Reflections on Psalm 119: Teth
The psalmist twice (vv. 67, 71) reflects on the learning he received from God’s chastisement. This reflects the teaching expounded in Hebrews 12:5–11, that God as a father corrects us, and though this does not seem “joyous” while it is happening, afterward, the good fruit will become visible. As the psalmist was able to say, “It is good for me” (v. 71).
An important distinction is present between pagan self-flagellation and Biblical affliction-as-discipline. Pagans self-inflicted their suffering, in hopes of personal expiation of sins, attainment of holiness, hopes of showing spiritual superiority, and even with the desire of manipulating the gods in conformity with man’s actions. It was all humanistic: man set his own terms for spiritual attainment. Much of it was also prideful: man can control circumstances and even gods by his own rituals.
By contrast, in Scripture, God administers corrections to teach us. Self-inflicted suffering is unwarranted by the biblical conception of discipline, and is indeed meaningless in that context. Further, it is prideful. Man is not commissioned to determine sanctions upon himself for disobedience, and to do so claims power from God. Where man does have the power to administer sanctions for wrongful conduct, it is expressly delegated power from God, to specific jurisdictional spheres (i.e., family, church, state). There is no general delegation of power to self-flagellate, and to claim such a power is just as wrong as claiming any other power not delegated to man.