{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! Welcome back to Mishkan Katan! I began the teaching session by attempting to explain the broadcast debacle that occurred the previous week,on 7/8/26, and to mention that since only about 7 minutes of the broadcast was heard or seen that I’d be starting from the beginning of that teaching and presenting the entirety of it today.
This morning we will continue studying Psalm 119, beginning in verse 89. This verse affirms that the Word of God stands forever, that it stands firm in the heavens. The sages point out that once a human speaks, the verbal utterance dissolves into silence. But, the word of Hashem is different. Not only did His spoken word call all of creation into existence, it furthermore maintains creation. Colossians says that by Yeshua all things hold together, “by Him all things consist”. The older English meaning of the word “consist” means “hold together”. This indicates that creation is a continuous, ongoing process, and indeed it is. Every time a plant puts forth buds, every time a new human life is conceived or an animal life is conceived, God Himself caused that to happen. The Midrash Shocher Tov says that if for one moment the reverberating word of God was silenced all of creation would disintegrate.
In verse 89, the Hebrew phrase translated from generation to generation is L’dor V’dor. This verse hearkens back to Psalm 89, verse 2, which says, “To every generation, with my mouth I will make Your faithfulness known.” Sometimes, older generations, like mine, worry that we are going to be the last faithful generation. However, no one knows which generation that will be. Changes over generations cause old ones to fear for the future; this is true for some people more than others. A funny example of this (somewhat) is that of my mother’s six grandchildren none of them have gotten tattoos. Our family culture, due to the opinions of my parents, has been disdainful of body art. This changed this past weekend when one of us spotted a small tattoo on the ankle of one of the grandsons. The parents were horrified, although it sounds silly to some of you. But, the point is that God, due to his faithfulness, will sustain generation after generation of faithful tzaddikim, just as He sustains the Earth and the Heavens.
In all cases, verse 91, both human, terrestrial and celestial, they fulfill His judgments because all are His servants, whether they know it or not. Even the most heinous sinner is fulfilling the Most High’s purposes. Want to trigger a heathen? Point that out. They will come unglued. But, it is the truth! He, Hashem, works all things out according to His will, not ours. That is why it is wisdom to pray, “Thy will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven.”
The Talmud affirms that we all serve Hashem’s purposes. In Nedarim 41a, it states that when it comes time for a person’s soul to leave this world, then any and all of God’s creatures are His instruments for bringing that about. Nothing nor anyone can stand in the way of that timing either.
Once again in verse 92, David remarks that much of his life he has been preoccupied with Torah study and that such study had saved him from much suffering in mind and soul. The adversity still came, but knowing and living out the Torah helped him deal with it. And, of course, the same holds true for us today. The sages point out that the Hebrew word for “suffering” is not synonymous for the word for “pain”. Pain is a physical sensation, a negative one at that. Suffering, by contrast, has the dimension of mental and spiritual anguish.
In verse 93, David proclaims that he will never forget Hashem’s precepts. While I am forever grateful that God has cast all my sins into His sea of forgetfulness (Micah 7:19), there are many things I forget, and especially more so as I get older! A student once asked his rabbi for advice on how to remember his Torah learning. The rebbe replied that if the student deemed Torah essential to his remaining alive, he would not forget. The rebbe said something like, You don’t forget to eat, do you? Have you gotten into the habit of spooning your food into your ear? No! Because the sustaining of life depends upon the ingesting of food correctly. Since the Word of God gives and sustains spiritual life, we should be less prone to forget it. This is why David stated confidently that he would never forget Hashem’s precepts because by them he was kept alive.
About the declaration, “I am yours”, in verse 94, the sage Sforno points out that the most tangible evidence of that is circumcision. It is a physical marking. Jeremiah points out that circumcision of the heart is more potent and more life-changing, however. A woman can wear a wedding ring, presenting tangible evidence she belongs to a man, and still have a whorish heart. Same for a man. If the heart is not converted, there is no “I am yours” that means one thing in light of eternity. The key is: does the heart recognize any master other than Adonai, including the master/ruler called “Self”?
Verse 96 is a curious one. In Bereshit Rabbah 10.1 we read that everything has a limit, except for the written and the living Word of God. Job 11:9 says about the written word, “It’s measure is longer than the earth and broader than the sea.” The sages make this remarkable observation. When a person has a big goal to accomplish, a worthwhile and noble mission, he or she is not successful until that goal has been accomplished. But, study of the Word of God is just the opposite! Even if we lived thousands of years, we could never understand fully the written Word of God. In my daily Bible reading this morning, I was reading the short story, recorded in three of the gospels, of Yeshua and His disciples walking through the grain fields near or in harvest time. The heads of grain were ripe for the plucking. Even though this occurred on the Sabbath, the disciples picked the heads of grain and rubbed them between their hands to separate the grain from the chaff. Then, they ate them. The religious leaders were appalled by their behavior as it violated a “fence” they had erected around the commandment that says “do no work on the Sabbath”. Yeshua re-framed their knowledge and interpretation of the commandment, giving the correct understanding and practice of it, while reminding them that He, the Mashiach, is Lord of the Sabbath. My point in bringing up that story is that no matter who you are, how “learned” you are in the Scriptures, the Lord can teach you something new from His word, some new understanding, interpretation, revelation.
Well, here we find ourselves at the end of this section, and I have neglected to mention that this entire section is the lamed section, that is, the section headed by the Hebrew letter lamed. If you have been studying this psalm with me, you know that each of the sections of the psalm is 8 verses long, and each section is headed by one of the 22 Hebrew letters.
The Hebrew word for “study of Torah” is lee-MOOD, which begins with a lamed. The lamed makes an “l” sound, similar to the English “l” sound. In Jewish life, study of Torah has the highest value. In the country of Israel, for instance, those men who devote themselves continually to Torah study are exempt from certain civic responsibilities, including certain forms of military service. The Hebrew word for “heart” likewise begins with a lamed; the word is “lave”. As the heart is the center of all human emotion and perceptions, it is judged the king of all the organs. It resides roughly in the center of the body, near the “innards”, so closely related to the emotions. Similarly, the lamed is at the center of the Hebrew alphabet, as it is the 12th of the 22 letters. Finally, the lamed is the tallest of all the Hebrew letters. It extends above the line of the other letters significantly. In Shabbat 104a, of the Talmud, the sages such as Rashi and others say that the lamed symbolizes the person who has merited heaven’s highest reward. Don’t forget to record the insights about the lamed on your chart of Hebrew letters, if you are making such notations
Let’s now read this section of verses together. I am reading from the CJB translation.
ל (Lamed)
89 Your word continues forever, Adonai,
firmly fixed in heaven;
90 your faithfulness through all generations;
you established the earth, and it stands.
91 Yes, it stands today, in keeping with your rulings;
for all things are your servants.
92 If your Torah had not been my delight,
I would have perished in my distress.
93 I will never forget your precepts,
for with them you have made me alive.
94 I am yours; save me
because I seek your precepts.
95 The wicked hope to destroy me,
but I focus on your instruction.
96 I see the limits of all perfection,
but your mitzvah has no bounds.
The next letter in the Hebrew alphabet is the mem, one of my favorites. Why? Because my Hebrew teacher taught me several years ago that the mem has connotations of the womb. It even sort of looks Iike a woman’s waistline/hips, with an opening for the baby to come out. Let me draw one for you. So, aside from the visual resemblance to “womb”, how do the sages get to that conclusion for mem? Well, they say in Shabbat 104a that the mem represents pronouncement, referring to the 10 statements with which God created the worlds. These 10 are taken as a group from Genesis chapter 1, every time Scripture records “and God said”. Fleshed out and formally defined in the Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers), Jewish teaching is that these 10 statements form the building blocks of reality. Let’s take a brief look at this somewhat famous collection of 10, although many of you may not have known such a “collection” existed. Here they are: (and of course, there is rabbinical disagreement as to which statements comprise the 10, but we are not going to get into those differences…)
"Let there be light" (Genesis 1:3)
"Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters" (Genesis 1:6)
"Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together" (Genesis 1:9)
"Let the earth bring forth grass" (Genesis 1:11)
"Let there be lights in the firmament" (Genesis 1:14)
"Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures" (Genesis 1:20)
"Let the earth bring forth the living creature" (Genesis 1:24)
"Let us make man in our image" (Genesis 1:26)
"Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed" (Genesis 1:29)
"Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature" (Genesis 1:20) Note: Some traditions treat the introductory verse, "In the beginning..." or "And God said, 'Let the earth bring forth...'" differently to reach the count of ten.
The numerical value of mem in Hebrew Gematria is 40, which is the number of weeks for a woman’s body to grow a baby. There are other instances in Scripture where the number 40 symbolizes creation - - it took about 40 years of wilderness wandering for the nation of Israel to be created. It took 40 days on Mt. Sinai for Moses to receive the Law from the hand of God, as transmitted to Moses.
Ok, let’s read these verses, 97 through 104.
Mem)
97 How I love your Torah!
I meditate on it all day.
98 I am wiser than my foes,
because your mitzvot are mine forever.
99 I have more understanding than all my teachers,
because I meditate on your instruction.
100 I understand more than my elders,
because I keep your precepts.
101 I keep my feet from every evil way,
in order to observe your word.
102 I don’t turn away from your rulings,
because you have instructed me.
103 How sweet to my tongue is your promise,
truly sweeter than honey in my mouth!
104 From your precepts I gain understanding;
this is why I hate every false way.
Do you know anyone who loves to talk about the Bible all day long? Those people are rare indeed, and most people in the world think they are “freaks”, unless the people are in some kind of ministry profession/occupation. Isn’t that sad? Can you imagine how different this world would be if all those who follow Hashem would meditate on His Word and speak of it positively to others? Ordinarily, if a person speaks of the same topic incessantly, day and night, they are deemed dull, boring and even repulsive. This reminds me of a situation my mother described to me recently. A relative became a widower a few years ago. After his wife’s death, he would call my mother for years and cry over the phone and tell her how wonderful his wife, who was my mother’s relative, was. Mother said she found the one-trick-pony conversation so tiresome! Of course, I laughed at her saying this. She displayed compassion and was long-suffering about the situation, just continuing to let him rhapsodize about his late wife. I admire such love, honestly, for one’s spouse. But, I mention this as an example of people who are so focused on a topic they talk of nothing else. The Word of God cannot be mentioned in the same breath, however, as other topics. It never becomes dull or boring, no matter how much we discuss it or study it. I won’t share what it is, but some of the content I have shared this morning came from one of my daily devotional readings the day I wrote that content! It’s amazing how the Lord brings to our hearts and souls from His word exactly what we need to hear! The sage, Sforno, points out that when we speak often of the Word of God, we are obeying Deuteronomy 6:7, which admonishes us to “speak them {words of Torah} while sitting at home, while walking on the way, when reclining and when awakening.” The Lord Yeshua fulfilled this verse throughout most of his life, from age 12 on, as he was inquiring and speaking with the Temple priests when He was 12. And, then, on the road to Emmaus, He was walking along the way with a couple of talmudim, and He spoke to them of how Messiah was revealed in the Tanakh (the OT Scriptures).
Concerning verse 98, the sages believe David could have been referring to Doeg and Achitophel, two of David’s most formidable enemies. They were formidable because they were former friends/family members, and also because each of them were renowned Torah scholars. I want to point out, though, that amassing knowledge about God and His Word does not equate to wisdom. Wisdom comes from sincere study, not study for one’s own self-aggrandizement. Study does not automatically lead the student to truth, unless his heart is sincere. A truly sincere seeker and student of God’s Word becomes more and more estranged from falsehood, from worthless information, as enlightenment and discernment are given from God Himself. That is why this section concludes with the verse “I hate every path of falsehood.” Verse 98 ends with the statement that spiritual wisdom from Torah stays with a person forever. Think about it like this: your body will decay and putrefy, or will be incinerated in an creamatory oven. But, the wisdom gained in your spirit will be with you forever.
The next few verses describe the pattern of Jewish learning, handed down from sage to sage and from sage to student. The general prescription was and is that a student would choose one primary teacher from which to learn the basics of Torah, verse 99, but that a man has many “teachers”. Experience is a powerful teacher, for example. As the student progresses, he also learns from other revered teachers, verse 100, the “elders”. And, the Talmud teaches that eventually the student becomes a teacher himself, who then learns the most of all from his students.
Verse 103 is reminiscent of Psalm 19:11, which likewise compares the sweetness of God’s Word to the sweetness of honey. The Midrash Tanchuma observes that unlike tears, which are salty, saliva is sweet, because man has the capability to recite God’s own words with his tongue and mouth. Here are another couple of related stories from Jewish tradition. The Talmud Yerushalmi tells that forty years before the Jews were exiled to Babylon, Hashem caused date palms to be planted there, in preparation for their arrival. This is because the honey of the date is very sweet, and eating sweets accustoms the tongue to search out the sweetness of Torah. (This is recorded in Pesachim 87b.). The other story is that when a child first began to study Torah, drops of honey were dribbled on the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The child was then given the treat of licking the honey from the letters, so that he would always associate the letters of Torah with sweetness. This is still a time-honored Jewish custom. Maybe this is why in children’s church we provide a sugary snack….
Let’s read together the next section of Psalm 119, verses 105 through 112, the section represented by the letter nun.
× (Nun)
105 Your word is a lamp for my foot
and light on my path.
106 I have sworn an oath and confirmed it,
that I will observe your righteous rulings.
107 I am very much distressed;
Adonai, give me life, in keeping with your word.
108 Please accept my mouth’s voluntary offerings, Adonai;
and teach me your rulings.
109 I am continually taking my life in my hands,
yet I haven’t forgotten your Torah.
110 The wicked have set a trap for me,
yet I haven’t strayed from your precepts.
111 I take your instruction as a permanent heritage,
because it is the joy of my heart.
112 I have resolved to obey your laws
forever, at every step.
Let’s first talk about the letter nun. It is a ] on your computer keyboard, which in keyboard speak is called a right square bracket or a closing square bracket. {Draw nun.} It looks a bit like a khaf, with very short “legs”. Nun is the first letter in the Hebrew word “nefesh”, which means “soul”, as in, the soul of a man or woman. The sages say that the letter nun stands for the loyal person who is completely devoted to God and that this is why the nun has a bent shape on either end. The shape connotes subservience to the will of Hashem. The Hebrew word for “lamp” is “nayr”, which also begins with a nun. The number value of the letter nun is fifty.
The first verse in this section mentions that very type of lamp, in verse 105. It is one of the most often-memorized verses in the Bible. I learned it as a child in VBS. Here, David speaks of both a lamp and a light. To us modern readers, this is somewhat difficult to understand what he meant. We tend to think “Coleman lantern as I walk along an unknown path at night.” Proverbs 6:23 provides some illumination as to the difference between a lamp and a light. And, I apologize for the terrible pun. A pun is better and much more satisfying than a good joke, to me; but, I digress, don’t I? I have … wandered off the path. Ok, enough! Proverbs 6:23 says “For the commandment is a lamp and the Torah is a light.” In Sotah 21a, the Talmud explains to us modern folk that an oil lamp will only burn as long as it has adequate fuel, namely oil, in it. The word “light” in this verse, by contrast, is a naturally-occurring light, which faithfully appears every morning and lasts until nightfall. So, here is the meaning of the comparison. A “word” in the context of verse 105 is a commandment, a mitzvah, often something you do with your hands and/or feet. The doing of it is limited in its duration. However, overall Torah, if you consider Proverbs 6:23, is a light, as the Word of God endures forever. The Torah not only faithfully and unfailingly illumines the path; it IS the path.
Another sage, Malbim, exegetes the verse in this manner: We all need two types of divine guidance, general long-range guidance so that we can establish goals and life direction. Malbim calls this the person’s “path”. And, to facilitate this, the Word of God serves as a light, which enables vision over greater distances. Secondly, though, we need constant illumination for our more immediate needs and challenges, a lamp of light to keep us from tripping over the nearest stone as we walk, to keep our feet from falling, to save us from the pitfalls of our daily existence.
Here is more wisdom on this verse, from the sage Rashi: before a righteous person make decisions, he looks at the Torah for guidance. Just as a lamp prevents a pilgrim from stumbling in the dark, so the teachings of Torah save the person from error.
King Solomon said: “The way of the wicked is in darkness; they never know on what they will stumble.” That is Proverbs 4:19. This wonderful verse, 119:105, stands in stark contrast to that way of life. Hallelujah!
Moving on through this section now…
Verse 106 speaks of swearing. The Talmud teaches that swearing is generally discouraged. But, if one is swearing in commitment to performing one of God’s precepts or commandments, that is laudable. This is not referring to “using curse words”. It refers to making a strong commitment to do something or to act in a certain way. For example, at Sinai, the young Jewish nation swore their eternal allegiance to Hashem.
Often, vows are sworn when a person is agitated or afflicted, as is stated in verse 107. The “offerings of my mouth” referred to in verse 108 are the worship of God from a loving heart and thankful soul. Such words are tokens of appreciation and gratitude.
We would all do well, verse 109, to remember that our lives can end at any time, at any moment. God does not always give us warning of when a loved one will leave our earthly sphere, will leave the sphere of our influence and love, to move on to the next world. Same for us! We never know. Even though the CJB translates as “I am continually taking my life in my hands”, our lives are ultimately in the hands of The One Who Holds Tomorrow. This is why the decisions we make and the choices we walk out should always be made in light of eternity, as the things of this earth will surely pass away. This is one of the big reasons to study the Word of God and to seek to deepen our relationship with Him. After all, if we are His, if we have accepted His offer of salvation, if our sins are “under the blood” of Yeshua, we will be with Him forever. It behooves us, therefore, to make this relationship of paramount importance. We are in troubled waters if we have an attitude like, “Me and the old man are just fine…”with “the old man” referring to God. That is both disrespectful and dangerously impudent. It is one thing to humbly confess that you have a relationship with the Almighty through the merits and finished salvation work of His Son, and to believe that He will never fail you, not in this world or the next. All that is Scriptural. However, to make light of that and then just live carelessly, well, that type of attitude is foolish.
I’ve been reading in the book of Job lately, and even Job, who was singled out by God as a man of enormous integrity and righteousness - - even he, who had a wonderful relationship with Hashem, dared to question the Almighty and to justify himself. In response, God gave Job what we in the Old South used to call a “settin’ down”. That is, “you just sit yourself in that chair right there and let me show you how it’s done!”
Verse 110 - - do you live your life circumspectly? I love that old word. It means to proceed while looking around you in all directions, being watchful and careful. Do we do that in our spiritual lives? I think of driving. As we drive, most of us keep our eyes on the road, driving defensively, being watchful for potential hazards in the road or coming at us from all directions. Our brains get “wired” to do this, fortunately, or we’d be consumed with fear while operating a vehicle. How much more important to “keep our head on a swivel” when living? A pitfall will come at you out of seemingly NOWHERE. You are just toodling along spiritually and suddenly, SINKHOLE! If you are not watchful, you will fall into it. Wicked people LOVE to topple the people of God. I received a group message last night from a ministry partner that that ministry was under enormous spiritual attack. Of course, immediately I renewed my prayers for those partners in the faith. The modern-day nation of Israel, before it attacks a terror cell in the land will drop bulletins from the air, or make announcement some other way, telling the people to FLEE! Evil does not do that. Evil creeps up on you and then pounces!
I love verses 11 and 12. Remember the theme of this section? It’s the loyal, devoted, humble servant of God. The last two verses are the confession of that person. These two verses remind me of two songs. The first is a secular song, sung recently by Chris Stapleton. It’s called, “The Joy of My Life”. It is about a romantic partnership. How much more so should our relationship with our God be “the joy of my life”, right? Anyway, it is a beautiful song. I love that artist’s voice and several of the songs he has recorded. The sages point out that when a person studies something he or she loves, the heart and mind are open wide to accept and retain the wisdom. The wisdom penetrates to the very depths of the heart and cannot therefore be removed. I studied tennis, math and sewing by private lessons when I was a teen. I did not like any of those subjects, and I did not become accomplished, therefore, in any of them. Truly, I avoid all three “like the plague”, because I did not love studying them. I hated all three, as a matter of fact! The next song - - you know that I have a habit of roping music into my ruminations on the Scriptures - - is the old gospel song called, “I Am Resolved”. Man! I have not sung that song in years. It sounds sort of like a march, a dodgy song with great determination. I almost feel like stomp-marching when I hear of sing it. Look up both of those, if you are interested. You can google them and find them.
We have one more section to examine this morning. This section is verses 113 through 120, and is represented by the Hebrew letter Samech, which makes an “s” sound. The samech is shaped sort of like a fat oval with a flat top. Because of it’s “closed” shape, it represents protection on all sides, or “support”. It’s numerical value is 60. If you read Song of Solomon, aka Song of Songs, Shirim haShirim in Hebrew, you will find “Behold the bed of Solomon with sixty warriors encircling it.” All encompassing protection. When the tzaddik is resolute in his faith, he can depend on God encircling him on all sides. Does that mean trouble or anguish will never come? No, it does not mean that. It means that, whatever comes, the righteous person is never alone, that the Ruach HaKodesh is with him, no matter what. Nothing can touch God’s own, unless He allows it. And even then, we know that regardless of what comes our way, we are in His care. As we read this section together, you will hear these themes of protection from God and the chastisement of evil-doers. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Righteous Judge, if you are a rebellious sinner.
Here we go. Let’s read. CJB.
ס (Samekh)
113 I hate doubleminded people,
but I love your Torah.
114 You are my hiding-place and shield;
I put my hope in your word.
115 Leave me alone, you evildoers,
so that I can keep my God’s mitzvot.
116 Uphold me, as you promised; and I will live;
don’t disappoint me in my hope.
117 Support me; and I will be saved,
always putting my attention on your laws.
118 You reject all who stray from your laws,
for what they deceive themselves with is false.
119 You discard the wicked of the earth like slag;
this is why I love your instruction.
120 My body trembles for fear of you;
your rulings make me afraid.
Allright, we are going to stop there for today. We have one, maybe two, more study sessions in Psalm 119, before we move on. See you next week, Lord willing! Shalom, Shalom L’hitraot!
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