Psalm 19

 Psalm 19

from Favourite Psalms by John Stott

The Law of the Lord Is Perfect

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

19 The heavens declare the glory of God,
    and the sky above[a] proclaims his handiwork.
2 Day to day pours out speech,
    and night to night reveals knowledge.
3 There is no speech, nor are there words,
    whose voice is not heard.
4 Their voice[b] goes out through all the earth,
    and their words to the end of the world.
In them he has set a tent for the sun,
5     which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber,
    and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.
6 Its rising is from the end of the heavens,
    and its circuit to the end of them,
    and there is nothing hidden from its heat.

7 The law of the Lord is perfect,[c]
    reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure,
    making wise the simple;
8 the precepts of the Lord are right,
    rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure,
    enlightening the eyes;
9 the fear of the Lord is clean,
    enduring forever;
the rules[d] of the Lord are true,
    and righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold,
    even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
    and drippings of the honeycomb.
11 Moreover, by them is your servant warned;
    in keeping them there is great reward.

12 Who can discern his errors?
    Declare me innocent from hidden faults.
13 Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins;
    let them not have dominion over me!
Then I shall be blameless,
    and innocent of great transgression.

14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
    be acceptable in your sight,
    O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

The Self-Revelation of God

According to C S Lewis, this is "the greatest poem in the Psalter and one of the greatest lyrics in the world". From the Christian point of view it contains the clearest summary of the doctrine of the revelation to be found in the Old Testament, namely that God has made himself known to all humankind, as Creator (verses 1 to 6), to Israel as Lawgiver (verses 7 to 10), and to the individual as Redeemer (verses 11 to 14).

General Revelation (verses 1 to 6)

Human beings cannot plead ignorance of God, since he never ceases to give a revelation of himself, which is called "general" because it is made to all people everywhere. As the apostle Paul put it, he has not "left himself without testimony" (Acts 14 verse 17; compare Acts 17 verses 22 to 28 and Romans 1 verse 20).

This witness is in nature, especially here the heavens, which declare the glory of God because they are his handiwork (verse 1). Even more today, through the cosmology of modern astrophysics, the heavens "their vastness, splendour, order and mystery" as one commentator puts it, reveal God's glory and greatness.

God's witness to himself through the heavens has 3 characteristics. First, it is continuous. Day to day ... night to night (verse 2) the testimony is given without intermission. Secondly it is abundant. The verb in verse 2 is expressive: they pour out speech. Thirdly it is universal. Although there is no speech, nor are there words (verse 3), yet by sight rather than sound their message penetrates to the end of the world (verse 4). Paul even applies this last verse to the worldwide spread of the gospel (Romans 10 verse 18).

Of this universal witness to God by the heavens, the sun is a particular example. In dramatic imagery, which is not of course intended to be taken literally, the psalmist likens the sunrise to the emergence of a bridegroom from his chamber, and its daily course across the sky to the running of an athlete, so that there is nothing hidden from its heat (verse 6).

Special Revelation (verses 7 to 10)

Abruptly and without warning the subject changes from God's general and natural revelation through creation to his special and supernatural revelation through torah, "the law" which refers not merely to the law of Moses but to all Old Testament Scripture. The transition, though abrupt, is not arbitrary. The heavens and the law both make God known. Further, C S Lewis may be right to detect a link in the reference to the all-pervasive heat of the sun, so that "the searching and cleansing sun becomes an image of the searching and cleansing law."

With the change of subject comes a significant change in the divine name. The One who reveals himself in nature to all people is God, Hebrew El (verse 1), the God of creation; but it is the LORD Yahweh (7 times in the second half of the psalm), the God of the covenant, who has revealed himself through his law to his covenant people Israel. It is a revelation not now of his glory but of his will, and its excellencies are set forth in perfect Hebrew parallelism (verses 7 to 9).

The symmetry of these verses is so precise that each begins with a different aspect of God's will, and goes on to describe both what it is and what it does. Thus, the law or divine instruction, is perfect, bearing witness to God's nature expressed in his will, and consists of particular testimony, precepts and commands. Its perfection is seen in the fact that its injunctions are sure, right, pure, clean, true and righteous altogether. It is also called the fear of the Lord (verse 9) because the great end of all revelation is to inspire a humble and reverent worship of God. This disclosure of God's will is said to be pure.

But the psalmist does not merely contemplate the law of the Lord as it is in itself; he also unfolds its beneficial effects, reviving the soul, rejoicing the heart and above all, making wise the simple (verse 7) and enlightening the eyes (verse 8) to those who are humble enough, or (as Lord was later to teach) childlike enough, to receive it. The inherent qualities and health-giving results of God's law make it more to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold ... sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. (verse 10)

It may be surprising to us that the writer did not find God's law a burden to him; we may feel with C S Lewis that his reference to its sweetness is at first sight "very mysterious" even "utterly bewildering." The explanation is not just that its commandments were right, nor that its promises were sure, but that it was the revelation of God, the special means which he had chosen to make himself known to his people Israel.

Personal Revelation (verses 11 to 14)

With verse 11 the psalmist for the first time mentions himself. He has been describing how all the earth (verse 4) may apprehend God's glory from nature and how the simple (verse 7) may derive wisdom from God's law. But he concludes his psalm by disclosing his personal spiritual aspirations as God's servant (verses 11 and 13). 

He has himself found wholesome warning in God's law and knows that conformity to it brings great reward (verse 11). He seems to have discovered in his own experience the dual purpose of the divine law, namely to reveal sin (Romans 3 verse 20) and to promote holiness. This leads him both to pray for cleansing from the hidden faults (verse 12) which he has committed, and for deliverance from presumptuous sins (verse 13) which he longs to avoid, so that he is not mastered by them but is kept innocent of great transgression. The psalmist is not referring here to any one particularly grievous sin, or even the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (as poor John Bunyan thought), but to all deliberate, wrongdoing, sins committed "defiantly" (Numbers 15 verses 30 and 31).

The psalm ends with a prayer which is frequently echoed by Christian ministers before they preach. In it the writer goes beyond his plea for deliverance, to a positive and very personal desire that all his words, and even his thoughts, shall be acceptable in your sight, whom he now declares to be both his rock ("strength") and his redeemer. Redemption is in itself negative deliverance from sin; it needs to be completed by a life that is pleasing to God (see Titus 2 verse 14).