Commentary on Psalm 19:7-14

Psalm 19 celebrates God’s ordering activity through the use of two different literary elements. To understand the lectionary reading of verses 7–14, one must have the whole psalm in view. The first section of the psalm is a meditation on the heavens, describing how the sky bears witness to God’s creative skill (verses 1–6). God’s ordering of human behavior is the subject of the second section. The psalm exalts the law and culminates with a prayer that the words and actions of the psalmist might be in complete accordance with this law (verses 7–14). Through its diverse literary forms, the psalm has a unified message: God has turned chaos into order. God continues this ordering work in the lives of people to whom the law has been revealed. 

The heavens give witness

The psalm’s initial claim is that the heavens provide a witness to God’s establishment of order (verses 1–6). Though the heavens cannot speak the words of humans, they tell a clear story nevertheless. The sky stays high above the world. The movement of the heavens can be observed as regular and orderly. All of this testifies to Yahweh’s supreme organizing power. The heavenly bodies, which God created and set in perpetual motion, constantly speak of God’s power. Their “speech” differs from human speech, but their “words” nevertheless attest to God’s work.

The religious cultures of Israel’s neighbors associated the sun with divine order. Indeed, the sun god was seen as the high god in the pantheon of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. The sun was the god who orders chaos and, as such, had a heroic and vigorous presentation in these religious systems. Psalm 19, however, proclaims something distinctly different. The sun is not a deity. Rather, Yahweh created the sun. The sun serves as a witness to Yahweh’s ordering power. For Yahweh sets the stage for the blazing, dazzling journey of the sun across the sky every day. The sun itself is not a god of order as in other surrounding cultures. Instead, the sun—with its regular motion that God established—provides a clear witness to God’s ordering power. 

The power of God’s law 

After describing the order of the cosmos, the psalm focuses on God’s order for human behavior (verses 7–14). The God-ordained movement of the heavenly bodies resonates with the order that God gives the community through the law. This order emerges through the words of the law, as the psalm proceeds systematically through a series of six statements extolling the benefits of observing the law. This is some of the most carefully structured poetry in the whole Old Testament, with a particularly high degree of poetic parallelism.

The form and the message of these verses are perfectly aligned. Each line begins with a legal term: “law … decrees … precepts … commandment … fear … ordinances.” This is element A. The exception is “fear,” which is a more abstract concept, but nonetheless related to the observance of God’s law. The second element—element B—is the possessive phrase “of the LORD.” The final element—element C—is a positive adjective, followed by a gerundive phrase. Thus we can map the sequence:

The point of this observation is that the psalmist has created a very complicated, ornate way of saying a fairly simple thing: that the law is good. But instead of opting for economy of speech, the psalmist carefully arranges a mode of exalted speech. The heavens spoke without words. Yet the psalmist has the ability to use words, so he takes advantage of the opportunity, like a modern writer getting out their thesaurus and flooding the page. Through its regular rhythms and patterns this poem mirrors the order that Yahweh brings to the world through the law. Because of its value for ordering life, one should seek the law above all else (verse 10). 

The psalm concludes with a petition, that the psalmist would be able to be a part of the order God has created, through the world and through the law. The psalmist acknowledges that the law both saves and condemns. It delights (verses 7–10), but it also serves as a warning (verses 11–12). Vigilance is necessary. 

The psalmist also recognizes the fact that there are those who would willingly break the law, “the insolent” (verse 13). The psalmist prays that God would guard him from those people who would stand outside God’s established order. 

The final verse of the psalm is one of the most familiar in the entire Bible: 

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you,
         O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.

The psalmist requests that his words would accord with the divine words (in other words, the law). The psalm began with a meditation on the inaudible words that the heavens speak by their very existence. The psalm concludes with words that are immediate and personal. The psalmist asks that the words that come out of his mouth will be harmonious with the words of the law and the testimony of the heavens. “The meditation of my heart” (verse 14) refers once again to inaudible words: these are words that are formed internally but as yet unuttered. The psalmist asks that these words too will be in keeping with God’s ordinances. 

Seeing the world differently 

God’s ordering work is evident through nature, through the movement of the heavens and the sun, but also through the law. For many Christians, and especially Protestants, the law is not something to extol. Yet the psalmist describes the law as sweet, dripping, viscous honey, and as glimmering, rare, costly gold. It is so priceless and so delightful because it tells us how to order our lives. This law is an external, gracious revelation that orders the individual life and the wider community. 

We can also see the ordering work of the law embodied in Jesus Christ. Through Christ we see the world and the law differently. In Christ we can meet the same God who created the heavens, who graciously gave the law to the Israelites in the midst of the chaotic wilderness, the God who gave them an identity, and a way to live in right relationship with each other and with God. Through Christ we can see God ordering the world again—through the incarnation.

Jesus brings the order of God to us in the most immediate way. The heavens bore witness, but they could not speak our language. The law spoke words in a particular language to a particular ancient community, thus graciously revealing God’s order. And in Jesus, God speaks a new word, the Word made flesh. Order comes to the world through Christ’s very life, death, and resurrection. And the Word made flesh issues commands that still go out through all the earth.