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While the Hebrew word chaphets is mostly translated by "delight", "please", and
similar words, it is once rendered "move", in the passage concerning Behemoth: "He
moveth his tail like a cedar" (Job 40: 17).
It would be easy to follow the example of those who seize upon this passage as an
example of slip-shod translation, for, one might say, what connection is there between the
word "delight" and the "moving" of a tail? Yet if the question be put in a true spirit of
enquiry, an interesting lesson awaits us. The radical idea of chaphets is to bend, and so to
incline, to be favourably disposed, to delight in. A passage in Psa. 119: brings the word
"delight" and the word "incline" together:--
"Make me to go in the path of Thy commandments; for therein do I delight. Incline
my heart unto Thy testimonies and not to covetousness" (Psa. 119: 35, 36).
This then is the first subject of blessedness: a heart and mind that "bend" or "incline"
towards the word and will of God.
We must now pass on to the next subject of blessing:--
"Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord" (Psa. 119: 1).
Psa. 119: is an alphabetical Psalm, but instead of each verse starting with a fresh
letter of the alphabet, as in Psa. 112:, we find that it is divided into twenty-two stanzas,
each of eight verses, each line in each stanza commencing with one letter of the alphabet
(verses 1-8 begin with A; verses 9-16 with B; and so on).
The first stanza is divided into two parts. Verses 1-4 state truth in general; verses 5-8
give the response of the individual. It will be seen that point answers point in the
structure: this we set out in a series of four parts.
/ THE WAY.--Blessedness of those who are undefiled (verse 1).
\ MY WAYS.--Prayer that verse 1 may be experienced (verse 5).
/ BLESSEDNESS.--Those who keep and seek with whole heart (2).
\ BLESSEDNESS.--Unashamed as result of having respect unto all commandments (6).
/ RIGHT.--They also do no iniquity (3).
\ RIGHT.--I will praise with uprightness (7).
/ COMMAND.--To keep precepts diligently (4).
\ RESPONSE.--I will keep Thy statutes (8).
Set out in structure form this stanza is as follows:--
A | 1. The way of the Lord.
\
B | 2. Blessed.
\ General.
C | 3. Upright; no iniquity.
/
D | 4. Command.
/
A | 5. My Ways.
\
B | 6. Unashamed.
\ Individual.
C | 7. Upright; righteous judgments.
/
D | 8. Response.
/