Well, this evening as we've kind
of commenced our thoughts on this 119th Psalm, as I was meditating
upon it and looking at various references, I noticed that Charles
Spurgeon, when he came to write his commentary really on this
Psalm, and as you know he He actually wrote the Treasury of
Devi, which is seven quite large volumes, and this forms part
of the last volume, and therefore he wrote quite a long introduction
on this psalm. And I thought it would be worthwhile
reading that this evening, because it would give us a background
to his thoughts and his understanding of this psalm, And as, by God's
grace, we're able to meditate upon it week after week for some
22 weeks, there's a possibility that people may say, oh, well,
these words are very similar to what we heard last week. And
the tendency is to get bored with it. So I thought, if I read
this, it's three pages of typing, but it's very interesting. And
it does give some interesting facts as well. He wrote it about
three years before he died. He died when he was 58, not very
old, and he completed it just about three years before he died.
So it was a wonderful consideration. So let me just read this to you.
It's split really into two parts. First, this is what he says.
I have been all the longer over this portion of my task. because
I have been bewildered in the expanse of the 119th psalm, which
makes up the bulk of this volume. Its dimensions and its depth
alike overcame me. It spread itself out before me
like a vast rolling prairie, to which I could see no bound,
and this alone created a feeling of dismay its expanse was unbroken
by a bluff or headland, and hence it threatened a monotonous task,
although the fear has not been realised. This marvellous poem
seemed to me a great sea of holy teaching, moving in its many
verses, wave upon wave, all together, without an island of special
and remarkable statement to break it up. I confess, I hesitated
to launch upon it. Other Psalms have been mere lakes,
but this is the main ocean. It is a continent of sacred thought,
every inch of which is fertile as the garden of the Lord. It
is an amazing level of abundance, a mighty stretch of harvest fields. I've now crossed the great plain
for myself, but not without persevering, and I will add, pleasurable toil. Several great authors have traversed
this region and left their tracks behind them. And so far, the
journey has been all the easier for me. But yet, to me and to
my helpers, it has been no mean feat of patient authorship and
research. This great psalm is a book in
itself. Instead of being one among many
psalms, it is worthy to be set forth by itself as a poem of
surpassing excellence. Those who have never studied
it may pronounce it commonplace, and complain of its repetitions.
But the thoughtful student, it is like the great deep, full,
so as never to be measured, and varied, so as never to weary
the eye. Its depth is as great as its
length. It is mystery, not set forth
as mystery, but concealed beneath the simplest statements. Time
was when the Psalms were not only rehearsed in all the churches
from day to day, but they were so universally sung that the
common people knew them, even if they did not know the letters
in which they were written. Time was when bishops would ordain
no man to the ministry unless he knew David from ends to ends. and could repeat each psalm correctly. Even councils of the Church have
decreed that none should hold ecclesiastical office unless
they knew the whole Psalter by heart. Other practices of those
ages had better be forgotten, but to this memory accords an
honourable record. Then, as Jerome tells us, and
of course Jerome translated the Bible into Latin, the labourer,
while he held the plough, sang hallelujah. The tired reaper
refreshed himself with the psalms, and the vinedresser, while trimming
the vines with his curved hook, sang something of David. He tells
us that in his part of the world, psalms were the Christians' ballads. Could they have been better?
They were the love songs of the people of God. Could any others
be so pure and heavenly? These sacred hymns express all
modes of holy feeling. They fit both for childhood and
old age. They furnish maxims for the entrance
of life and serve as watchwords at the gates of death. The battle
of life, the repose of the Sabbath, the ward of the hospital, the
guest chamber of the mansion, the church, the oratory, yea,
even heaven itself may be entered with the Psalms. Then he says, There is no title
to this psalm. Neither is any author's name
mentioned. It is the longest psalm, and
this is a sufficiently distinctive name for it. It equals in bulk
22 psalms of the average length of the songs of degrees. Nor
is it long only. for it equally excels in breadth
of thought, depth of meaning, and height of fervour. It is
like the celestial city which lieth foursquare, and the height
and the breadth of it are equal. Many superficial readers have
imagined that it harps upon one string and abounds in pious repetitions,
and redundancies, but this arises from the shallowness of the reader's
own mind. Those who have studied this divine
hymn and carefully noted each line of it are amazed at the
variety and profundity of the thought. Using only a few words,
the writer has produced permutations and combinations of meaning which
display his holy familiarity with his subject, and the sanctified ingenuity
of his mind. He never repeats himself, for
if the same sentiment recurs, it is placed in a fresh connection,
and so exhibits another interesting shade of meaning. The more one
studies it, the fresher it becomes. This psalm becomes the more full
and fascinating the oftener you turn to it. It contains no idle
word. The grapes of this cluster are
almost to bursting full with a new wine of the kingdom. The
more you look into this mirror of a gracious heart, the more
you will see in it. placid on the surface, as the
sea of glass before the eternal throne. It yet contains within
its depths an ocean of fire, and those who devoutly gaze into
it shall not only see the brightness, but feel the glow of the sacred
flame. It is loaded with holy scents,
and is weighty as it is bulky, Again and again have we cried
while studying it, O the depths! Yet these depths are hidden beneath
an apparent simplicity. As Augustine has well and wisely
said, and this makes the exposition all the more difficult, its obscurity
is hidden beneath a veil of light. and hence only those discover
it who are in thorough earnest not only to look on the word
but like the angels to look into it. The psalm is alphabetical. Eight
stanzas or eight verses commence with one letter and then another
eight with the next letter. And so the whole psalm proceeds
by this situation, quite through the 22 letters of the Hebrew
alphabet, beside which there are multitudes of appositions
of sense, and others of those structural formalities which
the Oriental mind is pleased, formalities very similar to those
in which our older poets indulged. The Holy Spirit thus deigned
to speak to men in forms which were attractive to the attention
and helpful to the memory. He is often plain or elegant
in his manner, but he does not disdain to be quaint or formal,
if thereby his design of instruction can be the more surely reached.
he does not despise even contracted and artificial modes of speech. If by their use he can fix his
teaching upon the mind, Isaac Taylor has worthily set forth
a lesson of this fact. In the strictest sense, this
composition is conditioned. Nevertheless, in the highest
sense, it is an utterance of spiritual life, and in thus finding
the seemingly opposed elements intimated as they are throughout
this psalm. A lesson full of meaning is silently
conveyed, lo, those who shall receive it, that the conveyance
of the things of God to the human spirit is in no way damaged or
impeded, much less is it deflected by its subjugation to lose modes
of utterance which most of all bespeak their adaption to the
infancy and the childlike capacity of the recipient. The fashion among modern writers is as far
as possible to take ever this psalm from David, as the critics
of this school are usually unsound in doctrine and unspiritual in
tone. We gravitate in the opposite
direction, from a natural suspicion of everything which comes from
so unsatisfactorily a quarter. We believe that David wrote this
psalm, and it tanners with David's experience in many interesting
points. In our youth, our teacher called
it David's pocketbook, and we inclined to the opinion then
expressed that here we have the royal diary, written at various
times throughout a long life. No, we cannot give up this psalm
to the enemy, This is David's spoil. After long reading an
author, one gets to know his style, and a measure of discernment
is acquired by which his composition is detected, even if his name
be concealed. We feel a kind of critical certainty
that the hand of David is in this thing, yea, that it is altogether
his own. The one theme is the Word of
the Lord. The psalmist sets his subject
in many lights and treats it in diverse ways, but he seldom
omits to mention the Word of the Lord in each verse under
some way or other of the many names by which he knows it. And
even if the name be not there, the subject is still heartily
pursued in every verse. He who wrote this wonderful song
was saturated with those books of scripture which he possessed.
Andrew Bonner tells of a simple Christian in a farmhouse who
had meditated the Bible through three times. This is precisely
what the psalmist had done. He had gone past reading into
meditation. Like Luther, David had shaken
every fruit tree in God's garden and gathered gold and fruit therefrom.
The most, says Martin Booz, read their Bibles like cows that stand
in the thick grass and trample under their feet the finest flowers
and herbs. it is to be feared that we too
often do the like. This is a miserable way of treating
the pages of inspiration. May the Lord prevent us from
repeating that sin while reading this priceless psalm. There is
an evident growth in this subject matter. The earlier verses are
of such a character as to lend themselves to the hypothesis that the author
was a young man, while many of the latter passages could only
have suggested themselves to age and wisdom. In every portion,
however, it is the fruit of deep experience, careful observation,
and earnest meditation. If David did not write in there
must have lived another believer of exactly the same order of
mind as David, and he must have addicted himself to psalmody
with equal ardour, and have been an equally hearty lover of holy
writ. Our best improvement of this
sacred composition will come through getting our minds into
intense sympathy with its subject. In order to this, we might do
well to commit to memory. Philip Henry's daughter wrote
in her diary, I have of late taken some pains to learn by
heart Psalm 119. and have made some progress therein. She was a sensible, godly woman. Having done this, we should consider
the fullness, certainty, clearness and sweetness of the word of
God, since by such reflections we are likely to be stirred up
to a warm affection for it. What favoured beings are those
to whom the Eternal God has written a letter in His own hand and
style. What ardour of devotion, what
diligence of composition can produce a worthy eulogium for
the divine testimonies? If ever one such has fallen from
the pen of man, it is the 119th Psalm, which might well be called
the Holy Souls Soliloquy before an open Bible. Well, that was
the thoughts of Spurgeon many years ago, and I hope we can
try and remember some of the things that he brought forth
as by God's grace we're able to go through this psalm. It is a wonderful psalm. It has some glorious truths. We can see here God the Father,
and God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And we pray that
they may be, as we go through and meditate on them, truly blessed
to our souls.