Just Give Me Money
The Law of Your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces. Psalm 119:72 NASB
Is better – We missed it! If you read this verse in Hebrew you would immediately notice that the same word we found in the previous verse (ṭôb- lî, “good for me”) is the opening word in this verse. Exactly the same. Not an accident. Of course, in English we don’t see this because we have “good for me” in verse 71 and “is better” in verse 72. But Hebrew tells us that what is good for me, that is “learning Your statutes,” is exactly the same as what is better than any amount of money. And one more time we’re back to the Barrett Strong song played by the Beatles. No, I’m sorry, the best things in life are not thousands of gold and silver pieces. The best things are the Torah from the mouth of God.
We’ve reached the end of the tet section of the acrostic. The point comes slamming home. Nothing is more valuable than the words of God. Yes, we could read “the Law” in its strict sense of the written Torah, but we should know by now, almost halfway through the acrostic, that the poet includes everything God speaks and everything God does. It is the full range of experience, personal and corporate, present and historical, that is most valuable. This fact explains the long history of Jewish liturgy and festivals. If I forget who He is, what He says, and what He does, I will be no better off than the arrogant whose only real god is power.
We began this section with a comment about the mystical meaning of tet. You will recall that tet “represents the presence of hidden wisdom within creation, waiting to be discovered.” What have you discovered in these last days of our investigation? Did you find that the nuances of the poet’s words remind us of important stories? Did you find that “good” has boundaries—not determined by us? Did you learn that our expectations about life are upside-down, that suffering is beneficial, that affliction is necessary? Did you re-evaluate the claims about money and power? Were you surprised to find out that the serpent might have been necessary? Did you rethink what it means to be human? Have you reassessed what it means to model the life of the Messiah? Are you ready to confront your choices?
“Anyone standing at the crossroads, like Heracles in Prodicus’ fable, is not tempted; he has to choose from two possible courses of action the one which will bring him to a permanent eudaimonia. The person who is tempted, on the other hand, does not have a choice between two ways on which he could go; he has the unconditional duty to go the one way prescribed to him. The other way which temptingly attracts him is only apparently a way; in reality, it is a fall into the abyss. The Greek approach is inspired by philosophical wisdom, which is meant to lead man to lasting good fortune in life; the other is inspired by the experience of God’s will on the part of the believer, who is bound to observe and to follow this will in all situations.”[1]
Topical Index: ṭôb- lî, is better, tet, good, power, choice, Psalm 119:72
[1] Ernst Lohmeyer, “Our Father”: An Introduction to the Lord’s Prayer (Harper & Row, 1965), pp. 200-201.
The Word of God is “everything God speaks and everything God does.” In the beginning was the Word— and the Word was with God— and the Word was God.
YHVH… eternally the Word that He forever was, is, and forever will be… the Word who became incarnate and dwelt among mankind… the Word who took upon himself the affliction, suffering and death that is the curse of profaning, desecrating, and violating that Word… the Word whose own work effectively served to satisfy the just demands of righteousness so as to redeem mankind from that curse that man may become truly human… the Word who persists to speak, saying, “This is the way; walk in it,” when a person goes to his/her right and when a person goes to his/her left. This is the Word of God… the Word who inspires “the experience of God’s will on the part of the believer, who is indeed bound to observe and to follow this will in all situations.” Emet and amen.
Perhaps it’s worth considering that the authors of the Tanakh didn’t view the “Word” as a person. Proverbs 8 is an example of personification of an idea. I would highly recommend Boyarin’s Border Lines as an examination of the development of the personification of the Hebrew debar
Yes, Skip, it is indeed worth considering… thank you for your recommendation of Boyarin’s Border Lines!
The dilemma for man, created as human being fit for this temporal-spatial domain, is not that God speaks as spirit; rather it is, How does man speak rightly of God, who is both Word and spirit? I believe, as I’m sure you do, that we must take our respectful and deferential cues from the text and context of God’s own inspired word given in the Scriptures. While the disposition of the message finds distinction between that which precedes the advent of Christ Jesus’ birth and that which follows, I do find personification present in both testimonies. Certainly, I find the Gospel, Letters, and Apocalypse of the Apostle John, from whom I took cue, demonstrates the personification of “Word” as a person… what is your take on his testimonies of witness regarding that aspect?