Psalm 119, captured by some as Torah piety, is a “medley of praise, prayer and wisdom” (R. Allen, Psalms 101-150, Word). This Psalm, noted above by it being an acrostic with eight lines beginning with the same Hebrew letter (vv. 1-8 begin with aleph) as it works it way through 176 verses.
There are eight major terms for God’s Torah — Torah (25x), Word (24x), Rulings and Covenant (23x), Commands (22x), Statutes and Charges (21x), Sayings (19x).
In this series we will work our way through Psalm 119, and I don’t know how long it will take. Our focus will be on seeing Torah as wisdom, and Word of God as identity-shaping.
It opens with this:
“Happy are those whose way is blameless,
who follow the Torah of Yahweh.”
Blamelessness (tamin) can only be found by reading, listening, hearing, absorbing, and heeding the Torah. “Blamelessness” translates “perfection in way.” This speaks of focus, of concentration, of aim, of telos, of object, and of ambition — the ambitionm of the blessed person is to be shaped by the Torah.
The reason this blog has something about the Bible almost every day is because I believe Psalm 119:1.