119: Kaph

If you are going to find Christ in Psalm 119, today’s eleventh “stanza” of the psalm is by far the best place for it. For a consistent prophetic portrayal of the sinless, suffering servant, these eight lines have no parallel in the psalm, which makes our reading a perfect fit for the tail end of the Christmas season, as we move from the contemplation of our Lord’s birth to considering his purpose in coming into the world. By non-coincidence, the letter Kaph [כ], which begins every line, has a dual meaning to Hebrew scholars: “form” and “crown”.

No, I’m really not making this stuff up.

The kaph symbolizes a container, a house or a body. If that idea seems almost-too-obviously suggestive of the incarnation, the scripture confirms the Son was taking “the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men”. Or consider how he refers to his own body: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up … But he was speaking about the temple [lit. ‘dwelling place’] of his body.” Jesus of Nazareth was the temple in which the Son made his residence on earth, and he carried that glorified temple into the heavenlies to sit down at the right hand of God, forever rendering temples unnecessary.

That’s just the “form” aspect of the letter. Need we talk about the idea of crowns in connection with our Savior? Probably not. Crowns are associated with both his suffering and his glory.

So then, if you find yourself thinking of the Lord Jesus as we move through these verses, you are not the only one.

Psalm 119:81-83 — A Wineskin in the Smoke

“My soul longs for your salvation; I hope in your word. My eyes long for your promise; I ask, ‘When will you comfort me?’ For I have become like a wineskin in the smoke, yet I have not forgotten your statutes.”

Salvation and Soul

It should be obvious the psalmist is not using the word “salvation” in the sense evangelicals most commonly do, but rather in an Old Testament sense of deliverance from his enemies, men he has already mentioned in previous stanzas and will speak of again shortly.

In Old Testament usage, the soul is the part of a man that feels affection and gratitude, but also loneliness, estrangement, disappointment and loss. I often think of our Lord’s frustration as he dealt with the perversities of the human heart: “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to bear with you?” If the soul of righteous Lot was tormented by the citizens of Sodom, how much more was the tender heart of our Lord bruised by the faithlessness and emptiness of so many around him. Here the soul of the psalmist longs for the deliverance only God can provide.

Hope in the Word

The word “hope” is used eight times in the psalm, almost inevitably in connection with the word of God, as it is here. The promise of resurrection was not always explicit in the Old Testament, but it is certainly there. If our Lord found his hope of deliverance in strange places like the story of Jonah, we will not fault him for that; he understood the scriptures in ways nobody else ever did. But there are also more obvious places like Psalm 16 (“you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption”). That certainly sounds like a promise, and as Peter pointed out at Pentecost, David could not possibly be speaking of himself. He prophesied of Christ. So then, in his time on earth, our Lord depended on the word and promises of God, as the psalmist tells us here.

A Wineskin

In the wineskin image, we have another sideways reference to kaph as form. If you have ever spilled a bottle of wine, you know it is formless; it runs in all directions. As with all liquids, to be much use to man, it needs a container, bringing us back to the idea of a body. The psalmist compares himself to “a wineskin in the smoke”.

There is much discussion among the commentators about what the psalmist intended to convey with this simile. Ellicott quotes Ovid concerning the ancient custom of mellowing wine with heat, speculating about the value of a character shaped by suffering. But the psalmist is talking about the effect of the smoke on the wineskin, not the taste of the wine. Therefore, I tend to think Barnes is more likely on the money when he speaks of affliction and sorrow reducing the writer to a state of deep distress, comparing the passage to Psalm 22 in which David, clearly speaking prophetically of Messiah, writes, “My strength is dried up like a potsherd.” This makes more sense in context.

Despite ongoing suffering and deliverance seemingly delayed, the psalmist finishes with, “I have not forgotten your statutes.” The word of the Lord remains his hope despite his fragility.

Psalm 119:84-87 — Two Sets of Twins

“How long must your servant endure? When will you judge those who persecute me? The insolent have dug pitfalls for me; they do not live according to your law. All your commandments are sure; they persecute me with falsehood; help me! They have almost made an end of me on earth, but I have not forsaken your precepts.”

We have two sets of twins here: (1) deliverance and judgment, and (2) tricks and trust. Surely the psalmist pairs these ideas deliberately.

Deliverance and Judgment

Deliverance and judgment are twin themes, and any careful reader will discover God deems one insufficient without the other. Peter points out that the Flood had its Noah and Sodom had its Lot, so he concludes, “The Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment.” God does not do one or the other, he does both.

Likewise, the psalmist is not merely concerned with his own deliverance. He adds, “When will you judge those who persecute me?” He has a perfectly reasonable need to see justice done in the case of those who deliberately violate the law, lie about others and dig pits for the righteous. Crucifying our Lord was not enough for the high priest and scribes of Israel, they immediately began to persecute the disciples who “gave form” to the body of Christ on earth. To cry for justice is to recognize that deliverance, while desirable, is insufficient. For God to be glorified and the wicked silenced requires deliverance of the servants be bookended by his righteous judgment of the insolent.

Tricks and Trust

The psalmist contrasts the word of the Lord (“all your commandments are sure”) with the words of men (“they persecute me with falsehood”). The word for “sure” means steady, reliable, true and dependable; that which can be trusted absolutely. The word for “falsehood” here refers to that which turns out to be insufficient and disappointing after making false promises. It appears solid but is always a trick or a cheat, which is the literal meaning of the root.

Almost at the End

The psalmist writes, “They have almost made an end of me.”

The threat to his life never deterred the Lord Jesus. He saw it as inevitable and warned his disciples about it repeatedly. In doing so, he was preparing the believing hearts around him for what was coming. (There actually were a few of these notwithstanding the density of his disciples, who actually debated the question of what “rising from the dead” might mean. Martha’s sister Mary took him quite literally and responded accordingly, anointing him in view of his death.) Secondarily, the Lord’s words would confirm the faith of those who would only grasp their meaning after he had returned to the Father. GotQuestions identifies at least six times Jesus plainly or discreetly prophesied his own death. He kept the end in sight at every moment.

The psalmist too looks toward the end, but declares that despite this, “I have not forsaken your precepts.” May we too keep the goal in sight.

Psalm 119:88 — Life and Testimony

“In your steadfast love give me life, that I may keep the testimonies of your mouth.”

The resurrection of the Lord Jesus was only the beginning of taking the word of the God to the world. What Jesus did next through his disciples dwarfed every manifestation of the good news in all the centuries prior. Moses had his proclaimers in every city of the world “from ancient generations”, but he never “turned the world upside down”. Paul and his associates did it in only a few short years, and Moses’ proclaimers were most upset about it. Today, the testimonies of the Lord’s mouth have been heard in every corner of the world. More than half a billion dollars are spent annually around the world on Bibles. The Bible is not only the best selling book of all time by almost an order of magnitude over the Qur’an (5-7 billion vs. approximately 800,000,000), it is also the best selling book every year to date.

In short, in giving life to the Lord Jesus, the Father gave life to the world. This may not have been exactly what the psalmist meant when he wrote verse 88, but it is certainly the most important application of the principle we find here in all of human history.