Psalms 119 Footnotes

Ps 119 This, the longest psalm, is a meditation on the word of God in its many forms and functions. The entire psalm is alphabetically arranged (acrostic). The first stanza is labeled aleph because each of the eight verses starts with a word that begins with that letter, the first of the alphabet. The second stanza follows with the same arrangement using the second letter of the alphabet, beth; the rest of the psalm follows the same pattern through the alphabet. This scheme certainly aided in memorizing the meditation (a “mnemonic” device); but it also was a way of ordering the thoughts to provide a complete meditation on the word of God—the “ABCs” about the law of the Lord. Commentators have called the composition of psalms of this type “learned psalmography”; that is, inspiration combined with intense scholarship and literary skill.