psalm 119 introduction 29 sep 2014
psalm 119:1-16 chiastic structure 30 sep 2014
psalm 119:17-32 chiastic structure 01 oct 2014
psalm 119:33-48 chiastic structure 02 oct 2014
Read Psalm 119 at Bible Gateway.
1a) Psa 119:49-55 zayin Remember me as I remember You / Your statutes my comfort:
1a) Psa 119:49, Remember the word to Your servant, upon which You have caused me to hope;
1b) Psa 119:50, This is my comfort in my affliction, for Your word has given me life;
central axis) Psa 119:51-53, The proud who do not fear You / Your judgments / the wicked:
1) Psa 119:51, The proud have me in great derision, yet I do not turn aside from Your law;
2) Psa 119:52, I remembered Your judgments of old, O Lord, and have comforted myself;
3) Psa 119:53, Indignation has taken hold of me because of the wicked, who forsake Your law;
2b) Psa 119:54, Your statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage;
2a) Psa 119:55, I remember Your name in the night, O Lord, and I keep Your law;
1b) Psa 119:56, This has become mine, because I kept Your precepts. {p}
2b) Psa 119:57 heth You are my portion, O Lord; I have said that I would keep Your words;
2a) Psa 119:38-64, Be merciful to me / Your statutes my teachers:
1a) Psa 119:58-60, Be merciful to me, for I have repented and turned to Your statutes;
1) Psa 119:58, I entreated Your favor with my whole heart; be merciful to me according to Your word;
2) Psa 119:59-60, I turned to Your statutes when I repented of my own ways:
59 I thought about my ways, and turned my feet to Your testimonies;
60 I made haste, and did not delay to keep Your commandments;
central axis) Psa 119:61-63, The wicked / Your judgments / my companions who do fear You:
3) Psa 119:61, The cords of the wicked have bound me, but I have not forgotten Your law;
2) Psa 119:62, At midnight I will rise to give thanks to You, because of Your righteous judgments;
1) Psa 119:63, I am a companion of all who fear You, and of those who keep Your precepts;
2a) Psa 119:64, The earth is full of Your mercy, teach me Your statutes;
1) Psa 119:64a, The earth, O Lord, is full of Your mercy;
2) Psa 119:64b, Teach me Your statutes. {p}
Here again we have a man who went his own way which were not in accordance with the Lord’s ways. But he made a change, as he thought about his own ways and compared them to the Lord’s testimony of what was good, true, and right, he turned his feet so that he was walking in the Lord’s ways. He finds as he does so, conforming his life to the Lord’s judgments and commandments, that he becomes an object of derision, among those who think keeping the Lord’s commandments is foolish. Those who walk in the Lord’s ways get it from both sides: from the church who teaches that His ways have passed away (even though Jesus taught us His ways would not pass away) and from the ungodly who hold the Lord’s commandments in derision.
In the face of that, the psalmist discovers something: the Lord and His ways becomes his, his portion. And, he has gained new companions: all those who fear God and keep His precepts. In his affliction and in his pilgrimage (for this world is no longer his home), he takes comfort. ♥
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