The last two verses of this section repeat a point we saw in verse 113, namely, hatred of what is wrong contrasted with a love of what is good. As these verses put it,
Because I love your commands more than gold, more than pure gold,
and because I consider all your precepts right, I hate every wrong path.
In the last of these three stanzas (ayin, vv. 121-128), which have to do with walking by God's Word, the contrasts that have already been introduced reoccur: the need for clear direction in a sinful, dark world; threat of enemies versus the sustaining grace of God; and hatred of sin versus love of God's Word. But going on from the writer's awe of God introduced at the end of the last stanza, what this stanza emphasizes is that if we are to walk as God wants us to walk, we must keep looking to him intently and at all times. As far as sin is concerned, we must look to God's commandments. As far as dangers go, we must look to God for deliverance.
As we noted in yesterday's study, Alexander Maclaren wrote that “this section is mainly the expression of firm resolve to cleave to the Law.” Maclaren went on to note an outline for this section, the first point of which is the psalmist's determination to obey God's law. In today's study, we continue with Maclaren's other two points about the psalmist.
Choosing the right path and avoiding wrong ones brings us to the first of our two stanzas (vv. 113-120), in which the writer speaks particularly about right and wrong paths. The point of the last stanza was that the Bible alone enables us to see the right way clearly. The point of this stanza is that if we are to walk as God wants us to walk, we must determine to do it, since there are many contrary paths and much opposition.
In the section of Psalm 119 to which we come now (the samekh and ayin stanzas, vv. 113-128) the writer is concerned with his walk, and the burden of his concern is that it be according to God's Word. This important theme was actually introduced a stanza before this, with the nun stanza (vv. 105-112), beginning with the words: “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path” (v. 105). In that study, we looked at those words in terms of the Bible's clarity. Yet they also have to do with walking along a right path, and that is the theme that continues through verse 128, which wraps up this line of thought by stating, “I hate every wrong path.”
