A Brief Book Notice from Books At a Glance
by Fred G. Zaspel
We all know of Psalm 119 – if for no other reason, for its length. My favorite story in this regard is from George Wishart, the seventeenth-century Scottish reformer. Condemned to death and standing on the scaffold, he was offered to choose a psalm to be sung before execution (as the custom then was). He chose Psalm 119 – that should extend his life considerably! His request was granted. More than half way through the psalm, a pardon arrived, and his life was spared. Thank God for this long psalm!
In addition to the commentaries there are precious few books devoted to the exposition of this psalm, and we wanted to draw your attention to them here.
- First, and perhaps most famous, is Charles Bridges’ Exposition of Psalm 119 (also on Kindle). Hailed by no less than Charles Spurgeon as worth its weight in gold, this volume has likely been the most popular “go to” resource on Psalm 119 ever published.
Spurgeon himself produced a small volume on Psalm 119: The Golden Alphabet: An Exposition of Psalm 119 (Kindle). This too has been a favorite of many. - Then there is the delightful 1997 volume by James Montgomery Boice: Living By the Book: The Joy of Loving and Trusting God’s Word (Kindle). It’s from Boice that I learned the story about George Wishart.
- Just recently I learned of Christopher Ash’s 2011, Bible Delight: Heartbeat of the Word of God: Psalm 119 for the Bible Teacher and Hearer. I have only begun to look through it here today, and, as expected, it reflects Ash’s now famously helpful insights into the Psalter. (In fact, it was in a footnote in his The Psalms: A Christ-Centered Commentary on Psalm 119 that I learned of this earlier work.)
- Although it is part of his larger commentary on the Psalms, I should mention Bruce Waltke’s treatment of Psalm 119 in TGC’s Concise Commentary series. Few have studied the Psalter in more depth than Waltke – this is a resource you don’t want to miss. And it’s free!
Excellent resources all. Enjoy!