Psalms 119:153

STROPHE 20

HOPE IN GOD'S LAW SUPPORTS PRAYER FOR SALVATION FROM ENEMIES

Resh

"Consider mine affliction, and deliver me;

Plead thou my cause, and redeem me:

Quicken me according to thy word.

Salvation is far from the wicked;

For they seek not thy statutes.

Great are thy tender mercies, O Jehovah:

Quicken me according to thine ordinances.

Many are my persecutors and mine adversaries;

Yet have I not swerved from thy testimonies.

I beheld the treacherous, and was grieved,

Because they observe not thy word.

Consider how I love thy precepts:

Quicken me, O Jehovah, according to thy lovingkindness.

The sum of the word is truth;

And every one of thy righteous ordinances endureth forever."

"Salvation is far from the wicked, for they seek not thy statutes" (Psalms 119:155). This is another of those surprising revelations that crop out now and then in this great psalm. A necessary deduction from what is said here is that "Salvation comes from a knowledge of the Word of God and becomes the possession of those who seek to know what that word is." Paul himself could hardly have said it any better. "From a babe thou hast know the sacred writings which are able to make the wise unto salvation." (2 Timothy 3:15). Briggs also made the same deduction on the basis of Psalms 119:155, stating that, "The wicked are far from salvation, because they are far off from God's Law that gives it."[50]

"Quicken me according to thy word ... according to thine ordinances ... according to thy lovingkindnesses" (Psalms 119:154,156,159). The RSV renders "Give me life" instead of quicken me, a plea that has already been repeated a dozen times in this psalm. This petition of the psalmist that God would give him "life" is a prayer for that "more abundant life" of which Jesus spoke (John 10:10), There is a great similarity of meaning in the three verses which feature this petition.

"Consider mine affliction ... I do not forget thy law ... I have not swerved from thy testimonies ... I was grieved for the treacherous" (Psalms 119:153,157,158). Four "arguments" if we might call them that, or "reasons," upon which the psalmist hopes to receive a favorable answer of his prayers, are listed in these verses.