Fat Hearts

The Psalmist complains that the “arrogant” lie about him (Psalm 119:69), and these same arrogant have “fat” hearts (v. 70).

Fat is normally a positive description in the Bible. Fat is a sign of prosperity; you want your land to be fat and your hills to drip with fatness. I suspect that the same is true here in the Psalm: To say that the arrogant have fat hearts is to say that their prosperity has dulled them. 

By contrast, the Psalmist himself “delights in Your law” (v. 70), and he realizes that this delight arises from the afflictions that he suffers: “It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes” (v. 71). Afflictions strip off the fat and make the heart attentive to the Lord’s word.