{Disclaimer: these are my rough teaching notes I use in my Mishkan Katan weekly broadcasts. There will be "typos". Proceed at your own risk, lol.You can find all my Mishkan Katan video teachings on my YouTube channel: genahood2818 . Look on the playlist called Messianic LAMB TV Network.}
Boker Tov, and welcome back to Mishkan Katan. Today, we will be continuing to explore Psalm 119, beginning in verse 25. You can go ahead and turn there in your copy of the Scriptures, if you have not already done so. As we mentioned in last week’s lesson, this massive psalm, this longest psalm in the book of psalms, is divided up into sections, with each section bearing the name of one of the Hebrew alphabet letters. The first three sections, all of the sections having 8 verses, began with aleph, bet and gimmel, respectively.
The fourth section begins here in verse 25, and is assigned the letter dalet, which is the fourth letter of the Hebrew alphabet. We touched on this last week. But, the letter dalet looks a bit like a door, swinging on a hinge. This passage speaks of “derachim “, a Hebrew word that begins with dalet and which means “ways”. So, this section speaks to the many ways that lie before man. Of course, the desired “way” is the path of truth. Interestingly, Yeshua testified that He is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life” and that no one comes to Father Yahweh, Hashem, unless they come through Yeshua. That is one of the strongest statements Yeshua made, in establishing His divinity, establishing His place in the mysterious divine majesty we collectively refer to as “God”.
Let’s read verses 25-32, another 8-verse section. Reading from the CJB…
ד (Dalet)
25 I lie prostrate in the dust;
revive me, in keeping with your word.
26 I told you of my ways, and you answered me;
teach me your laws.
27 Make me understand the way of your precepts,
and I will meditate on your wonders.
28 I am melting away from anxiety and grief;
renew my strength, in keeping with your word.
29 Keep deceitful ways far from me,
and favor me with your Torah.
30 I choose the way of trust;
I set your rulings [before me].
31 I cling to your instruction;
Adonai, don’t let me be put to shame!
32 I will run the way of your mitzvot,
for you have broadened my understanding.
In verse 25, the Psalmist is confessing his exhaustion. He is so wiped out by life, that figuratively, he is lying facedown in the dust. I would be surprised if many of you have not felt that way, at some point. It is a place where you are just “at the end of yourself”, a place where you can’t recover without the miraculous help of God. When David was there, and he was there several times during his life - - talk about a man whose life was “an open book”…. When David was there, he reminded God of His word, God’s promises to David and his offspring. We have not been promised that our offspring will be kings and will rule over Israel. That was Hashem’s promise to David. However, we have many promises that are ours as children of King Yeshua. At times when we are facedown in the dust, it is a good practice for us to remember those promises, even to speak them out loud. It’s not God who needs the reminder; it is us! Perspective is so very important.
Perhaps you live with someone who often gets “down in the dumps”. Usually, this happens because the person, follower of Yeshua or not, loses perspective, and focuses on the negative aspects of the current situation. One of the kindest things we can do to help loved ones who get like this, or perhaps even you, is to remind them of the promises of God, which He will fulfill “according to His word”.
Another good strategy for such times, is to confess our sins and shortcomings to God directly. Again, it is good to voice them out loud, when feasible. That’s what David is referring to here in verse 26, I believe. He is confessing his sins, even though the Lord God knows all anyway. It could also mean that David just conversed with God in prayer as a daily habit, talking to Him about his day and his various decisions needing to be made, etc. I know that when I served in a position of leadership for many years, I would throughout the day whisper prayers for wisdom in how to deal with one thorny problem or another.
Again in this verse, we have David bringing up Hashem’s statutes. “Explain to me the unexplainable”, it seems David is saying. “Reveal the inscrutable to me.” We always want to know, don’t we? To understand everything? That’s not always given to us, however, particularly about God’s statutes, if you remember from our last session together. The thing about God’s statutes is that they were and are hard to understand because they picture some future event, some very significant event. And, it is impossible to understand until the future event has occurred. Then, you can look back and say, “Whooooaaaaaa….” As my friend, Jenni says when some great spiritual revelation hits her between the eyes. Another of my friends says, “Boom, shakalaka!” But, that’s beside the point, I reckon.
I will again use the example of the red heifer sacrifice. If you have not studied this topic, follower of Yeshua, I highly recommend that you do so. I have taught on it here on Mishkan Katan on 4/10/24. You can go to my YouTube channel and click on the Playlists tab. Choose “Messianic Lamb TV Network” and scroll down until you see that date. Like all of my MK teachings here on LAMB, it is 55 mins to an hour long.
In short, the red heifer sacrifice pictured the coming of Mashiach and His redemptive work. The pre-figuring that this statute, this offering, did is astounding.
Verse 27 highlights the importance of divine revelation in discerning God’s precepts. Without the Ruach HaKodesh’s enlightenment in our souls, we are fully incapable of correct understanding. And, even then, we make mistakes from time to time. How else can you explain diametrically-opposed interpretations of Scripture, by people who are, for the most part, well-meaning, well-intentioned?
One of the things all of us from a “religious background”, regardless of denomination, tend to do is to take things at face value, once they are presented to us. We have been trained to do so by our denominational leaders. Critical thinking and prayerful digging into the Scriptures with the guidance of the Holy Spirit has been discouraged. So, most in the pews or chairs don’t. They just swallow whatever they are given. All of us should study the Scriptures and “test the spirits”, as the apostle Paul says. The Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth. It takes some of us longer to get there than others, lol. Walking by faith, and growing in our faith, is a journey. I hope to never feel as though I have “arrived” spiritually. I want to still be seeking God and His ways, until my dying breath.
Notice that the instruction and the understanding mentioned in verses 26 and 27 precede the sharing of the insights with others. Some of you may wonder why I more or less read my lessons that I present here to you. There’s one compelling reason. I want to be sure that I know what I have shared, that the content is as accurate scripturally as I know how to make it. I take this responsibility very seriously, and don’t want to knowingly spread error. Of course, I do ad lib sometimes, usually during an anecdotal moment.
In verse 28 the word translated as “melts” or “melting” is “DAHL-fah”, which literally means “crying” or “shedding tears”, as we find it in Job 16:20. This is a statement of lamenting. It is as if each teardrop washes away the joyous spirit of the soul, until the entire soul is melting. Many of you have “been there”. A young girl wrote a Father’s Day love letter to her dad, who is currently intubated and fighting for his life in ICU. It reminded me of how much I still love and miss my own earthly Father, who died decades ago. When you grieve over a loss or in a very difficult situation, you can feel as though your soul is melting. Do we turn to the Lord and to His Word during such times? Do we figuratively grab hold of the horns of the altar and hold on for dear life? David says that’s the way to handle it.
The sages say that when he was confronted by the prophet, Nathan, concerning his sin with Bathsheba, that David’s soul melted with sorrow, but the word which Nathan gave him in 2 Samuel 7:18 sustained him. That promise was this: “And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you, and your throne shall be firm forever.”
More wisdom in verse 30 - - the antidote to falsehood is the truth of Torah. Amen! The Word of God stands forever. May we all be endowed by our mighty God with the gift of Torah wisdom, and I am using “Torah” in the broad sense, to include all the Scriptures.
Also in verse 30, it is important that we not alter the content of Torah to suit our own liking, and especially to justify our own sin. By submitting to Hashem’s judgments, we are confessing that we have both completely accepted them and that we have tailored our lives to conform to them. This is the ultimate expression of humility, submission to God and love for Him.
In verses 31 and 32, David mentions testimonies and statues again. I love the translation, the most literal translation, of the first part of vs. 32. “I will run on the way of Your commandments.” This reminds me of one of the apostle Paul’s final confessions, before his death. It is found in 2 Timothy 4:7 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith;”. The apostle Paul surely “ran on the way of God’s commandments”, as he by the Holy Spirit earnestly sought sanctification, holiness, after his initial salvation. Thank God, we can do that increasingly, as he broadens our understanding of His Word.
I’ve said this before, but I would not be a part of the Messianic movement today, had it not been for my sisters in the Lord adhering to this verse. You see, they did not bludgeon me about my lack of understanding. They patiently modeled and taught me through example, allowing the Ruach HaKodesh to move in my heart and increase my understanding. And, as He began to do that, I began to “run” more in the way of His commandments. Sometimes, we tend to use a cudgel when a loving hug is called for, and it turns people away from hearing the truth of the Word of God. This is often done out of pride. It creates division, unnecessary division, and thwarts growth in God’s kingdom. We need to learn to be more comfortable with disagreement as the called out ones grow. Things don’t always happen on our timetable. They happen according to God’s. Therefore, we won’t always agree on every issue 100% of the time. Well, actually, in messianic circles especially, that practically never happens. My “mother” in the movement, may her memory be forever a blessing, used to refer to our “denomination” if you can call it that, as “The Messy Messianics”. She was not wrong, but what a shame to have that as a distinguishing characteristic. We as a body need to somewhat “get over ourselves”.
Sarah Williams’ Facebook page, 6/19.
Allright, we find ourselves now at the next section. Before we go on, I want to suggest an exercise to you. Make a list of the 22 Hebrew letters. That means, yes, you’ll have to backtrack to aleph, the first one, and jot down the meaning of each letter. I was reflecting on that this morning, how glorious it is that each letter historically has meaning beyond the actual sound, look and grammatical function of it. I was telling my dentist yesterday, during a check-up - - he had asked what I had been doing earlier in the day - - and I shared that I had had a Hebrew lesson and that that exercise had used up a lot of my brain cells. He said that his brother-in-law, who is a pastor, told him that Hebrew is one of the hardest ever languages to learn. I don’t disagree. But, as I was reflecting this morning, it is also probably the most fulfilling language I’ve ever learned. English is difficult to master also, so I’ve been told. As it is my first language, I wouldn’t know. There’s a difference though. English is sort of like our extended family’s lake cabin. Over the decades, three generations, it has been cobbled onto. It has accumulated mismatched furniture and odds and ends. English is like that. It is an amalgamation. Hebrew, by contrast, is much more “orderly”, shall we say. I truly believe it is a holy language. Someone asked on Facebook the other day if he/she (I don’t remember if it was a man or a woman) should study Hebrew. I enthusiastically recommended it. Ok, do you have your pencil and paper (or however you are going to write this down?)
Aleph - - - head, source of human intellect - - numerical value of 1
Bet - - - understanding, perception {binah} - - numerical value of 2
Gimmel - - - walking to do kindness - - numerical value of 3
Dalet - - - door; the impoverished - - numerical value of 4
This brings us to the next letter, hay. It is the letter associated with verses 33 through 40. What I am sharing with you about these letters is from the Oral Law. So, this information is not strictly-speaking “scriptural”. I want to be clear with you about that.
The Talmud says in Shabbat 104a, that the 5th and 6th letters, hay and vav, appear in the Tetragrammaton, which most of my longtime listeners know is the most personal, relational name of God - - the name He gave to Moses at the burning bush, when Moses received his “commission”, you might say. The four letters that combine to form what we often pronounce as Yahweh, the Tetragrammaton, are, in this order, yod-hay-vav-hay. The value of hay is 5, which many Bible scholars have said is the number of grace and free will. How is that, you ask? Well, if you look at the shape of the hay, it looks like a staple with a gap in the upper left-hand corner, above the left “leg”. The rabbis say that this symbolizes the passageway to Heaven. It is a small, narrow opening. The bottom of the hay is a broad, wide opening, which the sages say symbolizes the lower way to Hell. They go on to say that this is a universal truth for much of life. Anything in life worth having takes work, perseverance and dedication, whether you are talking about anthropology to zoology. If you are slothful, you usually don’t get anywhere, anywhere you actually want to go, that is.
Here are the hay verses - - #s 33-40
ה (Heh)
33 Teach me, Adonai, the way of your laws;
keeping them will be its own reward for me.
34 Give me understanding; then I will keep your Torah;
I will observe it with all my heart.
35 Guide me on the path of your mitzvot,
for I take pleasure in it.
36 Bend my heart toward your instructions
and not toward selfish gain.
37 Turn my eyes away from worthless things;
with your ways, give me life.
38 Fulfill your promise, which you made to your servant,
which you made to those who fear you.
39 Avert the disgrace which I dread,
for your rulings are good.
40 See how I long for your precepts;
in your righteousness, give me life!
This section is one, long series of request prayers, or if we want to be linguistically hi-falutin’, supplications. Let’s look at the requests themselves. Look at your text while I read them from the CJB.
“Teach me.” “Give me understanding.” “Guide me.” “Bend my heart.” “Turn my eyes away.” “Fulfill your promise.” “Avert the disgrace.” “Give me life!”
That would make a wonderful daily, morning prayer, wouldn’t it?
In verse 34, the word translated “keep” here is a stronger word in the Hebrew. It is better translated as “guard”, and the phrase “observe it with all my heart” is better translated, “I will keep it with all my love for You.” And, truly, that is what it is all about, as the Hokey Pokey song goes. If you do what you “do for God” out of any other motivation than love for Him, you are misguided, on the wrong path.
The word in verse 36 translated as “instructions” here is actually better translated as “testimonies”, which we have discussed earlier. Greed, by contrast, is something we should not incline our hearts to. The sage, Radak, refers to Exodus 18:21, in stating that a lust for money disqualifies followers of Hashem from positions of leadership and authority. If you are “just in it for the money”, you are not worthy of the position.
Vs. 37 “futility” or “worthless things” abound in our world, do they not? In simpler times, every object had a purpose, a function. Today, because of marketing galore, we are bombarded with ads for things marketers attempt to convince us that we “need”. Furthermore, the sage Sforno makes the comment that the eyes are a huge portal for sin to invade, because when the eyes view physical pleasures, they stir the passions of the heart. Numbers 15:39 addresses this with a warning: “Do not explore after your heart and after your eyes after which you go astray.” It should be noted that Genesis 3:6 tells us that the very first sin resulted from letting eyes wander where they should not have. Why was Eve even NEAR that forbidden tree, to look at it? This is called “making provision for the flesh”, to use the words of the apostle Paul in Romans 13:14, KJV. It’s like this example: I do the grocery shopping in our house. I’m always trying to eat as healthy as possible, but one of my tempters is ice cream. Unfortunately, my husband loves ice cream too and wants me to buy it for him. Well, if it is in our house, then it is near me at all times. I sometimes, therefore, will eat it when I should not. By bringing it into the house, as opposed to distancing myself from it, I make myself much more vulnerable to its temptations. If Eve had stayed completely away from the area of the garden where the tree lived, we might be having an eternally different conversation right now!
David too knew that his eyes had caused him problems in the past, particularly where Bathsheba was concerned. Perhaps he was thinking of that prior failure of a spiritual test, when he wrote this verse. “Oh be careful little eyes what you see….” As the nursery rhyme goes.
When he lay on his deathbed, fully realizing what was at stake and realizing how crucial to his dynasty would be the trait of fearing God, David solemnly charged his heir, Solomon, as follows: (1 Kings 2:3-4) “And you shall safeguard the tradition of HaShem, Your God, to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, commandments, judgments and testimonies as written in the Torah of Moses…so that Hashem will fulfill His promise that He made to me, saying: ‘If your sons will safeguard their way to walk before me truthfully with all their heart and all their soul, I say, no man of yours will be cut off from the throne of Israel.’” At the end of his life, David had learned the most important lessons. It is disheartening that his successors, his offspring, did not.
Let’s move on now to the vav verses. That’s the next letter in the Hebrew alphabet, the sixth one, and the one assigned to verses 41 through 48. A vav looks somewhat like a tent peg. It is perfectly straight, which leads kabbalistic rabbis to nickname it “the letter of truth.” The function of a tent peg is to connect something that rises above the earth with the earth itself, right? Exodus 27:10 likens the vav to a connecting hook. In the Hebrew language, the vav stands for our English word “and”. That is one of its functions, a big one. The numerical value of vav is six, which has been called in Scripture “the number of man” (example: 666). Can you think of someone who connected Heaven and earth? Yes, Yeshua is often likened to the “vav”. I could say more about the vav, but we need to stay focused here.
Let’s read the vav section of verses.
41 May your grace come to me, Adonai,
your salvation, as you promised;
42 then I will have an answer for those who taunt me;
for I trust in your word.
43 Don’t take away completely my power to speak the truth;
for I put my hope in your rulings;
44 and I will keep your Torah always,
forever and ever.
45 I will go wherever I like,
for I have sought your precepts.
46 I will speak of your instructions even to kings
without being ashamed.
47 I will delight myself in your mitzvot,
which I have loved.
48 I will lift my hands to your mitzvot, which I love;
and I will meditate on your laws.
Ok, so in this series of verses, David is focusing on truth, especially in verse 46, which we’ll get to momentarily. Verse 41 speaks of His salvation being God’s greatest kindness to mankind. Whose name means “salvation”? That’s right, Yeshua’s. Who is likened to the vav, the tent peg? Yeshua! Although not agreeing that Yeshua is the promised Mashiach, the Chazah Zion interprets this verse as a reference to the Messianic redemption. I had never heard of this Jewish publication, and my guess is that neither have most of my viewers. It is a commentary on the Book of Psalms, written in the 17th century. The commentary goes on to state the Jewish belief that the timeline of mankind, from Adam to the Messianic reign, will only last 6000 years. And, though the exile might last that long, it surely will not last longer than that. Of course, we know the exile ended in 1948, with the establishment of the nation of Israel. You would think, wouldn’t you, that all the Jews in the world who feasibly could, would have moved back to the homeland over these past 78 years. Yet, while many have….many have chosen not to do so. It is reminiscent of when, after the 70 years of the Babylonian exile, many Jews chose to maintain their comfortable life in Babylon, as opposed to choosing to return to Judea, a journey of over 600 miles.
Verse 42 alludes to the most common taunt of the gentiles to the Jews, that being “Where is your God?” (Before 1948) If he were real, would you still be in exile from your homeland? (Today,) If He were real, would other nations constantly be at odds with your country, Israel? Ridicule, scorn….Today, the exile has ended, and the nation of Israel showcases miracle after miracle by Hashem toward His people. There will always be scoffers, but people like Hillel Fuld, an orthodox Jewish Israeli born in the USA, and others are having no trouble “giving an answer for those who taunt.” Countering falsehood with truth, the theme of this section of verses.
Verse 43 is a plea to be able to retain a truthful orientation and perspective. It is very easy, when surrounded by paganism and falsehood, to lose perspective. The aforementioned Chazah Zion commentary perceives that this verse is an allusion to the generation that precedes Mashiach’s coming (or in our understanding, His return). It is prophesied that that generation will be utterly devoid of truth, that the truth will vanish. David here does not want to be party to that at all. He begs to be exempted from that fate. Do you know someone who has had the word of truth removed from his or her mouth? I have loved ones in that category, and it is the most heartbreaking thing to witness! These are those who had formerly been taught the truth, known the truth, and yet … somehow, truth has left them. As for the rest of this verse, Isaiah 1:27 says that judgment will precede the final Messianic redemption, and David stated his longing for that to occur.
In the Hebrew, verse 44 says this:
וְאֶשְׁמְרָ֖ה תוֹרָתְךָ֥ תָמִ֗יד לְעוֹלָ֥ם וָעֶֽד׃
“And I will guard your Torah, your instruction, continually, to eternity and more.”
This is what I strive to do and what all earnest Bible teachers strive to do. I love the use of the word “guard” here, or “safeguard” perhaps in your translation. It’s clear, though, that God Himself has safeguarded His word, down through the centuries and millennia. Otherwise, the Bible, as we know it, would not exist. It has so obviously been supernaturally guarded, protected, so that generation after generation could come to know the Lord through its pages. We thank Him for that! And, in a similar fashion, understanding the Torah, the Word of God in all its fullness, safeguards US from error, from dangerous rabbit trails, from pitfalls of all kinds as we live our lives. Another cause to praise Him. King Solomon even said, in Proverbs 6:22 - - “When you lie down (at death) it will safeguard you.”
Verses 45 through 48 have to do with the rewards of Torah study, as perceived by David. While that should not be the motivation, the mentioned rewards can also be sweet. These verses basically describe the prestige and respect accorded a highly-esteemed Torah scholar. He or she is able to walk in broad pathways. In other words, fellow seekers “make way” for them or “make room” for them to speak and render opinions, to teach, and so forth. They don’t have to muscle their way forward to be heard. Their thoughts are sought after. It reminds me of the people the news anchors have on their shows, when they want an expert opinion. Secondly, in verse 46, the audience expands from one’s inner circle, to a larger circle, in this case, to include heads of state. I am reminded of men like Franklin Graham and his father, Billy Graham, who have been spiritual advisors to many American presidents. Verses 48 and 49 speak of the psalmist’s love for the Scriptures, and how it is such a pleasure to get to teach and discuss them with others. What a blessing! I feel that way about being with you this week on Mishkan Katan, this minnow ministry, as I often call it. Someone said, “When you love what you do for work, you don’t feel you truly work a day in your life.” By contrast, when work is a burden, one can barely lift one’s hands to being the task.
The next set of verses, 49-56, are grouped together by the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet, zayin. This letter makes the “z” sound when pronounced, in contrast to the letter “tsade”, which makes the “ts” sound. The Talmud says that the letter “zayin” represents sustenance and livelihood. It is the 7th letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Seven is a number that signifies wholeness, completion, and the spiritual world, in contrast to six (represented by the vav) which alludes to the physical world. The holy Sabbath is the 7th day, and its theme is remembering.
I was meditating on remembering as I was writing this lesson. A friend of mine forgot a conversation we had had, and my friend is not demented or senile. It sort of hurt my feelings a bit that the conversation had been forgotten, because the insinuation, or at least the conclusion I drew was that the conversation was not important to my friend. At any rate, remembering is an action of love and respect. Our Creator and our God commands us to remember the Shabbat, the Sabbath, and to keep it holy, to keep it set apart, consecrated. In this set of verses, David tells of how he remembers God and how God remembers him with special favor. Some form of the verb “zachar” (remember) appears three times in these verses, and of course, each verse in the Hebrew begins with a zayin.
The first time we see the word, it is in verse 49, where David is asking Hashem to remember His promise to David. Which promise might that be? The sages tend to think it was Hashem’s promise to keep on the thrones descendant of David, if those descendant rulers follow Hashem’s ways and paths. The second “remember” occurs in verse 52, where David reflects on his past, stating that he remembered the Lord’s past actions, past judgments, and the memory of those righteous judgments comforted him, David. The third “remember” occurs in verse 55, David stated that he remembered the Name of his God. He mentions this occurring at night, which many interpret as a metaphor for “the dark times of life”. Corporately, during the darkest times of Jewish history, when the people were seemingly out of options, as low as they could go, they aroused themselves and turned/returned to God, crying out His name.
I’ll close by mentioning that another strong theme in these verses is how the Torah and remembering these things I just mentioned comforted David. They brought him peace in his heart.
Well, we once again find ourselves out of time for today.
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