Psalm 119:122

Today we take up the second verse of the octave of Psalm 119 entitled Ain.  This verse continues the theme of the preceding verse in that it too is a prayer to be delivered from oppression.

Psalms 119:122  Be surety for thy servant for good: let not the proud oppress me.

Let it first be noted that this is one of the four verses of Psalm 119 that does not use one of the ten words used in the Psalm to refer to God’s written word.  The other verses are verses 89, 90, and 132.  But as we shall show, the instruction of this verse extends out to the overall theme of the written revelation of God to man, the Holy Scriptures.

In today’s verse the psalmist prays to God:  be surety for thy servant for good.  Now just what is a surety?

Surety – A person who undertakes some specific responsibility on behalf of another who remains primarily liable; one who makes himself liable for the default or miscarriage of another, or for the performance of some act on his part.

The psalmist adds to this request:  let not the proud oppress me.  To oppress another is to press him down, overwhelm him, trample upon him, or tyrannize him.  Now it stands to reason that the proud are just the kind of people who will oppress others.  The proud take delight in asserting their superiority, real or supposed, over others, whether it be superiority in rank, wealth, strength, or intelligence.  By putting down others the proud reinforce their feeling of superiority. 

In making his petition, the psalmist presented himself to the Lord as His servant.  A servant of God is one who seeks to do God’s will rather than his own.  And, of course, the will of God for His servants is expressed in the Holy Scriptures.  Therefore, the overall theme of Psalm 119 is found in this verse also.  And being a servant of God, he stood in stark contrast to the proud who are stuck on themselves and their will.  The proud strive to assert their will above all even when it means oppressing others, as is often the case.

Now the psalmist realized that if he was to be delivered from being oppressed by the proud, he would need someone to undertake for him that was greater than both himself and the proud.  Thus, he prayed to the Almighty God to be his surety.  The psalmist would have the Lord take up his cause as the Lord’s own cause and stand up for him.  Furthermore, he prayed that the Lord would be his surety for good, to do for him the good he could not do or had failed to do.  If the Lord does not undertake for us, then our enemies will capitalize on our faults, failures, and weaknesses in order to run us down.  This is a major ploy of our archenemy, the devil.  He is called “the accuser of our brethren” in Revelation 12:10.  But as our Surety, the Lord stands good for our debts to His justice; He imparts to us His righteousness; and He comes to our defence against our adversaries.  Even in those areas where we have failed so miserably in our battle with sin, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who was “made a surety of a better testament” (Hebrews 7:22), secures our pardon.  Thus we can rise up from our defeat and continue to be the servants of the Most High God, Who undertakes to maintain us in that honourable employment.  So it is written of our brethren that the devil accuses:  “And they overcame him (the devil) by the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 12:11).  The following words of Paul declare the Lord as our Surety for good:

Romans 8:31  What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

32  He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

33  Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.

34  Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

I adjoin the prayer of today’s verse with this acknowledgement of the Lord Jehovah (LORD) as our Surety for good:

Psalms 94:16  Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?

17  Unless the LORD had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence.

18  When I said, My foot slippeth; thy mercy, O LORD, held me up.    

Psalm 119:121

With the New Year begun, we now begin a new octave in our mediations on Psalm 119.  This octave bears the title of the Hebrew letter Ain.  The ai is pronounced like the ai in the word aisle.  Now I ain gonna spend a lot of time tryin to think up somethin funny.  I just ain gonna do it.

Psalms 119:121  ¶AIN. I have done judgment and justice: leave me not to mine oppressors.

We usually think of confession as something one does when one has sinned.  But today’s verse is an example of confessing to God something good that one has done:  I have done judgment and justice.  So that we may know what it is to do judgment and justice¸ we need to define the terms.

Judgment - The action of trying a cause in a court of justice; trial. The sentence of a court of justice; a judicial decision or order in court.

Now the psalmist may have been a judge in a court of justice.  If so, he was a good judge.  But it is not necessary to occupy the office of judge in a court of law in order to do judgment and justice.  Every one of us exercises judgment in the court of our own thoughts and decisions.  Following is the definition of judgment as it pertains to our personal judgments.

Judgment - The formation of a deliberate opinion or notion concerning something by exercising the mind upon it; an opinion, estimate.

But if our judgment of something is to be a right judgment, it must be accompanied with justice. 

Justice - The quality of being just (which is defined as “righteous in the sight of God”). The quality of being (morally) just or righteous; the principle of just dealing; the exhibition of this quality or principle in action; just conduct; integrity, rectitude.

For a judicial decision of a judge to be a just decision, it must be righteous in the sight of God.  And the same is true of the judgments that we all personally make when we judge what others say and do, or when we judge what we say and do.

Notice that inherent in the definition of justice is a standard of righteousness, which is a law.  Now there is only one lawgiver and that is God.

James 4:12  There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?

Isaiah 33:22  For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us.

This explains why a judgment must be righteous in the sight of God in order to be an act of justice.  And, of course, God’s law is given in His word, the Holy Scriptures, which is the theme of this psalm.  Any law that men make or any decision a judge makes that violates the Holy Scriptures may be a judgment, but it is not a just judgment.  And if it is not a just judgment, it is not justice! 

Isaiah 10:1  Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed;

2  To turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless!

The same holds true of our personal judgments.  This is why our Lord taught us:

John 7:24  Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.

We must be very careful that when we judge the words and actions of others we do so justly, in accord with the Scriptures.  When we judge others as evil simply because they cross our standards, or our expectations, or our plans, then we are not doing judgment and justice.  We are usurping the place of God by setting up ourselves as lawgivers.  We are judging God’s law as though it is not sufficient as a judge of others and we are treating our personal law as supreme.

James 4:11  Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.

Being able to say that he had done justice and judgment, the psalmist could then make this request:  leave me not to mine oppressors.  There is nothing like a clear conscience when one is being persecuted and feeling the weight of oppressors.  Take the apostle Paul for an example.

Acts 25:10  Then said Paul, I stand at Caesar's judgment seat, where I ought to be judged: to the Jews have I done no wrong, as thou very well knowest.

It was the want of doing judgment and justice that provoked the Lord to leave Israel to their oppressors time and again, as we read in the Old Testament.  They foolishly thought they could get away with injustice by appearing before God in His temple, observing holy days, and bringing sacrifices (see Isaiah 1:10-17 and Jeremiah 7:4-7).  Not so! 

Proverbs 21:3  To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.

Micah 6:6  Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old?

7  Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

8  He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

To engage in the ordinances of God’s house is a good thing indeed.  But it is never a substitute for just and fair dealings with our fellow man!

So if we wonder why we are seeing a steady erosion of freedom in our nation and why we feel the weight of an ever-expanding, oppressive hand of bureaucracy, we can trace it to this: 

Isaiah 59:14  And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.

15  Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment.

In the halls of government, in the courts of the land, and in the opinion of citizens there is an ever decreasing amount of judgment and justice.  Courts uphold the killing of innocent babies by abortion and claim that sodomites have a right (?) to be married.  Multitudes of men and women are cohabiting in a sexual union without marriage.  And the man that stands against this tide of evil is judged as being a perpetrator of hate and injustice.  He becomes the criminal in such a perverted society.   And it was into just such a society that our Saviour came.  He stands as the perfect Example of one who did judgment and justice.  Said He of Himself:

John 5:30  I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

Yet He was judged a criminal and nailed to a cross.  Nevertheless, He was not left to His oppressors for God raised Him from the dead on the third day! 

So no matter how evil the time is, do judgment and justice.  Or, as Jim Ruma put it:  “Do the next right thing.”  Furthermore, you parents, one of the most important lessons you can teach your children is to do judgment and justice.  Let it be said of you as it was said of Abraham:

Genesis 18:19  For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.

And even if you feel the hand of oppression for awhile, know that the Lord will not leave you there.  He will arise; He will plead your cause; and He will deliver you.

Psalms 37:32  The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him.

33  The LORD will not leave him in his hand, nor condemn him when he is judged.

34  Wait on the LORD, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land: when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it.

I did not set out for this blog to go on for so long.  I trust I have not wearied you.