'Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is
covered. 2. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not
iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.'
--PSALM xxxii. 1, 2.
This psalm, which has given healing to many a wounded conscience, comes
from the depths of a conscience which itself has been wounded and
healed. One must be very dull of hearing not to feel how it throbs with
emotion, and is, in fact, a gush of rapture from a heart experiencing in
its freshness the new joy of forgiveness. It matters very little who
wrote it. If we accept the superscription, which many of those who
usually reject these ancient Jewish notes do in the present case, the
psalm is David's, and it fits into some of the specific details of his
great sin and penitence. But that is of very small moment. Whoever wrote
it, he sings because he must.
The psalm begins with an exclamation, for the clause would be better
translated, 'Oh! the blessedness of the man.' Then note the remarkable
accumulation of clauses, all expressing substantially the same thing,
but expressing it with a difference. The Psalmist's heart is too full to
be emptied by one utterance. He turns his jewel, as it were, round and
round, and at each turn it reflects the light from a different angle.
There are three clauses in my text, each substantially having the same
meaning, but which yet present that substantially identical meaning with
different shades. And that is true both in regard to the three words
which are employed to describe the fact of transgression, and to the
three which are employed to describe the fact of forgiveness. It is
mainly to these, and the large lessons which lie in observing the shades
of significance in them, that I wish to turn now.