Psalm 119 is about loving God’s Torah, His statutes, commands and precepts. It is broken up into sections with strange looking words or letters which are the Hebrew alphabet. In the Hebrew Scriptures, each line of each section starts with a word beginning with this letter. This is called an acrostic poem. Each Hebrew letter also has a word picture associated with it giving greater meaning and symbolism to each line of the specific letter-ed section.
ה Hey – Window
Reveal or Behold
“Teach me, Adonai, the way of your laws; keeping them will be its own reward for me. Give me understanding; then I will keep your Torah; I will observe it with all my heart. Guide me on the path of your mitzvot, for I take pleasure in it. Bend my heart toward your instructions and not toward selfish gain. Turn my eyes away from worthless things; with your ways, give me life. Fulfill your promise, which you made to your servant, which you made to those who fear you. Avert the disgrace which I dread, for your rulings are good. See how I long for your precepts; in your righteousness, give me life!”
How does a heart bend? If it is stiff or hard, it will break; it must be soft and pliable to bend. This is what happens when God takes a stony heart and through His Spirit turns it to pliable and bendable flesh (Ezekiel 26:26-27). It loses it stiffness and it’s carnality; it becomes spiritual. A spiritual heart will ‘bend’ toward Torah and away from selfish ambitions.
Some say the window to the soul is through the eyes. The window to the heart is obedience. A hard or carnal toward God’s teachings and instructions cannot obey. A spiritual heart, one that is bendable and pliable, will seek to obey God and have a full life. James teaches that actions of obedience reveal faith, and actions complete faith (James 2:14-17).
David longs for God’s precepts and His righteousness more than the worthless things he sees around him. He desires God to fulfill the promise that He made to him, and to all those who fear Adonai centuries before him, and fear Adonai now. The promise is salvation, Yeshua. As we long for Yeshua to return and set up the eternal kingdom promised to King David, we should remember the words in Psalm 119: keeping God’s Torah gives understanding and brings its own reward.
©2014 Tentstake Ministries Publishing, all rights reserved. No copying or reproducing of this article without crediting the author or Tentstake Ministries Publishing.
Amen.
How beautifully written. Thank you!
Thank you!