My zeal destroyeth me, because mine oppressors have forgotten thy words.
Just before this, the writer of Psalm 119 has owned that God's judgments are right and His testimonies faithful. Now he turns to enemies who have let those words drop out of mind, and the sight burns in him like fire.
Zeal takes its strength from its object. Even a weak zeal flares up when what it loves is attacked.
However feeble our zeal may be, when the object of that zeal is the Lord Jesus, it kindles a consuming fire in the soul, particularly when there are enemies to contest the truth of God's words. For to the believer God's Word is very pure, with not the slightest impurity mixed into it, and it is the very nature of one born again to love that Word.
The psalmist does not say that his enemies have wronged him. He says they have forgotten God's words. One writer shows how fully that cause takes him over, and where it puts him.
Here, as he thinks of it, the psalmist's zeal breaks out. It consumes him as the altar-flame consumes the sacrifice. So it was with Christ in the temple. There He flames out in a testimony against the evil, and that puts Him in opposition to the leaders of the people, who were one with the wickedness then in power. It is not that these men are only the psalmist's personal foes. They are foes "because my foes forget Your words."
Another writer sets out the same two steps in order. First the psalmist sees that God is righteous. Then the scorn shown to His words sets his heart alight.
The contempt shown to Jehovah's words had roused zeal until it consumed him. He became like an earnest adversary, clashing with evil that was still in power, as Christ did in the temple.
Both writers pointed to Christ in the temple. Another writer tells what happened there, and what such zeal cost Him.
He goes into the temple, which for Him is His Father's house. But He finds it defiled by men who claim to care for God's things while they are really seeking their own. Our Lord drives them out with a whip of cords and throws out all their trade. "Do not make My Father's house a house of trade," He says. His disciples remember the words of the sixty-ninth psalm, one of the sacrificial psalms: "The zeal of Your house has eaten Me up." This very zeal and devotion to His Father's glory was a pledge of His death.
Zeal against wrongdoers can sour into plain hatred. One writer names the love that lies under the conflict, and the cost it brings.
The God-fearing man sees that God is righteous and His testimonies faithful. That brings him into conflict with those who forget God's words. His earnest zeal against evil was not simply hatred of evil, but love of the truth. He can say of God's Word, "Your servant loves it." Still, the one who is zealous for the Word in a scene of evil will count for nothing in the eyes of the world, and be despised.
Zeal can be real and still go wrong. The first danger is that fighting evil can shape the mind of the fighter.
We may be so taken up with opposition and evil that it forms the state of our mind, even though we stand against the wicked. That is only meeting flesh with flesh. The one who looks to the Lord is different. In a scene of wickedness, the word he has not forgotten shapes the character of his path. That leads him to see God as the One who deals with these things.
The second danger is zeal that runs ahead of knowledge.
We may be very zealous for the glory of God. But the greater our zeal, the more harm it will do if it is not according to knowledge.
- Consumed by an object. What zeal is fixed on decides its power. When the Lord Jesus is that object, even weak zeal becomes a consuming fire.
- Consumed for God. The psalmist burns because people forgot God's words, not because they hurt him. The flame consumes him as the altar-flame consumes the sacrifice.
- Consumed perfectly in Christ. The same zeal flamed out when He cleansed His Father's house, and that devotion to His Father's glory was a pledge of His death.
- Consumed by love. The conflict springs from love of the truth, not from bare hatred of evil. It also leaves the zealous person looking small in the world's eyes.
- Consumed, not corroded. Fighting evil can shape the mind in evil's own image, and zeal without knowledge does harm. The cure is a path shaped by the word we refuse to forget.
Thy word is exceeding pure, and thy servant loveth it.
This verse sits between a burning zeal against those who forget God's words (v. 139) and the confession of a man who is small and despised (v. 141). Its logic is simple: the purity of what God says is the reason His servant loves it.
Older translations read "your word is very pure" where the ESV has "your promise is well tried." The word behind them comes from the world of metalworking.
The word 'pure' used here comes from the refining process. Refining gets rid of the impurities in metal — once fully refined, it is pure. We have already noted that God's word is true, but this is an extra quality. There are many things that may be true, but not pure. But because God is pure, God's word is pure in its very nature.
That purity holds up under testing. It also gives courage to a person the world despises.
But whatever the evil around, there is rest and comfort for the heart when the word of God is known and loved. "Your word is very pure." Test it however you like, and the testing only proves it more to be purity itself. The heart loves it as its resting place and joy. And it gives greatness and courage to the heart. One may be small and despised, yet still have the courage to keep God's precepts despite the power of the world or its scorn.
Love for the Word is not a decision the psalmist talks himself into. It belongs to the new life God gives.
However weak our zeal may be, it kindles a consuming fire in the soul when the Lord Jesus is the object of that zeal. This is even more so when enemies dispute the truth of God's words. For to the believer God's Word is very pure, with not the least impurity mixed in. And it is the very nature of one born again to love that Word.
Verse 139 could look like nothing more than anger at wrongdoing. Verse 140 shows what was actually driving it, and also what it costs.
The God-fearing man recognizes the righteousness of God and the faithfulness of His testimonies. This brings him into conflict with those who forget God's words. His earnest zeal against evil was not simply hatred of evil, but love of the truth. He can say of God's Word, "Your servant loves it." Still, the one who is zealous for the Word in a scene of evil will seem unimportant and despised in the eyes of the world. Even so, the servant of the Lord does not forget His precepts.
The purity of the Word is what a weak man grips when he has nothing else to hold.
That leads him back to think of the Word, how pure it is, and how he loves it. He is little, it is true — the one who has this spirit is always little. He is despised too, for most people have got so far away from God that they can afford to despise such feeble opposition. Yet with all this he clings to what links his weakness with the Lord of all: "I have not forgotten Your precepts."
The Word is not only pure in itself. It also purifies the person who obeys it.
The words themselves are pure like silver. As Psalm 12:6 says, "The words of the LORD are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times." And obedience to the words of the Lord purifies the soul, for we read in 1 Peter 1:22, "having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth." If we want practical, continuous purity of heart and life, we must keep the great fact before our souls that we belong to God.
- Refined. "Pure" is a metalworker's word: everything foreign burned out. Many things are true without being pure; God's Word is pure because God is pure.
- Tested. Examine it as hard as you like, and it only proves to be purity itself. That is why the heart makes it its resting place and joy.
- Loved. Loving this Word is instinct, not effort. A nature born of God loves a Word with nothing false mixed in.
- Costly. Loving the truth brings conflict with those who forget God's words. It leaves a person small and despised. Yet this same Word links his weakness to the Lord of all.
- Purifying. What is pure purifies. Obedience to the Word cleanses the soul, so love for it shows up as daily purity of heart and life.
I am little and despised thy precepts have I not forgotten.
The writer of this psalm says two things about himself at once. He counts for nothing in the eyes of the people around him. Yet he has not let go of God's word. Why do those two things go together? And what keeps such a person steady when the world counts him as nothing?
The words "small and despised" describe how other people rate him, not how he feels.
Every believer surely sympathizes with the expression of verse 141, "I am small and despised," that is, considered of no account. Yet unlike the arrogant pride of unbelievers, he says, "I do not forget Your precepts." For God's righteousness is not temporary but eternal. His law is truth, never spoiled by the smallest error or deceit.
The contempt is not random. It comes from his love for God's word in a place where others have forgotten it.
When a God-fearing man sees the righteousness of God and the faithfulness of His testimonies, it brings him into conflict with those who forget God's words. His earnest zeal against evil was not simply hatred of evil. It was love of the truth. Still, the one who is zealous for the Word in a world of evil will be insignificant and despised in the eyes of the world. Even so, the servant of the Lord does not forget His precepts.
This smallness is not a passing low moment. It marks everyone who has this spirit, and one writer says why people dare to despise them.
He is little, it is true, and despised. Anyone who has this spirit is always little. People have drifted so far from God that they can afford to despise such feeble opposition. Yet through it all he clings to the one thing that links his feebleness with the Lord of all: "I do not forget Your precepts."
Contempt could easily silence a person. Instead, God's word makes the heart that loves it bold.
The heart loves it as its resting-place and joy. And it gives greatness and courage to the heart. A person may be small and despised, yet still have the courage to keep God's precepts, despite the power of the world or its scorn. This is because they are God's words — they show what God is as He judges evil and good.
One writer puts these words in the mouth of Christ as a child. No one else has matched Him.
Surely as a child He could say, "I am small and despised, yet I do not forget your precepts." No other little child served the Lord as He did. Never before, never after, was there a child, a man, who pleased God in all that he did. Minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day, month by month, year by year, He glorified God. He spent His whole lifetime doing the will of God.
What holds him up is not his own standing. It is God's righteousness, which faith grips when everything seems buried.
In the middle of confusion, where everything might seem buried, faith still affirms that the LORD's righteousness is eternal righteousness. And His law is truth, which must always remain truth.
- Small means nothing. "Small and despised" is not humility talking. It is the world's verdict: others count him as nothing.
- Small because faithful. Zeal for God's word in a world of evil makes a person insignificant and despised. He loves the truth others have forgotten.
- Small but attached. People far from God can afford to despise such feeble opposition. Yet the little man clings to the one thing that links his feebleness with the Lord of all.
- Small yet brave. The word gives greatness and courage to the heart. A despised person can still keep God's precepts, despite the world's power and scorn.
- Small, but standing. Faith rests on God's eternal righteousness and on a law that stays truth, not on its own size. Christ Himself walked this path as a child.