eyes.”_ _Imprimis_, the sin of his conception. _Item_, the sins of his
childhood. _Item_, of his youth. _Item_, of his man’s estate, etc. Or,
_Imprimis_, sins against the first table. _Item_, sins against the
second; so many of ignorance, so many of knowledge, so many of
presumption, severally sorted by themselves. He committed sins
confusedly, huddling them up in heaps; but God _sets them in order_, and
methodizes them to his hands.—_Thomas Fuller._
_Verse 22.—“Now consider this, ye that forget God,”_ etc. What is less
than a grain of sand? Yet when it comes to be multiplied, what is
heavier than the sands of the sea? A little sum multiplied rises high;
so a little sin unrepented of will damn us, as one leak in the ship, if
it be not well looked to, will drown us. “Little sins,” as the world
calls them, but great sins against the majesty of God Almighty, whose
majesty, against which they are committed, doth accent and enhance them,
if not repented of, will damn. One would think it no great matter _to
forget God_, yet it has _a heavy doom_ attending on it. The
non-improvement of talents, the non-exercise of grace, the world looks
upon as a small thing; yet we read of him who _hid_ his talent in the
earth—he had not spent it, only not trading it is sentenced.—_Thomas
Watson._
_Verse 22.—“Lest I tear you in pieces.”_ This is a metaphorical
expression, taken from the strength and irresistible fury of a lion,
from which the interference of the shepherd can supply no protection, or
defence, for his flock.—_William Walford._
_Verse 23.—“Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me.”_ Thanksgiving is a
God-exalting work. Though nothing can add the least cubit to God’s
essential glory, yet praise exalts him in the eyes of others. Praise is
a setting forth of God’s honour, a lifting up of his name, a displaying
the trophy of his goodness, a proclaiming his excellency, a spreading
his renown, a breaking open the box of ointment, whereby the sweet
savour and perfume of God’s name is sent abroad into the world. “_To him
that ordereth his conversation aright._” Though the main work of
religion lies within, yet “our light must so shine,” that others may
behold it: the foundation of sincerity is in the heart, yet its
beautiful frontispiece appears in the conversation. The saints are
called “jewels,” because they cast a sparkling lustre in the eyes of
others. An upright Christian is like Solomon’s temple, gold within and
without: sincerity is a holy leaven, which if it be in the _heart_ will
work itself into the life, and make it swell and rise as high as heaven.
Phil. iii. 20.—_Thomas Watson._
HINTS TO PREACHERS.
_Verse 1._—It unspeakably concerns _all_ men to know what God has
spoken.—_W. S. Plumer._
_Verse 1._—I. Who has spoken? The mighty, not men or angels, but God
himself. II. To whom has he spoken? To all nations—all ranks—all
characters. This calls for, 1. Reverence—it is the voice of God. 2.
Hope—because he condescends to speak to rebels. III. Where has he
spoken? 1. In creation. 2. In providence. 3. In his word.—_G. R._
_Verses 1-6._—I. The court called in the name of the King of kings. II.
The judgment set, and the judge taking his seat; v. 2, 3. III. The
parties summoned; v. 8. IV. The issue of this solemn trial foretold; v.
6.—_Matthew Henry._
_Verses 1-15._—I. God’s call to man. II. Man’s call to God.
_Verse 2._—I. The internal beauty of Zion. 1. _Positive_ beauty of
wisdom—holiness—love. 2. _Comparative_ with the beauty of Paradise and
the heaven of angels. 3. _Superlative_—all the perfections of God
combined. II. Its external glory. Out of it God hath shined. 1. On this
world. 2. On gracious souls. 3. On angels who desire to look, etc. 4. On
the universe. “All the creatures heard I,” etc.—_G. R._
_Verse 4._—I.. What God will do for his people. He will judge them. 1.
Deliver. 2. Defend. 3. Uphold. II. The means at his disposal for this
purpose. “He shall call,” etc—heaven and earth are subservient to him
for the good of his church.—_G. R._
_Verse 4._—The judgment of the visible church. It will be by God
himself, public, searching—with fire and wind, exact, final.
_Verse 5._—The great family gathering. I. Who are gathered. II. How they
are gathered. III. To whom. IV. When they are gathered.
_Verse 5 (last clause)._—I. The covenant. II. The sacrifice which
ratifies it. III. How we may be said to make it.
_Verse 6 (last clause)._—Then slander will not pervert the sentence,
undue severity will not embitter it, partiality will not excuse,
falsehood will not deceive, justice will surely be done.
_Verse 7._—Sins of God’s people specially against God, and only known to
God. A searching subject.
_Verses 13-15._—What sacrifices are not, and what are acceptable with
God.
_Verse 15._—I. The occasion—“trouble.” II. The command—“call upon me.”
III. The promise—“I will deliver thee.” IV. The design—“thou shalt,”
etc.—_G. R._
_Verse 15.—“Thou shalt glorify me.”_ This we do by praying, and by
praising when prayer is heard; as also by confidence in his promises,
submission to his chastisements, concern for his honour, attachment to
his cause, affection to his people, and by continual obedience to his
commands.
_Verse 15._—I. A special invitation as to person and time. II. Special
promise to those accepting it. III. Special duty involved when the
promise is fulfilled.
_Verses 16, 17._—I. The prohibition given. 1. The prohibited
_things_—“declare my statutes.” “Take my covenant,” etc. (1.) Preaching.
(2.) Teaching, as in Sunday-schools. (3.) Praying. (4.) Attending
ordinances. 2. Prohibited _persons_. Wicked preachers, etc., while they
continue in wickedness. II. The reason assigned; v. 17. 1. No
self-application of the truth. 2. Inward hatred of it. 3. Outward
rejection.—_G. R._
_Verse 17._—I. _The fatal sign._ 1. Hating to be taught. 2. Hating what
is taught. II. _What it indicates._ 1. Pride. 2. Contempt of God. 3.
Indifference to truth. 4. Atheism at heart. 5. Deadness of conscience.
II. _What it leads to._ See verse 22.
_Verses 17, 18._—Rejection of salutary instruction leads sooner or later
to open transgression. Instances, reasons, inferential warnings.
_Verses 20, 21._—I. Man speaking and God silent. II. God speaking and
man silent.
_Verse 21._—I. God leaves men for a time to themselves. II. They judge
of God on this account by themselves. III. He will in due time reveal
their whole selves to themselves. “I will reprove,” etc.—_G. R._
_Verses 21, 23._—Note the alternative; a life rightly ordered now, or
sins set in order hereafter.
_Verse 22._—I. The accusation—“Ye that forget God,” his omniscience, his
power, his justice, his goodness, his mercy, his word, his great
salvation. II. The admonition—“Consider this,” rouse yourselves
from your forgetfulness into serious reflection. III. The
condemnation—“Lest,” etc. 1. The awfulness. “Tear,” as a lion or eagle
its prey—tear body and soul. 2. Its irresistibleness—“None to
deliver.”—_G. R._
_Verse 23._—I. Salvation is the work of God. II. The evidence of
salvation is holiness of heart and life. III. The effect of that
evidence is praise. IV. The tendency of that praise is to glorify God.
God is not glorified by the doubts, and fears, and murmurings of his
people, but by their praise.—_G. R._
_Verse 23 (last clause)._—The true order of life. I. That first which is
first. II. That most which is most. III. That ever which is ever. IV.
That all which is all.
Footnote 22:
Version of Junius & Tremellius.
PSALM LI.
TITLE.—To the chief Musician.—_Therefore not written for private
meditation only, but for the public service of song. Suitable for the
loneliness of individual penitence, this matchless Psalm is equally well
adapted for an assembly of the poor in spirit._ A Psalm of David. _It is
a marvel, but nevertheless a fact, that writers have been found to deny
David’s authorship of this Psalm, but their objections are frivolous,
the Psalm is David-like all over. It would be far easier to imitate
Milton, Shakespeare, or Tennyson, than David. His style is altogether
sui generis, and it is as easily distinguishable as the touch of
Rafaelle or the colouring of Rubens._ “When Nathan the prophet came unto
him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.” _When the divine message had
aroused his dormant conscience and made him see the greatness of his
guilt he wrote this Psalm. He had forgotten his Psalmody while he was
indulging his flesh, but he returned to his harp when his spiritual
nature was awakened, and he poured out his song to the accompaniment of
sighs and tears. The great sin of David is not to be excused, but it is
well to remember that his case has an exceptional collection of
specialities in it. He was a man of very strong passions, a soldier, and
an Oriental monarch having despotic power; no other king of his time
would have felt any compunction for having acted as he did, and hence
there were not around him those restraints of custom and association
which, when broken through, render the offence the more monstrous. He
never hints at any form of extenuation, nor do we mention these facts in
order to apologise for his sin, which was detestable to the last degree;
but for the warning of others, that they may reflect that the like
licentiousness in themselves at this day might have even a graver guilt
in it than in the erring King of Israel. When we remember his sin, let
us dwell most upon his penitence, and upon the long series of
chastisements which rendered the after part of his life such a mournful
history._
DIVISIONS.—_It will be simplest to note in the first twelve verses the
penitent’s confessions and plea for pardon, and then in the last seven
his anticipatory gratitude and the way in which he resolves to display
it._
EXPOSITION.
Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness:
according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my
transgressions.
2 Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin _is_ ever before
me.
4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done _this_ evil in
thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, _and_
be clear when thou judgest.
5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother
conceive me.
6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden
_part_ thou shalt make me to know wisdom.
7. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall
be whiter than snow.
8 Make me to hear joy and gladness, _that_ the bones _which_ thou
hast broken may rejoice.
9 Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit
within me.
11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit
from me.
12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me _with
thy_ free spirit.
1. “_Have mercy upon me, O God._” He appeals at once to the mercy of
God, even before he mentions his sin. The sight of mercy is good for
eyes that are sore with penitential weeping. Pardon of sin must ever be
an act of pure mercy, and therefore to that attribute the awakened
sinner flies. “_According to thy lovingkindness._” Act, O Lord, like
thyself; give mercy like thy mercy. Show mercy such as is congruous with
thy grace.
“Great God, thy nature hath no bound:
So let thy pardoning love be found.”
What a choice word is that of our English version, a rare compound
of precious things: love and kindness sweetly blended in
one—“lovingkindness,” “_According unto the multitude of thy tender
mercies._” Let thy most loving compassions come to me, and make thou
thy pardons such as these would suggest. Reveal all thy gentlest
attributes in my case, not only in their essence but in their
abundance. Numberless have been thine acts of goodness, and vast is
thy grace; let me be the object of thine infinite mercy, and repeat
it all in me. Make my one case an epitome of all thy tender mercies.
By every deed of grace to others I feel encouraged, and I pray thee
let me add another and a yet greater one, in my own person, to the
long list of thy compassions. “_Blot out my transgressions._” My
revolts, my excesses, are all recorded against me; but, Lord, erase
the lines. Draw thy pen through the register. Obliterate the record,
though now it seems engraven in the rock for ever: many strokes of
thy mercy may be needed, to cut out the deep inscription, but then
thou hast a multitude of mercies, and therefore, I beseech thee,
erase my sins.
2. “_Wash me throughly._” It is not enough to blot out the sin; his
person is defiled, and he fain would be purified. He would have God
himself cleanse him, for none but he could do it effectually. The
washing must be thorough, it must be repeated, therefore he cries,
“Multiply to wash me.” The dye is in itself immovable, and I, the
sinner, have lain long in it, till the crimson is ingrained: but, Lord,
wash, and wash, and wash again, till the last stain is gone, and not a
trace of my defilement is left. The hypocrite is content if his garments
be washed; but the true suppliant cries, “wash _me_.” The careless soul
is content with a nominal cleansing, but the truly-awakened conscience
desires a real and practical washing, and that of a most complete and
efficient kind. “_Wash me throughly from mine iniquity._” It is viewed
as one great pollution, polluting the entire nature, and as all his own;
as if nothing were so much his own as his sin. The one sin against
Bathsheba, served to show the Psalmist the whole mountain of his
iniquity, of which that foul deed was but one falling stone. He desires
to be rid of the whole mass of his filthiness, which though once so
little observed, had then become a hideous and haunting terror to his
mind. “_And cleanse me from my sin._” This is a more general expression;
as if the Psalmist said, “Lord, if washing will not do, try some other
process; if water avails not, let fire, let anything be tried, so that I
may but be purified. Rid me of my sin by some means, by any means, by
every means, only do purify me completely, and leave no guilt upon my
soul.” It is not the punishment he cries out against, but the sin. Many
a murderer is more alarmed at the gallows than at the murder which
brought him to it. The thief loves the plunder, though he fears the
prison. Not so David: he is sick of sin as sin; his loudest outcries are
against the evil of his transgression, and not against the painful
consequences of it. When we deal seriously with our sin, God will deal
gently with us. When we hate what the Lord hates, he will soon make an
end of it, to our joy and peace.
3. “_For I acknowledge my transgressions._” Here he sees the plurality
and immense number of his sins, and makes open declaration of them. He
seems to say, I make a full confession of them. Not that this is my plea
in seeking forgiveness, but it is a clear evidence that I need mercy,
and am utterly unable to look to any other quarter for help. My pleading
guilty has barred me from any appeal against the sentence of justice: O
Lord, I must cast myself on thy mercy, refuse me not, I pray thee. Thou
hast made me willing to confess. O follow up this work of grace with a
full and free remission! “_And my sin is ever before me._” My sin as a
whole is never out of my mind; it continually oppresses my spirit. I lay
it before thee because it is ever before me: Lord, put it away both from
thee and me. To an awakened conscience, pain on account of sin is not
transient and occasional, but intense and permanent, and this is no sign
of divine wrath, but rather a sure preface of abounding favour.
4. “_Against thee, thee only have I sinned._” The virus of sin lies in
its opposition to God: the Psalmist’s sense of sin towards others rather
tended to increase the force of his feeling of sin against God. All his
wrong-doing centred, culminated, and came to a climax, at the foot of
the divine throne. To injure our fellow men is sin, mainly because in so
doing we violate the law of God. The penitent’s heart was so filled with
a sense of the wrong done to the Lord himself, that all other confession
was swallowed up in a broken-hearted acknowledgment of offence against
him. “_And done this evil in thy sight._” To commit treason in the very
court of the king and before his eye is impudence indeed: David felt
that his sin was committed in all its filthiness while Jehovah himself
looked on. None but a child of God cares for the eye of God, but where
there is grace in the soul it reflects a fearful guilt upon every evil
act, when we remember that the God whom we offend was present when the
trespass was committed. “_That thou mightest be justified when thou
speakest, and be clear when thou judgest._” He could not present any
argument against divine justice, if it proceeded at once to condemn him
and punish him for his crime. His own confession, and the judge’s own
witness of the whole transaction, placed the transgression beyond all
question or debate; the iniquity was indisputably committed, and was
unquestionably a foul wrong, and therefore the course of justice was
clear and beyond all controversy.
5. “_Behold, I was shapen in iniquity._” He is thunderstruck at the
discovery of his inbred sin, and proceeds to set it forth. This was not
intended to justify himself, but it rather meant to complete the
confession. It is as if he said, not only have I sinned this once, but I
am in my very nature a sinner. The fountain of my life is polluted as
well as its streams. My birth-tendencies are out of the square of
equity; I naturally lean to forbidden things. Mine is a constitutional
disease, rendering my very person obnoxious to thy wrath. “_And in sin
did my mother conceive me._” He goes back to the earliest moment of his
being, not to traduce his mother, but to acknowledge the deep tap-roots
of his sin. It is a wicked wresting of Scripture to deny that original
sin and natural depravity are here taught. Surely men who cavil at this
doctrine have need to be taught of the Holy Spirit what be the first
principles of the faith. David’s mother was the Lord’s handmaid, he was
born in chaste wedlock, of a good father, and he was himself “the man
after God’s own heart;” and yet his nature was as fallen as that of any
other son of Adam, and there only needed the occasion for the
manifesting of that sad fact. In our shaping we were put out of shape,
and when we were conceived our nature conceived sin. Alas, for poor
humanity! Those who will may cry it up, but he is most blessed who in
his own soul has learned to lament its lost estate.
6. “_Behold._” Here is the great matter of consideration. God desires
not merely outward virtue, but inward purity, and the penitent’s sense
of sin is greatly deepened as with astonishment he discovers this truth,
and how far he is from satisfying the divine demand. The second “Behold”
is fitly set over against the first; how great the gulf which yawns
between them! “_Thou desirest truth in the inward parts._” Reality,
sincerity, true holiness, heart-fidelity, these are the demands of God.
He cares not for the pretence of purity, he looks to the mind, heart,
and soul. Always has the Holy One of Israel estimated men by their inner
nature, and not by their outward professions; to him the inward is as
visible as the outward, and he rightly judges that the essential
character of an action lies in the motive of him who works it. “_And in
the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom._” The penitent feels
that God is teaching him truth concerning his nature, which he had not
before perceived. The love of the heart, the mystery of its fall, and
the way of its purification—this hidden wisdom we must all attain; and
it is a great blessing to be able to believe that the Lord will “make us
to know it.” No one can teach our innermost nature but the Lord, but he
can instruct us to profit. The Holy Spirit can write the law on our
heart, and that is the sum of practical wisdom. He can put the fear of
the Lord within, and that is the beginning of wisdom. He can reveal
Christ in us, and he is essential wisdom. Such poor, foolish,
disarranged souls as ours, shall yet be ordered aright, and truth and
wisdom shall reign within us.
7. “_Purge me with hyssop._” Sprinkle the atoning blood upon me with the
appointed means. Give me the reality which legal ceremonies symbolise.
Nothing but blood can take away my blood-stains, nothing but the
strongest purification can avail to cleanse me. Let the sin-offering
purge my sin. Let him who was appointed to atone, execute his sacred
office on me; for none can need it more than I. The passage may be read
as the voice of faith as well as a prayer, and so it runs—“Thou wilt
purge me with hyssop, _and I shall be clean_.” Foul as I am, there is
such power in the divine propitiation, that my sin shall vanish quite
away. Like the leper upon whom the priest has performed the cleansing
rites, I shall be again admitted into the assembly of thy people and
allowed to share in the privileges of the true Israel; while in thy
sight also, through Jesus my Lord, I shall be accepted. “_Wash me._” Let
it not merely be in type that I am clean, but by real spiritual
purification, which shall remove the pollution of my nature. Let the
sanctifying as well as the pardoning process be perfected in me. Save me
from the evils which my sin has created and nourished in me. “_And I
shall be whiter than snow._” None but thyself can whiten me, but thou
canst in grace outdo nature itself in its purest state. Snow soon
gathers smoke and dust, it melts and disappears; thou canst give me an
enduring purity. Though snow is white below as well as on the surface,
thou canst work the like inward purity in me, and make me so clean that
only an hyperbole can set forth my immaculate condition. Lord, do this;
my faith believes thou wilt, and well she knows thou canst.
Scarcely does Holy Scripture contain a verse more full of faith than
this. Considering the nature of the sin, and the deep sense the Psalmist
had of it, it is a glorious faith to be able to see in the blood
sufficient, nay, all-sufficient merit entirely to purge it away.
Considering also the deep, natural inbred corruption which David saw and
experienced within, it is a miracle of faith that he could rejoice in
the hope of perfect purity in his inward parts. Yet, be it added, the
faith is no more than the word warrants, than the blood of atonement
encourages, than the promise of God deserves. O that some reader may
take heart, even now while smarting under sin, to do the Lord the honour
to rely thus confidently on the finished sacrifice of Calvary and the
infinite mercy there revealed.