{"id":1494,"date":"2006-10-31T02:10:02","date_gmt":"2006-10-31T02:10:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/2006\/10\/thinking-it-through.html"},"modified":"2006-10-31T02:10:02","modified_gmt":"2006-10-31T02:10:02","slug":"thinking-it-through","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2006\/10\/thinking-it-through.html","title":{"rendered":"Thinking it through"},"content":{"rendered":"

Commentaries on Psalm 119 fade. That is, they treat each paragraph in sum and make only brief comments. I suppose this saves space because Psalm 119 can be treated as 22 individual psalms. Today I’ll look at the flow of the first “letter” (vv. 1-8).
\nIt begins with a blessing <\/em>on those who listen and learn from the Torah, then it reminds <\/em>everyone that, after all, the Torah is the law of God to be kept. Then the one who utters this psalm expresses the wisdom <\/em>of this psalm: “would that my ways were firm in keeping your commands (chaqim<\/em>).” This leads to a resolution <\/em>on the part of the psalmist: “I will praise you … as I learn your just rules (mishpat<\/em>). I will keep your laws.”
\nThen the dark word: “do not utterly forsake me.”
\nThink it through: the Torah is God’s gift to guide God’s people; God’s people is wise when it listens and heeds; this leads to God’s blessing. It is foolish to avoid the Torah.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Commentaries on Psalm 119 fade. That is, they treat each paragraph in sum and make only brief comments. I suppose this saves space because Psalm 119 can be treated as 22 individual psalms. Today I’ll look at the flow of the first “letter” (vv. 1-8).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":298,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-psalm-119"],"yoast_head":"\nThinking it through - Jesus Creed<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2006\/10\/thinking-it-through.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Thinking it through - Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Commentaries on Psalm 119 fade. 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