Psalms 119:169

STROPHE 22

ACKNOWLEDGING SIN; THE PSALMIST PRAYS FOR SALVATION; VOWING TO CONTINUE PRAYERS WITH LIP; TONGUE AND SOUL

Tau

"Let my cry come near before thee, O Jehovah:

Give me understanding according to thy word.

Let my supplication come before thee:

Deliver me according to thy word.

Let my lips utter praise;

For thou teaches me thy statutes.

Let my tongue sing of thy word;

For all thy commandments are righteousness.

Let thy hand be ready to help me;

For I have chosen thy precepts.

I have longed for thy salvation, O Jehovah;

And thy law is my delight.

Let my soul live, and it shall praise thee;

And let thine ordinances help me.

I have gone astray, like a lost sheep; seek thy servant;

For I do not forget thy commandments."

The glorious surprise of this strophe is the acknowledgment of sin on the part of the psalmist, contrasting dramatically with the previous strophe. What a refreshing word this is! He is not, after all, a self-righteous braggart, but a sinner standing in need of the Lord's forgiveness, just like all the rest of the human race.

"I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek thy servant" (Psalms 119:176). Yes, of course, he has not forgotten the commandments; but he has not kept them perfectly, else he would not be like lost sheep, subject to instant death, unless the Lord shall seek and save him. It is surprising that McCullough did not interpret this remark as a reference to sin, but "To a deterioration in the psalmist's circumstances, or to an absence from his people."[52] To us, it is impossible to allow such an interpretation to stand. "Going astray like a lost sheep" is a reference to sin.

"Let my lips utter praise ... let my tongue sing ... my soul shall praise thee" (Psalms 119:171,172,175). This is the psalmist's pledge to continue with all his heart to seek the Lord's help in his prayers with lip, tongue, and soul. No more noble resolution could have been found to close this magnificent psalm.

The John A. Dickson Reference Bible lists seventy-six New Testament quotations from the Book of Psalms, but none from Psalms 119, and none from the balance of the Psalter.[53]

We cannot, at this time challenge that analysis; but there is one New Testament reference which certainly seems to have Psalms 119:172 in view. Luke wrote of Zacharias and Elizabeth, "They were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless" (Luke 1:6).