119: Qoph

Hebrew sources say the letter Qoph [ק] represents the number 100, the eye of a needle, the back of the head, and possibly … a monkey.

Yes, you read that correctly. Monkeys are not native to Israel or any of its neighbors and scripture mentions them nary a single time. Why ancient Hebrew even had a word for monkey is a bit of a mystery probably related to the commonalities between Hebrew and other Semitic languages (or possibly related to historians and linguists thinking they know more than they actually know about ancient languages).

Either way, I think we can safely say we will not find monkeys in Psalm 119 no matter how long and hard we stare at it.

Most of the other letters of the Hebrew alphabet to date have obvious associations with the sections of the psalm they head and the verses they begin. Their meanings were evidently on the mind of the psalmist as he wrote. This section? Not so much. Only the number 100 seems even remotely relevant to the psalmist’s thought flow.

If the number 100 has a scriptural significance, it probably connotes blessing, or perhaps blessing delayed. The expression “a hundredfold” is Hebrew shorthand for an abundance. Under the Old Covenant, something that multiplied a hundredfold was manifestly blessed by God, though time had to pass before you realized on your investment. Seed. Crop. Eventual harvest. Blessing delayed.

Shem was 100 when his wife conceived Arpachshad, from whom Abraham descended eight generations later. The writer of Genesis specifically notes that Arpachshad was fathered two years after the Flood, presumably in obedience to God’s blessing of Noah’s family and the command to “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” Arpachshad is the only child of either Shem, Ham or Japheth whose conception time is indicated in scripture, making it likely he was the first child born after the deluge, the firstfruits of further blessing to come.

The writer of Genesis also notes that Abraham was 100 when Isaac was born. Isaac’s birth too was blessing anticipated and earnestly awaited.

Psalm 119:145-149 — Four Appeals

“With my whole heart I cry; answer me, O Lord! I will keep your statutes. I call to you; save me, that I may observe your testimonies. I rise before dawn and cry for help; I hope in your words. My eyes are awake before the watches of the night that I may meditate on your promise. Hear my voice according to your steadfast love; O Lord, according to your justice give me life.”

Service and Reward

The first five verses of this stanza are an earnest cry for the blessing of God in a time of persecution sufficiently intense to keep our writer awake at night and getting up before dawn to pray. I’ve had two or three of those nights over the years, and few of us would choose them. Four times the psalmist appeals for tangible evidence of the Lord’s steadfast love to him in the form of relief from his enemies: “answer me”, “save me”, “hear my voice”, “give me life”.

Several of these pleas connect closely with God’s word. “Answer me; I will keep your statutes. Save me, that I may observe your testimonies.” Though it sounds a little bit like Jacob negotiating (“If God will be with me and will keep me … then the Lord will be my God”), I don’t think this is horse trading so much as it is the recognition that God’s name is not recognized or praised when there is no apparent reason for doing so. Whoever would draw near to God must believe that he rewards those who seek him.

Love and Justice

Moses rightly observed that if God called a nation to serve him, then destroyed them all when they failed, the Egyptians (and other nations) would conclude that he did so “with evil intent”. Likewise, if God’s faithful servant cries out for help and his cries are ignored, what shall we conclude about God? That’s not a message the Lord has any investment in sending to the world. If we had “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” without the empty tomb, the ascension and the exaltation of the Lord Jesus to the right hand of the Father, we might find ourselves similarly confused as to whether there is any point in serving God.

God may delay in responding to his servant’s cries for many reasons — testing, timing, discipline and testimony among them. What never happens is heavenly indifference. God is just, and those who serve him can trust him to give us what we need when we need it. This is the psalmist’s point in the last line of the fifth verse: “according to your justice give me life”. We can’t help but note that the wording echoes the previous line, “Hear my voice according to your steadfast love.” The Lord is always both loving and just. These amply demonstrated characteristics should bolster our confidence in appealing to him.

Psalm 119:150-152 — Enemies at the Gate

“They draw near who persecute me with evil purpose; they are far from your law. But you are near, O Lord, and all your commandments are true. Long have I known from your testimonies that you have founded them forever.”

Near and Far

Consider the two “nears” and the “far” in verses 150 and 151. The first “near” and “far” are a deliberate contrast, perhaps even a play on words. Those who are far from the law of God have a tendency to seek out and persecute people who disagree with them. We’ve seen this repeatedly as cancel culture has become a societal trend. The sinner deliberately approaches the saint and makes an unprovoked attack. What offends him is not what the believer is doing to him, but the fact that he exists at all. If a Christian owns a bakery, expect him to be asked to cater a gay wedding. If there’s a faithful and uncompromising local church, expect infiltration. Wickedness is not content to be wicked in a corner. It has to eradicate any and every goad that might prick its conscience, even if the believer is minding his own business.

The second “near” is a Hebrew variant on the first. Again, this is surely deliberate. The ESV nicely brings out the distinction in the original language. The wicked “draw near”. The Lord IS near. He doesn’t have to be called from a distance to assist in time of crisis. He is already present and ready to offer necessary aid and comfort.

Founded Forever

The enduring quality of the word of God is evident the moment we begin to study it and realize just how accurately it anticipates, diagnoses, reflects, accounts for and responds to the failures and needs of human nature. The testimonies themselves are the best evidence for the durability of the testimonies.

Thousands of years later, scripture has not ceased to be relevant. Once you see it, you can’t unsee it. The psalmist could not anticipate what the next two and a half millennia of human history might hold, but he could comprehend the durability of the words for which he had such great respect and affection, and trust they would still ring true for as long as they were needed.