Psalm 119

Introduction

Psalm 119 is very different than all the other songs in the Psalm book. Matthew Henry provided some helpful insight into this unique psalm in his summary of it.

“This is a psalm by itself, like none of the rest; it excels them all, and shines brightest in this constellation. It is much longer than any of them, more than twice as long as any of them. It is not making long prayers that Christ censurers, but making them for a pretence, which intimates that they are in themselves good and commendable.

Further on, Henry notes the technical aspects of the psalm.

The composition of [Psalm 119] is singular and very exact. It is divided into twenty-two parts, according to the number of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and each part consists of eight verses, all the verses of the first part beginning with Aleph, all the verses of the second with Beth, and so on, without any flaw throughout the whole psalm.

Henry has much more to say on Psalm 119, but I won’t overburden you. What is given is more than enough to ponder at present. My goal is to take the psalm in small bites and savour it.

Works Cited

Henry, Matthew. “Psalm 119:Introduction.” Matthew Henry’s Commentary On the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition. Volume 3, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., March 1996.

Holy Bible: Giant Print with Study Aids. Dugan Publishers, Inc., 1984.

© 2025 Angela Hormberg