Psalm 119: Paving the way for Christian understanding of the Bible
October 27, 2023 - Friday, 29th Week in Ordinary Time
Psalm 119:66, 68, 76, 77, 93, 94
Psalm 119 is the longest in the Bible and it presents God’s Law as the source of happiness, wisdom, and life (Ps. 119:1, 93, 98). It begins with a proclamation that “blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord” (Ps 119:1). In Hebrew, the word used here is “Torah”, which means instruction and in Jewish tradition, it is associated with the five books ascribed to Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. But, in this psalm, the “Torah” of the Lord has a wider, even mystical meaning. Some scholars noticed that in this psalm a relationship to Torah replaces a relationship with God.
The psalmist declares that he trusts in God’s command, but usually, God is the direct object of trust. For example, in Psalm 125, we read that “Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever” (Ps 125:1). Prophet Isaiah says that “those who trust in the Lord will find new strength” (Is 40:31) and Jeremiah proclaims that “blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD” (Jer 17:7).
The psalmist also states that he gains life through God’s precepts. This is also surprising because, from the first pages of the Bible, the Lord is the source of life. For example, we read in Psalm 36: “with you is the fountain of life” (Ps 36:10). And in the Book of Isaiah, we find this passage pointing to the Lord as the origin of everything: “This is what God the Lord says— the Creator of the heavens, who stretches them out, who spreads out the earth with all that springs from it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it" (Is 42:5).
The psalm’s unique understanding of the Torah of the Lord paves the way for our approach to the Bible. At the beginning of the Gospel of John, we are introduced to the Word of God but it is not a book but a person. Jesus Christ is the Word of God that became flesh and the writings of the New Testament are about him. But, we are also accustomed to calling the Bible, the Word of God, written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. For example, our Mass is divided into the liturgy of the Word of God and the liturgy of the Eucharist. We believe that when we read God’s word, particularly the Gospels during the Eucharistic celebrations, Jesus Christ is present. In many churches, there is even a special place where the Bible is publicly displayed, often close to the Tabernacle.
The scholars date this psalm between the 6th and 4th before Christ. That was also the time when the Jewish Bible was taking its final shape. Perhaps, the trauma of losing the temple in 586 BC as a place of encountering the Lord contributed to this new unique understanding and its importance in the faith of the Jewish community. We see a similar pattern in those places where Christians have no places of worship and no priests. The Bible becomes the source of strength and encouragement in such moments of darkness. Through the reading of the Bible we gain wisdom and knowledge, and God’s kindness and compassion bring us delight.