Shin

I am so used to highlighting verses in my Bible. It sometimes surprises me to flip a page, locating a verse someone has referenced, and find it highlighted. Not so much in my carry-to-church Bible (for it is thirty years old and has lots and lots of highlights) but in my virtual, e-Sword Bible.

Yesterday I ‘flipped’ to: Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them. (Psalms 119:165 KJV)

The context would be:

SCHIN. Princes have persecuted me without a cause: but my heart standeth in awe of thy word. I rejoice at thy word, as one that findeth great spoil. I hate and abhor lying: but thy law do I love. Seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgments. Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them. LORD, I have hoped for thy salvation, and done thy commandments. My soul hath kept thy testimonies; and I love them exceedingly. I have kept thy precepts and thy testimonies: for all my ways are before thee. (Psalms 119:161-168 KJV)

Each of the eight stanzas in this acrostic Psalm begins with the appropriate Hebrew alphabet – twenty-two aleph-bet characters, 176 verses. Of course, this is not evident when translated.

Another thing not evident is the root word for ‘offend’ in verse 161 -- the Latin offendere “to strike against.” Thus Webster’s defines offend as: To transgress the moral or divine law.

We don’t use it much that way any more. Wiktionary shows it as “(transitive, archaic, Biblical) To cause to stumble; to cause to sin or to fall” low on the list of meanings.

The topic of the stanza is God’s words, His law. So, that verse means that if we keep God’s words, we shall have peace and we shall not cause anyone to stumble – to sin or to fall.

Instead, people say that they are offended by religion – by today’s top definition of the word -- people are caused dislike, anger or vexation by religion.

When studying the Bible, my favorite ingredients are prayer (which puts me in the right context), a good dictionary (which helps me understand words, why they are used and their meaning), an open mind (so as not to look for what I want, but for what God said) and reading the surrounding verses (which puts the words in the right context.)

William D. Longstaff wrote a truth in the 1880's -- it takes time to be holy, and it takes speaking often with our Lord:

Take time to be holy, speak oft with thy Lord;
Abide in Him always, and feed on His Word.
Make friends of God’s children, help those who are weak,
Forgetting in nothing His blessing to seek.