Therefore I love thy commandments above gold, yea, above fine gold.
Verse 127 turns on one word — "Therefore." Evil is at its height and God is about to act, and the psalmist's answer is not despair but love: he prizes God's commandments above the most valuable thing people know.
One writer shows how the pressure of evil works on the heart. It produces two things at once — love for the word and firm moral judgment:
What a principle it is that God's authority must stand, so that the height of evil brings the assurance of deliverance. But it makes God's law precious beyond measure. Love for the law (and here it is the expression of God's will) grows as the power of evil grows. We feel more how precious it is, how sure it is, how it comes from God. His stepping in is precious against the power of evil. For the same reason His word is precious against the growth of evil itself. There is a double feeling here. God's commandments are loved above everything a man could treasure. And there is a firm moral judgment.
Coming judgment does not push the word into the background:
The knowledge that God is about to act in judgment only makes the true soul value God's Word more. Its value is esteemed far above the gold that man values so highly. God's precepts about "all things" are seen to be right. Everything is measured by the Word, and everything false is refused.
The psalmist reaches for gold, and then for "fine gold." A reference work explains what the word covers and why Scripture uses it as the measure of value:
The well-known precious metal. Fire purified it, and we read of "choice gold," "fine gold," and "pure gold." Precious things are compared with gold to show their value (Ps. 119:72, 127)… Because it is the most costly metal, it is treated as a symbol of what belongs to God, and as a sign of divine righteousness.
To a man of the world the comparison sounds mad. One writer points to people who acted on it anyway, at huge cost:
"Better than silver or gold." Tell this to a man of the world and he will think you're mad. Of course it is better than thousands of gold and silver. Of course it is above fine gold. It deals with eternal issues. The new Christians in Ephesus had the right idea (in Acts 19) when they destroyed unholy books — books that directly opposed God's word, the books of their sorcery. The financial cost was enormous, but that didn't matter to them; they had something better than silver or gold. Luke tells us they destroyed 50,000 drachmas' worth. A drachma was a day's wage for an ordinary working man, so that is about 150 years of pay — a huge sum.
The verse does not say he obeys the commandments; it says he loves them. One commentator traces that love to its root:
It is his utter dependence on God that moves him to love God's commandments more than all earthly riches.
This love is not reserved for exceptional people. One writer ties it to a believer's growth:
It is impossible to lay too much stress on the importance and value of the Word of God. Love for it should be a mark of every believer. It is not too much to say that our growth in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, is largely connected with it… Some of the psalmist's expressions might well humble us. They show us the place the Word held in his affections.
One writer quotes this verse as the mark that set David apart from Saul, the king God had rejected:
God rejected the wilful king — the man the people had chosen. Then the LORD brought forward the "man after His own heart." You can see in Psalm 119 how different David was from Saul… "I love your commandments above gold, above fine gold." Oh, that there were such a spirit in both the reader and the writer of these pages!
- Therefore — The verse answers the one before it. It is the reaction of a heart under the pressure of evil, not the reflection of a quiet day.
- Pressure — Love for the word grows as evil grows. What makes God's stepping in precious also makes His word precious.
- Price — Gold is the world's highest value, so Scripture uses it as the yardstick. The psalmist puts the commandments above even the refined kind.
- Measure — Love makes the word the standard. It weighs everything, and it refuses everything false.
- Proof — Such love marked the man after God's own heart. Commentators call it the ordinary mark of every believer, not a rare one.
Therefore I regard all [thy] precepts concerning all things to be right I hate every false path.
This verse ends in a verdict, and it opens with the word "therefore" — so the verdict has a reason behind it. The reason stands in the lines just before: evil had grown so strong that God had to act, and that only made His word more precious.
Coming judgment does not loosen a believer's hold on God's word. It tightens it.
The knowledge that God is about to act in judgment only makes the true soul value God's Word more. He prizes it far above the gold that men treasure. God's precepts about "all things" are right. He measures everything by the Word, and refuses all that is false.
Another writer follows the same movement and takes it further. God's commands are not only right; they mark out the whole of what is right.
Love for the law grows as the power of evil grows — and here the law means the expression of God's will. We feel more deeply how precious it is, how sure it is, how it comes from God... This is a decision of moral judgment. All God's precepts stand as absolutely right, and as the whole of what is right; and every way of empty falsehood is hated. The word alone settles good and evil.
The verdict does not pick and choose among God's commands. It takes in each one, whatever subject it happens to touch — which is why older translations read "all your precepts concerning all things."
For here all is pure — every precept, whatever it concerns; and every false way is exposed to condemnation.
If all God's precepts are right, then anything outside them is false. That leaves no middle ground — and a middle ground is exactly what we like to build, because it is comfortable.
It is either a right way because according to the word, or it is a false way to be hated. Man naturally loves to tone things down to keep his conscience quiet. God in creation "divided the light from the darkness," and morally He does so still. Man would blend them into a dim twilight; but beware of these subtle compromises.
The same writer says where to start, and how far this reaches.
It is good, at the start of your Christian life, to be fully aware of this. The word of God must be the test for everything in your path, whether in your own life or in your dealings with others.
Hating a false way does not come naturally. It is learned, day by day.
"I hate every false way." This is the result of the daily renewing of our minds by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit uses the Word of God to form our thoughts and to give us a completely new set of values. This leads us to hate the very things we loved when unconverted.
This hatred has a strict limit. Inside that limit it makes no exception — not even for age or reputation.
We are to hate what the Lord hates, not the persons, but the deeds. The Psalmist could say he hated "every false way," "vain thoughts," and "lying" (Ps. 119:104, 113, 163). Everything not according to Holy Scripture is a false way, vain, a lie and to be hated, even though it may boast of great age, as coming from the church fathers.
A verdict this complete leaves nothing outside it. So it puts a question to us: is anything held back?
But submission there must be. Absolute submission is what He rightly calls for; and it is well to search our hearts, to see if our desire and purpose are to give Him that without reserve. How blessed to be among those who with an upright heart can say, "I consider all your precepts to be right; I hate every false way"!
- Cause. When God's law is set aside all around, the godly heart values His word more, not less — above gold itself.
- Verdict. The word "therefore" marks a decision of moral judgment. The Word settles good and evil — not our own sense of things.
- Reach. The verdict covers every precept, whatever it deals with. By the same measure it exposes every false way.
- Refusal. If all God's precepts are right, whatever lies outside them is false. Beware of blending light and darkness into a comfortable twilight.
- Result. The hatred is learned, not natural. The Spirit uses the Word to give us new values, so we hate the deeds God hates — never the persons.