Each verse of the 9^th stanza of the great acrostic psalm begins with the Hebrew letter: 'teth'. Our author has learned painstakingly through the discipline of affliction that the covenant revelation of God is sufficient for the trial of false witness. He has realized, furthermore, that various afflictions including the lies of the insolent have served to instruct him in the statues of His Lord and Savior. He proclaims that the Lord has delivered him from his trial and that the Lord has strengthened him by means of difficulty as well. In this way, the redeeming power of God is magnified all the more. Spurgeon summarizes the Psalmist's experience as representative of all true believers remarking: “The book of providence tallies with the book of promise: what we read in the page on inspiration, we meet with again in the leaves of our life story.” Though we are not certain exactly who the author of this great psalm is, stanzas like this one appear to strengthen the case for David. As a fugitive of the deranged and slanderous king Saul, David was certainly no stranger to the afflictions detailed in this section. A a man after God's own heart, David would certainly have heeded the commandments for rulers in Duet 17:18-20, writing down every word of God's law in preparation for his own jurisprudence. And as a prosperous and beloved king, David would have first hand experience with competing sources of power and happiness. Yet in spite of it all, he had opportunity to conclude from experience that the law from the mouth of the Lord is better than thousands of gold and silver pieces...