Psalm 119:72

We now come to the last verse in this octave of Psalm 119 entitled Teth.  This verse speaks clearly to an issue we are confronted with daily, and that is the issue of the economy.

Psalms 119:72  The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.

From the earliest times gold and silver have served as money.  Money is a medium of exchange, something we trade for goods and services.  There should be a corresponding value between the money we exchange and what we receive.  In our society we have fiat-money or currency that carries no intrinsic value.  Look at the dictionary definition of fiat-money. 

Fiat-money – U.S. money (such as an inconvertible paper currency) which is made legal tender by a ‘fiat’ (decree) of the government, without having an intrinsic or promissory value equal to it nominal value.

In other words, $100.00 does not really equal 100 of anything substantial.  Imagine that!  100 does not equal 100.  We conduct business with a currency that consists of paper, computer entries, and coins made of base metals.  These work as a medium of exchange so long as the people are willing to use them.  But should this currency be revoked for whatever reason, it will become worthless as a medium of exchange since it has no intrinsic value.  On the other hand, gold and silver retain their value for much longer because they are substantial.  For example, a silver coin that is no longer used as a currency in the country where it was minted still has value.  Being substantial, gold and silver can be weighed.  Consider the transaction executed by Abraham when he purchased the field of Ephron for a burial place.

Genesis 23:13  And he spake unto Ephron in the audience of the people of the land, saying, But if thou wilt give it, I pray thee, hear me: I will give thee money for the field; take it of me, and I will bury my dead there.

14  And Ephron answered Abraham, saying unto him,

15  My lord, hearken unto me: the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver; what is that betwixt me and thee? bury therefore thy dead.

16  ¶And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron; and Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver, which he had named in the audience of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant.

Observe that the four hundred shekels was weighed.  These four hundred shekels were current money with the merchant.  Currency is that which is current.  Hence, since silver was the current money, it was the currency.  And this is what was used by the merchant, the person who buys and sells.  It was the medium of exchange for transacting business. 

Now it is the nature of all fiat-currencies to be inflationary.  When gold and silver are the current money, the money supply is limited to the amount of gold and silver that is available.  But when there is a fiat-currency, there is no limit to how much paper can be printed or computer entries generated.  As the currency is inflated it loses purchasing power.  It takes more and more dollars to buy the same goods and services.  That is why prices are always going up.  And as the fiat- currency is inflated, more people tend to turn to gold and silver as a store of wealth.  They realize the intrinsic worthlessness of the inflated currency and hence look for substantial wealth, which has traditionally been gold and silver.  And as the currency inflates, the price of gold and silver rises.  So to possess thousands of gold and silver is to possess considerable wealth far surpassing the possession of thousands of dollars.     

But the psalmist possessed a treasure that to him exceeded thousands of gold and silver and that was the law of God’s mouth.  First, the law is the law of God’s mouth.  This is the law spoken by God Himself.  And since God cannot lie, that law can always be relied upon.  When God makes a promise in His law, you can count on its fulfillment.  Now consider this promise from the mouth of God:

Philippians 4:19  But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.     

As a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you can rest in that promise.  It will be fulfilled in your life even if you have not a single piece of gold or silver to your name.  Hence, this promise from the mouth of God is better than gold and silver.

As we noted earlier, gold and silver tend to retain their value.  But they cannot retain their value forever.  Like all created things, they eventually perish.  The Lord pronounces the following judgment upon the rich who heap up gold and silver for the last days.

James 5:1  Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.

2  Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.

3  Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

These words need to be remembered, especially nowadays as there are so many financial gurus telling people to buy gold and silver as a defence against evil times ahead.  Believer, hear me well, never never look to gold and silver as your ultimate defence.  I am not saying it is wrong to own it.  But never put your trust in it.  To trust in gold and silver is as much idolatry as sun worship.  Hear the words of Job.

Job 31:24  If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence;

25  If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because mine hand had gotten much;

26  If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness;

27  And my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand:

28  This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should have denied the God that is above.

To make gold and silver your defence is to deny God above.  God only is our defence.

Psalms 62:6  He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defence; I shall not be moved.

In contrast to gold and silver, which will eventually perish, the law of God abides forever and is, therefore, better than gold and silver. 

Isaiah 40:8  …the word of our God shall stand for ever.

It is better to keep the law of God than to keep gold and silver.  The return you get on the time you invest in the law of God by learning it and obeying it far exceeds the return you get on an investment in gold and silver.  The law of God is wisdom (Deuteronomy 4:6) and wisdom says this about herself:

Proverbs 8:19  My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold; and my revenue than choice silver.

The psalmist wrote:  “thy law is unto me better than thousands of gold and silver.”  Referencing this verse back to the one that precedes it, Matthew Henry wrote:  “God’s law, which he got acquaintance with by his affliction, was better to him than all the gold and silver which he lost by his affliction.”  It says a lot about a person when he would value his afflictions above his material wealth, if by those afflictions he learns God’s law.  Now I ask all of you who have a store of gold and silver, do you share the same value system as the psalmist?  Is the law of God, your Bible, better unto you than your gold and silver?

This meditation has been a bit longer than some of the others.  It has a lot of food for thought and you would do well not to rush through it, but rather to read it thoughtfully and perhaps repeatedly so as to digest its contents.  We need this information in these times of economic upheaval.  I hope it blesses you.  I have three trips to make in the next five weeks so there may be a delay in taking up the next octave.  In concluding this octave, I cite the words of Charles Spurgeon:

“See how this portion of the psalm is flavoured with goodness.  God’s dealings are good (65), holy judgment is good (66), affliction is good (67, 71), God is good (68), and here the law is not only good, but better than the best of treasure.  Lord, make us good, through thy good word.  Amen.”

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