There should be a sign like this at the beginning of Psalm 119. I hope you have plenty of supplies for the next couple days.

🚐😎 I’m ready. Longest chapter in the Bible? Bring it on.

You may (or may not) have in your Bible before the first verse, the word Aleph. That’s the first letter in the Hebrew alephbet.

🧐 Uh.. you misspelled alphabet. We’re not even out of the driveway yet and…

No I didn’t. Alpha is the name of the first letter of the Greek alphabet. Aleph is Hebrew. The second letter in Hebrew is Bet. So, Aleph-Bet. The English word alphabet is just the first letter in Greek plus the second letter of Hebrew.

😲 Those are the two languages of the Bible!

Yup. So it’s like a nod to the New Testament with Alpha and the Old Testament with Bet.

Psalm 119 is an acrostic in Hebrew.

🤔 a cross stick?

No. An acrostic. It’s a memory aid. Like learning the treble clef 🎼 in music spells FACE in the spaces and the lines are Every Good Boy Does Fine. Only the acrostic in Psalm 119 isn’t a word or sentence, it’s the Hebrew alephbet. Each stanza begins with the letter at its heading.

I’ve never really looked closely at this aspect of Psalm 119 so I’m going to pay close attention this time and see if I spot anything. If you’d like to learn more about the ancient Paleo Hebrew letters, check out Father’s Alphabet online. All their resources are free. I’m going to insert screenshots from their site so you can see each letter.

If you like to make notes in your Bible (and I highly recommend it) here are where the letters land in the Psalm in case your Bible doesn’t have them.

Aleph – verse 1

Bet – verse 9

Gimmel – verse 17

Dalet – verse 25

Hey – verse 33

Vav – verse 41

Zayin – verse 49

Chet – verse 57

Tet – verse 65

Yod – verse 73

Kaph – verse 81

Lamed – verse 89

Mem – verse 97

Nun (Paleo: Nachash) – verse 105

Samek – verse 113

Ayin – verse 121

Peh – verse 129

Tsade – verse 137

Quf – verse 145

Resh – verse 153

Shin/Sin – verse 161

Tav – verse 169

There are 176 verses in total. All but a few have some reference to God’s Word. Psalm 119 is like a thesaurus entry for God’s Word. You’ll find loads of synonyms like:

Statutes, precepts, ways, teaching, words, commandments, rules, laws, testimonies, promise, and judgments.

We have a LOT to cover so these will be rapid-fire. Aleph through Kaph, here we go…

The first word is “blessed” or esher, which starts with an aleph.

But I also notice a leader in this section.

“who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways!”
‭‭Psalm‬ ‭119‬:‭3‬ ‭ESV‬‬

If there is a “way” to walk in- a path already cleared- then you are not the leader. Someone else has already walked here first as the leader. We simply get to follow.

Where is the Word of God stored up and “hidden” in this stanza? Inside the heart. And where is the temple of God now? Inside the heart.

Lots of things being lifted up and going about like on the back of a camel 🐪 in this stanza.

• V17, the psalmist asks Yahweh to “deal bountifully” with him, to lift him up in the sense of beneficial treatment.
• V18, the eyelids are “lifted up” so he can see.
• V19, a sojourner wandering around on a camel. 😏🐪 The word for sojourner is ger. Starts with a Gimmel.
• V21, the insolent are wandering away (walk) from God’s commands.
• V23, princes are exalted (lifted up) people.

I’m part of a Bible study group and we went through the whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation and looked at every instance of the words “door”, “gate” and “entrance.” It was an amazing study. Lots of judgements and miracles happen at gates & doors.

The D-word in verse 25 is dabaq (cling or cleave). I could be wrong but the Dalet, Bet, Quof together make a picture of a door of the house surrounded. Makes me think of the old cop movies where they would have a bull horn and say to the bad guy hiding inside, “We’ve got you surrounded!” It’s the idea of sticking like glue. You can’t shake them off now. You’re caught. And it’s the soul that is sticking to the dust of the human body.

In verse 28 there is another D-word that the soul does. The soul “melts away” (dalaph) or drips (as in tears) because of sorrow.

I really like this letter. 🤓 It’s a stick man. How can you not like a letter that is a stick man? It’s sad that it changed. Can we bring the stick man back to replace the letter H?

“Today’s episode of Sesame Street was brought to you by the letter stickman!” 😁

Hey means life. Put your hand right in front of your mouth and say the word “hey” out loud. You can literally feel the breath of life when you say the name of the letter. It’s also the letter that appears twice in God’s Name YHWH. In verses 37 and 40 the psalmist asks for life in God’s righteous ways.

I have a theory. It’s that Yahweh is the only Being (in or outside the universe), that is actually ALIVE. He is the Living God. He has life in Himself, (Jn. 5:26). All things that are joined to Him have life because He shares His life with them. Anything outside of Him is dead (Eph. 2:1), even if it’s walking around and seems to be alive. Conversely, even if something appears to die, if it is joined to the life of God, it’s actually still alive.

“Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live,”
‭‭John‬ ‭11‬:‭25‬ ‭LEB‬‬

Not “a life.” THE Life. As in, there’s only one.

There is something important that the psalmist wants to be joined to him and another thing that he wants to fasten well so it won’t fly away. And a peg or hook is just the thing.

First he wants the Lord’s mercies (chesed, loyal love, lovingkindness) and salvation to come to him and be joined to him.

But he also wants Yahweh’s Word of Truth to stay in his mouth and not fly away like tabernacle curtain that has lost its hooks.

The word for “remember” in Hebrew is zakar. It means “to mark” (so as to be recognized). At big family get-togethers we mark our cups so we can remember which cup is ours. Trails are marked so people can remember how to find a location. Early markings involved taking something with an edge like a tiny plow- knife, axe, stylus, chisel- and cutting into wood or clay or stone. Writing is really nothing more than making marks that we learn to recognize that make us remember things when we look at them (reading).

Verse 49 asks the LORD to remember His Word to His servant. Well- there’s no way Yahweh can forget. There was something with an edge like a tiny plow that made marks for Him:

“Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭49‬:‭16‬ ‭ESV‬‬

And speaking of walls…

The word “portion” begins with chet (pronounced like khet) in Hebrew.

In verse 61 the psalmist says that even if ropes (chebel) of the enemy were to surround him, he would not forget Yahweh’s law.

Chet– obstruction, wall

Bet– house

Lamed– shepherd

Don’t let anything tie you up and block you from the house of the shepherd. That’s a rope of the Enemy.

The Hebrew word for good (towb) which starts with Tet appears no less than 6 times in this stanza! Here they are:

“You have dealt well with your servant, O Lord, according to your word. Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I believe in your commandments. Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word. You are good and do good; teach me your statutes. The insolent smear me with lies, but with my whole heart I keep your precepts; their heart is unfeeling like fat, but I delight in your law. It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes. The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces.”
‭‭Psalm‬ ‭119‬:‭65‬-‭72‬ ‭ESV‬‬

The most challenging one is when he says it was “good for me to be afflicted.” But I think it’s true that we don’t really grow in the easy times. It’s the afflictions of life that teach us.

What letter are we on? Oh yeah. Yod. Hand. That’s the one that starts with…

“Your hands have made and fashioned me; give me understanding that I may learn your commandments.”
‭‭Psalm‬ ‭119‬:‭73‬ ‭ESV‬‬

See? It’s a very handy memory aid. 😏

In the NT the letter Yod gets called Jot. As in, “jot and tittle” in Matthew 5:18. The Yod is the smallest Hebrew letter. Jesus was saying that not even the smallest letter of the Law would fail to be fulfilled.

🤔 If the yod is the smallest letter, what on earth is a tittle?

A tittle is a piece of a letter; a part of a pen-stroke.

😯 So not even a whole letter?

Right. Jesus was basically saying the Law would be fulfilled down to the dotting of every i and the crossing of every t.

Ok kids, the secret word is kalah. It appears in verses 81, 82 and 87. It means to end. There are 3 things “ending” in this stanza:

“My soul languishes for Your salvation; I wait for Your word.

My eyes fail with longing for Your word, While I say, ‘When will You comfort me?’

They almost destroyed me on earth, But as for me, I did not abandon Your precepts.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭119‬:‭81‬-‭82‬, ‭87‬ ‭NASB2020‬‬

😐 There are actually 4 things ending. You didn’t count me. I’m DONE. Are we there yet?

No. This is just halfway.

😫 I swear this chapter is trying to kill me.

You’ll be fine. We’ll camp out here tonight and go the rest of the way tomorrow.

🚐🌳🌳⛺️

😅 Yay! Rest stop. I’m glad I brought snacks. Here, have a cookie. 🍪🍪🍪