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ש（Shin) Love for law
Series: Finding the Gospel in Psalm 119 – A Hymn to the Law (21/22) Psalm 119:160–168
Andy Nagahrara
Today is the 21st in a series on Psalm 119. We will cover verses 161-168, where the 21st letter of the Hebrew alphabet, “ש (Shin)” is placed at the beginning of each line of the 21st paragraph.
The reading of this letter is said to be related to the Hebrew word for tooth (שן šen), but there are different theories.
Today, let’s consider what it means for us to “love the law,” which appears three times in this text.
1. The word of the Lord, the supreme treasure (161,162)
161 Rulers persecute me without cause,
but my heart trembles at your word.
162 I rejoice in your promise
like one who finds great spoil.
The word “love” does not appear in the first two verses, but there is a similar expression, “I rejoice in what you say.” As I mentioned last time, the bad people who are tormenting him are not forces or criminals from other countries. They are fellow citizens, and people with great power.
Many of the Psalms bear David’s name, but it was Saul, the king he served, who afflicted David. Jesus also loved the people of Israel and tried to save them, but the authorities persecuted him and crucified him. The psalmist, David, and Jesus were alien to those in power at the time. And they walked with God’s word as support in that difficult situation. Even if the world seemed to be wielding its power, they believed that God had absolute power and was close to them. The proof of this was God’s speaking to them.
The psalmist’s great joy at hearing the words is expressed in the expression, “Like one who finds great spoil.” Israel was prosperous in the time of King Solomon, but since then it has been economically and militarily impoverished due to the division of the kingdom and the rule of the surrounding powers. It was a country far from the spoils of war that came with victory.
Does the word of the Lord feel to you as a precious treasure the way David and Jesus and the psalmist did? For us, as I have been telling you in this series, the laws, commandments, decrees, and admonitions in Psalm 119 are not the rules for the people of Israel found in the Old Testament. For us, the words of Jesus recorded in the Bible are of course the same, but the words spoken in worship and prayer are also the words of God. Just like having a conversation, worshiping, praying, and being supremely joyful about it is what it means to love God’s word and love God himself.
The next part shows that the psalmist also cherished such moments. Read verses 163 and 164.
2. The Law Brings Peace to Those Who Love It (163-166)
163 I hate and abhor falsehood
but I love your law.
164 Seven times a day I praise you
for your righteous laws.
165 Great peace have they who love your law,
and nothing can make them stumble.
166 I wait for your salvation, O LORD,
and I follow your commands.
The phrase “I love your law” appears here.
It is paired with the phrase “I hate and abhor falsehood.” That is, to love the law is incompatible with “falsehood.”
Falsehoods abound in society. Recently in Japan, a rapidly growing used car sales company has been in trouble after it was discovered that it has been falsely billing insurance companies for increased damage when repairing cars.
This society is a competitive society where there is value in being bigger and stronger than others. For that reason, there is no end to those who try to increase their own profits by deceiving people. But this is no wonder. It is a natural product of human self-centered “sin”. And the Bible calls this “sin.” It happens between people, between companies, and between countries. No matter how strict the laws are, there are those who find a way out and amass their wealth. But that is not what God wants.
In particular, it is an abomination to God for those with great power and wickedness to oppress the weak and small through falsehood. The psalmist was also oppressed by the high-ranking people for no reason. Let me give you an example of “falsehood” from the time of Jesus.
9 And he said to them: “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! 10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’ 11 But you say that if a man says to his father or mother: ‘Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban’ (that is, a gift devoted to God), 12 then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. 13 Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.” (Mark 7:9-13)
Jesus said these words to the Pharisees and scribes, that is to the religious leaders. That is also what is happening in modern Christianity. They have interpreted what the Bible says on their own and have justified discrimination against certain people. They have persecuted people whom God created and loves by falsely claiming that the Bible recognizes racism, misogyny, gender identity discrimination, and sexual orientation discrimination.
I believe that Jesus never pleased with discrimination of any kind. To rejoice in the words of Jesus is to rejoice together that those who are persecuted and discriminated against needlessly are set free and are treated as worthy of God’s creation. Like Jesus, it is to stand with those who suffer from “falsehood.”
However, this society is dominated by the human sin nature.
Society tries to maintain fairness through various regulations, but it is not enough. There are countries where the majority of the population lacks daily food, even though a large amount of leftover food is thrown away in Japan. I believe that God is grieved by such disparities as well.
In such a society, our first priority is to worship and praise God in order to keep hope alive and contribute even a little to the work of aiming for a society that is pleasing to God. Praising seven times a day means not the number of times. It means walking alongside Jesus as much as possible.
Verses 165,166 are the best measure of how healthy our faith is.
Can you truly say amen to this psalmist’s words to God?
165 Great peace have they who love your law,
and nothing can make them stumble.
166 I wait for your salvation, O LORD,
and I follow your commands.
3. According to your love (159,160)
159 See how I love your precepts;
preserve my life, O LORD, according to your love.
160 All your words are true;
all your righteous laws are eternal.
God speaks to the soul, not to the ears. The essence of “loving the law” is to listen to this utterance of God and live in response to it. God speaks to us in many ways. It is written in Scripture and speaks directly to the heart in worship, in prayer, and sometimes through someone else’s words and actions.
However, it is not easy to correctly receive God’s intentions in any form. Loving and cherishing the word of God is nothing but trying to receive it correctly. A common error in hearing it as a biblical account is in the interpretation of the words I talked about in the previous section. Even in translations between modern languages, there are no words that accurately express the nuances of the original language. And it is even more difficult to translate from ancient Greek or Hebrew into modern languages. This is because language is strongly influenced by time and culture.
For example, those who argue that modern homosexuality is contrary to biblical teaching ignore this difference and simply associate certain words with modern homosexuality, claiming that it is a sin.
The Bible is God’s word. But we must not forget that it is the word of God written in human language.
In other words, it is an expression made within the constraints of time and culture. Therefore, we should not ignore the background and culture in which it was used and connect it to contemporary events.
What about worship, prayer, and speaking through the words and actions of others? This is where misunderstandings arise due to our assumptions. It happens that church leaders pass on their thoughts as the word of God. If you are told, ” I am a pastor and my word must be taken as God’s word,” then you must run away from that church. It is no longer a church but a cult.
To avoid falling into such a mistake and to correctly receive God’s word and walk, it is necessary to know the basic attitude of Jesus recorded in the Gospels. Because the very existence of Jesus is a message from God, as stated in John’s Gospel chapter 1. As you walk, you should ask yourself, “How would Jesus feel and do?
Today’s text concludes with very comforting words.
“All my ways are known to you.”
It means that God knows every step of each and every one of us, even if it seems uncertain to us. As long as we listen to God’s words and follow them, we are protected and guided no matter what we see. Let’s rejoice in this, be thankful and keep walking. That is what it means to love God’s law.
(Prayer) Dear God, we are very pleased that you are speaking to each one of us.
Draw us in so we can hear you better.
Let me walk the right path while exchanging words with you in my daily life.
We trust in you because you know all our steps.
With the hope and thanksgiving, we pray in the name of Jesus Christ.
Summary
We all want to cherish what God is saying and want to follow it. It is a feeling that everyone has as a person created by God. However, if we make a mistake in how to receive it and how to put it into practice, we will end up walking in the opposite direction, even if we think we are cherishing and practicing it, like the legalism of the time of Jesus and the Christian cult of today. What we need to do to avoid that is to get closer to Jesus.
For Discussion
1. What is the law to you?
2. What does it mean to love the law?