What is the middle verse of the Bible?

Yes, but there was something inexplicable in Egypt’s mysterious ruler. They feared him, and shrank from journeying thither. Yet it was Joseph or starvation: it was Joseph and blessing. So today, “Why do ye look one upon another?” when the middle verse of the Bible—the fulcrum of all—says, “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes” (Ps. 118:9).

Verses 8 and 9 state the conclusion which they reach. Their confidence in man, even in princes, is broken. They recognize it is better to trust in the Lord. It has been stated that verse 8 is the middle verse of the Bible. If so, it is very appropriate. It certainly states one of the greatest facts that the Bible inculcates: the central fact upon which everything for us turns. How quickly do we put confidence in man; how slowly do we trust in the Lord! Yet to cease from man, and to trust in God is that which Israel has to learn. And we have to learn it too.

When the Arabs conquered those parts of the world where these learned Jews were chiefly settled, and when the earlier Caliphs in the eighth and ninth centuries patronised all kinds of learning;— a great impulse was given to the cultivation of the Hebrew language and literature, and to the critical study of the Bible. A succession of Jewish doctors then flourished in the East, who are styled the Masoretes, because their collection of writings is called the masorah or tradition. They directed their attention almost exclusively to the text of the Bible, selecting the best manuscripts, and rejecting what was corrupt. The scrupulous care they took may be judged from the fact that they have counted the number of words, and the number of letters in the Bible or in any particular parts. They have left on record what is the middle word, or the middle letter of the entire book; how many words begin with a particular letter, and many other minute labours of the same kind, trifling indeed, but still showing most remarkably how careful they were of even words and letters.

When the Arabs conquered those parts of the world where these learned Jews were chiefly settled, and when the earlier Caliphs in the eighth and ninth centuries patronised all kinds of learning;— a great impulse was given to the cultivation of the Hebrew language and literature, and to the critical study of the Bible. A succession of Jewish doctors then flourished in the East, who are styled the Masoretes, because their collection of writings is called the masorah or tradition. They directed their attention almost exclusively to the text of the Bible, selecting the best manuscripts, and rejecting what was corrupt. The scrupulous care they took may be judged from the fact that they have counted the number of words, and the number of letters in the Bible or in any particular parts. They have left on record what is the middle word, or the middle letter of the entire book; how many words begin with a particular letter, and many other minute labours of the same kind, trifling indeed, but still showing most remarkably how careful they were of even words and letters.

"It is well known that among the Jews it was the profession of the Masorites, or doctors of tradition, to transcribe the Scriptures. We know to what extent these indefatigable scholars carried their respect for the letter; and when we read the rules under which their labours were carried on, we understand the use that the providence of God (who had 'confided his oracles to the Jews') made of their reverence, severe exactitude, and even of their superstition. They reckoned the number of verses, words, and letters in each book. They tell us, for instance, that the letter A occurs forty-two thousand three hundred and seventy-seven times in the Bible; the letter B thirty-eight thousand two hundred and eighteen times; and so on to the end. They were scrupulous of changing the position even of a letter, though evidently misplaced, but limited themselves to noting it in the margin, supposing some mystery was involved. They tell us which is the middle letter of the Pentateuch, as well as of each of the books of which it is composed. They never allowed themselves to correct their manuscript; and if any mistake escaped them, they rejected the papyrus or the skin which they had blemished, and recommenced upon a fresh one; for they were equally interdicted from even correcting one of their errors, and from retaining for their sacred volume a single parchment or skin in which an erasure had been made. …

The Masorites then, amongst other things, laboured honestly to fix the pronunciation of the Text when Hebrew was becoming a dead language. This appears to have been their earliest and their best work. They must also have invented the elaborate system of accents which, besides being phonetic symbols, provide an analysis of the sentence, showing what words go together. The interpreter is rash who departs from them without very good reason. Amongst the minative with which the Masorites occupied themselves was the counting of words and letters; the attention of the reader is directed to the middle word of a book, and so on. They took note of every 'jot and tittle.' The points must have been intended as the permanent expression of the traditional pronunciation. Notwithstanding that they have been subject to much controversy from the days of Buxtorf (seventeenth century), all scholars agree in following them in the main. Thrupp says, 'Nothing can be more remote from the truth than that we are at liberty to supply vowels to the text at our own unfettered discretion'; and De Wette, 'On the whole, the Masoretic text is a much better witness for punctuation than the often ignorant versions and hasty critics.' The accents stand upon the same footing.

Psalm 119 is by far the longest chapter in the Bible, containing no less than 176 verses. The fifteen Songs of Degrees that follow it contain 101 verses, that is, 75 verses less than this Psalm. It is divided into twenty-two sections, each headed by one of the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew Alphabet in their order. Every verse, but three—verses 90, 122, 132—contains an allusion to the law.

This concordance however was not so useful as the "Cruden's" with which, doubtless, you are all familiar, as the division of the chapters of the Bible into verses had then been barely introduced. At any rate Morbeck does not make any references to verses, using only the letters, A, B, and C, to indicate the beginning, middle and end of the chapters respectively. This arrangement was not a very precise one. If you were wanting to find the words, "Order my steps," you would be directed to Psalm 119: B, that is, the middle of a Psalm of 176 verses. This method is very indefinite compared with the existing system of reference by means of numbered verses. Cruden refers you at once to the exact spot — Psalm 119:133; and this means of ready reference is the principal use of a concordance.

Why did it not occur to the elders of Israel that as Samuel's sons had proved a disappointment to them, the King might be no better? Is a change of government, whether in times ancient or modern, a necessary cure for every ill? Why turn from flesh in one form to flesh in another? Are we not sometimes as foolish as they when difficulties arise? "It is better to trust in Jehovah than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in Jehovah than to put confidence in princes" (Psalm 118:8-9). Have both reader and writer learned this simple lesson?

So far Ps. 115. Then in 116 we have deliverance, which has been wrought, clearly and joyfully expressed. Deliverance had been experienced from death, which had threatened (3-9, 15). Precious in the sight of Jehovah is the death of His saints, so He had kept them from it. That which in Ps. 72:14 had been foretold, they had now found to be true. Thanksgiving, therefore, would they render, and that openly in the courts of the Lord's house, in the midst of Jerusalem (12-19). But not content with that, in Ps. 117 — the shortest Psalm in the whole collection — all nations and people are exhorted to praise Jehovah for that which He has done for Israel, for His mercy manifested toward them, and for His truth which endures for ever. The bright pictures, presented many centuries back by the prophets, are now seen to have been descriptive of realities taking place before their eyes (117:2).