Thy word is a lamp unto my feet,
And a light unto my path (Psa 119.105).
David, the sweet psalmist of Israel (2 Sam 23.1), continues his magnificent psalm of praise for the sacred Scriptures as the word of God. In this verse, he uses two metaphors. The original word order of this couplet stresses the words slightly differently:
A lamp to my feet is thy word,
And a light to my path.1
The first metaphor has to do with a lamp and a light, poetically parallel in the verse’s two lines, with the lamp being the source of the light, and both inseparable from each other. In those days, lamps were “small bowl-like objects which contained oil and a wick to be lit to provide light,”2 and this original Hebrew word for lamp means “properly, ‘light’ or ‘a light-giving thing.’”3 David explicitly identifies the light he has in mind with the phrase, “thy [i.e., God’s] word.”
Another parallel is “my feet” and “my path,” the latter being the way in which my feet walk. Walking and paths are frequent biblical metaphors for one’s habitual manner of life: not primarily the circumstances of our individual lives but our beliefs and choices with the actions that spring from them, especially in the spiritual and moral realm.
The central idea of this verse is “thy word,” which is not repeated except by implication in the second line. We are not altering the sense at all by saying it means,
A lamp to my feet is thy word,
And a light to my path [is thy word].
And the sense of each line is essentially the same:
Your word, O Lord, is my light for daily living.
The imagery is just and easily understood. A man is benighted [ignorant or unenlightened4 ]. He knows not the way. A light is brought. It shows him the path, where to place his feet.5
This verse is better known to Christians than many because it is commonly sung.
Thy word is a lamp to my feet,
A light to my path alway,
To guide and to save me from sin,
And show me the heav’nly way.6
Thus, in simple eloquence the poet draws forth several implications; we would note these and a couple more.
CLARITY
First, the word of God is clear light and not impenatrable darkness. The Roman Catholic Church, along with many Protestants who have forgotten their heritage, have believed and taught the fundamental unintelligibility of Scripture. According to them, Scripture is so dark that no one can understand it without esoteric knowledge which the church keeps reserved for its ordained officers, especially the Papacy, but as Calvin noted,
Were there such obscurity in God’s word, as the Papists foolishly talk about, the commendation with which the prophet here honors the law would be altogether undeserved.7
To allege the unintelligibility of Scripture is both unscriptural and unreasonable. Cannot the God who made us speak to us in words we can understand? It is not the word of God but the mind of man that is dark, and that on account of our sin! We believe in the Bible’s “perspecuity” or clarity.
All things in Scripture are not alike plain in themselves, nor alike clear unto all; yet those things which are necessary to be known, believed and observed for salvation, are so clearly propounded and opened in some place of Scripture or other, that not only the learned, but the unlearned, in a due use of ordinary means, may attain to a sufficient understanding of them.8
The Bible is a blazing light, and when the Spirit heals our blindness so that we overcome our innate hostility to God and prejudice against his truth, and we apply ourselves diligently to the task, we then have eyes to interpret the word of God clearly in its main truths, even though we cannot fully comprehend all the glories it contains. There is a sense in which it is wrong to pray, “O Lord, illumine your word,” as if the Spirit throws a light upon it. Plead instead, “O Lord, illumine us by your word; give us your Spirit that we may see.” “Knowledge is easy unto him that understandeth” (Prov 14.6), that is, one with a humble, teachable spirit in God’s presence.
Beware of anyone who denigrates the Bible by saying it is impossible to interpret correctly in its true and intended sense. They would rob you of your greatest treasure.
GUIDANCE AND SAFETY
A second line of truth we may draw from this verse was evidently the author’s main intention, namely, that Scripture guided him into all blessedness both here and hereafter. It is by learning God’s ways and walking in his paths that we walk in the light of the Lord and are blessed (Isa 2.3, 5).
In Proverbs, divine wisdom comes through the wise father appealing to his son. The counsel is intended to save the beloved, naturally naïve son from a thousand pitfalls—for example, the misery and condemnation that comes to adulterers:
My son, keep thy father’s commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother: bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck. When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee. For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life: to keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman (Prov 6.20-24).
Because they did not possess true, biblical wisdom, the Pharisees were “blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch” (Matt 15.14). They had access to Scripture, but they twisted it to fit their preconceived notions, rather than reforming their thoughts and ways by a biblical standard, and so they remained in darkness.
The same is true and will happen to everyone, even a professing Christian, who does not consciously and deliberately study Scripture and have God’s grace to apply it. Being hearers and doers of the word is necessary to enjoy its guidance and safety.
JOY
Third, it is through Scripture that God’s people experience joy, that subjective sense of elated happiness in our fellowship with God that all is well and shall be well at last. Both joy and spiritual understanding come through God’s word and are linked in Psa 19.8, “The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.”
It is hard to convince people who have never experienced this that it is true. They cannot believe that great and profound joy could possibly come through Scripture reading, study, and meditation, since the Bible is so unappealing to them. Countless saints testify otherwise. The reason is clear. Because Scripture is God’s own word, it is a means for us to reconnect with him who is the source of joy.
GOD’S PRESENCE
Fourth, even more important than the good feelings associated with joy is the reality of knowing God himself, and being in his favorable presence. Scripture is a lamp and a light because it streams from God himself, the source of of all light. “For thou art my lamp, O LORD: and the LORD will lighten my darkness” (2 Sam 22.29; cf. Psa 27.1). In a special way God draws near to his people as he speaks to us in the Bible’s very words. Therefore it behooves us to listen attentively and reverently to his word, anticipating the day when we see our God and Savior, the glorious Lord Jesus Christ, face to face at his return, even as Peter exhorted his readers, “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts” (2 Pet 1.19).
Since Scripture is our clear light and lamp for living, guiding us in safe paths, stimulating our joy, and bringing us into God’s favorable presence,
How sad is the state and how guilty the conduct of those who reject the light of God’s word. It alone can solve a thousand doubts. It alone gives effectual comfort in the day of distress. It alone preserves our feet from forbidden paths. Whoever has it has a great advantage (Rom 3.2). But let us beware of holding [down] the truth in unrighteousness (Rom 1.18).9
The Lord grant that we all may appreciate the light of his word. Amen.
Notes:
1. From Young’s Literal Translation.
2. TWOT #1333.
3. ISBE (1915 ed.), “lamp; lampstand.”
4. Electronic POED, “benighted.”
5. Plumer, in loc.
6. The Trinity Hymnal, #671.
7. In loc.
8. 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith, I.7.
9. Plumer, in loc.