Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Psalm 32:1-7 The penitential psalms M. R. Vincent, D. D. Since the time of , seven of the psalms have borne the name of Penitential; namely, 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143. They were used in the special additional services appointed for Lent, and were selected with reference to the sprinkling of the leper seven times, and to the command to Naaman to wash himself seven times in the Jordan; or, as others say, as corresponding to the seven deadly sins. These psalms are not all expressions of contrition for personal sin; nevertheless, they all recognize sin as the source of corruption and trouble. We may find in them every element of a true repentance according to the Gospel standard. They reveal — I. A RECOGNITION OF THE RADICAL NATURE OF SIN. This is especially marked in the 51st. There we find the confession of a sinful nature as well as of sinful acts; the ever-living consciousness that God looks at the heart and not merely at the deed. II. THE FEELING OF THE BURDEN AND SORROW OF SIN ( Psalm 6:2, 3 ; Psalm 32:3, 4 ; Psalm 38:2-10 ; Psalm 102:9, 10 ; Psalm 51:3 ). III. CONFESSION OF SIN. This involves our viewing the sin in the same way in which God views it. IV. REPENTANCE FURTHER INVOLVES CONDUCT. The prayer for pardoning grace is accompanied with the petitions, "Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk, Teach me to do Thy will" ( Psalm 143:8-10 ). Sinful associations are renounced, and the workers of iniquity are bidden to depart ( Psalm 6:8 ). V. REPENTANCE ISSUES IN INSTRUCTION. David, having been forgiven, says, "I will instruct thee and teach thee" ( Psalm 32:8, 9 ). When God's face shall be hidden from my sins, and a clean heart shall be given me, "then will I teach transgressors thy ways" ( Psalm 51:18 -15). VI. REPENTANCE ISSUES IN JOY. It is the joy of forgiveness. The man is not blessed who can forget his sins; who can divert his mind from them; who can temporarily escape their consequences. "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven." "Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin." From this point, the psalm is all joy. "Thy hand was heavy upon me," but now I lean upon it, and it leads me into green pastures and folds me to a Father's heart. I fear not the "floods of great waters" now. "Thou art my hiding-place," Thou from whom I strove of late to hide. Thy word, sharper than any two-edged sword, pierced me with a thousand pangs; but now "I hope in Thy word." I remembered Thee and was troubled; but now "Thou shalt preserve me from trouble." Thou, from whose voice I fled, Thou, whose heavy hand dried up the springs of song in me, Thou shalt fence me about with songs. VII. REPENTANCE ISSUES IN WARNING. This is powerfully brought out in Psalm 32:9 . The bridle which restrains the beast is often its ornament. The fact is familiar that animals have a kind of pride in the gaudy trappings which are the signs of their degradation, the proofs that they cannot be appealed to on the grounds of reason and conscience. So it is often true that a sinful man is proud of his rebellion against God, and boasts of it. If he but knew it, this is his humiliation. It stamps him as a creature which does not realize its relations to God and eternity. God would gladly deal with him as a free man, on generous terms; but if he refuses the guidance of the eye, he must take up with bit and bridle. If men will not come nigh unto God, and fall in with His gracious economy, they must be sternly restrained from interfering with it. ( M. R. Vincent, D. D. ) The gate to the confessional M. R. Vincent, D. D. If the world forgives, it generally vouchsafes a kind of stinging forgiveness which perpetuates the smart of the crime. It is at no pains to "cover" the sin. We can say of one thus forgiven, "He is tolerated: tie has a new chance given him," but scarcely — "he is blessed." This psalm, on the contrary, while it is one of the saddest, is at the same time one of the most joyful of the inspired lyrics. It is no less the record of a bitter, penitential sorrow, than the expression of a heart full of praise. It comes to us to-day to tell us that the worst sinner, forgiven by God, is a happy man. I. THE BLESSEDNESS OF FORGIVENESS. When a shipwrecked sailor has been rescued from death, and is sitting warm and dry by the fire, his first thought, his first utterance is one of congratulation. "How fortunate I am to have escaped. How thankful I am to those who saved my life." After this feeling has found vent, he will go on to tell the story of his shipwreck and of his rescue. Hence nothing could be more natural than the ordering of this psalm. David is a rescued man; and thanks. giving, and congratulation on his present security come to his lips, before he tells the story of his moral shipwreck. 1. His sin is taken away. 2. His sins are covered or hidden, and that from God; not from men. However men may comment or rail, it matters little while God says "I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins." 3. He is treated as innocent. The Lord does not impute nor lay the iniquity to his charge. II. THE RESULT OF HIS ATTEMPTS TO COVER HIS SIN. Perhaps he sought to still that secret voice which was urging him to lay bare his sin, by plunging into the business of state, or into the pleasures of his court; but all in vain. "When I kept silence my bones waxed old." The very seat of strength was invaded. His body suffered from the terrors of remorse. What an image is this that follows — the pressure of a strong hand, hampering all free activity. No joy in work or in study any more. The healthy competitions of business, the free play of social converse, the sweet interchanges of the household, all repressed and devitalized by this painful consciousness of guilt. What ails the man who was but lately so sparkling, so magnetic, so enthusiastic? "Day and night Thy hand was heavy upon me," etc. III. THE REMEDY WHICH HE FOUND. Confession. "Well," you say, "if God knows all about my sin, why should I confess it?" God knows what you want in prayer before you ask Him, and yet you will not get it if you do not ask Him. He has conditioned forgiveness upon confession, just as He has conditioned finding upon seeking. Confession implies — 1. Viewing your sin in the same light in which God views it. 2. Renunciation. IV. THE RESULT OF ITS APPLICATION. He first sums up the result in a single sentence: "Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin." He has a whole catalogue of joyful consequences of his confession to present to us; but he is careful to make it perfectly clear at the outset that all these consequences are linked with forgiveness. And now what a sudden change reveals itself. The tone of the last few verses has been like the sigh of the wind through the dry valleys. Now we begin to hear the running of streams. The abject penitent, moaning day and night under God's heavy band, is transformed into a joyful singer of praises; a prophet, with a fresh lesson of God's goodness kindling on his lips. V. A PRACTICAL LESSON FOR OUR INSTRUCTION. Christ bade Peter make use of his own terrible sifting to strengthen his brethren. David anticipates the lesson; and these words of his have been the text-book of penitent souls from his time to the present. "I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shall go;" this way of repentance and confession in which I have walked. Be not obstinate in refusing to walk therein. Heed my experience, ye who feel the pressure of God's hand, whose moisture is turned into the drought of summer. ( M. R. Vincent, D. D. ) The blessedness of forgiveness T. Vincent, M. A. I. REASONS WHY SUCH MUST NEEDS BE BLESSED WHOSE TRANSGRESSIONS ARE FORGIVEN. 1. Because God doth pronounce them blessed. 2. Because they are delivered from the greatest evil, and that which exposes them to the greatest misery, and which alone can deprive them of eternal happiness. 3. Because they are taken into covenant with God.(1) They are taken into God's favour.(2) They are taken into God's family.(3) They are under God's providence.(4) They have free access unto God in prayer.(5) They have communion with God in all His ordinances: and thus it is with all pardoned persons, and therefore they are blessed. 4. Because they are in a better state than Adam was in his first creation.(1) In respect of innocence.(2) In regard of the image of God, that is repaired in all those that are pardoned. — When God forgiveth their sin, He changeth their nature; and that faith which justifieth the person doth also "purify the heart" ( Acts 15:9 ). 5. Because they shall be blessed.(1) Show what the future blessedness is, which pardoned persons shall have. They shall live and take up their eternal abode in a most blessed and glorious place ( Hebrews 13:14 ; Hebrews 11:10 ). They shall have most blessed and glorious company to converse with: saints, angels, the Holy Spirit, the Lord Jesus Christ in His glory, etc. They shall attain a blessed and glorious state of perfect peace and tranquillity, wealth and plenty, honour and dignity, holiness and purity, perfect happiness and glory in soul and body.(2) Prove that pardoned sinners shall assuredly attain this future blessedness. God's decree of predestination and election. God's covenant and promise. The union of all pardoned persons unto Christ and His undertaking for them to bring them to eternal blessedness. The right which they have to eternal blessedness: justification; adoption; the certainty of all pardoned persons' perseverance in grace unto the end.(3) Show how this future eternal blessedness of heaven renders pardoned persons blessed here upon earth. (1) They have a sight of their future blessedness, and the excellence of it. (2) Their hopes of it, that they shall one day have possession of so great felicity. (3) They have the beginnings of future blessedness here, in this life, in the work of grace, and sometimes foretastes and first-fruits of it, through the witness, seal, and earnest of the Spirit; and this renders them blessed in this life. II. How THIS BLESSEDNESS MAY BE ATTAINED. 1. Some things must be believed. (1) The doctrine of Christ's satisfaction for sin. (2) The doctrine of justification by the righteousness of Christ. 2. Some things must be done. (1) They must get conviction of sin. (2) They must make confession of sin. (3) They must by faith make application of Jesus Christ. (4) They must forsake sin. (5) They must make supplication and earnest prayer unto God for pardoning mercy. (6) They must forgive others. ( T. Vincent, M. A. ) Sin and forgiveness A. Maclaren, D. D. I. THE SOLEMN PICTURE OF VARIOUS PHASES OF SIN. 1. The word translated "transgression" seems literally to signify separation, or rending apart, or departure; and hence comes to express the notion of apostasy and rebellion. So, then, here is this thought, all sin is a going away. From what? Rather the question should be — from whom? All sin is a departure from God. And that is its deepest and darkest characteristic. And it is the one that needs to be most urged, for it is the one that we are most apt to forget. The great type of all wrongdoers is in that figure of the Prodigal Son, and the essence of his fault was, first, that he selfishly demanded for his own his father's goods; and, second, that he went away into a far country. Your sins have separated between you and God. 2. Then another aspect of the same foul thing rises before the psalmist's mind. This evil which he has done, which I suppose was the sin in the matter of Bath-sheba, was not only rebellion against God, but it was, according to our version, in the second clause, "a sin," by which is meant literally missing an aim.(1) "Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him for ever;" and whosoever in all his successes fails to realize that end is a failure through and through, in whatever smaller matters he may seem to himself and to others to succeed. He only strikes the target in the bull's-eye who lets his arrows be deflected by no gusts of passion, nor aimed wrong by any obliquity of vision, but with firm hand and clear eye seeks and secures the absolute conformity of his will to the Father's will, and makes God his aim and end in all things.(2) But there is another aspect of this same thought, and that is that every piece of evil misses its own shabby mark. "A rogue is a round-about fool." No man ever gets, in doing wrong, the thing that he did the wrong for, or, if he gets it, he gets something else along with it that takes all the sweet taste out of it. All sin, big or little, is a blunder, and missing of the mark. 3. Yet another aspect of the ugly thing rises before the psalmist's eye. In reference to God evil is separation and rebellion; in reference to myself, it is an error and missing of my true goal; and in reference to the straight standard and law of duty, it is, according to the last of the three words for sin in the text, "iniquity," or, literally, something twisted or distorted. It is thus brought into contrast with the right line of the plain straight path in which we ought to walk. The path to God is a right line, the shortest road from earth to heaven is absolutely straight. The Czar of Russia, when railways were introduced into that country, was asked to determine the line between St. Petersburg and Moscow. He took a ruler, and drew a straight line across the map, and said, "There!" Our autocrat has drawn a line as straight, as the road from earth to heaven; and by the side of it are the crooked wandering ways in which we live. II. THE BLESSED PICTURE OF THE REMOVAL OF THE SIN. It is "forgiven," "covered," "not imputed." The accumulation of synonyms not only sets forth various aspects of pardon, but triumphantly celebrates the completeness and certainty of the gift. As to the first, it means literally to lift and bear away a load or burden. As to the second, it means plainly enough to cover over, as one might do some foul thing, that it may no longer offend She eye or smell rank to heaven. And so a man's sin is covered over and ceases to be in evidence, as it were, before the Divine Eye that sees all things. He Himself casts a merciful veil over it and hides it from Himself. A similar idea, though with a modification in metaphor, is included in that last word, the sin is not reckoned. God does not write it down in His great book on the debit side of the man's account. And these three things, the lifting up and carrying away of the load, the covering over of the obscene and ugly thing, the non-reckoning in the account of the evil deed; these three things, taken together, do set forth before us the great and blessed truth that a man's transgressions may become, in so far as the Divine heart and the Divine dealings with him are concerned, as if non-existent. III. THE BLESSEDNESS OF THIS REMOVAL OF SIN. 1. The blessedness of deliverance from sullen remorse and the dreadful pangs of an accusing conscience. 2. The blessedness of a close clinging to God in peaceful trust, which will ensure security in the midst of all trials and a hiding-place against every storm. Only through forgiveness do we come into that close communion with God which ensures safety in all disasters. 3. The blessedness of a gentle guidance and of a loving obedience. "Thou shalt guide me with Thine eye." No need for force, no need for bit and bridle, no need for anything but the glance of the Father, which the child delights to obey. 4. The blessedness of exuberant gladness; the joy that comes from the sorrow according to God is a joy that will last. All other delights, in their nature., are perishable. The deeper the penitence the surer the rebound into gladness. ( A. Maclaren, D. D. ) Sin forgiven J. H. Jowett, M. A. I. THE BURDEN. 1. He uses three words, and each word reveals a different aspect of his comprehensive conception.(1) He calls it his "transgression." The word is significant of a "breaking-loose." The figure is almost that of a horse that has broken the traces, and is bolting. The cords have been snapped. The yoke has been thrown aside. The man conceives himself as in revolt. He is a rebel, a deserter. He has broken the bands; he has discarded all discipline, and has roamed in ways of unconsidered licence.(2) He also calls it his "sin." He has deflected from the prescribed line of life. He has chosen his own end. He has missed the mark. His life "has not arrived." It is characterized by failure.(3) He also calls it his "iniquity" His life is marred by crookedness and deformity. Guilt has sunk into his faculties, and all of them have been twisted in a certain perversity. Such is the man's vivid consciousness of his own estate. He is a rebel of perverse inclinations, and wrenched by self-will into spiritual deformity. 2. Now, concerning this burning consciousness of personal sin, we are told the man "kept silence." He invited no fellowship, either on the part of man or of God. How did such secret, silent burden affect the man's life?(1) "When I kept silence my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long." There is a wonderful intimacy between the flesh and the spirit. To sap the forces of the one drains the energy of the other. This man, with the secret, unspoken consciousness of sin, dragged along a weary body. He was continually tired.(2) "Day and night Thy hand was heavy upon me." He moved in a condition of constant depression. He felt that "the hand of the Lord" was weighing upon him! That is a pathetic word. "The hand' of the Lord" is usually a minister of succour, of lifting, of resurrection! But here the "hand of the Lord" is regarded as the minister of depression, and the man is held down in mental flatness and imprisonment.(3) "My moisture is turned into drought of summer." He was the victim of a dry, fierce heart No cool, cooling influences breathed through his soul. He was "heated hot with burning fears." II. THE CONFESSION. The psalmist had a threefold description of sin, now he has a threefold description of its confession. "I acknowledged my sin." "Mine iniquity have I not hid." "I confessed my transgressions." The marrow of all these pregnant phrases is that the psalmist made a clean breast of it. He hid nothing from the Lord. There was no unclean thing concealed within his tent. lie opened out every secret room. He gave God all the keys. Everything was brought out and penitently acknowledged. He confessed in particulars, and not in generals. He "poured out his heart before God." He emptied it as though he was emptying a vessel in which no single unclean drop was allowed to remain. His confession was made in perfect frankness and sincerity. III. THE LORD'S RESPONSE. 1. His transgression was "forgiven" — lifted and carried away out of sight. 2. His sin was "covered." "Where sin abounds, grace doth much more abound." Grace rolls over like an immeasurable flood, and our sins are submerged beneath its mighty depths. 3. His iniquity was "net imputed." Forgiven sins are never to be counted; they will not enter into the reckoning. They will not influence the Lord's regard for us. In His love for us, forgiven sins are as though they had never been. Here, then, is the completeness of the freedom of the children of God. Sin forgiven! Sin covered! Sin no longer reckoned! It is not wonderful that this once tried, depressed, feverish soul, tasting now the delights of a gracious freedom, should cry out, "Blessed is the man! " ( J. H. Jowett, M. A. ) The blessedness of pardon In the words you have an emphatical setting forth of a great and blessed privilege and a description of the persons who shall enjoy it. We notice the three expressions, "forgiven," "covered," "imputeth not," and the earnestness and vehemency which this repetition implies. As to the meaning, the transgressions forgiven tells of the relief from a heavy burden ( Matthew 11:28 ). The "sin covered," alludes to the covering up of or removing that which is offensive out of sight ( Deuteronomy 23:14 ). The "imputeth not iniquities" tells of God's not putting them down to our account ( Matthew 6:12 ). The object of pardon is described under the various terms of iniquity, transgressions, sin. And the earnestness of the psalmist is because he himself has known the blessedness of God's forgiveness. The doctrine of the text is, therefore — That a great degree of our blessedness lies in our obtaining the pardon of our sins by Jesus Christ. I. THE NECESSITY THAT LIES UPON US TO SEEK THIS PARDON. 1. We all have a reasonable nature, and this implies a conscience, for a man can reflect upon his own actions. 2. But conscience implies a law by which good and evil are distinguished. 3. Law implies a sanction or confirmation by penalties and rewards ( Deuteronomy 30:15 ; Psalm 7:11-13 ). 4. Such sanction implies a judge who will take cognizance of our conduct in regard to the law. The heathen knew this ( Romans 1:32 ). Providence showed it ( Romans 1:18 ). And we are to expect the coming of such judge ( Acts 10:42, 43 ; Acts 3:19-21 ). 5. A judge implies a judgment day, or some time when his justice must have solemn trial, when he will reckon with the guilty ( Hebrews 9:27 ; Acts 24:25 ; Acts 17:31 ). 6. This implies the condemnation of the guilty, unless God set up another court for their relief. For man is utterly unable to fulfil the law ( Romans 8:1 ). "The law is weak through the flesh." 7. This God hath done in Christ and the Gospel. It is not a ease of forgiveness as between man and man, but there must be satisfaction to Divine justice. Therefore Christ hath died ( Galatians 4:5 ; Romans 3:25, 26 ). 8. This being done conveniently to God's honour, we must sue out our pardon with respect to both covenants — that of nature, and that in Christ. We must bring a true repentance ( 1 John 1:9 ; 1 Corinthians 11:31 ). And we must thankfully accept the Lord's grace that offers pardon to us. II. OUR MISERY WITHOUT THIS PARDON. 1. We must bear the heavy burden of our sin ( Psalm 38:4 ; Genesis 4:13 ; Proverbs 18:14 ). 2. Sin renders us odious in the sight of God ( Proverbs 13:5 ). "Sin is loathsome." And the sinner is so, to God, to the righteous, to the indifferent, to other wicked men, and to himself ( Psalm 32:3 ). 3. Sin is a debt that binds the soul to everlasting punishment ( Luke 12:59 ). How blessed, then, must be he unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. III. THE CONSEQUENT BENEFITS OF THIS PARDON. 1. It restores us to God ( Psalm 130:4 ). 2. It lays a foundation for solid peace and comfort in our own souls. 3. We are now capable of eternal life. IV. THE APPLICATION. 1. Let us bless God for the Gospel. Think of the darkness of the heathen world on this matter ( Micah 6:7 ). And the Jews also ( Hebrews 9:9 ). 2. Let us put in for a share of this blessedness. Pray day by day for it. Christians as well as others. ( T. Manton . ) Persuasions to seek after the blessedness of pardon I. TILL YOU ARE PARDONED YOU ARE NEVER BLESSED. IS he happy who is condemned to die, although he hath plentiful allowance till the day of his execution? So neither can earthly good make the sinner blessed. II. NOTHING ELSE BUT PARDON WILL SERVE OUR TURN, Forbearance on God's part will not, for forbearance from punishment does not dissolve the obligation to punish. Respite is not pardon. Nor, either, forgetfulness on our part. They are not happy that have the least trouble, but they that have the least cause. A benumbed conscience cannot challenge this blessedness. God hath neither forgiven nor covered their sin. III. THE EVILS WHICH FORGIVENESS FREES US FROM AND THE GOOD WHICH DEPENDS UPON IT. 1. The evils. Guilt, and therefore punishment. 2. The good. You cannot enjoy God till you are forgiven. IV. WHAT MUST BE DONE THAT WE MAY BE CAPABLE OF THIS BLESSED PRIVILEGE. 1. For our first entrance into it.(1) We must have repentance and faith (Acts 10:43; 11:38; Luke 24:47 ). Repentance respects God, to whom we return: faith, Christ, by whom we return. And these are necessary for the glory of God. It is not fitting that pardon and life should be bad without any conditions. And they are necessary, too, for our comfort. 2. For our continuance in it. The first truths are gone over again and again; and there is a new obedience ( 1 John 1:7 ). And there is daily prayer. 3. For the recovery out of grievous lapses and falls.In them there is required a particular and express repentance; and repentance and faith must be carried with respect to those four things that are in sin: culpa , the fault, reatus , the guilt, maeula , the stain and blot, and poena , the punishment. 1. For the fault in the transgression of the law, or the criminal action. See that the fault be not continued; relapses are very dangerous. A bone often broken in the same place is hardly set again. God's children are in danger of this before the breach be well made up, or the orifice of the wound be soundly closed; as Lot doubled his incest, and Samson goes in again and again to Delilah. 2. The guilt continues till serious and solemn repentance, and humiliation before God, and suing out our pardon in Christ's name. There must be a solemn humbling for the sin, and then God will forgive us. Suppose a man forbear the act, and never commit it more (as Judah forbore the act, after he had committed incest with Tamar, but it seems he repented not till she showed him the bracelets and the staff); yet with serious remorse we must beg our peace humbly upon the account of our Mediator. Therefore something must be done to take away the guilt. 3. There is the blot or evil inclination to sin again. A brand that hath been in the fire is more apt to take fire again; the evil influences of the sin continue. Now the root of sin must be mortified, it is not enough to forbear or confess a sin, but we must pull out the core of the distemper before all will be well. 4. There is the punishment. It will not be eternal. We are delivered from that. But there may be temporary evils ( Psalm 89:32, 33 ). What, then, is our business? Humbly to deprecate these judgments. "Lord, correct me not in Thine anger," etc. ( T. Manton . ) True blessedness S. Guthrie, D. D. There is a history of India, which was written by a man who never left his native land, nor set eye or foot on that distant shore; and yet, strange as it may appear, it is said to be the best work on the subject, presenting the most graphic pictures of its oriental scenery, the most satisfactory history of its conquests and its conquerors, the best account of the manners, and customs, and habits of its people, with their variety of races, and tongues, and castes, and religions. In some such way the beauties of Christianity have been portrayed; the pictures being not so much, or rather not at all, a transcript of the artist's feelings — what his own eyes have seen and his own heart has felt — not the expression of a Christian's experience, but the triumphs of a poet's fancy. And so the preacher may, after all, be but a painter, and saving others, he may be himself a castaway. A man who can go to the pulpit, or a man who can stand on the level of other men, and say, "Arise, for I have seen the land, and behold it is very good," can speak with a point and a power which no fancy or genius can bestow. Such was the position of the man who expressed the sentiment of my text. The world has seen few poets like the royal psalmist; yet here is not a flight of the poet's fancy, but the expression of a good man's experience. The blessedness of my text is not a thing that David fancied; it is a thing that David felt. And he gained this blessedness by going to God for it, confessing his sin and finding forgiveness. He went as the prodigal, saying, "I have sinned," and he gratefully acknowledges, "Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin." I. THIS BLESSEDNESS IS ATTAINABLE BY US NOW. Sin is a terrible thing, for it incurs the wrath of God. Man's wrath can do but little in his favour either. A few feet of earth above our heads, and what is the world's smile or frown then? But God's wrath and favour are very different things. They stretch on into and throughout eternity. How blessed, then, must be His favour, how terrible His wrath! But, with His favour, what need we fear? II. THE EXTENT OF THIS BLESSEDNESS. Transgression forgiven, sin covered, iniquity not imputed. How is all this accomplished? Not in the way of the unjust steward, by making a composition, as merchants do. God demands all. ,And yet we are saved. Christ paid the penalty, and thus man is saved the punishment. This is the very palladium and pillar of the believer's peace. All is forgiven, all covered. III. BLESSEDNESS IS WHAT WE ALL SEEK AFTER, AND IT IS FOUND HERE. This alone is true blessedness. Nothing else is worthy of the name of happiness. I know as well as you do, that there is a kind of happiness in sin; I know as well as you do, that without a sense of forgiveness there is a kind of pleasure a man or woman may enjoy; but do you call that happiness? I do not. Do you call that insect happy, that in ever-lessening circles goes round and round the candle, till it plunge and perish in the flame? I have read of children that with merry glee, add light feet, and buoyant laughter, chased each other upon the sinking deck, when brave men had stripped to swim, and cowards lay down to die. Call ye them happy? Happy! "I said of laughter, It is madness; and of mirth, What doeth it?" But the blessedness told of in our text, that never fades. ( S. Guthrie, D. D. ) A song of a saved soul Joseph Pearce. I. HERE IS A MAN PAINTING A PICTURE OF THE EVIL WHICH HAD BEEN HIS CURSE. When a man has been rescued from hell, he speaks in no mincing fashion of its horrors. 1. "Transgression" signifies departure, the dissolving of a union, apostasy. 2. "Sin" means literally an error, missing an aim. Not only had he rebelled against God, but he had fatally missed the mark to which his whole effort and energy should have been directed. "A man never gets what he hoped for by doing wrong; or, if he seems to do so, he gets something more that spoils it all. He pursues after the fleeing form that seems so fair, and, when he reaches her side and lifts her veil, eager to embrace the temptress, a hideous skeleton grins and gibbers at him." 3. "Iniquity," literally, is something twisted or distorted — warped from the straight line of right. All sin is a turning aside, a going out of the way, an entrance on by-paths which can never be safe. II. HERE IS A MAN POINTING OUT THE WRETCHEDNESS WHICH HIS SIN AND SILENCE CONCERNING IT HAD ENTAILED UPON HIM (vers. 3, 4). A. weird picture, a realistic illustration of the misery of unrepentant remorse. "Be sure your sin will find you out;" and what a finding out it is! The sinner expected to conjure up flowers: he has conjured up serpents; he expected thrills of pleasure: he has felt shocks of pain; he expected to find peace: he has let slip the dogs of war; he hoped to find liberty: he has drawn a heavy chain about his life. 1. Sin always means misery. It is like the poison-tree in travellers' stories: tempting weary men to rest beneath its thick foliage, and insinuating death into the limbs that relax in the fatal coolness of its shade. It is like the apples of Sodom: fair to look upon, but turning to acrid ashes on the unwary lips. 2. Sin of itself is bad enough, but sin unconfessed is hell on earth. Better confess the deed than allow it to darken your soul's windows, harden your heart, and spread its contagion throughout your being. III. HERE IS A MAN REVEALING THE PATH WHICH LED TO THE THRONE OF DIVINE FORGIVENESS (ver. 5). Thank Heaven that there is such a path, and that it is accessible to every sin-damaged life. That path has been provided by a loving God; it is the path of repentance, the King's highway. Have we trodden that path? Have we responded to the summons of God's Nathan, as he has poured the light divine upon our eyes? IV. HERE IS A MAN PROCLAIMING THE MASTERY AND REMOVAL OF HIS SIN BY GOD'S GREAT GRACE (vers. 1, 2). The three words he employs are delightfully expressive. 1. "Forgiveness" means literally the bearing away of a load. Sin is like the burden on the pilgrim's back in the Immortal Allegory. It crushes the soul, weakens the life, pampers the spirit. But the grace of God causes the burden to fall from the soul, emancipates it from the crushing load. 2. "Covered" means the interment of the evil thing. It is a nuisance, an annoyance, an eyesore, a foul, disgusting thing. So God digs a grave for it, and buries it out of sight. 3. "Not to impute" means that our wickedness is no longer chargeable to us. God will be

Benson Commentary Psalm 32:1 A Psalm of David, Maschil. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Psalm 32:1 . Blessed is the man, &c. — We are here taught wherein true happiness consists, and what is the cause and foundation of it. It consists not in the possession of the wealth or honours of the world, or in the enjoyment of its pleasures, but in those spiritual blessings which flow from the favour and grace of God; whose transgression is forgiven — He does not say, Blessed is the man who never transgressed. For he knew no such man could be found; all having sinned and come short of the glory of God, and consequently of that happiness conferred on man at his first creation. But he lays the foundation of fallen and sinful man’s happiness on the only foundation on which it can be laid, and that is on the pardon of sin. For as all our misery came in by sin, so it is not likely, nay, it is not possible, it should be removed, or even alleviated, without the forgiveness of sin. It is true that, in the first Psalm, David pronounces the man blessed who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, &c., but delights in, and meditates on, God’s law: and that, Psalm 119:1 , he terms the undefiled in the way blessed who walk in the law of the Lord. But it must be observed that in these and such like passages he is describing the character of the truly blessed man, and it is certain he that has not that character cannot be happy. But here he is showing the ground of the righteous man’s blessedness, the fundamental privilege from which all the other ingredients of this blessedness flow. Sin is here termed transgression, for it is the transgression of the law, 1 John 3:4 ; and when it is forgiven, the obligation to punishment which we lay under, by virtue of the sentence of the law: is vacated and cancelled. It is lifted off, as ????? , nasui, may be rendered; so that the pardoned sinner is eased of a burden, a heavy burden which lay on his conscience, and of the weight of which he began to be sensible when he began to be awakened out of his spiritual lethargy, and to be truly convinced of his sinfulness and guilt, and of the sentence of condemnation gone out against him. The remission of his sins gives rest and relief to his weary and heavy-laden soul, Matthew 11:28 . Whose sin is covered — Namely, by God, and not by man; who ought to confess, and not to hide it, Psalm 32:5 . Sin makes us loathsome, filthy, and abominable in the sight of God, and utterly unfit for communion with him; and when our consciences are truly enlightened and awakened, it makes us loathsome and abominable in our own sight. But when it is pardoned, it is covered, as it were, by the mantle of the divine mercy, in and through the sacrifice and intercession of Him who is made of God to believers righteousness; who is the true propitiatory, or mercy-seat, where mercy may be found in a way consistent with justice, Romans 3:24 . Our sins, when forgiven, are covered, not from ourselves, no: my sin, says David, is ever before me: not from God’s omniscience, but from his vindictive justice; when he pardons sin he remembers it no more; he casts it behind his back, it shall be sought for, and not found. And the sinner, being reconciled to God, begins to be reconciled to himself. The metaphor, Dr. Dodd thinks, is taken from writers who obliterate what is faulty in their writing. Psalm 32:2 Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. Psalm 32:2 . Unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity — Whom God doth not charge with the guilt of his sins, as he justly might, but pardons and accepts him in Christ. And in whose spirit there is no guile — Who freely confesses all his sins, without dissembling, is truly sorry for, and sincerely hates them, and turns from sin to God with all his heart. Psalm 32:3 When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. Psalm 32:3-5 . When I kept silence — Namely, from a full and open confession of my sins, and from pouring out my soul to God in serious and fervent prayers for pardon and peace. My bones waxed old — My spirits failed, and the strength of my body decayed; through my roaring all the day long — Because of the continual horrors of my conscience, and sense of God’s wrath, wherewith I was, as yet, rather oppressed and overwhelmed than brought to a thorough repentance. For thy hand was heavy upon me — Thy afflicting hand, bringing my sins to remembrance, and filling me with thy terrors for them. My moisture is turned, &c. — My very radical moisture is, in a manner, dried up and wasted through excessive fears and sorrows. I said, I will confess my transgressions, &c. — At last I took up a full resolution that I would no longer vainly seek to hide my sins from the all-seeing eye of God, but that I would openly and candidly confess and bewail all my sins, with all their aggravations, and humbly implore the pardon of them. Observe, reader, this is the true and only way to find peace of conscience. Those that would have the comfort of the pardon of their sins must, like David, take shame to themselves by a penitent confession of them. And we must be particular in our confessions, Thus and thus have I done; and, in so doing, I have done very wickedly. And we must confess the justice of the punishment, or correction, we have been under for sin, saying, The Lord is just in all that he hath brought upon us, and we deserve much severer chastisement. I am no more worthy to be called thy son. We must confess our sins with shame and holy blushing, with fear and holy trembling. And if we bring forth fruit worthy of this repentance, we shall surely, like David, obtain forgiveness. And thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin — That is, the guilt of my sin, or my exceeding sinful sin; two words, signifying the same thing, ( iniquity and sin, ) being here put together by way of aggravation, according to the manner of the Hebrews. Observe again, reader: David speaks with confidence that the Lord had forgiven him. He received a sense of pardon, the knowledge of salvation, by the forgiveness of his sins, and so mayest thou: see Luke 1:77 . O seek this blessing with all thy heart! Psalm 32:4 For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah. Psalm 32:5 I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah. Psalm 32:6 For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him. Psalm 32:6 . For this — That is, upon the encouragement of my example, and of thy great mercy vouchsafed to me, in answer to my humble confession and supplication; shall every one that is godly — That is, truly penitent, and dreads thy wrath on account of his past sins, resolving to serve thee for the future; pray unto thee — Namely, for the forgiveness of his sins, and for a testimony by thy Spirit in his heart, that thou hast forgiven him, Romans 8:16 . In a time when thou mayest be found — Hebrew, ??? ??? , legneth metzo, in the time of finding, namely, of finding thee; while there is room for repentance and reconciliation with thee. The Chaldee renders it, In an acceptable time, the Arabic, In a time of hearing. Thus Isaiah, Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near. The meaning is, in a seasonable time, while God continues to offer grace and mercy to sinners. By this clause the psalmist seems to intimate the difference between the truly penitent or godly, who pray and cry earnestly to God for mercy in its season; and the wicked and impenitent, who will not do so till it be too late, and the season be lost. Mark this well, O reader, and see that thou lose no time, but seek the Lord speedily, Zechariah 8:21 , lest death cut thee off, and then it will be too late to seek him. Remember, Now is the accepted time, behold, now is the day of salvation. Surely in the floods of great waters — That is, in the time of great calamities, which are frequently compared to great waters; they shall not come nigh unto him — So as to overwhelm or hurt him. Or, God will set him on a high and safe place, out of the reach of them; as he provided an ark for Noah when the deluge came, to which perhaps he here alludes. Those that have God nigh unto them, which all upright, penitent, praying people have, are so guarded, so advanced, that no waters, no, not great waters, no, not floods of them, can come nigh them to hurt them. As the temptations of the wicked one touch them not, 1 John 5:18 , so neither do the troubles of this evil world; these fiery darts of both kinds drop short of them. Psalm 32:7 Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah. Psalm 32:7 . Thou art my hiding-place — When by faith I have recourse to thee, I see all the reason in the world to be easy, and to think myself out of the reach of any real evil. Thou shalt preserve me from trouble — From the sting of it, and from the strokes of it, as far as is good for me. Thou shalt preserve me from such trouble as I was in while I kept silence, and did not confess my sins, and pray for forgiveness, Psalm 32:3 . If, when God has pardoned our sins. he were to leave us to ourselves, we should soon relapse into sin, and contract fresh guilt, and thereby plunge ourselves again into the same gulf of distress and misery; therefore, when we have received the comfort of our remission, we must have recourse to the grace of God to be preserved from returning to folly again, and having our hearts again hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. God keeps his people from trouble, by keeping them from sin. Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance — With such great deliverances on all sides as will give just occasion to sing thy praise. And my friends, also, shall compass me about in the great congregation, to join with me in songs of praise: they shall join their songs of deliverance with mine. Psalm 32:8 I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye. Psalm 32:8 . I will instruct thee — Whoever thou art that desirest instruction; and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go — That is, in which thou oughtest to walk. Thus, in another of his penitential Psalms, he resolves that when God should restore to him the joy of his salvation, he would teach transgressors his ways, and do what he could to convert sinners to God, as well as comfort those that were converted, Psalm 51:12 . Those are best able to teach others the grace of God who have themselves had the experience of it. And those who are themselves taught of God ought to tell others what he hath done for their souls, and so to teach them. I will guide thee with mine eye — This may be understood of God’s conduct toward, and direction of, his people. He guides them with his eye, by his clear sight and discernment of the way in which they ought to go, giving them information in his word, and secret intimations of his will and their duty, by his Spirit and the turns of his providence, which he enables his people to understand and take directions from, as a master makes a servant know his mind by the look or motion of his eye. But the words are rather, to be considered as David’s declaration or promise to those who were willing to be directed by him. Poole paraphrases them, “I will lend thee the eyes of my mind: or I will be to thee instead of eyes, (see Numbers 10:31 ,) to advise, direct, and caution thee. I will guide thee, as the rider doth his horse, (to which the person guided is compared Psalm 32:9 ,) or as a master doth his scholar, or as a guide doth him who knows not the right way.” Or the words may be rendered, I will give thee counsel, mine eye shall be upon thee: see Genesis 44:21 ; Jeremiah 24:6 ; Jeremiah 40:4 . I will instruct, admonish, and watch over thee. I will give thee the best counsel I can, and then observe whether thou takest it or not. “Those that are taught in the word,” says Henry, “should be under the constant inspection of those that teach them; spiritual guides must be overseers.” Psalm 32:9 Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee. Psalm 32:9 . Be not as the horse, or as the mule — God hath endowed you with reason, both to inform you what you ought to do. and to check you when you do amiss, and hath made you capable also of receiving good admonitions from others; do not therefore follow your own unbridled lusts and appetites; much less be refractory and untractable, when God would reduce you from the error of your ways; as if you were not men, but headstrong horses and mules, which can by no means be curbed or governed, without bit and bridle. Houbigant renders the last clause, very properly, Or they will not come near thee; for, as horses and mules are not dangerous beasts, whose common practice it is to kick or bite, the word lest is extremely improper. Nor is it the proper use of a bit, or bridle, to keep them from so doing, but rather to bring them nearer to the rider, for his use, and to keep them under his power and management. Psalm 32:10 Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about. Psalm 32:10 . Many sorrows shall be to the wicked — This is an argument to enforce the preceding admonition; as if he had said, If any will be refractory or unruly, God hath many ways to curb and chastise them, and bring them to be subject to his will. “They,” says Dr. Horne, “who are not to be reformed by gentler methods, must learn righteousness under the rod of affliction, in the school of the cross; and happy are they if their sorrows may so turn to their advantage. But happier are those who, led by the goodness of God to repentance and faith, enjoy the light and protection of mercy.” For, He that trusteth in the Lord, &c. — Who relies upon his providence and promise, for his preservation and deliverance, and commits himself to God’s care and conduct, waiting upon him in his way, and not turning aside to crooked or sinful paths for safety or comfort; mercy shall compass him about — Namely, on every side, and preserve him from departing from God on the one hand, and shall prevent any real evil from assaulting him on the other. Psalm 32:11 Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart. Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Expositor's Bible Commentary Psalm 32:1 A Psalm of David, Maschil. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Psalm 32:1-11 ONE must have a dull ear not to hear the voice of personal experience in this psalm. It throbs with emotion, and is a burst of rapture from a heart tasting the sweetness of the new joy of forgiveness. It is hard to believe that the speaker is but a personification of the nation, and the difficulty is recognised by Cheese’s concession that we have here "principally, though not exclusively, a national psalm." The old opinion that it records David’s experience in the dark time when, for a whole year, he lived impenitent after his great sin of sense, and was then broken down by Nathan’s message and restored to peace through pardon following swiftly on penitence, is still defensible, and gives a fit setting for this gem. Whoever was the singer, his song goes deep down to permanent realities in conscience and in men’s relations to God, and therefore is not for an age, but for all time. Across the dim waste of years, we hear this man speaking our sins, our penitence, our joy; and the antique words are as fresh, and fit as close to our experiences, as if they had been welled up from a living heart today. The theme is the way of forgiveness and its blessedness; and this is set forth in two parts; the first ( Psalm 32:1-5 ) a leaf from the psalmist’s autobiography, the second ( Psalm 32:6-11 ) the generalisation of individual experience and its application to others. In each part the prevailing division of verses is into strophes of two, each containing two members, but with some irregularity. The page from the psalmist’s confessions ( Psalm 32:1-5 ) begins with a burst of rapturous thankfulness for the joy of forgiveness ( Psalm 32:1-2 ), passes to paint in dark colours the misery of sullen impenitence ( Psalm 32:3-4 ), and then, in one longer verse, tells with glad wonder how sudden and complete was the transition to the joy of forgiveness by the way of penitence. It is a chart of one man’s path from the depths to the heights, and avails to guide all. The psalmist begins abruptly with an exclamation (Oh, the blessedness, etc .). His new joy wells up irrepressibly. To think that he who had gone so far down in the mire, and had locked his lips in silence for so long, should find himself so blessed! Joy so exuberant cannot content itself with one statement of its grounds. It runs over in synonyms for sin and its forgiveness, which are not feeble tautology. The heart is too full to be emptied at one outpouring, and though all the clauses describe the same things, they do so with differences. This is true with regard to the words both for sin and for pardon. The three designations of the former present three aspects of its hideousness. The first, rendered ("transgression,") conceives of it as rebellion against rightful authority, not merely breach of an impersonal law, but breaking away from a rightful king. The second ("sin") describes it as missing a mark. What is in regard to God rebellion is in regard to myself missing the aim, whether that aim be considered as that which a man is, by his very make and relations, intended to be and do, or as that which he proposes to himself by his act. All sin tragically fails to hit the mark in both these senses. It, is a failure as to reaching the ideal of conduct, "the chief end of man," and not less so as to winning the satisfaction sought by the deed. It keeps the word of promise to the ear, and breaks it to the hope, ever luring by lying offers; and if it gives the poor delights which it holds out, it ever adds something that embitters them like spirits of wine methylated and made undrinkable. It is always a blunder to do wrong. The last synonym ("iniquity") means crookedness or distortion, and seems to embody the same idea as our words "right" and "wrong," namely the contrast between the straight line of duty and the contorted lines drawn by sinful hands. What runs parallel with law is right; what diverges is wrong. The three expressions for pardon are also eloquent in their variety. The first word means taken away or lifted off, as a burden from aching shoulders. It implies more than holding back penal consequences; it is the removal of sin itself, and that not merely in the multitudinousness of its manifestations in act, but in the depth of its inward source. This is the metaphor which Bunyan has made so familiar by his picture of the pilgrim losing his load at the cross. The second ("covered") paints pardon as God’s shrouding the foul thing from His pure eyes, so that His action is no longer determined by its existence. The third describes forgiveness as God’s not reckoning a man’s sin to him, in which expression hovers some allusion to cancelling a debt. The clause "in whose spirit is no guile" is best taken as a conditional one, pointing to sincerity which confesses guilt as a condition of pardon. But the alternative construction as a continuation of the description of the forgiven man is quite possible; and if thus understood, the crowning blessing of pardon is set forth as being the liberation of the forgiven spirit from all "guile" or evil. God’s kiss of forgiveness sucks the poison from the wound. Retrospect of the dismal depth from which it has climbed is natural to a soul sunning itself on high. Therefore on the overflowing description of present blessedness follows a shuddering glance downwards to past unrest. Sullen silence caused the one; frank acknowledgment brought the other. He who will not speak his sin to God has to groan. A dumb conscience often makes a loud-voiced pain. This man’s sin had indeed missed its aim; for it had brought about three things: rotting bones (which may be but a strong metaphor or may be a physical fact), the consciousness of God’s displeasure dimly felt as if a great hand were pressing him down, and the drying up of the sap of his life, as if the fierce heat of summer had burned the marrow in his bones. These were the fruits of pleasant sin, and by reason of them many a moan broke from his locked lips. Stolid indifference may delay remorse, but its serpent fang strikes soon or later, and then strength and joy die. The Selah indicates a swell or prolongation of the accompaniment, to emphasise this terrible picture of a soul gnawing itself. The abrupt turn to description of the opposite disposition in Psalm 32:5 suggests a sudden gush of penitence. As at a bound, the soul passes from dreary remorse. The break with the former self is complete, and effected in one wrench. Some things are best done by degrees; and some. of which forsaking sin is one, are best done quickly. And as swift as the resolve to crave pardon, so swift is the answer giving it, We are reminded of that gospel compressed into a verse, "David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, The Lord also hath put away thy sin." Again the three designations of sin are employed, though in different order; and the act of confession is thrice mentioned, as that of forgiveness was. The fulness and immediateness of pardon are emphatically given by the double epithet "the iniquity of thy sin" and by the representation that it follows the resolve to confess, and does not wait for the act. The Divine love is so eager to forgive that it tarries not for actual confession, but anticipates it, as the father interrupts the prodigal’s acknowledgment with gifts and welcome. The Selah at the end of Psalm 32:5 is as triumphant as that at the close of Psalm 32:4 had been sad. It parts the autobiographical section from the more general one which follows. In the second part the solitary soul translates its experience into exhortations for all, and wooes men to follow on the same path, by setting forth in rich variety the joys of pardon. The exhortation first dwells on the positive blessings associated with penitence ( Psalm 32:6-7 ), and next on the degradation and sorrow involved in obstinate hardheartedness ( Psalm 32:8-10 ). The natural impulse of him who has known both is to beseech others to share his happy experience, and the psalmist’s course of thought obeys that impulse, for the future "shall pray" (R.V.) is better regarded as hortatory "let pray because of this" does not express the contents of the petitions, but their reason. The manifestation of God as infinitely ready to forgive should hearten to prayer; and since God’s beloved need forgiveness day by day, even though they may not have fallen into such gross sin as this psalmist, there is no incongruity in the exhortation being addressed to them. "He that is washed" still needs that feet fouled in muddy ways should be cleansed. Every time of seeking by such prayer is a "time of finding"; but the phrase implies that there is a time of not finding, and, in its very graciousness, is heavy with warning against delay. With forgiveness comes security. The penitent, praying, pardoned man is set as on a rock islet in the midst of floods, whether these be conceived of as temptation to sin or as calamities. The hortatory tone is broken in Psalm 32:7 by the recurrence of the personal element, since the singer’s heart was too full for silence; but there is no real interruption, for the joyous utterance of one’s own faith is often the most winning persuasive, and a devout man can scarcely hold out to others the sweetness of finding God without at the same time tasting what he offers. Unless he does, his words will ring unreal. "Thou art a shelter for me" (same word as in Psalm 27:5 ; Psalm 31:20 ), is the utterance of trust; and the emphasis is on "my." To hide in God is to be "preserved from trouble," not in the sense of being exempt, but in that of not being overwhelmed, as the beautiful last clause of Psalm 32:7 shows, in which "shouts of deliverance" from trouble which had pressed are represented by a bold. but not harsh, metaphor as ringing the psalmist round. The air is filled with jubilant voices, the echoes of his own. The word rendered "songs" or preferably "shouts" is unusual, and its consonants repeat the last three of the preceding word ("shalt preserve me"). These peculiarities have led to the suggestion that we have in it a "dittograph." If so, the remaining words of the last clause would read, "Thou wilt compass me about with deliverance," which would be a perfectly appropriate expression. But probably the similarity of letters is a play upon words, of which we have another example in the preceding clause where the consonants of the word for "trouble," reappear in their order in the verb "wilt preserve." The shout of joy is caught up by the Selah. But now the tone changes into solemn warning against obstinate disregard of God’s leading. It is usual to suppose that the psalmist still speaks, but surely "I will counsel thee, with mine eye upon thee," does not fit human lips. It is to be observed, too, that in Psalm 32:8 a single person is addressed, who is most naturally taken to be the same as he who spoke his individual faith in Psalm 32:7 . In other words, the psalmist’s confidence evokes a Divine response, and that brief interchange of clinging trust and answering promise stands in the midst of the appeal to men, which it scarcely interrupts. Psalm 32:9 may either be regarded as the continuance of the Divine voice, or perhaps better, as the resumption by the psalmist of his hortatory address. God’s direction as to duty and protection in peril are both included in the promise of Psalm 32:8 . With His eye upon His servant, He will show him the way, and will keep him ever in sight as he travels on it. The beautiful meaning of the A.V., that God guides with a glance those who dwell near enough to Him to see His look, is scarcely contained in the words, though it is true that the sense of pardon binds men to Him in such sweet bonds that they are eager to catch the faintest indications of His will. and "His looks command, His lightest words are spells." Psalm 32:9-10 , are a warning against brutish obstinacy. The former verse has difficulties in de tail, but its drift is plain. It contrasts the gracious guidance which avails for those made docile by forgiveness and trust with the harsh constraint which must curb and coerce mulish natures. The only things which such understand are bits and bridles. They will not come near to God without such rough outward constraint, any more than an unbroken horse will approach a man unless dragged by a halter. That untamableness except by force is the reason why "many sorrows" must strike "the wicked." If these are here compared to "bit" and "bridle," they are meant to drive to God, and are therefore regarded as being such mercies as the obstinate are capable of receiving. Obedience extorted by force is no obedience, but approach to God compelled by sorrows that restrain unbridled license of tempers and of sense is accepted as a real approach and then is purged into access with confidence. They who are at first driven are afterwards drawn, and taught to know no delight so great as that of coming and keeping near God. The antithesis of "wicked" and "he that trusteth in Jehovah" is significant as teaching that faith is the true opposite of sinfulness. Not less full of meaning is the sequence of trust, righteousness, and uprightness of heart in Psalm 32:10-11 . Faith leads to righteousness, and they are upright, not who have never fallen, but who have been raised from their fall by pardon. The psalmist had thought of himself as compassed with shouts of deliverance. Another circle is cast round him and all who, with him, trust Jehovah. A ring of mercies, like a fiery wall, surrounds the pardoned, faithful soul, without a break through which a real evil can creep. Therefore the encompassing songs of deliverance are continuous as the mercies which they hymn, and in the centre of that double circle the soul sits secure and thankful. The psalm ends with a joyful summons to general joy. All share in the solitary soul’s exultation. The depth of penitence measures the height of gladness. The breath that was spent in "roaring all the day long" is used for shouts of deliverance. Every tear sparkles like a diamond in the sunshine of pardon, and he who begins with the lowly cry for forgiveness will end with lofty songs of joy and be made, by God’s guidance and Spirit, righteous and upright in heart. The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.