The Psalmist in Psalm 119

Joshua · #1 (**permalink**) 05-06-2006, 10:25 AM

Throughout he utters how he keeps God's law and loves God's law and does not depart from it. Is he here speaking in an eschatological sense (i.e. ultimately will be made perfect)? Because, after saying all that, it's only in the last verse that he seems to confess his straying from God. Just curious.

Joshua · #2 (**permalink**) 05-06-2006, 01:51 PM

Anyone of you fine theologians care to pontificate?

larryjf · #3 (**permalink**) 05-06-2006, 06:40 PM

He has not departed from God's judgements so that he has not chosen another rule of life. He accepts God's judgements as they ought to be accepted, as coming from God Himself and our only rule of faith.

If that's not what you were talking about, maybe you could quote some of the particular verses, but that's my general take on it.

bookslover · #4 (**permalink**) 10-10-2006, 01:30 AM

Actually, verse 176 is not the only place in Psalm 119 where the psalmist confesses his weakness and sin. A careful reading of the psalm will reveal two or three other places where he reveals this.

Which shouldn't be surprising. He is, after all, a sinner (just like the rest of us), so we know up front that he does not keep God's Word perfectly. None of us does that - not in this life. What he is stressing is his devotion to, and his commitment to, keeping His Word, to obey it to the best of his ability.

Psalm 119 has always struck me as a wonderful psalm in which the writer shows his utter, though imperfect (again, in this life) devotion to God and His Word. And that's just at the personal level, as regards the writer. Even more fascinating is the way the psalm is structured, not only using the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, but also in the seemingly repetitious, non-linear (the psalm doesn't "go anywhere") style he uses.

But, that's a conversation for another day.

Hope this helps.