Psalm 119:139

We continue our meditations drawn from the octave of Psalm 119 entitled Tzaddi.    

Psalms 119:139  My zeal hath consumed me, because mine enemies have forgotten thy words.

The psalmist’s zeal had consumed him.  Zeal works like a consuming fire.  So just what is zeal?

Zeal - In Biblical language, denoting ardent (burning) feeling or fervour (taking the form of love, wrath, ‘jealousy’, or righteous indignation). 

It is common among all men to feel the burning of love or wrath or jealously.  And God’s servants sometimes feel the burning of righteous indignation, which flows out of their fervent love of God and His righteousness, and a jealousy for His glory.  Such was the case with the psalmist.  He so loved the words of God that his zeal had consumed him; he was burned up with righteous indignation because those words were forgotten by his enemies. 

George Horne wrote when commenting on this verse:  “‘Zeal’ is a high degree of love; and when the object of that love is ill treated, it venteth itself in a mixture of grief and indignation, which are sufficient to wear and ‘consume’ the heart.”  One can see this from Solomon’s words regarding love:

Song of Songs 8:6  Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.

7  Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned.

A love that strong breeds a consuming zeal.

Observe that the zeal of the psalmist did not consume him because his enemies had forgotten him!  How often does our wrath or jealously consume us because we feel someone has slighted us?  This is because we love ourselves too much.  But in the psalmist’s case, his zeal was stirred because God’s words were slighted, even slighted to the point of being forgotten.

Mine enemies have forgotten thy words.  And do these words ever describe the age in which we live!  Not only is the Bible rejected, it is not even considered.  It is a forgotten Book.  And make no mistake about it; those who forget it are our enemies as the psalmist said.  Just only this week the pope of Rome stood before the United States congress and said:  “But there is another temptation which we must especially guard against:  the simplistic reductionism which sees only good or evil; or, if you will, the righteous and sinners.”  What he calls “simple reductionism” is precisely how the Bible sees things.  The Scriptures are replete with things and persons characterized as good or evil, righteous or sinners.  The pope’s words remind me of what the prophet Ezekiel wrote about the apostate priests of his day.

Ezekiel 22:26  Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.

The “simplistic reductionism” of the Bible reduces the pope’s speech to being simply profane.  That the masses could look favourably on such a speech only underscores the fact that they have forgotten God’s words!  The pope’s statement stirs my ire as well it should.  Anyone who can be indifferent to such an ignorant, asinine, downright anti-Scriptural statement as he made certainly does not have much love for what God says in His word.

Let us ever strive against developing the lukewarm attitude of the church of Laodicea.  The Lord found their lack of zeal disgusting to the point of wanting to vomit that church out of His mouth.

Revelation 3:16  So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

Of course, the greatest example of consuming zeal for God’s words is found in the Lord Jesus Christ.  When He beheld how the moneychangers had turned the house of God into a den of thieves, in righteous indignation He drove them out of the temple with “a scourge of small cords” (John 2:13-16).  When His disciples saw this they recalled the words of Psalm 69:9 which prophesied of Christ:

John 2:17  And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.

Those moneychangers had obviously forgotten the words of God written in Isaiah 56:7 that God’s house is a house of prayer.

Mark 11:17  And he (Jesus) taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves.

So zealous was our Lord for God’s words that it resulted in His being crucified by His enemies, who had forgotten them.  In fact, His enemies had forgotten God’s words to the point that they did not even realize they were fulfilling them in crucifying Him.

Acts 13:27  For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him.

Once again we find testimony borne to Christ in Psalm 119 just as we said we would when we began these meditations.

But let’s turn the searchlight of truth onto ourselves.  How about the altogether too many times that we have forgotten God’s words?  Do we turn our zeal against ourselves in correcting this oversight?  Are we as zealous against our own sins as we are the sins of others?  When the church of Corinth was confronted with their sin of tolerating scandalous sin their congregation, they reacted with a zeal that was nothing short of vehement, like the vehement flame of love that Solomon described above.  And thereby they cleared themselves of their transgression.

2 Corinthians 7:11  For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.

If today’s meditation has convicted you of a lack of love and zeal for God’s words, then I strongly urge you to heed the words of the Lord Jesus Christ to the church of Laodicea:

Revelation 3:19  As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

Psalm 119:138

The next verse of this octave of Psalm 119 entitled Tzaddi follows logically from the verse before it.    

Psalms 119:138  Thy testimonies that thou hast commanded are righteous and very faithful.

Since the Lord is righteous, it follows that the testimonies that He has commanded are righteous and very faithful.  Nothing a righteous God commands could be otherwise.

God’s testimonies that He has commanded are righteous.  Therefore, you are always doing the right thing when you keep them.  Never question that!  Even if circumstances do not seem favourable to keeping a commandment of God, keep it anyway.  If doing what God says costs you a valued relationship, a valued position, a valued possession, or even if it costs your life, do it anyway.  Peter and John were so convinced of the righteousness of God’s testimonies that they made this response to the Jewish council when they threatened them to speak no more in Jesus’ name:

Acts 4:19  But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.

20  For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.

God had commanded them to preach and give testimony of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  It was the right thing to do and thank God they did!  Because they obeyed God’s righteous commandment to preach, we have the testimony of the resurrection with us today.

God’s testimonies that He has commanded are also very faithful.  Let’s define that word faithful when it refers to actions such as commanding.

Faithful - Of persons and their actions: That may be believed or relied upon; trustworthy, veracious.

Being righteous, it is impossible for God to lie (Titus 1:2; Hebrews 6:18). Therefore, when can believe and rely upon anything God has commanded as being right. 

But let us not overlook that God’s testimonies that He has commanded are very faithful.

Very – In a high degree or measure; to a great extent; exceedingly, extremely, greatly.

God’s testimonies are extremely reliable. You will never find the word of any other more worthy of your absolute trust than the word of God.  It is extremely important that you believe with all your heart that God’s testimonies are righteous and very faithful, as Matthew Henry wrote:  “It is necessary to our faith and obedience that we be convinced of this.”  You will be less prone to heed a Bible that you think has mistakes in it and that cannot be relied upon to be right about everything it says.

Now in order for us to have the righteous and very faithful testimonies of God, they must be preserved somewhere for us to have access to them.  A qualification for a bishop or pastor is that he hold “fast the faithful word” (Titus 1:9).  How can a pastor do that if he does not have the faithful word to hold?  If we have no right and faithful copy or translation of God’s word, then we have no right and faithful word of God.  It is that simple.  But, thanks be to God, we have the Authorized or King James Version of the Bible faithfully translated in 1611 from faithful copies of the original Hebrew and Greek texts.  In this version we find not one single, provable error.  It is righteous and very faithful and in every respect justified in being called The Holy Bible, which cannot be said for the modern versions that have taken over most of professing Christendom.  Therefore, when you hold this faithful translation in your hand, read it, and obey it, you are keeping the righteous and very faithful testimonies that God has commanded. 

Let me acknowledge that I realize I have not advanced my proof for making this case for the Authorized Version.  However, if you look back through the archives of my blog, you will find a series of four articles that I submitted on 2, 8, 16, & 22 September 2009 entitled The Inspiration of the Scriptures.  In those articles I make my case for believing the Authorized Version is the inspired word of God in the English language.

In closing let me comment on verses 137 & 138 of Psalm 119 taken together.  It is by means of God’s righteous testimonies that God's born again people come to know the God that is righteous since God reveals Himself to them by His word. 

1 Samuel 3:21  And the LORD appeared again in Shiloh: for the LORD revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the LORD.

We are unspeakably blessed to know the right God by having the right Bible!    

 

Psalm 119:137

We are ready to launch out on our study of the eighteenth octave of Psalm 119 bearing the title of the Hebrew letter Tzaddi.  The tz in this word is pronounced like ts in our word pants or cuts. The a is pronounced like the a at the end of our word dilemma.  The letter i at the end of the word is pronounced the same as the letter i in our word machine.  Now if you put all those pronunciation suggestions together, you will have an idea of how Tzaddi sounds.  As for a humourous remark to make with this letter, my mind comes up empty so I shall pass on this one. If that makes you tzad, I’m tzorri.

Psalms 119:137  ¶TZADDI. Righteous art thou, O LORD, and upright are thy judgments.

If you look over this entire octave, you will notice that it stresses the righteousness of God’s word.  His word is characterized as upright, righteous, very faithful, pure, and true.  All of this is so because of what God is.  God is righteous and being righteous, everything that proceeds from Him is righteous.  Nothing God ever thinks, decides, says, or does is ever wrong.  God is never mistaken.  He is righteous.  And because He is righteous, His judgments are upright. 

Let us review the definition of the word judgment since we are speaking of God's judgments being upright.

Judgment – Divine sentence or decision; spec. a misfortune or calamity regarded as a divine visitation or punishment, or as a token of divine displeasure.  In various Biblical uses, chiefly as rendering of Heb. mishpit, in its different uses.  A (divine) decree, ordinance, law, statute.

God’s judgments can refer to His punishment of sinners, His afflicting of His people, as well as His laws given to govern our lives.  Or it can refer to God’s decisions to permit evil.  No evil can exist without God deciding to suffer or permit it. 

Acts 14:16  Who in times past suffered (permitted) all nations to walk in their own ways.

1 Corinthians 10:13  There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer (permit) you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

Recall that Satan could not touch Job or anything Job possessed without first obtaining permission from the Almighty (Job 1-2).  Neither can any evil touch or tempt you unless God suffers it.  Although the evil itself is not upright, God’s decision to permit it is upright because a righteous God can render no decision that is otherwise than upright.  The Scriptures are full of examples of God permitting evil and then making use of that evil to accomplish His good purpose.  Man’s sin does not rob God of His sovereign right to do with sinful man as He pleases.  One of the many examples would be the evil of Joseph’s brethren in selling him into slavery.

Genesis 50:20  But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.

The evil of Joseph’s brethren did not proceed from God because God is righteous.  That evil proceeded from the lust of their own evil heart. 

James 1:13  Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:

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

But what God decided to do in permitting that evil was righteous. 

That God is righteous is fundamental to all we believe about Him.  The righteous God Whose judgments are upright is the Rock upon which we build our faith, base our hopes, and in Which we find our refuge.

Deuteronomy 32:4  He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.

A God Whose work is perfect, a God of truth Who is without iniquity, and a God Who is just and right never makes a wrong decision.  Anything He decides to do is right.  

Always confess that God is righteous no matter how much your circumstances may seem to cry out to the contrary.  Never allow any adversity or injustice you see or experience in this world overthrow your faith in the righteousness of God.  There are things about God and His doings that we cannot fathom, including things He has told us in His word.  God’s judgments are a depth past our finding out.

Romans 11:33  O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!

But even though we may not fathom God’s judgment, we can know it is right and rest our souls on that.  If you can once clearly lay hold of this fact, then you will be on the way to experiencing God’s peace “that passeth all understanding” (Philippians 4:7).  No matter what happens, always come back to this:  Righteous are thou, O LORD, and upright are thy judgments.

I once heard of a black preacher who said, “I knows the Bible is right.  Some’in else is wrong.”  Those words may have been incorrect grammatically, but they were absolutely correct theologically since they capture the essence of today’s verse:  Righteous are thou, O LORD, and upright are thy judgments. i