Psalm 119:113 | “I hate the double minded, but I love your law.”

The psalmist sets before us a clear contrast as he begins the samekh stanza. On one side stand those who are devoted to the word of God. On the other are the double minded. The Hebrew word translated “double minded” describes a person who is divided and unstable, one who cannot settle what he truly believes. This is the person who lives between two opinions, wavering rather than committing, unwilling to give wholehearted allegiance to the truth. The psalmist is not expressing personal hostility, but moral rejection. To hate in this sense is to refuse, to repudiate, to turn away from what is spiritually dangerous. In contrast, to love God’s law is to choose it deliberately, to cling to it with settled affection and loyal devotion. Matthew Henry applies this truth inwardly rather than outwardly: “He does not mean that he hated them in others, for there he could not discern them, but he hated them in his own heart. Every good man makes conscience of his thoughts, for they are words to God. Vain thoughts, how light soever most make of them, are sinful and hurtful, and therefore we should account them hateful and dreadful, for they do not only divert the mind from that which is good, but open the door to all evil.” The psalmist’s concern begins within. He refuses divided loyalty in his own soul. So must we. Loving God’s law means choosing it fully, allowing no rival thoughts to share the rule of our hearts.