My Notes
What Does Psalms 119:70 Mean?
The psalmist contrasts two kinds of hearts: the hearts of the proud, which have become "fat as grease"—insensitive, calloused, unable to feel or respond—and his own heart, which delights in God's law. The fat heart is a biblical image for spiritual obesity: a heart so padded with self-satisfaction, comfort, and worldly success that it can no longer feel conviction, hunger for God, or sensitivity to His voice.
The Hebrew word for "fat" (taphash) means to be smeared, coated, rendered insensitive. It's the heart equivalent of nerve damage—the ability to feel has been destroyed by layers of accumulated indifference. These people aren't necessarily evil in dramatic ways. They're simply numb. Comfortable. Unreachable.
The contrast with "I delight in thy law" is pointed. While their hearts have become greasy and insensitive, the psalmist's heart is alive, responsive, and finding pleasure in God's word. The difference isn't intelligence or opportunity—it's heart condition. One heart has been so cushioned by the world that it can't feel God anymore. The other has kept itself lean enough to be hungry for truth.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Do you recognize any symptoms of a 'fat heart' in yourself—numbness, spiritual insensitivity, diminished hunger for God?
- 2.What layers of comfort, success, or distraction have been building up around your heart?
- 3.What keeps your heart 'lean' and responsive to God? What practices strip away the insulation?
- 4.The psalmist contrasts the fat heart with delight in God's law. How is your current engagement with Scripture—routine or alive?
Devotional
A heart "fat as grease." It's a visceral image—a heart so coated with self-satisfaction, comfort, and worldly cushioning that it can't feel anything anymore. Not conviction. Not hunger for God. Not sensitivity to the Spirit. Just... numbness. Padded and protected from anything that might disturb its comfort.
You know this condition. Maybe you've seen it in others. Maybe you've felt it creeping into yourself. It happens gradually—a layer of comfort here, a layer of success there, a layer of distraction, a layer of self-sufficiency. Each layer is thin, but together they create an insulation so thick that God's voice can't penetrate. You're not rebellious. You're just numb.
The psalmist's antidote is delight in God's law. Not more discipline. Not more guilt. Delight. The opposite of a fat heart isn't an abused heart—it's an alive heart. A heart that finds pleasure in truth, that hungers for God's word, that stays lean enough to be responsive.
If you recognize the early signs of heart-fattening—if God's word has become routine rather than riveting, if conviction has become rare rather than regular, if you can go days without thinking about God and barely notice—this verse is an early warning. The grease builds up slowly. Strip it back with honest engagement with Scripture, with community that challenges your comfort, and with the kind of vulnerability that keeps your heart lean and responsive.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
They that fear thee will be glad when they see me,.... In outward prosperity, delivered from all troubles, set on the…
Their heart is as fat as grease - They are prospered. They have health, property, influence, comforts of all kinds.…
David here tells us how he was affected as to the proud and wicked people that were about him. 1. He did not fear their…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture