Tsadhe
Psalm 119 • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 4 viewsIn Part One, we will think, deeply I hope, about the relationship between God’s nature and the nature of God’s word.
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
This, I hope, will be one of the most important sections of this Psalm that we consider.
Last week, we learned about the value of scripture being the God it reveals.
This week, we will build upon this idea, and we will think along as the writer develops this with greater depth.
We must consider the relationship between God’s character and God’s word.
We have already learned that respect for God’s personal authority means we must have respect for His word.
To reject the Word of God is not just to reject a set of propositions or ideas as true. It is to reject the God revealed in the scriptures and whose identity gives them their character.
Why should we consider the Word of God to be right?
God’s Personal Character Proclaimed:
God’s Personal Character Proclaimed:
The Psalmist begins this section by making a declaration about God’s personal character.
Righteous (are) you yourself, Jehovah.
Righteous = a Hebrew term that refers, at a minimum, to God’s purity or innocence of character.
He is holy.
He is not sinful.
He is upright.
James 1:13. God is impeccable.
This is not an attribute we believe Him to hold. It is a characteristic that is essential to his very being.
He claims to be pure and holy.
He claims to be loving.
He has provided evidence to give plausibility to that claim.
Righteousness is not an arbitrary concept. It is an attribute of God.
God’s Personal Character and the Essence of His Word
God’s Personal Character and the Essence of His Word
From the earlier declaration of God’s righteous character, the Psalmist holds in parallel a statement about God’s word.
As a parallel to the above reality, his judgments are morally and ethically upright.
Because righteousness is not an arbitrary concept neither are his laws arbitrarily upright.
God’s word is upright because He is upright.
We cannot dissociate the authority and character of God’s word from God’s own nature.
This disconnect is at the core of human living as though God and His Word can be taken lightly.
Who really establishes what is right for you or your family?
Taking God’s word with a lack of seriousness demonstrates that God himself is not taken seriously.
God has no authority over the life of someone who sees themselves as the ultimate determiner of how seriously they have to take His Word.
Such an individual reserves for themselves the right to sit in judgment of God’s degree of authority in their lives. That individual is in conflict with God over which of them actually IS God.
That we should arrive at the above conclusions is affirmed by Ps. 119:138.
You have commanded your righteous and exceeding truthful testimonies.
God’s words share His innate characteristics.
It is God’s own personal nature that establishes the character of His word.
Our views, or our faith, are not what makes God’s commandments righteous. Instead, God’s commandments are objectively righteous because He is, in his very essence, righteousness.
Introduction: Part 2
Introduction: Part 2
God’s description of himself in Ex. 20.
The statements that follow all naturally come out of placing God as the highest priority in life.
This should come from the realization of what His character calls for.
Knowing God, having a right relationship with Him, results in taking on His characteristics in our lives.
We do not confuse the desire to be imagers of God with being gods ourselves.
Wishing to display His characteristics differs from wanting to assert our own equal status to Him.
He wants his life to be lived as one who honors God and His word.
A God-like Jealousy
A God-like Jealousy
The failure of his enemies to remember Jehovah’s words generates within him a consuming jealousy. This also imitates the character of God. See Ex. 20.
What is remarkable here is that the writer does not express glee that His enemies have positioned themselves whereby they have the potential to experience God’s wrath.
Instead, like he has stated before, he is sorrowful over their disregard for Jehovah’s law.
Now, we can better understand that because we can see that he has a good understanding of God’s nature and their bearing upon the nature of God’s word.
He is filled with consuming jealously for God’s sake. God deserves to be taken seriously. God deserves to be honored by having his word taken seriously.
Lowly Loving of God’s Word
Lowly Loving of God’s Word
Ps. 119:140 might be better served if the ESV had used “word” instead of “promise.”
What is in view, apparently, is a description of the Word of God as “refined” or “purified.”
Psalm 12:6 “The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.”
The verb ṣārap literally denotes the process of purifying metals (especially silver) by melting them. This process is used as a metaphor for purifying or refining people (Kim, S. H. (2014). Testing. In D. Mangum, D. R. Brown, R. Klippenstein, & R. Hurst (Eds.), Lexham Theological Wordbook. Lexham Press.).
The Psalmist refers to himself as Jehovah’s servant, and he declares his love for God’s pure word.
This is also another way of portraying the value he places upon the Word of God.
It’s purity, however, is what makes it valuable.
In additional to referring to himself as a slave, he also describes himself as insignificant and the object of contempt.
“I myself (am) insignificant and on being despised. Perhaps instead of this giving a description of how others view him, the writer is giving an assessment of himself.
In the grand scheme of things, he has no real importance or honor. He is insignificant and worthless.
Such lowliness has not become a justification for contempt for God’s word. Poverty and insignificance are not excuses for resenting and disobeying God.
A Transcendent Worldview
A Transcendent Worldview
The writer reiterates his understanding of God’s reliable and unchanging nature.
Furthermore, in light of God’s nature, His word is reliable, trustworthy, and/or true.
This enables him to delight in God’s commandments regardless of his personal circumstances.
He does not express shock at his insignificance or that distress and anguish have “discovered” him.
Instead, he declares that he finds intense delight in God’s commandments.
Enhanced Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (שַׁעֲשֻׁעִים; -שׁוּעִים)
God’s law, etc., ψ 119:24, 77, 92, 143, 174.
Completing the Cycle
Completing the Cycle
The Psalm ends with a structural repetition of Ps. 119:142.
It also summarizes the key observations/assertions of the section.
Because God’s law is founded in God’s righteousness, just as His righteousness is righteous forever, so His testimonies are righteous forever.
They can be relied upon to transcend time and circumstance.
He expresses, again, his desire to have discernment so that he may live.
No doubt this is not physical.
Discernment is not required for possession of physical life, but it is necessary for living in accordance with the teaching of God’s word.
