Psalm 119:129-144
Psalm 119, Day 9. Thinking again about those synonyms for the Law… Here they are again, the ones that I listed on Day 1: “commands” / “commandments”, “decrees”, “judgments”, “precepts”, “statutes”, “testimonies”, (Your) “ways”, (Your) “word”. What I did not say back on Day 1 is that each of these words has a different Hebrew word, so it’s not just a translator who decided to grab some synonyms for the Law – it’s the psalmist who made that decision. And he made that decision at least six times in each eight-verse stanza! One editorial note – the ESV translates “decrees” as “rules” while the NASB uses “ordinances”. So how different would it be if we substituted all of those synonyms with just one of them? For example, if we read “precepts” wherever we see the Law or any of the other seven or eight synonyms. Yes, it would be boring, but would we lose anything in the meaning? I think not. So we give the psalmist “poetic license” here!
Don’t forget the other interesting tidbit about Psalm 119 – it is an “alphabetic acrostic” poem. Each of the eight verses in each of the 22 stanzas begins with the same letter of the Hebrew alphabet, so that all 22 letters are highlighted in the Psalm. No doubt that would help with Bible memory! Again we give the psalmist “poetic license”!