Psalm 119:96

We come now to the last verse in the octave of Psalm 119 entitled Lamed. 

Psalms 119:96  I have seen an end of all perfection: but thy commandment is exceeding broad.

The psalmist wrote: I have seen an end of all perfection.  And so have I.  Have you ever thought you had found the perfect job, the perfect house, the perfect romance, the perfect friendship, the perfect church, or the perfect whatever only to see its perfection crumble before you leaving you so very disappointed?  We yearn for perfection.  We want to find that certain something or someone that will fill up our deficiencies and leave us without want.  But where is that perfection to be found? Our verse has the answer:  but thy commandment is exceeding broad.  God’s commandment is broad enough to take in all that you are, all that touches you, and so much more.  There is nothing in your life that the Scriptures do not speak to.  And the Scriptures teach you where to look and where not to look to find completeness and ultimate satisfaction.  I cannot improve on Matthew Henry’s comments on this verse:

“Poor perfection which one sees an end of! Yet such are all those things in this world which pass for perfections. David, in his time, had seen Goliath, the strongest, overcome, Asahel, the swiftest, overtaken, Ahithophel, the wisest, befooled, Absalom, the fairest, deformed; and, in short, he had seen an end of perfection, of all perfection....But thy commandment is broad, exceedingly broad. The word of God reaches to all cases, to all times. The divine law lays a restraint upon the whole man, is designed to sanctify us wholly. There is a great deal required and forbidden in every commandment. The divine promise (for that also is commanded) extends itself to all our burdens, wants, and grievances, and has that in it which will make a portion and happiness for us when we have seen an end of all perfection.”

But let’s focus on the fact that God’s commandment is exceeding broad.  Any one commandment of God reaches out and touches the rest of what God has revealed.  Take this commandment for an example:  “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Leviticus 19:18).  This commandment is so broad that it includes every commandment of God.

Romans 13:9  For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

10    Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Obedience to this commandment assumes that we obey the greater commandment to love the Lord our God with all of our being (Matthew 22:37-38).  To love our neighbour more than God would be the transgression of the law rather than the fulfilling of it.  Now we love God and our neighbour, because God first loved us.  This fact reaches out and embraces the whole scheme of redemption through the gift of God’s love in sending His only begotten Son to save us.

1 John 4:10  Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

1 John 4:19  We love him, because he first loved us.

20  If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

21  And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.

Man fell into sin because he did not love God supremely.  But God in love sent His Son to redeem His elect from that fall.  Because God loved us, we love Him.  And because we love God we love our neighbour also.  And by loving God and our neighbour we fulfill every other commandment of God.  The heaven we will inherit because of God’s love for us will itself be a place of perfect love.  There the commandment to love our neighbour as ourself will find its most perfect expression.  Indeed, the commandment to love our neighbour is so broad that it embraces the entirety of God’s revelation!

Or take another example of the breadth of God’s commandment:  “Thou shalt not covet.” 

Exodus 20:17  Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.

To covet is to desire what you have no right to desire (Deuteronomy 5:21).  To covet is to lust and lust lies at the root of every sin.

Romans 7:7  What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.

James 1:14  But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

15  Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

Therefore, since the commandment to not covet forbids the lusts that lead to sin, it is broad enough to contain a prohibition of every sin.  Were there no covetousness, there would be no adultery since no one would covet his neighbour’s wife.  Without covetousness there would be no theft since no one would covet his neighbour’s property.  Without adultery and theft there would not be the lying and murder sinners often resort to in order to fulfill or cover these sins.  Were there no covetousness there would be no envy.  You would never feel any ill-will because someone has something you do not. Instead you would be content with what you have rather than coveting what another has.  And were there no envy, there would not be the wrath, strife, and hatred that envy generates.  If you eliminate covetousness, you eliminate envy and all the sins that go with it.  In fact, eliminate covetousness and you eliminate sin altogether.

Covetousness also breeds a devilish curiosity to know things that are not our right or business to know.  Eve was curious about what it would be like to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  Pornography thrives on the curiosity to know and see the sexuality of others which one has no right to know and see.  Curiosity often leads people to experiment with alcohol and drug abuse just to see what it is like to get drunk or to get high.  Curiosity takes people into the occult so they can discover things that cannot be discovered by the ordinary means of acquiring knowledge.  Curiosity leads people to become busybodies in other people’s affairs.  They covet to know about things that are none of their business.  How much backbiting and whispering would be going on if people were not curious to hear evil about other people?  Any curiosity that leads us into sin is coveting to know what we should not know.

And then to top it off, the Scriptures teach that covetousness is idolatry.

Colossians 3:5  Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 

Covetousness sets up another god before the true and living God in that the covetous man makes a god of his own desire.  He wants what he wants regardless of what God has to say about it and thus he serves his desire rather than the Lord.

Psalms 10:3  For the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the LORD abhorreth.

4  The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts. 

Therefore, the violation of the last of the Ten Commandments, “thou shalt not covet,” is a violation of the first of the Ten Commandments, “thou shalt have no other gods before me.”  This should give you some idea of just how exceeding broad this single commandment is.  If you are interested, you can review the meditation I did on Psalm 119:36:  “Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness.”    

And on and on we could go with any commandment of God.  There is an exceeding breadth to them all.  There is a perfection to God’s word you will never see the end of, for it is fathomless. Blessed be God for His perfect and unfathomable word of truth!

If there is a longer than usual delay before you receive the next installment, please don’t think it is because I have given up this project.  It is just that I have some other things calling for my attention.  God willing, I purpose to resume these mediations on Psalm 119.