But what is God’s Word, and how does it function as a light for his path? For Israelites God’s Word is the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament that served as Israel’s covenant charter with her God. Torah illumined the way to be truly human over and against all the darkened counterfeits of humanity in service to idols. It is this Torahshaped obedience to the Lord that distinguishes Israel’s way of being human from the nations. As such, it is the Torah, throughout Psalm 119, that brings to the psalmist light and life. Earlier, he declares, “I will never forget Your precepts, for by them You have given me life” (119:93). Later he prays, “Great is your mercy O Lord; give me life according to Your rules” (119:156). It is in keeping with Torah’s life-giving quality that later Jewish writers came to speak of it as a manifestation, as it were, of God’s presence within Israel. To study Torah after the fashion of the psalmist was to be in the presence of the life-giving Lord Himself.

This seems to be the motivation behind one 1st century group in particular—the Pharisees. Under Roman rule the oppressive conditions of Israel’s exile persisted. For devout Jews Torah-keeping was the way to the promised life of God’s future. In the midst of this darkness, however, a new way of seeing was about to break in upon the world. The Torah of Psalm 119 was about to become embodied in one man. “The Word became flesh… in Him was life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4,14). With this surprising innovation into Israel’s story everything would change.