“The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple” Psalm 19:7 (NIV).
David says the law of the Lord is temimah, an adjective meaning faultless, whole or complete (temimut is the state of being tam, meaning unblemished or defect-free). Now why would the psalmist say that God’s Word is perfect? Are the Scriptures composed of all the required or desirable elements, qualities, or characteristics? Is the text of the Bible as good as it could possibly be? Does God’s Word lack nothing essential to the whole? The answer to these questions hinge on your view of God. Do you believe God is perfect? Do you believe He is the source of the Word? If God is perfect, then what is God breathed – the Word of God – is perfect too. Simply stated, God’s Word is bound to God Himself. It is therefore complete, accurate, trustworthy, sufficient, right and true.
Honey is perfect. Unlike other food, it doesn’t spoil (if kept in a sealed container). There is no expiry date with honey because it has a very low ph and low water activity. Be it one, or a hundred years old, you can still eat it!
Psalm 19:10 compares God’s Word to honey. What a great association. The food that lasts is compared to the Word that endures forever. But it’s not the enduring composition of honey, its antibacterial, antiseptic, or health benefits that are of interest to the psalmist. He makes the connection to state that the Scriptures are “sweeter” than honey.
So God’s Word is more pleasing and more agreeable than honey. Could anything be more perfect? The context of Psalm 19:7 indicates that nothing surpasses the temimah nature of God’s Word. In fact Psalm 19 contains one of the best biblical examples of synthetic parallelism – accessory ideas to emphasize the perfect nature of God’s Word: “There are six parallel statements in Psalm 19:7-9, and each contains three elements that are likewise parallel. There are six terms for the written revelation, six adjectives to describe it, and six statements of what the Bible does” J. M. Boice – Expositional Commentary.
“The law of the Lord is perfect.” It doesn’t get any better than that! As my son would say, “Sweeeet!”
© Scripture Union Canada 2013