The psalmist referred to them as “the proud” or “the arrogant” ( vv. 63, 74, 79, etc.), the psalmist, and the ungodly people who despised him ( v. The cast of characters includes the Lord God, a remnant of godly people in the nation ( vv. In the psalm, there are no references to a sanctuary, to sacrifices, or to a priestly ministry. 23, 161 “princes” in kjvand nasb), a word that can refer to Gentile rulers or local Jewish tribal leaders ( Neh. The writer must have been a high-profile person, because he mentioned the opposition of rulers ( vv. In all but fourteen verses, he addresses his words to the Lord personally, so this psalm is basically a combination of worship, prayer, praise, and admonition. Whoever the author was, he is a good example for us to follow, for he had an intense hunger for holiness and a passionate desire to understand God’s Word in a deeper way. Some attribute the psalm to Moses, which is unlikely, and others to a priest or Levite who served in the second temple after the Babylonian captivity. Since we do not know who wrote the psalm, we cannot know for certain when it was written, but our ignorance need not hinder us from learning from this magnificent psalm. 37, but most Hebrew texts read “your ways.”) The writer may have been meditating on Psalm 19 where David listed six names for the Scriptures, five of which are found in 119–law, testimony, precept, commandment, and judgment. If you count “ways” as a synonym for God’s Word, then you can eliminate verses 3 and 37. Students disagree on this, but it appears that every verse contains a direct mention of God’s Word except seven: verses 3, 37, 84, 90, 121, 122, and 132. The unknown author used eight different words for the Scriptures: law ( torah), testimony, precept, statute, commandment, judgment (in the sense of “a rule for living”), word (of God), and promise. Each of the eight lines of 1-8 begins with the Hebrew letter aleph, the lines in 9-16 begin with beth, in 17-24 with gimel, and so on. The psalm is an acrostic with eight lines in each section, and the successive sections follow the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. It describes how the Word enables us to grow in holiness and handle the persecutions and pressures that always accompany an obedient walk of faith. The emphasis in this, the longest psalm, is on the vital ministry of the Word of God in the inner spiritual life of God’s children.
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