![]() To obey His testimonies “…signifies loyalty to the terms of the covenant made between the Lord and Israel.” (Willem VanGemeren) Testimonies ( edut/edot, used 23 times): This word is related to the word for witness.Judgments ( mispatim, used 23 times): “…from shaphat, to judge, determine, regulate, order, and discern, because they judge concerning our words and works show the rules by which they should be regulated and cause us to discern what is right and wrong, and decide accordingly.” (Adam Clarke).“Proceeding from his mouth and revealed by him to us…” (Matthew Poole) ![]() Word ( dabar, used 24 times): The idea is of the spoken word, God’s revealed word to man.Law ( torah, used 25 times in Psalm 119): “Its parent verb means ‘teach’ or ‘direct’ therefore coming from God it means both ‘law’ and ‘revelation.’ It can be used of a single command or of a whole body of law.” (Derek Kidner).In this psalm there are eight basic words used to describe the Scriptures, God’s written revelation to us: But Scripture is mentioned in at least 171 of the 176 verses. Other people analyze this differently (with disagreement about Psalm 119:84, 90, 121, 132). The Masoretes (a group of Jewish scholars between the 6 th and 10 th centuries AD) said that the word of God is mentioned in every verse except Psalm 119:122. Psalm 119 is remarkable for how often it refers to God’s written revelation, His word. Since this is a psalm glorifying God and His word, it refers to Scripture over and over again. The closest parallel to this pattern in Scripture is found in Lamentations 3, which is also divided into 22 sections, and a few other passages in the Hebrew Scriptures use an acrostic pattern. ![]() Each of the 22 sections is given a letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and each line in that section begins with that letter. ![]() There are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet, and this psalm contains 22 units of 8 verses each. Psalm 119 is arranged in an acrostic pattern. The sections and verses are not like a chain, where one link is connected to the other, but like a string of pearls where each pearl has equal, but independent value. No matter who the author was, it was likely written over some period of time and later compiled, because there is not a definite flow of thought from the beginning of the psalm to the end. It may be that David was the author, but we can’t say this with certainty, and it is not necessary to know if it were important, God would have preserved the name of David to this psalm. More modern commentators sometimes conclude that it is post-exilic, coming from the days of Nehemiah or Ezra. The author is unnamed older commentators almost universally said it is a psalm of David, composed throughout his entire life. This will help you as you study the Word, practice memorization and dive deep into understanding the content and context of those sacred pages.This long psalm deserves a long introduction. In the pages to come there are fantastic tools laid out for you to get those mental wheels spinning. I want you to be able to read deep and study on your own and do the work of knowing God’s story.ĭeconstructed is simply a supplemental tool to help you get to the heart of God’s word. I want you to feel confident as you pick up your Bible. I deeply believe that with a posture of humility we can approach the word and get so much out of it before consulting those fantastic other resources. The Bible isn’t some mystical tool only for the eyes of the theologian or seminary grad. They challenge us as readers and often help point the way to a deeper understanding of God’s word. Now, there is absolutely nothing wrong with a good commentary or well-written Bible study. In truth, I somehow developed this mental block to digging into the Word and as the block grew I found myself reading less and less of the Bible and more and more commentaries about the Bible. Who was I to think I could intelligently understand the text that I was reading? As I approached the Word of God I felt ill-equipped and underprepared. It wasn’t all that long ago that the idea of sitting down and studying my Bible without the help of a Bible study completely daunted me.
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