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"Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold"

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In Psalm 119, we have a lot of beautiful statements. Let’s just highlight a few. Verse 18 here’s a prayer: “Open Thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy law.” The Hebrew word for wondrous is incomprehensible, meaning too difficult to understand. Now class, let’s be honest. There are things difficult to understand in this Bible. Lots of it—very hard to understand! Then what’s the secret? Go to the Lord and depend upon Him. “Open mine eyes that I may behold difficult, incomprehensible things out of Thy law.”

There’s a prayer to understand. Look at verses 26 and 27. “I have declared my ways and Thou heardest me. Teach me Thy statutes. Make me to understand the way of Thy precepts. So shall I talk of Thy wondrous works.”

Do you ask God, “Teach me Your statutes?” Do you say, “Make me understand?” To say, “Make me understand”—and it’s because of a grammatical form of the word that it’s translated “make me to understand”—it suggests that there’s a natural tendency on our part not to do this. Somehow God needs to give us these gentle nudgings and proddings to make us understand. The psalmist was recognizing his own depravity and resistance when he says “make me to understand.”

Psalm 119:33-34. “Teach me [again the prayer] Teach me O Lord, the way of Thy statutes.” Notice back in verse 26 he said, “Teach me Thy statutes” and here he says, “Teach me the way of Thy statutes.” See when you come to study the Bible and find out the interpretation, some times it’s not just the content that you get down, but it’s the point of the content. It’s the direction in which God wants you to go by what you have learned. And sometimes we see people who are very intelligent in the Bible, but they don’t know what it means. They don’t know how to apply it. They don’t know the direction they should walk because of it. And that comes as a result of dependency upon God as well.

The above post has been adapted from a class titled the Historicity and Authenticity of the Bible. It is one of the most popular classes available exclusively at the Blue Letter Bible Institute. The BLB Institute offers a growing list of free classes, provided by the ministry. For more information, check out http://blbi.org today, or visit the Blue Letter Bible to learn how you can help us continue to provide free classes worldwide.

Comments

  1. Hi!

    Glad to see this post.

    Question: Is it possible we could have a search engine that helps us locate information throughout the site at Blueletter Bible?

    We want to express once again our thanks for all that you do on Blueletter Bible to help us understand!

    • Another question:

      What are the differences between commandments, statuates (sp), and ordinances?

      Praise be to God this wonderful morning. I am so thankful you Father who owns my soul!

      • The Commandments – goes long, sorry!

        To all: I NEED SOME HELP HERE!

        Still trying to figure out if there are more than 10 commandments.

        Anyone know these answers?

        How about precepts, ordinances, statutes, and “The law”?

        There are hundreds of oral “laws” by the time of the end of the Old Testament proceding to beginning of the New Testament when in the days of Christ.

        These are the rituals of the Priests imposed on (commandments of man) Jesus railed against the Priests who by then were not of the order of Aaron but rather appointed by the Romans.the common man. Imagine trying to keep them!

        What are (all) Commandments and why should we hide them in our hearts and bring them to rememberance? Of course we should hide them in our hearts. That much is clear.

        “commandments”
        occurs 171 times in 168 verses in the KJV

        1) commandment
        a) commandment (of man)
        b) the commandment (of God)
        c) commandment (of code of wisdom

        AV — commandments 177, precept 4, commanded 2, law 1, ordinances 1

        Lexicon says:
        a command, a precept.
        2 Kings 18:46
        Deut 6:1,25; Deut 7:11

        http://www.blueletterbible.org/search/translationResults.cfm?criteria=commandments&sstr=0&t=KJV

        —-

        My humble thoughts…
        DO CORRECT ME IF I AM OFF BASE!

        Jesus came to fulfill the law. He followed and obeyed God the Father perfectly.

        * Keep us from temptation and deliver us from evil. *

        God is a consuming fire.
        We are tried by fire (Holy Spirit).

        Pruned. Chastised. Corrected. Tried and found approved.
        For us judgment is a positive act of Jesus who is our righteous judge. We will be rewarded if we keep our loyality to God alone for a seat at the right side of God.

        To be ready to face Jesus on the Mercy Seat.
        To show much fruit and when we follow God’s commandments (on our walk, race to Jesus).
        We will reap great rewards. Our crowns and be of the Holy Priesthood of Melchizedek.

        We are told we will be pursued by evil the closer we get to God. Others who do not know or care about the law will be tried on the judgment seat.

        *** My greatest comfort is… God owns every soul the obedient and also the rebellious disobedient.***

        Exd 15:26 And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians:
        *** for I [am] the LORD that healeth thee. ***

        God’s mercy through the faith in Jesus by grace alone is greater than any affiction.

        Rev 3:10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.

  2. I often pray the first verse (119:18) as I begin my devotional time in the morning. At one point, I had over 100 verses of Psalm 119 memorized. It is full of wisdom and understanding about the graciousness of God’s law. Psalm 119 also builds up one’s faith, reveals God’s mercy, is an example of prayer regarding God’s law, and teaches one a love for God’s law. It is prophetic concerning the entire counsel of the Older and Newer Testament law of God.

    Thank you, Blue Letter Bible, for reminding us of the blessing of Psalm 119!

      • 10 Commandments here called “two tables of testimony”

        Exd 31:18 And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.

        Exd 20:1 And spake all these words, saying,

        Exd 20:2 I [am] the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

        Exd 20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

        Exd 20:4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness [of any thing] that [is] in heaven above, or that [is] in the earth beneath, or that [is] in the water under the earth:

        Exd 20:5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God [am] a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth [generation] of them that hate me;

        Exd 20:6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

        Exd 20:7 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

        Exd 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

        Exd 20:9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:

        Exd 20:10 But the seventh day [is] the sabbath of the LORD thy God: [in it] thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that [is] within thy gates:

        Exd 20:11 For [in] six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them [is], and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

        Exd 20:12 ¶ Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

        Exd 20:13 ¶ Thou shalt not kill.

        Exd 20:14 ¶ Thou shalt not commit adultery.

        Exd 20:15 Thou shalt not steal.

        Exd 20:16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

        Exd 20:17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that [is] thy neighbour’s.

        • Whew! Thank you Lord Jesus our Redeemer. Our Salvation.

          OK here is one of my favorite parts of the Blueletter Bible Site:

          FAQs Search: commandments
          by Don Stewart
          See others of the “commandment” FAQs too.

          http://www.blueletterbible.org/faq/don_stewart/stewart.cfm?id=588

          What Is the Believers Obligation to the Old Testament Law?

          (Note: Ceremonial – Mosaic)

          (Jesus came and was the only fully human fully God who could fulfil all the Commandments without sin)

          The believer in Jesus Christ is not obligated to follow the ceremonial law of the Old Testament. This has been done away with by the death of Christ.

          Dead To The Law

          Before Christ came, humanity was under the law of God and was a slave to sin. Believers are now under grace and are slaves to Christ and His righteousness. The old nature was crucified with Christ making the believer dead to sin but alive to God. Therefore the believer is not obligated to follow the law.

          You who want to be justified by the law have cut yourselves off from Christ; you have fallen away from grace (Galatians 5:4).

          Israel

          Many of the rules and regulations set down in the Old Testament are for the nation Israel. The Bible says the Law was a shadow of things to come:

          Therefore let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths. which are a shadow of things to come but the substance is Christ (Colossians 2:16,17).

          Fulfiller

          Jesus came to fulfill the law.

          For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled (Matthew 5:18).

          The requirements of the law were satisfied in Him.

          And you being dead in you trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven all you trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross (Colossians 2:14,15).

          Having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace (Ephesians 2:15)

          New Testament Laws

          The New Testament commands us to fulfill certain laws. Jesus said the greatest commandment:

          Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God will all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’ (Matthew 22:37,38).

          Royal Law

          James calls this the royal law:

          If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, You shall love your neighbor as yourself, you do well (James 2:8).

          Law Of Christ

          The New Testament speaks of the law of Christ:

          Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ (Galatians 6:2).

          Law Of Liberty

          So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty (James 2:12).

          James speaks of this law as the word of God. Thus the Christian’s duty is to obey the Bible in the commandments that it gives.

          Summary

          We conclude that the believer is not expected to keep the Mosaic law. However, there are commandments that Christ has given us that are to be obeyed.

          My comment: non-biblical of course. Jesus really through his two summary commandments to us really did go further than the 10 commandments. He is our portion and guides us every step of the way to sainthood.

          Thank you our Savior!

    • Everyone now adjourn to Psalm 119

      See the Blue Boxes next to each verse?
      Check them out! Press each one.

      Really neat how you can bring up many translations of each verse.

      So wonderful the extensive work of the Blueletter Bible Team. Imagine just how long this took to assemble!

      Take special the music note icons on some of the verses. Toooo cool! Our church reads a Psalm (or a part of one should it go long like this one.)

      Some of the music links take us to the Cyberhymnal Site complete with organ music, words, and printed songs. Others dispersed in other Psalms use some Christian Contempory Music. More often that not CCM songs use actual verses of the Bible and are heavily into Psalms.

      Some hymns we think are traditional (therefore old) may be in our hymnals. Not really all, if you note the dates next time you open your hymnals in church some were written in the beginning of the twentieth century!

      A particular denomination has put all the Psalms to song called the Psaltry.

      I really love music! Our minister is a former minister of music. Quite talented with his baritone voice and talent on stringed instruments. Really does great gospel/country rills on a piano.

      I need to memorize more verses in rote such as whole Psalms and Chapters. I am learning many verses interspersed throughout the Bible but am lacking I am ashamed to say whole chapters and psalms.

      Our fellow blog poster’s great ambition is certainly to be commended!

      King David and the other contributors to Psalms put the words to music. I think one of the sweetest things ever about hymns. Jesus and His Apostles at the end of The Last Supper sang hymn(s)

      OK that is it from this Perfect Mess… Y’all post!

      Soooo those of you out there would you please help us understand statutes, ordinances, and precepts????

  4. There is only 2 commandment in the new testament, that is…TO BELIEVE ON HIS SON JESUS.n to LOVE ONE ANOTHER..1john 3:22,23… old testament is your example. The 10 commandments were done away with the law, when he hung it on the cross. Israel willh inherit the earth.. We as ” the church” will reign in Heaven. there were a few laws/ commandments/ decrees….that were carried over from the old testament, n they are found in Acts 15:28,29. Thus confirming would be found in Acts 16:4,5.. That the Church was established in Faith.

    • Thank you so much Princess!

      I am much ashamed to admit it but throughout the course of many years I have broken many of the Ten Commandments.

      Thank you so much Lord Jesus, my Intercessor and friend!

      Through loving and learning more about you, Savior I cannot get enough of your Word!

      I will check your cites.

  5. “Open thou my eyes” Wonderful scripture indeed! Praise God
    In our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ we have a Wonderful Teacher, the promised Counsellor. I love the way the Holy Spirit brings to rememberance the teachings of the Lord Jesus.

    I don’t know when it started, but a prayer of mine often in the shower in the morning as well as driving home from work is “Incline my heart to Your testimonies and not to gain.” [in Psalms somewhere by King David I believe.]

    Jesus Christ is the Spirit of God’s Testimony. Revelation CH22.
    Psalms 138 ‘A prayer of Thanksgiving’ by David writes in verse 2 “I face your holy Temple, bow down, and praise your name because of our constant love and faithfulness, because you have shown that Your name and Your commands are supreme.”

    The prophet Isaiah writes in Isaiah 42:21 “The Lord is a God who is eager to save, so He exalted His laws and teachings, and He wanted His people to Honour them.”

    We are taught by the Holy Spirit via the apostle Paul, that Jesus Christ is washing God’s church by the water of His Word to present it to Himself in all its beauty, pure and faultless without spot or wrinkle or any other imperfection. [Epehsians 5:26-27.]

    This is a direct link to God’s instructions to the levitical priests under the law, that prior to entering the tent of the tabernacle and performing their rituals, God told them that they were to wash themselves in the golden lather (basin) and do this daily as a ordinance forever least they die. [Deut 40:32 & somewhere else in the Old Testament books by Moses]

    Thank you Lord Jesus for Alice Smith’s book on ‘Beyond the Viel’ for You through her teaching me this and for God returning the book to my hands just around the time I had studied on the washing of the Levitical priests in our mens Bible Study Fellowship on Moses.

    Hence, the importance of God’s words Old & New Testaments to be fed on daily by us. As the Lord Jesus says in John 6:63 Flesh & blood are of no avail, my words are life and they are Spirit.

    A prayer I often pray now as our family do our nightly Bible Study fellowship is for the Lord Jesus to wash us by the power of His word, to wash away worldy sin that so readily clings to us.

    God’s word is like a fuller soap. Washing away the dross of our sins.

    As John inspired by the Spirit writes in 1 John 2:15 “Do not love the world or anything that belongs to the world. If you love the world, you do not love the Father”

    Ye Father “Incline my heart to Your testimonies and not to gain.”

  6. Apologies, my reference to Deut 40:32 was in fact Exodus 40:30-32. Thanks BLB for the pop up verse showing it was incorrectly referenced. I will look for the other Old Testament reference ‘as an ordinance or rule forever’ also.

    • Mark,

      The Old Testament does count for us Christians.
      I wholeheartedly agree with you.

      Why I took the time to hunt up the commandments Scriptures and definitions.

      I disagree with a former poster’s opinion * The 10 commandments were done away with the law, when he hung it on the cross. ^

      Every Word of God YHVH is important.

      As we are covering Jesus is throughout the Old Testament here on this Blog through prior posts.

      Exploring when He actually manifested Himself. In fact, my NKJ Study Bible begins each Book of the Old Testament with “Jesus in the Scriptures.” I will find the link I saved to the Names Bible.

      Mark could you define for us ordinances, precepts, and statutes and give examples? This is a very large undertaking I know to ask.

      I have read and need to hunt up the various parts of the Aaron Priesthood’s ceremony has direct pre-revelation to Jesus as the Passover Lamb each step.

      I want to understand. This is the subject of this topic. Understanding God’s Word. Why I asked for direction of those farther down the road to the Glory which is seeing Jesus’s face. Pondering in our hearts what YHVH is imparting to us. The Bible is a deep instructional book. HIStory.

      I have recently been studying salvation from Genesis to Revelation with our Minister’s small group, long series on Wednesday night.

      I want to learn more about the sanctification process. How to grow everyday to be more conformed to our Savior. A great example is of St. Polycarp’s life process praised by Alpha and Omega in Revelation. Polycarp is “the angel of the Church of Smyrna.

      Please All reading this subject help to lead us to greater understanding.

  7. I go back to a point I wrote above.

    * My comment: non-biblical of course. Jesus really through his two summary commandments to us really did go further than the 10 commandments. He is our portion and guides us every step of the way to sainthood.

    Thank you our Savior! *

    NOTE: I said even FURTHER than the Ten Commandments.

    During our sanctification process we must follow the Holy Spirit’s lead to the truth.

    As Christians we are to live to an even higher standard. We have even more information, the New Testament. God the Son coming earth. He came and He will come again.

  8. A starting point.

    Bible Names for God
    http://bible.org/article/names-god

    In part:

    …

    “The great purpose of man, especially the believer in Christ, is to glorify God. “Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” 1 Corinthians 10:31
    Essential to our ability to glorify God is the knowledge of God and knowing Him personally in view of that knowledge.

    The great purpose of man, especially the believer in Christ, is to glorify God. “Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” 1 Corinthians 10:31. Essential to our ability to glorify God is the knowledge of God and knowing Him personally in view of that knowledge.

    The word “glory” in the Greek New Testament is doxa which means an opinion, an estimation, or reputation in which one is held. It refers to that which should accrue to God as praise, thanksgiving, obedience, reverence, and service because of who God is and what God does (past, present, and future). In other words, giving glory to God is tied in with the knowledge of God (revelation of God), and knowing God personally (response to God)…”

  10. Dear All & dd2j

    Found the reference in the Old relating to the New where the Word is to be our daily washing and as written in the Old “lest they die”

    Exodus 30:21 “They shall wash their hands and their feet, lest they die: it shall be a statute forever to them, even to him and to his descendants throughout their generations”

    Point 1 “lest they die” might seem strong given we are no longer under law but I believe it is God teaching us that we are to walk conintually in the Spirit, feeding on Jesus` teachings daily to be washed and also grown by God into maturity.

    Point 2 Psalm 119:33-34. “Teach me [again the prayer] Teach me O Lord, the way of Thy statutes.”
    Remember God is our Sovereign, He is also our Judge. I am not a lawyer but in our study of Isaiah this year we saw God calling upon men to stand in His council, as if before the Judges bench. In the Old clear “rules” or “ordinances” and “laws” or “statutes” were handed down to Moses to be adherred to strictly, else God in His absolute Holiness would act swiftly against those who did not follow them. An example is Aron`s 2 sons Nahab and Abihu consumed by God`s fire for not acting according to His way when entering into the tent of tabernacle.Leviticus 10:1-2

    By the way this could be viewed as `strange worship`, not seeking to know God by His word, the Bible, through Jesus Christ our Teacher.

    God has replaced all His laws “statutes” & “ordinances” [rules] with Jesus Christ, as those in Christ now have the law of the Spirit written on their hearts. Jeremiah 31:33

    A thought came to mind which I`d like some to meditate on and respond if led to.

    An ordinance now in the Spirit is to me like Paul`s teaching on speaking in tongues in the church. 1 Corinthians14:27-28. By walking in obedient faith to the Lord Jesus` teachings, speaking in tongues is to be in order 2 or 3 people at most with one to interpret, otherwise the gift is to be kept in silence.

    It seems to me that many are straying from this teaching, in part perhaps due to a lack of confidence that God will in fact enable the gift of interpretation of tongues if it is earnestly sought. My meaning is that some in church speak aloud in their tongue yet when they cannot interpret and an interpreter is not present. This I know is sinful and will be judged by the Lord Jesus at His 2nd coming.

    But it is of a different nature of sin in comparison to departing from His Word. The tongues spoken out of order will be forgiven I believe and we can pray for God to forgive this when others do it ｛of course we should also seek to correct them｝ but abandoning the Word will ultimately lead to death, as how can a persons faith stand apart from the Word?, which is apart from Jesus Christ.

    By God`s goodness to me the Lord Jesus has taught me to seek Him first and wait upon Him in prayer when I do not understand the meanings of Biblical words, and God knows I struggle with words in my own language!！, Jesus Christ is faithful and true and He cannot deny Himself 2 Timothy 2:13, His word has so much depth that I wish to wait in prayer also to understand better the meanings of each ”ｐｒｅｃｅｐｔｓ”，　”ｏｒｄｉｎａｎｃｅｓ”，　”ｓｔａｔｕｔｅｓ.” Blessings in Christ

  11. Oh thank you Mark for coming back at me. Are you a very early bird like me?

    Your posts really do illuminate me. I hope Steve comes back at us too.

    One note. The Levitical (Mosiac) Priesthood no longer existed during Y’shua’s First Advent.

    The “High Priest” was appointed by the Romans. No longer was the Kingly line in existance at this time. King Herod was no Davidic King by lineage. Herod was appointed by the Romans also. Herod built the temple. It was not the Temple specified by God and physically built by Solomon.

    This corrupted priesthood made it virtually impossible for the Hebrew people to get close to God. The oral laws (of man) in the hundreds left the people wholely dependent upon the Sadducees and Pharisees. (Hope I sppp them right).

    If I were a Hebrew in Jesus’s time I probably would have missed Him as the Messiah as so many did. Much to my shame.

    This is why Jesus went after them full tilt. Why he wrecked the moneychangers area in the temple. He brought the priests and scribes to task on many occasions as the taunted Him.

    When the veil was rent the Order of Melchizedek was established. Our invitation to become Priests accomplished when we join our High Priest to the right of him in Heaven.

    Until then, we are to undergo a process of sanctification. The washing you so rightly identified. The washing of the Apostles feet by Jesus at the Last Supper highly significant.

    Jesus rebuilt the Temple in three days when He arose. The Temple is Jesus! The actual Hebrew physical temple was torn down in 70 AD.

    Many of the disciples and Apostles died at the hands of Rome aided and abeited by the unholy priesthood.

    This may clear up the Mosaic law question to a degree. I hope someone wades in on this who know much more on the Priesthood subject.

    HIStory is fascinating to me. Discovering many sources of Early Christianity is an ongoing project of mine. Hope I discovered Polycarp. Wow! The “angel of Smyrna” Bishop of the true Christian Church in Smyrna.

    Keep coming at us please Mark!

    Praise be to Our Lord!

  12. Ah Ha!

    I found the version I was looking for that gives the various names of God the Father and God the Son.

    Biblos

    http://biblos.com/

    pulldown menu -> Choose A Translation -> Original Language Study >>