Psalm 119:128

Today’s meditation brings us to the last verse of the octave of Psalm 119 entitled Ain. 

Psalms 119:128  Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way.

Like the verse that precedes this one, it begins with the word therefore.  So the thought expressed in this verse results from the thought expressed in the verse before it.  The reason the psalmist esteemed all God’s precepts to be right concerning all things was because he loved them above fine gold.  And he loved them above fine gold because men made void God’s law.  This verse and the preceding one show the psalmist reacting in the extreme against the disregard of God’s holy law that he was witnessing.  And when you consider how precious and how absolutely true the Scriptures are in every detail of them, you can understand one reacting in the extreme when they are dishonoured.  Such an extreme reaction is most certainly justified.

Let’s define that word esteem as it is key to understanding this verse.

Esteem – To estimate generally; to deem, think.  To account, consider, think, hold (a thing to be so and so). 

The psalmist considered all the precepts of God’s law concerning all things to be right.  Anything the Bible says about anything is right.  It is never wrong about anything.  Now the precepts are not right because the psalmist considered them to be.  Rather, the psalmist considered them to be right in all things because they are!  There is not one provable error in the entirety of Scripture.  But the rightness of all God’s precepts concerning all things is not going to affect you as it should if you do not esteem them to be right.  And you will not be prone to esteem them to always be right if you do not value them above the finest things this earth can offer.  If you begin to think the Bible just might not be right about something, it is most likely traceable to a warp in your value system.  There is something in this world that you love too much that one or more of the precepts of Scripture is threatening.  Therefore, you begin to doubt the correctness of the Bible to make allowance for yourself and what you love.

It is absolutely necessary that we esteem all God’s precepts to be right.  If we reject so much as one precept, then we have essentially rejected them all.  This is because all the precepts cohere together to form one law, one body of truth.  If you think one verse in the Bible is incorrect and you change it or explain it away, you will then have to change or explain away others to fit the change you have made so that you will end up making the law of God void.  So you either make God’s law void, or you esteem all its precepts concerning all things to be right.  This is an all or nothing proposition.  There is no middle ground when it comes to God’s holy word! 

Since the psalmist esteemed all God precepts concerning all things to be right, it followed that he hated every false way.  He who loved God’s commandments above fine gold hated every way than ran contrary to them.  In this case, hate was the opposite side of the coin of love.  If you really love truth, you will hate error.  How can it be otherwise?  How can you love truth above everything else and then love falsehood at the same time?  You can’t!  Commenting on the psalmist in this verse Charles Spurgeon wrote: 

“He was a good lover or a good hater, but he was never a waverer….His detestation was as unreserved as his affection; he had not a good word for any practice which would not bear the light of truth.”

This verse points us to the character of our Lord Jesus Christ of Whom it is written:

Hebrews 1:9  Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.

And note that the psalmist hated every false way.  This would include not only the false ways of the profane world, but also the false ways of the religious world.  If you love God’s word as you ought and you consider everything it says to be right, then you hate false bibles, false doctrines, and false ordinances just as much as you hate idolatry, murder, fornication, adultery, sodomy, drunkenness, and theft.  It does not matter whether the false way is the moral filth that runs in the gutters of our streets and media, or the lies that dress up in the garb of piety.  If it is false, you hate it if you truly love God’s precepts above fine gold and esteem all of them concerning all things to be right.

This brings us to the end of this octave.  If you are reading and profiting from these meditations, I would appreciate receiving at least a brief comment from you to that effect.  Thank you.