I have seen an end of all perfection:
but thy commandment is exceeding broad (Psa 119.96).
The psalmist continues his praise of Scripture, not only because of a natural propriety in acknowledging its inherent excellence, but also because he would quicken his craving for the Word by meditating on its infinite worth. He wants to value, then desire, then ingest, and finally, benefit from the Scriptures. Godly meditation on its praiseworthiness is an indispensable means of grace.
Here the trait is Scripture’s boundlessness in comparison with all other things, for while we can appreciate the Bible in its own right, its preeminent transcendence appears more conspicuously in contrast with the limited blessings of this world.
THIS WORLD’S IMPERFECT “PERFECTIONS”
Puritan Thomas Manton aptly suggested that this verse is a scale in which two things are compared, the second much more glorious than the first. On this side of the scale is the whole created order and human experience, and on the other, the Scriptures. The psalmist is saying that everything else is inferior to God’s Word, which is the same to say that it is the best thing in the universe.
In the Hebrew there is a play on words1, “an end of all perfection” as the Authorized Version accurately translates it, but what kind of perfection is that which has an “end” or “limit” (so the original)? It is the only kind of perfection that is found in the whole created order and human experience. Even the most excellent things are weighed in this balance and found wanting.
Ponder that, first in the abstract, and then in the concrete, with help from two commentators:
Of all consummations I have seen the end: as if one should say, everything of human origin has its bounds and limits, and ends, howsoever extensive, noble, and excellent. All arts, and sciences, and languages, inventions, have their respective principles, have their limits and end. As they came from man and relate to man, they shall end with man (Adam Clarke).2
Poor perfection which one sees an end of! Yet such are all those things in this world which pass for perfections. David, in his time, had seen Goliath, the strongest, overcome; Asahel, the swiftest, overtaken; Ahithophel, the wisest, befooled; Absalom, the fairest, deformed (Matthew Henry).3
This realization of wisdom had come home more powerfully to David’s heart through reflection upon life experiences, as Henry points out. “I have seen an end to all perfection,” with the verb used figuratively here, though literal sight is not altogether excluded from his earthly experience. “Youthful naivete” is common because of too little time to absorb and mull over things in the school of hard knocks. The immature have a tendency to fantasize that the apparent promise of mundane things for happiness and fulfillment is true, but with the passing of years a wise man grasps with ever greater conviction the reality that the best things of this life, excluding spiritual blessings, are indeed severely limited. They overpromise and underdeliver every time. No one more than the white-haired saint can say with more certainty borne of firsthand knowledge, “I have seen an end of all perfection.”
King Solomon also testified along these lines in the Spirit-wrought fruit of his later years, the book of Ecclesiastes. This quotation illustrates well:
I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity. I said of laughter, It is mad: and of mirth, What doeth it? I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine, yet acquainting mine heart with wisdom; and to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was that good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven all the days of their life. I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards: I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits: I made me pools of water, to water therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees: I got me servants and maidens, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me: I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces: I gat me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts. So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me. And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun (Eccl 2.1-11).
Fun. Laughter. Pleasure. Drinking. Foolishness. Property. Houses. Vineyards. Gardens. Orchards. Lands. Pools. Forests. Servants. Money. Music. Whatever he wanted. All these Solomon experienced, and while there was some limited enjoyment, he finally confessed that it left him empty.
Modern things are the same. We may have microwaves and motorcycles, iPods and the Internet, Pringles and plasma TV’s, but they have no greater power to make us truly happy than the old luxuries did for Solomon. It is especially hard to convince a child or a teenager of this, but even they can become wise beyond their years. How? How else? “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom 10.17).
THE WORD’S GLORIOUS BOUNDLESSNESS
In contrast with these limitations, the psalmist praises God’s boundless Word. “Thy commandment is exceeding broad.” “Commandment” is singular and probably refers to Scripture as a whole by metonymy, even though much is not in the form of directive or prescription. Scripture is “broad” in that it is comprehensively extensive and widely applicable. However, the contrast with the first line powerfully suggests that unlike the “end” observable in everything else, God’s Word is infinitely perfect and gloriously boundless, far superior to all else as a revelation of God himself and his great works. The psalmist stretches the limits of language itself to express some suitable notion of God’s written speech. It is not only broad, but “exceeding” broad—an adjective of intensification—very, greatly, utterly, “pertaining to a very high point, even up to a completive degree on a scale of extent.”4 It is the same word in Psa 47.9, where it is said that God himself is “greatly exalted,” and in Psa 104.1, “O LORD my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honor and majesty.”
The sacred oracles are an ocean where a gnat may drink and an elephant may bathe. Little children have come to know God through them, yet the greatest minds and holiest saints have not been able to plum their depths, even after 2000 years of cumulative study, meditation, and prayer. The Bible is a sufficient guide into all the will of God for all people in all cultures in all times and in all situations—and given its comprehensive guidance, the economy of words is astounding!
Our whole duty to our God, our neighbor, and ourselves, is here laid open before us—commanding without abatement, and forbidding without allowance—making no excuse for ignorance—frailty or forgetfulness—reaching not only to every species of crime, but to everthing tending to it. This is perfection, of which we never see an end. Every fresh view opens—not the extent—but the immensity of the field; and compels us at length to shut up our inquiries with the adoring acknowledgement—Thy commandment is exceeding broad (Bridges).
The Bible is a compass for the lost, a balm for the wounded, a fountain for the thirsty, bread for the hungry, a song for the despondent, a demolition for our idols, a rebuke for the arrogant, a mirror for the self-deceived, medicine for the unhealthy, a hammer for the hard-hearted, a companion for the lonely, a treasure for the impoverished, a reconciliation for the estranged, a pardon for the condemned, wisdom for the foolish, a warning for the naïve, light for the blind, strength for the weak, stamina for tried, and redemption for the ruined. It finds us on earth and leads us to heaven, sees us wandering and turns us into the straight and narrow way, exposes our emptiness and supplies its own fullness. Most wonderfully, it is good news of grace to the unworthy, as we behold in its heaven-sent pages the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, in whom all fullness dwells.
Nothing in the world compares to this Book of books! The more we realize that, the faster we will shed our excuses for ignoring it or reading it halfheartedly, and the sooner we will make it our daily obsession. May it be so to God’s eternal praise and our everlasting salvation. Amen.
Notes:
1. TWOT (982e) inaccurately calls it a pun, comparing qēṣ (end) and tiklâ (completeness), neither of which are ambiguous, nor do they sound alike. It is more like “irony,” the use of words to express something other than and especially the opposite of the literal meaning (MWCD).
2. Cited by Plumer, in loc.
3. Ibid.
4. DBLSD #4394.
All rights reserved