From Aleph to Taw

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Pastor's Reflection of the Day
I took a class in Seminary called "Prophets and Psalms." The professor liked to open class by asking someone to read a psalm. Let me tell you, it didn't take long for someone to volunteer to open the class by saying, "I'd like to start today's class today by reading Psalm 119. . . " hoping that reading the entire psalm would take up a significant portion of the class!

Today's "Year of the Bible" reading is a part 4 of 7 of Psalm 119. The whole psalm is 176 verses long! One of my commentaries says this: Simply by virtue of its length, Psalm 119 is impressive and imposing, perhaps even intimidating. (Psalms, NIB Commentary).

I wonder how you feel about it. Are you impressed? Are you intimidated? Personally, I have always been fascinated by this particular psalm.

It is an acrostic of the Hebrew alphabet--which means it is made up of 22 sections using each letter of the Hebrew alphabet in alphabetical order. In the first section, all the lines begin with the letter "aleph" (or A). In the second section, all the lines begin with the letter "beth" (or B).

What ingenuity and thoughtfulness must have gone into this psalm! There are many other smaller patterns and repetitions within this poem, all of which must have taken an enormous amount of brain power. Though some people might consider this repetition tedious and boring, I think it is fantastic.

And it totally makes sense: the psalmist's point is that God's torah (or revelation) is pervasive and all encompassing--from aleph to taw in the Hebrew, or A to Z in the English. The poem is overwhelming because God and His revelation are overwhelming! (Psalms, NIB Commentary)

In today's particular section, verses 73-96, the psalmist is expressing that he (or she) belongs solely to God for His hands "made me and formed me." The psalmist explains that the Lord is central to his life--in His Word is his hope and that His law is his delight. There are a number of verses that fall in the lamentation category (indeed, the whole psalm is a lament) before the psalm turns back to God's revelation and Word.

Today's text ends with an affirmation of God's words, God's faithfulness to all generations, and the endurance of the truth and God's law. Again and again, the psalmist wanders from the path of thanksgiving for revelation but always returns to his main point; lament always gives way to a profession of faith.

I hope you find that pattern in your life too: that your times of lament always give way to your own profession of God's goodness and faithfulness! It's a theme that should permeate the lifespan of Christians; like Psalm 119, it should be overwhelming and imposing!