Psalm 19

                                [The Revelations of the Lord] …

¹⁰                             they are more precious than gold,

even much pure gold;

                        sweeter also than honey

                                    and drippings of the honeycomb.

¹¹             Indeed: by them is Your servant enlightened;

in keeping them there is great reward.

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Sweeter Than Honey

For the Lord’s Day:  the 11^th of July 2004

 

Introduction:  Here, in order to introduce this section, I have simply summarized the previous portions to indicate that it is the whole of the entire revelation from the Lord, for which David pens his descriptive poetry.  [The Revelations of the Lord] … we can thus catalogue the various and assorted types of words, laws and admonitions given unto men not only in prior to David but even down to the completion of the canon within a century after the birth of Christ.

 

It is these revelations which the Psalmist enjoins us to value more than gold, even the purest gold “without sand” as the Translator’s Handbook has it.  This understanding is to be preferred to any geographic possibilities for a superior product mined in any specific place.  Spurgeon reminds us that the Word of God: “as [a] spiritual treasure [it] is more noble than mere material wealth, so should it be desired and sought after with greater eagerness.”

 

The commentators hint at a material context of material possession through the golden image here, but they also point forward to the greater spiritual aspects of what the Word revealed may accomplish in the heart and mind.

 

Development:  With that brief introduction, we should realize that our Psalm today is one that the Christian author C.S. Lewis considered to be the greatest poem in the Psalter and one of the greatest lyrics in the world.  Just like one of the popular commercials on television proclaims, mere words just don't get any better than this. 

 

The second part of verse ten is the key colon to teach us something very special about the Law of God.

 

                “sweeter also than honey

                                and drippings of the honeycomb.”

 

The first part of this verse, that we began with, we can perhaps understand and agree with wholeheartedly, but perhaps the metaphor in the second part escapes our understanding.  It is here that we focus our lesson today.  Now the ancient world had a great love for the sweetness of honey that is unrivaled in our time because we have access to so much more sugar than they ever dreamed.  Thus we can appreciate the metaphor here even more.  But what does it mean?  In one of the great classics of literate music, C.S. Lewis notes that “in a certain tragedy of Athalie by Racine, there is a place where a chorus of Jewish girls sing an ode about the original giving of the Law on Mount Sinai.  In a chorus in Act I, scene iv there is a remarkable idea.  There is the phrase ‘Oh charming Law’”  What an unusual saying!  What great mystery there is in this idea we are pursuing today.

 

Perhaps the word charming here is not exactly the right word?  But "enchanting" - "delightful" - "beautiful"?  None of these is quite right.  “Sweeter than honey is the Law of God”.  Or so the Psalmist declares to us from the heart of God.  We would feel comfortable in applying this to God’s mercies or to God's visitations, or God's attributes perhaps.  But, the Law of God, the Statutes of God?  We are talking about those very passages of Scripture which reveal God's unilateral decisions about conduct, His divine judgments.

 

As C.S. Lewis writes, we can understand that a man can and must respect the statutes of Revelation and try to obey them and assent to them in his heart.  But it may be difficult for us to comprehend how these same laws and statutes are delicious or how they can exhilarate or how they can give us joy.  Our fallen human condition is more apt to compare the law to a trip to the dentist than to something sweeter than honey.  There is much more that could be said here about our subject and various dangers and pits that have been fallen into concerning this matter.

 

However, time is short, and I have led you on long enough.  The reason that David here can say that the Lord's Law is sweeter than honey, can be found in another passage that explains this delight.  That passage is Psalm  36: 6 "Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the great deep.  O Lord, you preserve both man and beast." This sense that we must appreciate is simple.  It is in the hope of an older Hymn that was once popular where the phrase runs "Lord, plant my feet on higher ground."  This charming delight in the sweetness of the Law is indeed simple.  It is a delight in finding firmness.  It is a delight of finding a solid place to stand.

 

A few years ago, one of our little ones was outside before supper playing.  It was spring, it had been raining for weeks.  When we called him into supper he did not come.  So I quickly bundled up and went out the door calling for the lost son.  I heard him crying in the distance and hurried in that direction.  And there he was, he had waded into the mud of the neighbor's field and his feet were held fast by the clinging clay, and when ever he moved, he only struggled in deeper.  I could not budge him, because I had no solid place to stand either.  So I went off to the barn for a large board and threw it into the muck.  With the firmness of the wood for a foundation we were quickly able to effect a happy rescue. 

 

The Law of God is like that board for us in a slippery paganized society.  When Lewis wrote his words that helped me understand this Psalm, it was 1958.   And he wrote these words in anticipation of our own time:  "In so far as this idea of the Law's beauty, sweetness, or preciousness, arose from the contrast of the surrounding Paganisms, we may soon find occasion to recover" that understanding.  The Law of God was indeed different from the religion of David's neighboring kingdoms.  That contrast brought words of Praise from David's heart and lips. 

 

Nature may speak in eloquent silence, but there is no greater witness of God's righteous will for us or of His love for us than we can find in the clear declaration of His revelation.  In that revealed law we may find solid ground.  And as verse eleven declares we have very much to learn.  The contemplation and study of the law has to lead to self-examination and then to prayerful petition. 

 

“Indeed: by them is Your servant enlightened;

in keeping them there is great reward.”

 

We begin verse eleven with a Hebrew word “often used to associate two items, or else to emphasize an additional item, as here.”  “Morevoer,” “in addition,” or perhaps even “thus” or “therefore,” are all attention grabbing statements that would set apart for special consideration the thought that is carefully counted as a result of learning and hearing the very revealed words of the God of heaven.  “Indeed,” is a word that conveys this in the modern idiom.  And by that transition we may realize some great and wonderful accomplishment attained in the knowledge of God and His revealed will for all of mankind.  “Indeed,” we may acknowledge that He has spoken and by His grace we have heard the still small voice of His Holy Spirit.

 

Application:  And therein, the knowledge of His presence, we too are blessed even as David was – in the hearing of God’s love and ordinary lawful guidance of our lives, day by day.  Calvin tells us that David “by his own example sets forth a general rule, namely, that if persons wish to have a proper method for governing the life well, the law of God alone is perfectly sufficient for this purpose; but that, on the contrary, as soon as persons depart from it, they are liable to fall into numerous errors and sins.”

 

There are two essential points to be learned from this last verse.  The first point is found in the first line of verse eleven:  “by them is Your servant enlightened.”  We can and should read a lot into that little word “enlightened.”  There is our eternity in Christ revealed there, again – there is the new birth anticipated and even explained in the greater glory and work of our Lord and Master.  “Once I was blind, but now I can see” runs the old hymn.  The Lord Himself has turned the lights on and once we live in the light of His word – we have much to learn and do.

 

This brings us to the second phrase here in the last verse: “in keeping them there is great reward.”  John Calvin and C.H. Spurgeon would both caution us against any suspected sympathy towards works righteousness.  Just as the New Birth causes intellectual, moral and heartfelt enlightenment, so too is the working out by faith of the grace received – understood as a fruitful enterprise gained directly from the great gift of faith once given.  The “keeping” here should be understood more in the perseverance of the saints than any moral rectitude on the part of the elect.

 

May we all the more then, understand the amazing purpose of the words given and received – to warm our hearts, to draw us to the Savior of our souls and to treasure every aspect of the relationship granted: not only today, but for all time.  Amen.

 

Whitehall Reformed Fellowship (PCA)  04 Sept 88

Belle Center Reformed Presbyterian Church (RPCNA)  25 Dec  88

Christ Covenant Reformed (PCA)  30 Apr 95

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PREACHING RESOURCES

 

Calvin, John:  Commentary on Book of Psalms.

Delitzsch, F:  Commentary on the Old Testament – Psalms.

Kidner, Derek.  Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries.

Lewis, C.S.  Reflections On The Psalms.

MacLaren, Alexander.  The Expositor's Bible:  The Psalms.

Spurgeon, C.H:  Treasury of David.

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