Psalm 119

 

Introduction

            Jeremiah 31:15—mothers would see their little children slaughtered in front of their eyes in Ramah, which was Nebuchanezzar’s headquarters. Any child from 10 years old an upward could walk the trek to Babylon but those who were younger could not. On the trek they would be abused and subjected to many terrible things but at Ramah was the first shock of the fall of Jerusalem. Behind this is divine discipline. The nation is disciplined for its rejection of Jesus Christ who is the God of Israel, and because it has continually neglected Bible doctrine. “Rachel” simply refers to the mothers of Israel, though Rachel was actually an historical character.

            Verse 16 – “Restrain thy voice from weeping.” God has a plan for those who survive and this plan does not include weeping. God has a plan that will take care of the worst disasters that have ever existed.

            “for thy work shall be rewarded” – thy work indicates that this was addressed to born again believers who were caught up in this great national disaster. Even though a believer may go through the most horrible things, as long as he is alive God has a purpose for his life. Thy work—their work is still in the future. One of these boys on the march to Babylon was a boy by the name of Ezra. He was probably in his early teens at this time. Jeremiah is saying to Ezra, You are still alive, dry your tears and get with it. And Ezra did. Psalm 119 is the story of how Ezra went from Ramah to Babylon and suffered as few teenage boys ever did. And yet he lived through it even though he saw these disasters, and when it was all over he had Bible doctrine in his soul which he used, and he not only survived all of these terrible things, but when he was an old man in his home in Jerusalem he sat down and wrote a poem which was later sung—Psalm 119. By this time he had collected a file and he showed how he was able to endure these things because he had down in his human spirit Bible doctrine. This Bible doctrine flowed through the pipes to his soul, and even though he went through disaster after disaster as a teenage boy he grew up to be one of the greatest believers of his generation. There never has been a disaster or a catastrophe in the history of the human race which is too great for the plan of God.

            Verse 17 – “And there is hope [confidence; faith-rest] in thine end, saith the Lord, that thy children come again to their own border.” The promise to return.

 

The authorship of the Psalm

1.       The author of the Psalm was Ezra.

2.       Ezra is the son of Seraiah—Ezra 7:1. The word son doubles for son and grandson. He is actually the grandson of Seraiah.

3.       Seraiah was the high priest during the reign of Zedekiah, the last king of Judah. 2 Kings 25:18; 1 Chronicles 6:14; Ezra 7:1.

4.       At the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. Seraiah was sent as a prisoner to Nebuchanezzar in Riblah, and there he was put to death—Jeremiah 52:24-27.

When Seraiah died he had two surviving sons. The first was Jehozadak, the high priest during the captivity. There was also a younger son, not named, who was the one who had the experience of Psalm 119. Later in he made a file and it is his son, Ezra, who actually took the file and composed Psalm 119. So Ezra is the author but he is writing of his father’s experiences going from Jerusalem to Babylon as a slave.

5.       Ezra wrote Chronicles, the book of Ezra, and Psalm 119.

6.       In Psalm 119 Ezra wrote his father’s story, or the triumph of Bible doctrine in maximum adversity.

7.       Psalm 119 is an acrostic—obviously taken, then, from the files of his father. The father taught his son well for Ezra became the great man of the Word of God in his day—Ezra 7:10; Nehemiah chapter 8.

 

)   Aleph

 

            Aleph—the ox. The ox represents prosperity. The first file that Ezra opens, maybe 60 or 70 years after these disasters, is aleph. Here is the way we begin one of the greatest prolonged tragedies in the life of any person who was ever born again. And how does it start? The first verse begins with the prosperity which comes from Bible doctrine. Prosperity is relationship to God in operation phase two.

Verse 1 – The first word in the psalm is “Blessed,” which in the Hebrew is happinesses—ashere (pl.), inner happiness based on Bible doctrine so that no matter what the circumstances of life may be the happiness is there. It is ultimately the triumph of every believer. Ezra learned happiness under the most disastrous of all conditions. Bible doctrine was operative.

Then there is no verb here, it says, “Happinesses the undefiled in the way.” The word undefiled doesn’t mean undefiled at all. He was defiled. The Hebrew word is tamim and it means equipped—equipped for anything, equipped for disaster, equipped for tragedy, equipped for heartache, equipped for success, equipped for changing circumstances of life. That is what Bible doctrine does.

“in the way” – operation phase two of the plan of God, the believer’s operation in time. “Happinesses for the person who is equipped for phase two.” That is the title for this psalm.   

“who walk in the law of the Lord” – this is living under the principles of Bible doctrine.

Verse 2 – a repetition of the word blessed. Again it means happinesses, both inner and overt happiness.

            “are they that keep his testimonies” – the word for keep here is natsar, and it means to keep something that belongs to you. It means to protect a vineyard, to cultivate a piece of soil, to guard it. Doctrine belongs to us and keeping doctrine means to get it into a place where it can be preserved—into the soul. This is a qal active participle in the Hebrew which denotes linear aktionsart. The qal participle means habitually guarding it, habitually keeping it—which means intake into the human spirit and into the human soul. Testimonies refers to everything pertaining to the persons of God, and by application it means God is perfect; His plan is perfect. A perfect plan excludes human good. God has provided for every stage of His plan and it becomes a matter of discovering these divine operating assets and utilising them.

            “seek him with the whole heart” – the word for seek, darash, means to seek in the sense of having +V toward doctrine. A believer who is positive toward Bible doctrine stores that doctrine in the human spirit. He goes all out to get it and then he pipes it into the human soul where it is available, where he is equipped to face the disasters of this life. Sooner or later you are going to discover a problem too great for you, and you are going to have to cope with life in areas where you cannot meet the problems of your life. They are going to be too great for you and as a believer in Jesus Christ you are not intended to cope with your problems, the battle is the Lord’s. “Cast your burdens upon the Lord and he shall sustain thee; he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.” God has a plan for your life. As long as you live God’s plan and God’s purpose will meet the greatest disaster of your life.

            Verse 3 – “They also do no iniquity” is incorrect. It really says, They do not produce under the evil. “The evil” is an Old Testament way of describing the old sin nature. Under the old sin nature you cannot produce anything that is a part of the plan of God. There is no production that is acceptable to God under the old sin nature, therefore God has made provision so that whatever you do it is going to count. It is maybe unseen, unheralded, unrecognised, but any good that you do when controlled by the Holy Spirit, it counts.

            “they walk in his ways” – you must get into operation phase two before it counts. Walking in the way is the production of divine good: the filling of the Spirit plus Bible doctrine = the execution of phase two of the plan of God.

            Verse 4 –  “Thou hast commanded to keep thy precepts diligently.” Commanded means to decree, to appoint—tsavah in the Hebrew, a piel perfect, meaning this must be a completed command. The word to keep here means to guard, to protect, to utilise. The precepts: Bible doctrine presented categorically.

            Verse 5 – Here is the desire of this young man as he begins the terrible march. “O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes!” My ways refers to the operation of his soul. Statutes:  Bible doctrine transferred to the soul, categorically organised in the soul, stored on the shelves of the soul, so that in effect the soul reaches in and takes off the shelf what is needed. It is Bible doctrine learned, categorised, and ready to go—on the launching pad.

            Verse 6 – “Then shall I not be ashamed.” The word is not to be ashamed. The Hebrew word is bosh which means to be confused. The antithesis of confusion in the Hebrew is confidence. God requires that believers be confident, that they know what they are doing, that they have fixed and absolute norms, that they know what is right and what is wrong, what is true and what is false. It is imperative for the believer to know the will of God at all times, that he knows when he is not in the will of God, when he is out of fellowship, when he is in fellowship, what his status is.

            “when I have respect unto all thy commandments” – the word for respect means to look on something with pleasure, to see that it is so wonderful that you want it immediately.

            Verse 7 – “I will praise [celebrate] thee with uprightness of heart.” Uprightness of heart simply means that the soul has all systems functioning properly.

            “I shall have learned thy righteous judgements” – the Hebrew word lamad which means here that you learn the hard way. There is much doctrine to learn. Some of it is learned the hard way. He is going to learn it now under the adverse circumstances of the 5th cycle of discipline. Prosperity [aleph] depends upon knowledge of Bible doctrine. “I will celebrate thee with the uprightness of soul, when I shall have learned thy righteous judgments.” There is much doctrine to learn; I am going to have to learn some of it the hard way.

Verse 8 – “I will keep thy statutes [Bible doctrine given categorically]: forsake me not utterly.” His last prayer in the aleph file is, “Let me stay alive to learn these things.”

 

b  Beth

 

Beth—the house. The house refers to the plan of God. By way of application to us the plan of God is divided into three phases. Phase one is salvation: Jesus Christ bearing our sins; “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” Phase two is the believer in time. It occurs one second after salvation and continues as long as the believer lives in this life. God provides for the believer in phase two. Phase three is the believer in eternity. The beth file is the plan of God for the believer with emphasis on phase two.

Verse 9 – the rebound challenge. “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?” Wherewithal is old English for In what. The first line reads literally, “In what shall a young man keep his way [his life: phase two] clean?” In other words, how can a teenager maintain his life/integrity before the Lord under the most difficult circumstances of life? His integrity is maintained in his soul.

“by taking heed according to thy word” – but that isn’t what the Hebrew says. The Hebrew: if he guards according to the standard of thy Word—doctrine. According to is according to a norm or standard. He has to guard doctrine when under pressure. The Hebrew word is shamar, a military word for guarding. The bodies of the slaves are abused and yet the soul in intact. The abusers cannot touch the soul—if it has doctrine.

Verse 10 – “With my whole heart have I sought thee.” The whole heart refers to the soul as it relates to the human spirit. So we have the human spirit piping doctrine into the soul. Whole heart means his inner life is intact. He has a wonderful, powerful soul because of Bible doctrine. He is a helpless slave to the Chaldeans but inside of him is this tremendous dynamic—God’s Word, Bible doctrine. The words I sought mean that up to this time this teenager had been interested in one thing: Bible doctrine. When all of the teenagers were out having fun, before 586 B.C., when the disaster hit, he was learning doctrine. Doctrine—darash—was a way of life, it was first in his life. This is a qal perfect, it means he was talking about his past—completed action. In the past he had sought the Lord—doctrine.

“O let me not wander from thy commandments [Word]”—he recognises his danger. His danger was that these terrible things that had come his way might turn him bitter, turn him into a mass of self-pity so that doctrine will stop flowing through his soul. Commandments is a reference to Bible doctrine pertaining to phase two. Let me not wander is a hiphil imperfect. The hiphil is causative, and the imperfect—now he is looking at these disasters coming up as he is moved in slavery back to Babylon. He sees the danger. As long as he keeps his soul intact by guarding doctrine.

Verse 11 – “Thy word [Bible doctrine] have I hid in mine heart.” The hiding of the Word in the heart keeps the soul intact in time of great disaster. Have I hid is qal perfect, describing his past. The word for hiding is tsatham in the Hebrew which doesn’t really mean to hide at all, it means to treasure. He treasured Bible doctrine. To him it was more important than anything else. It was his treasure, and that is a whole lot different from giving lip service to it, as so many do. The treasure was now on the inside where the Chaldean soldiers couldn’t get it and destroy it. The whole story of Psalm 119 is the triumph of doctrine.

“that I might not sin [make a false step] against thee” – the word is not really sin here. The Hebrew word is chatah which means to make a false step. It often is used for sin but actually the false step here means to downgrade Bible doctrine. If at any point he downgrades his own treasure, they can’t take it from him but he takes it himself and throws it away.

            Verse 12 – “Blessed” describes the character of God from the standpoint of the believer who knows doctrine. Because he knows doctrine he loves the Lord, therefore he is occupied with Christ. He has not given in to self-pity or to any of the bitterness concepts.

            “teach me” is a piel imperative which recognises a principle. Now in disaster, if anything he needs more, but he is going to have to get his teaching directly from the Lord. So, “Teach me, I need more doctrine.” He needs to add to his treasure with more treasure. To teach means to train him.

            “thy statutes” – Bible doctrine presented categorically for assimilation and utilisation.

            Verse 13 – “With my lips have I declared all thy judgments.” With my lips is the mechanics of rebound. Somewhere it time Ezra is going to be guilty of sins on this march, and these sins have to be confessed. So at this point he names the sins.

            “have I declared” is simply a word for rebound. It means to enumerate in detail his sins; “the judgments of thy mouth” – in other words, he recognises the fact that God judges sin and he has declared these sins which have been judged.

            Verse 14 – the result of rebound. “I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies.” He can’t rejoice in the terrible things that are happening to him in the slave camp on the way to Babylon. His rejoicing is the soul intact under maximum disaster conditions. It means to have inner happiness.

            “as in all riches” – the riches here are the treasures of Bible doctrine. His treasure is intact, so when he rebounds he has the joy of these doctrines.

            Verse 15 – “I will meditate in thy precepts.” The word meditate here means he is talking to himself. He will talk to himself in terms of doctrine presented categorically. Precepts is doctrine on categorical form.

            “and have respect unto thy ways” – to have respect means to look with pleasure. The Hebrew word is nabat has the connotation of anticipating and then enjoying. It means to anticipate with extreme pleasure. He is looking forward to being on the march because all he has to do is put one foot down and then the other, but he can think doctrine, he can have fellowship with the Lord. He can talk to himself—meditate.

            Verse 15 – “I will meditate in they precepts.” He talks to himself about precepts—Bible doctrine presented categorically; “and have respect unto thy ways” – he looks forward with pleasure. In those nights when he is being abused it is horrible, but when he gets up and is on the march again he can’t wait to pull out some doctrine to savour, to enjoy, and to be refreshed by it.

            Verse 16 – “I will delight” – the word delight in the Hebrew is shaa. It means to make the most intimate love. Why does he use this word? Because this man has been assaulted time and time again, and the most intimate things have been done to his body under the perversion of homosexualism. He is a helpless victim, and while these terrible things have been directed against his body he would get up every day and make love to the Lord—Bible doctrine.

“myself in thy statutes” – doctrine presented categorically.

“I will not forget thy word” – should be, I will not neglect they word. The mechanics of facing disaster.

 

 

g   gimel

 

Ezra is the son of a man by the name of Seraiah [Ezra 7:1], the high priest in the days of Zedekiah. He was the high priest at the fall of Jerusalem and he was personally taken out and slaughtered by Nebuchadnezzar. Seraiah had two sons, one of whom was called Jehozadak who was the high priest during the period of the captivity. Jehozadak also had a son named Joshua, the one mentioned in Zechariah as the high priest returning with the people to restore the temple in 536 B.C.  But Seraiah had another son who is unnamed in this passage and Ezra was his son. So Ezra and Joshua the high priest were actually first cousins. It is actually Ezra taking the file of his father to describe the activities recorded in Psalm 119. Ezra also wrote Chronicles as well as parts of Nehemiah, the book of Ezra, and also Psalm 119. But he is actually describing here his father’s story, or how Bible doctrine can triumph under the most adverse and unusual circumstances of life.

Gimel—the camel. The camel represents travel and travel represents wide knowledge. The principle of the gimel file is the importance of extensive knowledge of God’s Word. Verse 17 – “Deal bountifully” is a qal imperative of the Hebrew word gamal. The qal stem in this particular word actually means to benefit. To be benefited under the plan of God three traps must be avoided. First, there must be the avoidance of the detail trap. Inside of every person there must be doctrine. It produces inner happiness which leads to occupation with Christ. When the emphasis is on doctrine one can enjoy the details of life. With doctrine in the soul if we lose the details of life we still have doctrine, we still have inner happiness, we still have occupation with Christ. All of the details of life can be eliminated as they were for Ezra’s father—a young teenage boy who had nothing left but Bible doctrine. The next great problem is the problem of those who go on negative attitude toward Bible doctrine. They create vacuum in the soul into which go the mental attitude sins, the worst sins of all.

“Benefit thy servant” – the word benefit is a command. Here is a teenage young man who has Bible doctrine. Now he is on his own, but even so there is no problem for him. He demands benefit, this is in the imperative mood. This is a demand for grace. He refers to himself as “thy servant” which means he is oriented to the plan of God. He knows that he is in phase two as a believer and that as long as he lives God has a purpose for his life and that this purpose will be fulfilled.

            “that I may live” –  as long as God wants us in His plan He is going to keep us alive, and there is no horrible thing that can take us out of this world as long as God has a plan for our lives; “and keep thy word” – the word for keep is shamar which means to guard. This means that in the human spirit he has doctrine stored categorically. There is no such thing as knowing too much doctrine. Our effectiveness in phase two depends upon guarding the Word, and guarding the Word means to keep it on the shelves, ready to be fed into the human soul. Our prosperity, then, does not depend on the details of life; it depends on Bible doctrine.

            Verse 18 – “Open thou mines eyes.” It doesn’t say that at all. His eyes are opened. He says, “Uncover my eyes,” and this is a piel stem (intensive), and this is a very intensive action. He already has doctrine and now he says, “Uncover.” This is just like saying, “Pipe it into the soul.” It isn’t that he can’t see, he is talking about the vast storehouse of Bible doctrine. Since his childhood when his father, the high priest, began to teach him this young man has known his Bible doctrine. It is the Word that keeps him going and there is no substitute for Bible doctrine—there never has been and there never will be. It is Bible doctrine that keeps the soul inviolate.

            “that I may behold” – the word to behold is the hiphil stem of nabat, and it means cause me to do something. The word actually means to look on something with pleasure—“Cause me to look on something with pleasure.” What can he look on with pleasure as a slave in the midst of abuse? He can’t look around him with pleasure. He takes pleasure in Bible doctrine in his human spirit, that’s all. He loves the Lord; he is occupied with Christ. Bible doctrine is the mind of Christ. He has Bible doctrine flowing from the human spirit to the human soul.

            “on great things out of thy law” – his eyes, as it were, are turned inward and he looks on the marvellous doctrine he has in the human soul. This is all he has at this time. Yet, with this he will become one of the greatest believers of his day. He will survive every disaster, every catastrophe, every horrible thing that comes his way.

            Verse 19 – “I am a stranger in the earth.” This is simply a Hebrew idiom which says that he is enslaved now. The word stranger means a foreigner. He is a foreigner in the land. He no longer belongs there, he is under the fifth cycle of discipline.

            “hide not [do not conceal] thy commandments from me” – Do not let me get away from these things. In effect he says, “My only chance to glorify thee is something inside of me—Bible doctrine.” Bible doctrine is greater than all the disasters around him.]

            Verse 20 – “My soul breaketh [is bruised, literally].” “My soul is bruised with desire”— his soul is in danger of being bruised. His self-consciousness is in danger of becoming self-pity. His mentality is in danger of mental attitude sins—bitterness, guilty conscience—because of these horrible things that are happening. The word for longing in the KJV should be translated desire. It is the Hebrew word for caressing, fondling, etc. He is saying that he loves doctrine, that he thinks about doctrine, his soul is constantly filled up with doctrine flowing from his human spirit.

            “unto thy judgments at all times” – judgment here simply refers to Bible doctrine presented categorically. At all times – this doesn’t mean that there is no time for the details of life, but you never lose track of the giver, you never lose track of the Lord Jesus Christ.

            Verse 21 – “Thou hast rebuked the proud.” That is legalism, human good, the energy of the flesh.

            “they are cursed” – this is the fifth cycle of discipline; “which do err from thy commandments” – these people didn’t err from the animal sacrifices, from the ritual. They erred from doctrine. Commandments is a synonym for doctrine.

            Verse 22 – “Remove me from reproach.” Literally this says, “Roll away from upon me disgrace.” The word reproach means disgrace, and this is the 5th cycle of discipline. For the first time he recognises the fact that he is going to live through the 5th cycle of discipline, these disaster conditions. This is the same as casting one’s cares upon the Lord;  “and contempt; for I have kept thy testimonies” – the testimonies refer to the techniques. He has maintained the rebound technique, the faith-rest technique, the spirituality technique, occupation with Christ.

            Verse 23 – he is under pressure from great men. “Princes do sit and speak against me” – the reason he was judged so severely was because his father was the high priest.

            “but thy servant did meditate in thy statutes.”

            Verse 24 – “Thy testimonies also are my delight.” This is that great word for caressing, making love. And he says, ‘My making love is in thy testimonies and in the techniques.’ Therefore he has learned the principle that there is no disaster or difficulty in this life too great for the plan of God.

 

 

d   Daleth

 

            Daleth—the door. The door is the entrance into the plan of God. Once you are in the plan of God you have gone through the door and God has provided for every need that you will ever have. Principle: Doctrine is greater than any disaster or problem of this life.

Verse 25 – “My soul[1] cleaveth to the dust.” In other words, he is saying his soul is intact. It is in the dust. The dust here refers to humiliation. He is in the dust of the fifth cycle, helpless, shackled, chained, a victim of the cruelty of the Chaldeans. The word for cleaveth in the Hebrew is dabaq which means to adhere or to be glued to something. This is a qal perfect, and the perfect tense means that this has been his past experience. This is what has happened to him since the moment that the Chaldeans soldiers came in with their slaughter, rape and torture. When he says he is glued to the dust he is saying that he is in maximum suffering conditions.

            “quicken [refresh] me according to thy word.” His happiness, peace, power, blessing in the dust or in times of success depends upon the Word. Matthew 4:4. “Quicken” is a piel imperative of chajah and means to refresh. It is a demand of God. If that soul is going to stay in that body it must have refreshment. He is going to open a door to his human spirit and take doctrine off the shelf. So he says, “Refresh me according to the standard of thy word.” This is what kept him going.

            Verse 26 – “I have declared my ways.” This simply means he has confessed his sins; “thou heardest me” – this means that he has been forgiven. Once he has rebounded he is forgiven, so he says, “teach me thy statutes”—Bible doctrine given categorically.

            Verse 27 – “Make me to understand” is literally, “Cause me to discern.” The word is bin in the hiphil stem. Bin means to understand, to discern; it means to call on something you already know. It is the word for taking an exam.

            “the way of thy precepts” – precepts is a synonym for Bible doctrine: “Cause me to discern Bible doctrine.” 

            “so shall I talk of thy wondrous works”—he is even going to witness to these soldiers. He is going to talk about the Lord. You cannot talk about what you do not know.

            “My soul melteth for heaviness” – the word to melt means to cry, inner cries from pressure, crying without tears. The pressure is now on his soul. Heaviness means pressure, adversity.

            “strengthen thou me according to thy word”— this is a piel imperative again. The word for strength is the Hebrew word qum and it means to lift up something, to build muscle by lifting weights. He is going to build muscle by the claiming of Bible doctrine.

            Verse 29 – “Remove from me the way of lying.” That is not what the Hebrew says. It is, “Cause me to turn aside from the way of vanity.” This is a hiphil infinitive. It means to lay aside as well as to turn aside, but we are talking about his soul and he wants to turn away from the way of vanities. Vanity refers to the details of life. He will not compromise. Bible doctrine gives the strength to stand up under these things.

            “and grant me thy law graciously” – is literally, “and with doctrine be gracious unto me.” God can only treat the believer in grace.

            Verse 30 – “I have chosen the way of truth [doctrine].”  Then he says literally, “I am satisfied with thy judgments.” In other words, he is satisfied with what God is doing. He is satisfied with doctrine. Satisfaction is used two ways in scripture: propitiation—God the Father is satisfied with the work of Christ on the cross; but there is doctrine which comes from Him, doctrine in phase two, and we can be satisfied with doctrine.

            Verse 31 – “I have stuck unto thy testimonies.” This is the word dabaq which we saw in verse 25. We could translate this, “I am glued to doctrine.”

            “O Lord, put me not to shame” is incorrectly translated. He says, “Cause me not to be confused.” This is a hiphil imperfect. The imperfect means the action is not completed; it means he is looking down the line at hundreds of miles ahead in chains with all of the horrible things that are going on, and he doesn’t see any let-up. He does not want to get confused down the line by the prolonging of the pressure. He doesn’t want to crack up.

            Verse 32 – “I will run the way of thy commandments.” I will run to Bible doctrine. The word for way is refuge—“I will run to the refuge of doctrine.” He can’t run anywhere, he is chained. This is what his soul is doing. His human spirit is loaded with doctrine and it is being transmitted to his soul.

            “when thou shalt enlarge my heart”—the heart refers to the entire soul. His soul is enlarged by running for refuge. The word when means as I run to refuge my heart is enlarged. His elf-consciousness becomes occupation with Christ. His mentality, the divine viewpoint of life. His volition: he stays intact, he chooses for God, he chooses doctrine. His emotion: he has appreciation for God. He has in his conscience the divine norms and standards. His life counts for the Lord. As a result he has a different perspective.

 

h   He

 

He—the window. He is looking out the window of his life as he trudges along. His perspective during the day is doctrine—using it, applying it. Every step he takes, he takes it with doctrine.

Verse 33 – “Teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes [Bible doctrine given categorically]; I will keep it to the end [of my life].”

Verse 34 – “Give me understanding, and I will keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart”—every part of his soul.

Verse 35 – “Make me to go in the path of thy commandments [live my life by doctrine]; for therein do I delight.”

Verse 36 – “Incline [literally, expose] my heart to thy testimonies, and not to covetousness.” Don’t let me knuckle under to the system here.

Verse 37 –“Turn away my eyes from beholding the emptiness of it all; and refresh thou me in your ways”—Bible doctrine.

Verse 38 – “Stabilise thy word unto thy servant, who is devoted to occupation with thee.”

Verse 39 – “Turn away my reproach [the failure that often occurs after a night of debauchery] which I fear: for thy judgments [doctrine] is good.”

Verse 40 – “Behold, I have longed after doctrine: refresh me in your perfect character” – righteousness refers to the perfect character of God.

 

 

W   Vav

 

            Vav [Waw]—the peg. It represents a peg, a hook, or a nail. It presents Bible doctrine as the peg or the hook on which the believer hangs his life in phase two. The peg stays in one place—stability. Principle: Stability in phase two depends on Bible doctrine. God uses stabilised individuals.

            Verse 41 – “Let they mercies come.” The word for mercies is grace in action. It is in the plural, indicating that God always deals with the individual in grace and He never changes this principle. The basis for this is the doctrine of propitiation which takes place at the point of salvation. The mercies here refer to the delineation of grace as it appears in Bible doctrine. So ‘Let thy mercies come’ refers to Bible doctrine flowing from its storage place into the human soul. The storage place is the human spirit which we receive at the point of salvation. The word for come here means to move along—into the various facets of the soul.

            “thy salvation” is literally, thy deliverance; “be according to thy word”—if it isn’t done through doctrine it doesn’t count. The writer here makes it clear that the deliverance is from the inside, not the removal from the disaster conditions. It is the inner peace and power which comes from Bible doctrine.

            Verse 42 – “So shall I have wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me.” In other words, apparently there was some dissention among those who were chained together. Apparently there has been a lot of static from some of the other slaves who resent the divine viewpoint. Remember that under disaster conditions legalists will cling to their legalism. A legalist continues to be a legalist under disaster conditions. A grace man continues to be a grace man under disaster conditions. So we have this prayer for vindication. The word reproach is the key word here. It is a word which means to malign, to scorn, to resent—charaph, a qal active participle here which delineates linear aktionsart. Consequently, they constantly scorned, reproached, maligned the writer. The answer to legalism is Bible doctrine, the deliverance of the Word of God, therefore the deliverance of divine grace.

            “for I trust in thy word” – Bible doctrine. The word for trust is batach, the word for a wrestler slamming another wrestler, and eventually it means to slam your problems on the Lord. Here is where the writer must use Bible doctrine. This is a qal perfect for batach. The perfect tense indicates that he has already placed these individuals in the Lord’s hands and he is simply sitting tight on that particular situation.

            Verse 43 – “And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth.” Take not is a hiphil imperfect of the verb natsal which means to snatch away. It implies: Do not let the words that I say [he will utter grace words, divine viewpoint, which will be ridiculed] be snatched away.” In other words, he is going to come back with some Bible doctrine and his prayer at this point is, “Do not let them take away the words that I utter, even to excess.” The word utterly is the Hebrew for even to excess. Those who are legalistic are going to be very resentful of what he has to say. He is saying, ‘Let what he says be acceptable to those who resent doctrine.’ In other words, to allow the pressure conditions which exist to be a means of reaching these people with doctrine.

            “for I have hoped in thy judgments” – the word for hope here is the word for trusting under pressure conditions: piel stem, which indicates the pressure; perfect tense which means he is putting his trust in Bible doctrine no matter how difficult things get. Thy judgments refers to Bible doctrine as it pertains to experiential principles.

            Verse 44 – “So shall I guard thy law continually for ever and ever.” He is simply saying he will guard the law; the law continues forever and ever. In other words, this is another way of saying the Word of God lives and abides forever. He will guard something that is permanent and eternal. It refers to the waw, the hook or the peg in the wall: “I can still hang my life on that hook called Bible doctrine.”

            Verse 45 – “And I will walk at liberty.” Incorrect. He says, “I will walk in comprehensiveness.” The word translated liberty is not liberty at all, it means in breadth of mind. It is the Hebrew word rachab, which means depth of mind, breadth of mind, and it comes to mean comprehensiveness: ‘I am going to walk by what I think.’ He thinks doctrine.

            “for I seek thy precepts”—Bible doctrine presented categorically.

            Verse 46 – “I will speak of thy testimonies,” referring to Old Testament Christology. He will tell the others around him about the Lord Jesus Christ. He will describe various things in the Mosaic law which speak of Christ.

            “also before kings” – he knows right now that he will survive to see the king of Chaldea. He will survive to see Persian kings on the throne. He has utmost confidence that God uses prepared people, and prepared people are those who have Bible doctrine in the soul.

            “and will not be ashamed” – this is the same principle as Romans 1:16. Why is he not ashamed? It is coming up in the next two verses: “I have loved.” He is not ashamed of the Lord whom he loves.

            Verse 47 – “And I will delight myself in thy commandments.” The Hebrew word shaa is a fascinating one. It is in the hithpael stem, which is reflexive in this case, and means that the self-consciousness of the soul is receiving doctrine from the spirit, and the self-consciousness of the soul comes to occupation with Christ, which is described here by this word shaa. This word which is always translated delight doesn’t even come close to meaning delight. It means the deepest, the strongest, and most powerful type of love. Between members of the human race, male and female, this is mental love expressing itself in sexual love. This is the Hebrew word for sex love. This is what he is using here for the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? To indicate a strong love under adverse conditions. The word means to fondle, to caress, to court, to make love where there is love involved. When used of God is means something a little different. It means that the mental attitude love is there, and the mental attitude love expresses itself in a little different way. There is occupation with Christ under the most adverse pressure conditions imaginable. In other words, it is just as if he is saying at this point, through Bible doctrine, that he is making love to the Lord Jesus Christ and the Lord Jesus Christ responds to that love by giving him inner happiness, inner resources, in fact everything necessary to go through this mess. This we simply call occupation with Jesus Christ. We can only make love to the Lord by capturing His mind—1 Corinthians 2:16, the Bible is the mind of Christ. So he uses the words “thy commandments” simply to indicate the mind of Christ concept. He is going to make love to doctrine and in that way make love to the Lord. He is courting Bible doctrine. Every chance he gets he draws on his inner resources. He thinks about doctrine. He puts it together in his mind. He disseminates it to others. The imperfect tense means he is going to keep on doing this.

            “which I have loved” – perfect tense, he has always loved doctrine. Because he is carrying Bible doctrine he can share it on the march.

            Verse 48 – “My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments.” My hands lifted up is fervent desire. This is as close he can come to again expressing the love concept of saying “I will delight.” He will have an intense love for Bible doctrine and everything else will depend on the Lord.

 

 

Z   Zayin

 

            Zayin—a weapon. The weapon in this case is the Word of God. We find in this passage that not only is it an offensive weapon against others but there is something about having this weapon in the hand that is refreshing. What is the principle in this refreshment? Refreshment through having a weapon in the hand and being able to use it properly and successfully. This is the zayin file. We have the Word of God that is a weapon, but a weapon which provides refreshment and relaxation.

            Verse 49 –  “Remember” is the Hebrew word zakar. Since this is the zayin file every letter in verses 49-56 will actually begin with the letter zayin. This word means to call to remembrance. If you are going to be refreshed under adversity or under any set of circumstances you have to call to mind principles found in the Word of God—doctrines, concepts, promises. Therefore the key to refreshment is the ability to recall, to bring into the mentality of the soul Bible doctrine.

            “the word unto thy servant” – the writer is asking God to help him recall to mind the Word of God. They servant is the writer who was a Jew under the fifth cycle of discipline. Therefore he is saying to bring to his mind those things that are necessary for blessing. But notice that he doesn’t tell God to wave a magic wand. He says, “Help me to bring it out of the Word . . . help me to recall the Word.”

            “upon which thou hast caused me to hope” – the phrase to cause to hope here is the verb yachal and it does not mean to hope, it means to trust under maximum pressure. The perfect tense has the concept of keeping on doing this. So yachal means to have faith or faith-rest under maximum pressure.

            Verse 50 – “This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me.” This refers to the promises and doctrines which is already stored in his human spirit. My comfort means the Word of God provides inner happiness and inner blessing in time of disaster. My affliction refers to the maximum pressure conditions under which he finds himself. Thy word is the solution—“hath refreshed me.” This is refreshment under pressure.

            Verse 51 – “The proud” refers to the Chaldean soldiers; “have had me in derision” – they have derided and scorned him; “yet have I not declined from thy law” – that means, I have not turned away from it, I have not neglected it. The thing that causes a turning away from the law or the Word of God is bitterness because of one’s condition. More important than his present circumstances of adversity is the very fact that he himself has the Word of God. Because that doctrine is more real to him than all of his terrible experiences there is no bitterness, and he recalls the Word of God. Therefore he is oriented and stabilised.

Verse 52 – “I remembered [brought to mind] thy judgments.” This simply refers to doctrine in the canon of scripture. Judgment refers to a segment of the Mosaic law, the Mosaic law refers to Bible doctrine, and Bible doctrine is what he recalls under these circumstances.

“of old” – this doesn’t mean they were written of old, though that is true. But he is now recalling things that he learned in the home when things were pleasant.

“and have comforted myself” – he didn’t forget to take doctrine with him. He still has inner resources which he now calls upon. Myself comes from the hithpael stem which is reflexive, and the fact that he can comfort himself means that he is not dependent upon anyone else at this point. He is spiritually self-sustaining.

Verse 53 – “Horror.” This means this person was tortured, raped, kicked around, abused. Horror means nightmare type suffering with no recourse, no help, no possibility of deliverance.

“hath taken hold upon me” – the word to take hold means to seize, to come upon suddenly, to grab without warning. Every great disaster that you will face in this life you will face without much warning.

“because of the wicked who forsake thy law” – the soldiery ignore Bible doctrine, the principles of decency which are found in the Word of God, etc. They do not live by any moral code. Most of the people of the ancient world did not have a code of morality. The Jews were the exception rather than the rule.

            Verse 54 – “Thy statutes.” The statutes refer to Bible doctrine organised into categories and located in the human spirit.

            “have been my songs, in the house of my pilgrimage” – there is no pilgrim house here. The pilgrim house happens to be disaster. This is simply an idiom which means he is in a foreign country. What kinds of songs does he have? He can’t sing. When you know Bible doctrine and have inner happiness based on the Word of God, and when you are occupied with Christ, then you can sing too. It may be on the inside and it may come out. It is easy to sing when the joy of the Lord is in your soul. Doctrine is the basis for true singing.

            Verse 55 – “I have remembered [called to mind] thy name.” Now we are getting down to the real basis for singing praises. Thy name is thy person. He calls to mind the Lord Jesus Christ.

            “in the night” – in this time of disaster he has occupation with Christ; “and have kept thy law” – I have guarded the principles of the Word of God. The word to keep here means to keep something that belongs to him.

            Verse 56 – “This I had, because I kept thy precepts.” Because he has done so in the past he can do so now. This verse brings us the contrast between the charge of the mosquito and the charge of the elephant. In the past he has had the charge of the mosquito. When he lived back in Jerusalem circumstances were much better and during that time he had a certain number of problems—the charge of the mosquito. He learned to use some faith-rest under these conditions, so when he gets down here to the charge of the elephant he just brings the same faith-rest and the same doctrine into the picture and shoots down the elephant in the same way he did the mosquito. By keeping the precepts he means in the past he claimed the Word. In the past he claimed promises, in the past he used the faith-rest technique, and since he used it with the charge of the mosquito why not handle the elephant the same way?

 

 

x   Kheth

 

            Kheth—security. Kheth means an enclosure or a fence. The Kheth file emphasises the grace of God keeping the believer on earth rather than taking him home. So it means that if you are alive God has provided for it—in His Word, in doctrine.

            Verse 57 – “Thou art” is not found in the original. This actually begins with the words “My portion” – my plot of ground, that which belongs to me, my allotment, my share. The word is cheleq. Here is a person without anything, except chains and a lot of pressure from the Chaldeans, and yet he says, ‘I have something from the Lord.’ Even though he is in disaster God has put a fence around him and no matter what happens that fence is going to keep him intact until the day He decides to take him home.

            “I have said I would keep thy words” – he recognises that his protection is Bible doctrine. Bible doctrine orients him to the plan of God.

            Verse 58 – “I entreated thy favour.” The word for favour is the Hebrew word for grace, and he said he made a special appeal for grace. He is simply asking that the grace of God be utilised in his case.

            “with my whole heart” – the human soul. In other words, he realises that his soul must remain intact. Self-consciousness must have occupation with Christ; mentality must have doctrine—he must think doctrine; his volition must make decisions compatible with the will of God; his emotion can still appreciate God; his conscience: he can still keep the same norms and standards even though he is in a very degrading slave situation. His whole heart must be oriented to the grace of God.

            “be merciful” is literally, be gracious—qal imperative. He orders God to be gracious. He knows enough doctrine to understand the grace of God. Confidence is based on grace, not ego; “unto me.” He demands grace for himself.

            “according to thy word” – Cf. verses 25, 41, 65, 76. When you are in the Word you are on solid ground, and on the basis of the Word of God you can demand things from God. But it takes that faith-rest.

            Verse 59 – “I though on my ways.” He thought about his own life, he became introspective. Here is a self-examination.

            “and turned my feet unto thy testimonies” – the word for turn is a hiphil imperfect of the verb shub, and it means to be caused to turn. The hiphil stem means he simply rebounded. The testimonies here is that rebound leads to the filling of the Spirit which results in learning Bible doctrine.

            Verse 60 – “I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments.” Here is positive volition toward Bible doctrine. He hurried toward Bible doctrine. He delayed not, and the word to delay here means not to let anything stand in the way of learning doctrine; “to keep thy commandments” means to guard, to preserve. God has a purpose for his life and he wants to preserve that purpose.

            Verse 61 – he has some opposition. “The bands of the wicked have robbed me.” This is literally the companies of the wicked, the Chaldean soldiers, have surrounded me.

            But whatever happened he came through it in beautiful style: “but I have not forgotten thy law.” He is not going to forget.

            Verse 62 – “At midnight.” It was all over. Whatever abuse they brought that night for him was now gone; “I will rise to give thanks unto thee” – whatever had happened to him he gave thanks to the Lord. He demanded grace and he got grace. Here is a body that went through the most awful things in the world. Why? To show us that what is important is the soul inside of that body. The soul remained intact under these most awful conditions. This was maximum pressure but under maximum pressure conditions his soul remained intact, and he gives thanks unto the Lord.

            “because of thy righteous judgments” – doctrine. Judgments is a technical term for certain things in the Mosaic law, so he is talking about Old Testament doctrine. It is righteous because it comes from God. It is perfect. Even though he is under these disaster conditions he still has his mind on Bible doctrine and therefore his soul remains intact.

            Verse 63 – there are others going through the same thing. All the time they were preparing for the greatest period in Jewish history. They are the nucleus of those who will go back to the land after 70 years and will form the groundwork for the golden age of the Jews, from 516-323 B.C., the age of doctrine.

            “I am a companion of all them that fear thee.” The word for fear means occupation with Christ. The word often means reverence. In that long line of captives are born-again believers with Bible doctrine with souls intact. He is not the only one.

            “and of them that keep thy precepts” – precepts: Bible doctrine stored categorically in the human spirit. Keep is guard, qal active participle, linear aktionsart. They guard, day after day.

            Verse 64 – “The earth, O Lord, is full of thy grace.” Not just the land, not just where the temple stood, but every day as they march he sees new land, new places, new people, new things, and he says that everywhere he goes the earth is full of grace. Why? Because he is carrying it inside of him. He carries his inner resources, he has them right with him.

            “teach me thy statutes” – in other words, he wants to know more doctrine.

 

 

+   Teth

 

            Teth—relationship. Teth comes out of a concept that means to roll together. God and the believer have an intimate relationship as a result of entrance into the plan of God. Throughout the teth file there is one word that stands out: “good.” It is the Hebrew word tob. (The letter b is pronounced v in the Hebrew)

            Verse 65 – “Thou hast dealt well with thy servant.” Thou hast dealt well is an incorrect translation. There is a verb and a noun. The verb is asah, to make something out of something; the noun tob means good—to make good out of something. The something here is maximum disaster and pressure—the fifth cycle of discipline. The writer is a slave under horrible conditions of suffering. And yet, out of maximum suffering God makes good. When a person gets into God’s plan by faith in Jesus Christ everything is going to work together for good no matter how horrible it is. God has provided for every disaster that could ever exist in this life. His plan is greater than anything we will ever face. Here the writer is addressing himself to God and saying: “You have made good out of this disaster.” Only God can do this; only God can convert cursing into blessing. It is a monopoly of God and you have to be in His plan to even get close to this. But being in His plan is not enough. You have to know doctrine, the mechanics and principles. The words thy servant indicates the relationship, and then he uses the words “O Lord” to answer God.

            “according to thy word” – every believer has a relationship with God but very few believers appreciate or utilise the relationship. It is one thing to be in the plan of God; it is something else to appreciate it.

            Verse 66 – “Teach me good judgment [discernment].” It is one thing to have doctrine; it is something else to have discernment; “and knowledge” means along with knowledge. Discernment tales the doctrine and uses it. Discernment leads to appreciation of who and what God is. Discernment is for pressure; knowledge is for ordinary circumstances. Discernment must accompany knowledge in order to appreciate God. “Teach me” is the Hebrew word lamad which means you can’t simply state it academically. It means to lay it on hard; it means to learn things the hard way, learning under adversity. When doctrine is real to you under adversity it is because of one word—discernment. Discernment is the ability to think doctrine under disaster conditions. The piel stem of lamad means this is very intense.

            “for I have believed thy commandments” – the reason he is ready to be taught. So there is an actual stepping-stone. There is a gap between knowing doctrine under normal conditions and discernment or applying doctrine under disaster conditions. The bridge is the faith-rest technique. The word believe here is the Hebrew amen, which means to use God’s Word as a prop.

            Verse 67 – “Before I was afflicted I went astray.” Now we are learning something about the writer. He is just a teenager and before the fifth cycle of discipline came he was saved, but he says he went astray. This describes his early teens as a believer. This is a qal active participle of shagag. To go astray in the sense of shagag means to wander away from something you have, something you know. He knew doctrine but he wandered from it.

            “but now have I kept [guarded] thy word” – now under pressure [5th cycle of discipline]. He has kept the Word of God under maximum pressure.

            Verse 68 – “Thou art good.” For the first time he can say this: He is perfect; His plan is perfect. The person has to be good before He can do good. The person must come before the work. You must know doctrine before you can produce divine good.

            “doest good” – God has manufactured good out of disaster because He is good. Only God can take one believer plus disaster and turn that into good. Doest good is a hiphil stem, and this means to cause good.

            “teach me thy statutes” – teach me is the same word, lamad, but this time he says statutes. Statutes are categories of doctrine. He realises that it is the doctrine he has in his mind categorically that you can use. Doctrine which is permanently retained is doctrine which is in its proper category. So it is important to know categories of doctrine because when you have pressure you may not be able to think of specific principles but you can think of a category. If you can think of a category you can work down to what you need. When you have stored doctrine categorically you can call upon it categorically.

            Verse 69 – there is a contrast. “The proud have forged a lie against me.” The proud refers to the Chaldeans, the soldiers in charge. The word forge means to contrive, and the lie simply means they have accused him falsely.

            “but I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart” – wherever you find in the Old Testament the words whole heart it refers to the entire soul. Doctrine: precepts; the whole heart; the entire soul.

            Verse 70 – “Their heart is fat as grease.” The Chaldean soul: there is no human spirit; their self-consciousness is great pride; mental attitude: they have mental attitude sins which produce self-induced misery; volition: they make decisions which lead to abuse; emotion: their appreciation of life is sensual; conscience: their standards are animalistic, brutal. That is the soul that is fat as grease. The words fat as grease actually mean stupid and insensible. Malfunction of the soul is involved—a distorted soul, a twisted soul.

            “but I delight in thy law” – the word to delight here means to fondle, to caress, to make love, shaa. The law means scripture.

            Verse 71 – “Good for me that I have been afflicted” – Romans 8:28.

            “that I may learn they statutes” – He knows the scripture [law] but the word statutes refers to doctrine in the scripture. It is one thing to know the Bible stories; it is something else to know the doctrines in the scripture. All of this suffering has one point that makes it good. Before he had knowledge of scripture. He knew it but he wandered. Now we have disaster, affliction, and he still knows it but he has discernment. He now has points of doctrine.

            Verse 72 – “The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.” Doctrine is now more important to me than lots of money, he says.  

 

 

Y   yodh

 

      Yodh—the hand. “Thy hands” – refers to the hands of God. Generally speaking the hands of God are used to show His power, His plan, the wonderful security which He provides. The hands of the Lord Jesus Christ are often described as the hands of the creator—Psalm 19:1 cf. Colossians 1:16. They are mentioned in connection with the cross—they nailed His hands to the cross, Psalm 22:16; John 20:19,20. The hands of Christ are also the hands of eternal security—John 10:28; Psalm 37:24. The hand of God and the grace of God in phase two are described in 1 Peter 5:5,6.

            The yodh file is the turning point. Up to this point we have seen in all of these acrostics the various activities along the march—the disasters, the tragedies, the heartaches, the frustrations, the total catastrophe concept, the helplessness of the prisoners—and now we come to the place where there is a turn in the tide. This is the result of Bible doctrine. Those who began to survive these terrible depredations began to remember points of doctrine which they had learned in the home, or words which the writer of this passage had described to them. Now we have the writer looking back over the years and recalling his first Bible class. He was a captive, chained, and he was in with a group of people who were chained. He began to pass on pieces of doctrine to those with him and suddenly finds himself with a Bible class, because he knows a great deal of Bible doctrine. He has studied the Word of God and these things he calls to mind as night after night he suffers from the Chaldean soldiery.

            “have made me” – the word to make here is asah which means to make something out of something. The writer is referring to himself and he refers to the Lord as a potter. The Lord is a potter who is moulding the writer of this particular passage. It means here not only to make something out of existing materials but it is a reference to the writer who is previously described in verse 67 as being a carnal believer—indifferent to Bible doctrine—until the catastrophe hits. Now he begins to realise that of he is going to survive, if his soul is going to be stabilised, if he is going to remain intact, if his life is going to count for the Lord then he must use some of the doctrines he has learned and recall to mind many of the lessons of the past. Consequently he is saying that the reason he is intact, the reason his soul is till stabilised, is because out of existing materials he has been fashioned. He has been fashioned out of the materials of doctrine. Now he is telling what doctrine has done for him. What was once a failure now has become a vessel for the Lord’s use. The Lord has moulded him and this moulding comes through doctrine.

            “and fashioned [stabilised] me” – the word for fashioned means to stabilise. This is in the piel stem, an intensive stem. He is saying that once Bible doctrine begins to move from the human spirit into the facets of the soul he began to stabilise. And now he recognises that he can’t have enough doctrine. He knows that there are many problems ahead.

            “give me understanding” – hiphil imperative of bin, which means the be caused to recall something already learned; “that I may learn” – lamad, which means that he wants to get it up into the soul so that he can communicate it. He wants to learn so that he can teach others.

            Verse 74 – the beginning of the Bible class. “They that fear thee” – in the chain gang are other believers who have come to the point of occupation with Christ. They realise the importance of Bible doctrine.

            “will be glad when they see me” – many would die during the night or be left behind. In the morning apparently the people would look toward the writer. He was their Bible teacher now and when he stood up everyone was glad. They knew that day they would have another Bible class. There would be people in front and people behind and he would teach doctrine.

            “because I have hoped in thy word” – the word translated hope here is not hope at all, it is the Hebrew word yachal which means to trust under maximum pressure. He used the faith-rest technique under maximum pressure.

            Verse 75 – the greatest thing that can happen to anyone. “I know” – here is the best testimony we can ever have as a believer, i.e. that we know doctrine. The is yada in the qal stem, which means to learn under an academic situation. He knows from the standpoint of academics, Bible doctrine. He knows from his previous experience in Jerusalem. He has been taught and has learned doctrine.

            “thy judgments” – Bible doctrine; “are right, and that thou in faithfulness has afflicted me” – he begins to understand the principle of God’s faithfulness. Faithfulness is a part of the character of God. Even when he was being disciplined the Lord was faithful.

            Verse 76 – “Let, I pray thee, thy merciful kindness be for my comfort.” Merciful kindness is grace in action. Let grace be my comfort, is what he is saying. Only grace can convert cursing into blessing.

            “according to thy word” – he recognises that doctrine is his only hope. But then he adds something to show that he had taken the Word and applied it to his own life: “unto thy servant.” He is oriented to the plan of God. He knows that no matter what happens to him the battle is the Lord’s. He is the Lord’s servant and that day he is going to give a Bible message. He is going to communicate doctrine to others. God has given him a purpose.

            Verse 77 – “Let thy tender mercies come unto me.” He doesn’t ask for food, he doesn’t ask for protection, he doesn’t ask that the disaster be removed.

            “that I may live: for thy law is my delight” – Why does he want to live? Because he wants to give the Word. The Word is his delight [the word for love]. His love is the Word of God and he puts the Word first, above all else.

            Verse 78 – “Let the proud [Chaldean soldiers] be ashamed [confused]; for they dealt perversely with me without a cause: but I will meditate in thy precepts.” In other words, he is not going to try to fight back. He puts the Chaldean soldiers in the Lord’s hands. He doesn’t lower himself to their level.

            Verse 79 – “Let those that fear thee [occupation with Christ] turn unto me.” Everyone in this slave group who is occupied with Christ, let them turn. The word turn means to listen: “and those that have known thy testimonies”—there are many believers in this group of slaves, let them turn to me so that I can have the privilege of giving them the message. In other words, he is asking that God will spare those who will make students in his Bible class.

            Verse 80 – “Let my heart be sound.” The Hebrew word means to be equipped—Let my soul be equipped.

            “in thy statutes” – Bible doctrine presented categorically; “that I may not be confused”—confused as far as teaching is concerned. As he teaches these people day by day he does not want to mislead them. He is praying that he might be effective in the communication of Bible doctrine.

            This is the great transition to victory—in the hands of God, the yodh file. He is in the Lord’s hands, God has a purpose for his life, and he begins to realise this as his prayer moves in the direction of communication.

 

 

k   Kheth

 

Kheth—the palm of the hand. The palm of the hand refers to the fact that we as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are in His plan as long as we live. There are two things we have to remember about being in the plan of God. a) It doesn’t depend on us. Grace means it depends on God’s character. There is nothing in the Christian life that depends on us at any time, anywhere, or at any place. It all comes from God’s character: from God’s character comes God’s provision. It is always the issue of who and what God is, never who and what we are. b) This immediately de-emphasises who and what we are. Grace emphasises who and what God is. Therefore, all we have to do to be in the plan of God is to be alive on this earth.

Verse 81 – “My soul fainteth for salvation [deliverance].” When the self-consciousness is fainting it is self-pity; when the mentality is fainting is has various types of pouting activity; volition—a fainting soul always makes a lot of hot-headed ridiculous decisions; emotion—gets into the tantrum activity or tries to find some ecstatic experience as a substitute for doctrine; conscience takes up stupid norms and standards. A fainting soul requires deliverance, and it is the deliverance that comes through rebound. A fainting soul is a person who is alive but they are so confused from lack of doctrine that they cannot get to a basic point in their life which is naming their sins to God. The word faint is a piel perfect. The piel stem is intensive; the perfect tense means the fainting is over. The difference is now deliverance. 

            “but I hope in thy word” –  the verb hope is yachal and it means to trust under pressure. This is a qal perfect, he is describing a past experience. There is a difference between fainting and trusting. The object of this faith-rest is the Word.

            Verse 82 – “Mine eyes fail.” The word for fail here means exhausted. This is a sign of mental exhaustion—tired eyes, tired mind. It is a form of pressure, like many other things. He is waking up tired. This verse says literally, “Mine eyes fail when I am receiving comfort.” This really isn’t a question, it means that when his eyes fail after a tortuous night, when he has been without sleep night after night, he is comforted. He is being comforted under the greatest stress and strain of life. The piel stem means both to console and to comfort, and his comfort comes from inner resources. He doesn’t have a thing on the outside on which he can depend. Bible doctrine sustains him.

            Verse 83 – “For I am become like a bottle in the smoke.” There is no bottle here. This is a wine skin in the smoke. The wine skin is usually made out of goat skin. If it is hung up by a fire where it receives prolonged heat. It dries up and cracks. When it cracks the wine escapes. If it is there long enough it shrivels up. I am become like shrivelled skin, is the literal translation. This is an idiom. The skin is shredded, shrivelled up and ruined by all of this heat, and that wineskin represents the body of the writer. He has been abused in every way and he feels just like a dried up wine skin.

            “yet I do not forget thy statutes [the categories of doctrine]”—Bible doctrine stored in his human spirit categorically. Neglect of the categories of doctrine means forgetting it under pressure. He doesn’t forget under pressure.

 

            Lamentations chapter three:

            Jeremiah stood on a hill and watched thousands of people going by, shackled and in slavery, going out under the fifth cycle of discipline. He saw that many terrible things were in store for them in the very near future. As he was looking at one group he recognise the young man walking by him. Here was the son of the high priest, and as this young man went by this is what Jeremiah said: Lamentations 3:19 –  “Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.” Jeremiah was a man who suffered intensely, and yet he is not saying this in a complaining vein, he is merely pointing out that God is faithful—that in the plan of God there never has been a catastrophe or difficulty too great for the plan of God. In verse 20 he says, “My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled within me.” The word humble here is simply orientation to the grace of God, understanding the plan of God, and because of this orientation he understood the grace of God, that everything depended on who and what God was. Verse 21 – “This I recall to the mentality of my soul, and therefore I have faith [yachal] under pressure.” This is the perpetuation of the faith-rest technique into occupation with the person of Jesus Christ.

            The explanation of his humility: Verse 22 – “It is of the Lord’s mercies [grace] that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.” It is the faithfulness of the Lord that counts. Verse 23 – “They [the mercies of the Lord] are new every morning.” The emphasis here is on every morning, and soon this young man will have occasion to remember these words because every day he will find it much more difficult to get up from the day before. Verse 24 – “The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore I will hope in him.” Verse 25 –  “The Lord is good [divine good] unto them that wait upon him”—i.e. perpetuate the faith-rest technique. Trust Him moment by moment, the battle is the Lord’s—“to the soul that seeketh him.” This is what that young man heard. That is +V toward Bible doctrine. And that was the attitude of this young man as he faced the most awful pressures of the march to Babylon.

 

            Verse 84 – “How many are the days of thy servant?” How much longer will I live? The answer to this is very simple. First of all he is going to live one day at a time.[2] He is going to live as long as God has a purpose for his life. He is in the plan of God and he knows it. His abusers can’t get to him at all because he is a winner.

            “when wilt thou execute judgment on them that persecute me?” He is not asking for vengeance, he is putting the matter in the Lord’s hands. He is telling God to judge them Himself; he refuses to do so. Because of his understanding of Bible doctrine he refuses to judge them.

            Verse 85 – “The proud have digged pits for me.” Already they have discovered that he is teaching Bible doctrine, that he is a source of encouragement along the way, and the Chaldeans have laid ambush for him. They are trying to trip him up in some special way.

            Verse 86 – “All thy commandments are faithful: they persecute me wrongfully; help thou me.” He recognises the principle that God has a special purpose for his life, and this purpose is going to be fulfilled in spite of all of their failures.

Verse 87 – “They have almost consumed [destroyed] me upon the earth.” They had almost destroyed him, so terrible were the things they had done to him.

“but I forsook not they precepts” – the word precepts means Bible doctrine categorically on the shelves of the human spirit. He did not forsake Bible doctrine and it carried him through this terrible disaster.

Verse 88 – “Quicken [refresh] me according to the standard of thy loving-kindness.” He is calling for refreshment and he is going to have refreshment amidst the greatest pressures of life.

“so shall I keep the testimony of thy mouth” – the word keep here means to guard, to protect. He is going to communicate the Word every day.

 

 

 

l   Lamed

 

            Lamed—an ox goad. The ox goad connotes two concepts and these are both resident in verses 89-96. The first concept is the principle of rebound and the second one is the concept of God’s faithfulness to us. Just as the ox goad keeps the ox moving so rebound[3] keeps the believer moving. It is interesting that the rebound offering is an ox or a heifer—the red heifer. We are motivated to keep moving in the spiritual life because all of our sins have already been judged.

            Verse 89 – “For ever, O Lord, they word is settled in heaven.” Thy word refers to the realm of doctrine dealing with the believer’s life. We only have it in writing since 96 A.D when the canon of scripture was completed. Bits of it were given along the way, starting with Moses, but the Word of God existed in eternity past—1 Corinthians 2:16, the Bible is the mind of Christ. Cf. Psalm 138:2—the name is God, the person of God, and the plan comes from Him. The plan was settled in eternity past. There isn’t anything new in God’s plan, it is of old. The word settled here doesn’t mean to be settled, it means to be appointed. “Your word, O Lord, is appointed forever,” and it is a niphal stem which is passive voice. That means it receives permanence. It now exists in the Bible. The Bible has been attacked and attacked and attacked. Every day the Bible is being attacked somewhere on this earth, but the Bible stands up and there is no way that Satan can destroy it. This book will go on forever.

            Verse 90 – “Thy faithfulness unto all generations.” There never was a generation left without revelation from God. There never was a generation that didn’t have some doctrine of some sort, and out generation has everything by way of doctrine. We are here by the faithfulness of God; we are cleansed by the faithfulness of God; we are filled by the faithfulness of God; we are motivated by the faithfulness of God. Anything that we have that is worthwhile in any way is because He is faithful to us.

            “thou hast established the earth, and it abideth” – an illustration of faithfulness. “Thou hast established” is a piel perfect of the verb kum. In the piel stem it means to adjust and to direct, to give cohesion to something, to stabilise, to provide a stability for the unstable; “the earth” – the stability of the earth depends on divine laws.

 

            The doctrine of the sustaining of the universe

1.       The continuation of the universe depends upon the omnipotence and the immutability of Jesus Christ—Colossians 1:17; Hebrews 1:3.

2.       So-called scientific laws do not exist.

3.       They are not laws because science has no way of enforcing them or guaranteeing them.

4.       So-called scientific laws are based on the statistical assumption that the universe which operates according to a fixed norm will continue to do so. Science cannot guarantee it will be this way forever.

5.       The universe with matter, energy, and operational laws will not always exist as it does at the present—2 Peter 3:10-12; Revelation 20:11.

6.       Known scientific laws depend entirely on the faithfulness of God. And based on Colossians 1:17, on the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. So every text book and every discovery on the pattern and laws of the universe is a treatise on the faithfulness of Jesus Christ.

7.       By the word of His mouth Jesus Christ holds the universe together—Hebrews 1:3.

8.       His reason for doing so is to resolve the angelic conflict and to bring many sons into glory—so that you and I could be saved, Hebrews 2:10.

9.       To allow grace to run its full course Jesus is keeping the universe together. The laws of the universe can be overruled and changed by Jesus Christ. This explains how Elijah departed—no gravity; also Enoch, plus certain miracles. Even though He overrules His laws, either by miracles or when extra-natural phenomenon occurs, He never overrules or changes a promise or a doctrine. The doctrines of the Word of God are absolutely unchangeable!

10.    Therefore scientific laws are simply the faithfulness of Jesus Christ holding the universe together, holding back eternity, so that the human race will have opportunity to appropriate the grace of God and to live under the grace of God before eternity begins.

 

Verse 91 – “They continue this day according to thine ordinances [doctrine]: for all are thy servants.” The writer looks around and sees the people who are

born again. These laws operate for them to stay alive, so that they can have impact, so that they can learn Bible doctrine and have the dynamics that go with that Bible doctrine.

            Verse 92 – “Unless the law [Bible doctrine] had been my delights [The Hebrew word for making love].” If doctrine had not been the love of his life he would not have been alive. “I should have perished in mine affliction.” Doctrine kept him going. The love of his life was the Word of God, Bible doctrine.

            Verse 93 –  “I will never forget they precepts [Bible doctrine presented categorically].” Stored away in his human spirit are these categories of doctrine. It is easy to forget Bible doctrine unless it is stored categorically, and so the word precept means to have it in categories. It is necessary to take it in categorically, and that is why it must be taught categorically and why it is listed in the scripture categorically. You cannot teach verse by verse without also providing the categories for storage, assimilation and application.

            “for with them thou hast quickened [refreshed] me” – here is a person whose refreshment, happiness, blessing and everything is Bible doctrine.

            Verse 94 – “I am thine, save [deliver] me; for I have sought thy precepts.” He is simply asking that God will give him the strength to stand up so that on that very day he can again teach in his walking Bible class. In other words, ‘Help me to get up today for I have sought.’ When they were in peace, before there was any Chaldean invasion, he sought doctrine. He had already done this in the past. Here is a challenge for us today. If we ever face a catastrophe, will we have Bible doctrine stored away so that we can be the person for the hour and able to communicate the divine viewpoint of life to the ones who are also in the catastrophe. Bible doctrine is the recovery of a national entity as well as an individual under pressure. The word sought here is a qal perfect. The perfect tense means this was in the past, and the verb darash means to intensively seek something, to realise the value of something in a period of prosperity.

            Verse 95 – “The wicked have waited for me to destroy me: but I will consider [knew] thy testimonies [Bible doctrine].” The wicked refers to the Chaldeans. He has been in danger of death all the time. Because he knew Bible doctrine, even though they tried to ambush him and destroy him he stayed alive. God has a purpose for anyone who will learn Bible doctrine. You cannot kill a person who has doctrine in his spirit and when that doctrine is flowing to the soul. God keeps those people intact, He has a purpose for them.

            Verse 96 – “I have seen an end of all perfection.” This is an idiom for “I have become disillusioned about people.” He was a teenager and he though that there were certain people in Jerusalem who would be great heroes when the enemy came. Instead, they were cowards and they ran and hid and fell apart under pressure. They couldn’t take it. So he became very disillusioned about people and he realised that people were not the answer, that the country could not be saved by people. We are not supposed to have our eyes upon people or depend on them. With Bible doctrine we can enjoy people but we do not depend upon people.

            “but they commandments [Bible doctrine] are exceedingly broad” – doctrine is without any limits. There is no limit to what Bible doctrine can do.

 

 

 

m   Mem

           

            Mem—water. This takes us to the water of the Word. Cf. Ephesians 5:26.

            Verse 97 – “O how I love thy law! It is my meditation all the day.” The law refers to Bible doctrine. The word for meditation means it was constantly in his thoughts. He is constantly looking at things from the doctrinal viewpoint.

            Verse 98 – “Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies.” In other words, the Word of God gives him a super weapon. He has no physical weapons and yet inside of him is the greatest weapon of all—Bible doctrine.

            “for they are ever with me” – his enemies march along side him, they are the soldiers.

            Verse 99 – “I have more understanding than all my teachers.” The teachers who went before him taught him Bible doctrine but they did not go through the things that he did. He went through maximum disaster conditions and therefore he saw experientially the truth of Bible doctrine more than anyone before him. This does not mean that he actually understood more doctrine but it means that he actually experienced more doctrine with understanding than anyone else.

            “for thy testimonies are my meditation” – Bible doctrine is with him through every one of these disasters. 

            Verse 100 – “I understand more than all the ancients.” The ancients were Jewish believers who lived prior to the writer. They had never faced such a thing as he had.

            “because I guard thy precepts” – the guards were guarding the prisoners but this prisoner was guarding Bible doctrine.

            Verse 101 – “I have refrained my feet from every evil way.” Now he is going back to the days of prosperity in Jerusalem. The word for refrain means to separate. Evil way here actually means in the Hebrew false doctrine. He separated himself from false doctrine and this is why he was able to learn so much so rapidly in the four or five years when he was a teenager. Why could he guard the Word? Why was the Word so firmly entrenched in his human spirit? Because there was no false teaching, no false doctrine to obscure it.

            Verse 102 – “I have no departed from thy judgments: for thou hast taught me.” Judgments here refers to various types of Bible doctrine, it is very similar to the word precepts. It is doctrine stated line by line rather than category by category. Thou hast taught me recognises that all doctrine is from the Lord.

            Verse 103 – “How sweet are thy words unto my taste! Yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” In other words, he recognises that honey stimulates. He is making an analogy now between honey and Bible doctrine. Just as honey stimulates the taste buds, so Bible doctrine stimulates the believer. Just as honey provides energy for the body, so Bible doctrine provides that spiritual energy and impact that the believer needs.

            Verse 104 – “Through thy precepts [BD stored categorically] I get understanding: therefore I hate [despise] every false way.”

 

 

 

n    Nun

 

            Nun—a fish. A fish always seems to have food, shelter and clothing. So the Nun file speaks of the tremendous provision that comes from Bible doctrine. Bible doctrine provides many things:

            Verse 105 – Bible doctrine provides the basis for divine guidance. “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” In other words, the Word of God shows you where to go. All guidance as far as God is concerned is tied in with Bible doctrine. If you know Bible doctrine you can know what the will of God is. If you are ignorant of Bible doctrine you will never know what the will of God. The Bible must learned categorically before you can be guided by it.

            Verse 106 – “I have sworn, and I will perform it.” In other words, he has no made a decision. God has guided him. He in now a slave. He is alive.

            “I will keep thy righteous judgments” – the righteous judgments refers to God’s perfect will for the life of the writer. Right now God’s will for the life of the writer is to communicate Bible doctrine to others who are in the chain gang.

            Verse 107 – “I am afflicted very much.” It is going to be difficult to communicate doctrine because he is under great pressure. He personally is suffering abuse.

            “quicken [refresh] me, O Lord, according to they word.” The only refreshment that counts is the Word of God.

            Verse 108 – “Accept, I beseech thee, the freewill offerings.” There are many kinds of offerings. Prayer is called an offering, as is rebound, praise and worship, etc. Offering is describes here in the best possible terms—something that comes from your volition, freewill.

            “offerings of my mouth” – he can take what he possesses and give to someone else. This person is a spiritual millionaire because inside of him is Bible doctrine, and there is nothing more important to give to others than Bible doctrine.

The word accept is not really the literal translation. The Hebrew word means to take pleasure in something—ratsah. He is saying, Take pleasure in my freewill offering. He demands [qal imperative] that God take pleasure in the one thing that he knows God will take pleasure in—the communication of Bible doctrine.

“and teach me” – there are something that he needs to understand so that he can better communicate; “thy judgments” – the principles that he needs to know.

Verse 109 – “My soul is continually in my hand.” This is an idiom for being close to death at this moment; “yet I do not forget thy law.”

Verse 110 – “The wicked have laid a snare for me.” He has become a special target now for the Chaldean soldiery because it is quite obvious that he has something that they do not have. His stability, strength, power, blessing, are all being communicated to others up and down the line and this makes him a special target.

“yet I erred not from thy precepts” – they have not been able to drive Bible doctrine away from me.

            Verse 111 – “Thy testimonies I have taken as my heritage for ever.” These things have been passed down to him, it is all he has.

            “for they are the rejoicing of my heart [soul]” – his soul has inner happiness right now under maximum disaster conditions because Bible doctrine is flowing from the spirit to the facets of the soul.

            Verse 112 – “I have inclined my heart [soul] to perform thy statutes always, even unto the end.”

 

 

 

s   Samech

 

            Samech—the Hebrew letter and word for a fulcrum. The fulcrum is Bible doctrine. A fulcrum is the basis of leverage. The lever represents God’s plan and the fulcrum is Bible doctrine. With the lever heavy loads can be lifted—suffering, pressures, the disasters and catastrophes.

            Verse 13 – “I hate vain thoughts.” The word vain doesn’t exist in the original. The second way that would be translated is I hate thoughts, and that isn’t true either. The word thoughts is not thoughts, but it means double-mindedness or doubting. This is simply an idiom for saying, I have confidence.

            “but they law do I love” – lit. because I love thy word. The word here for law is the Word of God, Bible doctrine. Confidence comes from knowing Bible doctrine. Why does he love Bible doctrine? Because doctrine is Samech, God’s fulcrum by which He lifts the sufferings the pressures, and the difficulties of life. You can slip a lever under a weight but you cannot lift that weight (sufferings and pressures) by simply having a lever. The lever is God’s plan but in order for God’s plan to operate in your life, to remove the sufferings and the difficulties, you must have leverage and leverage demands a fulcrum—Bible doctrine. God’s plan only operates through Bible doctrine—knowledge of Bible doctrine, understanding of Bible doctrine. You cannot utilise what you do not know.

            Verse 114 – since he loves the Word he is using the Word. He is active in the use of the Word. So he says, “Thou art my hiding place and my shield.” Hiding place means a place where he can retreat, a place where he can relax. Once you have Bible doctrine you have, as it were, a hideaway, a Shangrila, a place where you can relax; “and my shield” – a shield is a military defence system. There is a need for a defence system because we have the worst depraved soldiers on the march who are allowed to abuse the slaves.

            “I hope in thy word” – this word hope doesn’t mean as we use the word today. The Hebrew word is yachal which means to use faith in a situation where there  is total confusion and disaster. It means to have such a strong faith that you can concentrate on the promises of God, on the Word of God, on the plan of God, you can think about the things of God when everything is falling apart around you.

            Verse 115 – “Depart from me, ye evil doers.” There are some believers in the slave line who are under the control of the old sin nature. An evil doer simply means a believer controlled by his old sin nature. This means that at this point they have panic, they say there is no God, they scream imprecations and blasphemies and fall apart in every possible way because they are under the old sin nature. He is separating himself from these people in that he will have nothing to do with them because they do not have the divine viewpoint of life, they do not look at life from the standpoint of Bible doctrine.

            “for I will keep the commandments of my God” – in other words, he is going to keep on looking at life from the divine viewpoint. He has made his decision and there is nothing in life as important to him as Bible doctrine. He is not going to allow any thing, any person, to separate him from Bible doctrine. He says this under disaster conditions. It is one thing to say them when everything is going right. He does not care who he offends or what people think of him. Application: If it becomes a matter of going to learn Bible doctrine nothing stands in the way. What is more important? Some of your friends, or Bible doctrine?

            Verse 116 – “Uphold me according to thy word.” The word uphold simply means support, sustain. He is asking for vision on the basis of the Word of God. When he says, Uphold me, he is actually saying this is the plan of God because he puts it in a qal infinitive. The infinitive indicates planning and purpose. He knows it is God’s purpose to sustain him and that God is the only one who can sustain him. He has seen every detail of life removed. He doesn’t have a crutch, he has a lever. There is a tremendous difference between a crutch and a lever. A crutch is sublimation, a dependence upon the details of life; but a lever is God’s plan. God’s Word declares God’s plan. So the fulcrum is the basis for leverage and the plan of God is declared in the Word, it is the actual lever that lifts the problems and disasters of life.

            “that I may live” should be that I may be refreshed. He knows he is going to keep on living.

            “and let me not be ashamed” – literally, do not cause me to be confused; “because of my hope” is because of my trust [in the Word].

            Verse 117 – “Hold thou me up” is a qal imperative. It means, Refresh me—support in the sense of being refreshed.  

            “and I shall be safe” is literally, I shall be delivered. He isn’t thinking now of being delivered from disasters, he is thinking about the deliverance that comes from the Word of God in disaster. This is inner happiness in disaster.

            “and I will have respect unto thy statutes continually” – to have respect here means to have regard, to give them concentration and attention. He is saying, “I will concentrate on Bible doctrine continually.”

            Verse 118 – “Thou hast trodden down all them that err from thy statutes.” This word trodden down really means to carry away. It refers to the fifth cycle of discipline because they err, they wander, they go astray from categorical doctrine.

            “for their deceit is falsehood” – the word deceit is intrigue. As a result of rejecting Bible doctrine they got into intrigue, into retaliation, into petty activities of one sort or another.

            Verse 119 – “Thou puttest away all the wicked.” To put away the wicked here refers to putting away those who have rejected Bible doctrine; “of the earth” is correctly translated, of the land–those of Judah who have rejected Bible doctrine, those who depend on the details of life.

            “like dross” – in other words, He has purified the people, bringing out those who are true to the Word.

            “therefore I love thy testimonies” – the word testimonies refers to doctrines in the Old Testament concerning Jesus Christ. Beginning in Genesis 3:15 and going through the entire Old Testament there are many references to the Lord Jesus Christ. There are many types of teaching of both Christology and soteriology.

            Verse 120 – “My flesh trembleth for fear of thee.” His flesh trembles because he is occupied.

            “I am afraid of thy judgments [justice].” In other words, he has seen the effectiveness, the total disaster that came to his nation and he understands something of the justice which God executes, a justice which is described in Leviticus 26:27-46; Deuteronomy 28:49-67.

 

 

(    Ayin

 

            Ayin—the eye. The eye of the individual. This stresses perspective, application. Now he has seen the difficulties of life and what he sees by way of suffering he can match up with what he knows. Once he has doctrine in his soul he looks out on life with a perspective. He is looking at a disaster situation and his perspective is Bible doctrine.

            Verse 121 – “I have done judgment and justice.” I have done is the Hebrew word asah which means to make something out of something. The first something is the disaster situation; the second something is Bible doctrine. He uses doctrine in disaster so that he comes up with answers in the midst of a difficult situation. In this case, out of Bible doctrine he has made judgment and righteousness. In other words, he has been able to maintain his integrity before God in the midst of these things.

            “leave me not to mine oppressors” – do not allow my oppressors to totally destroy me so that I can take this perspective and bring it with me into the land of Babylon.

            Verse 122 – “Be surety for thy servant.” In other words, become my pledge, give me security and protection. He knows that Israel has a future under Bible doctrine and he wants to see that that future is based on the Word of God. Therefore he is asking God that He will be a pledge for Him, give His word that He will get him into the land with the people so that he can continue this communication of doctrine.

            “for good” – this is divine good or delineation of the plan of God.

            “let not the proud oppress me” – the proud are ordinarily the Chaldean conquerors but in this case they refer to something much more difficult. It refers to legalism. He is now totally oriented to grace and while he is being oppressed by a horrible and depraved Chaldean soldiery there is an oppression which is worse than depravity. It is the bullying, the pressure, the viciousness of legalism.

            Verse 123 –“Mine eyes fail.” His eyes haven’t failed at all, he has good eyesight. The word fail means to be completed; “for” means because of; “thy salvation [deliverance]” – physical deliverance. His perspective is complete, he knows he is going to be delivered. He knows that he is going to survive this death march to Babylon.

            “and for [because of] the word of thy righteousness” – because of Bible doctrine he has a future. Because of Bible doctrine he knows that his life has purpose and he knows exactly where he is going in the future. He knows that he is going to have a part in the development of a new nation, a nation which will be based upon the Word of God.

            Verse 124 – “Deal with thy servant.” The word deal is asah again. In other words, Make something out of thy servant. He is going to make something out of His servant by means of doctrine. So God takes Bible doctrine, and with Bible doctrine He manufactures something out of you. This teenager realises the value of doctrine; it is doctrine that changes people. God can change him because he has positive volition toward Bible doctrine. He understands the plan of God; he is oriented to the grace of God.

            “according unto thy mercy” – mercy is grace in action. Grace is latching on to what God has provided for the believer in time. These things were provided in eternity past. Now, in time, we know the Word and we know His grace, we are now ready for His mercy. What is the link up?

            “and teach me thy statutes” – teach is a piel imperative of the Hebrew word lamad. This is learning the hard way, under discipline. He is only 15 days out of the ruins of Jerusalem and he has another 7 days before reaching Babylon, and then he has slavery at the other end of the line. So he is going to have to learn things the hard way. He is ready to learn them but these hardships are going to help him to learn and to understand.

            Verse 125 – “I am thy servant.” Here is a relaxed mental attitude. He realises that he is not going to be much use if he is stupid. So now he says, “give me understanding.” This time he gets away from lamad and he uses the word bin in the hiphil stem, and it means “cause me to understand.” It is in the imperative mood in which he demands to be caused to understand. He realises that for the rest of his life he must learn doctrine. This is the key to everything.

            “that I may know” – this word means to have it in the human spirit. This is jadah.

            Verse 126 – “It is time for thee, Lord, to work” should be translated, Time for the Lord to work. God is not going to work if you work. A race horse and a mule don’t pull the plough, they fight each other! When we get smart and realise that we can’t pull the plough, and we stop completely, then God pulls it. So we just have to decide who is going to pull it. Grace says God does it; legalism says we do it. But the moment that we learn that we can’t do it in the energy of the flesh then He is right back there in His grace and pulling it for us. The word for work is asah again. It is time for the Lord to take doctrine and make something out of us.

            “for they have made void thy law” – to make void the law means that they have set aside the Word of God; they are antagonistic toward the Word.

            Verse 127 – “Therefore I love thy commandments [the Word of God] above gold; yea, above fine gold.” Gold is a detail of life and with gold you can have other details of life. So he says, “I love Bible doctrine more than I love the details of life.”

            Verse 128 – “Therefore I esteem all thy precepts.” The word esteem is the perspective of the writer, it is ayin, looking out through the eyes of doctrine and taking a look at life from the standpoint of doctrine. Precept is doctrine in its categories.

            “all right” – all correct. He esteems doctrine all correct, an absolute norm, the measuring stick for everything in life.

            “and I hate every false way” – since he has come to this place there is something he despises: false doctrine, false ideas. This should be the attitude of any believer who has true doctrine. This means despising internationalism, socialism, the weakness and instability we find in our leadership today, every system of pseudo-spirituality, every cult, every system which detracts from doctrine. He has now come to the place where he has appreciation for the full perspective of the plan of God, a full understanding of the plan of God, and he despises every false idea. He sees that in Bible doctrine there is victory over every false idea.

 

 

p   Pe

 

            Pe—the mouth. At this point we have a paragraph dealing with the mouth of God, the Word of God, speaking to the individual and the individual under pressure circumstances communicating the Word of God to others.

            Verse 129 – “Thy testimonies” refers to a certain type of Old Testament doctrine pertaining to the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Basically there are five different categories of the work of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. The first is the fact that Jesus Christ is revealed by the titles of God in the Old Testament. Secondly, there is an eschatological historical Christology and this based on passages generally found in Isaiah, e.g. 7:14; 9:6-8; ch53, where Jesus Christ is presented from the time of His virgin birth to the time of His second advent. Then there are certain Christophanies which are found in the Old Testament—primarily the angel of Jehovah. Sometimes He was revealed as a man, e.g. He visited the tent of Abram; He wrestled with Jacob. The fourth category has to do with the Shekinah glory. The Shekinah glory existed in the Tabernacle and then in the Temple. Then we have certain inanimate manifestations of the Lord Jesus Christ such as the burning bush, the articles of furniture, the structure of the tabernacle, and some of the modus operandi of the Levitical priesthood. These are inanimate but at the same time they represent by illustration, by parable, and by analogy the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. So when we go about this psalm whenever we find the word testimonies it is Old Testament revelation concerning the Lord Jesus Christ.

            “wonderful” – there is no verb here. They were wonderful in the sense that they stimulated him mentally; “therefore doth my soul keep them” – the soul is the real you, and the soul keeps them in the sense of guarding them. The Hebrew word for keep here means to guard. The soul actually guards Bible doctrine in a very special way—alertness, ready for action. While all Bible doctrine resides in the human spirit it is piped from the human spirit to the soul.

            Verse 130 – “The entrance of thy words,” means Bible doctrine going from the human spirit where it resides into the categories of the soul; “giveth light” – this means to illuminate. The entrance of doctrine causes illumination of God’s plan, God’s will, God’s grace. We have no awareness of our relationship to the Lord apart from Bible doctrine. So when we get doctrine we become aware of the existence of the Lord, what He is really like, what our relationship is.

            “it giveth understanding to the simple” – the simple is not simple at all. Wherever the word simple is found generally the Hebrew or the Greek word is much stronger than that. The word really means stupid. Stupid is any believer minus Bible doctrine. Even the most stupid person can learn doctrine. But this doesn’t mean low IQ stupid, it means negative volition toward doctrine stupid—up to a point. Up to this point practically everyone in that chain gang has had negative volition toward doctrine. But all that has been changed. The word for understanding here is knowledge—knowledge of doctrine. This means that God has provided something categorically in doctrine whereby anyone can learn Bible doctrine.

            Verse 131 – “I opened my mouth.” He opens his mouth because he is illustrating his desire for the Word of God. The opening of the mouth is the desire for air. When you are minus oxygen and you desire it there is a tendency to open the mouth and to pant; “and panted” – he was taking in air just as rapidly as he could. This indicates something. The people who were in the chain gang, the slaves, had been going without doctrine. Now they need doctrine just as they need air to breathe. This is an illustration. He isn’t literally opening his mouth to pant for air but he is very definitely anxious for the Word of God and he is describing his positive signals.

            “I longed for thy commandments” – longed means a deep desire, a desire which excludes anything else in life.

            Verse 132 – “Look thou upon me.” He recognises they have a long way to go yet. A literal translation would be, “Turn me on.” Bible doctrine turns him on, it keeps him going. It means, “Give me a continued love for Bible doctrine.”

            “be merciful” – mercy is in time, but it means that in eternity past God knew that he would be on this march between the ruins of Jerusalem and the city of Babylon. He knew all of the terrible things that would happen before, during and after that terrible death march. So in eternity past He provided everything this young man would need. The fact that he is going to be alive when he arrives in Babylon is a clear indication of the fact that God had a purpose for his staying alive. God did not protect him from those terrible things but He protected him in those terrible things. The provision made in eternity past is now going to be applied in time by the word mercy. What God has provided in eternity past this young man wants now. But how does he get it? Bible doctrine.

            “as thou usest to do unto those that love thy name” – incorrect translation. What is actually says is, “as is right to those who love thy name.” It is right and fair for God to do this. It is right to provide on this particular day because God actually provided in eternity past. If it was right to have these things ready in eternity past it is right to give them to him now at the right time in time.

            “that love thy name” – to love His name the believer has to know doctrine. You cannot have the capacity to love without doctrine.

            Verse 133 – he knows now that God is going to provide what he needs for that day. “Order my steps” – he really says Stabilise my steps. In reality this is, ‘Give me the strength to get up and walk today.’ He is teaching Bible doctrine. He is the teacher and all up and down the slave line people are waiting for him to get up.

            “in thy word” – on the basis of the Word. Because of the Word, help me to get on my feet. 

            “and let not any iniquity have dominion over me” – the word for iniquity is the old sin nature. Keep the old sin nature from getting control of me!

            Verse 134 – “Deliver me from the oppression of man.” He means deliverance from the danger which comes with oppression, i.e. the hatred, the bitterness. These are things that could eliminate his ministry right now.

            “so I will keep [guard] thy precepts” – Bible doctrine given categorically. So that he will actually guard this doctrine and use it.

            Verse 135 – “Make thy face to shine upon thy servant.” This is an idiom meaning the blessings of grace transferred to time. In other words, Let me see the part of the plan that was designed in eternity past.

            “teach me thy statutes” – Bible doctrine. Teach so that he can communicate.

            Verse 36 – “Rivers of waters run down mine eyes.” He realises the answer to the problem. At this moment he is actually crying because the solution is so near, and yet at this moment the people are so far. This is not crying because he is sad, this is crying because he realises even before he gets up that this day is going to be one of the greatest days of his life. When he gets up he is going to walk, and he is going to talk. He is going to fulfil the very purpose for his being there—communication of doctrine. He cries because he is happy.

            “because they keep not thy law” – it is actually, up to now they keep not thy law. This is going to be changed. The word because is not there.

 

 

 

c   Tsadhe

 

            Tsadhe—a sickle. Tsadhe pictures God’s judgment based on God’s righteousness. Tsadhe is the first letter in the word righteousness.

            Verse 137 – “Righteousness art thou, O Lord, and upright are thy judgments.”

            Verse 138 – “Thy testimonies.” This really teaches two things: learning doctrine resulting in occupation with the person of Christ. Testimonies is simply Old Testament scripture dealing with the person of Christ. In this case, since it is connected with the previous verse, it is propitiation which is involved. Thy testimonies are going to be compatible with the very character of God because doctrine comes from God. God is perfect; His plan is perfect. The delineation of His plan in the canon of scripture is called doctrine.

            “that thou hast commanded are righteous and very faithful” – righteous means that they are totally consistent with His own character; they are fair; they are just, and they are perfect. But it also adds something to that: He is also faithful. Righteousness and faithfulness are two entirely different things. It is impossible for God to fail His faithfulness is recorded in Bible doctrine, and Bible doctrine cannot fail because it represents, it reflects God’s perfect character. Therefore he is thinking about the Lord Jesus Christ when he gets up in the morning and he recognises that the Lord Jesus Christ will continue to be faithful to him, whether he succeeds or fails and regardless of any circumstance of life.

            Verse 139 – “My zeal hath consumed me.” The word zeal here really isn’t zeal at all. It really means fervour; it expresses an intensity of feeling as he suddenly realises a point of doctrine. It really means extra effort, a drive to get up and carry on. The word consumed means to saturate one to the point of causing him to move. It is energy from a spiritual source.

            “because mine enemies have forgotten thy words”— they are not energised, not motivated, not influenced by Bible doctrine.

            Verse 140 – “Thy word is very pure.” That is not what the Hebrew says at all. It should be, Thy word is a purifier. He is saying in effect, Doctrine is refining me. In other words, dross is being removed from his life by these pressures. A good translation would be: Thy word is a refining process.

            “therefore they servant loveth it” – he recognises he is in the Lord’s service, that he is in phase two and that God has a purpose for his life. He is still alive when he wakes up that day. He forces himself to stand erect even though he is tired and worn-out. But with one shot of doctrine he is cranked up and going. Cf. Proverbs 8:17—“I [Bible doctrine] love those who love me, and those who seek me early [diligently] shall find me.”

            Verse 141 – “I am small [young] and despised.”

            “but I do not forget thy precepts” – a precept is doctrine given categorically for retention in the human spirit.

            Verse 142 – “They righteousness is an everlasting righteousness.” God’s character is perfect and has always existed. The perfection of God’s character is revealed by God’s plan. Everlasting means eternity past—there never was a time when His righteousness did not exist; “and thy law is truth”—doctrine.

            Verse 143 – “Trouble and anguish have seized me: yet thy commandments are my delights  [love].”

            Verse 144 – “The righteousness of thy testimonies is everlasting: cause me to have understanding, and I shall be refreshed”—corrected translation.

 

 

 

q   Qoph

 

            Qoph—the subconscious. This is a flash-back, and stored up in the subconscious of the writer are memorial things, things that he remembers from his youth—the grace of God, the faithfulness of God, and some of the terrible disasters that overtook them on the death march.

            Verse 145 – “I cried.” This word means to cry out or to shout for help. It means to be in a hopeless situation, total disaster, having suffered many things up to the point of disaster, and having these things intensified to the point where there is no human activity in this life that can compensate for all of the accumulations found in the catastrophe. This is the situation at the time that the writer cries out.

            “with my whole heart” – when he says his whole heart he is beyond the place of using his voice. He is no longer expressing himself verbally, it is a more intensified type of suffering, and the whole heart refers to the entire soul which is under pressure.

            “hear me, O Lord” – this is a command from a person who knows his ground because of Bible doctrine; “I will keep thy statutes”—Bible doctrine presented categorically. He is going to continue to depend upon doctrine, it is more real to him than anything else in life.

            “I will keep thy statutes” – he is going to use the proper categories of doctrine even for the pressures which are accumulated from the subconscious.

            Verse 146 –  “I cried unto thee; deliver me” – he has cried every day of the march and every day God has been faithful to him. For some reason on this 19th day the problem of the subconscious became a very real one.

            “and I shall keep thy testimonies” – in the previous verse he said he would keep the statutes, Bible doctrine categorically. The testimonies refers to Bible doctrine pertaining to the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ as it was in Old Testament times.

            When he says “deliver me” it is in the imperative mood, but this time it is a little more intensive because this is the hiphil imperative. He says, “cause me to be delivered.” He recognises that the Lord does not personally have to intervene or perform a miracle but the causation for deliverance from qoph, the subconscious problem, is deliverance through doctrine which he already has inside. His deliverance is that Bible doctrine which is stored up in his human spirit. His deliverance is the fact that that Bible doctrine is moving into his conscious mind.

            Verse 147 amplifies – “I prevented.” The verb is qadam in the piel stem. It means to go early or to anticipate, to be eager for something early in the morning. So we translate this, “I anticipated the dawning of the morning.” He was eager for it, he was waiting for it, because on that next day he has fought and won the battle of the subconscious and he knows how doctrine works in this area. When he gets up that day he is going to be able to tell all the slaves around him something new and wonderful.

            “and cried” – this means that he had cried for help that night. This cry for help is stated in the two previous verses.

            “I hoped in thy word” – the word for hope is yachal which means to have faith under maximum pressure.

            Verse 148 – “Mine eyes prevent the night watches.” The word prevent is, again, anticipate. He was looking forward to getting a good night’s sleep is what he is saying.

            “that I might mediate in thy Word” – so he was looking for the darkness because it gave him the chance of getting some sleep, and the chance of meditating on the Word.

            Verse 149 – “Hear my voice according to thy loving kindnesses [grace].” This is God’s grace. He recognises a principle before he describes the terrible experience. In eternity past God the Father had a perfect plan for this young man called operation grace. In phase two God knew that he would face the zimmah pressure. Therefore with doctrine He made provision for the zimmah pressure. But in time the zimmah pressure must be met with knowledge of doctrine, so he had to know the doctrine. Otherwise the zimmah pressure could have moved into his subconscious and resulted in permanent scars that would have caused his life to be filled with kinks and distortions and miseries. But these kinks were eliminated.

            “quicken [refresh] me according to thy justice” – the one who experiences this has passed the point of propitiation.

            Verse 150 – that night he was looking forward to meditating on the Word and to getting some sleep. “They draw nigh that follow after mischief.” The word to draw nigh means to advance to attack; follow after means to pursue; mischief is the Hebrew word zimmah. Zimmah is used in Leviticus 18:17—“it is wickedness [zimmah].” It refers to some kind of sexual activity which is not normal sexual activity—perverted sexual activity. Proverbs 10:23—“It is as sport to a fool to do mischief.” The word sport means abnormal and perverted sexual activities. These are related to a fool. And it is said that he is doing mischief—zimmah. “. . .but a man of understanding has wisdom [in sexual matters].” Ezekiel 22:9,11—“. . . in the midst of thee they commit lewdness [zimmah]”; “. . . another hath lewdly [zimmah] defiled his daughter in law”—incest. Jeremiah 11:15—“. . .she hath wrought lewdness [zimmah—homosexual activity] with many. . .”

            In verses 150 we have a sex catastrophe, a young teenager is attacked sexually. He is a male attacked by males and therefore this has to be zimmah.

            “they are far from thy law” – by that we have a reference to passages like Leviticus chapter 18. Without his consent he was sexually abused that night. That could have scarred him, destroyed him, ruined him. But it didn’t. You do not have to be ruined by catastrophes.

            Verse 151 – “Thou art near, O Lord; and all thy commandments are truth.” This is what his soul was thinking when he was being subjected to these abuses. Up in the mentality of his soul the Lord is near. He says, “Thy commandments are doctrine.” Doctrine saved his sanity; doctrine removed the scars. Even though his body was abused his soul remained intact.

            Verse 152 – “Concerning thy testimonies”—doctrine pertaining to the person of Christ, actually a synonym for occupation with Christ—“I have known of old that thou hast founded them forever.” The solution to the terrible catastrophes was provided in eternity past. In eternity past provision was made to remove the scars so that the subconscious would not dominate and destroy and ruin this young person. Bible doctrine is greater than any disaster in life. Bible doctrine handles the problems of the subconscious just as it handles the problems of the conscious. Bible doctrine is God’s plan, God’s grace for the believer in time.

 

 

r   Resh

 

            Resh—thinking of the mind. This is a portrayal of what you really are. What you think is what you really are.

            Verse 153—“Consider mine affliction.” The word for consider means to observe what is going on. This is said in the qal imperative because it is simply a recognition that the person who experienced this knew that God observed the afflictions in eternity past and knew what this man would experience on the death march. His affliction means his personal pressure.

            “deliver me” – piel imperative. The Hebrew word is chalats and it means to remove the pressure from the situation. It doesn’t means to change the situation but it means to equalise of neutralise the existent pressures which he has been facing.

            Verse 154 –“Plead [defend] my cause, and deliver me.” He wants to be delivered from the pressure, not the situation, because this is another day and during this day he is going to teach Bible doctrine and give divine viewpoint.

            “quicken [refresh] me,” piel imperative. He cannot teach Bible doctrine until first of all he is personally refreshed; “according to the standard of thy word.” He wants to be able to go through this pressure with the Word of God. Bible doctrine is the basis for the believer’s deliverance in time of disaster, pressure, heartache and difficulty.

            Verse 155 – “Salvation [deliverance] is far from the wicked.” This is a physical deliverance. He is looking out at the Chaldean soldiers. The Chaldean nation is on its way down. No nation can abuse its power and continue to have that power. The only thing that kept the Chaldeans going for a generation is that fact that Nebuchadnezzar personally believed in Christ. This is part of the story of the book of Daniel. The Chaldeans will not believe in Christ and therefore they are on their way down.

            “for they seek not thy statutes” – seek not is the Hebrew word darash in the qal perfect. In other words, this is a completed action. This nation is never going to change, it is in the process of destroying itself. They seek not is a reference to negative volition toward Bible doctrine. When a nation rejects Bible doctrine that nation destroys itself.

            “they seek not thy statutes” – statutes is Bible doctrine preserved categorically.

            Verse 156 – “Great are thy tender mercies” is literally, Great your acts of grace—no verb. God has taken the people of the 5th cycle of discipline into slavery, and yet they are intact. Even though they are chained and suffering terrible abuses they are a free people—“Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” The truth is not academic information; the truth is Bible doctrine.

            “quicken [refresh] me according to thy judgments [justice]” – according to the principle of propitiation. God is free to love him, to be faithful to him, even though he has failed. He is now appealing to God on the basis of propitiation.

            Verse 157 – “Many are my persecutors and mine enemies.” The word many means that they are abundant, they are all over the place. It may be that many of his enemies are older people in the line who do not want Bible doctrine. They are bitter and they draw into that vicious shell of implacability.

            “yet I do not decline from thy testimonies” – he does not run away or desert the Word of God. He does not lose his perspective; he does not get his eyes on people; he does not get his eyes on the enemies from within.

            Verse 158 – “I beheld the transgressors, and was grieved [nauseated]”—he saw the terrible things that they were doing. This word for transgressors, beged, means those who were guilty of two things: rape and violence.

            “because they kept not thy word” – they were not compatible with God’s Word.

            Verse 159 – “Consider how I love thy precepts [Bible doctrine]” – he really loves doctrine and doctrine has kept his soul intact.

            “quicken [refresh] me, O Lord, according to thy grace in action.” Refreshment on the basis of what God provided in eternity past. He wants these doctrines today.

            Verse 160 – “Thy word is true from the beginning” is not correct. Corrected translation: “The sum of thy word is truth [doctrine].” The word of God is doctrine to be utilised.

            “and every one of thy righteous judgments [gracious justice] are forever.”

 

 

#     Shin

 

            Shin—a tooth. The principle of eating. Constant intake of the Word of God. Matthew 4:4 – “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”

            Verse 161 – “Princes have persecuted me without a cause.” The princes here refer to the Chaldean nobility. Apparently there was more than Chaldean soldiers on this march. When the nobility of the land become decadent it is indicative that all of the people are decadent, and this is a decadent people. Zechariah 1:15 describes what we have here. God raised up the Chaldeans for the purpose of putting them into captivity, not to abuse them. The fact that they did it spelled their doom. God raised up Cyrus the Persian to destroy this decadent group of people.

            “but my heart standeth in awe of thy word” – the heart refers to the soul of the writer who was experiencing all of these things. To stand in awe is a word which actually means to be occupied, to be satisfied and occupied. The word in the Hebrew is pachad. Bible doctrine has carried him through 21 days of hell on earth, 21 days of maximum pressure, disaster and catastrophe.

            Verse 162 – “I rejoice at thy word.” He is now talking about the intake of the Word and what it has meant to him during these 21 days of the death march. He is not only been satisfied with the doctrine he has learned but it has been a source of occupation with Christ. Rejoice means inner happiness.

            “as one that findeth great spoil” – he had his own “Christmas” every day on this death march. Every day he found a present—Bible doctrine. Great spoil actually means great gain, great profit. The word connotes a gift, and so God had given him the Word; he had taken the Word in, and every day he found great blessing from it. Cf. Proverbs 8:32.

            Verse 164 – righteous judgments refers to such things as the doctrine of propitiation and the holiness bypass and having passed the point of propitiation.

            Verse 165 – “Great peace.” Peace here is inner happiness and stability based on doctrine, resulting in a relaxed mental attitude.

            “have they which love thy law” – the law is Bible doctrine; “and nothing shall offend them” – incorrect. The Hebrew says, there is not a stumbling block to them. To whom? To those who have great peace. A stumbling-block is a person who is obnoxious to you! When you have enough Bible doctrine so that you have inner happiness, and along with inner happiness you have the stability to maintain that (stability comes from Bible doctrine), and you have a relaxed mental attitude, you are going to arrive at a point where people don’t get you down.

            Verse 166 –  “Lord, I have hoped for thy salvation [deliverance].” The Hebrew word for hoped is shabar is the piel perfect. The piel stem is intensive. The perfect tense is a completed action. He is saying that when this thing started he knew he was going to be delivered. Why did he know? Bible doctrine!

            “and done thy commandments” – done is the Hebrew word asah, which means to make something out of something. It means here to make out of Bible doctrine a relaxed mental attitude. It means to produce from Bible doctrine divine good. The perfect tense means it is a completed action, and this is a part of his confidence in the Lord.

            Verse 167 – “My soul hath kept [guarded] thy testimonies [Bible doctrine].”

            “and I love them exceedingly” – exceedingly means to the maximum. He loves them to the utmost limit of his capacity. The more doctrine one takes in the greater his capacity, the greater the capacity the more he loves doctrine. So his capacity increases the more doctrine he takes in.

            Verse 168 – “I have kept thy precepts” – Bible doctrine organised categorically from the Word; “thy testimonies” refers to Bible doctrine pertaining to the person of Christ.

            “for all my ways are before thee” – he knows he has a life before him, he knows he is going to survive, that he will live through all of these things.

 

 

t   Tau

 

Tau—a signature.

Verse 169 – “Let my cry come near before thee.” The word cry here actually means under pressure to call for help. It should be translated, Let my call come near before thee [before the throne of grace]. He is about to offer a prayer on the last day of the march—“O Lord.”

“give me understanding” – he now has a whole lifetime before him. This is the hiphil stem, perfect of the word bin, and it means to learn from experience or to evaluate the experience: “cause me to evaluate my experience.” But he puts it in the perfect tense, which means I have the information to do so. He has Bible doctrine, he has the true perspective, he is able to evaluate his experience.

            Verse 170 – “Let my supplication come before thee.” The word for supplication is not the ordinary word for prayer at all. The Hebrew word is techinnah. The real secret to this word supplication is found in chinnah which means grace. You put a tau, a signature, in front of grace [chinnah] and it is a different word. The verb is chanan. This word doesn’t simply mean prayer, it means using prayer as an expression of grace or as an orientation to grace. It means an orientation to grace whereby your prayers are answered. So he is oriented to the grace of God as he utters this prayer.

            “deliver [physical] me according to thy word” – he puts the whole problem in the Lord’s hands. Hiphil stem—cause me to be delivered. In other words, he recognises that God will be the cause. The word really means to rescue.

            Verse 171 – the writer anticipates a long life after his deliverance from pressure and the evils of slavery. “My lips shall utter praise.” They shall be caused to utter praise. The word for utter means they are going to gush out.

            “when thou hast taught me thy statutes” – in other words, there are some things I have to learn yet and when I learn them I am going to live a wonderful, Bible-centred, God-oriented type of life.

            Verse 172 – “My tongue shall speak of thy word.” He is dedicating himself right now to teaching Bible doctrine for the rest of his life; his tongue is dedicated to the communication of the Word of God.

            “for all of thy commandments are righteousness” – this means perfection. This simply means the plan of God is perfect and must be communicated to believers.

            Verse 173 – “Let thine hand help me.” He is talking about teaching the Word of God.

            “for I have chosen thy precepts” – Bible doctrine categorically for his lifetime. He wants help in communication.

            Verse 174 – “I have longed for thy salvation [deliverance].” This is the human side now. It shows that he is normal. Pressure hurts him like anyone else.

            “and thy law is my delight” – delight  is the Hebrew shaashuim. He is saying that Bible doctrine is his life and everything else is incidental. He makes love to the Word every day. He takes it in, takes it in, takes it in.

            Verse 175 – “Let my soul live [be refreshed], and it shall praise thee; and let thy judgments [justice] help me.” As a result of his love-making to Bible doctrine he says, Let my soul be refreshed. God is free to help the believer because of the holiness bypass—propitiation.

            Verse 176 – “I have gone astray like a lost sheep.” He is normal, he is human, he has failed. The point is that when a sheep goes astray the shepherd gets him back. The sheep never gets back to the flock without the shepherd. In this case the shepherd is Bible doctrine.

            “seek thy servant” – an imperative, a demand. It means to look after. He is asking for grace for the rest of his life.

            “for I do not forget thy commandments” – he will never forget doctrine. He will look after the teaching of the Word of God. He is going to live in the Word and he will have a son who is going to live in the Word—Ezra.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


[1] See the Doctrine of the soul.

[2] See the Doctrine of Day at a time.

[3] See the Doctrine of Rebound.