Study on Psalm 119 - the introduction
- Mr - B
- Apr 19, 2021
- 2 min read
Also see Charles Spurgeon's - The golden alphabet
“This wonderful psalm, from its great length, helps us to wonder at theimmensity of Scripture. From its keeping to one subject it helps us to adorethe unity of Scripture; for it is but one. Yet, from the many turns it gives tothe same thought, it helps you to see the variety of Scripture…. Some have said that in it there is anabsence of variety, but that is merely the observation of those who havenot studied it. I have weighed each word, and looked at each syllable withlengthened meditation; and I bear witness that this sacred song has notautology in it, but is charmingly varied from beginning to end. Its varietyis that of a kaleidoscope: from a few objects a boundless variation isproduced. In the kaleidoscope you look once, and there is a strangelybeautiful form. You shift the glass a very little, and another shape, equallydelicate and beautiful, is before your eyes. So it is here.” (Charles Spurgeon)
Being such a long psalm – and the longest chapter in the Bible – this psalm has been of great historical interest. There have been many lengthy works written on this psalm; one of them is by Thomas Manton, a Puritan preacher and writer, who wrote a three-volume work on Psalm 119. Each volume is between 500 and 600 pages, with a total of 1,677 pages. There are 190 chapters in his work, more than one chapter for each verse.
“Luther professed that he prized this Psalm so highly, that he would not take the whole world in exchange for one leaf of it.” (Charles Bridges) Some great people have memorized this whole psalm and found great blessing in doing so: John Ruskin (19th century British writer), William Wilberforce (19th century British politician who led the movement to abolish the slave trade in the British Empire), Henry Martyn (19th century pioneer missionary to India), and David Livingstone (19th century pioneer missionary to Africa).
Matthew Henry – the great 18th century Bible commentator – was introduced to Psalm 119 as a child. His father, Philip Henry, told his children to take one verse of Psalm 119 every morning to meditate on, and thereby go through the entire psalm twice in the year. Philip said to his children, “That will bring you to be in love with all the rest of the Scriptures.” Perhaps that practice was why Matthew Henry loved the Bible so much that he wrote commentary that is used still today.
George Wishart was the Bishop of Edinburgh in the 17th century (not to be confused with another Scot by the same name who was martyred a century earlier). Wishart was condemned to death for his faith. But when he was on the scaffold, he made use of a custom that allowed the condemned person to choose one psalm to be sung, and he chose Psalm 119. Before two-thirds of the psalm had been sung, his pardon arrived and his life was spared.
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