If we were to ask the folk in our church congregations to name their favourite Psalm, would Psalm 119 be foremost among them? Its sheer length can intimidate: at 176 verses it’s the longest chapter in the Bible, let alone the Psalter. And I wonder whether some Christians (particularly perhaps those in the Reformed Tradition) might even feel its focus upon relentless observance of God’s Law to be – well – somewhat graceless?
So it’s perhaps surprising to find, in today’s setting, those 176 verses distilled to just eight 3-line stanzas, winsome and wonderful. Indeed, Christopher Idle’s paraphrase-precis helps us to see that Psalm 119 is nothing if not graceful.
It’s graceful in its subject-matter: God’s Law, also named here as commandments, statutes, instruction, judgments, precepts and so on. Together these are expressions of God’s Torah – the entirety of God’s guidance for right living. And we’re reminded here that Torah is loving gift, not stern imposition: it comprises “Laws that spell freedom, true liberation”.
Furthermore, it’s graceful in its structure: have you noticed that each line of the Psalm in today’s setting begins with a subsequent letter of the alphabet? (Only X and Z are missing – fair enough really!) This style of writing is known as an acrostic, but it’s not just Christopher Idle’s idea: for in the Hebrew text of Psalm 119, remarkably, the eight lines of each stanza all begin with the same letter of the Hebrew alphabet, before moving on to the next letter in the next stanza.
And lest we assume the writers (both Hebrew and English) are simply being clever, their choice of an acrostic form itself offers us an important insight. For just as, in the absence of smartphones or GPS, we might navigate an unfamiliar city by consulting an ‘A to Z’, so likewise God’s Torah – God’s instruction – is comprehensive enough to guide us through all of life.
Elegance. Ingenuity. Above all, Grace. Thanks be to God!
Prayer (in which the words may be read from first-to-last or from last-to-first)
We offer thanksgiving and praise, with obedience,
God of revelation.
A life-shaped Law, bearing witness:
gift divine, in joy and freedom.
Amen and Amen!
Freedom and joy in divine gift:
witness-bearing, Law-shaped life –
a revelation of God.
Obedience, with praise and thanksgiving, offer we.
<!–
–>
Today’s writer
The Rev’d Dominic Grant, Minister, Barnet URC and St Andrew’s Chesterfield Road URC
We use cookies to optimise our website and our service.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
