Psalm 119: Tzaddi 137-144

This octet delivers the Charge of Righteousness. The image is a feudal servant vested with a special trust, a mission that the servant must faithfully keep over a long period of time and through a long series of trials. He’s like a keymaster who must follow his lord through endless turmoil, yet always able to deliver the key when called.

Our Lord defines justice in His Person; His judgments are self-consistent. More than a mere record of His actions on this earth, it is the testimony of their meaning that He has charged us to keep, and they are more solid than the roots of great mountains.

Our psalmist finds himself burning with zeal, a fire all the hotter against the hassle of dealing with people who can’t be bothered to pay attention to God’s revelation. The Word of God has been tested and purified in the trials of His servants, so it’s a legacy more precious than any earthly treasure to us.

Most people aren’t impressed with the human talents of the psalmist; all the more reason he must distinguish himself by faithfulness to God’s revelation. This divine justice to which he clings is like a path that vanishes into eternity, to the very face of God Himself. What God decrees is the very substance of existence itself.

Whether it’s natural or man-made trouble that afflicts him, he can always find peace and contentment in God’s Law. The essential rightness of His testimonies will outlive life itself. He begs that God would write them on his soul to enable him discernment that makes life worth living.