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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 xl. 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. cxix. 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. cxix. 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. cxix. 1).
Psa. cxix. is an alphabetical Psalm, but instead of each verse starting with a fresh
letter of the alphabet, as in Psa. cxii., 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.
/