Psalm 119: Aleph

ALEPH
1  Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD!
2  Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with the whole heart!
3  They also do no iniquity; they walk in His ways.
4  You have commanded us to keep Your precepts diligently.
5  Oh, that my ways were directed to keep Your statutes!
6  Then I would not be ashamed, when I look into all Your commandments.
7  I will praise You with uprightness of heart, when I learn Your righteous judgments.
8  I will keep Your statutes; Oh, do not forsake me utterly!
[Psalm 119:1-8 NKJV]

Aisle at St Conan’s Kirk, Loch Awe, Argyll

When we read the Bible we do not always see how beautifully structured it is. Nowhere is this more easily ascertained than in the Psalms.

The Psalms are actually 5 books, each book in order corresponding to the first 5 books in the Bible, ‘The Pentateuch’. Psalm 119 comes from — for want of a better description — the Deuteronomy Book of Psalms.

It is in a form known as an acrostic. The verses are divided into 22 sections of 8 verses, each section representing the 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet, and each line in a section beginning with that letter.

The Psalm glorified God and His Word, concentrating on 8 words to do so. These are:

• His Law
• His Word dabar (God’s spoken or revealed word)
• His Judgements
• His Testimonies
• His Commandments
• His Statutes
• His Precepts
• His Word imrah (God’s promises)

Psalm 119 can be seen as 22 short prayers, each extolling His wonders and goodness. The first prayer is established by the first letter of the alphabet, Aleph; thus each line — in Hebrew, of course — begins with that letter.

The theme for this first letter’s verses has been described as QUICKENING BY THE WRITTEN WORD, and the lines follow this pattern ...

119:1. The way.
119:2. Condition. Happy. Third Person
119:3. They, upright.
119:4. Command.
——--
119:5. My ways.
119:6. Condition. Not ashamed. First Person.
119:7. I, upright.
119:8. Promise.

You can see that the second four lines brings the general expression of the first four lines and makes it personal.

And is this formality in presentation important and rewarding? I find it so, although it is not essential to knowing our loving and compassionate God. However, He is a God of order — He is nowhere to be found in chaos or confusion — and in such expression of order shown right throughout scripture, we have the pure uncluttered untainted dependable word of God, revealing much to us about His nature. You cannot trust chaos.

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“Blessed Be Your Name” — Matt Redman

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OSWALD CHAMBERS — RUN TODAY’S RACE
Saturday 18th July 2020
The new life will manifest itself in conscious repentance and unconscious holiness, never the other way about. The bedrock of Christianity is repentance. If you ever cease to know the virtue of repentance, you are in darkness.

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