments are righteousness” (119:172).
3
Wisdom
God’s instruction of mankind has its basis in His wisdom. He knows what is best for His creatures. When He speaks to human beings, as words emanate from His mouth, so does wisdom. This theme connects with that of the previous chapter, “Instruction,” because wisdom is tied closely to the Torah or Law. The theme of wisdom, however, does not dominate the book of Psalms by means of key words. The standard word חָכְמָה (khokmah), which occurs 149 times in the Old Testament, is found only six times in Psalms. Related words occur only seven more times. Near the end of the book the psalmist uses one of the synonyms (תְּבוּנָה, tevuwnah) for wisdom and declares that God’s “understanding is infinite” (147:5). This is the clearest statement in Psalms about this attribute of God. The expression translated “infinite” is literally “without number”: it is impossible for us to calculate how great His wisdom is; He is omniscient! Psalms develops