mercy is annexed. True, indeed, it is that Christ covers all our sins
and failings; but it is only the sincere soul over which he will cast
his skirt. “_Blessed is he whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto
whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity._” None will doubt this; but which
is the man? The next words tell us his name; “_And in whose spirit there
is no guile_.” Christ’s righteousness is the garment which covers the
nakedness and shame of our unrighteousness; faith the grace that puts
this garment on; but what faith? None but the faith unfeigned, as Paul
calls it. 2 Tim. i. 5. “Here is water,” said the eunuch, “what doth
hinder me to be baptized?” Acts viii. 36. Now mark Philip’s answer, ver.
37: “If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest;” as if he had
said, Nothing but an hypocritical heart can hinder thee. It is the false
heart only that finds the door of mercy shut.—_William Gurnall._
_Verse 2.—“Guile.”_ The guile of the spirit is an inward corruption in
the soul of man, whereby he dealeth deceitfully with himself before God
in the matter of salvation.—_Thomas Taylor._
_Verse 3.—“My bones waxed old.”_ God sporteth not at the sins of his
elect, but outwardly doth deal with them more hardly, and chastise them
more rigorously than he doth the reprobate. David’s troubles and pains
were partly external, partly internal: external I call those that were
cast on his body; internal upon his conscience. And in the body there
were torments and vexations, seizing sometimes on his flesh—which was
less painful—sometimes on his bones, which was more grievous, yea,
almost intolerable, as experience teacheth. And this is God’s just
recompence; when we bestow our strength on sin, God abateth it, and so
weakeneth us. Samson spent his strength on Delilah, but to what weakness
was he brought! Let us, therefore, learn, that God hath given us bones
and the strength thereof for another use, that is, to serve him, and not
waste or be prodigal of them in the devil’s service.—_Archibald Symson._
_Verse 3.—“My bones waxed old.”_ By bones, the strength of the body, the
inward strength and vigour of the soul is meant. The conscience of sin,
and the terror of judgment doth break the heart of a true penitent, so
long as he beholdeth his sin deserving death, his judge ready to
pronounce the sentence of it, hell open to receive him for it, and the
evil angels, God’s executioners, at hand to hurry him to it.—_Samuel
Page, in “David’s Broken Heart,” 1646._
_Verse 3.—“My bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.”_
David here not only mourns for sin as a man, but he roars, as it were,
like a pained beast. He seems fitter for a wilderness to cry out, than
for a secret chamber to weep in; at other times he can “water his couch”
in the night, now he “_roars_” all the day long; at other times “his
_moisture_ is dried,” now his “_bones_,” the pillars of his house, shake
and wax old.—_Alexander Carmichael, 1677._
_Verse 4.—“Thy hand.”_ A _correcting_ hand, whereby God scourgeth and
buffeteth his own children. Now the sense of God’s power punishing or
correcting, is called God’s hand, as 1 Sam. v. 11. The hand of God was
sore at Ekron, because of the ark; and a _heavy_ hand in resemblance,
because when men smite they lay their hand heavier than ordinary. Hence,
we may note three points of doctrine: first, that all afflictions are
God’s hand; secondly, that God lays his hand heavily often upon his dear
children; thirdly, that God often continues his heavy hand night and day
on them.—_Thomas Taylor._
_Verse 4.—“My moisture is turned into the drought of summer.”_ Another
meaning may be attributed to these words. We may suppose the Psalmist to
be referring to _spiritual drought_.—_Charles H. Bingham, B.A., in
“Lectures on the Thirty-second Psalm,” 1836._
_Verse 4.—“My moisture is turned into the drought of summer.”_ The
summer is from the middle of August to the middle of November. The
intensity of the heat is great, and almost intolerable.... Up to the
beginning or middle of September there are no showers, rain being as
scarce in summer as snow.... The dry grass of the fields sometimes takes
fire, and produces desolating conflagrations, and the parched earth is
cleft and broken into chasms.—_John Eadie, D.D., LL.D., in Biblical
Cyclopædia, 1868._
_Verse 4.—“The drought of summer.”_ Dr. Russell, in his account of the
weather at Aleppo, which very much resembles that of Judæa, says that
the verdure of the spring fades before the middle of May, and before the
end of that month the whole country puts on so parched and barren an
aspect that one would scarce think it capable of producing anything,
there being but very few plants that have vigour enough to resist the
extreme heat.—_Thomas Harmer’s “Observations,” 1775._
_Verse 4.—“The drought of summer.”_ During the twelve years from 1846 to
1859 only two slight showers fell in Jerusalem between the months of May
and October. One fell in July, 1858, another in June, 1859.—_Dr.
Whitty’s “Water Supply of Jerusalem,” quoted in Kitto’s Cyclopædia._
_Verse 4._—If God striketh those so sore whom he favoureth, how sharply
and sore will he strike them whom he favoureth not.—_Gregory._
_Verses 4, 5._—If our offences have been not gnats, but camels, our
sorrow must be not a drop, but an ocean. Scarlet sins call for bloody
tears; and if Peter sin heinously he must weep bitterly. If, then, thy
former life hath been a cord of iniquity, twisted with many threads, a
writing full of great blots, a course spotted with various and grievous
sins, multiply thy confessions and enlarge thy humiliation; double thy
fastings and treble thy prayers; pour out thy tears, and fetch deep
sighs; in a word, iterate and aggravate thy acknowledgments, though yet,
as the apostle saith in another case, I say in this, “Grieve not as
without hope,” that upon thy sincere and suitable repentance divine
goodness will forgive thee thy sins.—_Nathanael Hardy._
_Verse 5.—“Selah.”_ See Vol. I., pp. 22, 23, 25, 27, 29.
_Verse 5.—“I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not
hid.”_ The godly man is ingenuous in laying open his sins. The hypocrite
doth vail and smother his sin; he doth not _abscindere peccatum_, but
_abscondere_; like a patient that hath some loathsome disease in his
body, he will rather die than confess his disease; but a godly man’s
sincerity is seen in this—he will confess and shame himself for sin.
“Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly.” 2 Sam. xxiv. 17. Nay a
child of God will confess sin in particular; an unsound Christian will
confess sin by wholesale; he will acknowledge he is a sinner in general,
whereas David doth, as it were, point with his finger to the sore: “I
have done this evil” (Psalm li. 4); he doth not say I have done evil,
but this evil. He points at his blood-guiltiness.—_Thomas Watson._
_Verse 5.—“I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and
thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.”_ Be thine own accuser in the
free confession of thy sins. _Peccavi pater_ (as the prodigal child),
“Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight.” For it fares
not in the court of heaven as it doth in our earthly tribunals. With men
a free confession makes way for a condemnation; but with God, the more a
sinner bemoans his offence the more he extenuates the anger of his
Judge. Sin cannot but call for justice, as it is an offence against God;
yet, when once ’tis a wound to the soul it moveth him to mercy and
clemency. Wherefore, as David having but resolved to confess his sins,
was accosted eftsoon with an absolution: so, _Tu agnosce, et Dominus
ignoscet_.[8] Be thou unfeigned in confessing, and God will be faithful
in forgiving. 1 John i. 9. Only let _confessio peccati_ be _professio
desinendi_[9]—the acknowledgment of thy sin an obligation to leave it;
and then thou mayest build upon it. “He that confesseth and forsaketh
shall have mercy.” Prov. xxviii. 13.—_Isaac Craven’s Sermon at Paul’s
Cross, 1630._
_Verse 5.—“I said, I will confess,”_ etc. Justified persons, who have
their sins forgiven, are yet bound to confess sin to God.... There are
many queries to be despatched in the handling of this point. The first
query, is, what are the reasons why persons justified and pardoned are
yet bound to make confession of sin unto God in private? The reasons are
six. First, they are to confess sin unto God because holy confession
gives a great deal of ease and holy quiet unto the mind of a sinner:
concealed and indulged guilt constracts horror and dread on the
conscience. Secondly, because God loves to hear the complaints and the
confessions of his own people. Lying on the face is the best gesture,
and the mourning weed the best garment that God is well pleased with. A
third reason is, because confession of sin doth help to quicken the
heart to strong and earnest supplication to God (see verse 6).
Confession is to the soul as the whetstone is to the knife, that
sharpens it and puts an edge on it; so doth confession of sin.
Confessing thy evils to God doth sharpen and put an edge on thy
supplication; that man will pray but faintly that doth confess sin but
slightly. A fourth reason is, because confession of sin will work a holy
contrition and a godly sorrow in the heart. (Psalm xxxviii. 18).
Declaration doth work compunction. Confession of sin is but the causing
of sin to recoil on the conscience, which causeth blushing and shame of
face, and grief of heart. A fifth reason is, because secret confession
of sin doth give a great deal of glory to God. It gives glory to God’s
justice. I do confess sin, and do confess God in justice may damn me for
my sin. It gives glory to God’s mercy. I confess sin, yet mercy may save
me. It gives glory to God’s omnisciency. In confessing sin I do
acknowledge that God knoweth my sin. A sixth reason why justified
persons must confess sin unto God is, because holy confession of sin
will embitter sin, and endear Christ to them, when a man shall let sin
recoil on his conscience by a confession.—_Condensed from Christopher
Love’s “Soul’s Cordiall,” 1683._
_Verse 5.—“I said I will confess ... and thou forgavest.”_ It remaineth
as a truth, remission is undoubtedly annexed to confession. _Tantum
valent tres syllabæ_ PEC-CA-VI, saith St. Austin, of so great force are
those three syllables in the Latin, three words in the English, when
uttered with a contrite heart, “_I have sinned_.”—_Nathanael Hardy._
_Verse 5.—“Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.”_ This sin seems very
probably to have been his adultery with Bathsheba, and murder of Uriah.
Now David to make the pardoning mercy of God more illustrious, saith he
did not only forgive his _sin_, but the _iniquity_ of his sin; and what
was that? Surely the worst that can be said of that, his complicated
sin, is that there was so much hypocrisy in it, he woefully juggled with
God and man in it; this, I do not doubt to say, was _the iniquity_ of
his sin, and put a colour deeper on it than the blood which he shed. And
the rather—I lay the accent there—because God himself, when he would set
out the heinousness of this sin, seems to do it rather from the
hypocrisy in the fact than the fact itself, as appears by the testimony
given this holy man (1 Kings xv. 5): “David did that which was right in
the eyes of the Lord, and turned not aside from anything that he
commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah
the Hittite.” Were there not other false steps which David took besides
this? Doth the Spirit of God, by excepting this, declare his approbation
of all that else he ever did? No, sure the Spirit of God records other
sins that escaped this eminent servant of the Lord; but all those are
drowned here, and this mentioned as the only stain of his life. But why?
Surely because there appeared less sincerity, yea, more hypocrisy in
this one sin than in all his others put together; though David in them
was wrong as to the matter of his actions, yet his heart was more right
in the manner of committing them. But here his sincerity was sadly
wounded, though not to the total destruction of the habit, yet to lay it
in a long swoon, as to any actings thereof. And truly the wound went
very deep when that grace was stabbed in which did run the life blood of
all the rest. We see, then, God hath reason, though his mercy prompted
him, yea, his covenant obliged him, not to let his child die of this
wound, yet so to heal it that a scar might remain upon the place, a mark
upon the sin, whereby others might know how odious hypocrisy is to
God.—_William Gurnall._
_Verse 5.—“Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.”_ We must observe the
_matter forgiven_, and the _manner of forgiving_. The matter forgiven is
the _iniquity of his sin_. It is disputed what is meant here by
_iniquity_, whether _culpa_ or _pœna_. Some understand _pœnam_, and
think that an allusion is made in this word unto the message of Nathan,
wherein God doth remit the heaviest stroke of his wrath, but yet retains
some part in punishing the child, and permitting Absalom to rebel and
abuse king David’s concubines: so Theodoret, _Deus non condigna pœna
Davidem punivit_. Some understand _culpam_, and will have this phrase to
be an amplification of that, as if _superbia defendens_, or
_taciturnitas celans_, or _impietas contra Deum assurgens_, or some such
great guilt were meant by this phrase. But as I do not censure these
opinions, which may well stand, so I think the phrase looks back unto
that word which was in the _confession_. The sin confessed was פֶּשַׁע,
and this is but an analysis of this word; for עֲוֹן חַטָּאתִי, what is
it, word for word, but the _perverseness of my aberration_? חֲטָּאָה is
an aberration from the scope or mark whereat we aim; all men aim at
felicity, but most men stray from it, because they are not led by the
law that guides unto it, the violating whereof is called חֲטָּאָה. But
some do stray out of mere ignorance, and they only break the law; some
out of stubbornness, which will not submit themselves to the Lawgiver;
these men’s sin is called _perverseness_, which God is said here to
forgive. So that David did not confess more against himself than God
includes in his pardon. Well may God exceed our desire; he never doth
come short thereof if it do concern our spiritual, our eternal good. As
he doth exclude no sinner that doth confess, so doth he except against
no sin that is confessed.—_Arthur Lake._
_Verse 6.—“For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a
time when thou mayest be found,”_ etc. Seeing he is such a God, who
should refuse or delay his return! Surely every rational and pious mind
will, without delay, invoke so gentle and mild a Lord; _will pray to him
while he is exorable_, or, as the Hebrew expresses it, _in a time of
finding_. For he who promises pardon, does not promise to-morrow. There
are _tempora fandi_—certain times in which he may be spoken with, and a
certain appointed day of pardon and of grace, which if a man by stupid
perverseness despise, or by sloth neglect, surely he is justly
overwhelmed with eternal might and misery, and must necessarily perish
by the deluge of divine wrath; since he has contemned and derided that
Ark of salvation which was prepared and in which whoever enters into it
shall be safe, while the world is perishing.—_Robert Leighton._
_Verse 6.—“For this shall every one that is godly pray to thee,”_ said
David. “_For this!_” What? Because of his sins. And who? Not the
wickedest, but the “_godly_,” in this respect, have cause to pray. And
for what should he pray? Surely, for renewed pardon, for increase of
grace, and for the perfection of glory. We cannot say we have no sin. Oh
then, let us pray with David, “Enter not into judgment with thy servant,
O Lord!” Where there is a double emphasis observable it is not _ab
hoste_, but _a servo_. Though God’s servant, yet he would not have God
to enter into judgment with him. And again, _ne intres_, it is the very
entrance into judgment that he dreads and prayeth against; not only do
not _proceed_, but not so much as enter.—_Nathanael Hardy._
_Verse 6.—“For this shall every one that is godly.”_ We are here
furnished with a fact which does not appear in the history of David. It
is commonly supposed that after his grievous fall, till Nathan reproved
him, he had been careless and stupefied; and this has often been adduced
as a proof of the hardening nature of sin. But the thing was far
otherwise. He was all the while tortured in his mind yet unwilling to
humble himself before God, and condemn himself before men, as he ought
to have done. He kept silence, and endeavoured to pass off the distress
by time, palliation, and excuse. But the repression and concealment of
his anguish preyed not only upon his peace, but his health, and
endangered life itself. At length he was reduced to the deepest
penitence, and threw himself, by an unqualified confession, on the
compassion of God. “_For this shall every one that is godly pray unto
thee._” Here we see not only that all the godly pray, but every one of
them prays for pardon. This is the very thing which our Saviour teaches
his disciples: “When ye pray, say, Forgive us our trespasses.” And this
praying does not only regard the manifestation of forgiving mercy, as
some would have it but the exercise of it.—_William Jay._
_Verse 6.—“Godly.”_ A godly man is like God, he hath the same judgment
with God! he thinks of things as God doth; he hath a God-like
disposition; he partakes of the divine nature. 2. Peter i. 4. A godly
man doth bear God’s name and image: godliness is Godlikeness.—_Thomas
Watson._
_Verse 6.—“A time.”_ There be seasons, which, if taken, sweeten actions,
and open the door for their better entertainment: Prov. xxv. 11, “A word
fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver;” the Hebrew
is, A word spoken upon its wheels: fit times and seasons are wheels to
carry words with great advantage. And so for actions; when things are
done in due time they are beautiful, acceptable. When God gives rain to
a land in season, how acceptable is it! when a tree bears fruit in its
season, it is grateful: so when angels or men do things seasonably, it
is pleasing to the Lord Christ: there are fit times, which, if we miss,
actions are unlovely, and miss of their aims. “_For this shall every one
that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found._”
There are times, if we have the wisdom to discern them, when prayer will
be seasonable, acceptable, effectual.—_William Greenhill._
_Verse 6.—“Surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh
unto him.”_ The effects of prayer heretofore have been wonderful. Prayer
hath sent down hailstones from heaven to overcome five kings with their
armies. Prayer hath shut up the windows of heaven that it should not
rain, and again hath opened them that the earth might give her increase.
Prayer hath stayed the swift course of the sun and caused it to go
backward fifteen degrees. Prayer hath held God’s hands that he could not
strike when he was ready to plague his people. Prayer without any other
help or means hath thrown down the strong walls of Jericho. Prayer hath
divided the sea that the floods thereof could not come near the
Israelites. In this place it delivereth the faithful man from all the
dangers of this world. “_Surely in the floods of many waters they shall
not come nigh unto him._” The sum is this, That no calamity of this
world, no troubles of this life, no terrors of death, no guiltiness of
sin, can be so great, but that a “_godly_” man by means of his faith and
felicity in Christ shall wade out of them well enough. For howsoever
other things go, still he shall have such a solace in his soul, such a
comfort in his conscience, such a heaven in his heart, knowing himself
reconciled to God and justified by faith, that “_Surely in the floods of
many waters they shall not come nigh unto him._” Which, that it may
better appear, I shall desire you to observe two things, the danger, the
deliverance. The danger is in these words, “_In the floods of many
waters_;” where the tribulations that the godly man is subject to in
this life are likened, first, to _waters_; then, to _many_ waters;
thirdly, to a _flood_ of many waters. The deliverance is in these words,
“_Surely they shall not come near him_;” where the deliverance of the
godly man hath three degrees also. First, “they shall not come _near_;”
secondly, _him_, “they shall not come near _him_;” then,
_surely_—“_surely_ they shall not come near him.”—_Thomas Playfere._
_Verse 6.—“The floods of great waters.”_ The afflictions of the faithful
are likened to _waters_. Fire and water have no mercy, we say. But of
the two water is the worst. For any fire may be quenched with water; but
the force of water, if it begins to be violent, cannot by any power of
man be resisted. But these our tribulations which are “_waters_,” are
“_many_ waters.” Our common proverb is, “Seldom comes sorrow alone:” but
as waters come rolling and waving many together, so the miseries of this
life.—_Thomas Playfere._
_Verse 6.—“Floods of great waters.”_—Unfamiliar with the sudden flooding
of thirsty water-courses, we seldom comprehend the full force of some of
the most striking images in the Old and New Testaments.—_W. J.
Conybeare, and J. S. Howson, in “Life and Epistles of St. Paul.”_
_Verse 6.—“In the floods,”_ etc.—Washed he may be, as Paul was in the
shipwreck, but not drowned with those floods of great waters: be they
never so great they are bounded.—_Joseph Trapp._
_Verse 6.—“Him.”_ This word must in no case be omitted; it helpeth us to
answer a very strong objection. For it may be said, Many holy men have
lost their goods, have suffered great torments in their body, have been
troubled also in mind; how then did not the “floods of many waters” come
near them? The word “_him_” helps us to answer. The very philosophers
themselves reckoned their goods pertained no more to them, than, be it
spoken with reverence and regard, the parings of their nails. Zenon
hearing news he had lost all he had by sea, said only thus, Thou hast
done very well, Fortune, to leave me nothing but my cloak. Another,
called Anaxarchus, when as Nicocreon the tyrant commanded he should be
beaten to death in a mortar, spake thus to the executioner, Beat and
bray as long as thou wilt Anaxarchus his bag or satchel (so he called
his own body), but Anaxarchus thou canst not touch. Yet these, making so
small reckoning of their goods and body, set their mind notwithstanding
at a high rate. The mind of a man is himself, say they. Hence it is that
Julius Cæsar, when Amyclas the pilot was greatly afraid of the tempest,
spake to him thus: What meanest thou to fear, base fellow? dost thou not
know thou earnest Cæsar with thee? As if he should say, Cæsar’s body may
well be drowned, as any other man’s may; but his mind, his magnanimity,
his valour, his fortitude, can never be drowned. Thus far went
philosophy; but divinity goeth a degree further. For philosophy defineth
_him_, that is, a man, by his reason, and the moral virtues of the mind;
but divinity defineth a Christian man by his faith, and his conjunction
thereby with Christ. Excellently saith Saint Austin: Whence comes it
that the soul dieth? Because faith is not in it. Whence that the body
dieth? Because a soul is not in it. Therefore the soul of thy soul is
faith. So that if we would know what is a faithful man, we must define
him, not by his natural soul, as he is reasonable, but by the soul of
his soul, which is his faith. And then we easily answer the objection,
that a flood may come near a faithful man’s goods, near his body, near
his reasonable soul; but to his faith, that is, to HIM, it can never
come near.—_Thomas Playfere._
_Verse 6._—Few verses in the Psalms are harder to be understood than
this: and none has given rise to more varied expositions among the
commentators. “_For this._” Some will have it: encouraged by this
example, that after so foul a fall God so readily forgave. Others again:
“_for this_,” namely, warned by this example, they who are holy shall
make their prayers that they may not be permitted to fall as David did.
Whichever be the sense, they well argue from this passage, that the
state of absolute and enduring perfection is impossible to a Christian
in this life.—_Lorinus, and Cajetan (1469-1534), quoted by Neale._