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alien in the land

Psalm 119:17-24 (JDV)

Psalm 119:17 Deal generously with your servant so that I might live; then I will keep your word.
Psalm 119:18 Open my eyes so that I may contemplate miraculous things from your instruction.
Psalm 119:19 I am a resident alien in the land; do not hide your commands from me.
Psalm 119:20 I am continually overcome with longing for your judgments.
Psalm 119:21 You rebuke the arrogant, the ones under a curse, who go astray from your commands.
Psalm 119:22 Take insult and contempt away from me because I have kept your warning signs.
Psalm 119:23 Though princes sit together speaking against me, your servant will think about your prescriptions;
Psalm 119:24 your warning signs are my delight and my counselors.

alien in the land

The “gimel” section of this acrostic psalm records the gratitude of the psalmist, but what is he grateful for? Some versions translate verse 19 as if the author feels like a stranger on earth and is longing for heaven.

Richard Clifford says the psalmist sees himself as “an alien in the land.” (212). He feels cut off from God but feels closer when he meditates on God’s word. Clifford says the “psalmist never loses sight of the goal of being in relationship to the Lord through the word as instruction and promise.” (213).

The gimel section of Psalm 119 does not promise a relationship with God at death. It is promising a relationship with God now — through his miraculous word.

Clifford, Richard J. Psalms: [2.]. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2003.