Psalm 119:100

The word of God had given the psalmist the edge over his enemies and over all his teachers.  In today’s verse we see that it also gave him the edge over the ancients.

Psalms 119:100  I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts.

That word ancients is a plural noun and refers to old folks.

Ancient – sb. An old or aged man; a patriarch.

The Hebrew word translated ancients is zaqen and is also rendered elders, aged, and old men.  So the psalmist was speaking of men who were older than he.  Nevertheless, he understood more than they.  The same was true of Elihu, the author of the book of Job.  Speaking of Job’s three friends, all of whom were older than he, Elihu wrote:

Job 32:4  Now Elihu had waited till Job had spoken, because they were elder than he.

5  When Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, then his wrath was kindled.

6  And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said, I am young, and ye are very old; wherefore I was afraid, and durst not shew you mine opinion.

7  I said, Days should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom.

8  But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.

9  Great men are not always wise: neither do the aged understand judgment.

10  Therefore I said, Hearken to me; I also will shew mine opinion.

As a rule, older people should have more understanding than young people.  They have had more years to learn, more experience to draw from.  Yet there are times when young people know more than their elders so that their elders would do well to listen to them.  I for one understand how Elihu felt.  I remember how hard it was for me to take issue with my revered grandfather on a point of doctrine on which he was clearly wrong.  Thank God he never fell out with me over it. In fact, I preached that doctrine in his presence one time and he publicly commended me.

If there is ever a choice between the understanding of years and the understanding of the Scriptures, always choose that of the Scriptures.  Matthew Henry’s comment on this verse is insightful:  “In short, the written word is a surer guide to heaven than all the doctors and fathers, the teachers and ancients, of the church; and the sacred writings kept, and kept to, will teach us more wisdom than all their writings.”

Now the way the psalmist came by this advanced understanding was by having the word of God ever with him, by meditating upon it, and by keeping it.  If you want to increase your understanding, you need the source of it, which is your Bible (the Authorized Version of 1611); you need to bestow focused thought upon your Bible, which is meditation; and you need to keep its precepts.  Our Lord put it this way:

John 7:17  If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.

The more you do the will of God, the more knowledge and understanding you will have.  Years and years of reading and study will not yield the understanding that simple obedience will.  The Lord is far more honoured by practical wisdom applied daily than a head full of speculative knowledge.    

With a Bible that is studied, believed, and obeyed, young people do not have to wait for years of experience to gain understanding.  The book of Proverbs is written for the instruction of  “the young man” (Proverbs 1:1, 4).  If a young man will apply the teachings of that single book to his life, he will save himself from a lot of the misery that can come when one learns by experience.  Experience can be a slow and painful teacher.  Benjamin Franklin wrote:  “Experience keeps a dear school, yet fools will learn in no other.”  Thomas Manton pointed out that “our experience reaches to but a few things; but the word of God reacheth to all cases that concern true happiness.” 

Now if a man has spent many years studying the Scriptures and applying what he has learned to life by keeping its precepts, such a man is a valuable resource and his understanding a thing to be sought out.  For the rule is: “Days should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom.”

Proverbs 16:31  The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness.   

With today’s verse we have cleared 100 verses of this psalm.  We have just 76 to go.  Let me pause at this point and raise an “Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the LORD helped us” (1Samuel 7:12).

Psalm 119:99

In today’s verse taken from the octave Mem of Psalm 119, the psalmist continues to show the edge that God’s word gave him.  In this case, it gave him an edge over all his teachers.

Psalms 119:99  I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation.

We all need teachers, or God would not give them to us. 

Deuteronomy 33:8, 10  And of Levi he said….They shall teach Jacob thy judgments, and Israel thy law: they shall put incense before thee, and whole burnt sacrifice upon thine altar.

1 Chronicles 25:8  And they cast lots, ward against ward, as well the small as the great, the teacher as the scholar.

Proverbs 4:1  Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding.

2  For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law.

3  For I was my father's son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother.

4  He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live.

Ephesians 4:11  And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers….

The psalmist had also had his teachers, and he was not necessarily disparaging them when he wrote these words.  It was just that his understanding extended beyond what they had taught him.  No one should limit his understanding to that of the man that taught him.  It rejoices my heart when men I have taught and trained for the ministry teach me things that I have not seen before.  How do you parents feel when your children take things you have taught them and improve upon them to the point of surpassing your understanding?  When they can do that, then you know that you have taught them well.  Any student should take the things his teachers have taught him and expand on them. 

Now the psalmist states the reason why he understood more than all his teachers:  for thy testimonies are my meditation.  As he wrote in the opening of this octave, God’s word was his meditation all the day.  He devoted a great deal of focused thought to the Scriptures.  As he did so, his understanding increased.  If someone taught him something from God’s testimonies, he mused upon it, tossed it over in his mind, and thereby gained more insights into what he had been taught.  The result was that he understood what his teacher had taught him and more. But he got all this increased understanding from studying a single Book called the holy Scriptures, God’s testimonies.  Charles Spurgeon’s comment on this verse is profound:  “There is more wisdom in the testimonies of the Lord than in all the teachings of men if they were all gathered into one vast library.”  Notice that the psalmist did not get increased understanding by surfing the internet.  Of course, he did not have the internet.  Poor, unfortunate, disadvantaged soul!  Doesn’t your heart bleed for him?  I speak as a fool.  He probably didn’t even an encyclopedia to pore over.  He neither needed the internet nor a library full of books to gain increased understanding excelling that of all his teachers.  This is not to say that he read no other books besides his Bible. But it is to say that His focus was on his Bible over and above any other source of instruction.  It is astounding what a man can learn from that single book.  I quote again the old proverb:  “Beware of the man of one book.”  And you can bet the devil knows how believers gain increased understanding and he will do everything he can to distract them from the source of that understanding.  God help us!

Psalm 119:98

Today we take up the second verse of the octave of Psalm 119 entitled Mem. 

Psalms 119:98  Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me.

In this and the next two verses the psalmist shows the edge that God’s word gave him over his enemies, his teachers, and the ancients.  I appreciate the comments of Charles Bridges on these three verses:

“He became wiser than his enemies in ‘subtlety’ (Prov. i.1, 4) – than all his teachers in doctrine – than the ancients in experience.  Yet he is not speaking of his extraordinary gifts as a prophet, but of his knowledge gained by ordinary means.”

Let’s begin by breaking down the opening phrase:  Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser.  Note that it is God that made the psalmist wiser.  Wisdom is a gift that God gives.

Proverbs 2:6  For the LORD giveth wisdom….

James 1:5  If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

Then note that God makes a man wiser through His commandments, that is, His written word.  Recall from the previous verse that the Scriptures were the psalmist’s meditation “all the day.”  He mused over His Bible and studied it.  He endeavoured to retain what he learned from his Bible so that he could say of God’s commandments:  for they are ever with me.  He kept the word of God in his heart as well as in his hand so as to always have access to it.

Psalms 119:11  Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

Colossians 3:16  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom….

1 John 2:14  ….. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth (continueth) in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.

And because he studied his Bible and retained what he learned, the Lord made him wise in the process.  That is how a man becomes wise!  He becomes wise through learning and retaining the Book of wisdom, which the Bible is.

As a result of his meditation in God’s word, the psalmist was made wiser than his enemies.  A believer may not be wiser than his enemies when it comes to the things of this world.  In fact, the Lord generally bypasses the wise of this world in His choice of persons.

1 Corinthians 1:26  For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:

27  But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

28  And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:

29  That no flesh should glory in his presence.       

But God’s chosen people, who with the blessing of God study their Bibles, become wiser than their enemies in the things that matter most.  Those who know the will of God expressed in His commandments and who do it, have a divine hedge set about them that the enemy cannot break through. They can defy the threat of death itself to the utter confounding of their enemies who think to back them back down with that threat.  Such was the case with the Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, when they refused to worship Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image (Daniel 3).  Such was also the case with Daniel, when he continued to pray to the God of Israel in defiance of the Persian decree that all prayers for thirty days should be addressed only to the king (Daniel 6).  Such was the case with the apostles of our Lord who underwent beatings, imprisonment, and death rather than cease to preach the Lord Jesus Christ.  They obviously knew something their enemies did not know and could, therefore, outsmart their attempts to stamp out the gospel they preached.  How many times has a humble child of God who believes, studies, and obeys his Bible been able to confound an educated enemy with a simple answer?  And even if an enemy refuses to bow to the obvious wisdom of God’s commandments, that doesn’t mean that enemy is wiser.  It just means he is a fool!  The Day of Judgment will reveal that the children of God armed with the Scriptures have outfoxed their enemies time and again.  Therefore, the gospel continues to be preached in this earth, souls continue to be converted to it, and true churches of the Lord Jesus Christ continue to exist here and there observing His ordinances as He appointed in spite of all the attempts of enemies to the contrary.  

And don’t forget the archenemy of the believer, the devil himself, who “as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1Peter 5:9).  The devil is “the prince of this world” (John 14:30).  The devil is intelligent enough to deceive the whole world and marshal its vast resources for the advancement of his cause (Revelation 12:9). Yet, a little child of God can back down that mighty prince by simply quoting a Bible verse to him, just like Jesus did when that same enemy tempted Him in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11).  Indeed, thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than my mine enemies. Praise the Lord! 

Psalm 119:97

Greetings, dear readers!  After a pause I’m back and ready to dive into the next octave of Psalm 119 entitled Mem.  According to the pronunciation guide in the front of my Bible, the Hebrew letter mem is pronounced like our word maim.  Now what kind of a humourous remark could I make about this without meming my reputation for a little comedy?  I think I had better pass on this one.  And, by the way, don’t quote me on that pronunciation as I do not speak Hebrew.  It’s all Greek to me. 

Psalms 119:97  ¶MEM. O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.

This octave opens with emotion, expressed by the word O.  The word how coupled with this word O is expressing the degree of emotion.

How – In direct exclamations.  In what way! to what an extent or degree!

The psalmist loved the law of God to the degree that it stirred his emotions.  It is the same when you state your love for something and then add the expression “and how!”  It is fitting, therefore, that this sentence concludes with an exclamation point.

Now the psalmist loved God’s law to such an extent, his feelings for it were stirred to such an extent that he could say:  it is my meditation all the day. All day long the psalmist reflected upon and considered the law of God. Matthew Henry remarked:  “What we love we love to think of.” Your thoughts tend to gravitate to the things you love.  So when you love the word of God to the extent the psalmist did, it is easy for your mind to go to it during the day. The love you have for it draws your thoughts there.  And it says a lot about your spiritual health when you love the law of God at all times, even when it crosses your will. 

Now it isn’t that you only think of Bible verses all day. Obviously, we have to think about our occupations and daily duties in order to perform them. But if as you encounter various situations and decisions throughout the day you think of what God’s law has to say about them, whether it be by recalling its teaching or looking up a passage in the Bible, then you are reflecting on God’s law.  This is meditating on it by definition. If your daily thoughts revolve around the teachings of the Bible, then you are meditating on them because you are taking them into consideration.  In this case you have devoted enough time to studying your Bible that its teachings mold your daily life.  Thus God’s law is your meditation all the day. And having God’s law as his meditation all the day put the psalmist in fine form to be able to say the things he did in the verses that follow in this octave.      

It follows that those who know the Lord Jesus Christ in the pardon of their sins and who have a sense of being reconciled to God by the blood of His cross, love the law of God.  Even though they have broken that law innumerable times and are condemned for having done so, they love it nevertheless because that law points them to Jesus Christ, the Saviour from sin.  They see the terror of the law directed away from them and onto Jesus Christ, Who bore its curse and freed them from it. 

Galatians 3:13  Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree....

But if you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ, then you likely do not love the law of God since its only message to you is one of condemnation and terror.  If anything I write today resonates with you, then may I appeal to you to turn from your sin to God and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, for in believing on Him you will discover pardon and peace.

Acts 13:38  Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins:

39  And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.

John 3:17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

18    He that believeth on him is not condemned….

John 5:24  Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

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.