18 January 2016

Bible study part VIII Ps 19

Psalm 19:9 ~
the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the 
rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether.


The fear of the Lord is a synonym for God's Word or the Law.  The purpose is to put fear into the human hearts - check out Deut. 4:10 &; 17:19.  Scripture is the manual for the worship of God, designed to cause believers to obey God and lead righteous lives.  

Clean speaks of the absence of:
sin
corruption
filthiness
defilement
imperfection &
error
It comes from the Greek word: 
#2889. טָהוֹר ṭâhôwr, taw-hore´; or טָהֹר ṭâhôr, taw-hore´; from 2891; pure (in a phys., chem., cerem. or moral sense):—clean, fair, pure (-ness).
#2891. טָהֵר ṭâhêr, taw-hare´; a prim. root; prop. to 
be bright; i.e. (by implication) to be pure (physically
sound, clear, unadulteratedLevitically 
uncontaminatedmorally innocent or holy):—be 
(make, make self, pronounce) clean, cleanse (self), 
purge, purify (-ier, self).
Strong, J. (2009). A Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Greek Testament and The Hebrew Bible (Vol. 2, p. 45). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.
The previous list showed what clean was NOT.  
This list shows what clean IS:
Pure
Sound
Clear
Unadulterated (without any mixture of vanity, falsehood or vice)
Uncontaminated
Innocent
Holy
Cleansed
Purged
Purified

Enduring Forever:  Standing to all eternity. Not 
temporary; not decaying; not destined to pass away. 
It stands firm now, and it will stand firm forever. 
That is, the law of God, considered as adapted to 
make the heart holy and pure, is eternal. What it is 
now it will always be. What its teaching is now it will 
continue to be forever.

The term "rules" (decrees or judgments) looks upon
God's Word as conveying His judicial decisions.  
Another commentator put it this way:  Judgments - 
God's laws are frequently called his judgments, 
because they are the declarations of his righteous 
will, and as it were his judicial sentence by which he 
expects that men should govern themselves, and by 
which he will judge them at the last day.
Put another way ~ The word here rendered 
judgments refers also to the revealed truth of God, 
with the idea that that has been judged or 
determined by him to be right and to be best. It is 
the result of the divine adjudication as to what is 
true, and what is best for man. The word is often 
used in this sense. 

True = faithful in perpetuity 
(endless or indefinitely long duration or existence; 
eternity).  They are not arbitrary, but are in
accordance with what is right. This supposes that
there is such a thing as truth in itself, and the divine 
law conforms to that; not that God determines a 
thing by mere will, and that it is, therefore, right. God 
is infinitely perfect, and what he does will be always 
right, for that is in, accordance with his nature; but 
still his judgments are right, not because he makes 
that to be right which is determined by his will, but 
because his will is always in accordance with what is 
right.

Righteous altogether = They are not only according to 
truth; but they are righteous, #6663 צדקו tsadeku
they give to all their due. They show what belongs to 
God, to man, and to ourselves. And hence the word 
altogether, #3162 יחדו yachdav, equally, is added; or 
truth and righteousness united.  
I went searching regarding this phrase because I 
wasn't sure I really understood what it meant and I 
found this:
the meaning is, They [judgments] are all righteous 
from the greatest to the least, without a single 
exception. By this commendation he distinguishes the 
law of God from all the doctrines of men, for no 
blemish or fault can be found in it, but it is in all 
points absolutely perfect.
Calvin, J., & Anderson, J. (2010). Commentary on the Book of Psalms (Vol. 1, p. 323). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.


So what is the summary of this verse? God’s laws
frequently called his judgments, because they are the 
declarations of his righteous will, and as it were his 
legal or judicial sentence by which he expects that 
men should govern themselves, and by which he will 
judge them at the last day.
Poole, M. (1853). Annotations upon the Holy Bible (Vol. 2, p. 30). New York: Robert Carter and Brothers.


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