Psalm 111

Psalms 111:1

In the Hebrew this psalm is an alphabetic acrostic, twenty-two lines each opening with the next letter, a form invisible in the English text and carried here only because the philology is worth naming. I will praise the Lord with my whole heart sets a personal resolve inside a public setting, the assembly of the upright and the congregation, private devotion that does not stay private.

Psalms 111:2-3

Sought out of all them that have pleasure therein makes the Lord's works an object of study, rewarding the reader who searches rather than glances, which the older writers take as a charge to meditate on providence and not merely admire it in passing. His righteousness endureth for ever is the first of several for ever lines the psalm repeats across its ten verses, tying God's righteous character to the same permanence the acrostic form itself performs, a complete and settled alphabet for a complete and settled God.

Psalms 111:4-6

Gracious and full of compassion repeats the Lord's own self-description at Sinai (Exod 34:6), the psalm's writer reaching for the oldest and surest words Israel had for its God. He hath given meat unto them that fear him recalls the wilderness provision, and he will ever be mindful of his covenant ties that provision to promise rather than to chance, the same pattern the exodus recitals elsewhere in this book repeat. He hath shewed his people the power of his works, that he may give them the heritage of the heathen names the conquest plainly, the land taken read here as covenant fulfillment rather than conquest for its own sake.

Psalms 111:7-9

Verity and judgment paired with commandments describes law that is at once true and just, sure enough to stand fast for ever and ever, the psalm reading permanence into the law that its own acrostic form performs. He sent redemption unto his people casts the exodus in the same vocabulary the New Testament will use for Christ's own work, redemption bought and covenant commanded for ever. Holy and reverend is his name closes the section on the divine name itself, reverend carrying the older sense of awe-inspiring rather than a title, and the fear it commands becomes the hinge into verse 10.

Psalms 111:10

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom repeats a formula that runs from Job 28:28 through this verse to Proverbs 1:7, the wisdom books and this psalm sharing one root conviction that reverence for God, not cleverness, opens understanding. A good understanding have all they that do his commandments makes the wisdom practical rather than intellectual, understanding proven in obedience and not in knowledge alone. His praise endureth for ever closes the acrostic on the note it opened with, its twenty-two letters spent and its final word returning to praise without end.