“Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.” (Psalm 119:18)
The word “law” (Hebrew torah), as used in the psalms, actually refers to all the revealed Scriptures. We may well understand it today to mean the entire Bible. And we can indeed behold wondrous things in the Word if we have eyes to see and hearts to believe by the grace of God.
The adjective “wondrous” is often used to describe God’s mighty miracles in Egypt and elsewhere (e.g., Psalm 106:22, “Wondrous works in the land of Ham”). This would indicate that there are many evidences of divine origin that can be gleaned from the Scriptures if our spiritual eyes are open to discern them as we search.
This 119th Psalm itself illustrates this truth. It has 22 stanzas (keyed in turn to the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet), each with eight verses (the number eight representing new life, since eight suggests a new beginning after the “completeness” represented by the number seven). In each stanza, each verse begins with the same Hebrew letter—aleph, the first letter in the Hebrew alphabet, in the first stanza, beth in the second stanza, etc.—and the 176 verses (i.e., 8 times 22) of the psalm (the longest chapter in the Bible) have 176 references to the Holy Scriptures.
The great theme of the psalm is, therefore, the wonder and power of the life-giving, written Word of God. As the Lord Jesus was raised from the dead on the “eighth day” (the first day of a new week), and as there are eight other instances of the dead being restored to life in the Bible, there are eight different Hebrew words used for the Scriptures in the psalm.
Life through the Word! This is also the testimony of the gospel of Christ, revealed in “the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15). HMM
Days of Praise Podcast is a podcast based on the Institute for Creation Research quarterly print devotional, Days of Praise. Start your day with devotional readings written by Dr. Henry Morris, Dr. Henry Morris III, and Dr. John Morris to strengthen and encourage you in your Christian faith.
