On to Bet

How can a young man keep his way pure?  By keeping it according to Your word.  Psalm 119:9  NASB

How – The poet continues the acrostic with a sequence where every verse begins with bet.  You won’t see this in the English translation, so here it is in Hebrew:

בַּמֶּ֣ה יְזַכֶּה־נַּ֖עַר אֶת־אָרְח֑וֹ לִ֜שְׁמֹ֗ר כִּדְבָרֶֽךָ

בְּכָל־לִבִּ֥י דְרַשְׁתִּ֑יךָ אַל־תַּ֜שְׁגֵּ֗נִי מִמִּצְו‍ֹתֶֽיךָ

בְּלִבִּי צָפַ֣נְתִּי אִמְרָתֶ֑ךָ לְ֜מַ֗עַן לֹ֣א אֶֽחֱטָא־לָֽךְ

בָּר֖וּךְ אַתָּ֥ה יְהֹוָ֗ה לַמְּדֵ֥נִי חֻקֶּֽיךָ

בִּשְׂפָתַ֥י סִפַּ֑רְתִּי כֹּ֜֗ל מִשְׁפְּטֵי־פִֽיךָ

בְּדֶ֖רֶךְ עֵֽדְו‍ֹתֶ֥יךָ שַׂ֗שְׂתִּי כְּעַ֣ל כָּל־הֽוֹן

בְּפִקּוּדֶ֥יךָ אָשִׂ֑יחָה וְ֜אַבִּ֗יטָה אֹֽרְחֹתֶֽיךָ

בְּחֻקֹּתֶ֥יךָ אֶֽשְׁתַּֽעֲשָׁ֑ע לֹ֖א אֶשְׁכַּ֣ח דְּבָרֶֽךָ

Do you see that each line starts with בְּ?  The English reads “How,” “By,” “In,” “Blessed,” and “On” but in Hebrew the syntax is designed so that every line beings with בְּ.  Let’s look at the first word, “How” (בַּמֶּ֣ה).  Harris comments:

193            בְּ (bĕ)

A very common preposition with a wide range of meanings. BDB list mainly: in, at or by, with (of accompaniment or of instrument), a verbal complement of specialized meaning, and, used with the infinitive construct, to introduce a temporal clause. Currently the Hebrew prepositions are recognized as having an even wider range of meaning. Ugaritic evidence indicates that bĕ also often means “from,” as does the preposition lĕ (Gordon, UT 19: no. 435; AisWUS 486).^[1]

So we have a choice about how to read this word.  The current translation uses an atypical   meaning because of the context.  The poet addresses his previous emotional concern (verse 8) by returning to obedience.  How can I be pure?  This is no longer an emotional outcry purging the desperation of potential abandonment.  This is straightforward explanation.  We’re no longer floundering in the dark depths of the heart.  We’re back in the light declaring the legitimacy of obedience.  How can I be pure?  By obeying. 

By the way, this answer assumes that purity is possible, in fact, easier than we imagine.  Are God’s instructions so obtuse that we don’t know how to follow them?  Of course not.  For the first time in the ancient world a god actually revealed in detail what it meant to fulfill His desires.  We don’t have to be confused.  We just have to do what He says.  Nothing more.  Nothing less.  And when we do, well, purity follows.  We will be clean before Him.  The important word is zākâ, a word only used in poetry, that means moral purity.  It is the parallel of ṣādaq, “righteous.”  This means that righteousness is not simply imputed, as Luther concluded.  It is also earned.  Does that make salvation a consequence of human effort rather than divine forgiveness?  Well, it’s some of both, as Paul said, “ . . . continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.”  Who knows?  Perhaps Paul was just being Jewish.

Topical Index: pure, righteous, zākâ, salvation, Psalm 119:9

BDB Brown, Driver, Briggs, A Hebrew-English Lexicon of the Old Testament, 1905

UT C.H. Gordon, Ugaritic Textbook, 1965 (Grammar cited by chapter and section; texts cited by chap (16) and no. of line. Glossary cited by chap (19) and no. of word)

AisWUS J. Aistleitner, Wöterbuch der ugaritischen Sprache, 4th ed., 1974

^[1] Harris, R. L. (1999). 193 בְּ. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 87). Moody Press.