Bible words: Statutes

Psalm 119:129-136 (letter pe) expresses two things: various words of the Bible (seven different ones) and the wonderful delight the psalmist finds in them. The first word mentioned is “statutes” (‘edot). He finds the edot of God wonderful and therefore he delights to obey them.

Statutes are extolled as wonderful — they generate wonder.
Torah is clarified in this word edot as “witness” as in Deut 31:26: “Take this Book of the Law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God. There it will remain as a witness against you.” To call the Torah a “witness” is to see it as revelation from God, objective standard over against God’s people, the word from God that tells God’s people how to live and by which they are assessed.
This “witness” is also “covenant”: if one compares Exod 32:15 and Deut 9:15 we see that edot and berith (covenant) are nearly synonymous.
Here’s the point: God’s testifying statutes that are inherent to the covenant God has made with his people are the delight and wonder of the psalmist. As God’s acts in history cause wonder and awe, as they are marvels, so the Torah is to the psalmist. The very testifying words of God to his people are a source of wonder.
The Bible is our treasure. In it and through it and with it God speaks to us. We can pause today for this great gift, now made available in more ways than anyone in history could imagine — on DVDs and CDs and iPods and with notes and with pictures, is God’s communication with us.