PSALM 25 COMME�TARYEDITED BY GLE�� PEASE

SPURGEO�, "TITLE. A Psalm of David. David is pictured in this Psalm as in a

faithful miniature. His holy trust, his many conflicts, his great transgression, his

bitter repentance, and his deep distresses are all here; so that we see the very heart

of "the man after God's own heart." It is evidently a composition of David's later

days, for he mentions the sins of his youth, and from its painful references to the

craft and cruelty of his many foes, it will not be too speculative a theory to refer it to

the period when Absalom was heading the great rebellion against him. This has

been styled the second of the seven Penitential Psalms. It is the mark of a true saint

that his sorrows remind him of his sins, and his sorrow for sin drives him to his

God.

SUBJECT A�D DIVISIO�. The twenty-two verses of this Psalm begin in the

original with the letters of the Hebrew alphabet in their proper order. It is the first

instance we have of an inspired acrostic or alphabetical song. This method may have

been adopted by the writer to assist the memory; and the Holy Spirit may have

employed it to show us that the graces of style and the arts of poetry may lawfully be

used in his service. Why should not all the wit and ingenuity of man be sanctified to

noblest ends by being laid upon the altar of God? From the singularity of the

structure of the Psalm, it is not easy to discover any marked divisions; there are

great changes of thought, but there is no variation of subject; the moods of the

writer's mind are twofold—prayer and meditation; and as these appear in turns, we

should thus divide the verses. Prayer from Ps 25:1-7; meditation, Ps 25:8-10;

prayer, Ps 25:11; meditation, Ps 25:12-15; prayer, Ps 25:16-22.

Whole Psalm. This is the first of the seven alphabetical Psalms, the others being the

34th, 37th, 111th, 112th, 119th, and145th. They are specimens of that acrostic mode

of writing which seems to have been once so fashionable among the Jews, as is

testified by numerous instances of such composition, which are to be met with in

their works. Other poetic artifices were likewise adopted. We find many instances of

poems being so constructed, that a proper name, or some particular sentiment,

would not infrequently be expressed by the initial letters of the verses. See

Bartolocci's "Bibliotheca Rabbinica, "vol. 2 pg 260, where examples of such artifices

are cited. George Phillips, B.D., in "The Psalms in Hebrew, with a Commentary."

1846

Whole Psalm. This is the first fully alphabetic Psalm...The only lesson which the use

of the alphabetic form may teach is this:—that the Holy Spirit was willing to throw

his words into all the moulds of human thought and speech; and whatever ingenuity

man may exhibit in intellectual efforts, he should consecrate these to his Lord,

making him the "Alpha and Omega" of his pursuits. Andrew A. Bonar.

Whole Psalm. Saving grace is a secret that no man knows but the elect, and the elect

cannot know it neither without special illumination:—1. Special showing—Shew me

thy ways, O Lord, saith David. 2. Barely showing will not serve the turn, but there

must be a special teaching—Teach me thy paths, Ps 25:4. 3. Bare teaching will not

avail neither, but there must be a special inculcative teaching—Teach me in thy

ways, to Ps 25:8. 4. Inculcative teaching will not do the deed neither, but there must

be a special directive teaching—Guide in judgment and teach, Ps 25:9. 5. Directive

teaching will not be sufficient neither, but there must be a special manuductive

teaching—Lead me forth in thy truth, and teach me, Ps 25:5. 6. Manuductive

teaching will not be effectual, but there must be also a special, choice teaching, a

determining of the very will, an elective teaching—Him shall he teach in the way

that he shall choose, Ps 25:12. And what secret is this? not common grace, for that is

not the secret of the elect, but special and peculiar grace. 1. The special grace of

prayer—Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul Ps 25:1. 2. A special grace of faith—

My God, I trust in thee, Ps 25:2. 3. A special grace of repentance—Remember not

the sins of my youth, etc., Ps 25:7. 4. A special grace of hope—My hope is in thee, Ps

25:21. 5. A special grace of CO�TI�UAL living in God's sight, and dependence

upon God—Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord, Ps 25:15. 6. Which is the root of all

God's special and eternal favour and mercy—Remember, O Lord, thy tender

mercies and thy loving kindnesses; for they have been ever of old, Ps 25:6; even

God's special mercy to him in particular, Ps 25:11. William Fenner, in "Hidden

Manna," 1626.

Whole Psalm. In these four Psalms which immediately follow one another, we may

find the soul of David presented in all the several postures of piety—lying, standing,

sitting, kneeling. In the twenty-second Psalm, he is lying all along, falling flat on his

face, low grovelling on the ground, even almost entering into a degree of despair.

Speaking of himself in the history of Christ in the mystery, "My God, why hast thou

forsaken me?" In the twenty-third Psalm, he is standing, and through God's favour,

in despite of his foes, trampling and triumphing over all opposition; "The Lord is

my shepherd, therefore shall I lack nothing." In the twenty-fourth Psalm he is

sitting, like a DOCTOR in his chair, or a professor in his place, reading a lecture of

divinity, and describing the character of that man—how he must be accomplished

—"who shall ascend into thy holy hill, "and hereafter be partaker of happiness. In

this twenty-fifth Psalm, he is kneeling, with hands and voice lifted up to God, and on

these two hinges the whole Psalm turneth; the one is a hearty beseeching of God's

mercy, the other a humble bemoaning of his own misery. Thomas Fuller.

Of David.

1 In you, Lord my God,

I put my trust.

BAR�ES, "Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul - In meditation; in gratitude; in praise. The idea is, that the thoughts are lifted up from earth and earthly subjects to God. This is the beginning of the meditation; this gives character, perhaps, to the psalm. The state of mind is that of one who turns cheerfully away from earthly themes, and opens his mind to more lofty and hallowed influences. The mind begins with God; and, beginning with this, the current of thought is allowed to flow on, gathering up such ideas as would come in under this general purpose. Opening the mind to this influence, thoughts would flow in upon the soul embracing a wide range, and perhaps not very closely connected among themselves, but all of which would be fitted to raise the heart to God in meditation, thankfulness, and praise.

CLARKE, "Do I lift up my soul - His soul was cast down, and by prayer and faith he endeavours to lift it up to God.

GILL, "Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. Either "in prayer", as the Chaldee paraphrase adds (s); and denotes sincere, affectionate, hearty prayer to God, a drawing nigh to him with a true heart: for unless the heart is lifted up, the lifting up of the eyes or hands in prayer is of no avail; see Lam_3:41; or by way of offering to the Lord, as some Jewish writers (t) interpret it; David not only presented his body in public worship, but his soul also as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which was his reasonable service; or else as a "depositum", which he committed into the hands of God, to be under his care and protection; and then the sense is the same with Psa_31:5 (u); the phrase is sometimes used to express earnest and vehement desire after anything; See Gill on Psa_24:4; and may here intend the very great desire of the psalmist after communion with God; which is elsewhere by him expressed by panting after him, and by thirsting for him in a dry and thirsty land, Psa_42:1; the desires of his soul were not to vain things, the vanities and idols of the Gentiles, but to God only, and to the remembrance of his name.

HE�RY, "Here we have David's professions of desire towards God and dependence on him. He often begins his psalms with such professions, not to move God, but to move himself, and to engage himself to answer those professions.He professes his desire towards God: Unto thee, O Lord! do I lift up my soul, Psa_25:1. In the foregoing psalm (Psa_25:4) it was made the character of a good man that he has not lifted up his soul to vanity; and a call was given to the everlasting gates to lift up their heads for the King of glory to come in, Psa_25:1. To this character, to this call, David here answers, “Lord, I lift up my soul, not to vanity, but to thee.” Note, In worshipping God we must lift up our souls to him. Prayer is the ascent of the soul to God; God must be eyed and the soul employed. Sursum corda - Up with you hearts, was anciently used as a call to devotion. With a holy contempt of the world and the things of it, by a fixed thought and active faith, we must set God before us, and let out our desires towards him as the fountain of our happiness.

JAMISO�, "Psa_25:1-22. The general tone of this Psalm is that of prayer for help from

enemies. Distress, however, exciting a sense of sin, humble confession, supplication for pardon, preservation from sin, and divine guidance, are prominent topics.lift up my soul — (Psa_24:4; Psa_86:4), set my affections (compare Col_3:2).

CALVI�, "1.Unto thee, O Jehovah! etc The Psalmist declares at the very outset, that

he is not driven hither and thither, after the manner of the ungodly, but that he

directs all his desires and prayers to God alone. �othing is more inconsistent with

true and sincere prayer to God, than to waver and gaze about as the heathen do, for

some help from the world; and at the same time to forsake God, or not to betake

ourselves directly to his guardianship and protection. Those who imagine that David

here declares that he had devoted himself entirely to God, as if he had offered up

himself in sacrifice, do not properly understand the import of the passage. The

meaning rather is, that in order to strengthen the hope of obtaining his request, he

declares, what is of the greatest importance in prayer, that he had his hope fixed in

God, and that he was not ensnared by the allurements of the world, or prevented

from lifting up his soul fully and unfeignedly to God. In order, therefore, that we

may pray aright to God, let us be directed by this rule — not to distract our minds

by various and uncertain hopes, nor to depend on worldly aid, but to yield to God

the honor of lifting up our hearts to him in sincere and earnest prayer. Moreover,

although the verb is properly rendered, I will lift up, yet I have followed other

interpreters in changing it into the past tense, I have lifted up By the future tense,

however, David denotes a CO�TI�UED act.

HAWKER, “We shall enjoy the spiritual sense of this beautiful Psalm still more if we behold Christ in it as the great Intercessor. For who, but Jesus, could undertake to say, I lift my soul unto thee? Who is this that engaged his heart to approach unto me? saith the Lord. Jer_30:21. And this view of Christ, as our High Priest, will by no means lessen, but rather heighten our confidence in those devout exercises.

E-SWORD, ““Unto thee, O Lord.” - See how the holy soul flies to its God like a dove to its cote. When the storm-winds are out, the Lord's vessels put about and make for their well-remembered harbour of refuge. What a mercy that the Lord will condescend to hear our cries in time of trouble, although we may have almost forgotten him in our hours of fancied prosperity. “Unto thee, O Jehovah, do I lift up my soul.” It is but mockery to uplift the hands and the eyes unless we also bring our souls into our devotions. True prayer may be described as the soul rising from earth to have fellowship with heaven; it is taking a journey upon Jacob's ladder, leaving our cares and fears at the foot, and meeting with a covenant God at the top. Very often the soul cannot rise, she has lost her wings, and is heavy and earth-bound; more like a burrowing mole than a soaring eagle. At such dull seasons we must not give over prayer, but must, by God's assistance, exert all our power to lift up our hearts. Let faith be the lever and grace be the arm, and the dead lump will yet be stirred. But what a lift it has sometimes proved! With all our tugging and straining we have been utterly defeated, until the heavenly loadstone of our Saviour's love has displayed its omnipotent attractions, and then our hearts have gone up to our Beloved

like mounting flames of fire.

MEYER, “ A PRAYER FOR PARDON AND PROTECTION

Psa_25:1-22

This is an acrostic or alphabetical psalm. The verses begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet, to aid the memory. So also in Psa_9:1-20; Psa_10:1-18; Psa_34:1-22; Psa_37:1-40; Psa_111:1-10; Psa_112:1-10; Psa_119:1-176; Psa_145:1-21. It repeats the same expressions several or more times, such as wait, Psa_25:3; Psa_25:5; Psa_25:21; ashamed, Psa_25:2-3; Psa_25:20; and teach, Psa_25:4-5; Psa_25:8-9; Psa_25:12.

Lift up your soul to God, that its darkness may flee before His light and your maladies be healed by His saving health. If you pray to be led and taught, be quiet and wait all the day, Psa_25:5. The anointing that you have received is all that you require, 1Jn_2:27. God’s holiness is no barrier but an encouragement to repentant sinners. Notice therefore, Psa_25:8, and compare with Mat_9:13 and Luk_15:1. What will not God do for the Name! Isa_63:14; Isa_63:16; Eze_36:22-23. For God’s secrets, see Gen_18:17; 1Co_2:9-10. Entrust God with the keeping of your soul and you will never be ashamed, Isa_49:23.

SPURGEO�, "Verse 1. Unto thee, O Lord. See how the holy soul flies to its God like

a dove to its cote. When the storm winds are out, the Lord's vessels put about and

make for their well remembered harbour of refuge. What a mercy that the Lord

will condescend to hear our cries in time of trouble, although we may have almost

forgotten him in our hours of fancied prosperity. Unto thee, O Jehovah, do I lift up

my soul. It is but a mockery to uplift the hands and the eyes unless we also bring our

souls into our devotions. True prayer may be described as the soul rising from earth

to have fellowship with heaven; it is taking a journey upon Jacob's ladder, leaving

our cares and fears at the foot, and meeting with a covenant God at the top. Very

often the soul cannot rise, she has lost her wings, and is heavy and earth bound;

more like a burrowing mole than a soaring eagle. At such dull seasons we must not

give over prayer, but must, by God's assistance, exert all our powers to lift up our

hearts. Let faith be the lever and grace be the arm, and the dead lump will yet be

stirred. But what a lift it has sometimes proved! With all our tugging and straining

we have been utterly defeated, until the heavenly loadstone of our Saviour's love has

displayed its omnipotent attractions, and then our hearts have gone up to our

Beloved like mounting flames of fire.

Verse 1. Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. The lifting up of the heart

presupposes a former dejection of his soul. The soul of man is pressed down with sin

and with the cares of this world, which, as lead doth the net, draweth is so down,

that it cannot mount above till God send spiritual prayers, as cork to the net, to

exalt it; which arise out of faith, as the flame doth out of the fire, and which must be

free of secular cares, and all things pressing down, which showeth unto us that

worldlings can no more pray than a mole is able to fly. But Christians are as eagles

which mount upward. Seeing then the heart of man by nature is fixed to the earth,

and of itself is no more able to rise therefrom than a stone which is fixed to the

ground, till God raises it by his power, word, and workmen; it should be our

principal petition to the Lord that it would please him to draw us, that we might run

after him; that he would exalt and lift up our hearts to heaven, that they may not lie

still in the puddle of this earth. Archibald Symson.

Verse 1. Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. A godly man prays as a builder

builds. �ow a builder first layeth a foundation, and because he cannot finish in one

day, he comes the second day, and finds the frame standing that he made the first

day, and then he adds a second day's work; and then he comes a third day and finds

his two former day's work standing; then he proceeds to a third day's work, and

makes walls to it, and so he goes on till his building be finished. So prayer is the

building of the soul till it reach up to heaven; therefore a godly heart prays, and

reacheth higher and higher in prayer, till at last his prayers reach up to God.

William Fenner.

Verse 1. Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul: unto thee in the fulness of thy

merits, unto thee in the riches of thy grace; unto thee in the embraces of thy love

and comforts of thy Spirit; unto thee, that thy thorns may be my crown, thy blood

my balsam, thy curse my blessing, thy death my life, thy cross my triumph. Thus is

my "life hid with Christ in God; "and if so, then where should be my soul, but

where is my life? And, therefore, unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. ...O make

good thy name of Lord unto me; as Lord, rebuke Satan and restrain all earthly and

carnal affections, that they do not once dare to whisper a temptation to my soul, a

distraction to my thoughts, whilst I am in communion with thee, in prayer at thy

holy ordinance. Do thou as Lord, rule me by thy grace, govern me by thy Spirit,

defend me by thy power, and crown me with thy salvation. Thou, Lord, the

preserver of heaven and earth, "thou openest thy hand, and satisfiest the desire of

every living thing." Ps 145:16. O open now thine hand, thy bosom, thy bounty, thy

love, and satisfy the desires of my longing soul, which I here "lift up unto thee."

Robert Mossom, 1657.

Verse 1. Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. Cyprian saith, that in the primitive

times the minister was wont to prepare the people's minds to pray, by prefacing,

Sursum corda, lift up your hearts. The Jews at this day write upon the walls of their

synagogues these words, Tephillah belo cavannah ceguph belo neshamah; that is, A

prayer without the intention of the affection is like a body without a soul. And yet

their devotion is a mere outside, saith one—a brainless head and a soulless body:

"This people draw nigh to me with their lips, but their heart is far from me." Isa

29:13. A carnal man can as little lift up his heart in prayer, as a mole can fly. A

David finds it a hard task; since the best heart is lumpish, and naturally beareth

downwards, as the poise of a clock, as the lead of a net. Let us therefore "lay aside

every weight, and the sin that doth so easily beset us; "and pray to God to draw us

up to himself, as the lodestone doth the iron. John Trapp.

Verse 1. Unto thee, I lift up my soul. This follows by a natural consequence after the

sublime appeal in the foregoing Psalm to the gates of heaven to lift up their heads to

receive Christ, the Lord of hosts and the King of glory, ascending into heaven. As

the Collect for Ascension day expresses it, "Grant O Lord, that like as we do believe

thy only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to have ascended into the heavens, so

we may also, in heart and mind thither ascend; "and for the Sunday after

Ascension, "O God, who hast exalted thine only Son with great triumph to thy

kingdom in heaven, send thy Holy Ghost to comfort us, and exalt us to the same

place, whither our Saviour Christ is gone before." Christopher Wordsworth, in loc.

Verse 1. I lift up my soul, alluding to the sacrifices, which were wont to be lifted up.

Hence prayers not answered, not accepted, are said to be stopped from ascending.

La 3:44. When you meet with such expressions in the Old Testament concerning

prayer, you must still understand them to be allusions to the sacrifices, because the

sacrifices were lifted up and did ascend. Joseph Caryl.

Verse 1. My soul. But how shall I call it mine, seeing it is thine, thine by purchase,

thine, having bought it with thy blood? Yea, is it not thy spouse, whom thou hast

wedded to thyself by the Spirit through faith? And is not this holy sacrament the

marriage feast? If so, sure then, my Jesus, I was lost in myself, till found in thee; and

therefore my soul is now, and not till now, truly mine, in being wholly thine; so that

I can say with confidence, "I lift up my soul unto thee." Robert Mossom.

BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR, “Unto Thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.David depressed

I. David was at this time in a state of great trouble. This is the children’s path; it is the path most of God’s family walk in. It is not an uncommon path. The Master trod the path before them, and told His people to expect tribulation. In this Psalm we see affliction in every variety. David traces his afflictions up to his sins (Psa_25:18). All sin is the cause of suffering. If no sin, no suffering. If no body there would be no shadow. There may have been some searching out of peculiar sins. Times of affliction are usually times of deep searching of heart.

II. David was at this time depressed. The very expression “lift up” implies a previous casting down. Verse 16, he says, “I am desolate and afflicted.” The believer, compared with the unbeliever, is a strong man; he must needs be strong. But the strongest is not always strong. All borrowed strength is of necessity strength that fluctuates. Creature strength is dependent strength, and therefore it is but comparative weakness. Faith’s wing does not always soar aloft; love does not always burn brightly. Unbelief always weakens. David looked to his troubles and was depressed. In our afflictions there are two especial dangers—that of despising them, as if they came fortuitously; and the danger of being encumbered and weighed down by them, looking at the circumstances, and not at the God of the circumstances.

III. David betakes himself to his remedy. The believer has but one remedy. The world talks of its many remedies, but all are ineffective. A general view of God, in the power of faith and by the power of the Holy Ghost, lifts up the soul. Nothing so lifts us up against soul trouble as when we are enabled to say, “O my God, I trust in Thee.” Is there anything above God’s promises? Yes, God Himself is above His promises, and the very substance of them. Our trust is in Him. (J. H. Evans, M. A.)

The nature of true prayer

This opening sentence is as if David had said, “Let others lift up their souls to vanity, I will dare to be singular, I will lift up my soul to Thee.” Holy resolution, blessed determination.

I. The realisation and recognition of the presence of God.

II. The abstraction from the influences of the world. “I will lift up my soul.”

III. The consecration and concentration of all the energies of the man. The consecration willing and loving. If the soul be lifted up all the powers are so.

IV. The results of such lifting up of the soul. We shall be—

1. Transported with the Divine nearness.

2. Transformed into the Divine likeness.

3. Translated into the Divine presence now and hereafter. (F. W. Brown.)

Uplifting the soul

It is not easy to do this. “My soul cleaveth unto the dust.” We may lift up hands and eyes and voices, but it is another thing to uplift the soul. Yet without this there is no real devotion. And the Christian will be no more satisfied than God. This marks the spiritual worshipper. He may have failed in words, but his soul has been lifted up to God. And the spirituality of religion is its enjoyment. It is good to draw near to God. Then we attend on the Lord without distraction. And when such a worshipper comes forth he will recommend Christ to others, and that not without effect. For his profiting will appear unto all men. His face shines. His heart speaks. His life speaks. His character speaks. He cannot but do good, even without design and without effort. (W. Jay.)

The uplift of the soul in prayer

Gotthold, in his Emblems, says, “Doves have been trained to fly from place to place, carrying letters in a basket fastened to their necks or feet. They are swift of flight; but our prayers and sighs are swifter, for they take but a moment to pass from earth to heaven, and bear the troubles of our heart to the heart of God. These messengers no hostile force can detain; they penetrate the clouds, never linger on the way, and never desist until the Most High attends. A tyrant may shut up a godly man in the deepest dungeon, immure him between massive walls, and forbid him all intercourse with his fellow men, but these messengers he cannot restrain; in defiance of all obstacles they report to the Omniscient the affliction of the victim, and bring back to him the Divine consolation.”

The lifting up of the soul to God

The names which he gives God are Jehovah and Elohim—the first taken from His nature, the other from His power; and he applieth them to himself, my strong Gods, including the persons of the Trinity. He leadeth us to God in our prayers, Whom have I in heaven but Thee? He that cometh to God must believe that God is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.

1. First, He must love thee, and then He will defend thee. Blessed is the people whose God is the Lord. Those are foolish who seek His protection, not first having assurance

of His love. If He be to thee Jehovah, then shall He also be to thee Elohim. His prayer is signified by his circumscription, “I lift up my soul to Thee”; and his faith, “I trust in Thee.” What is prayer but a lifting up of the heart to God, for the heart must first be affected, and then it will frame all the members of the body, and draw them up with it. Whereby it appeareth that there is no prayer or spiritual service acceptable to God but that which comes and is derived from the heart, “My son, give Me thy heart” Ye are praying, but your heart is as the eye of the fool everywhere. Sometimes ye are thinking of the earth, sometimes of your pleasure, sometimes sleeping, sometimes ye know not what ye are thinking. And sometimes your voice is repeating some idle and deaf sounds, your heart no whir being moved, but as a parrot, uttering uncertain sounds, or a bell, sounding it knows not what; so are ye with your mouth praising God, your heart being absented from Him.

2. Next, his faith is not carried about hither and thither, but only fixeth itself upon God.

3. Thirdly, the lifting up of the heart presupposeth a former dejection of his soul. (A. Symson.)

Phases of a pious soul

I. A pious soul rising to God. An indication of the true elevation of man; what is it?

1. The elevation of the soul, that is, the rational and spiritual nature, that which was the divinity within him.

2. It is the elevation of the soul to God. The soul going up in devout thought, in holy gratitude, in sublime adoration, in moral assimilation to the Infinite Jehovah.

3. It is the elevation of the soul to God by personal exertion. No man can lift up my soul for me.

II. A pious soul trusting in God. “O my God, I trust in Thee.” What does trust in the Lord imply?

1. A sense of dependency in the truster.

2. A belief in the sufficiency of the trusted.

III. A pious soul waiting upon God. “On Thee do I wait all the day.”

1. To wait means patience.

2. To wait means hope.

3. To wait means service.

IV. A pious soul praying to God. “Let none that wait on Thee be ashamed.” The prayer, from Psa_25:3-7, falls into two divisions.

1. Prayer for self.

(1) Prayer respecting Divine deliverance.

(2) Prayer respecting Divine guidance.

(3) Prayer respecting Divine remembrance.

2. Prayer for others.

(1) For success to the good.

(2) For defeat to the wicked. (Homilist.)

EBC 1-7. “THE recurrence of the phrase "lift up the soul" may have determined the place of this psalm next to Psa_24:1-10. It is acrostic, but with irregularities. As the text now stands, the second, not the first, word in Psa_25:2 begins with Beth; Vav is omitted or represented in the "and teach me" of the He verse (Psa_25:5); Qoph is also omitted, and its place taken by a supernumerary Resh, which letter has thus two verses (Psa_25:18-19); and Psa_25:22 begins with Pe, and is outside the scheme of the psalm, both as regards alphabetic structure and subject. The same peculiarities of deficient Vav and superfluous Pe verses reappear in another acrostic psalm (Psa_34:1-22), in which the initial word of the last verse is, as here, "redeem." Possibly the two psalms are connected.The fetters of the acrostic structure forbid freedom and progress of thought, and almost compel repetition. It is fitted for meditative reiteration of favourite emotions or familiar axioms, and results in a loosely twined wreath rather than in a column with base, shaft, and capital. A slight trace of consecution of parts may be noticed in the division of the verses (excluding Psa_25:22) into three sevens, of which the first is prayer, the second meditation on the Divine character and the blessings secured by covenant to them who fear Him, and the third is bent round, wreath-like, to meet the first, and is again prayer. Such alternation of petition and contemplation is like the heart’s beat of the religious life, now expanding in desire, now closing in possession. The psalm has no marks of occasion or period. It deals with the permanent elements in a devout man’s relation to God.

The first prayer section embraces the three standing needs: protection, guidance, and forgiveness. With these are intertwined their pleas according to the logic of faith-The suppliant’s uplifted desires and God’s eternal tenderness and manifested mercy. The order of mention of the needs proceeds from without inwards, for protection from enemies is superficial as compared with illumination as to duty, and deeper than even that, as well as prior in order of time (and therefore last in order of enumeration), is pardon. Similarly the pleas go deeper as they succeed each other; for the psalmist’s trust and waiting is superficial as compared with the plea breathed in the name of "the God of my salvation"; and that general designation leads to the gaze upon the ancient and changeless mercies, which constitute the measure and pattern of God’s working (according to, Psa_25:7), and upon the self-originated motive, which is the deepest and strongest of all arguments with Him (for Thy goodness’ sake, Psa_25:7).

A qualification of the guest in God’s house was in Psa_24:1-10, the negative one that he did not lift up his soul-i.e., set his desires-on the emptinesses of time and sense. Here the psalmist begins with the plea that he has set his on Jehovah, and, as the position of "Unto Thee, Jehovah," at the beginning shows, on Him alone. The very nature of such aspiration after God demands that it shall be exclusive. All in all or not at all is the requirement of true devotion, and such completeness is not attained without continual withdrawal of desire from created good. The tendrils of the heart must be untwined from other props before they can be wreathed round their true stay. The irregularity in Psa_25:2, where the second, not the first, word of the verse begins with Beth, may be attenuated by treating the Divine name as outside the acrostic order. An acute conjecture, however, that the last clause of Psa_25:5 really belongs to Psa_25:1 and should include "my God" now in Psa_25:2, has much in its favour. Its transposition restores to both verses the two-claused structure which runs through the psalm, gets rid of the acrostical anomaly, and emphasises the subsequent reference to those who wait on

Jehovah in Psa_25:3.

In that case Psa_25:2 begins with the requisite letter. It passes from plea to petition: "Let me not be shamed." Trust that was not vindicated by deliverance would cover the face with confusion. "Hopes that breed not shame" are the treasure of him whose hope is in Jehovah. Foes unnamed threaten; but the stress of the petitions in the first section of the psalm is less on enemies than on sins. One cry for protection from the former is all that the psalmist utters, and then his prayer swiftly, turns to deeper needs. In the last section the petitions are more exclusively for deliverance from enemies. Needful as such escape is, it is less needful than the knowledge of God’s ways, and the man in extremest peril orders his desires rightly, if he asks holiness first and safety second. The cry in Psa_25:2 rests upon the confidence nobly, expressed in Psa_25:3, in which the verbs are not optatives, but futures, declaring a truth certain to be realised in the psalmist’s experience, because it is true for all who, like him, wait on Jehovah. True prayer is the individual’s sheltering himself under the broad folds of the mantle that covers all who pray. The double confidence as to the waiters on Jehovah and the "treacherous without cause" is the summary of human experience as read by faith. Sense has much to adduce in contradiction, but the dictum is nevertheless true, only its truth does not always appear in the small arc of the circle which lies between cradle and grave.

The prayer for deliverance glides into that for guidance, since the latter is the deeper need, and the former will scarcely be answered unless the suppliant’s will docilely offers the latter. The soul lifted to Jehovah will long to know His will and submit itself to His manifold teachings. "Thy ways" and "Thy paths" necessarily mean here the ways in which Jehovah desires that the psalmist should go. "In Thy truth" is ambiguous, both as to the preposition and the noun. The clause may either present God’s truth (i.e., faithfulness) as His motive for answering the prayer, or His truth (i.e., the objective revelation) as the path for men. Predominant usage inclines to the former signification of the noun, but the possibility still remains of regarding God’s faithfulness as the path in which the psalmist desires to be led, i.e., to experience it. The cry for forgiveness strikes a deeper note of pathos, and, as asking a more wondrous blessing, grasps still more firmly the thought of what Jehovah is and always has been. The appeal is made to "Thy compassions and lovingkindnesses," as belonging to His nature, and to their past exercise as having been "from of old." Emboldened thus, the psalmist can look back on his own past, both on his outbursts of youthful passion and levity, which he calls "failures," as missing the mark, and on the darker evils of later manhood, which he calls "rebellions," and can trust that Jehovah will think upon him according to His mercy, and for the sake of His goodness or love. The vivid realisation of that Eternal Mercy as the very mainspring of God’s actions, and as setting forth, in many an ancient deed, the eternal pattern or His dealings, enables a man to bear the thought of his own sins.

2 I trust in you;

do not let me be put to shame,

nor let my enemies triumph over me.

BAR�ES, "O my God, I trust in thee - This is the first thought - a feeling that he had true confidence in God, and that in all the duties of life, in all his trials, and in all his hopes for the future, his reliance was on God alone.Let me not be ashamed - That is, let me never be so forsaken by thee as to have

occasion for shame that I have thus trusted in thee. The prayer is not that he might never be ashamed to avow and confess his trust in God, but that he might “find” God to be such a helper and friend that he might never be ashamed on account of the trust which he had put in Him, as if it had been a false reliance; that he might not be disappointed, and made to feel that he had done a foolish thing in confiding in One who was not able to help him. See the word explained in the notes at Job_6:20. Compare Isa_30:5; Jer_8:9; Jer_14:3-4.

Let not mine enemies triumph over me - This explains what the psalmist meant by his prayer that he might not be “ashamed,” or put to shame. He prayed that he might not be vanquished by his foes, and that it might not appear that he had trusted in a Being who was unable to defend him. Applied now to us, the prayer would imply a desire that we may not be so overcome by our spiritual foes as to bring dishonor on ourselves and on the cause which we profess to love; that we may not be held up to the world as those who are unable to maintain the warfare of faith, and exposed to scorn as those who are unfaithful to their trust; that we may not be so forsaken, so left to trial without consolation, so given over to sadness, melancholy, or despair, as to leave the world to say that reliance on God is vain, and that there is no advantage in being his friends.

CLARKE, "I trust in thee - I depend upon thy infinite goodness and mercy for my support and salvation.Let me not be ashamed - Hide my iniquity, and forgive my guilt.

GILL, "O my God, I trust in thee,.... He claims his interest in God, and expresses his faith and confidence in him, in the midst of all his troubles; See Gill on Psa_7:1;

let me not be ashamed; meaning of his trust in God, by being disappointed of the help, deliverance, and salvation from him, which he trusted in him for; and the believer, as he has no reason to be ashamed of God, the object of his trust; so neither of the act of his hope or trust in him; nor shall he; for hope makes not ashamed; see Psa_119:116, Rom_5:5;

let not mine enemies triumph over me; either his temporal enemies, his subjects that were risen up against him; or his spiritual enemies, Satan, and the men of the world, who rejoice and triumph when the saints are forsaken by God; and they are ready to say, as David's enemies did of him, there is no help or salvation for him in God, Psa_3:2; and when they fall into their hands, or fall by them.

HE�RY, "He professes his dependence upon God and begs for the benefit and comfort of that dependence (Psa_25:2): O my God! I trust in thee. His conscience witnessed for him that he had no confidence in himself nor in any creature, and that he had no diffidence of God or of his power or promise. He pleases himself with this profession of faith in God. Having put his trust in God, he is easy, is well satisfied, and quiet from the fear of evil; and he pleads it with God whose honour it is to help those that honour him

by trusting in him. What men put a confidence in is either their joy or their shame, according as it proves. Now David here, under the direction of faith, prays earnestly, 1. That shame might not be his lot: “Let me not be ashamed of my confidence in thee; let me not be shaken from it by any prevailing fears, and let me not be, in the issue, disappointed of what I depend upon thee for; but, Lord, keep what I have committed unto thee.” Note, If we make our confidence in God our stay, it shall not be our shame; and, if we triumph in him, our enemies shall not triumph over us, as they would if we should now sink under our fears, or should, in the issue, come short of our hopes. 2. That it might not be the lot of any that trusted in God. All the saints have obtained a like precious faith; and therefore, doubtless, it will be alike successful in the issue. Thus the communion of saints is kept up, even by their praying one for another. True saints will make supplication for all saints. It is certain that none who, by a believing attendance, wait on God, and, by a believing hope, wait for him, shall be made ashamed of it.

JAMISO�, "not be ashamed — by disappointment of hopes of relief.

HAWKER, “These are blessed promises, and blessed encouragements, to those which wait upon the Lord. Isa_65:24.

E-SWORD, ““O my God.” This title is more dear and near than the name Jehovah, which is used in the first sentence. Already the sweet singer has drawn nearer to his heavenly helper, for he makes bold to grasp him with the hand of assured possession, calling him, my God. Oh the more than celestial music of that word - “my God!” It is to be observed that the Psalmist does not deny expression to those gracious feelings with which God had favoured him; he does not fall into loathsome mock modesty, but finding in his soul a desire to seek the Lord he avows it; believing that he had a rightful interest in Jehovah he declares it, and knowing that he had confidence in his God he professes it; “O my God, I trust in thee.” Faith is the cable which binds our boat to the shore, and by pulling at it we draw ourselves to the land; faith unites us to God, and then draws us near to him. As long as the anchor of faith holds there is no fear in the worst tempest; if that should fail us there would be no hope left. We must see to it that our faith is sound and strong, for otherwise prayer cannot prevail with God. Woe to the warrior who throws away his shield; what defence can be found for him who finds no defence in God? “Let me not be ashamed.” Let not my disappointed hopes makes me feel ashamed of my former testimonies to thy faithfulness. Many were on the watch for this. The best of men have their enemies, and should pray against them that they may not see their wicked desires accomplished. “Let not mine enemies triumph over me.” Suffer no wicked mouth to make blasphemous mirth out of my distresses by asking “Where is thy God?” There is a great jealousy in believers for the honour of God, and they cannot endure that unbelievers should taunt them with the failure of their expectations from the God of their salvation. All other trusts will end in disappointment and eternal shame, but our confidences shall never be confounded.

CALVI�, "2.O my God! I have put my trust in thee. By this verse we learn, (what will appear

more clearly afterwards,) that David had to do with men; but as he was persuaded that his enemies were, as it were, the scourges of God, he with good reason asks that God would restrain them by

his power, lest they should become more insolent, and CONTINUE , to exceed all bounds. By the word trust he confirms what he had just said of the lifting up of his soul to God; for the term is employed either as descriptive of the way in which the souls of the faithful are lifted up, or else faith

and hope are added as the cause of such an effect, namely, the lifting up of the soul. And, indeed, these are the wings by which our souls, rising above this world, are lifted up to God. David, then, was carried upward to God with the whole desire of his heart, because, trusting to his promises, he thereby hoped for sure salvation. When he asks that God would not suffer him to be put to shame, he offers up a prayer which is taken from the ordinary doctrine of Scripture, namely, that they who trust in God shall never be ashamed. The reason which is added, and which he here pleads, to induce God to have pity upon him, ought also to be noticed. It is this, that he might not be exposed to the derision of his enemies, whose pride is no less hurtful to the feelings of the godly than it is displeasing to God.

SPURGEO�, "Verse 2. O my God. This title is more dear than the name Jehovah,

which is used in the first sentence. Already the sweet singer has drawn nearer to his

heavenly helper, for he makes bold to grasp him with the hand of assured

possession, calling him, my God. Oh the more than celestial music of that word

—"My God!" It is to be observed that the psalmist does not deny expression to

those gracious feelings with which God had favoured him; he does not fall into

loathsome mock modesty, but finding in his soul a desire to seek the Lord he avows

it; believing that he had a rightful interest in Jehovah he declares it, and knowing

that he had confidence in his God he professes it; O my God, I trust in thee. Faith is

the cable which binds our boat to the shore, and by pulling at it we draw ourselves

to the land; faith unites us to God, and then draws us near to him. As long as the

anchor of faith holds there is no fear in the worst tempest; if that should fail us there

would be no hope left. We must see to it that our faith is sound and strong, for

otherwise prayer cannot prevail with God. Woe to the warrior who throws away his

shield; what defence can be found for him who finds no defence in his God? Let me

not be ashamed. Let no my disappointed hopes make me feel ashamed of my former

testimonies of thy faithfulness. Many were on the watch for this. The best of men

have their enemies, and should pray against them that they may not see their wicked

desires accomplished. Let not mine enemies triumph over me. Suffer no wicked

mouth to make blasphemous mirth out of my distresses by asking, "Where is thy

God?" There is a great jealousy in believers for the honour of God, and they cannot

endure that unbelievers should taunt them with the failure of their expectations

from the God of their salvation. All other trusts will end in disappointment and

eternal shame, but our confidence shall never be confounded.

Verses 2-3. When David had prayed, O my God, I trust in thee; let me not be

ashamed! In the next verse, as if conscious to himself that his prayers were too

restrictive, narrow, and niggardly, he enlargeth the bounds thereof, and builds them

on a broader bottom, "Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed." Thus it is that

charity in the midst of our religious devotions must have rehoboth (room enough to

expatiate in). Our petitions must not be pent or confined to our own private good,

but extended to the benefit of all God's servants, in what condition soever. Thomas

Fuller.

3 �o one who hopes in you

will ever be put to shame,

but shame will come on those

who are treacherous without cause.

BAR�ES, "Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed - To “wait on the Lord” is an expression denoting true piety, as indicating our dependence on him, and as implying that we look to Him for the command that is to regulate our conduct and for the grace needful to protect and save us. Compare Isa_40:31. See also Isa_8:17; Isa_30:18; Psa_40:1; Psa_69:3. This petition is indicative of the wish of the pious heart that none who profess to serve God may ever be put to shame; that they may never be overcome by sin; that they may never fall under the power of temptation; that they may not fail of eternal salvation.Let them be ashamed which transgress without cause - This does not imply

that any sinners transgress otherwise than without cause, or that they have any good reason for sinning; but it brings into view a prominent thought in regard to sin, that it is without cause. If the wicked had any good reason for their course of life - if they were compelled to do wrong - if the temptations under which they act were so powerful that they could not resist them - if they were not voluntary in their transgressions - then true benevolence would demand of us the prayer that they might not be confounded or put to shame. However, since none of these circumstances occur in the case of the sinner, there is no lack of benevolence in praying that all the workers of evil may be put to confusion; that is, that they may not triumph in an evil course, but that their plans may be defeated, and that they may be arrested in their career. There is no benevolence in desiring the triumph of wickedness; there is no lack of benevolence in praying that all the plans of wicked men may be confounded, and all the purposes of evil be frustrated. True benevolence requires us to pray that all their plans may be arrested, and that the sinner may not be successful in his career. A person may be certain that he is acting out the principles of benevolence when he endeavors to prevent the consummation of the plans and the desires of the wicked.

CLARKE, "Let none that wait on thee be ashamed - Though he had burden enough of his own, he felt for others in similar circumstances, and became an intercessor in their behalf.

Transgress without cause - Perhaps בוגדים bogedim may here mean idolatrous persons. “Let not them that wait upon and worship thee be ashamed: but they shall be ashamed who vainly worship, or trust in false gods.” See Mal_2:11-16. The Chaldeans have evil entreated us, and oppressed us: they trust in their idols, let them see the vanity of their idolatry.

GILL, "Let none that wait on thee be ashamed - Though he had burden enough of his own, he felt for others in similar circumstances, and became an intercessor in their behalf.

Transgress without cause - Perhaps בוגדים bogedim may here mean idolatrous persons. “Let not them that wait upon and worship thee be ashamed: but they shall be ashamed who vainly worship, or trust in false gods.” See Mal_2:11-16. The Chaldeans have evil entreated us, and oppressed us: they trust in their idols, let them see the vanity of their idolatry.

HE�RY, "That it might be the lot of the transgressors; Let those be ashamed that transgress without cause, or vainly, as the word is. (1.) Upon no provocation. They revolt from God and their duty, from David and his government (so some), without any occasion given them, not being able to pretend any iniquity they have found in God, or that in any thing he has wearied them. The weaker the temptation is by which men are drawn to sin the stronger the corruption is by which they are driven by it. Those are the worst transgressors that sin for sinning-sake. (2.) To no purpose. They know their attempts against God are fruitless; they imagine a vain thing, and therefore they will soon be ashamed of it.

JAMISO�, "The prayer generalized as to all who wait on God - that is, who expect His favor. On the other hand, the disappointment of the perfidious, who, unprovoked, have done evil, is invoked (compare 2Sa_22:9).

E-SWORD, ““Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed.” Suffering enlarges the heart by creating the power to sympathize. If we pray eagerly for ourselves, we shall not long be able to forget our fellow-sufferers. None pity the poor like those who have been or are still poor, none have such tenderness for the sick as those who have been long in ill health themselves. We ought to be grateful for occasional griefs if they preserve us from chronic hard-heartedness; for of all afflictions, an unkind heart is the worst, it is a plague to its possessor, and a torment to those around him. Prayer when it is of the Holy Ghost's teaching is never selfish; the believer does not sue for monopolies for himself, but would have all in like case to partake of divine mercy with him. The prayer may be viewed as a promise; our Heavenly Father will never let his trustful children find him untrue or unkind. He will ever be mindful of his covenant. “Let them be ashamed which transgress without cause.” David had given his enemies no provocation; their hatred was wanton. Sinners have no justifiable reason or valid excuse for transgressing; they benefit no one, not even themselves by their sins; the law against which they transgress is not harsh or unjust; God is not a tyrannical ruler, providence is not a bondage: men sin because they will sin, not because it is either profitable or reasonable to do so. Hence shame is their fitting reward. May they blush with penitential shame now, or else they will not be able to escape the everlasting contempt and the bitter shame which is the promotion of fools in the world to come.

CALVI�, "3.Yea, none of those, etc. If these words should be explained in the form of a desire,

as if David had said, Let none who wait on thee be put to shame, (553) then, in this verse,

he CONTINUES his prayer, and extends to all the faithful in common what he had spoken of

himself alone. But I am rather inclined to understand the words in a different sense, and to view them as meaning that David shows the fruit of divine grace which should proceed from his deliverance. And there is peculiar force in the word yea; for as he knew that he was seen by many,

and that the report of his confidence in God was widely spread, his meaning is, that what shall be done in his person shall extend far and wide, as an example to others, and shall have the effect of reviving and animating all the children of God, on the one hand, and of casting to the ground the arrogance of the wicked, on the other. The words might also be understood in another sense, namely, that David, for the strengthening of his faith, sets before himself a promise which God frequently makes in his word. But the sense in which I have interpreted them seems to be more suitable. By the wicked that deal falsely without cause, he no doubt means especially his enemies. Accordingly, he declares that when he is delivered he will not enjoy exclusively the benefit of it; but that its fruit shall extend to all true believers; just as on the other hand, the faith of many would have been shaken if he had been forsaken of God. In the last clause of the verse, which he puts in opposition to the first, he argues that when the wicked lie confounded, it redounds to the glory of God, because the vaunting in which they indulge in their prosperity is an open mockery of God, while, in despite of his judgment, they break forth more boldly in doing evil. When he adds, without cause, it only tends to show the aggravated nature of the offense. The wickedness of a man is always the more intolerable, when, unprovoked by wrongs, he sets himself, of his own accord, to injure the innocent and blameless.

SPURGEO�, "Verse 3. Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed. Suffering

enlarges the heart by creating the power to sympathize. If we pray eagerly for

ourselves, we shall not long be able to forget our fellow sufferers. �one pity the poor

like those who have been or are still poor, none have such tenderness for the sick as

those who have been long in ill health themselves. We ought to be grateful for

occasional griefs if they preserve us from chronic hardheartedness; for of all

afflictions, an unkind heart is the worst, it is a plague to its possessor, and a torment

to those around him. Prayer when it is of the Holy Ghost's teaching is never selfish;

the believer does not sue for monopolies for himself, but would have all in like case

to partake of divine mercy with him. The prayer may be viewed as a promise; our

Heavenly Father will never let his trustful children find him untrue or unkind. He

will ever be mindful of his covenant. Let them be ashamed which transgress without

cause. David had given his enemies no provocation; their hatred was wanton.

Sinners have no justifiable reason or valid excuse for transgressing; they benefit no

one, not even themselves by their sins; the law against which they transgress is not

harsh or unjust; God is not a tyrannical ruler, providence is not a bondage: men sin

because they will sin, not because it is either profitable or reasonable to do so. Hence

shame is their fitting reward. May they blush with penitential shame now, or else

they will not be able to escape the everlasting contempt and the bitter shame which

is the portion of fools in the world to come.

Verse 3. Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed. To wit, neither by their own

disappointments, nor mine. For this last some add because if he should fail of his

hopes, he knew this would be a great discouragement to others. Arthur Jackson,

M.A., 1593-1666.

Verse 3. Let them be ashamed which transgress without cause. All persons who

transgress, do it, in some sense, without cause; since they cannot excuse of justify

their conduct. God is so amiable and excellent in every part of his great name, that

he deserves our constant reverence and love. His law is so holy, just, and good, and

all his precepts concerning all things so righteous and calculated to make us happy,

that the mouth of every transgressor must be stopped. Hence we must all be covered

with shame, if dealt with according to our deserts, for all have sinned. But since God

has promised to be merciful to those who truly repent, and unfeignedly believe his

holy gospel, shame will be the portion of those only who wilfully persist in their

wickedness, and refuse to return to God by Jesus Christ. These then are the persons

whom the psalmist speaks of as transgressing without cause, and doubtless these

have no cloak for their sin. William Richardson, 1825.

Verse 3. Let them be ashamed which transgress without cause. Let shame be sent to

the right owner, even to those that deal disloyally, unprovoked on my part. And so it

was; for Achitophel hanged himself; Absalom was trussed up by the hand of God,

and dispatched by Joab; the people that conspired with him, partly perished by the

sword, and partly fled home, much ashamed of their enterprise. Oh, the power of

prayer! What may not the saints have for asking? John Trapp.

4 Show me YOUR ways, Lord,

teach me your paths.

BAR�ES, "Show me thy ways, O Lord - The “ways” of God are His methods of administering the affairs of the world; His dispensations; the rules which He has prescribed for Himself in the execution of His plans; the great laws by which He governs the universe. Deu_32:4, “all his ways are judgment; a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.” The prayer of the psalmist is, that he may be able to understand the methods of the divine government; the principles upon which God bestows happiness and salvation; the rules which He has been pleased to prescribe for human conduct; the arrangements by which He confers favors upon mankind; the scheme by which He saves people. The idea evidently is that he might understand so much of this as to regulate his own conduct aright; that he might not lean upon his own understanding, or trust to His own guidance, but that He might always be under the guidance and direction of God.Teach me thy paths - The paths which thou dost take; to wit, as before, in

administering the affairs of the world. The prayer is expressive of a desire to be wholly under the direction of God.

CLARKE, "Show me thy ways - The psalmist wishes to know God’s way, to be taught his path, and to be led into his truth. He cannot discern this way unless God show it; he cannot learn the path unless God teach it; and he cannot walk in God’s truth unless God lead him: and even then, unless God continue to teach, he shall never fully learn the lessons of his salvation; therefore he adds, “Lead me in thy truth, and teach me;” Psa_25:5.That he may get this showing, teaching, and leading, he comes to God, as the “God of

his salvation;” and that he may not lose his labor, he “waits on him all the day.” Many

lose the benefit of their earnest prayers, because they do not persevere in them. They pray for a time; get remiss or discouraged; restrain prayer; and thus lose all that was already wrought for and in them.

GILL, "Show me thy ways, O Lord,.... Either those which the Lord himself took and walked in; as those of creation and providence, in which he has displayed his power, wisdom, and goodness; and which are desirable to be known by his people, and require divine instruction and direction; and particularly his ways of grace, mercy, and truth, and the methods he has taken for the salvation of his people, both in eternity and in time; or those ways which he orders and directs his people to walk in; namely, the paths of duty, the ways of his worship and ordinances; a greater knowledge of which good men desire to have, as well as more grace to enable them to walk more closely and constantly in them;

teach me thy paths; a petition the same with the other, in different words.

HE�RY, " He begs direction from God in the way of his duty, Psa_25:4, Psa_25:5. Once and again he here prays to God to teach him. He was a knowing man himself, but the most intelligent, the most observant, both need and desire to be taught of God; from him we must be ever learning. Observe,1. What he desired to learn: “Teach me, not fine words or fine notions, but thy ways,

thy paths, thy truth, the ways in which thou walkest towards men, which are all mercy and truth (Psa_25:10), and the ways in which thou wouldst have me to walk towards thee.” Those are best taught who understand their duty, and know the good things they should do, Ecc_2:3. God's paths and his truth are the same; divine laws are all founded upon divine truths. The way of God's precepts is the way of truth, Psa_119:30. Christ is both the way and the truth, and therefore we must learn Christ.

2. What he desired of God, in order to this. (1.) That he would enlighten his understanding concerning his duty: “Show me thy way, and so teach me.” In doubtful cases we should pray earnestly that God would make it plain to us what he would have us to do. (2.) That he would incline his will to do it, and strengthen him in it: “Lead me, and so teach me.” Not only as we lead one that is dimsighted, to keep him from missing his way, but as we lead one that is sick, and feeble, and faint, to help him forward in the way and to keep him from fainting and falling. We go no further in the way to heaven than God is pleased to lead us and to hold us up.

JAMISO�, "On the ground of former favor, he invokes divine guidance, according to God’s gracious ways of dealing and faithfulness.

HAWKER, “There is a beautiful order in these expressions; first to be shown, then to be taught, and then to be led, in the path of grace. How, blessed it is to have the Spirit to teach, the Spirit to lead, and Jesus himself to be the way. And all this because God in Christ is every poor sinner’s salvation that trusteth in him.

E-SWORD, ““Shew me thy ways, O Lord.” Unsanctified natures clamour for their own way, but gracious spirits cry, “Not my will, but thine be done.” We cannot at all times discern the path of duty, and at such times it is our wisdom to apply to the Lord himself. Frequently the dealings of God with us are mysterious, and then also we may appeal to him as his own interpreter, and in due time he will make all things plain. Moral,

providential and mental forms of guidance are all precious gifts of a gracious God to a teachable people. The second petition, “teach me thy paths,” appears to mean more than the first, and may be illustrated by the case of a little child who should say to his father, “Father, first tell me which is the way, and then teach my little trembling feet to walk in it.” What weak dependent creatures we are! How constantly we cry to the strong for strength!

CALVI�, "4.O Jehovah! make me to know thy ways. By the ways of the Lord, David sometimes

means, as we have seen in another place, the happy and prosperous issue of affairs, but more frequently he uses this expression to denote the rule of a holy and righteous life. As the term truth occurs in the immediately following verse, the prayer which he offers up in this place is, in my opinion, to this effect: Lord, keep thy servant in the firm persuasion of thy promises, and do not suffer him to turn aside to the right hand or to the left. When our minds are thus composed to patience, we undertake nothing rashly or by improper means, but depend wholly upon the providence of God. Accordingly, in this place David desires not merely to be directed by the Spirit of God, lest he should err from the right way, but also that God would clearly manifest to him his truth and faithfulness in the promises of his word, that he might live in peace before him, and be free from

all impatience. (554) If any one would rather take the words in a general sense, as if David

committed himself wholly to God to be governed by him, I do not object to it. As, however, I think it probable, that, under the name of truth in the next verse, he explains what he means by the ways and paths of God, of which he here speaks, I have no hesitation in referring the prayer to this circumstance, namely, that David, afraid of yielding to the feeling of impatience, or the desire of revenge, or some extravagant and unlawful impulse, asks that the promises of God may be deeply impressed and engraven on his heart. For I have said before, that as long as this thought prevails in our minds, that God takes care of us, it is the best and most powerful means for resisting temptations. If, however, by the ways and paths of God, any would rather understand his doctrine, I, nevertheless, still hold this as a settled point, that in the language of the Psalmist there is an allusion to those sudden and irregular emotions which arise in our minds when we are tossed by adversity, and by which we are precipitated into the devious and deceitful paths of error, till they are in due time subdued or allayed by the word of God. Thus the meaning is, Whatever may happen, suffer me not, O Lord, to fall from thy ways, or to be carried away by a wilful disobedience to thy authority, or any other sinful desire; but rather let thy truth preserve me in a state of quiet repose and peace, by an humble submission to it. Moreover, although he frequently repeats the same thing, asking that God would make him to know his ways, and teach him in them, and lead him in his truth, there is no redundancy in these forms of speech. Our adversities are often like mists which darken the eyes; and every one knows from his own experience how difficult a thing it is, while

these CLOUDS of darkness continue, to discern in what way we ought to walk. But if David, so

distinguished a prophet and endued with so much wisdom, stood in need of divine instruction, what shall become of us if, in our afflictions, God dispel not from our minds those clouds of darkness which prevent us from seeing his light? As often, then, as any temptation may assail us, we ought always to pray that God would make the light of his truth to shine upon us, lest, by having recourse to sinful devices, we should go astray, and wander into devious and forbidden paths.

SPURGEO�, "Verse 4. Shew me thy ways, O Lord. Unsanctified natures clamour

for their own way, but gracious spirits cry, "�ot my will, but thine be done." We

cannot at all times discern the path of duty, and at such times it is our wisdom to

apply to the Lord himself. Frequently the dealings of God with us are mysterious,

and then also we may appeal to him as his own interpreter, and in due time he will

make all things plain. Moral, providential and mental forms of guidance are all

precious gifts of a gracious God to a teachable people. The second petition, teach me

thy paths, appears to mean more than the first, and may be illustrated by the case of

a little child who should say to his father, "Father, first tell me which is the way, and

then teach my little trembling feet to walk in it." What weak dependent creatures

we are! How constantly should we cry to the Strong for strength!

Verse 4. Shew me thy ways, O Lord, etc. There are the "ways" of men, and the

"ways"of God; the "paths" of sin, and the "paths" of righteousness: there are "thy

ways, "and there are my ways; thine the ways of truth, mine the ways of error; thine

which are good in thine eyes, and mine which are good in mine eyes; thine which

lead to heaven, mine which lead to hell. Wherefore, Shew me thy ways, O Lord;

teach me thy paths, lest I mistake mine own ways for thine; yea, lead me in the

truth, and teach me, lest I turn out of thy ways into mine own: shew me thy ways, by

the ministry of thy word; teach me thy paths, in the guidance of thy Spirit, "lead me

in thy truth, "by the assistance of thy grace. Robert Mossom.

Verses 4-5, 9. Do what you know, and God will teach you what to do. Do what you

know to be your present duty, and God will acquaint you with your future duty as it

comes to be present. Make it your business to avoid known omissions, and God will

keep you from feared commissions. This rule is of great moment, and therefore I

will charge it upon you by express Scripture. Shew me thy ways, O Lord, i.e., those

ways wherein I cannot err. Teach me thy paths, i.e., that narrow path which is too

commonly unknown, those commands that are most strict and difficult, Verse 5.

Lead me in thy truth, and teach me, i.e., teach me evidently, that I may not be

deceived; so teach me, that I may not only know thy will, but do it. Here's his

prayer, but what grounds hath he to expect audience? For thou art the God of my

salvation, q.d., thou Lord, wilt save me, and therefore do not refuse to teach me. On

thee do I wait all the day, i.e., the whole day, and every day. Other arguments are

couched in the following verses, but what answer? Verse 9. The meek will he guide

in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way, i.e., those that submit their neck to

his yoke, those that are not conceited that they can guide themselves; in necessary,

great and weighty matters they shall not err. Samuel Annesley, D.D. (1620-1696), in

"Morning Exercises at Cripplegate."

BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR, “Shew me Thy ways, O Lord; and teach me Thy paths.Divine authority upon earth

All right-minded men will agree with Matthew Arnold’s famous saying, that “Conduct is three-fourths of human life.” It will be also admitted that the professed aim of all Churches and religious societies is to regulate and improve conduct. Sometimes, alas! orthodoxy, or right opinion, has been put not merely first, but by itself alone as the one chief aim to be enforced by the clergy, and to be accepted by the laity. But it seems only fair to say that these were examples of departure from the original ideal of a Church and its purpose. The claim of Divine authority to control the minds, hearts, and lives of the people, and to interfere even forcibly with individual freedom of thought and action, was designed, in the first instance, for the welfare of society and the moral elevation of its various members, and in that light must not be ruthlessly condemned. But the principle was liable to abuse, and the mischiefs wrought by its abuse have been terrible. They have been the cause of conflict which will continue as long as the claim of Divine authority is made on the one hand, and the sense of a God-given right to individual freedom remains on the other. What is the mischief that we want to remedy? It is the belief in the “Divine” authority of that which is but “human”; and as a consequence, the separation of the

human soul from personal and direct intercourse with God—the substitution, in short, of the human for the Divine. We have these objections to it which are fatal.

I. That it is false. It is sufficient to expose the fallacy of the argument by which the claim of Divine authority is defended. And nothing is easier than this. The Church of Rome asserts, without proof, that God Himself lived on earth in the Person of Jesus, who transmitted, or delegated, His Divine power and authority first to the apostles, and subsequently to the Church founded by them, and to every succeeding head or pope of that Church; and that this Divine authority extends to matters of faith, i.e. doctrines to be believed, to rites and ceremonies, and to discipline and morals. Over all these, at least, the authority of the Church is claimed to be identical with the authority of God. But when we reverently ask on what ground we must accept the alleged Divine authority of Jesus, in the first instance, we are distinctly told that we must take all that on the authority of the Church. This is arguing in a circle.

II. The claim is needless. That is to say, men would get on in all things good, in the attainment of truth, in the adoption of religious ceremonies, and in the practice of virtue, quite as well without a divinely instituted Church as with it. It is not hard to show that the absence of belief in the claim to Divine authority has not been generally followed by any detrimental results either to religion or virtue. What is true and good and useful is entirely discoverable without the aid of miraculous revelation. It may be argued, this claim is needful, because the mass of men will not, or cannot, think for themselves; and the vast majority crave for certainty in things Divine, which certainly they cannot attain without the intervention of a divinely appointed authority upon earth. Because men crave for an external authority in matters of faith and duty, does not involve that they really need the authority they desire. (Charles Voysey, B. A.)

A prayer for Divine enlightenment

The text expresses the sincere desire of every Christian. He feels that he needs a Divine Teacher to enable him to understand Divine truth and obey the Divine precepts. Hence he approaches the fountain of all wisdom with the prayer of the text.

I. A prayer for Divine enlightenment.

1. The importance of a knowledge of God’s ways.

2. A willingness to follow Divine teaching. Every Christian is a learner, conscious of his own ignorance, and anxious to be divinely taught, he is prepared to renounce everything in his creed and conduct not in harmony with the Word of God.

3. A willingness to obey Divine teachings.” “Lead me in Thy paths.” We must first know God’s will, then do it.

II. God is the Teacher of His people. How does He teach? Human spirit can speak with human spirit. Who shall dare to say that the human spirit cannot be communicated with by the Divine?

1. By His Word.

2. By His Spirit.

3. By His providence.

III. The Psalmist’s method of obtaining the Divine teaching. “On Thee do I wait all the day.”

1. Wait humbly.

2. Wait earnestly.

3. Wait believingly.

4. Wait perseveringly.

5. God’s response to prayer is certain.

Let us have confidence in God. If the greatest Being deserves the profoundest reverence; if the kindest Being deserves the heartiest thanks; and if the best of Beings deserves the warmest love, then our highest reverence, thanks, and love are due to God. (H. Woodcock.)

Taught in God’s ways

In this verse are contained—

1. The Person whom he implores, Jehovah; whom he describeth, leading him, teaching him, receiving him in favour, and nourishing him (Psa_25:4-6; Psa_7:1-17).

2. What he seeks. God’s ways.

3. By what means? Teach me, and lead me.

4. The reason. Because Thou art my God, and I trust in Thee. So should pastors do. Who would be a good master, let him be a good apprentice; and this same should all private Christians desire, that God would teach them that way which will please Him best, even His own ways. (A. Symson.)

The knowledge of God in His ways

Two ways in which we may understand this Psalm. The writer may mean it as a prayer for direction, that he may be taught what to do, how to walk so as to please God. Or that God would declare Himself to the petitioner, and manifest to him what he is doing; that God would show His own ways to David, and teach him the issue of the hidden paths in which he was walking towards Him; not the paths the writer ought to follow, but those which the Almighty was pursuing. Consider this latter view. Such petitions and such complaints are common in the Scriptures, and natural to the heart of man. They are found in the secret thoughts, and not seldom in the expressed prayers of experienced and advanced Christians. Job was no common adept in the use of grace, and yet he earnestly begs, Show me wherefore Thou contendest with me. Jeremiah was a deeply exercised man, yet he could plainly perceive the difference in his own mind between belief and faith, between principle and practice. He says to God, “Let me talk with Thee of Thy judgments.” In the text the Psalmist appears to have the natural feeling more subdued. He cannot tell what God is doing. It is all dark and mysterious, and probably he thought that on that account he could not learn any lesson of wisdom from it: a conclusion which does by no means follow. It is not, “Show me Thy way, O Lord,” but ways; plural, not singular, not as though it were one and definite. What is mysterious, but intricate and manifold, often crossing one another, and apparently inexplicable, on account of seeming contradictions; not merely such as we do not understand on account of our ignorance, but such as seem impossible to be explained, because of their contrariety in themselves. And in very deed this is often the appearance of the ways of God. They are

not only so plural, but so infinite in their plurality; so intertwined with and intersecting each other that there is reason to believe that if they were fully laid open to our view we would not be able to understand them, so intricate is their network. There is not a circumstance that occurs to ourselves or to others that is not an organised part of God’s instrumentality for bringing His purposes to pass. Consider the ways in which God deals with a soul in mercy.

1. In awakening, warning, and opening the eyes.

2. God’s ways in securing to Himself the heart of His child on earth are oftentimes perplexing. Discipline may succeed when love fails.

3. The ways in which a soul is led to feel after and find the Lord. No one can tell beforehand of another or of himself what will be the effective way, or what will fail.

4. It is the same in the teaching and building up of a soul. (G. Jeans, M. A.)

David’s desire in the time of trouble

I. The petition. David may have meant, “Show me Thy ways, O Lord, in Thy providence.” He may have wished a clearer insight into the great ways of God in His grace. He may have desired to know more distinctly the path in which he should walk. See how earnestly he urges his plea: he has every sort of motive in it. There is the plea of blindness, of ignorance, of utter weakness.

II. The plea.

1. “Thou art the God of my salvation.”

2. It is the God of my salvation.

3. He says, “On Thee do I wait all the day,” that is, throughout the whole day. Points for consideration. See what the true mark of a spiritual man is. See that God’s ways are always deep. His providence—how often it is intricate. The administrations of His grace—how profound they are.

4. See the humbleness of sanctified affliction. Sanctified affliction, because it is quite a mistake to suppose that all affliction is blessed to a child of God. It may ultimately tend to good, but there are many afflictions that are not immediate blessings to him. (J. H. Evans, M. A.)

O Lord, teach me Thy loaths.—

The Lord’s path

The wicked say to God, Depart from us, we desire not the knowledge of Thy ways; the good man acknowledges God in everything, and he commits himself entirely to His guidance and guardian care.

I. The prayer. The subject of the prayer—“Lord’s paths.”

1. Paths of Divine providence. Often dark, mysterious—always wise and right and good.

2. Paths of grace. Way of holiness, happiness, etc. Way through the desert to Canaan. Sometimes obscure and clouded. Pillar of cloud necessary.

3. Paths of duty. “Lord, what wouldest Thou have me to do?” Duty and ease, duty and interest, duty and desires, often at variance.

The prayer itself is for Divine teaching—“Lord, teach me.” Here is an admission of ignorance, of insufficiency, of anxiety, and of application to the right source. “Lord, teach me”—

1. Clearly to understand Thy paths.

2. Heartily to approve of them.

3. Constantly to walk in them. Notice—

II. The importance of this prayer. It is important to our intellectual and spiritual improvement. To grow in knowledge, path shine more and more, etc. (2Pe_1:5). (J. Burns, D. D.)

5 Guide me in your truth and teach me,

for you are God my Savior,

and my hope is in you all day long.

BAR�ES, "Lead me in thy truth - In the way which thou regardest as truth, or which thou seest to be true. Truth is eternal and unchanging. What God sees and regards as truth is true, because he sees things as they are; and when we have the divine estimate of anything, we understand what the thing is. It is not that he makes it to be true, but that he sees it to be true. Such is the perfection of His nature that we have the utmost assurance that what God regards as truth is truth; what He proclaims to be right is right. It is then His truth, as He adopts it for the rule of His own conduct, and makes it known to His creatures to guide them.And teach me - Since this would be understood by the psalmist, it would be a prayer

that God would teach him by His law as then made known; by His Spirit in the heart; by the dispensations of His providence. As applicable to us, it is a prayer that He would instruct us by all the truths then made known, and all that have since been revealed; by His Spirit in its influences on our hearts; by the events which are occurring around us; by the “accumulated” truth of ages; the knowledge which by all the methods He employs He has imparted to people for their guidance and direction.

For thou art the God of my salvation - The word “salvation” is not to be understood here in the sense in which it is now commonly used, as denoting deliverance from sin and future ruin, but in the more general sense of “deliverance” - deliverance from danger and death. The phrase is synonymous with “preservation,” and the idea is that the psalmist regarded God as his preserver; or that he owed his protection and safety in the time of danger to Him alone.

On thee do I wait - That is, I rely on Thee; or, I am dependent on Thee. He had no

other source of reliance or dependence.

All the day - Continually, always. He was really dependent upon Him at all times, and he felt that dependence. It is always true that we are dependent upon God for everything; it is not true that we always feel this. It was a characteristic of the piety of the psalmist that he did feel this.

CLARKE, "On thee do I wait - This is the line in which ו vau, the sixth letter in the

order of the alphabet, is lost; for the line begins with א aleph, אותך othecha, “on thee.” But

four of Kennicott’s and De Rossi’s MSS. have ואותך veothecha, “And upon thee.” This

restores the lost ו vau, which signifies “and.” The Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate, Arabic, Ethiopic, and Anglo-Saxon, preserve it.

GILL, "Lead me in thy truth, and teach me,.... Meaning the word of God, the Scriptures of truth; and the Gospel, which is the word of truth, and truth itself, Joh_17:17; and the sense is, either that God would lead him by his Spirit more and more into all truth, as contained in his word; or that he would lead him by it and according to it, that he might form his principles and his conduct more agreeably to it, which is the standard and rule of faith and practice: which leading is by teaching; and reasons urged for granting all the above petitions follow,

for thou art the God of my salvation; who, in infinite wisdom, contrived scheme and method of it in his Son, and by him effected it, and by his Spirit had made application of it to him: and since the Lord had done such great things for him, he hoped the requests he had made would be granted: he adds,

on thee do I wait all the day; or continually, in public and in private, attending to all the duties of religion, yet not trusting in them, but in the Lord; and therefore he entreated he might not be ashamed of his hope and expectation for deliverance and salvation.

HE�RY, "What he pleads, (1.) His great expectation from God: Thou art the God of my salvation. Note, Those that choose salvation of God as their end, and make him the God of their salvation, may come boldly to him for direction in the way that leads to that end. If God save us, he will teach us and lead us. He that gives salvation will give instruction. (2.) His constant attendance on God: On thee do I wait all the day. Whence should a servant expect direction what to do but from his own master, on whom he waits all the day? If we sincerely desire to know our duty, with a resolution to do it, we need not question but that God will direct us in it.

CALVI�, "At the same time, we ought to observe the argument which David here employs to

enforce his prayer. By calling God the God of his salvation, he does so in order to strengthen his hope in God for the future, from a consideration of the benefits which he had already received from him; and then he repeats the testimony of his confidence towards God. Thus the first part of the argument is taken from the nature of God himself, and the duty which, as it were, belongs to him; that is to say, because he engages to maintain the welfare of the godly, and aids them in their

necessities, on this ground, that he will CONTINUE to manifest the same favor towards them

even to the end. But as it is necessary that our confidence in God should correspond to his great goodness towards us, David alleges it, at the same time, in connection with a declaration of his perseverance. For, by the expression all the day, or every day, he signifies that with a fixed and untiring constancy he depended upon God alone. And, doubtless, it is the property of faith always to look to God, even in the most trying circumstances, and patiently to wait for the aid which he has promised. That the recollection of the divine blessings may nourish and sustain our hope, let us learn to reflect upon the goodness which God has already manifested towards us, as we see that David did in making this the ground of his confidence, that he had found in his own personal experience God to be the author of salvation.

SPURGEO�, "Verse 5. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me. The same request as in

the last verse. The little child having begun to walk, asks to be still led onward by its

parent's helping hand, and to be further instructed in the alphabet of truth.

Experimental teaching is the burden of this prayer. Lead me according to thy truth,

and prove thyself faithful; lead me into truth that I may know its preciousness, lead

me by the way of truth that I may manifest its spirit. David knew much, but he felt

his ignorance and desired to be still in the Lord's school; four times over in these

two verses he applies for a SCHOLARSHIP in the college of grace. It were well for

many professors if instead of following their own devices, and cutting out new paths

of thought for themselves, they would enquire for the good old ways of God's own

truth, and beseech the Holy Ghost to give them sanctified understandings and

teachable spirits. For thou art the God of my salvation. The Three One Jehovah is

the Author and Perfector of salvation to his people. Reader, is he the God of your

salvation? Do you find in the Father's election, in the Son's atonement, and in the

Spirit's quickening all the grounds of your eternal hopes? If so, you may use this as

an argument for obtaining further blessings; if the Lord has ordained to save you,

surely he will not refuse to instruct you in his ways. It is a happy thing when we can

address the Lord with the confidence which David here manifests, it gives us great

power in prayer, and comfort in trial. On thee do I wait all the day. Patience is the

fair handmaid and daughter of faith; we cheerfully wait when we are certain that

we shall not wait in vain. It is our duty and our privilege to wait upon the Lord in

service, in worship, in expectancy, in trust all the days of our life. Our faith will be

tried faith, and if it be of the true kind, it will bear CO�TI�UED trial without

yielding. We shall not grow weary of waiting upon God if we remember how long

and how graciously he once waited for us.

Verse 5. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me. The soul that is unsatiable in prayer,

he proceeds, he gets near to God, he gains something, he winds up his heart higher.

As a child that seeth the mother have an APPLE in her hand, and it would fain have

it, it will come and pull at the mother's hand for it; now she lets go one finger, and

yet she holds it, and then he pulls again; and then she lets go another finger, and yet

she keeps it, and then the child pulls again, and will never leave pulling and crying

till it hath got it from its mother. So a child of God, seeing all graces to be in God, he

draws near to the throne of grace begging for it, and by his earnest and faithful

prayers he opens the hands of God to him; God dealing as parents to their children,

holds them off for awhile; not that he is unwilling to give, but to make them more

earnest with God; to draw them the nearer to himself. William Fenner.

Verse 5. On thee do I wait all the day. We must wait all the day. 1. Though it be a

long day, though we be kept waiting a great while, quite beyond our own reckoning;

though when we have waited long, we are still put to wait longer, and are bid, with

the prophet's servant, to go yet seven times 1Ki 18:43, before we perceive the least

sign of mercy coming...2. Though it be a dark day, yet let us wait upon God all the

day. Though while we are kept waiting for what God will do, we are kept in the

dark concerning what he is doing, and what is best for us to do, yet let us be content

to wait in the dark. Though we see not our signs, though there is none to tell us how

long, yet let us resolve to wait, how long soever it may be; for though what God doth

we know not now, yet we shall know hereafter when the mystery of God shall be

finished...3. Though it be a stormy day, yet we must wait upon God all the day.

Though we are not only becalmed, and do not get forward, but though the wind be

contrary, and drive us back; nay, though it be boisterous, and the church be tossed

with tempests, and ready to sink, yet we must hope the best, yet we must wait, and

weather the storm by patience. It is some comfort that Christ is in the ship; the

church's cause is Christ's own cause, he has espoused it, and he will own it; he is

embarked in the same bottom with his people, and therefore why are you fearful? ...

To wait on God, is—1. To live a life of desire towards God; to wait on him as the

beggar waits on his benefactor, with earnest desire to receive supplies from him, as

the sick and sore at Bethesda's pool waited for the stirring of the water, and

attended in the porches with desire to be helped in and healed... 2. It is to live a life

of delight in God, as the lover waits on his beloved. Desire is love in motion, as a

bird upon the wing; delight is love at rest, as a bird upon the nest; now, though our

desire must still be so towards God, as that we must be wishing for more of God, yet

our delight must be so in God, as that we must never wish for more than God...3. It

is to live of dependence on God, as the child waits on his father, whom he has

confidence in, and on whom he casts all his care. To wait on God is to expect all

good to come to us from him, as the worker of all good for us and in us, the giver of

all good to us, and the protector of us from all evil. Thus David explains himself Ps

62:5, "My soul, wait thou only upon God, " and CO�TI�UE still to do so, for "my

expectation is from him." ... 4. It is to live a life of devotedness to God, as the servant

waits on his master, ready to observe his will, and to do his work, and in everything

to consult his honour and interest. To wait on God is entirely and unreservedly to

refer ourselves to his wise and holy directions and disposals, and cheerfully to

acquiesce in them, and comply with them. The servant that waits on his master,

chooseth not his own way, but follows his master step by step. Thus must we wait on

God, as those that have no will of our own but what is wholly resolved into his, and

must therefore study to accommodate ourselves to his. Condensed from Matthew

Henry, on "Communion with God."

Verse 5. On thee do I wait all the day. On thee, whose hand of bounty, whose bosom

of love, yea, whose bowels of mercy are not only opened, but enlarged to all humble

penitents. On thee do I wait, wait to hear the secret voice of thy Spirit, speaking

peace unto my conscience, wait to feel the reviving vigour of thy grace, quickening

mine obedience; wait to see the subduing power of the Holy Spirit quelling my

rebellious sin; wait to feel the cheering virtue of thy heavenly comforts, refreshing

my fainting soul; for all these thy blessings, O thou God of my salvation, on thee do I

wait all the day. "All the day:" being never so satisfied with thy goodness, as not

more eagerly to long after thy heavenly fulness; wherefore now refresh my faintings,

quench not my desires; but the more freely thou givest, let me the more eagerly

covet; the more sweet is thy mercy, let be the more eager my longings, that so my

whole life on earth may be a CO�TI�UALbreathing after that eternal fellowship

and communion with thee in heaven; thus, thus, let me wait, even all my life, all the

day. Robert Mossom.

6 Remember, Lord, your great mercy and love,

for they are from of old.

BAR�ES, "Remember, O Lord - That is, In thy future treatment of me, bring to remembrance what thou hast done, and treat me in the same manner still. The language is that of one who felt that God had always been kind and gracious, and who asked for the future a continuance of the favors of the past. If we would recall, the goodness of God in the past, we should find enough to lay the foundation of prayer in reference to that which is to come. If we saw and fully understood all that has happened to us, we would need to offer no other prayer than that God might deal with us in the future as He has done in the past.Thy tender mercies - Margin, as in Hebrew: “thy bowels.” The Hebrew word means

the “inner parts” regarded by the Hebrews as the seat of the affections. See the notes at Isa_16:11.

And thy loving-kindnesses - Thy tokens of favor; thy acts of mercy and compassion.

For they have been ever of old - “For from eternity are they.” The language is that of a heart deeply impressed with a sense of the goodness God. In looking over his own life, the author of the psalm saw that the mercies of God had been unceasing and constant toward him from his earliest years. In words expressive of warm love and gratitude, therefore, he says that those acts of mercy had never failed - had been from eternity. His thoughts rise from the acts of God toward himself to the character of God, and to His attributes of mercy and love; and his heart is full of the idea that God is “always” good; that it belongs to His very nature to do good.

CLARKE, "Remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies, and thy loving-kindness

- The word רחמים rachamim, means the commiseration that a man feels in his bowels at

the sight of distress. The second word, חסדים chasadim, signifies those kindnesses which are the offspring of a profusion of benevolence.They have been ever of old - Thou wert ever wont to display thyself as a ceaseless

fountain of good to all thy creatures.

GILL, "Remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies and thy loving kindnesses,.... Not the providential mercy and kindness of God, in the care of him in his mother's womb, at the time of his birth, in his nurture and education, and in the preservation of him to the present time; but the special mercy, grace, and love of God in Christ: the sense of the petition is the same with that of Psa_106:4; which are expressed in the plural number, because of the largeness and abundance of it, and because of the various acts and instances of it; the Lord is rich and plenteous in mercy, abundant in goodness; his love is exceeding great, and numerous are the ways and methods in which it is declared, both in eternity and in time; and though he can never forget his love, nor the people whom he loves, for they are engraven on his hand, and set as a seal on his heart; yet he sometimes seems, by the conduct of his providence, as if he did not remember it, and had no tender affection for them; and their unbelief is ready to say, the Lord has forgotten to be gracious; and the design of such a petition as this is to entreat a fresh discovery and application of the grace, mercy, and loving kindness of God, and which he allows his people to put him in remembrance of;

for they have been ever of old: meaning not only from the time of his birth, and in after appearances of God for him, nor the favours shown to the people of Israel in former times at the Red sea, and in the wilderness and elsewhere, and to the patriarchs from the beginning of the world; but the love of God from everlasting, which appears in the choice of his people in Christ, before the foundation of the world, in the everlasting covenant of grace made with him, and in the setting of him up as the Mediator of it, and in putting his people into his hands, with all grace and spiritual blessings for them before the world began; and which love as it is from everlasting it is to everlasting, and remains invariably the same.

HE�RY, "He appeals to God's infinite mercy, and casts himself upon that, not pretending to any merit of his own (Psa_25:6): “Remember, O Lord! thy tender mercies, and, for the sake of those mercies, lead me, and teach me; for they have been ever of old.” 1. “Thou always wast a merciful God; it is thy name, it is thy nature and property, to show mercy.” 2. “Thy counsels and designs of mercy were from everlasting; the vessels of mercy were, before all worlds, ordained to glory.” 3. “The instances of thy mercy to the church in general, and to me in particular, were early and ancient, and constant hitherto; they began of old, and never ceased. Thou hast taught me from my youth up, teach me now.”

JAMISO�, "Confessing past and present sins, he pleads for mercy, not on palliations of sin, but on God’s well-known benevolence.

CALVI�, "6.Remember, O Jehovah; From this it appears, in the first place, that David was

grievously afflicted and tried, so much so that he had lost all sense of God’ mercy: for he calls upon God to remember for him his favor, in such a manner as if he had altogether forgotten it. This, therefore, is the complaint of a man suffering extreme anguish, and overwhelmed with grief. We may learn from this, that although God, for a time, may withdraw from us every token of his goodness, and, apparently regardless of the miseries which afflict us, should, as if we were strangers to him, and not his own people, forsake us, we must fight courageously, until, set free from this temptation, we cordially present the prayer which is here recorded, beseeching God, that, returning to his former manner of dealing, he would again begin to manifest his goodness towards us, and to deal with us in a more gracious manner. This form of prayer cannot be used with propriety, unless when God is hiding his face from us, and seems to take no interest at all in us. Moreover David, by having recourse to the mercy or compassion and goodness of God, testifies

that he trusts not to his own merit as any ground of hope. He who derives every thing from the fountain of divine mercy alone, finds nothing in himself entitled to recompense in the sight of God. But as the intermission which David had experienced was an obstacle which prevented his free access to God, he rises above it, by the very best remedy — the consideration, that although God, who from his very nature is merciful, may withdraw himself, and cease for a time to manifest his power, yet he cannot deny himself; that is to say, he cannot divest himself of the feeling of mercy which is natural to him, and which can no more cease than his eternal existence. But we must firmly maintain this doctrine, that God has been merciful even from the beginning, so that if at any time he seem to act with severity towards us, and to reject our prayers, we must not imagine that he acts contrary to his real character, or that he has changed his purpose. Hence we learn for what end it is that the Scriptures every where inform us, that in all ages God has regarded his servants with a

benignant eye, and exercised his mercy towards them. (555) This, at least, we ought to regard as a

fixed and settled point, that although the goodness of God may sometimes be hidden, and as it were buried out of sight, it can never be extinguished.

SPURGEO�, "Verse 6. Remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies and thy

lovingkindnesses. We are usually tempted in seasons of affliction to fear that our

God has forgotten us, or forgotten his usual kindness towards us; hence the soul

doth as it were put the Lord in remembrance, and beseech him to recollect those

deeds of love which once he wrought towards it. There is a holy boldness which

ventures thus to deal with the Most High, let us cultivate it; but there is also an

unholy unbelief which suggests our fears, let us strive against it with all our might.

What gems are those two expressions, "tender mercies and lovingkindnesses!" They

are the virgin honey of language; for sweetness no words can excel them; but as for

the gracious favours which are intended by them, language fails to describe them.

"When all thy mercies, O my God,

My rising soul surveys,

Transported with the view, I am lost

In wonder, love and praise."

If the Lord will only do unto us in the future as in the past, we shall be well content.

We seek no change in the divine action, we only crave that the river of grace may

never cease to flow. For they have been ever of old. A more correct translation

would be "from eternity." David was a sound believer in the doctrine of God's

eternal love. The Lord's lovingkindnesses are no novelties. When we plead with him

to bestow them upon us, we can urge use and custom of the most ancient kind. In

courts of law men make much of precedents, and we may plead them at the throne

of grace. "Faith, "saith Dickson, "must make use of experiences and read them over

unto God, out of the REGISTER of a sanctified memory, as a recorder to him who

cannot forget." With a unchangeable God it is a most effectual argument to remind

him of his ancient mercies and his eternal love. By tracing all that we enjoy to the

fountain head of everlasting love we shall greatly cheer our hearts, and those do us

but sorry service who try to dissuade us from meditating upon election and its

kindred topics.

Verse 6. Thy tender mercies. O how does one deep call upon another! The depths of

my multiplied miseries, calls, loudly calls, upon the depth of thy manifold mercies;

even that mercy whereby thou dost pardon my sin and help mine infirmities; that

mercy whereby thou dost sanctify me by thy grace, and comfort me by thy Spirit;

that mercy whereby thou dost deliver me from hell, and possess me of heaven.

Remember, O Lord, all those thy mercies, thy tender mercies, which have been of

old unto thy saints. Robert Mossom.

Verse 6. Thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindnesses...have been ever of old. Let

the ancientness of divine love draw up our hearts to a very dear and honourable

esteem of it. Pieces of antiquity, though of base metal, and otherwise of little use or

value, how venerable are they with learned men! and ancient charters, how careful

are men to preserve them; although they contain but temporary privileges, and

sometimes but of trivial moment! How then should the great charter of heaven, so

much older than the world, be had in everlasting remembrance, and the thoughts

thereof be very precious to us; lying down, rising up, and all the day long

accompanying of us! ...That which is from everlasting shall be to everlasting; if the

root be eternal, so are the branches ...Divine love is an eternal fountain that never

leaves running while a vessel is empty or capable of holding more; and it stands

open to all comers: therefore, come; and if ye have not sufficient of your own, go

and borrow vessels, empty vessels, not a few; "pay your debts out of it, and live on

the rest" 2Ki 4:7, to eternity. Elisha Coles on "God's Sovereignty", 1678.

BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR, “Remember, O Lord, Thy tender mercies.Things to remember and to forget

It is only by a figure of speech that we can speak of God as remembering and forgetting. It is an accommodation to our human weakness and ignorance. He who sees all things at a glance has no need to remember, and is incapable of forgetting. Yet God acts towards us as if He both remembered and forgot, and it is enough for us to think of Him in that way. Here the Psalmist’s mind seemed to sway backward and forward between these two words “remember” and “remember not.” And so—

I. We wish to be remembered by God. It is sweet to be had in remembrance by friends. No one of us likes to be forgotten. The religious man desires, above all things, to be remembered of God. It is the sign and proof of His sincerity. If there be no serious and solemn purpose in life; if all its aims and motives and actuating impulses are vulgar, sensual, selfish, there will be no wish to have God’s eye upon it; there will be a sort of relief in the thought that He takes no notice of it, that He passes it by in forgetfulness. But to one whose endeavours are after the higher life the thought of having no place in God’s mind is dreadful.

II. We are happy in the thought that God remembers. But we wish, like the Psalmist, that He could both remember and forget. Memory brought back to David the sins of bygone years. O God, he cried, forget all those crooked and dark things, as I would forget them, and call to mind only Thine own goodness and love. What a strangely mingled cup it is that memory gives us to drink—full to the brim, overflowing with sweetness. Yet we cannot take a deep draught of the cup without coming to bitter ingredients, nay, perhaps to fiery morsels that burn and blister the mouth. Memory is as the Ebal and Gerizim of our lives. The Psalmist wished to separate these two elements of memory. He was afraid lest God should eternalise those old sins by keeping them in mind. He did not like to remember them himself. He wished to think only of the brighter, lovelier things—the Divine, the promising, the hopeful. O God, forget the evil, that I may forget it too. Yes,

forget as far as possible the dark scenes of the years that lie behind. Forget the very sorrows and trials and bereavements, unless, indeed, they are so recent and so acute that it would only mock you to ask you to forget them. Bring with you out of the passing years a large and generous legacy of sweet and pure and holy memories. Be sure that all the mercies which we have ever known, all the Divine love and pity and helpfulness which we have ever proved, all that compassion and sympathy of Jesus Christ which have been our stay, will be repeated in the coming days. He will not forget. (J. G. Greenhough, M. A.)

The Divine remembrance

An aged Christian, lying on his deathbed in a state of such extreme weakness that he was often entirely unconscious of all around him, was asked the cause of his perfect peace. He replied, “When I am able to think, I think of Jesus; and when I am unable to think of Him, I know he is thinking of me.”

For they have been forever.—

The eternity of God’s mercies

A fair commendation of God’s mercies from the eternity thereof. His mercies had no beginning, as Himself had none, and shall have no end—From everlasting to everlasting Thou art our God. As the ocean and main sea can never be exhausted, but would furnish water to all the world, if everyone should bring vessels to draw water therefrom; so if we have faith and prayer to seek grace from God, He is all-sufficient in Himself to furnish us all. (A Symson.)

The antiquity of mercy

Let the ancientness of Divine love draw up our hearts to a very dear and honourable esteem of it. Pieces of antiquity, though of base metal, and otherwise of little use or value, how venerable are they with learned men! and ancient charters, how careful are men to preserve them; although they contain but temporary privileges, and sometimes but of trivial moment! How, then, should the great charter of heaven, so much older than the world, be had in everlasting remembrance, and the thoughts thereof be very precious to us; lying down, rising up, and all the day long accompanying us! (J. Cole.)

E-SWORD, ““Remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies and thy loving-kindnesses.” We are usually tempted in seasons of affliction to fear that our God has forgotten us, or forgotten his usual kindness towards us; hence the soul doth as it were put the Lord in remembrance, and beseech him to recollect those deeds of love which once he wrought towards it. There is a holy boldness which ventures thus to deal with the Most High, let us cultivate it; but there is also an unholy unbelief which suggests our fears, let us strive against it with all our might. What gems are those two expressions, “tender mercies and loving-kindnesses”! They are the virgin honey of language; for sweetness no words can excel them; but as for the gracious favours which are intended by them, language fails to describe them.

“When all thy mercies, O my God,My rising soul surveys,

Transported with the view, I'm lostIn wonder, love and praise.”

If the Lord will only do unto us in the future as in the past, we shall be well content. We seek no change in the divine action, we only crave that the river of grace may never cease to flow.

“For they have been ever of old.” A more correct translation would be “from eternity.” David was a sound believer in the doctrine of God's eternal love. The Lord's loving-kindnesses are no novelties. When we plead with him to bestow them upon us, we can urge use and custom of the most ancient kind. In courts of law men make much of precedents, and we may plead them at the throne of grace. “Faith,” saith Dickson, “must make use of experiences and read them over unto God out of the register of a sanctified memory, as a recorder to him who cannot forget.” With an unchangeable God it is a most effectual argument to remind him of his ancient mercies and his eternal love. By tracing all that we enjoy to the fountain-head of everlasting love we shall greatly cheer our hearts, and those do us but sorry service who try to dissuade us from meditating upon election and its kindred topics.

CHARLES SIMEON, “THE SAINT PLEADING WITH GOD

Psa_25:6-7. Remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies and thy loving-kindnesses; for they have been

ever of old. Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to thy mercy

remember thou me, for thy goodness’ sake, O Lord.

AT what precise period this psalm was written, is not certainly known; but probably about the time of

Absalom’s rebellion. It is evident that David’s sorrows were very great [Note: ver. 16, 17.]: but those

which appear to have pressed with the greatest weight upon his mind arose from a view of his past

transgressions, and probably from that flagrant iniquity committed by him in the matter of Uriah

[Note: ver. 11, 18.]. His mode of pleading with God is that to which I propose, in a more especial

manner, to draw your attention, because it affords an excellent pattern for us, in all our approaches

to the throne of grace.

Let us notice,

I. What he desires—

He desires God to “remember the tender mercies and loving-kindnesses” with which he had

favoured him in times past. Now this is almost the last petition which we should have expected from

a person mourning under a sense of sin, because the kindness of God to us forms one of the

greatest aggravations of our sins. God himself made this the ground of his complaint against his

people of old: “What could I have done more for my vineyard, that I have not done in it? and

wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?” But David

had a just view of God’s tender mercies: he regarded them as pledges of yet richer blessings in

reserve for him: and in this view his request deserves particular attention.

God’s mercies are the fruits of his electing love—

[God dispenses his blessings to whomsoever he will. He has a right to do so: for there is no

creature in the universe that has any claim upon him. As well might the devils complain of him, for

not giving to them a Saviour, as any of us complain of him for not bestowing on us the grace which

he imparts to others. In what he does, he consults his own glory alone: and, however rebellious man

may arraign his counsels, he will be eternally glorified in all that he has done: it will all be found “to

his praise and honour and glory” in “the day which he has appointed for the revelation of his

righteous judgments.” David was sensible of his obligations to God in this respect. He traced all his

mercies to their proper source, the eternal counsels of the Deity; who had vouchsafed them to him,

not for any righteousness of his, either seen or foreseen, but “ACCORDING to his own purpose

and grace, which had been given him in Christ Jesus before the world began [Note: 2Ti_1:9.].” He

saw that “God had loved him with an everlasting love,” and therefore with loving-kindness had he

drawn him to the actual enjoyment of his favour.]

In this view they may be regarded as pledges of future blessings—

[God is unchangeable, no less in his counsels than in his perfections [Note: Mal_3:6.]. In no respect

is there with him “any variableness, or shadow of turning [Note: Jam_1:17.].” “His gifts and calling

are without repentance [Note: Rom_11:29.].” Hence, if he remember his former mercies, he

will CONTINUE them. “He will not forsake his people for his great name’s sake, because it hath

pleased him to make them his people [Note: 1Sa_12:22.].” He has said, “I will never, never leave

you; never, never forsake you [Note: Heb_13:5.]:” so that, if we have INDEED experienced his

loving-kindness in our souls, we may “confidently hope that he will carry on and perfect his work

within us [Note: Php_1:6.]:” for “whom he loveth, he loveth to the end [Note:Joh_13:1.].”

Here, then, we see what was in the mind of David when he urged this petition. He had found

consolation from this thought in the midst of the deepest distresses. When tempted, on one

occasion, to think that “God had cast him off, and would be favourable to him no more, but had in

anger shut up his tender mercies, so that his promise would fail for evermore,” he “called to mind

God’s wonders of old time,” and thus composed his mind, and assured himself that his fears were

groundless, the result only of “his own infirmity [Note: Psa_42:6; Psa_77:6-11.].” In any troubles,

therefore, which we may experience, we shall do well to look back upon God’s mercies of old, and

to take encouragement from them to cast ourselves upon him, for the CONTINUANCE of them.]

Let us next observe,

II. What he deprecates—

Sin, in whomsoever it is found, is most offensive to God—

[God “cannot look upon iniquity without the utmost abhorrence [Note: Hab_1:13.],” both of the act

itself, and of the person who has committed it. Hence, when he forgives sin, he “blots it out, even as

a morning CLOUD , which passes away, and is no more seen [Note: Isa_44:22.].” God has put it

altogether out of his own sight; he has “cast it behind his back [Note: Isa_38:17.],” “into the very

depths of the sea [Note: Mic_7:19.],” from whence it shall never be brought up again. If it were

remembered by him, he must punish it: and therefore, to those who turn unto him, and lay hold on

his covenant, he promises, that “their sins and iniquities he will remember no more

[Note: Heb_8:12.].”]

On this ACCOUNT David deprecates the remembrance of his sins—

[He specifies, in particular, “the sins of his youth,” which, though committed through levity and

thoughtlessness, were displeasing to God, and must entail his judgments on the soul. Little do

young people think what their views of their present conduct will be, when God shall open their

eyes, whether it be in the present or the future life. They now imagine that they have, as it were, a

licence to indulge in sin, and to neglect their God. They conceive, that serious piety at their age

would be premature and preposterous; and that, if they only abstain from gross immoralities, they

may well be excused for deferring to a later period the habits that are distasteful to a youthful mind.

But these are vain and delusive imaginations. God views their conduct with other eyes. He admits

not those frivolous excuses with which men satisfy their own minds. He sees no reason why the

earlier part of life should be consecrated to Satan, and the dregs of it alone be reserved for him. He

demands the first-fruits as his peculiar portion; and if the first-fruits of the field, much more the first-

fruits of the immortal soul. O! my young friends, I entreat you to reflect how different God’s estimate

of your conduct is from that which you and your thoughtless companions form; and how bitterly you

will one day deprecate his remembrance of those sins, which now you pass over as unworthy of any

serious consideration.

But David adverts also to the transgressions which, through weakness or inadvertence, he yet daily

committed. And who amongst us is not conscious of manifold transgressions in his daily walk and

conversation? Who is not constrained to say, “Enter not into judgment with thy servant, O Lord:” “if

thou shouldest be extreme to mark iniquity, O Lord, who shall stand?” Thus, then, let us also

implore God to blot out our sins from the book of his remembrance, that they may never appear

against us in the day of judgment, and, “if sought for” with ever so much diligence, may never,

“never be found [Note: Jer_50:20.].”]

Let us mark yet farther,

III. What he proposes as the rule and measure of

God’s dealings with him—

On the mercy of God he founds all his hope—

[Mercy is the favourite attribute of the Deity: it delights to spare the offending, and to save the

penitent. It is ready to fly at the call of guilt and misery; and hastens to execute the dictates of God’s

sovereign grace. It demands no merit as the price of its blessings: it accounts itself richly

recompensed in bringing glory to God and happiness to man. Hence David prayed, “According to

thy mercy, remember thou me!” When speaking of God’s interposition between him and his

persecutors, he could say, “The Lord hath rewarded me according to my righteousness; according

to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me [Note: Psa_18:20.].” But he would not

presume to make his own righteousness the ground of his hope towards God. For acceptance with

him, he would rely on nothing but mercy, even the mercy of God in Christ Jesus. Herein he has set

us an example which we shall do well to follow: in all our addresses to the Most High God, we

should adopt his prayer, and say, “Deal with thy servant according to thy mercy

[Note: Psa_119:124.].” There is solid ground. Thither the most holy of the saints must come; and

there the vilest sinner upon earth may find a rock whereon to stand with confidence before God.

With such a ground of hope, David could approach his God, and say, “Be merciful unto my sin; for it

is great!”]

From “the goodness of God, too,” he derives his only plea—

[David well knew that God is most glorified in those exercises of mercy which most display his

sovereignty and his grace. Hence he desired that God would have respect to his own honour, and

shew mercy to him for his goodness’ sake. Thus must we, also, take our arguments from the

perfections of our God; and have all our hope, and plea, and confidence in him alone.]

To this I will only add,

1. Let us follow the example of David—

[We all have need to come to God precisely in the manner that David did. We have no more

worthiness in ourselves than he. If judged by any thing of our own, we can have no hope whatever.

We must stand precisely on the same ground as he, and urge the very same pleas as he. Our first,

and last, and only cry must be,

“

Mercy, good Lord, mercy I ask;

This is the total sum:

For mercy, Lord, is all my plea:

O let thy mercy come [NOTE : See the Lamentation of a Sinner, at the end of the Liturgy; and

compare Psa_51:1.]!”

2. Let us take encouragement from the acceptance which he found—

[His sins, great as they were, were all forgiven. And when did God ever reject the prayer of faith? To

whom did he ever say, “Seek ye my face in vain?” Read the whole of the fifty-first psalm, and let it

be a model for your supplications, day and night. Then shall your prayer come up with acceptance

before God, and your seed-time of tears issue in a harvest of eternal joy.]

7 Do not remember the sins of my youth

and my rebellious ways;

according to your love remember me,

for you, Lord, are good.

BAR�ES, "Remember not the sins of my youth - In strong contrast with God, the psalmist brings forward his own conduct and life. He could ask of God Psa_25:6 to remember His own acts - what “He himself” had done; but could not ask him to remember His conduct - His past life. He could only pray that this might be forgotten. He did not wish it to come into remembrance before God; he could not ask that God would deal with him according to that. He prays, therefore, that he might not be visited as he advanced in life with the fruits of his conduct in early years, but that all the offences of that period of his life might be forgiven and forgotten. Who is there that cannot with deep feeling join in this prayer? Who is there that has reached the period of middle or advanced life, who would be willing to have the follies of his youth, the plans, and thoughts, and wishes of his early years brought again to remembrance? Who would be willing to have recalled to his own mind, or made known to his friends, to society around him, or to assembled worlds, the thoughts, the purposes, the wishes, the “imaginings” of his youthful days? Who would dare to pray that he might be treated in advancing years as he treated God in his own early life? Nay, who would venture to pray that God would treat him in the day of judgment as he had treated the friends of his childhood, even the

father who begat him, or the mother who bore him? Our hope in regard to the favor of God is that he will “not” summon up the thoughts and the purposes of our early years; that he will “not” treat us as if he remembered them; but that he will treat us as if they were forgotten.Nor my transgressions - The sins of my early years.

According to thy mercy remember thou me - Deal with me, not according to strict justice, but according to mercy. Deal with me indeed according to thy nature and character; but let the attribute of mercy be that which will be the guide rather than the attribute of justice.

For thy goodness’ sake - In order that thy goodness or benevolence may be displayed and honored - not primarily and mainly that I may be saved, but that thy character may be seen to be good and merciful.

CLARKE, "Remember not the sins of my youth - Those which I have committed through inconsiderateness, and heat of passion.According to thy mercy - As it is worthy of thy mercy to act according to the

measure, the greatness, and general practice of thy mercy; so give me an abundant pardon, a plentiful salvation.

For thy goodness’ sake - Goodness is the nature of God; mercy flows from that goodness.

GILL, "Remember not the sins of my youth,.... Original sin, in which he was born, and the breakings forth of corrupt nature in infancy, he brought into the world with him, together with all the youthful lusts and vanities to which that age is addicted; and sometimes the sins of youth are in some persons remembered by God, and punished in old age; and if not, they are brought to remembrance through the dispensations of Providence: and the people of God are chastised for them then, and are ready to fear it is in a way of wrath; see Job_13:26; which the psalmist here deprecates; for this is not said in order to extenuate his sins, they being but youthful follies, imprudencies, and inadvertencies, sins committed through ignorance, when he had not the knowledge of things he now had; nor as if he had lived so holy a life, that there were no sins of his to be taken notice of but what he had committed in his younger days; but rather this is to be considered as a confession of his having sinned from his youth upwards unto that time, as in Jer_3:25; and therefore entreat, that God would not remember his sins, so as to correct him for them in wrath and hot displeasure; neither the sins he had formerly been guilty of, nor those of a later date; which he next mentions;

nor my transgressions; his more notorious and glaring ones; such as murder and adultery, in the case of Uriah and Bathsheba, and which now stared him in the face; and on account of these, and as a chastening for them, this unnatural rebellion of his son's, which was now raised against him, was suffered to befall him, as had been foretold to him, 2Sa_12:11;

according to thy mercy remember thou me, for thy goodness' sake, O Lord; he pleads no merit nor goodness of his own, but casts himself upon the mercy, grace, and goodness of God; in which he was certainly right; and on that account prayed and hoped for deliverance from his present troubles, and for discoveries of the pardon of his sins

unto him, which is what he means by remembering him.

HE�RY, "He is in a special manner earnest for the pardon of his sins (Psa_25:7): “O remember not the sins of my youth. Lord, remember thy mercies (Psa_25:6), which speak for me, and not my sins, which speak against me.” Here is, 1. An implicit confession of sin; he specifies particularly the sins of his youth. Note, Our youthful faults and follies should be matter of our repentance and humiliation long after, because time does not wear out the guilt of sin. Old people should mourn for the sinful mirth and be in pain for the sinful pleasures of their youth. He aggravates his sins, calling them his transgressions; and the more holy, just, and good the law is, which sin is the transgression of, the more exceedingly sinful it ought to appear to us. 2. An express petition for mercy, (1.) That he might be acquitted from guilt: “Remember not the sins of my youth; that is, remember them not against me, lay them not to my charge, enter not into judgment with me for them.” When God pardons sin he is said to remember it no more, which denotes a plenary remission; he forgives and forgets. (2.) That he might be accepted in God's sight: “Remember thou me; think on me for good, and come in seasonably for my succour.” We need desire no more to make us happy than for God to remember us with favour. His plea is, “according to thy mercy, and for thy goodness-sake.” Note, It is God's goodness and not ours, his mercy and not our own merit, that must be our plea for the pardon of sin and all the good we stand in need of. This plea we must always rely upon, as those that are sensible of our poverty and unworthiness and as those that are satisfied of the riches of God's mercy and grace.

SBC, "The true significance of the present is not revealed in the present. Only the lapse of years makes us dispassionate judges of our earlier selves. The text is the utterance of a man who is letting a sorrowful and faultful past come home to his matured judgment to be tried by its higher standards and its clearer discrimination.I. "Remember not the sins of my youth." The truth assumed in these words is one which concerns the character of God, the truth, namely, that God cannot be passive in any moral relation. For God to remember sin is to assume an active and hostile relation to sin.

II. In answer to such an appeal as this, we are not to expect either that God will shut sin out of His remembrance, or change His attitude towards sin. But His remembrance of the sinner involves all the infinite activity of His love towards the sinner. It is on this relation of God to the sinner that David throws himself.

III. How then, in answer to this prayer, will man stand related to the follies and sins of his past life? (1) He will not be entirely rid of their consequences, especially of their physical consequences. (2) Nor will God cease to use the faultful past in the new man’s education. (3) In the heart will come a tranquil rest, founded simply upon the conviction that God has taken the whole sadly confused and stained life into His own hands. (4) With this conviction there will come a turning with fresh zest to redeem the time which remains.

M. R. Vincent, Gates into the Psalm Country, p. 75.

E-SWORD, ““Remember not the sins of my youth.” Sin is the stumbling-block. This is the thing to be removed. Lord, pass an act of oblivion for all my sins, and especially for the hot-blooded wanton follies of my younger years. Those offences which we remember with repentance God forgets, but if we forget them, justice will bring them forth to punishment. The world winks at the sins of young men, and yet they are not so little after

all; the bones of our youthful feastings at Satan's table will stick painfully in our throats when we are old men. He who presumes upon his youth is poisoning his old age. How large a tear may wet this page as some of us reflect upon the past! “Nor my transgressions.” Another word for the same evils. Sincere penitents cannot get through their confessions at a gallop; they are constrained to use many bemoanings, for their swarming sins smite them with so innumerable griefs. A painful sense of any one sin provokes the believer to repentance for the whole mass of his iniquities. Nothing but the fullest and clearest pardon will satisfy a thoroughly awakened conscience. David would have his sins not only forgiven, but forgotten.

“According to thy mery remember thou me for thy goodness' sake, O Lord.” David and the dying thief breathe the same prayer, and doubtless they grounded it upon the same plea, viz, the free grace and unmerited goodness of Jehovah. We dare not ask to have our portion measured from the balances of justice, but we pray to be dealt with by the hand of mercy.

CALVI�, "7.Remember not the sins of my youth. As our sins are like a wall between us and

God, which prevents him from hearing our prayers, or stretching forth his hand to help us, David now removes this obstruction. It is indeed true, in general, that men pray in a wrong way, and in vain, unless they begin by seeking the forgiveness of their sins. There is no hope of obtaining any favor from God unless he is reconciled to us. How shall he love us unless he first freely reconcile us to himself? The right and proper order of prayer therefore is, as I have said, to ask, at the very outset, that God would pardon our sins. David here acknowledges, in explicit terms, that he cannot in any other way become a partaker of the grace of God than by having his sins blotted out. In order, therefore, that God may be mindful of his mercy towards us, it is necessary that he forget our sins, the very sight of which turns away his favor from us. In the meantime, the Psalmist confirms by this more clearly what I have already said, that although the wicked acted towards him with cruelty, and persecuted him unjustly, yet he ascribed to his own sins all the misery which he endured. For why should he ask the forgiveness of his sins, by having recourse to the mercy of God, but because he acknowledged, that by the cruel treatment he received from his enemies, he only suffered the punishment which he justly merited? He has, therefore, acted wisely in turning his thoughts to the first cause of his misery, that he may find out the true remedy; and thus he teaches us by his example, that when any outward affliction presses upon us, we must entreat God not only to deliver us from it, but also to blot out our sins, by which we have provoked his displeasure, and subjected ourselves to his chastening rod. If we act otherwise, we shall follow the example of unskilful physicians, who, overlooking the cause of the disease, only seek to alleviate the pain, and apply merely adventitious remedies for the cure. Moreover, David makes confession not only of some slight offenses, as hypocrites are wont to do, who, by confessing their guilt in a general and perfunctory manner, either seek some subterfuge, or else extenuate the enormity of their sin; but he traces back his sins even to his very childhood, and considers in how many ways he had provoked the wrath of God against him. When he makes mention of the sins which he had committed in his youth, he does not mean by this that he had no remembrance of any of the sins which he had committed in his later years; but it is rather to show that he considered himself worthy of so much

the greater condemnation. (556) In the first place, considering that he had not begun only of late to

commit sin, but that he had for a long time heaped up sin upon sin, he bows himself, if we may so speak, under the accumulated load; and, in the second place, he intimates, that if God should deal with him according to the rigour of law, not only the sins of yesterday, or of a few days, would come into judgment against him, but all the instances in which he had offended, even from his infancy, might now with justice be laid to his charge. As often, therefore, as God terrifies us by his judgments and the tokens of his wrath, let us call to our remembrance, not only the sins which we have lately committed, but also all the transgressions of our past life, proving to us the ground of renewed shame and renewed lamentation. Besides, in order to express more fully that he supplicates a free pardon, he pleads before God only on the ground of his mere good pleasure; and therefore he says,According to thy compassion do thou remember me When God casts our sins into oblivion, this leads him to behold us with fatherly regard. David can discover no other cause by which to

account for this paternal regard of God, but that he is good, and hence it follows that there is nothing to induce God to receive us into his favor but his own good pleasure. When God is said to remember us according to his mercy, we are tacitly given to understand that there are two ways of remembering which are entirely opposite; the one when he visits sinners in his wrath, and the other when he again manifests his favor to those of whom he seemed for a time to take no account.

SPURGEO�, "Verse 7. Remember not the sins of my youth. Sin is the stumbling

block. This is the thing to be removed. Lord, pass an act of oblivion for all my sins,

and especially for the hot blooded wanton follies of my younger years. Those

offences which we remember with repentance God forgets, but if we forget them,

justice will bring them forth to punishment. The world winks at the sins of younger

men, and yet they are none so little after all; the bones of our youthful feastings at

Satan's table will stick painfully in our throats when we are old men. He who

presumes upon his youth is poisoning his old age. How large a tear may wet this

page as some of us reflect upon the past! �or my transgressions. Another word for

the same evils. Sincere penitents cannot get through their confessions at a gallop;

they are constrained to use many bemoanings, for their swarming sins smite them

with so innumerable griefs. A painful sense of any one sin provokes the believer to

repentance for the whole mass of his iniquities. �othing but the fullest and clearest

pardon will satisfy a thoroughly awakened conscience. David would have his sins

not only forgiven, but forgotten. According to thy mercy remember thou me for thy

goodness' sake, O Lord. David and the dying thief breathe the same prayer, and

doubtless they grounded it upon the same plea, viz., the free grace and unmerited

goodness of Jehovah. We dare not ask to have our portion measured from the

BALA�CES of justice, but we pray to be dealt with by the hand of mercy.

Verse 7. Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions. In the first

place, considering that he had not begun only of late to commit sin, but that he had

for a long time heaped up sin upon sin, he bows himself, if we may so speak, under

the accumulated load; and, in the second place, he intimates, that if God should deal

with him ACCORDI�G to the rigour of the law, not only the sins of yesterday, or of

a few days, would come into judgment against him, but all instances in which he had

offended, even from his infancy, might now with justice be laid to his charge. As

often, therefore, as God terrifies us by his judgments and the tokens of his wrath, let

us call to our remembrance, not only the sins which we have lately committed, but

also all the transgressions of our past life, proving to us the ground of renewed

shame and renewed lamentation. John Calvin.

Verse 7. Remember not the sins of my youth. This may seem but a superfluous

prayer of David; for whereas in charity it may and must be presumed that David

long since had begged pardon for his youthful sins, that upon his begging God hath

granted it, that upon his granting God never revoked it. What need now had David

to prefer this petition for pardon of antiquated sin, time out of mind committed by

him, time out of mind remitted by God? To this objection I shape a fourfold answer.

First, though David no doubt long since had been truly sorrowful for his youthful

sins, yet he was sensible in himself that if God would be extreme to mark what was

done amiss, though he had repented of those sins, yet he had sinned in that his

repentance. Secondly, though God had forgiven David's sins so far forth as to

pardon him eternal damnation, yet he had not remitted unto him temporal

afflictions which perchance pressing upon him at this present, he prayeth in this

Psalm for the removing or mitigating of them. So then the sense of his words sound

thus, Remember not, Lord, the sins of my youth, that is, Lord, lighten and lessen the

afflictions which lie upon me in this mine old age, justly inflicted on me for my

youthful sins. Thirdly, God's pardon for sins past, is ever granted with this

condition, that the party so pardoned is bound to his good behaviour for the time to

come, which if he breaks, he deserves in the strictness of justice for forfeit the

benefit of his pardon. �ow David was guilty afterward in that grand transgression

of Bathsheba and Uriah, which might in the extremity of justice have made all his

youthful sins to be punished afresh upon him. Lastly, grant David certainly assured

of the pardon of his youthful sins, yet God's servants may pray for those blessings

they have in possession, not for the obtaining of that they have—that is needless—

but for the keeping of what they have obtained, that is necessary. Yea, God is well

pleased with such prayers of his saints, and interprets them to be praises unto him,

and then these words, Remember not the sins of my youth, amount to this effect:

blessed be thy gracious goodness, who hast forgiven me the sins of my youth.

Thomas Fuller.

Verse 7. Remember not the sins of my youth. David, after he was called by the

power of the word, cries out, "Lord, remember not, "etc., that gravelled and galled

his conscience, the sins of his youth before his call. O beloved, the sins of your youth,

though you should be Jobs CO�VERTED, yet they will bring great disquietness and

great horror when you come to age. The lusts of youth, and the vanities of youth,

and the sensual pleasures of your youthful days, they will lay a foundation of sorrow

when you come to gray hairs to be near your graves. So Job 20:11. Christopher

Love, 1654.

Verse 7. Remember not the sins of my youth; let them not move thee to punish or be

avenged on me for them; as men, when they remember injuries, seek to be avenged

on those who have done them. William Greenhill.

Verse 7. Remember not the sins of my youth. It is not safe to be at odds with the

"Ancient of days." John Trapp.

Verse 7. The sins of my youth. Before we come to the principal point we must first

clear the text from the incumbrance of a double objection. The first is this:—It may

seem (some may say) very improbable that David should have any sins of his youth,

if we consider the principals whereupon his youth was past. The first was poverty.

We read that his father Jesse passed for an old man, we read not that he passed for

a rich man; and probably his seven sons were the principal part of his wealth.

Secondly, painfulness. David, though the youngest, was not made a darling, but a

drudge; sent by his father to follow the ewes big with young; where he may seem to

have learned innocence and simplicity from the sheep he kept. Thirdly, piety Ps

71:5, "For thou art my hope, O Lord God; thou art my trust from my youth." And

again in the seventeenth verse of the same Psalm, "O God, thou hast taught me from

my youth:" David began to be good betimes, a young saint, and yet crossed that

pestilent proverb, was no old devil. And what is more still, he was constantly in the

furnace of affliction. Ps 88:15. "Even from my youth up, thy terrors have I suffered

with a troubled mind." The question then will be this, How could that water be

CORRUPTED which was daily clarified? How could that steel gather rust which

was duly filed? How could David's soul in his youth be sooty with sin, which was

constantly scoured with suffering? But the answer is easy; for though David for the

main were a man after God's own heart (the best transcript of the best copy), yet he,

especially in his youth, had his faults and infirmities, yea, his sins and

transgressions. Though the Scripture maketh mention of no eminent sin in his

youth, the business with Bathsheba being justly to be referred to David's reduced

and elder age. I will not conclude that David was of a wanton constitution because of

a ruddy complexion. It is as injurious an inference to conclude all bad which are

beautiful, as it is a false and flattering consequence to say all are honest who are

deformed. Rather we may collect David's youth guilty of wantonness from his

having so many wives and concubines. But what go I about to do? Expect not that I

should tell you the particular sins, when he could not tell his own. Psalm 19. "Who

can tell how oft he offends?" Or, how can David's sins be known to me, which he

confesseth were unknown to himself, which made him say, "O Lord, cleanse me

from secret sins"? But to silence our curiosity, that our conscience may speak:—If

David's youth, which was poor, painful, and pious, was guilty of sins, what shall we

say, of such whose EDUCATIO� hath been wealthy, wanton, and wicked? And I

report the rest to be acted with shame, sorrow, and silence in every man's

conscience. Thomas Fuller.

Verse 7. The sins of my youth. Two aged disciples, one eighty-seven years old, one

day met. "Well, "enquired the younger, of his fellow pilgrim, "how long have you

been interested in religion?" "Fifty years, "was the old man's reply. "Well, have you

ever regretted that you began when young to devote yourself to religion?" "Oh no!"

said he, and the tears trickled down his furrowed cheeks; "I weep when I think of

the sins of my youth; it is this which makes me weep now." From K. Arvine's

"Cyclopaedia of Moral and Religious Anecdotes," 1859.

Verse 7. According to THY mercy, not mine; for I have forsaken those mercies thou

madest mine own Jon 2:8 Ps 59:10,17, in being cruel to myself by my sin, through

distrust of thy promise, and upon presumption in thy mercy; yea, let it be, for THY

goodness' sake, not mine, for in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no manner of thing

that is good. Let thy goodness, then, be the motive, thy mercy the rule of all that

grace, and of all those blessings you vouchsafe unto my soul. Robert Mossom.

Verse 7. According to thy mercy. Moses was the first that brought up this happy

expression, According to thy mercy (I know not where it is used by any other man),

that is, according to the infinite mercy that is in thy heart and nature. David did

next use it (Psalm 25), and in the great case of his sin and adultery Ps 51:1, "that he

would be merciful to him, according to the multitude of his mercies." And as he

needed all the mercies in God, so he confessed the sin of his nature, and hath

recourse to the mercies in God's nature. But it is Ps 25:7, I pitch on; there he doth

not content himself only with this expression, According to thy mercy, but he adds

another phrase, "For thy mercy's sake, "and goodness sake. Muis observes in this

coherence, "Good and upright is the Lord" Ps 25:8, that he centres in his nature.

Thou hast a merciful nature; deal with me according to that, and for the sake of

that, "according to thy mercy, "for thy goodness sake." The mediation of that

attribute was the foundation of his faith and prayer herein. When he has done, he

refers himself to Moses: Ps 25:11, For thy name's sake, O Lord, pardon mine

iniquity; for it is great. He refers to that name proclaimed before Moses. Ex 34:6,7.

But you will say, how do these expressions, "for thy name's sake, "for thy goodness

sake, "for thy mercy's sake, "imply the same as "for himself, "for his own sake"?

how do they involve the Godhead? Look to Isa 43:25, "I, even I, am he that blotteth

out thy transgressions for mine own sake, "that is, for myself. Isa 48:11. "For mine

own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it." You have it twice in one verse; and

that which is "for mercy's sake" in one place, is "for mine own sake" in another,

"and behold it is I, I am he, as I am God, who doth it. What is this, but Jehovah,

Jehovah, God merciful"? Thomas Goodwin.

8 Good and upright is the Lord;

therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.

BAR�ES, "Good and upright is the Lord - His character is benevolent, and he is worthy of confidence. He is not merely “good,” but he is equal and just in his dealings with people. This latter attribute is no less a reason for confidence in his character than the former. We need a God who is not merely benevolent and kind, but who is just and faithful; whose administration is based on principles of truth and justice, and in whose dealings, therefore, his creatures can repose unlimited confidence.Therefore will he teach sinners - Because he is good and upright, we may

approach him with the assurance that he will guide us aright. His “goodness” may be relied on as furnishing evidence that he will be “disposed” to do this; his “uprightness” as furnishing the assurance that the path in which he will lead us will be the best path. We could not rely on mere benevolence, for it might lack wisdom and firmness, or might lack power to execute its own purposes; we can rely upon it when it is connected with a character that is infinitely upright, and an arm that is infinitely mighty.

In the way - In the right way - the way in which they should go, the path of truth, of happiness, of salvation.

CLARKE, "Good and upright is the Lord - He is good in his nature, and righteous in his conduct.

Therefore will he teach sinners - Because he is good, he will teach sinners, though they deserve nothing but destruction: and because he is right, he will teach them the true way.

GILL, "Good and upright is the Lord,.... He is essentially, originally, and independently good of himself in his own nature, and he is providentially good to all his creatures; and he is in a way of special grace and mercy good to his own people: and he is "upright", just in himself, righteous in all his ways and works, and faithful in all his promises; and the consideration of these excellent perfections of his encouraged the psalmist to entertain an holy confidence, that his petitions, respecting instruction and guidance in the ways of the Lord, Psa_25:4; would be heard and answered, notwithstanding his sins and transgressions;

therefore will he teach sinners in the way; such who are in sinful ways, he will teach them by his word and Spirit the evil of their ways, and bring them out of them, and to repentance for them; and he will teach them his own ways, both the ways and methods of his grace, in saving sinners by Christ, and the paths of faith and duty in which he would have them walk; see Psa_51:13.

HE�RY, "God's promises are here mixed with David's prayers. Many petitions there were in the former part of the psalm, and many we shall find in the latter; and here, in the middle of the psalm, he meditates upon the promises, and by a lively faith sucks and is satisfied from these breasts of consolation; for the promises of God are not only the best foundation of prayer, telling us what to pray for and encouraging our faith and hope in prayer, but they are a present answer to prayer. Let the prayer be made according to the promise, and then the promise may be read as a return to the prayer; and we are to believe the prayer is heard because the promise will be performed. But, in the midst of the promises, we fine one petition which seems to come in somewhat abruptly, and should have followed upon Psa_25:7. It is that (Psa_25:11), Pardon my iniquity. But prayers for the pardon of sin are never impertinent; we mingle sin with all our actions, and therefore should mingle such prayers with all our devotions. He enforces this petition with a double plea. The former is very natural: “For thy name's sake pardon my iniquity, because thou hast proclaimed thy name gracious and merciful, pardoning iniquity, for thy glory-sake, for thy promise-sake, for thy own sake,” Isa_43:25. But the latter is very surprising: “Pardon my iniquity, for it is great, and the greater it is the more will divine mercy be magnified in the forgiveness of it.” It is the glory of a great God to forgive great sins, to forgive iniquity, transgression, and sin, Exo_34:7. “It is great, and therefore I an undone, for ever undone, if infinite mercy do not interpose for the pardon of it. It is great; I see it to be so.” The more we see of the heinousness of our sins the better qualified we are to find mercy with God. When we confess sin we must aggravate it.Let us now take a view of the great and precious promises which we have in these

verses, and observe,

I. To whom these promises belong and who may expect the benefit of them. We are all sinners; and can we hope for any advantage by them? Yes (Psa_25:8), He will teach sinners, though they be sinners; for Christ came into the world to save sinners, and, in order to that, to teach sinners, to call sinners to repentance. These promises are sure to those who though they have been sinners, have gone astray, yet now keep God's word, 1. To such as keep his covenant and his testimonies (Psa_25:10), such as take his precepts

for their rule and his promises for their portion, such as, having taken God to be to them a God, live upon that, and, having given up themselves to be him a people, live up to that. Though, through the infirmity of the flesh, they sometimes break the command, yet by a sincere repentance when at any time they do amiss, and a constant adherence by faith to God as their God, they keep the covenant and do not break that. 2. To such as fear him (Psa_25:12 and again Psa_25:14), such as stand in awe of his majesty and worship him with reverence, submit to his authority and obey him with cheerfulness, dread his wrath and are afraid of offending him.

JAMISO�, "upright — acting according to His promise.sinners — the general term, limited by the

meek — who are penitent.

the way — and his way — God’s way of providence.

CALVI�, "8.Good and upright is Jehovah. Pausing for a little as it were in the prosecution of his

prayer, he exercises his thoughts in meditation upon the goodness of God, that he may return with renewed ardor to prayer. The faithful feel that their hearts soon languish in prayer, unless they are constantly stirring themselves up to it by new incitements; so rare and difficult a thing is it to persevere steadfastly and unweariedly in this duty. And, indeed, as one must frequently lay on fuel in order to preserve a fire, so the exercise of prayer requires the aid of such helps, that it may not languish, and at length be entirely extinguished. David, therefore, desirous to encourage himself to perseverance, speaks to himself, and affirms that God is good and upright, that, gathering new strength by meditating on this truth, he may return with the more alacrity to prayer. But we must observe this consequence — that as God is good and upright, he stretches forth his hand to sinners to bring them back again into the way. To attribute to God an uprightness which he may exercise only towards the worthy and the meritorious, is a cold view of his character, and of little advantage to sinners, and yet the world commonly apprehends that God is good in no other sense. How comes it to pass that scarcely one in a hundred applies to himself the mercy of God, if it is not because men limit it to those who are worthy of it? No on the contrary, it is here said, that God gives a proof of his uprightness when he shows to transgressors the way; and this is of the same import as to call them to repentance, and to teach them to live uprightly. And, indeed, if the goodness of God did not penetrate even to hell, no man would ever become a partaker of it. Let the Papists then boast as they please of their imaginary preparations, but let us regard this as a sure and certain doctrine, that if God do not prevent men by his grace, they shall all utterly perish. David, therefore, here commends this preventing grace, as it is called, which is manifested either when God in calling us at first renews, by the Spirit of regeneration, our corrupt nature, or when he brings us back again into the right way, after we have gone astray from him by our sins. For since even those whom God receives for his disciples are here called sinners, it follows that he renews them by his Holy Spirit that they may become docile and obedient.

SPURGEO�, "Verses 8-10. These three verses are a meditation upon the attributes

and acts of the Lord. He who toils in the harvest field of prayer should occasionally

pause awhile and refresh himself with a meal of meditation.

Verse 8. Good and upright is the Lord: therefore will he teach sinners in the way.

Here the goodness and rectitude of the divine character are beheld in friendly

union; he who would see them thus united in bonds of perfect amity must stand at

the foot of the cross and view them blended in the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus. It is no

less true than wonderful that through the atonement the justice of God pleads as

strongly as his grace for the salvation of the sinners whom Jesus died to save.

Moreover, as a good man naturally endeavours to make others like himself, so will

the Lord our God in his compassion bring sinners into the way of holiness and

conform them to his own image; thus the goodness of our God leads us to expect the

reclaiming of sinful men. We may not conclude from God's goodness that he will

save those sinners who CO�TI�UE to wander in their own ways, but we may be

assured that he will renew transgressors' hearts and guide them into the way of

holiness. Let those who desire to be delivered from sin take comfort from this. God

himself will condescend to be the teacher of sinners. What a ragged school is this for

God to teach in! God's teaching is practical; he teaches sinners not only the doctrine

but the way.

Verse 8. Good and upright is the Lord: therefore will he teach sinners in the way. As

election is the effect of God's sovereignty, our pardon the fruit of his mercy, our

knowledge a stream from his wisdom, our strength an impression of his power; so

our purity is a beam from his holiness. As the rectitude of the creature at the first

creation was the effect of his holiness, so the purity of the creature by a new

creation, is a draught of the same perfection. He is called the Holy One of Israel

more in Isaiah, that evangelical prophet, in erecting Zion, and forming a people for

himself, than in the whole Scripture besides. Stephen Charnock.

Verse 8. Good and upright is the Lord: therefore will he teach sinners in the way.

Will not the Lord, who is good, be as gracious to his enemies as he requires us to be

to ours? It is his own law, "If thou meet thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray,

thou shalt surely bring it back to him again." Ex 23:4. �ow God meets us sinners,

and all sinners as such are his enemies; he meets us straying like the beast without

understanding; and what? will he not bring us again unto himself, the sole

proprietary, by that first right of creation, and that more firm right of redemption?

Robert Mossom.

EBC 8-14, “The contemplation of the Divine character prepares the way for the transition to the second group of seven verses, which are mainly meditation on that character and on God’s dealings and the blessedness of those who fear Him (Psa_25:8-14). The thought of God beautifully draws the singer from himself. How deeply and lovingly he had pondered on the name of the Lord before he attained to the grand truth that His goodness and very uprightness pledged Him to show sinners where they should walk! Since there is at the heart of things an infinitely pure and equally loving Being, nothing is more impossible than that He should wrap Himself in thick darkness and leave men to grope after duty. Revelation of the path of life in some fashion is the only conduct consistent with His character. All presumptions are in favor of such Divine teaching: and the fact of sin makes it only the more certain. That fact may separate men from God, but not God from men, and if they transgress, the more need both in their characters and in God’s. is there that He should speak. But while their being sinners does not prevent His utterance, their disposition determines their actual reception of His teaching, and "the meek" or lowly of heart are His true scholars. His instruction is not wasted on them, and, being welcomed, is increased. A fuller communication of His will rewards the humble acceptance of it. Sinners are led in the way; the meek are taught His way. Here the conception of God’s way is in transition from its meaning in Psa_25:4 to

that in Psa_25:10, where it distinctly must mean His manner of dealing with men. They who accept His teaching, and order their paths as He would have them do, will learn that the impulse and meaning of all which He does to them are "mercy and truth," the two great attributes to which the former petitions appealed, and which the humble of heart, who observe the conditions of God’s covenant which is witness of His own character and of their duty, will see gleaming with lambent light even in calamities.The participators, then, in this blessed knowledge have a threefold character: sinners humble: keepers of the covenant and testimonies. The thought of these requirements drives the psalmist back on himself, as it will do all devout souls, and forces from him a short ejaculation of prayer, which breaks with much pathos and beauty the calm flow of contemplation. The pleas for forgiveness of the "iniquity" which makes him feel unworthy of Jehovah’s guidance are remarkable. "For Thy name’s sake" appeals to the revealed character of God, as concerned in the suppliant’s pardon, inasmuch as it will be honoured thereby, and God will be true to Himself in forgiving. "For it is great" speaks the boldness of helplessness. The magnitude of sin demands a Divine intervention. None else than God can deal with it. Faith makes the very greatness of sin and extremity of need a reason for God’s act of pardon.

Passing from self, the singer again recurs to his theme, reiterating in vivid language and with some amplification the former thoughts. In Psa_25:8-10 the character of Jehovah was the main subject, and the men whom He blessed were in the background. In Psa_25:12-14 they stand forward. Their designation now is the wide one of "those who fear Jehovah," and the blessings they receive are, first, that of being taught the way, which has been prominent thus far, but here has a new phase, as being "the way that he should choose"; i.e., God’s teaching illuminates the path, and tells a man what he ought to do, while his freedom of choice is uninfringed. Next, outward blessings of settled prosperity shall be his, and his children shall have the promises to Israel fulfilled in their possession of the land. These outward blessings belong to the Old Testament epoch, and can only partially be applied to the present stage of Providence. But the final element of the good man’s blessedness (Psa_25:14) is eternally true. Whether we translate the first word "secret" or "friendship," the sense is substantially the same. Obedience and the true fear of Jehovah directly tend to discernment of His purposes, and will besides be rewarded by whispers from heaven. God would not hide from Abraham what he would do, and still His friend will know His mind better than the disobedient. The last clause of Psa_25:14 is capable of various renderings. "His covenant" may be in the accusative, and the verb a periphrastic future, as the A.V. takes it, or the former word may be nominative, and the clause be rendered, "And His covenant [is] to make them to know." But the absolute use of the verb without a specification of the object taught is somewhat harsh, and probably the former rendering is to be preferred. The deeper teaching of the covenant which follows on the fear of the Lord includes both its obligations and blessings, and the knowledge is not mere intellectual perception, but vital experience. In this region life is knowledge, and knowledge life. Whoso "keeps His covenant" (Psa_25:10) will ever grow in appropriation of its blessings and apprehension of its obligations by his submissive will.

BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR, “Good and upright is the Lord; therefore will He teach sinners in the way.

The guarantee in God for guidance from God

The Psalmist exchanges petition for contemplation; and gazes on the character of God, in order thereby to be helped to confidence in an answer to his prayer. Such alternations of

petition and contemplation are the very heartbeats of devotion, now expanding in desire, and now closing on its treasure in fruition. Either attitude is incomplete without the other. Do our prayers pass into such still contemplation of the face of God?

I. The Psalmist’s thought of God. “Good and upright.” God equals here, kind, beneficent. He binds the two quantities together in the feeling of their profoundest harmony. Neither of these reaches its highest beauty and supremest power except it be associated with the other. In the spectrum analysis of that great light there are the two lines; the one purest white of righteousness, and the other tinged with a ruddier glow, the line of love. We are always tempted to wrench the two apart. Hence you get types of religion in which one or the other is emphasised to such a degree as almost to blot out the other. God is love. We cannot make too much of His love, unless by reason of it we make too little of His righteousness.

II. The calm confidence builded on this conception of the Divine character. What a wonderful “therefore” that is!—the logic of faith, not of sense. The co-existence of these two aspects in the perfect Divine character is for us a guarantee that He cannot leave men, however guilty they may be, to grope in the dark, or keep His lips locked in silence. The Psalmist does not mean guidance as to practical advantages and worldly prosperity. He means guidance as to the one important thing, the sovereign conception of duty, the eternal law of right and wrong. What is love, in its loftiest, purest, and therefore in its Divine aspect? What, except an infinite desire to impart, and that the object on which it falls shall be blessed. God is the “giving” God. Not our happiness, but our rectitude, is God’s end in all that He does for us. Since righteousness is blended with love, therefore He comes, and must desire to bring all wanderers back into the paths which are His own. God can find His way to my heart, and infuse there illumination, and pure affections, and make my eye clear to discern what is right.

III. The condition on which the fulfilment of this confidence depends. “The meek will He guide,” etc. The condition of our hearing and profiting, by the guidance is meekness; or what we might call docility, of which the prime element is the submission of our own wills to God’s. The reason why we go wrong about our duties is mainly that we do not supremely want to go right, but rather to gratify inclinations, tastes, or passions. Some of us do not wish to know what God wishes us to do. Some of us cannot bear suspense of judgment, or of decision, and are always in a hurry to be in action, and think the time lost that is spent in waiting to know what God the Lord will speak. If you do not clearly see what to do, then clearly you may see that you are to do nothing. Wait till God points the path, and wish Him to point it, and hush the noises that prevent your hearing His voice, and keep your wills in absolute submission; and, above all, he sure that you act out your convictions, and have no knowledge of duty which is not represented in your practice, and you will get all the light which you need: sometimes being taught by errors, no doubt, often being left to make mistakes as to what is expedient in regard to worldly prosperity, but being infallibly guided as to the path of duty and the path of peace and righteousness. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

Our Divine Teacher

Men die for lack of knowledge, hence teaching has ever held a high place in God’s dealing with sinful man, and the Divine Teacher—the Holy Spirit—not only points out the way of life, but confers power to pursue that way. The first without the second would prove ineffective to accomplish the salvation of any man. “It would have been,” says T.G. Selby, “a cruel absurdity if someone had stepped up to Caliban or to Quasimodo, the dwarf in

Victor Hugo’s Notre Dame, who impersonates all ugliness, and had said ‘Be Apollo, he is the one mould of physical perfection into which you may try and compass yourself.’ It would be insane stupidity if Tadema or Burne Jones were to go to some limbless monstrosity in a penny show and say, ‘Join our school, paint according to our methods, reproduce our best characteristics.’” The poor wretch lacks the natural endowments which fit him to take his first lessons in art.

The meditation of a devout soul upon God

God guides the soul in a certain way. What is it?

I. It is the way of moral excellence. It is described as—

1. “Judgment,” i.e. rectitude.

2. “His way,” the way which is in accordance with their nature.

3. “His covenant.” All these expressions mean holiness, for thereinto doth God guide the soul.

II. Of experimental blessedness. “All the paths of the Lord are mercy (Psa_25:10).

1. They experience the mercy of God in their use. In healing their diseases, sustaining their existence, removing their perplexities, etc.,

2. The truth of God in their use. “Mercy and truth.”

III. Of forgiveness. “Pardon mine iniquity,” etc. (Psa_25:11).

1. There is an urgent need for pardon; and—

2. A sovereign reason,—“Thy name’s sake.”

IV. Of moral wealth. Such wealth is—

1. Abundant. “His soul shall dwell at ease.” He shall lodge in goodness, as the margin has it.

2. Permanent, “dwell.”

3. Transmissible. “His seed shall inherit the earth.” A truly gooey man can transmit his goodness to his children, and bring them into the spiritual inheritance. And these—not the owners of broad acres—are the true inheritors of the earth.

4. Free. “What man is he that feareth the Lord? Him,” etc. It does not matter who he is, if he has true religion.

V. Of Divine friendship. “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him.” The man who walks in this way gets so intimate and grows so friendly with God that he becomes initiated into His secrets, acquainted with His counsels. There is no mystery in this. We see it every day where there is strong mutual sympathy between two minds.

VI. Of ultimate deliverance. “He shall pluck my feet out of the net.”

1. Men are entangled in dangers. The devil has laid his snares in all directions.

2. True men will be delivered. The “net” will be broken, the snarer confounded, and the soul set free.

3. For their eyes are ever towards the Lord. God fills up the horizon of a good man’s soul. (Homilist.)

E-SWORD, ““Good and upright is the Lord: therefore will he teach sinners in the way.” Here the goodness and the rectitude of the divine character are beheld in friendly union; he who would see them thus united in bonds of perfect amity must stand at the foot of the cross and view them blended in the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus. It is no less true than wonderful that through the atonement the justice of God pleads as strongly as his grace for the salvation of the sinners whom Jesus died to save. Moreover, as a good man naturally endeavours to make others like himself, so will the Lord our God in his compassion bring sinners into the way of holiness and conform them to his own image; thus the goodness of our God leads us to expect the reclaiming of sinful men. We may not conclude from God's goodness that he will save those sinners who continue to wander in their own ways, but we may be assured that he will renew transgressors' hearts and guide them into the way of holiness. Let those who desire to be delivered from sin take comfort from this. God himself will condescend to be the teacher of sinners. What a ragged school is this for God to teach in! God's teaching is practical; he teaches sinners not only the doctrine, but the way.

MACLAREN, “GUIDANCE IN JUDGMENT

The Psalmist prays in this psalm for three things: deliverance, guidance, and forgiveness. Of these three petitions the central one is that for guidance. ‘Show me Thy ways, O Lord,’ he asks in a previous verse; where he means by ‘Thy ways,’ not God’s dealings with men, but men’s conduct as prescribed by God. In my text he exchanges petition for contemplation; and gazes on the character of God, in order thereby to be helped to confidence in an answer to his prayer. Such alternations of petition and contemplation are the very heartbeats of devotion, now expanding in desire, now closing on its treasure in fruition. Either attitude is incomplete without the other. Do our prayers pass into such still contemplation of the face of God? Do our thoughts of His character break into such confident petition? My text contains a striking view of the divine character, a grand confidence built thereupon, and a condition appended on which the fulfilment of that confidence depends. Let us look at these in turn.

I. First, then, we have here the Psalmist’s thought of God. ‘Good and upright is the Lord.’

Now it is clear that the former of these two epithets is here employed, not in its widest sense of moral perfectness, or else ‘upright,’ which follows, would be mere tautology, but in the narrower sense, which is familiar too, to us, in our common speech, in which good is tantamount to kind, beneficent, or to say all in a word, loving. Upright needs no explanation; but the point to notice is the decisiveness with which the Psalmist binds together, in one thought, the two aspects of the divine nature which so many people find it hard to reconcile, and the separation of which has been the parent of unnumbered misconceptions and errors as to Him and to His dealings. ‘Good and upright, loving and righteous is the Lord,’ says the Psalmist. He puts in no qualifying word such as, loving though righteous, righteous and yet loving. Such phrases express the general notions of the relation of these two attributes. But the Psalmist employs no such expressions. He binds the two qualities together, in the feeling of their profoundest harmony.

Now let me remind you that neither of these two resplendent aspects of the divine nature reaches its highest beauty and supremest power, except it be associated with the other. In the spectrum analysis of that great light there are the two lines; the one purest white of righteousness, and the other tinged with a ruddier glow, the line of love. The one adorns and sets off the other. Love without righteousness is flaccid, a mere gush of good-

natured sentiment, impotent to confer blessing, powerless to evoke reverence. Righteousness without love is as white as snow, and as cold as ice; repellent, howsoever it may excite the sentiment of awe-struck distance. But we need that the righteousness shall be loving, and that the love shall be righteous, in order that the one may be apprehended in its tenderest tenderness and the other may be adored in its loftiest loftiness.

And yet we are always tempted to wrench the two apart, and to think that the operation of the one must sometimes, at all events on the outermost circumference of the spheres, impinge upon, and collide with, the operations of the other. Hence you get types of religion-yes! and two types of Christianity-in which the one or the other of these two harmonious attributes is emphasised to such a degree as almost to blot out the other. You get forms of religion in which the righteousness has swallowed up the love, and others in which the love has destroyed the righteousness. The effect is disastrous. In old days our fathers fell into the extreme on the one hand; and the pendulum has swung with a vengeance as far from the vertical line, to the other extreme, in these days as it ever did in the past. The religion which found its centre-point and its loftiest conception of the divine nature in the thought of His absolute righteousness made strong, if it made somewhat stern, men. And now we see renderings of the truth that God is love which degrade the lofty, noble, sovereign conception of the righteous God that loveth, into mere Indulgence on the throne of the universe. And what is the consequence? All the stern teachings of Scripture men recoil from, and try to explain away. The ill desert of sin, and the necessary iron nexus between sin and suffering-and as a consequence the sacrificial work of Jesus Christ, and the supreme glory of His mission in that He is the Redeemer of mankind-are all become unfashionable to preach and unfashionable to believe. God is Love. We cannot make too much of His love, unless by reason of it we make too little of His righteousness.

The Psalmist, in his childlike faith, saw deeper and more truly than many would-be theologians and thinkers of this day, when he proclaimed in one breath ‘Good and upright is the Lord.’ Let us not forget that the Apostle, whose great message to the world was, as the last utterance completing the process of revelation, ‘God is Love,’ had it also in charge to ‘declare unto us that God is Light, and in Him is no darkness at all.’

II. And so, secondly, mark the calm confidence builded on this conception of the divine character.

What a wonderful ‘therefore’ that is!-the logic of faith and not of sense. ‘Good and upright is the Lord; therefore will He teach sinners in the way.’ The coexistence of these two aspects in the perfect divine character is for us a guarantee that He cannot leave men, however guilty they may be, to grope in the dark, or keep His lips locked in silence. The Psalmist does not mean guidance as to practical advantages and worldly prosperity. That may also be looked for, in a modified degree. But what he means is guidance as to the one important thing, the sovereign conception of duty, the eternal law of right and wrong. God will not leave a man without adequate teaching as to that, just because He is loving and righteous.

For what is love, in its loftiest, purest, and therefore in its divine aspect? What is it except an infinite desire to impart, and that the object on which it falls shall be blessed. So because ‘the Lord is good, and His tender mercies are over all His works,’ certainly He must desire, if one may so say, as His deepest desire, the blessedness of His creatures. He is a God whose nature and property it is to love, and His love is the infinite and ceaseless welling out of Himself, in all forms of beauty and blessedness, according to the capacity and contents of His recipient creatures. He is ‘the giving God,’ as James in his

epistle eloquently and wonderfully calls Him, whose very nature it is to give. And that is only to say, in other words, ‘good is the Lord.’

But then ‘good and upright’-that combination determines the form which His blessings shall assume, the channel in which by preference they will flow. If we had only to say, ‘good is the Lord,’ then our happiness, as we call it, the satisfaction of our physical needs and of lower cravings, might be the adequate expression of His love. But if God be righteous, then because Himself is so, it must be His deepest desire for us that we should be like Him. Not our happiness but our rectitude is God’s end in all that He does with us. It is worth His while to make us, in the lower sense of the word, ‘happy,’ but the purpose of joy as of sorrow is to make us pure and righteous. We shall never come to understand the meaning of our own lives, and will always be blindly puzzling over the mysteries of the providences that beset us, until we learn that not enjoyment and not sorrow is His ultimate end concerning us, but that we may be partakers of His holiness. Since He is righteous, the dearest desire of His loving heart, and that to which all His dealings with us are directed; and that, therefore, to which all our desires and efforts should be directed likewise, is to make us righteous also.

‘Therefore will He teach sinners in the way.’ If the righteousness existed without the love it must ‘come with a rod,’ and the sinners who are out of the way must incontinently be crushed where they have wandered. But since righteousness is blended with love, therefore He comes, and must desire to bring all wanderers back into the paths which are His own.

I need not do more than in a word remind you how strong a presumption there lies in this combination of aspects of the divine nature, in favour of an actual revelation. It seems to me that, notwithstanding all the objections that are made to a supernatural and objective revelation, there is nothing half so monstrous as it would be to believe, with the pure deist or theist, that God, being what He is, righteous and loving, had never rent His heavens to say one word to man to lead him in the paths of righteousness. I can understand Atheism, and I can understand a revealing God, but not a God that dwells in the thick darkness, and is yet Love and Righteousness, and looks down upon this world and never puts out a finger to point the path of duty. A silent God seems to me no God but an Almighty Devil. Revelation is the plain conclusion from the premisses that ‘good and upright is the Lord!’ I speak not, for there is no time to do so, of the various manners in which this divine desire to bring sinners into the way fulfils itself. There are our consciences; there are His providences; there is the objective revelation of His word; there are the whispers of His Spirit in men’s hearts. I do not know what you believe, but I believe that God can find His way to my heart and infuse there illumination, and move affections, and make my eye clear to discern what is right. ‘He that formed the eye, shall He not see?’ He that formed the eye, shall He not send light to it? Are we to shut out God, in obedience to the dictates of an arbitrary psychology, from access to His own creature; and to say, ‘Thou hast made me, and Thou canst not speak to me. My soul is Thine by creation, but its doors are close barred against Thee; and Thou canst not lay Thy hand upon it?’ ‘Good and upright is the Lord, therefore will He teach sinners in the way.’

III. Now notice, again, the condition on which the fulfilment of this confidence depends.

‘The meek will He guide in judgment, and the meek will He teach His way.’ The fact of our being sinful only makes it the more imperative that God should speak to us. But the condition of our hearing and profiting by the guidance is meekness. By meekness the Psalmist means, I suppose, little else than what we might call docility, of which the prime element is the submission of my own will to God’s. The reason why we go wrong about

our duties is mainly that we do not supremely want to go right, but rather to gratify inclinations, tastes, or passions. God is speaking to us, but if we make such a riot with the yelpings of our own kennelled desires and lusts, and listen to the rattle and noise of the street and the babble of tongues, He

‘Can but listen at the gate,

And hear the household jar within.’

‘The meek will He guide in judgment; the meek will He teach His way.’ Some of us put our heads down like bulls charging a gate. Some of us drive on full speed, and will not shut off steam though the signals are against us, and the end of that can only be one thing. Some of us do not wish to know what God wishes us to do. Some of us cannot bear suspense of judgment, or of decision, and are always in a hurry to be in action, and think the time lost that is spent in waiting to know what God the Lord will speak. If you do not clearly see what to do, then clearly you may see that you are to do nothing.

The ark was to go half a mile in front of the camp before the foremost files lifted a foot to follow, in order that there should be no mistake as to the road. Wait till God points the path, and wish Him to point it, and hush the noises that prevent your hearing His voice, and keep your wills in absolute submission; and above all, be sure that you act out your convictions, and that you have no knowledge of duty which is not expressed in your practice, and you will get all the light which you need; sometimes being taught by errors no doubt, often being left to make mistakes as to what is expedient in regard to worldly prosperity, but being infallibly guided as to the path of duty, and the path of peace and righteousness.

And now, before I close, let me just remind you of the great fact which transcends the Psalmist’s confidence whilst it warrants it.

Because God is Love, and God is Righteousness, He cannot but speak. But this Psalmist did not know how wonderfully God was going to speak by that Word who has called Himself the Light of men; and who has said, ‘He that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.’ He ‘teaches sinners in the way,’ by Jesus Christ; for we have Him for our Pattern and Example. We have His love for our impelling motive. We have His Spirit to speak in our hearts, and to ‘guide us into all truth.’ And this Shepherd, ‘when He putteth forth His own sheep, goeth before them; and the sheep follow Him and know His voice.’ The Psalmist’s confidence, bright as it is, is but the glow of the morning twilight. The full sunshine of the transcendent fact to which God’s righteous love impelled and bound Him is Christ, who makes us know the will of the Father. But we want more than knowledge. For we all know our duty a great deal better than any of us do it. What is the use of a guide to a lame man? But our Guide says to us, ‘Arise and walk,’ and if we clasp His hand we receive strength, and ‘the lame man leaps as a hart.’

So, dear brethren! let us all cleave to Him, the Guide, the Way, and the Life which enables us to walk in the way. If we thus cleave, then be sure that He will lead us in the paths of righteousness, which are paths of peace. He is the Way; He is the Leader of the march; He gives power to walk in the light, and His one command, ‘Follow Me,’ unfolds into all duty and includes all direction, companionship, perfection, and blessedness.

9 He guides the humble in what is right

and teaches them his way.

BAR�ES, "The meek will he guide - The humble, the teachable, the prayerful, the gentle of spirit - those who are willing to learn. A proud person who supposes that he already knows enough cannot be taught; a haughty person who has no respect for others, cannot learn of them; a person who is willing to believe nothing cannot be instructed. The first requisite, therefore, in the work of religion, as in respect to all kinds of knowledge, is a meek and docile spirit. See Mat_18:3.In judgment - In a right judgment or estimate of things. It is not merely in the

administration of justice, or in doing “right,” but it is in judging of truth; of duty; of the value of objects; of the right way to live; of all upon which the mind can be called to exercise judgment, or to come to a decision.

And the meek will he teach his way - The way in which he would have them to go. The “methods” by which God does this are:

(1) By His word or law,

(a) laying down there the principles which are to guide human conduct, and

(b) in numerous cases furnishing specific rules for directing our conduct in the relations of life;

(2) by His Spirit,

(a) disposing the mind to candor,

(b) enlightening it to see the truth, and

(c) making it honest and sincere in its inquiries;

(3) by His providence - often indicating, in an unexpected manner, to those who are sincere in their inquiries after truth and duty, what He would have them to do; and

(4) by the advice and counsel of those who have experience - the aged and the wise - those who have themselves been placed in similar circumstances, or who have passed through the same perplexities and embarrassments.

By all these methods a peson who goes to God in humble prayer, and with a proper sense of dependence, may trust that he will be guided aright; and it is not probable that a case could occur in which one who should honestly seek for guidance by these helps, might not feel assured that God would lead him aright. Having used these means, a peson may feel assured that God will not leave him to error.

CLARKE, "The meek will he guide - �ענוים anavim, the poor, the distressed; he will lead in judgment - he will direct them in their cause, and bring it to a happy issue, for he will show them the way in which they should go.

GILL, "The meek will he guide in judgment,.... Or "the miserable" (z) and afflicted; such as see themselves to be wretched and miserable, lost and undone; and cry

out, What shall we do to be saved? and who are meek and lowly, are humbled under a sense of their sins, are poor in spirit, and of broken and contrite hearts; these the Lord will guide by his Spirit into the truth, as it is in Jesus; even the great truth of salvation by him; and in the way of his judgments, statutes, and ordinances; and will give them a true judgment and a right discerning of things that differ; and he will lead them on in judgment, or gently; see Jer_10:24; into every truth of the Gospel by degrees, and as they are able to bear them;

and the meek will he teach his way; of justifying sinners by the righteousness of his son; for such who are humble and confess their sins and unworthiness, and throw themselves on the mercy of God in Christ, are declaratively justified by the Lord, when the proud boasting Pharisee is an abomination to him.

HE�RY, " The meek will he guide, the meek will he teach, that is, those that are humble and low in their own eyes, that are distrustful of themselves, desirous to be taught, and honestly resolved to follow the divine guidance. Speak, Lord, for thy servant hears. These he will guide in judgment, that is, by the rule of the written word; he will guide them in that which is practical, which relates to sin and duty, so that they may keep conscience void of offence; and he will do it judiciously (so some), that is, he will suit his conduct to their case; he will teach sinners with wisdom, tenderness, and compassion, and as they are able to bear. He will teach them his way. All good people make God's way their way, and desire to be taught that; and those that do so shall be taught and led in that way. (3.) Him that feareth the Lord he will teach in the way that he shall choose, either in the way that God shall choose or that the good man shall choose. It comes all to one, for he that fears the Lord chooses the things that please him. If we choose the right way, he that directed our choice will direct our steps, and will lead us in it. If we choose wisely, God will give us grace to walk wisely.

JAMISO�, "in judgment — rightly.

SBC, “I. Humility dates from Jesus Christ. At the feet of Jesus Christ, at the feet of Him whom St. John calls the Light, worldly virtues grow dim and are effaced, as the brilliancy of the most cleverly imitated jewels grows dim near the lustre of a pure diamond. But there is something more efficacious than the sight of the perfection of Jesus Christ to produce humility; it is the sight of His love. It is at the foot of the Cross humility is born; that Divine flower, hitherto unknown by the world, came out of the earth moistened by the blood of Christ. That is its natural soil. Elsewhere it can only perish and dry up.II. Christian humility should penetrate our entire being. Since all parts of our being have participated in the revolt of sin, all must bow before God. (1) Our intelligence must be humble. A great Christian has said, "I love a shadow at the side of God much better than a light at the side of men." It is good for the soul to sit down in that shadow, to breathe the air of the mysteries which humble us and sanctify us. (2) Humbleness of the intelligence is blended with humbleness of the heart, and the humility of the heart should pass into the life.

III. Consider the promise which God makes to Christian humility in the text: "The meek will He teach His way." These words bind earth to heaven. There is here below therefore a way which leads to God, a way where we can walk with God; in the midst of all these roads which cross each other, and which nearly all lead to vanity, there is a way which ends in no abyss, and which crosses victoriously the valley of the shadow of death. Would you know the way that leads to God? Be humble. Pride wants to see God face to face, and

His splendour blinds it. Humility bends itself before Him, and sees its path all flooded by His light. The Lord teaches His way to the humble.

E. Bersier, Sermons, vol. i., p. 237.

E-SWORD, ““The meek will he guide in judgment.” Meek spirits are in high favour with the Father of the meek and lowly Jesus, for he sees in them the image of his only-begotten Son. They know their need of guidance, and are willing to submit their own understandings to divine will, and therefore the Lord condescends to be their guide. Humble spirits are in this verse endowed with a rich inheritance; let them be of good cheer. Trouble puts gentle spirits to their wits' ends, and drives them to act without discretion, but grace comes to the rescue, enlightens their mind to follow that which is just, and helps them to discern the way in which the Lord would have them to go. Proud of their own wisdom fools will not learn, and therefore miss their road to heaven, but lowly hearts sit at Jesus' feet, and find the gate of glory, for “the meek will he teach his way.” Blessed teacher! Favoured scholar! Divine lesson! My soul, be thou familiar with the whole.

CALVI�, "8.Good and upright is Jehovah. Pausing for a little as it were in the prosecution of his

prayer, he exercises his thoughts in meditation upon the goodness of God, that he may return with renewed ardor to prayer. The faithful feel that their hearts soon languish in prayer, unless they are constantly stirring themselves up to it by new incitements; so rare and difficult a thing is it to persevere steadfastly and unweariedly in this duty. And, indeed, as one must frequently lay on fuel in order to preserve a fire, so the exercise of prayer requires the aid of such helps, that it may not languish, and at length be entirely extinguished. David, therefore, desirous to encourage himself to perseverance, speaks to himself, and affirms that God is good and upright, that, gathering new strength by meditating on this truth, he may return with the more alacrity to prayer. But we must observe this consequence — that as God is good and upright, he stretches forth his hand to sinners to bring them back again into the way. To attribute to God an uprightness which he may exercise only towards the worthy and the meritorious, is a cold view of his character, and of little advantage to sinners, and yet the world commonly apprehends that God is good in no other sense. How comes it to pass that scarcely one in a hundred applies to himself the mercy of God, if it is not because men limit it to those who are worthy of it? No on the contrary, it is here said, that God gives a proof of his uprightness when he shows to transgressors the way; and this is of the same import as to call them to repentance, and to teach them to live uprightly. And, indeed, if the goodness of God did not penetrate even to hell, no man would ever become a partaker of it. Let the Papists then boast as they please of their imaginary preparations, but let us regard this as a sure and certain doctrine, that if God do not prevent men by his grace, they shall all utterly perish. David, therefore, here commends this preventing grace, as it is called, which is manifested either when God in calling us at first renews, by the Spirit of regeneration, our corrupt nature, or when he brings us back again into the right way, after we have gone astray from him by our sins. For since even those whom God receives for his disciples are here called sinners, it follows that he renews them by his Holy Spirit that they may become docile and obedient.

SPURGEO�, "Verse 9. The meek will he guide in judgment. Meek spirits are in

high favour with the Father of the meek and lowly Jesus, for he sees in them the

image of his only begotten Son. They know their need of guidance, and are willing to

submit their own understandings to the divine will, and therefore the Lord

condescends to be their guide. Humble spirits are in this verse endowed with a rich

inheritance; let them be of good cheer. Trouble puts gentle spirits to their wit's ends,

and drives them to act without discretion, but grace comes to the rescue, enlightens

their minds to follow that which is just, and helps them to discern the way in which

the Lord would have them to go. Proud of their own wisdom fools will not learn,

and therefore miss their road to heaven, but lowly hearts sit at Jesu's feet, and find

the gate of glory, for the meek will he teach his way. Blessed teacher! Favoured

scholar! Divine lesson! My soul, be thou familiar with the whole.

Verse 9. The meek will he guide in judgment; or the poor (namely, in spirit), will he

make to tread in judgment, to foot it aright, to walk judiciously, to behave

themselves wisely, as David did 1Sa 24:1-22, so that Saul feared him. �atural

conscience cannot but stoop to the image of God, shining in the hearts and lives of

the really religious. John Trapp.

Verse 9. The meek will he guide in judgment. They have been made meek i.e.,

desirous of being taught, and praying to be so; but, being now sensible of

unworthiness, they are afraid that God will not teach them. This may be done to

other sinners but not to them. Therefore they are told who may expect teaching,

even they who desire and pray for teaching. John Berridge, 1716-1793.

Verse 9. He will guide the poor in judgment. �ever will this docility be found in any

man, until the heart, which is naturally elated and filled with pride, has been

humbled and subdued. As the Hebrew word denotes the poor or afflicted, and is

employed in a metaphorical sense, to denote the meek and humble, it is probable

that David, under this term, includes the afflictions which serve to restrain and

subdue the frowardness of the flesh, as well as the grace of humility itself; as if he

had said, When God has first humbled them, then he kindly stretches forth his hand

to them, and leads and guides them throughout the whole course of their life. John

Calvin.

Verse 9. The meek, etc. Pride and anger have no place in the school of Christ. The

Master himself is "meek and lowly of heart; " much more, surely, ought the

scholars to be so. He who hath no sense of his ignorance, can have no desire, or

capability of knowledge, human or divine. George Horne.

Verse 9 (last clause). The Lord will teach the humble his secrets, he will not teach

proud scholars. Thomas Goodwin.

Verse 9 (last clause). Such as lie at his feet and say, "Speak, Lord, for thy servant

heareth, "such whose hearts are supple and soluble, tractable, and teachable, so that

a little child may lead them. Isa 11:6. Austin was such an one. Saith he, "I am here

an old man ready to learn of a young man, my coadjutor in the ministry, who hath

scarce been one year in the service." John Trapp.

CHARLES SIMEO�, “MEEK DOCILITY INCULCATED

Psa_25:9. The meek will he guide in judgment; and the meek he will teach his way.

THE necessity of a revelation is universally acknowledged: for no man could possibly know God’s

will, unless God himself should be pleased to communicate information respecting it from above.

But the necessity for any divine influence upon the soul, in order to a due improvement of a

revelation already given, is not generally admitted. But we are expressly told, that “all God’s children

shall be taught of him:” and both the goodness and integrity of God are pledged for the performance

of the promise [Note: ver. 8.]. There are, however, certain qualifications which we must possess,

before the proffered benefits can be extended to us: and what they are, it is my intention, in this

present Discourse, to set before you.

Let me then state,

I. What dispositions are necessary for a reception of divine truth—

The term “meekness” is of very extensive import. But, instead of entering into the variety of senses

in which the word is used, we shall find it more profitable to confine ourselves to the precise view in

which it is used in the passage before us. Men may be denominated “meek,”

1. When they are sensible of their own ignorance—

[Ignorant we are, whether we be sensible of it or not. The fall of man has proved no less injurious to

his intellectual powers than to his heart. “His understanding is darkened:” “the god of this world has

blinded his eyes:” and “he is alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in him, and

because of the blindness of his heart.”

But men are unconscious of this. They feel that their powers are strong for the investigation of

human sciences; and they see no reason why they should not be equally so for the comprehension

of things relating to the soul. Any intimation to this effect they are ready to resent, as the Pharisees

did of old: “Are we blind also? [Note: Joh_9:40.]”

Very different is their conduct, when they are become truly “meek.” Then they perceive their want of

spiritual discernment [Note: 2Co_2:14.]. They feel that no efforts of flesh and blood will suffice for

the illumination of their minds [Note: Mat_16:17.]; and that they need “not the spirit of the world, but

the Spirit which is of God, that they may know the things that are freely given to them of God

[Note: 1Co_2:12.].”]

2. When they are willing and desirous to be taught of God—

[As man by nature is not sensible of his own blindness, so has he no wish to obtain a spiritual

insight into the things of God. He is satisfied with a speculative knowledge: and, if he possess that

which may be apprehended by reason, and which may be attained by his own personal exertions,

he has all that he desires. All beyond that is, in his estimation, a vain conceit.

But a person who possesses the disposition spoken of in our text, desires to be taught of God, and

to be guided into all truth. He is not contented with abiding in the outer court of the temple; but longs

to be introduced within the vail, even into the sanctuary of the Most High, in order that he may

behold God shining forth in all his glory, and receive from him the richest possible communications

of his grace and love. For this end, whenever he opens the inspired volume, he lifts up his heart to

God, and prays, “Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy Law!” In

relation to the whole work of redemption, whether as revealed in the word, or as experienced in the

soul, he desires to hear God himself, and be “taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus

[Note: Eph_4:20-21.]:” and he pleads with God that most encouraging promise, “Call upon me, and I

will shew thee great and mighty (hidden) things, which thou knowest not [Note:Jer_33:3.].”]

Such are the dispositions which characterize the people whom God will instruct.

We are next to shew,

II. Whence arises the necessity for them—

There is, in the whole scope and tenor of the Gospel,

1. A contrariety to our carnal reason—

[The substitution of God’s co-equal, co-eternal Son in the place of sinners, his vicarious sacrifice,

his bringing in a righteousness by the imputation of which sinners may be justified before God, and

his imparting all the blessings of redemption to them, through the exercise of faith, and without any

respect whatever to their works; these are truths to which carnal reason is extremely averse. They

are among “those things of the Spirit which the natural man neither does, nor can, receive.” A man

may, INDEED , adopt these things as his creed, and may account an opposition to them heresy;

whilst yet he has no spiritual acquaintance with them in his own soul: but to see the excellency of

them, to love them, to delight in them, to “account all things but dung for the knowledge of them,” is

an attainment which the natural man has no idea of, and which, instead of desiring, he hates. They

form altogether a mystery. Hence, till he is humbled before God, he cannot possibly comprehend

these things: they are a stumbling-block to him; they are mere “foolishness” in his eyes.]

2. An opposition to our depraved appetites—

[The Gospel calls upon us to “mortify our members upon earth,” yea, and to “crucify the flesh with

the affections and lusts:” and to such an extent does it require the subjugation of our corrupt

appetites, that, if there be a thing dear to us as a right eye, it calls upon us to pluck it out, or a thing

useful as a right hand, to cut it off. Now, how can such doctrines as these be received by a proud,

unmortified, and unhumbled spirit? It is not possible but that there should be the utmost repugnance

to them in all who feel not the value of their own souls, and desire not above all things to obtain

peace with God. In truth, the doctrines of Christianity are not a whit more offensive to the reason of

the natural man, than the duties of it are to his corrupt affections; which, therefore, must be

mortified, before he can acquiesce in them as good and right.]

3. An inconsistency with our worldly interests—

[The instant we embrace the Gospel with our whole hearts, the world will become our enemies.

They hated and persecuted the Lord of glory himself: can we suppose that the disciple will be above

his Lord, or that, if they called the MASTER OF the house Beelzebub, they will not find some

opprobrious names for those also of his household? We are taught by our Lord that we must be

hated of all men for his name’s sake; and that, if we will not take up our cross daily, and follow him,

we cannot be his disciples. Nay more; if we be not willing to forsake all, and even to lay down our

lives for him, we cannot be partakers of his salvation. But what will an earthly mind say to this? Will

not a faithful declaration of these things draw forth that reply which was given to our Lord, “This is a

hard saying; who can hear it?” Many, when our Lord proclaimed these things, turned back, and

walked no more with him: and this cannot but be the result with every carnal and worldly mind,

when such sacrifices are required.

Hence, then, it is evident, that, unless a very great change be wrought in the heart of an

unconverted man, he neither will, nor can, be in a state to receive truths to which his whole nature is

so averse. If he really desired to do God’s will, the film would be removed from his eyes, and he

would be able to appreciate the things which are set before him in the Gospel: but, till he becomes

thus “meek” and docile, he will be inaccessible to the light, or rather, the light itself will only augment

his blindness.]

That all may be encouraged to seek these necessary dispositions, I PROCEED to notice,

III. The promise made to those who are possessed of them—

It has already appeared, that men, by the Fall, have suffered loss both in their intellectual and moral

powers. And, in both respects, shall they be restored to a rich measure of their pristine dignity, if

only they cultivate the dispositions which God requires.

1. God will “guide them in judgment”—

[They see at present through a dense and delusive medium: and hence every thing relating to God

assumes, in their eyes, an odious and distorted shape. But God will rectify their views: he will

enable them to discern every thing in its proper colours, and to see its bearings on the welfare of the

soul. The excellency of salvation through a crucified Redeemer, the blessedness of having all our

corruptions mortified, and the wisdom of sacrificing all our worldly interests to the welfare of the

soul; these, and all other truths connected with them, shall be brought home to the mind with an

evidence which it cannot doubt, and with a power which it cannot withstand: or, to use the

expressive language of the Psalmist, “In the hidden part God shall make them to know wisdom

[Note: Psa_51:6.].” In a word, he will bring the soul out of darkness into marvellous light; so that it

shall no more call evil good, and good evil, but shall “be guided into all truth,” and shall “have the

very mind that was in Christ Jesus.”]

2. He will enable them, also, to walk in his ways—

[Truth shall not float in their minds as a mere theory or speculation, but shall influence their every

act, their universal habit. God will, by his word and Spirit, reduce them from their wanderings, and

guide their feet into the way of peace. And, if at any time they be for a moment turned aside

through ERROR of judgment, or instability of mind, he will cause them to “hear a word behind

them, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it.” He will go before them, as he did before the Israelites in

the wilderness, causing his word to be a light to their feet and a lantern to their paths: and thus “he

will guide them by his counsel, until he shall finally receive them to glory.”

Here, then, we may see,

1. Whence it is that the blessings of the Gospel are so pre-eminently enjoyed by the poor—

[It is a fact, that “not many wise, not many mighty, not many noble, are called;” but that “God has

revealed to babes and sucklings the things which, to so great an extent, are hid from the wise and

prudent.” The wise and great are too generally under the influence of self-sufficiency and self-

dependence. They cannot bow to the humiliating doctrines of the Gospel: they will not endure to

view themselves in so destitute a condition as the Gospel represents them. Hence they, almost

universally, “stumble at the word, being disobedient.” But the poor are easily brought to see that

they need instruction from above: their very incompetency to ENTER into deep researches of any

kind gives them a comparative diffidence of their own powers, in relation to the things of God.

Hence they see but little to stumble at even in those points which the wise and learned find most

difficult to overcome: and, being more easily brought to seek instruction from God, they, in far

greater numbers, are taught of God, and almost engross to themselves, as it were, the possession

of his kingdom. O, ye poor, never repine at your lot; but rather rejoice that you are of the happy

number of those whom God has chosen chiefly, though not exclusively, “to be rich in faith, and heirs

of his kingdom.” And, ye rich or learned, seek to “become as little children,” and be willing to

“become fools, that ye may be truly wise.”]

2. Whence it is that there are so many falls and errors in the religious world—

[People, when they have embraced the truth, are but too apt to lose the simplicity of their earlier

days, and to become wise in their own conceits. Hence many of them fall into errors of divers kinds;

and not unfrequently dishonour, by their conduct, their holy profession. Alas! alas! what a picture

does the religious world present! See what controversies and animosities obtain amongst those who

profess themselves children of one common Father! Dear Brethren, dreadful is the advantage which

our great adversary gains by these means. Remember, I pray you, that your growth in grace is to be

shewn, not by a proud dogmatizing spirit, but by a spirit of meekness, and humility, and love. He is

most acceptable to the Lord Jesus, who most resembles a little child: and he shall have the richest

communications from God, who, with most lowliness of heart, implores his CONTINUAL aid. In

reading the Holy Scriptures therefore, and under the public ministration of the word, be careful not

to lean to your own understanding, but to trust in God for the teaching of his good Spirit; that

“receiving the word with meekness, as an engrafted word,” you may find it effectual to sanctify and

“save your souls.”]

10 All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful

toward those who keep the demands of his

covenant.

BAR�ES, "All the paths of the Lord - All the ways that the Lord takes; all that He commands; all that He does. The “paths of the Lord” denote the course in which He himself walks, or His dealings with His creatures. In the previous verse, the psalmist had said that the Lord would teach “His way” to the “meek;” he now says that all His ways are ways of mercy and of truth; or that all will be found to be in the direction of mercy and of truth.Are mercy and truth - In all His dealings with those who “keep his covenant” He

shows Himself to be at the same time merciful and true: compassionate toward their errors; faithful to His own promises.

To such as keep his covenant - To those who are His friends; to those who are faithful to Him. This expression is often used to denote those who are the true people of

God, Gen_17:9-10; Exo_19:5; Deu_29:9; Psa_132:12. The word “covenant” here is equivalent to “command or law;” and the idea is, that if they keep His laws they will find Him to be merciful and true. On the meaning of the word “covenant,” see Act_7:8, note; Heb_8:8, note; Heb_9:16-17, note.

And his testimonies - The word “testimony” in the Scripture, in this connection, refers to that to which God bears witness as “true;” or that which He has declared to be truth. In this sense, the phrase here means those who maintain His truth; or who abide by what He has pronounced to be true. The word is very often used in the Scriptures to denote the truth of God and the commandments of God. In all such cases, there is the underlying idea that the command or the statement referred to is that to which God bears witness as true or right.

CLARKE, "All the paths of the Lord - ארחות orchoth signifies the tracks or ruts made by the wheels of wagons by often passing over the same ground. Mercy and truth are the paths in which God constantly walks in reference to the children of men; and so frequently does he show them mercy, and so frequently does he fulfill his truth that his paths are earnestly discerned. How frequent, how deeply indented, and how multiplied are those tracks to every family and individual! Wherever we go, we see that God’s mercy and truth have been there by the deep tracks they have left behind them. But he is more abundantly merciful to those who keep his covenant and his testimonies; i.e. those who are conformed, not only to the letter, but to the spirit of his pure religion.

GILL, "All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth,.... By which are meant, not the paths in which the Lord would have his people walk; though these are good and gracious, right and true; his commandments are not grievous, his yoke is easy, and burden light; his ways are ways of pleasantness, and his paths, paths of peace: but rather the paths in which the Lord himself walks; not his paths of providence, though these are mercy and truth to his own people; every step he takes is in a way of goodness and kindness to them, and in truth and faithfulness to his promises; but the ways and methods he has taken towards the spiritual and eternal salvation of his people; as in his counsels and purposes, in which there is a large display of his grace and mercy; in the choice of them in Christ, as vessels of mercy, and which is of grace, and not of works; in determining to send his Son to die for them, which springs from the tender mercy of our God; in resolving to call them by his grace, and to adopt them into his family, and at last to glorify them; all which proceed from his merciful lovingkindness; and all these, his counsels of old, are faithfulness and truth, since they can never be frustrated, but are always accomplished; as also in his covenant, which springs from grace, is built upon mercy, and contains the sure mercies of David, and is ever fulfilled; the faithfulness of God is engaged to keep it, and its promises are yea and amen in Christ: and likewise the steps he has taken in Christ, the Mediator of the covenant, who is full of grace and truth; "mercy" appears in the mission of him, and redemption by him; and "truth", in fulfilling the promise of him; and both mercy and truth meet together in him: and so they do in the various blessings of grace which come by him; as particularly justification and pardon of sin, in both which there is a display of grace and mercy; and also of the truth of holiness and justice: and the mercy and truth of God appear in these paths of his,

unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies; by which are designed, not the covenant of works, and the precepts of the law, which are sometimes called the testimonies of God, because they testify what is his will that should be done: but these are broke, and not kept perfectly by any; nor is it any favour or high privilege to be

shown this covenant and the duties of it, as is suggested of the covenant here meant, as appears from Psa_25:14; wherefore the covenant of grace must be intended, which is made with Christ, and his people in him; and the "testimonies" are the promises of it, which testify of the grace, mercy, truth, and faithfulness of Gods; and the keeping of these is done by faith: faith lays hold on the covenant, its blessings and promises, and claims an interest in them, as David did, 2Sa_23:5; see Isa_56:4; and it keeps or retains its hold; it will not let go its hold of the covenant and its testimonies, but asserts its interest, even when things are at the worst with it; and it holds fast the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end; and to such all the steps the Lord takes appear to be in mercy and truth.

JAMISO�, "paths — similar sense - His modes of dealing (compare Psa_25:4).mercy and truth — (Job_14:1-22), God’s grace in promising and faithfulness in

performing.

CALVI�, "10.All the ways of Jehovah. This verse is erroneously interpreted by those who think

that the doctrine of the law is here described as true and sweet, and that those who keep it feel it indeed to be so, as if this passage were of the same import as that which was spoken by Jesus Christ,

“ yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

(Mat_11:30)

Such an interpretation is not only strained, but may also be easily disproved by many similar passages in which the expression, The ways of the Lord, is taken in a passive signification, for the paternal manner in which he acts towards those who are his people, in defending and cherishing them; nay, even for his whole conduct in the government and direction of the affairs of this world. The amount of what is said is, that God acts in such a manner towards his people, as that, in all respects, they may find from experience that he is merciful and faithful. David is not here speaking of the character in which God acts towards mankind in general, but what his own children find him to be. We have already seen in Psa_18:26, that he is stern and severe towards the obstinate and rebellious; and even though he act with kindness towards them, in mercifully exercising forbearance towards them notwithstanding their iniquity, yet we find, that so far from seeking their full enjoyment in him, and trusting to his promises, they have no sense of his goodness. Nay, as soon as any adversity befalls them, they either become passionate and fretful, accuse God of acting cruelly towards them, or else complain that he is deaf to their prayers; and when they enjoy prosperity, they despise and neglect him, and as much as they are able flee from his presence. David, therefore, in speaking of the mercy and faithfulness of God, justly describes them as a treasure peculiar to the godly; as if he had said, We have no reason to be afraid that God will deceive us if we persevere in his covenant. These words, covenant and testimony, are of the same import, unless that the second is added as an explanation of the first. They comprehend the whole doctrine of the law, by which God enters into covenant with his chosen people.

SPURGEO�, "Verse 10. This is a rule without exception. God is good to those that

be good. Mercy and faithfulness shall abound towards those who through mercy are

made faithful. Whatever outward appearances may threaten we should settle it

steadfastly in our minds that while grace enables us to obey the Lord's will we need

not fear that Providence will cause us any real loss. There shall be mercy in every

unsavoury morsel, and faithfulness in every bitter drop; let not our hearts be

troubled, but let us rest by faith in the immutable covenant of Jehovah, which is

ordered in all things and sure. Yet this is not a general truth to be trampled upon by

swine, it is a pearl for a child's neck. Gracious souls, by faith resting upon the

finished work of the Lord Jesus, keep the covenant of the Lord, and, being

sanctified by the Holy Spirit, they walk in his testimonies; these will find all things

working together for their good, but to the sinner there is no such promise. Keepers

of the covenant shall be kept by the covenant; those who follow the Lord's

commandments shall find the Lord's mercy following them.

Verse 10. All the paths of the Lord, (twxra) orchoth signifies the tracks or ruts made

by the wheels of wagons by often passing over the same ground. Mercy and truth

are the paths in which God constantly walks in reference to the children of men;

and so frequently does he show them mercy, and so frequently does he fulfil his

truth, that his paths are easily discerned. How frequent, how deeply indented, and

how multiplied are those tracks to every family and individual! Wherever we go, we

see that God's mercy and truth have been there by the deep tracks they have left

behind them. But he is more abundantly merciful to those who keep his covenant

and his testimonies; i.e., those who are conformed, not only to the letter, but to the

spirit of his pure religion. Adam Clarke.

Verse 10. All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth. As his nature is love and

truth, so all his ways are mercy and truth. They are "mercy" in respect if aiming at

out good, and "truth" in respect of fulfilling his promises and faithful carriage to

us; therefore, whatsoever befalls thee, though it be clean contrary to thy

expectation, interpret it in love. Many actions of men are such as a good

interpretation cannot be put upon them, nor a good construction made of them;

therefore interpreters restrain those sayings of love, that it believes all, etc.; that is,

credibilia, all things believable, otherwise to put all upon charity, will eat out

charity. But none of God's ways are such, but love and faith may pick a good

meaning out of these. A bono Deo nil nisi bonum, from a good God there comes

nothing but what is good; and therefore says Job, "Though he kill me, I will trust in

him." Endeavour to spy out some end of his for good at the present, and if none

ariseth to thy conjecture, resolve it into faith, and make the best of it. Thomas

Goodwin.

Verse 10. "Unto such as keep, "etc.: he is never out of the road of mercy unto them.

Thomas Goodwin.

BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR, “All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep His covenant and His testimonies.The dealings of God with His people

This text is intended to represent a universal attribute of God, in all His ways in His government of the world. As such it sets before us an important element of strength to the Christian. To the saved, every event, of whatsoever kind or magnitude it may be, or seem to be, is under the ordering of one sole guiding hand, and is a token of mercy and truth.

I. The ascription of mercy and truth to all the paths of the Lord. Mercy in sparing and delivering His people when they do not deserve it. Truth, in that it is in accordance with promise. His Word will in the end be found faithful to the letter, and whoever takes his stand on that shall never be ashamed. There is a close connection between the Word of God and His paths. There is a great deal implied in the word “paths”: in all the events of the world we may see God moving, see by faith, that is; for His paths are in the deep waters, obliterated from view in the very act of making; His footsteps are not known, except as revealed to the spirit by the Spirit. Whatever comes to us is a path of God. For the illustration of this idea, see the evens of David’s history. You cannot unravel the web of Providence; but this is certain, “all the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth.”

II. The persons in whom this attribute of God’s acts is verified. “Unto such as keep His covenant.” Hereby is intended such as have come out from their worldly conversation, and are endeavouring to run the race of God’s children as Christians in the world. The lowest may be said in some sense to “keep His covenant.” The highest do not keep it perfectly. What of the remainder? (G. Jeans, M. A.)

The covenanter

I. The spiritual covenanter. We have heard of the old Covenanters of Scotland. I have a picture of one. But we have to speak of those who at this day keep the covenant of the Lord. The first covenant with our first father Adam shuts up the soul in despair. But there is a new and better covenant. God has shown it to us, and written it on the tablets of our heart. The redeemed man has been the subject of a special call, and is now united to God in Christ Jesus. A true covenanter says, “Sooner death than false of faith.”

II. The covenanter’s notable experience. “All the paths of the Lord are mercy,” etc. So, then, the Lord makes many approaches to covenanting men. I like the word “paths,” for it seems to say that the Lord has walks of His own. He makes them for Himself, and comes along them quietly, taking us at unawares. And they are all of mercy and truth. That is to say, God has always shown the truth of His Word. To this rule there is no exception. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The interpretive value of obedience

The text seems, at first, to mean that the Lord is merciful and faithful to such as do His will. They shall have His blessing. As they deal with Him, so will He with them. There is a covenant, a spiritual contract, between them: on the one hand, so much obedience and loyalty; on the other, so much truth and mercy. This conception is drawn from the transactions of the market, and in its lowest terms puts religion on the level of mere sale and barter. There is, indeed, an element of truth in it; see Gal_4:7-8. It is certain, however, that they who work just to be rewarded by God will miss it altogether. The true reward is the approval of God, and they alone will gain it who think more of God than of themselves. This is the distinction made in New Testament between faith and works. The difference is seen by comparing Jacob’s bargain with St. Francis Xavier’s “My God, I love Thee, not because I hope for heaven thereby,” etc. The Christian saint gives everything and asks nothing. I do not believe, however, that the text teaches that we are to obey God in order that He may be merciful and true to us, The meaning, I take it, is rather that those who obey Him are thereby enabled to understand His ways, and to see, even when the paths of the Lord are blind and steep, that they are, nevertheless, the paths of mercy

and truth. They who keep the covenant and the testimonies of God have their eyes opened to know the purpose and motive of God’s acts. The secret of the Lord, the understanding of His strange dealings with us, is open and plain to those who are near to Him, who fear Him with the fear of devout reverence, and obey Him in the keeping of His covenant and testimonies.

I. This is plain enough in our relation to the world of nature. How shall we come into complete harmony of eye and ear and touch with our environment; how shall we see the “desirable, clear light of the new morning,” and listen fitly to the music of the brooks; how shall we so conduct ourselves that the sun and the rain, the clouds and trees and stars, the sights and sounds of nature, shall give us the satisfaction and benediction that God intends? The way is as evident as it is simple and homely: we must keep the covenant and the testimonies of God as they relate to our daily health of body; we must sleep and eat and work aright; we must answer the fitting, natural demands of our physical being, and keep ourselves alert and strong and well. Nothing else will avail. No amount of beautiful poetry read by lamplight, and no prayers said behind closed doors, can take the place of that imperative obedience to the primitive laws of bodily health by which alone we may hope to look through clear eyes upon this fair and wonderful world.

II. This everlasting fact of the interpretive value of obedience holds true in religion as in everything else. The Bible is never weary of teaching it. It is one of the eternal principles that lie at the heart of spiritual truth. The ten lepers who are cleansed as they obey are representatives of all of us: as we go along the way on which God sends us, strength and health of soul go with us. The pure in heart shall see God. They who are devoted to God, who hold all else subordinate to their service of Him, whose love of Him is the supreme fact in their lives, who live in His conscious presence, see Him and understand Him. It is as simple and natural as friendship. Their obedience opens their eyes. The chosen disciples of Jesus were able to understand Him better than the crowd, because they were keeping, as best they could, though with many blunders, the eternal laws which expressed His own will and way. He was interpreted to them by their obedience. We, too, if we would knew Him, must approach Him by this way. Not by the path of reason, perplexing ourselves among the arguments of theologians; and not by the path of authority, taking what the ecclesiastics tell us and thinking no more about it, like a blind man trying to understand a sunrise by a formula; but by the path of personal obedience is Christ best sought, so that, doing His will, we come into real sympathy with Him, and of our own selves recognise Him and believe in Him and love Him. So it is with certain hard duties to which He summons us, and which are tests of true discipleship. To love our enemies seems at first not only a difficult but an unnatural and unreasonable affection. It appears like an injustice to our friends. We say flatly, we cannot do it. And the other devout exercises which are of a piece with it, such as speaking as well as we honestly can of those who speak ill of us, and turning the other cheek, and going two miles for those who would compel us to go one, and doing good to those who despitefully use us, the more we simply talk or think about these requirements of Jesus, the more impossible they seem. But when we stop discussing and obey! when in this or that immediate instance we do the Master’s will, hard as it is, going out of our way to render a kind service to one who has injured us, forbearing to defend our rights, giving up our own strong case and letting our importunate neighbour have his way, actually permitting him to take advantage of us if he will; when we simply do what Jesus tells us to do, and what He Himself was forever doing, then the blessed light shines out upon us, and we understand how this Christian behaviour is not only the best thing in a vague and general way for society, but is the very best for us in particular, and there is a consciousness of the approbation of God, and a new and consequent joy in living, which

is far better than any advantage we might have gained by pushing in ahead. We keep the covenant and the testimonies of God, and our obedience interprets them, and it is made plain and sure to us that His paths are truth and mercy. Or, to take another illustration, misfortune of some kind befalls us, grief attends us, the world goes wrong, the light of life is turned of a sudden into black darkness, and a sore burden, too heavy, we think, for us to bear, is set upon our shoulders, and it is desperately hard to see how the paths of the Lord are “mercy.” They may be “truth,” they may be right; we may be punished for our sins; but how they can mean “mercy,” how there can be any fatherly love in them, as the Gospel tells us, passes our understanding. Then, if we betake ourselves to philosophy, there is but cold and scanty comfort. A wise man wrote a book on the consolations of philosophy, and another wise man advises us to be revenged upon fate by becoming philosophers; excellent counsel for the minor perplexities and vexations that beset us. But under a black sky, when things are not only amiss, but dreadfully and tragically amiss, it is a weary and unsatisfying occupation. We cannot by our understanding find out the ways of God. What shall we do, then? Let us submit and obey. Let us take up the new burden and carry it, facing life anew under these strange and hard conditions, and seeking to do our daily duty in it, keeping the covenant and the testimonies of the Lord. That is the way that leads to light. So it is throughout, in every alternative; everything comes right if we obey God. This very world in which we live our daily lives is already heaven to those who do the will of God as it is done in heaven. Here and today, they who keep the commandments receive the blessing of which Jesus assured us; they enter into life. (George Hodges, D. D.)

E-SWORD, “This is a rule without an exception. God is good to those that be good. Mercy and faithfulness shall abound towards those who through mercy are made faithful. Whatever outward appearances may threaten we should settle it steadfastly in our minds that while grace enables us to obey the Lord's will we need not fear that Providence will cause us any real loss. There shall be mercy in every unsavoury morsel, and faithfulness in every bitter drop; let not our hearts be troubled, but let us rest by faith in the immutable covenant of Jehovah, which is ordered in all things and sure. Yet this is not a general truth to be trampled upon by swine, it is a pearl for a child's neck. Gracious souls, by faith resting upon the finished work of the Lord Jesus, keep the covenant of the Lord, and, being sanctified by the Holy Spirit, they walk in his testimonies; these will find all things co-working for their good, but to the sinner there is no such promise. Keepers of the covenant shall be kept by the covenant; those who follow the Lord's commands shall find the Lord's mercy following them.

11 For the sake of YOUR name, Lord,

forgive my iniquity, though it is great.

BAR�ES, "For thy name’s sake, O Lord - See the notes at Psa_23:3. The idea here is that God would do this on His own account, or for the honor of His own name. This is A reason, and one of the main reasons, why God ever pardons iniquity. It is that the

honor of His name may be promoted; that His glorious character may be displayed; that he may show himself to the universe to be merciful and gracious. There are, doubtless, other reasons why He pardons sin - reasons drawn from the bearing which the act of mercy will have on the welfare of the universe; but still the main reason is, that His own honor will thus be promoted, and His true character thus made known. See the notes at Isa_43:25; notes at Isa_48:9. Compare Psa_6:4; and Psa_25:7.Pardon mine iniquity - This prayer seems to have been offered in view of the

remembered transgressions of his early years, Psa_25:7. These recollected sins apparently pressed upon his mind all through the psalm, and were the main reason of the supplications which occur in it. Compare Psa_25:16-18.

For it is great - As this translation stands, the fact that his sin was great was a reason why God should pardon it. This is a reason, because:

(a) it would be felt that the sin was so great that it could not be removed by anyone but God, and that unless “forgiven” it would sink the soul down to death; and

(b) because the mere fact of its magnitude would tend to illustrate the mercy of the Lord.

Undoubtedly, these are reasons why we may pray for the forgiveness of sin; but it may be doubted whether this is the exact idea of the psalmist, and whether the word “although” would not better express the true sense - “although it is great.” It is true that

the general sense of the particle here rendered “for” - כי kı&y - is “because” or “since;” but it may also mean “although,” as in Exo_13:17, “God led them not the way through the

land of the Philistines, although - (כי kı&y) - that was near,” that is, that was nearest, or

was the most direct way. So in Deu_29:19, “I shall have peace, though - (כי kı&y) - I walk in the imagination of mine heart.” Also Jos_17:18, “Thou shalt drive out the Canaanites,

though - (כי kı&y) - they have iron chariots, and though they be strong.” Thus understood, the prayer of the psalmist here is, that God would pardon his offences “although” they were so great. His mind is fixed upon the “greatness” of the offences; upon the obstacles in the way of pardon; upon his own unworthiness; upon the fact that he had no claim to mercy; and he presents this strong and earnest plea that God would have mercy on him “although” his sins were so numerous and so aggravated. In this prayer all can join; this is a petition the force of which all true penitents deeply feel.

CLARKE, "For thy name’s sake, O Lord, pardon - I have sinned; I need mercy; there is no reason why thou shouldst show it, but what thou drawest from the goodness of thy own nature.

GILL, "For thy name's sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity,.... Which to do is one of the promises and blessings of the covenant. The psalmist may have reference to his sin with Bathsheba, as Kimchi observes; since it was foretold to him, that, on account of that sin, evil should arise to him out of his own house, 2Sa_12:11; meaning that his son should rise up in rebellion against him; which was now the case, and which, no doubt, brought afresh this sin to his mind; and the guilt of it lay heavy upon his conscience; and therefore he prays for an application of pardoning grace and mercy; or he may have respect to original sin, the sin of his nature, which so easily beset him; the loathsome disease his loins were filled with; the law in his members warring against the law of his

mind; and which a view of every actual sin led him to the consideration and acknowledgment of, as did that now mentioned, Psa_51:4; or, "iniquity" may be put for "iniquities", and the sense be, that he desired a manifestation of the pardon of all his sins; for when God forgives sin, he forgives all iniquities: and David here prays for pardon in a way of mercy, and upon the foot of satisfaction; for he prays that God would "mercifully pardon" (a), as the word signifies; or, according to his tender mercies, blot out his transgressions, and cleanse him from his sins; or that he would be "propitious" (b) to him; or forgive him in a propitiatory way, or through the propitiation of Christ, whom God had set forth in his purposes and promises to be the propitiation for the remission of sins; and therefore he entreats this favour "for his name's sake"; not for his own merits and good works, but for the Lord's sake, for his mercy's sake, or for his Son's sake; see Isa_43:25; compared with Eph_5:32. The argument or reason he urges is,

for it is great; being committed against the great God, against great light and knowledge, and attended with very aggravating circumstances; or "much" (c), he being guilty of many sins; his sins were great, both as to quality and quantity: this seems to be rather a reason against than a reason for the pardon of sin; it denotes the sense the psalmist had of his iniquity, and his importunity for the pardon of it; just as a person, sensible of the violence and malignity of his disease, entreats the physician with the greater eagerness and importunity to do his utmost for him; see Psa_41:4; or the words may be rendered, "though it is great" (d); so Aben Ezra understands them;

"though it is so very heinous and provoking, yet since forgiveness is with thee, and thou hast promised it in covenant, and hast proclaimed thy name, a God gracious and merciful, pardon it;''

unless the words are to be connected, as they are by some Jewish (e) interpreters, with the phrase "thy name's sake, for it is great"; that is, thy name is great, and that it may appear to be so, as it is proclaimed, forgive mine iniquity.

JAMISO�, "God’s perfections of love, mercy, goodness, and truth are manifested (his name, compare Psa_9:10) in pardoning sin, and the greatness of sin renders pardon more needed.

BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR, “For Thy name’s sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great.A prayer for pardon and its plea

The context shows that this is the prayer of a man who had long loved and served God. Yet side by side with this consciousness of devotion and service there lie the profound sense of sin, and of the need of pardon. This consciousness of transgression and cry for pardon are inseparable and permanent accompaniments of a devout life all along its course, but they are the roots and beginnings of all godliness. As a rule, the first step which a man takes to knit himself consciously to God is through the gate of recognised and repeated and confessed sin, and imploring the Divine mercy.

I. The cry for pardon. There are two elements in forgiveness. There is the forgiveness known to law and practised by the lawgiver. And there is the forgiveness known to love, and practised by the friend, or parent, or lover. The one consists in the remission of external penalties. But there is a forgiveness deeper than legal pardon. We must carry

both of these ideas into our thoughts of God’s pardon, in order to get the whole fulness of it. Scripture recognises as equally real and valid, in our relations to God, the judicial and the fatherly side of the relationship.

II. The plea for pardon. “For Thy name’s sake.”

1. The mercy of God flows from the infinite depths of His own character. He is His own motive. He forgives because He is God.

2. The past of God is a plea with God for present forgiveness. “Thy name” in Scripture means the whole revelation of the Divine character.

3. The Divine forgiveness is in order that men may know Him better. Nothing reveals the sweetness of the Divine name like the assurance of His pardon.

III. The reason for this earnest cry. “For it is great.” That may be a reason for the pardon; more probably it is a reason for the prayer. The fact is true in regard to us all. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

A prayer and a plea

Consider this prayer.

I. It is an unreserved confession of sin.

1. As his own.

2. As great. In both respects men fail in such confession. They acknowledge sin in general, but not as their own; or they extenuate and excuse it.

II. A humble application for mercy. The unregenerate man will not thus humble himself, but will trust to his good works and his fancied good deservings.

III. The plea urged. “For Thy name’s sake.” It is drawn from God, not from himself. It looks to the Saviour, who is the manifestation of God’s name. Let this be our only plea.

IV. The strong faith of this prayer. David believed that God would forgive though his sin were great. Most people see God as all mercy or all wrath. Not so David. Have we such holy faith? (T. Cooper.)

A plea for pardon

I. A confession of sin. We shall be induced to make such a confession, if we consider that—

1. Our sins are great in number. How often do we offend! How many have been the follies of our childhood, the crimes of our youth, and the backslidings of our riper age!

2. Our sins are great in their turpitude. This appears from the Being against whom sin is committed; from the dignity and circumstances of its subjects, from the degrading character which it sustains, and from the awful effects which it produces.

3. Our sins are great in their demerit. The punishment due to sin must be in proportion to the majesty and glory of God, whose dignity it daringly insults, and whose law it impiously violates.

II. An APPROPRIATE request for pardon.

1. The language of genuine repentance.

2. The language of devout solicitude.

3. The language of humble confidence.

III. AN argument urged to obtain success. It suggests—

1. The pardon of sin displays the glory of the Divine perfections. God’s name signifies His nature.

2. The pardon of sin demonstrates the efficacy of Christ’s atonement.

3. The pardon of sin exemplifies the truth of the sacred Scriptures. In conclusion, warn the careless, encourage the penitent, and congratulate the saints, who have received the “knowledge of salvation by the remission of their sins.” (Sketches of Four Hundred Sermons.)

Confession and absolution

I. Confession is to be made distinctly and directly, and only to the Lord. There were priests and prophets in those days, but David unfolds the story of his sin to God Himself. He realises that all sin is directly aimed at God. Observe in David’s confession the utter absence of excuses. In this confession there is no mention of punishment. David does not ask to be let off. He asks for pardon solely and simply. And David had a true conception of the heinousness of sin.

II. A pleading prayer. Two pleas, The first he finds in God. “For Thy name’s sake.” He was God’s own child, and he pleads his sonship. The second he finds in his own sinfulness. Many mistake by asking pardon because the iniquity is small. The strongest plea is to say to God, “Have mercy upon me, for I am a great sinner. I have sinned in a thousand ways, and even ten thousand times.” True confession brings the true absolution. (Thomas Spurgeon.)

The prayer for pardon

I. The prayer for pardon. The Psalm is an appeal for Divine guidance amidst the perplexity of life. But the author is driven to think of his unworthiness to receive it because of past perverseness. Are we not all thus placed? The reason why many are lost in the mazes of doubt is because they have not humbled themselves to penitence.

II. The grounds of the prayer for pardon.

1. God’s faithfulness. The “name” God is used constantly as synonymous with His character. Forgiveness is a Divine disposition as well as an act. God is acting in accordance with His own nature in listening to this prayer. The words not only suggest God’s character, but His word. “For Thy name’s sake” means for Thy honour, who hast pledged Thy word.

2. The suppliant’s need. “For it is great.” This is an argument that needs no mastering. For who cannot expatiate on his needs! Rejoice in the knowledge that the very thing which dismays thee, O sinner,—the greatness of thy offence,—may be used as a reason why God should forgive thee. At the door of our good and bountiful Lord

the plea of utter destitution will ensure relief. The wretchedness of thy crushed condition beneath a mountain load of guilt will stir the Divine compassion. (Walter Hawkins.)

A true mark of a penitent

A true mark of a penitent sinner, to aggravate his sin. Some use to extenuate their sins by comparing them with the sins of others, which they think far greater than theirs are; others excuse them, as Adam did when he said, The woman which Thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat; she again excused herself, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. But let the children of God search and find out the greatness of their sins, and aggravate them, that God may extenuate and so forget them. Are ye laden with sin? remember it, and God will forget it, and ease you; if ye have it before your eyes He shall cast it behind His back; but if you think nothing of sin, God will bind it on your back, so that it shall press you down as a millstone. (A. Symson.)

A strange plea

We should not expect a criminal before an earthly judge to advance such a plea as this. Yet before the highest Judge of all this is the argument, the wise argument, of the awakened soul. We should not value God’s pardon when obtained if we thought lightly of our sin. When our eyes are opened to see the extent of our ruin we can turn this appalling discovery into the argument of the text. These words represent a real personal conviction of sin.. We are ready enough to accept such a statement about our sins, without the slightest degree of humility or penitential sorrow. Consider what it is that makes sin great.

I. It is great according to the position it occupies in the moral scale. There is a subjective as well as an objective measure of sin. Each sin may be judged in the abstract according to its heinousness; but when it is committed we have to consider the conditions under which it was committed. Its guilt must depend on a variety of considerations. Two offenders may commit precisely the same offence, and yet one may be morally much guiltier than the other.

II. Sin is great, in proportion to the advantages and privileges of the sinner. Many will not admit this. Respectable church-going people plume themselves on their privileges, as though the possession of these might be accepted as a proof that their own spiritual condition could not be otherwise than satisfactory.

III. Sin is great, in consideration of the character of those against whom it is committed. The exceeding sinfulness of sin lies in its being an offence against infinite love revealed.

IV. Sin is great, in proportion to its frequency. If a man is proved to be a confirmed criminal, then you may be sure that the heaviest sentence the law allows will be meted out to him. How often have we sinned against God!

V. Sin is great in proportion to the amount of deliberate intention with which it is committed. Some of our sins are the result of a momentary temptation, and may be attributed to a passing weakness. This may extenuate our guilt. But we cannot speak thus of the determined, deliberate, and resolute resistance that we have offered to the pleadings of the Holy Ghost in our souls. The text contains another plea, “For Thy name’s sake.” Our hope lies there. It is the glory of God to undertake our case when it is

desperate, and He shows His almighty power most chiefly by showing mercy and pity. The moral glory of God shines out more, so far as we can judge, in pardoning a sinner than in making a world. And we honour His name most when we trust Him to do this. (W. Hay Aitken, M. A.)

Contrition

God’s principal aim is to bring us all to feel that our iniquity is great.

I. David declared that his was great. What is it that makes our sin great?

1. Against whom it has been committed.

2. That it is offence against most just and equitable law.

3. That we who owe so much to God should sin against Him.

Think of the number of your sins and the lack of all provocation. We have sinned for sinning’s sake. And we have gone on in sin after we have known and felt the evil of it.

II. There is a plea in the very greatness of our sins. The pith of the whole text lies in the words which we forget to quote—“For Thy name’s sake.” The confession is an argument now. There is a valid plea here. If salvation were by merit, then the least offender would get off best. But it is all by grace; and hence the greater the pardon, the greater the glory of that grace in bestowing it. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The cry for pardon

I. The confession. “Mine iniquity, for it is great.” The confession of a regenerate man: the spirit teaches and prompts. The natural man excuses, palliates, minimises his sin; uses false weights and measures. Our view depends on distance, position, light, and medium. God views according to unerring standard, and in clearest light; so more and more does the spirit-taught soul. Sense of sin grows as we come nearer to God. This confession is not vague, unmeaning, mere form. Take one sin—anyone—and look at it in the light; weigh it in the scales; it is great. Consider the magnitude and multitude of your sins.

II. The prayer. “Pardon.” Appeal from law to grace; of these there can be no mixture. Great sins do not bar this appeal. Great sin means great need. No extenuating circumstances can be urged; none are needed. Pardon is free, immediate, complete, and continual.

III. The plea. For Thy names sake. All selfment is disowned. God delights to pardon. God has promised to pardon. God’s name, character, word, promise, covenant are all involved in hearing prayer—this prayer. Christ is the embodiment of the Divine name for sinners, and the sinner’s plea with God. (James Smith, M. A.)

HAWKER, “There is a great singularity in this petition. Men, in their dealings with one another, plead, when they ask for forgiveness, either the slenderness of their offence, or that it hath not been repeated, or that the offender will not again trespass. But here the petition for mercy is founded upon the greatness of the offence. Is not this with an eye to Christ; as if the suitor said, Lord, I am a great sinner, but Jesus is a greater Saviour; therefore, for his sake, pardon me. Reader, think what methods the Lord hath taken to

magnify the exceeding riches of his grace: and when sinners cry from the deeps of sin to the deeps of divine mercy, these are blessed encouragements, in Jesus, to go upon. But Reader, besides this view of the subject, I would ask, Is here not a view of Christ, who, though in himself he knew no sin, yet, standing as the sinner’s surety, may be supposed here to be calling upon Jehovah?

E-SWORD, “This sentence of prayer would seem out of place were it not that prayer is always in its place, whether in season or out of season. Meditation having refreshed the Psalmist, he falls to his weighty work again, and wrestles with God for the remissions of his sin. “For thy name's sake, O Lord.” Here is a blessed, never-failing plea. Not for our sakes or our merits' sake, but to glorify thy mercy, and to show forth the glory of thy divine attributes. “Pardon mine iniquity.” It is confessed, it is abhorred, it is consuming my heart with grief; Lord forgive it; let thine own lips pronounce my absolution. “For it is great.” It weighs so heavily upon me that I pray thee remove it. Its greatness is no difficulty with thee, for thou art a great God, but the misery which it causes to me is my argument with thee for speedy pardon. Lord, the patient is sore sick, therefore, heal him. To pardon a great sinner will bring thee great glory, therefore for thy name's sake pardon me. Observe how this verse illustrates the logic of faith, which is clean contrary to that of a legal spirit; faith looks not for merit in the creature, but hath regard to the goodness of the Creator; and instead of being staggered by the demerits of sin it looks to the precious blood, and pleads all the more vigorously because of the urgency of the case.

CALVI�, "11.For thy name’ sake, O Jehovah! As in the original text the copulative and is

inserted between the two clauses of this verse, some think that the first clause is incomplete, and that some word ought to be supplied; and then they read these words, Be thou merciful to mine iniquity, etc., as a distinct sentence by itself. And thus, according to their opinion, the sense would be, Lord, although I have not fully kept thy covenant, yet do not on that account cease to show thy kindness towards me; and that mine iniquity may not prevent thy goodness from being extended towards me, do thou graciously pardon it. But I am rather of the opinion of others, who consider that the copulative is here, as it is in many other places, superfluous, so that the whole verse may form one connected sentence. As to the tense of the verb, there is also a diversity of opinion among interpreters. Some render it in the past tense thus, Thou hast been merciful, as if David here renders thanks to God because he had pardoned his sin. But the other interpretation, which is the one more generally received, is also the most correct, namely, that David, in order to obtain pardon, again resorts to the mercy of God as his only refuge. The letter ו, vau, which is equivalent to and, has often the force of changing the tense in the Hebrew verbs, so that the future tense is often taken in the sense of the optative. Moreover, I connect this verse with the preceding one in this way: The prophet, having reflected upon this, that God is kind and faithful to those who serve him, now examines his own heart, and acknowledges that he cannot be accounted of their number, unless God grant unto him the forgiveness of his sins; and, therefore, he betakes himself to prayer for pardon: as in Psa_19:13, after having spoken of the reward which is laid up for the faithful who keep the law, he instantly exclaims, “ can understand his errors?” Accordingly, although David is not ignorant that God promises liberally to bestow upon those who keep his covenant every thing which pertains to a life of happiness, yet, at the same time, considering how far he is as yet from the perfect righteousness of the law, he does not rest his confidence upon it, but seeks a remedy for the manifold offenses of which he feels himself to be guilty. And thus, in order that God may reckon us of the number of his servants, we ought always to come to him, entreating him, after the example of David, in his fatherly loving-kindness, to bear with our infirmities, because, without the free remission of our sins, we have no reason to expect any reward of our works. At the same time, let it be observed, that in order to show more distinctly that he depends entirely upon the free grace of God, he expressly says, for thy name’ sake; meaning by this, that God, as often as he vouchsafes to pardon his people, does so from no other cause than his own good pleasure; just as he had said a little before, in the same verse, for thy goodness’ sake. He was also constrained, by a

consideration of the magnitude of his offense, to call upon the name of God: for he immediately adds, by way of confession, because mine iniquity is great, or manifold, (for the word רב, rab, may be translated in both ways;) as if he had said, My sins are, indeed, like a heavy burden which overwhelms me, so that the multitude or enormity of them might well deprive me of all hope of pardon; but, Lord, the infinite glory of thy name will not suffer thee to cast me off.

SPURGEO�, "Verse 11. This sentence of prayer would seem out of place were it not

that prayer is always in its place, whether in season or out of season. Meditation

having refreshed the Psalmist, he falls to his weighty work again, and wrestles with

God for the remission of his sin. For thy name's sake, O Lord. Here is a blessed,

never failing plea. �ot for our sakes or our merit's sake, but to glorify thy mercy,

and to show forth the glory of thy divine attributes. Pardon mine iniquity. It is

confessed, it is abhorred, it is consuming my heart with grief; Lord forgive it; let

thine own lips pronounce my absolution. For it is great. It weighs so heavily upon

me that I pray thee remove it. Its greatness is no difficulty with thee, for thou art a

great God, but the misery which it causes to me is my argument with thee for speedy

pardon. Lord, the patient is sore sick, therefore heal him. To pardon a great sinner

will bring thee great glory, therefore for thy name's sake pardon me. Observe how

this verse illustrates the logic of faith, which is clean contrary to that of a legal

spirit; faith looks not for merit in the creature, but hath regard to the goodness of

the Creator; and instead of being staggered by the demerits of sin it looks to the

precious blood, and pleads all the more vigorously because of the urgency of the

case.

Verse 11. For thy name's sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great. I

cannot do better than QUOTE one of those beautiful passages of the great Vieyra,

which gave him the character of the first preacher of his age:—"I confess, my God,

that it is so; that we are all sinners in the highest degree." He is preaching on a fast

on occasion of the threatened destruction of the Portuguese dominion in Brazil by

the Dutch. But so far am I from considering this any reason why I should cease from

my petition, that I behold in it a new and convincing argument which may influence

thy goodness. All that I have said before is based on no other foundation than the

glory and honour of thy most holy �ame. Propter nomen tuum. And what motive

can I offer more glorious to that same �ame, than that our sins are many and great?

For thy name's sake, O Lord, be merciful unto my sin, for it is great. I ask thee,

saith David, to pardon, not everyday sins, but numerous sins, but great sins:

multum est enim. O motive worthy of the breast of God! Oh, consequence which can

have force only when it bears on supreme goodness! So that in order to obtain

remission of his sins, the sinner alleges to God that they are many and great. Verily

so; and that not for love of the sinner nor for the love of sin, but for the love of the

honour and glory of God; which glory, by how much the sins he forgives are greater

and more numerous, by so much the more ennobles and exalts itself. The same

David distinguishes in the mercy of God greatness and multitude: greatness,

secundum magnam misericordiam tuam;multitude, et secundum multitudinem

miserationum tuarum. And as the greatness of the divine mercy is immense, and the

multitude of his lovingkindnesses infinite; and forasmuch as the immense cannot be

measured, nor the infinite counted, in order that the one and the other may in a

certain manner have a proportionate material of glory, it is necessary to the very

greatness of mercy that the sins to be pardoned should be great, and necessary to

the very multitude of lovingkindnesses that they should be many. Multum est enim.

Reason have I then, O Lord, not to be dismayed because our sins are many and

great. Reason have I also to demand the reason from thee, why thou dost not make

haste to pardon them?—Vieyra, QUOTED by J. M. �eale.

Verse 11. For thy name's sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity. It is a very usual

notion by "name" to understand honour and glory. When God saith to David, "I

have made thee a name like the name of men that are in the earth; "when the

church saith to God, "Thou didst get thee a name as it is this day; "it is manifest

that by name glory is intended. Suitable to this it is that famous men are called by

the Hebrews, (Mvhyvna) Ge 6:4, and by the Latins, viri nominum, men of name, in

which the poet adorneth it with these epithets—Magnum et memorabile nomen, or,

great and memorable. Thus, when God forgiveth sin, he doth it for his name's sake,

that is, for his own honour and glory. Indeed, God's own glory is the ultimate end of

all his actions. As he is the first, so is he the last, the efficient, and the final cause;

nor is there anything done by him which is not for him. The end of our actions must

be in his glory, because both our being and working are from him; but the end of his

work is his own glory, because his being and acting are of and from himself. Among

all divine works, there is none which more setteth forth his glory than this of

remission. Sin, by committing it, brings God a great deal of dishonour, and yet, by

forgiving it, God raiseth to himself a great deal of honour. "It is the glory of a man,

"and much more of God, "to pass by an offence; "as acts of power, so acts of grace,

are exceeding honourable. The attributes of God's grace, mercy, goodness,

clemency, shine forth in nothing so much as in pardoning sins. Paul speaks of riches

of goodness which attend God's forbearance; how much greater riches must there

needs be in forgiveness? �ay, indeed, God hath so ordered the way of pardon, that

not only the glory of his mercy, but justice, yea, of his wisdom in the wonderful

contemporation of both these, is very illustrious. �omen quasi notamen, quia

notificat, the name is that which maketh one known; and by remission of sins, God

maketh known his choice and glorious attributes; and for this end it is that he

vouchsafes it. It is a consideration that may be our consolation. Since God forgiveth

sins for his name's sake, he will be ready to forgive many sins as well as few, great as

small; indeed, the more and greater our sins are, the greater is the forgiveness, and,

consequently, the greater is God's glory; and therefore David, upon this

consideration of God's name and glory, maketh the greatness of his iniquity a

motive of forgiveness. Indeed, to run into gross sins, that God may glorify himself by

forgiving them, is an odious presumption, but to hope that those gross sins we have

run into may, and will, be forgiven by God to us, being truly penitent, for his name's

sake, is a well grounded expectation, and such as may SUPPORT our spirits against

the strongest temptations to despair. �athanael Hardy.

Verse 11. Pardon mine iniquity; for it is great. He pleads the greatness of his sin,

and not the smallness of it: he enforces his prayer with this consideration, that his

sins are very heinous. But how could he make this a plea for pardon? I answer,

Because the greater his iniquity was, the more need he had of pardon. It is as much

as if he had said, Pardon mine iniquity, for it is so great that I cannot bear the

punishment; my sin is so great that I am in necessity of pardon; my case will be

exceedingly miserable, unless thou be pleased to pardon me. He makes use of the

greatness of his sin, to enforce his plea for pardon, as a man would make use of the

greatness of calamity in begging for relief. When a beggar begs for bread, he will

plead the greatness of his poverty and necessity. When a man in distress cries for

pity, what more suitable plea can be urged than the extremity of his case? And God

allows such a plea as this: for he is moved to mercy towards us by nothing in us, but

the miserableness of our case. He doth not pity sinners because they are worthy, but

because they need his pity...Herein doth the glory of grace by the redemption of

Christ much consist; namely, in its sufficiency for the pardon of the greatest sinners.

The whole contrivance of the way of salvation is for this end, to glorify the free

grace of God. God had it on his heart from all eternity to glorify this attribute; and

therefore it is, that the device of saving sinners by Christ was conceived. The

greatness of divine grace appears very much in this, that God by Christ saves the

greatest offenders. The greater the guilt of any sinner is, the more glorious and

wonderful is the grace manifested in his pardon. Ro 5:20: "Where sin abounded,

grace did much more abound." The apostle, when telling how great a sinner he had

been, takes notice of the abounding of grace in his pardon, of which his great guilt

was the occasion. 1Ti 1:13-14. "Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor,

and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the

grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ

Jesus." The Redeemer is glorified, in that he proves sufficient to redeem those who

are exceeding sinful, in that his blood proves sufficient to wash away the greatest

guilt, in that he is able to save men to the uttermost, and in that he redeems even

from the greatest misery. It is the honour of Christ to save the greatest sinners,

when they come to him, as it is the honour of a physician that he cures the most

desperate diseases or wounds. Therefore, no doubt, Christ will be willing to save the

greatest sinners, if they come to him; for he will not be backward to glorify himself,

and to commend the value and virtue of his own blood. Seeing he hath so laid out

himself to redeem sinners, he will not be unwilling to show he is able to redeem to

the uttermost. Jonathan Edwards.

Verse 11. Pardon mine iniquity; for it is great. Is any man miserable are his miseries

great, are they spiritual, are they temporal? Undoubtedly, if he be humbled in the

sense of them, and see himself unworthy of any mercy, he may still be assured of

mercy. Though there be spiritual evils, yet if a man see himself wretched, and

miserable, the more heavy he finds his iniquity to be, the more hope of mercy there

is for him: the Lord's mercy is over all his works, therefore is he much more

merciful to such. If a man hath a feeling of his miseries and unworthiness, then he

may use this argument for mercy, my miseries are great: even as David did, "O

Lord, be merciful to me, and pardon my iniquity, for it is great." And the more

miserable man are under their own sense, the fitter objects they are for God to show

mercy unto. Thus is was with the publican, and so with the prodigal; therefore

never doubt, though thy iniquities be never so great, there is a sea of mercy in God.

Bernard well observes the difference between justice and mercy; justice requires

that there should be desert, but mercy looks upon them that are miserable; and,

saith the father, true mercy doth affect misery; mercy doth not stand upon

inquisition, but it is glad to find occasion of exercising itself. Richard Stock.

Verse 11. Mine iniquity...is great. Such who come to God to have their sins

pardoned, they look upon them as great sins. Pardon mine iniquity, for it is great.

The original word as well signifies many as great—"My sins are great and many, "

many great sins lie upon me, pardon, oh! pardon them, O Lord, etc... In the opening

of this point, I would show why such as come in a right way for pardon do look upon

their sins as great sins. 1. Sinners that come to God for pardon and find it, do look

upon their sins as great sins, because against a great God, great in power, great in

justice, great in holiness. I am a worm, and yet sin, and that boldly against a God so

great; for a worm to lift up himself against a great and infinite God; oh! this makes

every little sin great, and calls for great vengeance from so great a God. 2. Because

they have sinned against great patience, despising the goodness, forbearance, and

longsuffering of God, which is called, "treasuring up wrath." Ro 2:4-5 ...3. Sins do

appear great because against great mercies. Oh! against how many mercies and

kindnesses do sinners sin, and turn all the mercies of God into sin! ... 4. That which

increases sin in the eyes of poor sinners that cry for pardon, is, that they have sinned

against great light—light in the conscience; this heightens sin exceedingly, especially

to such are are under gospel means; and is indeed the sin of all in this nation; there's

nothing more abases a soul than this, nothing makes it more difficult to believe

pardon, when humbled for it...5. Continuance in sin much increases sin to a poor

soul that is after pardon; especially such as are not very early converted. Ps 68:21.

Oh! I added sin unto sin, saith a poor soul, spending the choice time of my youth in

sin, when I might have been getting the knowledge of Jesus Christ, and honouring of

God. This lay close upon David's spirit as appears from the seventh verse: "Oh!

remember not the sins of my youth." Yet we do not find that David's youth was

notoriously sinful; but inasmuch as he spent not his youth to get knowledge, and to

serve the Lord fully, it was his burden and complaint before the Lord; much more

such whose youth was spent in nothing but vanity, profaneness, lying, swearing,

profaning of the Sabbath, sports, pastimes, excess of riot, and the like, when God

lays it in upon their consciences, must be grievous and abominable to their souls...6.

Multitudes of sins do make sin appear great; this made David cry out for

"multitudes of mercies." Ps 51:1-19 40:12 ...7. Another thing that increases sin is,

that it was against purpose and resolutions of forsaking such and such sins; and yet

all broken, sometimes against solemn vows, against prayers...8. Sin appears great

when seen by a poor soul, because it was reigning sin. Ro 5:6. "Sin reigned unto

death, "etc. Oh! saith a poor humbled sinner, I did not only commit sin, but I was

the servant and slave of sin...9. Sin in the fountain makes it great. As it may be said,

there is more water in the fountain than in the pools and streams it makes...So in the

nature, in the heart, is there, as in the fountain, and therefore 'tis more there than in

the breakings forth of it in the outward man...10. A sinner drawing nigh to God for

pardon sees his sin as great, because thereby he was led captive by the devil at his

will...11. Sin appears great because great is the wrath of God against sin. Ro 2:12.

The way of any sinner's deliverance from such wrath shows sin to be exceeding

great in the price and ransom that is paid for the salvation of him from his sins—the

price of the blood of the eternal Son of God... 13. Lastly, this consideration also

increases sin, inasmuch as a poor creature hath drawn and tempted others to sin

with him, especially such as have lived more vainly and loosely, and it lies hard upon

many a poor soul after thorough conviction. Anthony Palmer (—1678), in "The

Gospel �ew Creature."

Verse 11. I plead not, Lord, my merits, who am less than the least of thy mercies;

and as I look not upon my merit, so nor do thou look upon my demerit; as I do not

view my worthiness, so nor do thou view my unworthiness; but thou who art called

the God of mercy be unto me what thou art called; make good the glory of thine

own name in being merciful unto my sin, of which I cannot say as Lot of Zoar, "Is it

not a little one?" �o, it is great, for that it is against thee so great a God and so good

to me: great, for that my place, my calling, my office is great. The sun the higher it

is, the less it seems; but my sins, the higher I am the greater they are, even in thine

and other's eyes. Robert Mossom.

Verse 11. Plead we the greatness of our sins not to keep us from mercy, but to

prevail for it: Pardon mine iniquity; why so? for it is great. "Heal my soul, for I

have sinned against thee, "Ps 41:4. "Do thou it for thy name's sake: for our

backslidings are many; we have sinned against thee." Jer 14:7. This is a strong plea,

when sincerely urged by an humble and contrite spirit. It glorifieth God as one that

is abundant in goodness, rich in mercy, and one with whom are forgivenesses and

plenteous redemption; and it honoureth Christ as infinite in mercy. Hence also the

Lord himself, when he would stir up himself to choice acts of mercy to his poor

people, he first aggravates their sin against him to the highest, and then he expresses

his royal act of grace to them. So Isa 43:22-25. "Thou hast not called upon me O

Jacob, but thou hast been weary of me, O Israel; thou hast not honoured me with

thy sacrifices, but thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities. I, even I, am he that

blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins."

Thomas Cobbet, 1608-1686.

Verse 11. "Oh, "says Pharaoh, "take away these filthy frogs, this dreadful

thunder!" But what says holy David? "Lord, take away the iniquity of thy servant!"

The one would be freed from punishment, the effect of sin; the other from sin, the

cause of punishment. And it is most true that a true Christian man is more troubled

at sin than at frogs and thunder; he sees more filthiness in sin than in frogs and

toads, more horror than in thunder and lightning. Jeremiah Dyke's "Worthy

Communicant, "1645.

Verse 11. Pharaoh more lamented the hard strokes that were upon him, than the

hard heart which was within him. Esau mourned not because he sold the birthright,

which was his sin, but because he lost the blessing, which was his punishment. This

is like weeping with an onion; the eye sheds tears because it smarts. A mariner casts

overboard that cargo in a tempest, which he courts the return of when the winds are

silenced. Many complain more of the sorrows to which they are born, than of the

sins with which they were born; they tremble more at the vengeance of sin, than at

the venom of sin; one delights them, the other scares them. William Secker.

CHARLES SIMEO�, “PROPER METHOD OF PRAYING TO GOD

Psa_25:11. For thy name’s sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity! for it is great.

GOD is a mighty Sovereign, “who doth ACCORDING to his own will,” “neither giveth ACCOUNT

to us of any of his matters.” We may INDEED mark the traces of wisdom and goodness in

every thing which he does; but “his ways and his thoughts are very different from ours, and far

above them.” In the dispensations of his providence he pays no regard to the moral characters of

men, but “makes the sun to shine equally upon the evil and the good.” In the dispensations of his

grace too he is far from preferring those whom we should think he would select. He often inclines

the hearts of “publicans and harlots to enter into his kingdom,” while he leaves less abandoned

Pharisees and Formalists to perish in their sins. This, if it be a humiliating truth, is also replete with

comfort. If it take away all grounds of boasting, it cuts off at the same time all occasion for

despondency. If he “have a right to do what he will with his own,” the vilest person in the universe

may approach him with a comfortable hope of acceptance and may address him in the language of

the text.

In these words of the Psalmist we may notice,

I. His Confession—

David was not ashamed to confess that his sins were exceeding great—

[There is no reason to think that David in this psalm adverts to his transgression with Bathsheba. It

is probable that the psalm was penned many years before that event. The Royal Penitent speaks

rather of his in-dwelling corruptions. He had long been accustomed to observe the workings of his

own heart, and had often besought God to search and try him to the uttermost [Note:Psa_139:23-

24.]. In this way he had marked both the defects of his duties, and the evil propensities of his

nature; and, from a review of all his actions, words, and thoughts, was led to acknowledge that his

sin was exceeding great. Nor was this confession peculiar to him. Holy Job, as soon as he beheld

his true character, exclaimed, “Behold, I am vile [Note: Job_40:4.]!” And Paul no sooner became

acquainted with the purity and extent of God’s law, than he saw himself a condemned sinner, and

confessed, that “in him dwelt no good thing [Note: Rom_7:9;Rom_7:18.].”]

And does not a similar confession become us also?

[Let us only review our past lives, and we shall find too much occasion for the deepest humiliation.

Have not many of us been addicted TO OPEN , known iniquities? And do not the consciences of

such persons testify against them that their sin is great? Have not many also devoted all their time

and attention to secular concerns? And will they account it a light thing thus to despise God, and

idolize the world? Have not others satisfied themselves with a formal round of duties, in which their

souls were never earnestly engaged? And can they suppose that God is pleased with a mere lip-

service, when their hearts are far from him? Have not others professed godliness indeed, but

walked utterly unworthy of their profession, being as proud, and passionate, as worldly too, and

covetous, as those who have made no such profession? And can they suppose their sin is not

great, when sinners are hardened, and God is blasphemed through their means? But why do we

speak of the profane and worldly, or the formal and hypocritical? Must not even

the saints themselves blush and be confounded, when they consider how miserably they have fallen

short in every thing? Must they not exclaim with St. Paul, “O wretched man that I am!” Surely we

must know little indeed of ourselves, if we do not all see how much the confession in the text is

suited to our state.]

When, like David, we are duly humbled under a sense of our guilt, we shall readily adopt,

II. His Petition—

David could not rest without imploring forgiveness at God’s hands—

[He found a sense of guilt to be an intolerable burthen to his soul [Note: Psa_38:4.]; and well knew

that it would “eat as a canker,” till he had obtained the pardon of his sin. Hence he humbled himself

before his God, and cried for mercy.]

Nor shall we restrain prayer before God, if we will but consider the state of an unpardoned soul—

[No words can fully express the misery of one who has all the guilt of his sins upon him. He has no

peace with God, seeing that “God is angry with him every day,” and “the wrath of God abideth on

him.” He has no peace in his own conscience; for though he may drown reflection for a while in

business or pleasure, he is like the troubled sea which cannot rest, but casts up mire and dirt

[Note: Isa_57:20.]. He is also destitute of any well-founded hope: he may buoy up himself with blind

presumption; but he will feel many misgiving fears, and forebodings of evil. He has no comfort in his

afflictions; for, not having God for his friend, he cannot go to him with confidence, or obtain those

refreshing consolations which strengthen and uphold the godly. In a dying hour he is yet

more wretched: if he be not insensible as a beast, how does he regret his mis-spent hours, and

wish that God would prolong his state of probation! But in the eternal world his misery is

completed: he comes to the tribunal of justice without any mediator to reconcile him to God, or any

advocate to plead his cause: yea, the very voice which just before importuned him to accept of

mercy, now bids him “depart accursed:” and from that moment his doom is fixed in everlasting

burnings. Now can any man reflect on this, and not see the need of crying earnestly for mercy? Can

our petitions be too earnest, or too constant, when they are the appointed, and the only means of

escaping all this misery?]

But in our APPLICATION for mercy, we must be careful to use,

III. His Plea—

The Psalmist derived all his hope of mercy from God himself—

[He pleaded not the smallness of his offences or the multitude of his services, the depth of his

penitence, or the fervour of his petitions. He knew that name, which had long before been

proclaimed to Moses, to which, as to “a strong tower, the righteous runneth and is safe;” and

to that he fled for refuge; from that he derived his only hope, his only plea.]

Nor can we present any other plea than the name, the sacred name of Jesus—

[Under the Gospel we are taught more clearly to ask in the name of Jesus, and are assured that

petitions so offered shall never fail of acceptance [Note: Joh_14:13-14.]. But it is no easy matter to

offer that plea in sincerity. Perhaps there is not any thing in the world more difficult. We naturally

prefer any other plea that can be devised: and, even when we find that we have not in ourselves

any worthiness on which we can rely, we are still averse to rest on the name of Jesus. We

either deem it insufficient to procure acceptance for our prayers, or make our unworthiness a

reason for declining to urge it as our plea with any confidence before God. But, unless we renounce

every other hope, and rest entirely on the mediation and intercession of Christ, our prayer will never

enter into the ears of our heavenly Father.]

Observations—

1. The vilest of sinners has no reason to despair—

[The confession, petition, and plea, which David presented at the throne of Grace, are suited to the

very chief of sinners: nor, as the subsequent experience of David proves, can there be any state in

which they shall not prevail. Let none then despond. Be it so, our iniquities are great; but are they

greater than Christ’s merits, or beyond the reach of God’s mercy? If not, let us exalt our adorable

Saviour, and determine, if we perish, to perish crying for mercy in the name of Jesus.]

2. The most eminent saints have no ground to boast—

[There never was a creature that had any righteousness of his own to plead. And if God has had

mercy upon any, it was purely and entirely for his own name’s sake [Note: Eze_36:22;Eze_36:32.].

Could we ascend to heaven, and ask the glorified saints what had been the ground of their

acceptance, they would all “cast down their crowns at the feet of Jesus,” and shout, with one

consent, “Salvation to God and to the Lamb [Note: Rev_4:10; Rev_7:10.]!” Let the saints on earth

then lie low before God, and say CONTINUALLY , “Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto

thy name be the praise.”]

3. Persons of every description must guard diligently against pride and unbelief—

[Sin, of whatever kind, is both evil in itself and dangerous to us. But the consequences of pride and

unbelief are peculiarly fatal. There is not any other sin which may not be forgiven, provided we seek

mercy with real penitence and faith. But if we be too proud to confess our sins, and to plead the

name and merits of Jesus for the forgiveness of them, we insure and seal our own condemnation.

Let us then guard against all sins; but especially against sins which rivet all our other sins upon us.

So shall we obtain favour with God, and “be to him for a name and for a praise for evermore

[Note: Jer_13:11.].”]

12 Who, then, are those who fear the Lord?

He will instruct them in the ways they should

choose.[b]

BAR�ES, "What man is he - Who is he. The statement in this verse is intended to include every man; or to be universal. Wherever one is found who has the character here referred to, or whoever he may be, of him what is here affirmed will be true, that God will lead him in the way that he shall choose.That feareth the Lord - That is, a true worshipper of Yahweh, or that is truly a pious

man: Psa_5:7. “Him shall he teach.” He will guide, or instruct him. See Psa_25:9.

In the way that he shall choose - The way that the person ought to choose; or, in other words, in the right way. It is not the way that God shall choose, but the way that the

pious person ought to choose: God will so instruct him that he shall find the true path.

CLARKE, "That feareth the Lord - Who has a proper apprehension of his holiness, justice, and truth; and who, at the same time, sees himself a fallen spirit, and a transgressor of God’s holy law, and consequently under the curse. That is the person that truly and reverently fears God.Him shall he teach - Such a person has a teachable spirit.

The way that he shall choose - The way that in the course of Providence he has chosen, as the way in which he is to gain things honest in the sight of all men; God will bless him in it, and give him as much earthly prosperity as may be useful to his soul in his secular vocation.

GILL, "What man is he that feareth the Lord? That is, how happy a man is he! and one that fears the Lord is one that has the fear of God put into his heart, as a blessing of the covenant of grace before spoken of; who fears the Lord, not on account of the punishment of sin, but under the influence of the pardon of it, and for his goodness's sake; who loves the Lord, trusts in him, is careful not to offend him, hates sin, and avoids it, and has a strict regard to the worship of God in all its parts and branches, and performs it in fear; or who serves the Lord with reverence and godly fear. The description of this man's happiness follows in this verse and Psa_25:12,

him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose; either which the man that fears God shall choose, which is the way of truth and duty, Psa_119:30; or the way which God prescribes to him, and is well pleasing in his sight, who teaches to profit, and leads in the way his people should go; and a great happiness it is for a man to have his steps ordered by the Lord and his goings directed by him.

JAMISO�, "What he asks for himself is the common lot of all the pious.

CALVI�, "12.Who is the man. By again recalling to his mind the character in which God

manifests himself towards his servants, he derives new strength and courage. For we have said, that nothing more readily occurs than a relaxation in earnest and attentive prayer, unless it be sustained by the recollection of God’ promises. There can, however, be no doubt, that David both accuses himself, and by entertaining a better hope, takes encouragement to continue in the fear of God. In the first place, by intimating that men are destitute of right understanding and sound judgment, because they yield not themselves to be governed by God with reverence and fear, he imputes it to his own indolence, that by reason of the darkness of his mind, he had wandered so far astray after his own lusts; and yet, on the other hand, he promises himself the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit, if he only yield himself wholly to God, and show that he is willing to learn. Moreover, the interrogatory style of speaking, which he here employs, seems designed to show how few there are who fear God: for, although all men in general pray, and manifest some appearance of piety, yet where is there one among so many who is really in earnest? Instead of this, almost all men indulge themselves in their own drowsiness. The fear of God, therefore, is very rare; and on

this account it is that the world, for the most part, CONTINUES destitute of the Spirit of counsel

and wisdom.

Some interpreters render the word choose in the present tense, instead of the future, shall choose; as if it had been said, that God shows the way which he approves, and in which he wishes men to walk. With this interpretation I cannot agree; for, in my judgment, the word choose rather refers to every individual; as if it had been said, Provided we are disposed to fear God, he will not be wanting on his part, but will always direct us by the Spirit of wisdom to choose the right way. When we are called upon to adopt some particular course in life, we find ourselves as it were placed

between two ways, and know not which of them to follow; (560) nay, in almost all our affairs we are

held in suspense and doubt, unless God appear to show us the way. David therefore says, that although men know not what is right, and what they ought to choose, yet provided they submit to God with pious docility of mind, and are willing to follow him, he will always manifest himself towards them as a sure and faithful guide. As, however, the fear of God is not naturally in us, it were foolish for any man to argue from this place, that God does not begin to take care of men until, by their own previous efforts, they insinuate themselves into his favor, that he may aid them in their pious endeavors. David has just declared, that this grace comes directly from God, when he says that God teaches the transgressors: and now he adds, in the second place, that after men have once been subdued and moulded to meekness of spirit, God still takes them under his charge, guiding and directing them till they are able, by the illumination of the Holy Spirit, to know what is their duty.

SPURGEO�, "Verse 12. What man is he that feareth the Lord? Let the question

provoke self examination. Gospel privileges are not for every pretender. Art thou of

the seed royal or no? Him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose. Those

whose hearts are right shall not err for want of heavenly direction. Where God

sanctifies the heart he enlightens the head. We all wish to choose our way; but what

a mercy is it when the Lord directs that choice, and makes free will to be goodwill!

If we make our will God's will, God will let is have our will. God does not violate our

will, but leaves much to our choice; nevertheless, he instructs our wills, and so we

choose that which is well pleasing in his sight. The will should be subject to law;

there is a way which we should choose, but so ignorant are we that we need to be

taught, and so wilful that none but God himself can teach us effectually.

Verse 12. What man is he that feareth the Lord? Blessed shall he be—1. In the

sacred knowledge of Christ's will; Him shall he teach in the way that he shall

choose. 2. Blessed shall he be in the quiet peace of a good conscience; "His soul shall

dwell at ease." 3. Blessed he shall be in the present comfort of a hopeful progeny;

"His seed shall inherit the earth." Robert Mossom.

Verse 12. What man is he that feareth the Lord? There is nothing so effectual to

obtain grace, to retain grace, as always to be found before God not over wise, but to

fear: happy art thou, if thy heart be replenished with three fears; a fear for received

grace, a greater fear for lost grace, a greatest fear to recover grace. Bernard.

Verse 12. He that feareth the Lord. Present fear begetteth eternal SECURITY: fear

God, which is above all, and no need to fear man at all. Augustine.

Verse 12. Him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose, i.e., that the good man

shall pitch upon. God will direct him in all dealings to make a good choice, and will

give good success. This is not in a man's own power to do. Jer 10:23. John Trapp.

BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR, “What man is he that feareth the Lord?The fear of God a restraining influence

This secret fear, if it be once planted in the heart, will direct thee in all good actions acceptable to God, and correct thy evil doings. The love of God hath a constraining power whereby it compelleth and forceth us to serve Him: the fear of God hath a restraining power, by which it restraineth and stayeth us, and keepeth us back from offending Him: this is like a bit, that like a spur. Abraham feared that the fear of God was not in the place whereto he went. Joseph being enticed by his mistress to commit wickedness with her, answered, How can I do this great wickedness, and so sin against God? The Lord plant this fear in our hearts. This is a filial fear which he craveth, coming from love, and not a servile fear, which cometh from fear of punishment. The preserver of this fear in thee is a continual nourishment in thy mind of the presence of God, to whom thou presentest all thy actions. Will He teach the way that he shall choose. He promiseth four benefits to the man that feareth God,—He heapeth upon him grace upon grace: before He pardoned him, and now He directeth the man whom He forgave: for no sooner receiveth He any man in His favour, but He immediately takes the protection and direction of him. But out of these words we see three things. First, that there are divers, yea contrary ways, as there are contrary ends, the broad and the narrow, the King’s way and by-roads, the way of life and of death. This is against such as dream to themselves that whatsoever religion they profess, or howsoever they live, they shall go to heaven; but they are deceived, for if thou be not in the way to the kingdom thou shalt never attain to the kingdom; many, yea the most part, are not going but riding, not running but posting, to hell; of whom, if it be demanded whither they go? they will answer, to heaven; yea, and they will brag that they are nearer God than the preacher himself, even as if one should dream of life at the point of death. Next, we see that a man cannot of himself choose the right way to heaven; for the natural man cannot apprehend those things which appertain to God’s kingdom, neither yet can he see them, for they are spiritually discerned. Whereupon followeth the third, that is, how man shall choose the good and refuse the evil way. It is not in him that runneth, nor in him that willeth, but in God that sheweth mercy. Moses chose rather to suffer with the Church than to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. (A. Symson.)

The fruits of godly fear

The “fear of God” is a familiar expression in the Scriptures. Let us lay hold of one element in the spacious word. When we profoundly fear a thing we are haunted by it. It affects everything. To fear God is to be God-haunted, God-possessed. But this figure is defective. In all fruitful fear of God there is no cringing, no slavishness, no paralysing terror. Perfect love “casteth out” this type of fear. Change the figure. We speak of being haunted by an air of music. In such a way the man who fears God is haunted by God’s presence; God is an abiding consciousness. Everything is seen in relationship to God. What would be the fruits of such a fear? The succeeding verses give some outline of the spacious ministry. “Him shall He teach in the way that he shall choose.” He shall be guided in his choices. He shall have the gift of enlightenment. His discernment shall be refined so as to perceive the right way when the ways are many. His moral judgment shall be instructed. The moral choice shall be firm and sure. The practical judgment shall be nurtured and refined in the Lord’s school. “His soul shall dwell at ease.” Restlessness and worry shall be abolished. The sense of the companionship of God will make every place the realm of promise, and in every place he will find the riches of grace. “His seed shall inherit the earth.” Children become heirs when parents become pious. The God-possessed transmits a legacy of blessing. It would be a profitable thing to calculate what

one may inherit because another man was good. “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him.” They are taken into intimate fellowship. To be made the depository of a rare secret is to be sealed as a friend. How can we become God-haunted? Let us begin by deliberately consulting God in the individual movements of our busy life. Refer everything to His decision Begin by distinct acts of volition This may become at length an easy-fitting habit, and may even ripen into the spontaneity of an instinct. (J. H. Jowett, M. A.)

E-SWORD, ““What man is he that feareth the Lord?” Let the question provoke self-examination. Gospel privileges are not for every pretender. Art thou of the seed royal or no? “Him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose.” Those whose hearts are right shall not err for want of heavenly direction. Where God sanctifies the heart he enlightens the head. We all wish to choose our way; but what a mercy is it when the Lord directs that choice, and makes free-will to be good-will! If we make our will God's will, God will let us have our will. God does not violate our will, but leaves much to our choice; nevertheless, he instructs our wills, and so we choose that which is well-pleasing in his sight. The will should be subject to law; there is a way which we should choose, but so ignorant are we that we need to be taught, and so wilful that none but God himself can teach us effectually.

CHARLES SIMEON, “THE PORTION OF THOSE WHO FEAR GOD

Psa_25:12-13. What man is he that feareth the Lord? him shall he teach in the way that he shall

choose: his soul shall dwell at ease.

WHERE, as in the psalm before us, different verses begin with the different letters of the Hebrew

alphabet, we must not look for a very strict connexion between the different parts; if there be

somewhat of an harmonious sentiment pervading the whole, it is as much as we have reason to

expect. The general idea that pervades this psalm seems to be, that if (whether under the pressure

of guilt or of affliction of any kind) we betake ourselves to God in prayer, and cast our care on him,

he will administer to us such consolation and SUPPORT as our necessities may require. In

conformity with this idea, he, throughout the former part of the psalm, supplicates mercy for himself,

and, in the words before us, declares the blessedness of all who truly fear God.

To bring the subject more fully before you, I shall,

I. Inquire after the character that is here described—

Where shall we find him? One would suppose that, in a Christian community at least, it should be

difficult to find one who did not fear God: but, strange as it may appear, the character here

described is by no means common. I am anxious, however, to find one; because it is to him, and to

him only, that the glorious promises in my text are addressed. Assist me, then, every one of you, in

this important inquiry; and descend into your own bosoms, to explore the records of conscience,

and to see whether you can, in your own persons, present before me the character I am

endeavouring to find. I want to know “What man amongst you feareth the Lord?”

1. Who is there amongst you that reverences God’s authority?

[There can be no question whether God’s authority should be revered: for we all acknowledge him

to be the Governor of the Universe, and confess that all his creatures owe submission to his

will. INDEED it is the common sentiment of all, that “he is greatly to be feared, and to be had in

reverence of all them that are round about him:” and it is obvious, that any man who disregards his

authority can have no true fear of him in his heart.]

2. Who is there amongst you that dreads his displeasure?

[We all are sinners, and, as sinners, are obnoxious to the displeasure of the Most High. Whether our

lives have been more or less moral, we are all transgressors of God’s holy law, and all have merited

his wrathful indignation: all, therefore, ought, with deep humility of mind, to deprecate his impending

judgments. Had we never sinned, we should never have needed this kind of fear: but to fallen

creatures it is absolutely and indispensably necessary. Let me then ask, Who is there amongst you

that mourns over his past transgressions, and implores mercy at the hands of his offended God,

and seeks reconciliation with him through the Son of his love? I do not ask, Where is the person

who, on some particular occasion, has wept for sin? but, Where is the person whose heart is

habitually broken and contrite, so as to have no hope, no peace, but in the atoning blood of Christ;

and who, notwithstanding God is reconciled towards him, still lothes himself for his iniquities and

abominations? The man who had fled to a city of refuge ventured not out of the gates of the city any

more (till the death of the High Priest), lest the pursuer of blood should fall upon him and destroy

him. And if we, through fear of God’s displeasure, have fled for refuge to Jesus, as to the hope set

before us, we shall be careful to “abide in him,” lest the sword of vengeance overtake us, and we

perish.]

3. Who is there amongst you that unfeignedly and unreservedly endeavours to fulfil his will?

[A desire to please God cannot but be associated with a fear of his Divine Majesty. Say, then, where

is the person who from day to clay endeavours to ascertain his will, and labours to perform it? I am

not inquiring after one who never errs; for such a character as that I could have no hope to find on

earth; since “in many things we all offend;” and “there is no man that liveth and sinneth not.” But one

who labours conscientiously to approve himself to God, I may hope to find. Search amongst you,

Brethren: see whether such an one be not to be found. I am not willing that the consolations in my

text should be spoken in vain: I want to engage the attention of the person to whom they are

addressed, and to pour them into the ear for which they are more especially designed. But do not

too hastily obtrude yourselves, and say, ‘I am he.’ Consider once more. Are you so studious of

God’s will, and so determined to perform it, that no consideration of ease, or interest, or pleasure,

can induce you to violate any one of his commands? And, if in any thing a more perfect way can be

pointed out to you, are you ready to walk in it, notwithstanding any difficulties you may have to

encounter, or any trials to which you may be exposed?]

If there be one whose conscience bears witness to him that his state before God is such as I have

described, then I have found the person for whose comfort the Psalmist made the declarations in

my text, and for whose benefit I shall,

II. Unfold the benefits that are ACCORDED to him—

Stand forth, my Brother; for in the name of the Most High God I declare unto you, that,

1. You shall be taught and guided in the way that God approves—

[It may be, that at present your views of divine truth are but obscure; and that you have but little

capacity to comprehend the deep things of God, and but little opportunity to investigate them. Yet I

say to you, in the name of the Lord, that you shall be guided into all truth, as far as shall be

necessary for the welfare of your soul; and that God’s way shall be made so plain before your face,

that, notwithstanding you be “a wayfaring man, and, in respect of human sciences, a fool, you shall

not err therein [Note: Isa_35:8.].” In particular, you shall have the Lord Jesus Christ revealed to you,

as “the Way, the truth, and the life:” and, “having received him” into your hearts, you shall “walk in

him, rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith as you have been taught, abounding

therein with thanksgiving [Note: Col_2:6-7.].” This is the very first step to which the teaching of

Almighty God will lead you; as our Lord has said: “It is written in the prophets, All thy children shall

be taught of God. Every one, therefore, that hath heard and learned of the Father, cometh unto

me [Note: Joh_6:45.].” In the course of your pilgrimage many difficulties will arise, wherein you will

need direction from above: but God engages that in all those emergencies “you shall hear a voice

behind you, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it; when you would otherwise be turning to the right

hand or to the left [Note: Isa_30:21.].” As the pillar and THE CLOUD went before the Israelites

throughout all their journeyings in the wilderness for forty years, till they arrived safe in the Promised

Land, so will “God guide you by his counsel, till he has safely brought you to glory

[Note: Psa_73:24.].”]

2. “Your soul shall dwell at ease”—

[It may be that your former iniquities have been great and manifold; so that, unless God interposed

in a more than ordinary way to SUPPORT your soul, you would sink into despair. But “where sin

has abounded, his grace shall much more abound:” and he will say to you, as to the woman of old,

“Thy sins are forgiven thee.” “Being justified by faith, you shall have peace with God;” and in your

own conscience, even that “peace of God which passeth all understanding.” It is possible, also, that

you may be exposed to many trials and temptations, even such as without divine aid would utterly

overwhelm you. But you shall “know in whom you have believed; and feel assured that He is able to

keep that which you have committed to him [Note:2Ti_1:12.],” and that “He will preserve you unto

his heavenly kingdom.” Thus, as Peter, the very night before his intended execution, though bound

with chains, and doomed to a cruel death, was sleeping as serenely as if no such event had awaited

him, so shall “your soul dwell at ease,” yea, “it shall be kept in perfect peace [Note: Isa_26:3.]:” for,

“if God giveth quietness, who then can make trouble?” [Note: Job_34:29.]

But, in the margin of our Bibles the sense of the original is more fully and literally expressed thus:

“His soul shall lodge in goodness.” What a rich and glorious idea is this! The Scriptures abound in

expressions of this kind: Isaiah, commending the truths of the Gospel to us, says, “Eat ye that which

is good, and let YOUR soul delight itself in fatness:” and David says, “My soul shall be satisfied

as with marrow and fatness, whilst my mouth praiseth thee with joyful lips.” So, in my text he tells us

that the Believer’s soul shall “lodge in goodness.” Yes, verily, “God himself is the habitation” of them

that fear him: his bosom is the place in which they are safely lodged, far beyond the reach of harm

[Note: Psa_91:1; Psa_91:9-10.], and fondled with more than maternal tenderness [Note: Isa_66:10-

13.]; insomuch that God himself “rejoices over them to do them good, and rests in his love, and joys

over them with singing [Note: Zep_3:17.].”

Thus, my Brother (for I am speaking to that particular individual who feareth God), it shall be with

thee in this world: and who shall describe thy lodging in the world above? Oh! the joys that await

thee there! how passing all expression or conception! The kingdom, the glory, the felicity of God

himself shall be thine, even thy portion, and thine inheritance, for ever and ever.]

Application—

Now will I pause; and, from addressing thee who fearest God, turn,

1. To the unhappy multitude, who fear him not—

[Painful it is to make this distinction: but this distinction must be made. We are commanded to

“separate the precious from the vile [Note: Jer_15:19.]:” and if we forbear to do it, God will

not:He will put “a difference between them that serve him and those who serve him not

[Note: Mal_3:18.].” It cannot but be known to you, that the generality, even of the Christian world,

have not, in truth, “the fear of God before their eyes.” Say, beloved, did not your own consciences

attest, that, in many of you at least, the marks of holy fear did not exist, or, not in such a degree as

to identify you with the character described in my text? Whilst we spoke of those who reverenced

the authority of God, and trembled at his displeasure, and made it the one object of their lives to do

his will, were not many of you constrained to say, “If this be the character of those who fear God, I

am forced to confess that it does not belong to me?” Then, Brethren, by your own confession, you

have no part in the promises annexed to that character. And, indeed, your own

experience CONFIRMS this: for at this moment you cannot comprehend those mysteries of

grace which are made clear to the believing soul. You have not that spiritual discernment, whereby

alone you can understand and appreciate the things of the Spirit [Note: 1Co_2:12;1Co_2:14.]. And,

as for “your soul dwelling at ease,” you know nothing of it: the very thought of death and judgment is

so appalling to you, that you can find no rest till you dismiss it from your mind. God himself tells us,

that “you are like the troubled sea, whose waters cast up mire and dirt; and that there is no peace to

the wicked [Note: Isa_57:20-21.].”

Will you not, then, seek to fear God? Will you not entreat him to “put his fear into your hearts,” ere it

be too late? I tremble at the thought of the lodging prepared for you. Oh! “who can dwell with

everlasting burnings?” I pray you, Brethren, realize in your minds the different states of the Rich

Man and Lazarus; and “labour not for the meat that perisheth, but for that which endureth unto

everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you.”]

2. To any one who, though really fearing God, does not yet experience the full comfort of it in his

soul—

It may be that such an one is here present, even one who, because he feels not yet all the

consolations of religion, is led to doubt its existence in his soul. We read of some in the primitive

Church, who were “in heaviness through manifold temptations:” and, no doubt, there may be

persons so circumstanced amongst ourselves at this time. But for such God has provided peculiar

encouragement. He has stated the very case, and addressed appropriate counsel to the person

under it: “Who is among you that feareth the Lord, and obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh

in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God

[Note: Isa_50:10.].” Do not imagine that God has forgotten his word, or that he will not fulfil it to you:

for “not one jot or tittle of it shall ever fail.” “Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the

upright in heart.” The corn that is sown in the earth does not rise up immediately: nor must you be

discouraged, if you have some time to wait before the harvest that is prepared for you appear. “The

vision may tarry; but it is only for the time appointed of your God; and then it shall come, and shall

not tarry [Note: Hab_2:3.].” Only wait his leisure; and you shall find, in due season, that, “in every

nation under heaven, he that feareth God and worketh righteousness shall be accepted of him.”]

13 They will spend their days in prosperity,

and their descendants will inherit the land.

BAR�ES, "His soul shall dwell at ease - Margin: “shall lodge in goodness.” So the Hebrew. The idea is that of one “at home;” one who finds a comfortable and safe resting place; one who is not a wanderer or a vagrant. The word rendered in the text “at ease,” and in the margin “goodness,” means “good;” and the idea is that of a good or safe condition as compared with that of one who wanders abroad without a shelter, or of one who has lost his way, and has no one to guide him. As contrasted with such an one, he who fears God, and who seeks his guidance and direction, will be like a man in his own comfortable and quiet home. The one is a condition of safety and of ease; the other, a condition of anxiety, doubt, trouble. Nothing could better describe the calmness, peace, and conscious security of the man who has found the truth and who serves God - as compared with the state of that man who has no religion, no fear of God, no hope of heaven.And his seed - His posterity; his family. “Shall inherit the earth.” Originally this

promise referred to the land of Canaan, as a promise connected with obeying the law of God: Exo_20:12. It came then to be synonymous with outward worldly prosperity; with length of days, and happiness in the earth. See it explained in the notes at Mat_5:5.

CLARKE, "His soul shall dwell at ease - תלין�בטוב betob�talin, “shall lodge in goodness;” this is the marginal reading in our version; and is preferable to that in the text.His seed shall inherit - His posterity shall be blessed. For them many prayers have

been sent up to God by their pious fathers; and God has registered these prayers in their behalf.

GILL, "His soul shall dwell at ease,.... Or in "goodness" (f), enjoying an affluence of good things, of spiritual blessings in Christ, in whom he dwells by faith; and where he has peace and safety, amidst all the troubles, afflictions, and exercises, he meets with; and where with godliness he has contentment, which is great gain indeed; for, though he may seem to have nothing, he possesses all things; and has all things given him richly to enjoy, even all things pertaining to life and godliness; and at death, when his soul is separated from his body, it shall enter into rest, and be in perfect peace; it shall lie in Abraham's bosom, and in the arms of Jesus, during the night of the grave, until the resurrection morn, when the body will be raised and united to it, and both will dwell in perfect happiness to all eternity;

and his seed shall inherit the earth; that is, those who tread in the same steps, and fear the Lord as he does; these shall possess the good things of this world, which is theirs, in a comfortable way, as their Father's gift, as covenant mercies, and in love; though it may be but a small portion that they have of them; or rather they shall inherit

the new heavens and earth, wherein will dwell only righteous persons, meek ones, and such as fear the Lord, Mat_5:5; and this they shall inherit for a thousand years, and afterwards the land afar off, the better country, the ultimate glory to all eternity.

HE�RY, "That God will make them easy (Psa_25:13): His soul shall dwell at ease, shall lodge in goodness, marg. Those that devote themselves to the fear of God, and give themselves to be taught of God, will be easy, if it be not their own fault. The soul that is sanctified by the grace of God, and, much more, that is comforted by the peace of God, dwells at ease. Even when the body is sick and lies in pain, yet the soul may dwell at ease in God, may return to him, and repose in him as its rest. Many things occur to make us uneasy, but there is enough in the covenant of grace to counterbalance them all and to make us easy.3. That he will give to them and theirs as much of this world as is good for them: His

seed shall inherit the earth. Next to our care concerning our souls is our care concerning our seed, and God has a blessing in store for the generation of the upright. Those that fear God shall inherit the earth, shall have a competency in it and the comfort of it, and their children shall fare the better for their prayers when they are gone.

JAMISO�, "inherit the earth — (compare Mat_5:5). The phrase, alluding to the promise of Canaan, expresses all the blessings included in that promise, temporal as well as spiritual.

E-SWORD, “He who fears God has nothing else to fear. “His soul shall dwell at ease.” He shall lodge in the chamber of content. One may sleep as soundly in the little bed in the corner as in the Great Bed of Ware; it is not abundance but content that gives true ease. Even here, having learned by grace both to abound and to be empty, the believer dwells at ease; but how profound will be the ease of his soul for ever! There he will enjoy the “otium cum dignitate;” ease and glory shall go together. Like a warrior whose battles are over, or a husbandman whose barns are full, his soul shall take its ease, and be merry for ever. “His seed shall inherit the earth.” God remembers, Isaac for the sake of Abraham, and Jacob for the sake of Isaac. Good men's sons have a goodly portion to begin the world with, but many of them, alas! turn a father's blessing into a curse. The promise is not broken because in some instances men wilfully refuse to receive it; moreover, it is in its spiritual meaning that it now holds good; our spiritual seed do inherit all that was meant by “the earth,” or Canaan; they receive the blessing of the new covenant. May the Lord make us the joyful parents of many spiritual children, and we shall have no fears about their maintenance, for the Lord will make each one of them princes in all the earth.

CALVI�, "13.His soul shall dwell in good. If the supreme felicity of man consists in undertaking

or attempting nothing except by the warrant of God, it follows that it is also a high and incomparable benefit to have him for our conductor and guide through life, that we may never go astray. But, in addition to this, an earthly blessing is here promised, in which the fruit of the preceding grace is distinctly shown, as Paul also teaches,

“ is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.”

(1Ti_4:8,)

The sum is, that those who truly serve God are not only blessed as to spiritual things, but are also blessed by him as to their condition in the present life. It is indeed true, that God does not always deal with them according to their desires, and that the blessings which they would wish do not

always flow in a certain and uniform manner. On the contrary, it often happens that they are tossed with sickness and trouble, whilst the wicked enjoy prosperity. But we must know, that as often as God withdraws his blessing from his own people, it is for the purpose of awakening them to a sense of their condition, and discovering to them how far removed they still are from the perfect fear of God. And yet, in so far as it is expedient for them, they now enjoy the blessings of God, so that, in comparison of worldly men, and the despisers of God, they are truly happy and blessed, because, even in their greatest poverty, they never lose the assurance that God is present with them; and being sustained by this consolation, they enjoy peace and tranquillity of mind. It is indeed true, that all our miseries proceed from this one source — that by our sins we prevent the divine blessing from flowing down in a uniform course upon us; and yet, amidst such a state of confusion, his grace never ceases to shine forth, so that the condition of the godly is always better than that of others: for

although they are not satiated with good things, yet they are CONTINUALLY made to experience

a sense of the fatherly favor of God. And to this I am willing to refer the word soul, namely, that, in the reception of the gifts of God, they do not devour them without feeling a sense of their sweetness, but really relish them, so that the smallest competency is of more avail to satisfy them than the greatest abundance is to satisfy the ungodly. Thus, according as every man is contented with his condition, and cheerfully cherishes a spirit of patience and tranquillity, his soul is said to dwell in good. Some interpreters apply this word to dwell or abide to the time of death; but this interpretation is more subtle than solid. The inspired penman rather speaks, as we have already

said, of the condition of the present life. (561) He adds, in the second place, by way of illustration,

that the posterity of the faithful shall inherit the land, and from this it follows, that God CONTINUES

to extend his favor towards them. Hence we may again infer, that the death of God’ servants

does not imply their utter destruction, and that they do not cease to exist when they pass out of this world, but continue to live for ever. It would be absurd to suppose that God would totally deprive of life those for whose sake he does good even to others. As to what is here said, that the children of the saints shall inherit the land, it has been touched upon elsewhere, and it will be shown still more fully on the thirty-seventh Psalm, in what respects, and how this is accomplished.

(561) Horsley refers the words to the blessedness of a future state. He reads, “ soul shall rest in

bliss;” and has the following note: — “ תליך, pernoctavit. The words seem to allude to the happy

state of the good man’ departed soul, while his posterity prosper in the present world.” That is, the land of Canaan, which God promised to perpetuate to the obedient Israelites and their posterity. “ was promised and given,” says Poole, “ an earnest of the whole covenant of grace and all his promises, and, therefore, is synecdochically put for all of them. The sense is, his seed shall be blessed.”

SPURGEO�, "Verse 13. He who fears God has nothing else to fear. His soul shall

dwell at ease. He shall lodge in the chamber of content. One may sleep as soundly in

the little bed in the corner as in the Great Bed of Ware; it is not abundance but

content that gives true ease. Even here, having learned by grace both to abound and

be empty, the believer dwells at ease; but how profound will be the ease of his soul

for ever! There he will enjoy the otium cum dignitate; ease and glory shall go

together. Like a warrior whose battles are over, or a husbandman whose barns are

full, his soul shall take its ease, and be merry for ever. His seed shall inherit the

earth. God remembers Isaac for the sake of Abraham, and Jacob for the sake of

Isaac. Good men's sons have a goodly portion to begin the world with, but many of

them, alas! turn a father's blessing into a curse. The promise is not broken because

in some instances men wilfully refuse to receive it; moreover, it is in its spiritual

meaning that it now holds good; our spiritual seed do inherit all that was meant by

"the earth, "or Canaan; they receive the blessing of the new covenant. May the

Lord make us the joyful parents of many spiritual children, and we shall have no

fears about their maintenance, for the Lord will make each one of them princes in

all the earth.

Verse 13. His soul shall dwell at ease; and his seed shall inherit the earth. The holy

fear of God shall destroy all sinful fears of men, even as Moses' serpent devoured all

those serpents of the magicians. The fear of God hath this good effect, that it makes

other things not to be feared; so that the soul of him that feareth the Lord doth

dwell, as in rest, so in goodness; as in peace, so in patience, till this moment of time

be swallowed up in the fulness of eternity, and he change his earthly dwelling for an

heavenly mansion, and his spiritual peace for an everlasting blessedness. Robert

Mossom.

Verse 13. His soul shall dwell at ease. Shall tarry in good things, as it is in the

Vulgate. Unlike the soul of Adam, who, being put into possession of the delights of

paradise, tarried there but a few days or hours. Gerhohus, QUOTED by J. M.

�eale.

Verse 13. His soul shall dwell at ease. He expresses with great sweetness spiritual

delectation, when he says, "His soul shall tarry in good things." For whatever is

carnally sweet yields without doubt a delectation for the time to such as enjoy it, but

cannot tarry long with them; because, while by its taste it provokes appetite, by its

transit it cheats desire. But spiritual delights, which neither pass away as they are

tasted, nor decrease while they refresh, nor cloy while they satiate, can tarry for

ever with their possessors. Hugo Victorinus (1130), QUOTED by J. M. �eale.

Verse 13 (first clause). In the reception of the gifts of God, they do not devour them

without feeling a sense of their sweetness, but really relish them, so that the smallest

competency is of more avail to satisfy them that the greatest abundance is to satisfy

the ungodly. Thus, ACCORDI�G as every man is contented with his condition, and

cheerfully cherishes a spirit of patience and tranquillity, his soul is said to dwell in

good. John Calvin.

Verse 13. "The earth, "or the land, to wit Canaan; which was promised and given,

as an earnest of the whole covenant of grace, and all its promises, and therefore it is

synecdochically put for all of them. The sense is, his seed shall be blessed. Matthew

Poole.

14 The Lord confides in those who fear him;

he makes his covenant known to them.

BAR�ES, "The secret of the Lord - On the word here rendered “secret,” see the notes at Job_15:8. It properly means a couch or cushion; and then, a divan or circle of

friends sitting together; then, deliberation or consultation; then, familiar contact, intimacy; and then, a “secret,” - as if it were the result of a private consultation among friends, or something which pertained to them, and which they did not wish to have known. It is rendered “secret” in Gen_49:6; Job_15:8; Job_29:4; Psa_25:14; Pro_3:32; Pro_11:13; Pro_20:19; Pro_25:9; Amo_3:7; “counsel” in Psa_55:14; Psa_64:2; Psa_83:3; Jer_23:18, Jer_23:22; and “assembly” in Psa_89:7; Psa_111:1; Jer_6:11; Jer_15:17; Eze_13:9. The word “friendship” would perhaps express the meaning here. The sense is, that those who fear the Lord are admitted to the intimacy of friendship with Him; are permitted to come into His presence, and to partake of His counsels; are allowed free access to Him; or, as it is more commonly expressed, have “fellowship” with Him. Compare 1Jo_1:3. The language is such as would be applied to the intimacy of friends, or to those who take counsel together. The language belongs to a large class of expressions denoting the close connection between God and His people.With them that fear him - With those who truly and properly reverence Him, or

who are His true worshippers: Psa_5:7; Job_1:1.

And he will show them his covenant - Margin, “And his covenant to make them know it.” The meaning is, that God will impart to them the true knowledge of His covenant; or, in other words, He will enable them to understand what there is in that covenant, or in its gracious provisions, that is adapted to promote their happiness and salvation. The word “covenant” here is the same term which is commonly used to describe the arrangements which God has made for the salvation of people: see Psa_25:10. Whatever there is in that arrangement to promote the happiness and salvation of His people, He will cause them to understand.

CLARKE, "The secret of the Lord is with them - טוד sod, the secret assembly of the Lord is with them that fear him; many of them have a Church in their own house.He will show them his covenant - He will let them see how great blessings he has

provided for them that love him. Some refer this to the covenant of redemption by Christ Jesus.

GILL, "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him,.... The secret of his purposes with them; as his purpose according to election; his resolution to redeem his chosen ones by his Son; his design to call them by his grace; his predestination of them to the adoption of children, and eternal life; which are the deep things of God the Spirit of God reveals; and all which are made manifest to them in effectual calling; and the secret of his providences is with them; some are made known to them that fear the Lord before they come to pass; as the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah to Abraham, with many other instances in the Old Testament; see Amo_3:7; and what is the book of the Revelation but a revelation of the secrets of Providence, from the time of Christ and his apostles, to the end of the world? some they observe and take notice of while they are performing, and see the gracious designs of God in them, for their good and his glory; and though some of his ways of Providence are past finding out, and his footsteps are not known as yet; hereafter his judgments will be made manifest, and the whole scene will be opened to the saints, and be clear to their view: the secret of his love, free grace, and favour, is with them, which was in his heart from everlasting, and lay hid in his thoughts, which are as much higher than ours as the heavens are higher than the earth; and which is made manifest in regeneration, and then shed abroad in the hearts of his people:

secret communion with God is enjoyed by those that fear him, which is what the world knows nothing of, and the joy that results from it is what a stranger intermeddles not with; the Lord has his chambers and secret places, into which he brings them, and where they dwell. The secret of his Gospel is with them; and the mysteries of it, which were kept secret since the world began; as the mystery of a trinity of Persons in the Godhead; the union of the two natures in Christ; the regeneration of the Spirit; the union of the saints to Christ, and their communion with him; the calling of the Gentiles; the resurrection of the dead; and the change of living saints;

and he will show them his covenant: the covenant of grace, which was made with Christ for them from eternity, is made known to them in time, when they are called by the grace of God, and made partakers of the grace of the covenant, then the Lord reveals himself as their covenant God and Father; shows them that his Son is their surety, Mediator, Redeemer, and Saviour; puts his Spirit into them to implant covenant grace in them, to seal up the blessings of it to them, and bear witness to their interest in them, as pardon, justification, and adoption; and to apply the exceeding great and precious promises of it to them.

HE�RY, "That God will admit them into the secret of communion with himself (Psa_25:14): The secret of the Lord is with those that fear him. They understand his word; for, if any man do his will, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God, Joh_7:17. Those that receive the truth in the love of it, and experience the power of it, best understand the mystery of it. They know the meaning of his providence, and what God is doing with them, better than others. Shall I hide from Abraham the things that I do? Gen_18:17. He call them not servants, but friends, as he called Abraham. They know by experience the blessings of the covenant and the pleasure of that fellowship which gracious souls have with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. This honour have all his saints.

JAMISO�, "The reason of the blessing explained - the pious enjoy communion with God (compare Pro_3:21, Pro_3:12), and, of course, learn His gracious terms of pardon.

CALVI�, "14.The counsel of Jehovah. The Psalmist here confirms what he had just said in a

preceding verse, namely, that God will faithfully discharge the office of a teacher and master to all the godly; and, after his usual manner, he repeats the same sentiment twice in the same verse for the covenant of God is nothing else than his secret or counsel. By the use of the term secret, he means to magnify and extol the excellency of the doctrine which is revealed to us in the law of God. However much worldly men, through the pride and haughtiness of their hearts, despise Moses and the prophets, the faithful nevertheless acknowledge, that in the doctrine which they contain, the secrets of heaven, which far surpass the comprehension of man, are revealed and unfolded. Whoever, therefore, desires to derive instruction from the law, let him regard with reverence and esteem the doctrine which it contains. We are, farther, by this place admonished to cultivate the graces of meekness and humility, lest, in reliance upon our own wisdom, or trusting to our own understanding, we should attempt, by our own efforts, to comprehend those mysteries and secrets, the knowledge of which David here declares to be the prerogative of God alone. Again, since the fear of the Lord is said to be the beginning, and as it were the way that leads to a right understanding of his will, (Psa_111:10,) according as any one desires to increase in faith, so also let him endeavor to advance in the fear of the Lord. Moreover, when piety reigns in the heart, we need have no fear of losing our labor in seeking God. It is indeed true, that the covenant of God is a secret which far exceeds human comprehension; but as we know that he does not in vain enjoin us to seek him, we may rest assured that all those who endeavor to serve him with an upright desire

will be brought, by the teaching of the Holy Spirit, to the knowledge of that heavenly wisdom which is appointed for their salvation. But, in the meantime, David indirectly rebukes those who falsely and groundlessly boast that they are interested in the covenant of God, while they rest merely in the letter of the law, and have no saving impressions of the fear of God. God, it is true, addresses his word indiscriminately to the righteous and the wicked; but men do not comprehend it, unless they have sincere piety; just as Isa_29:11, says, that as regards the ungodly, the law is like “ book that is sealed.” And, therefore, it is no wonder that there is here made a distinction between those who truly serve God, and to whom he makes known his secret, and the wicked or hypocrites. But when we see David in this confidence coming boldly to the school of God, and leading others along with him, let us know, as he clearly shows, that it is a wicked and hateful invention to attempt to deprive the common people of the Holy Scriptures, under the pretense of their being a hidden mystery; as if all who fear him from the heart, whatever their state or condition in other respects may be, were not expressly called to the knowledge of God’ covenant.

William A. Quayle wrote, "Sometimes I take not liberties, I think, with the translation of

a text, but I exercise my godly judgement init, and if a word is susceptibvle of differing

translations, I feel at liberty to take the translation that breathes the thought, the expecial

thought, the best. That is fair. The usual reading of htis text, as you know, is "The secret

of the Lord is with them that fear him," but inasmuch as the word sod means "whisper,"

as well as "secret," I have chosen to render the passage as you heard me read the text.

"The whisper of the Lord is with them that fear him." In other words, and in sweet

words, it is said that God's people can hear God's whisper.

SPURGEO�, "Verse 14. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him. Some

read it "the friendship:" it signifies familiar intercourse, confidential intimacy, and

select fellowship. This is a great secret. Carnal minds cannot guess what is intended

by it, and even believers cannot explain it in words, for it must be felt to be known.

The higher spiritual life is necessarily a path which the eagle's eye hath not known,

and which the lion's whelp has not travelled; neither natural wisdom nor strength

can force a door into this inner chamber. Saints have the key of heaven's

hieroglyphics; they can unriddle celestial enigmas. They are initiated into the

fellowship of the skies; they have heard words which it is not possible for them to

repeat to their fellows. And he will shew them his covenant. Its antiquity,

SECURITY, righteousness, fulness, graciousness and excellence, shall be revealed to

their hearts and understandings, and above all, their own part in it shall be sealed to

their souls by the witness of the Holy Spirit. The designs of love which the Lord has

to his people in the covenant of grace, he has been pleased to show to believers in the

Book of Inspiration, and by his Spirit he leads us into the mystery, even the hidden

mystery of redemption. He who does not know the meaning of this verse, will never

learn it from a commentary; let him look to the cross, for the secret lies there.

Verse 14. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him, etc. It is the righteous

that is God's friend, it is to him that God is joined in a loving familiarity, it is to him

that God revealeth his secret, telling him what misery and torments he hath

reserved for them who by wickedness flourish in this world. And indeed the Lord

doth not more hate the wicked than he loves the godly: if he keeps far from the

froward, as being an abomination unto him, his very secret shall be with the

righteous, as with his dearest friend. It is an honour to him to whom a secret is

committed by another, a greater honour to him to whom the king shall commit his

own secret; but how is he honoured to whom God committed his secret? for where

the secret of God is, there is his heart and there is himself. Thus was his secret with

St. John, of whom St. Bernard saith, by occasion of the beginning of his gospel,

"Doth he not seem unto thee to have dived into the bowels of the divine Word, and

from the secrets of his breast, to have drawn a sacred pith of concealed wisdom?"

Thus was his secret with St. Paul, who saith, "We speak the wisdom of God in a

mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which none of the princes of this world knew."

1Co 2:7-8. St. Gregory reads, for the secret of God, as the Vulgar Latin doth,

sermocinatio Dei, the communication of God is with the righteous; but then addeth,

Dei sermocinari est per illustrationem suae praesentiae humanis mentibus arcana

revelare, God's communication is, by the illustration of his presence, to reveal

secrets to the minds of men. But to consider the words somewhat more generally.

There is no less a secret of godliness, than there is of any other trade or profession.

Many profess am art or a trade, but thrive not by it, because they have not the

secret and mystery of it; and many profess godliness, but are little the better for it,

because they have not the true secret of it: he hath that, with whom God is in secret

in his heart; and he that is righteous in secret, where no man sees him, he is the

righteous man with whom the secret of the Lord is. Michael Jermin, D.D., 1591-

1659.

Verse 14. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him, etc. There is a vital

sense in which "the natural man discerneth not the things of the Spirit of God; "and

in which all the realities of Christian experience are utterly hid from his

perceptions. To speak to him of communion with God, of the sense of pardon, of the

lively expectation of heaven, of the witness of the Holy Ghost, of the struggles of the

spiritual life, would be like reasoning with a blind man about colours, or with one

deaf about musical harmony. John Morison.

Verse 14. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him, etc. Albeit the Lord's

covenant with the visible church be open, and plain in itself to all men in all the

articles thereof, yet it is a mystery to know the inward sweet fellowship which a soul

may have with God by virtue of this covenant; and a man fearing God shall know

this mystery, when such as are covenanters only in the letter do remain ignorant

thereof; for to the fearers of God only is this promise made—that to them the Lord

will show his covenant. David Dickson.

Verse 14. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him. The gospel, though

published to all the world, yet it is entitled a mystery, and a mystery hid, for none

know it but the saints, who are taught of God, and are his scholars. Joh 6:45. That

place shows that there must be a secret teaching by God, and a secret learning. "If

they have heard, and been taught of God." �ow God teacheth none but saints, for

all that are so taught come unto him: "Every one who hath heard, and learned of

the Father, cometh unto me." Aye, but you will say, Do not many carnal men know

the gospel, and discourse of things in it, through strength of learning, etc? I answer

out of the text Col 1:26-27, that though they may know the things which the gospel

reveals, yet not the riches and glory of them, that same rich knowledge spoken of in

the word, they want, and therefore know them not; as a child and a jeweller looking

upon a pearl, both look upon it, and call it by the same name; but the child yet

knows it not as a pearl in the worth and riches of it as the jeweller doth, and

therefore cannot be said to know it. �ow in Mt 13:45, a Christian only is likened to a

merchantman, that finds a pearl of great price, that is, discovered to be so, and sells

all he hath for it, for he knows the worth of it. But you will say, Do not carnal men

know the worth of the things in the gospel, and can they not discourse of the rich

grace of Christ, and of his worth? I answer, yes, as a man who hath gotten an

inventory by heart, and the prices also, and so may know it; yet never was he led

into the exchequer and treasury, to see all the jewels themselves, the wardrobe of

grace, and Christ's righteousness, to see the glory of them; for these are all

"spiritually discerned, "as the apostle says expressly, 1Co 2:14. Thomas Goodwin.

Verse 14. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him. The truth and sincerity

of God to his people appears in the openness and plainness of his heart to them. A

friend that is close and reserved, deservedly comes under a CLOUD in the thoughts

of his friends; but he who carries, as it were, a window of crystal in his breast,

through which his friend may read what thoughts are writ in his very heart, delivers

himself from the least suspicion of unfaithfulness. Truly, thus open hearted is God

to his saints: "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him." He gives us his

key, that will let us into his very heart, and acquaint us what his thoughts are, yea,

were, towards us, before a stone was laid in the world's foundation; and this is no

other than his Spirit 1Co 2:10-11, "One who knows the deep things of God; "for he

was at the council table in heaven, where all was transacted. This, his Spirit, he

employed to put forth and publish in the Scriptures, indited by him, the substance

of those counsels of love which had passed between the Trinity of Persons for our

salvation; and that nothing may be wanting for our satisfaction, he hath appointed

the same Holy Spirit to abide in his saints, that as Christ in heaven presents our

desires to him, so he may interpret his mind out of his word to us; which word

answers the heart of God, as face answers face in the glass. William Gurnall.

Verse 14. The secret of the Lord. This "secret" is called a secret three ways. 1.

Secret to the eye of sole nature, and thus it is not meant; for so the grace of Christ is

a secret only to heathens and such as are blind as they, for common Christians know

it—the rind of it. 2. Secret to the eye of taught nature, nor thus is it meant; for so the

grace of Christ is a secret only to the ignorant sort of Christians; many carnal

gospellers that sit under a good ministry know it and the bark of it. 3. Secret to the

eye of enlightened nature, and thus it is meant; for so the grace of Christ is a secret

to all unsanctified professors, whether learned or unlearned, namely, the pith of it;

for though great doctors and profound clerks, and deep studied divines

unconverted, know the doctrine of grace, and the truth of grace; though they can

dispute of grace and talk of the glory of grace, yea, and taste a little the good word

of grace, yea, and understand it generally, it may be as well as St. Paul and St. Peter,

as Judas did, yet the special and the spiritual knowledge thereof, for all their

dogmatical illumination, is a secret unto them. William Fenner.

Verse 14. The secret. Arminius and his company ransack all God's secrets, divulge

and communicate them to the seed of the woman, and of the serpent all alike; they

make God's eternal love of election no secret, but a vulgar idea; they make the

mystery of Christ, and him crucified, no secret, but like an apothecary's drug,

catholical; they make the especial grace of God no secret, but a common quality;

faith no secret, but a general virtue; repentance and the new creature no secret, but

an universal gift; no secret favour to St. Peter, but make God a party ante, not to

love St. Peter more than Judas; no secret intent to any one person more than

another; but that Christ might have died for all him, and never a man saved; no

secret working of the Lord in any more than other; but for anything that either God

the Father hath done by creating, God the Son by redeeming, or God the Holy

Ghost by sanctifying, all the world were left to their scrambling—take it if you will,

if you will not, refuse. They say God would have men to be saved, but that he will

not work it for his own part, rather for this man or that man determinatively that

he be saved. William Fenner.

Verse 14. He will shew them his covenant, or and he will make them to know (for

the infinitive is here thought to be put for the future tense of the indicative, as it is in

Ec 3:14-15,18 Ho 9:13 12:3, his covenant, i.e., )he will make them clearly understand

it, both its duties or conditions, and its blessings or privileges; neither of which

ungodly men rightly understand. Or, he will make them to know it by experience, or

by God's making it good to them; as, on the contrary, God threatens to make

ungodly men to know his breach of promise. �u 14:34. Or, as it is in the margins of

our Bibles, and his covenant, (is i.e., he hath engaged himself by his promise or

covenant) to make them know it, to wit, his secret, i.e., that he will manifest either

his word or his favour to them. Matthew Poole.

Verse 14. It is neither learning nor labour than can give insight into God's secrets,

those Arcana imperii, "The mysteries of the kingdom of heaven." Mt 13:11. "The

mind of Christ." 1Co 2:16. These things come by revelation rather than by

discourse of reason, and must therefore be obtained by prayer. Those that diligently

seek him shall be of his Cabinet Council, shall know his soul secrets, and be

admitted into a gracious familiarity and friendship. "Henceforth I call you not

servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth; but I have called you

friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you."

Joh 15:15. John Trapp.

Verse 14. Walking with God is the best way to know the mind of God; friends who

walk together impart their secrets one to another: "The secret of the Lord is with

them that fear him." �oah walked with God, and the Lord revealed a great secret to

him, of destroying the old world, and having him in the ark. Abraham walked with

God, and God made him one of his privy council: "Shall I hide from Abraham that

thing which I do?" Ge 24:40 18:17. God doth sometimes sweetly unbosom himself to

the soul in prayer, and in the holy supper, as Christ made himself known to his

disciples in the breaking of bread. Lu 24:35. Thomas Watson.

BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR, “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him.The secret of the Lord

Then the Lord has a secret. Why does He not tell it to every man? Why do we not tell our secrets to every man? Every man does not understand us. We always best understand those who are like-minded with us. God gives His secret to them that fear Him. We individually give our secret—knowledge of our inner self—to those who see eye to eye with us, and by so much would not, cannot, offend us. That which must necessarily be a secret to some, even knowledge of ourselves, is, all else being equal, most obtainable by them that fear us; by them who put confidence in us. It is even so with society; its secret is with them that fear it. Outrage the moral sense of society, or even its sense of propriety, and refuse to be reconciled, and society will cast you adrift. He who acquiesces in the ways of society is received by society, and gets from it such secret as it has to reveal. He knows society through reconciliation, through a species of fear, in which there is an admixture of love.. The secret of business is with him who bends his will to it. The secret of all science, and all art, is with them that love it. No love, no secret, in personal intercourse, in industrial pursuits, in society. The more love, the more knowledge or secret. Admiration, devotion, love, each according to its nature and degree opens all locks and doors and souls. Have the spirit of any given man, and his secret is yours. Have his spirit entirely, and you have him. Harmony with God, sympathy, animation by His Spirit is necessary to knowing Him. (J. S. Swan.)

The secret of the Lord

I. The class of persons spoken of. Those that “fear the Lord.”

1. Fear sometimes signifies fear of God’s punishments. This fear is better than none at all, as it exercises a restraining power over men who would otherwise commit sin.

2. But there is a fear which merits the severest reprobation: when it fears God because it considers Him to be an angry, vindictive being.

3. There is a fear which deserves the highest commendation; it is filial fear, the fear which an affectionate child has of grieving its father, or causing him pain.

II. The privilege which such persons enjoy. “The secret of the Lord is with them.” God holds communion and fellowship with men whose hearts are rightly disposed towards them. Suppose a group of persons discussing the conduct and policy of some public man. All kinds of opinions might be expressed, favourable or otherwise. But of what worth would they be compared with the word of one who knows this public man personally, intimately, who is in his secret, and can speak with confidence regarding his public conduct? Or the “secret” may be illustrated ill another way—by the relation in which two friends stand to each other, who are in perfect sympathy with one another. How they would understand each other! A glance of the eye, a mere hint, suffices to reveal the mind of the one to the other. So the favour and fellowship of God are enjoyed by the man who fears Him. What do we know about this “secret”? The infidel Hume taunted his servant with believing in nonsense. He replied that in his History of England Hume told of Queen Mary, who said that when she died, Calais would be found written on her heart. So, the servant said, Christ was written on his heart. This is the secret of the Lord. (W. Logan, M. A.)

The teachings of God within and without

God reveals Himself in two ways to man. God wrote His word “on the pages of the elements.” But even on the heathen He wrote a more inward law, which answered to the outward and interpreted its voice—the law of conscience. Each of these voices is made more distinct as man is brought nearer to God. And when we forget both, He has given us the writings of the law, the voices of the prophets, the melody of the Psalms, the instruction of Proverbs, the experiences of histories, the words of Jesus and the Apostles. He speaks, too, by His Spirit. God ever speaks to the heart, as He speaks through the Word; for He cannot contradict Himself. What then? Because God must prepare the heart and open the ear and Himself speak to it, does nothing depend on us? It is with us to hearken or no. “The secret of the Lord” is a hushed voice, a gentle intercourse of heart to heart, a still small voice whispering to the inner ear. How should we hear it if we fill our ears and our hearts with the din of this world? There are two conditions, as there are degrees of inward hearing. You must fear God. You must be hushed yourselves. They who do not fear God cannot hear the secret. In grace, God forecomes man, and man follows grace given. In sin, on the contrary, man begins; he casts out grace, deadens his own car, until God’s voice sounds fainter and fainter. The question on which all hangs is this—is the flesh subdued to the Spirit, or the Spirit stifled by the flesh? This is the first condition of knowing the will of God, that we will to know it wholly. In vain is heaven opened to eyes fixed on earth. Love sees God The Psalmist speaks not of the “secret of the Lord” only, but of a “secret converse” with the soul, as of a friend with his friend. To have the love of the Great Friend, we must desire no love out of Him. St. Bernard says, “A secret counsel calleth for a secret hearing. He will assuredly make thee hear of joy and gladness if thou receivest Him with a sober car.” “They who would behold God,” says St. Gregory, “dwell in a loneliness of soul, and free from the tumults of worldly cares, thirst for God.” (E. B. Pusey, D. D.)

The knowledge of God revealed to them that fear Him

The secret of the Lord means, that which cannot be known unless the Lord reveal it. And the phrase here implies an intimate knowledge of the Divine perfections, of the dealings and dispensations of God; a holy and vital communion with Him; an entire trust in His providential care and government, together with that peace which always dwells in the bosom of a true, penitent, pious believer. All this, including, as it does, a full acquaintance with the doctrines and duties, the privileges and comforts of the life of faith, is called the “secret of the Lord,” for man naturally knows nothing of them (Pro_2:6; Pro_2:9; 1Co_2:9). Men think all this enthusiasm, and have no notion that there is anything in religion which they, by their own skill, are not competent to discover. But, for instance, how can any man who neglects the worship of God pretend to decide upon its importance or utility? It is a matter of experience, and he is unqualified to judge. Because the sinner, when overtaken by sickness or affliction, declares that he derives no comfort from religion, are we therefore to conclude that religion has no comforts to bestow? The promises of the Gospel belong to them that fear the Lord. These persons, when they read the Scriptures, are blessed through them; theirs, too, is the secret of peace in the midst of trouble and in the hour of death. (T. Slade, M. A.)

The reward of fear

Think what God’s secret told to a man must be.

I. It must be one of knowledge. You all know what the Bible is to the natural heart. It gives information, much and valuable, about most important things. But there it ends. It does not touch us, does not move us, does not make us feel. But see the true Christian over his Bible. How he drinks in his words, and how they refresh and comfort him. How he trusts them, and lives by them. He has got the secret of his Bible.

II. It must be a secret of safety. “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.” That is just what we cannot do; we have no such tower. Life’s troubles find us out of doors, and beat upon us. How insecure, defenceless, comfortless we are. A tale was once written of a man who had committed a murder, a base, treacherous, but well-concealed murder, after which he lived for many years in respect and honour, in the gratification of all tastes and wishes, in affluence, and comfort, and domestic love, till a day of late discovery and late retribution. People spoke of this as an “immoral story,” because it gave the man half a life of enjoyment. But that was a short-sighted judgment. How little could such observers know of the torture that man endured from the one fact of his consciousness of insecurity; that at any moment ruin might come. Without security, which is a sense of safety, no happiness is worth the name. The secret of the Lord is a secret of safety.

III. A secret of strength. How strong a weak person may become who has it. And we have known strong men become weak for the lack of it.

IV. A secret of peace. The wicked are like the “troubled sea.” There is such a thing as a false peace; but a man must have gone very far astray before he can know that, the peace of spiritual death. Between these two extremes, the peace of God and the peace of death, there lies a very wide and dreary morass, a state of disquiet and unrest.

V. Consider the communication of this secret. It is given to them who “fear Him.” There are two kinds of fear: that fear which is cast out by love, and that fear which is part of love. It is a very serious thing when the foundations of religion are not laid deep in the fear of God. Remember that the fear of God, like everything else, must come instrumentally by practice. Abstain from something tonight, each one of you, some thought, some word, some act, by a great effort if necessary, on this single ground, that it will displease God. Do so again tomorrow; in a little while it will become easier to you, at last it will become habitual. (C. J. Vaughan, D. D.)

A palace of Divine secrets

I ask you to come with me through a spiritual palace, and I will describe the several apartments.

I. We turn aside into a wide and spacious hall. Before us is a throne, high and lifted up,—it is the throne of grace. Watch the comers as they enter; their penitential aspect, humility, solicitude; listen to their confessions and their requests. They have come with woe, care, perplexity, sin. But they all fear Him, and so are admitted to the secret of prayer.

II. Another chamber—the armoury of light. Nations boast their arsenals, but there is none like this. Watch those who are coining in and being armed.

III. The treasure room which contains the book of life. Old books are counted as treasures. Here is one of the oldest, and it is indestructible. Let Mosaic chronology be

mistaken, it only makes this book a little more venerable; for it was made ere the foundations of the earth. Whose names are in it? This is one of the Lord’s secrets. But all those who have been born again of the Spirit of God are written there.

IV. The chamber of consolation. Numerous visitors come crowding in. Heavily laden, worn-out, exhausted, fainting ones. They have all come to the right place. Here are staffs, cordials, medicines, anchors, lights, garments of praise.

V. The room named “Cross of love.” This is the highest of all. Here is revealed the secret of secrets. A soft and heavenly light fills the whole chamber. St. Paul was often in this room; it had a special charm for him.

VI. The tower of the palace. It is the “Tower of Vision.” Winding up its alabaster stairs, well-worn but ever-renewed, we at last reach the lofty summit. Below us is the world, half hidden by the mist, its hum scarcely audible. Our eyes climb up to the regions of serene and perpetual light, to the holy splendours of the city of our God. (W. A. Essery.)

Hidden manna, or The mystery of saving grace

The saving grace that the children of God have is a secret that none in the world know besides. It is called a secret in three ways. Secret to the eye of nature; but this is not meant. Secret to the eye of taught nature; but this is not meant. Secret to the eye of enlightened nature; this is meant. It is a secret to all unsanctified professors. It is called a mystery. Grace is spiritual, and can only be received by the spiritually minded. A man must have another secret before he can know this secret. He must be a new creature.

1. Use for instruction. Is God’s secret with them that fear Him? Then the godly are the friends of God. Then the godly are all one with God.

2. For refutation. Away with all who say that God gives no secret thing to any one man more than another.

3. For consolation. They are so honoured with the Lord that God hides no good thing from them that is necessary to their salvation.

4. For terror to the wicked. Here is horror to all the ungodly; they are strangers from God, they are not admitted into God’s secrets. (W. Fermer.)

The Lord’s secret

1. The fear of the Lord—its origin is of God. Its effect is cleansing, purifying from the power and love of sin (Psa_19:9). The fear of the Lord is clean, or cleansing; its evidence is in assembling with the Lord’s people (Mal_3:16). “Then they that feared the Lord,” etc., but this fear is not the cause of the blessings spoken of, but the proof.

2. In every heart thus filled with the fear of God there is a communication of a secret. The Lord opens His mind and His heart to them, and, to begin with the lowest, there is the secret working of His grace, in conviction of sin, of righteousness, of pardon and peace—in the creation of a spirit of prayer and praise; all these being the work of grace in the soul. Then there is the secret witness of the Spirit, testifying to their adoption into His family, and the secret whispers of His love, whereby He continues to assure the soul by these tokens, that He has loved that soul with an everlasting love, and prepared it for a crown of glory.

3. The promise. Something more in prospect—He will show them His covenant. The “everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure;” this was Davids support in trouble and in the hour of death. He will show them, will teach them, more and more therein, the nature of it, the duration of it, its comprehensiveness, its security, its terms and conditions, its blessings and promises, all in Christ, and Christ in all. (A. Hewlett, M. A.)

God’s greatest secret

The secret of the Lord is His sending His Son into the world for the redemption of lost mankind.

I. The Gospel of Christ is a mystery. It is not attainable without supernatural revelation. It was undiscoverable by the most exalted powers of human understanding until God, out of infinite mercy, was pleased Himself to reveal it. But even after the clearest revelation that our present state is capable of there must be owned to be, in the Christian religion, mysteries far surpassing the highest pitch of human understanding. To “know in part” is too poor and mean a degree of knowledge for our modem Christian philosophers. To them there must be nothing in Christianity mysterious. Examine their pretensions, and we shall find that they neither speak of faith as becomes Christians, nor of reason as becomes men. How far are we glad to allow the use of reason in Divine matters?

1. Reason is of great use in asserting the principles of natural religion, such as the Being of a God; the obligation to worship Him; the immortality of the soul; and the eternal and essential difference between good and evil, partly discoverable by natural light.

2. Reason is useful, since it is from rational inducements that we first admit even revelation itself. It is by reason we distinguish what is truly Divine from enthusiasm and imposture.

3. Reason is of excellent use in expounding and interpreting the mind and meaning of Holy Writ, as long as it is sober and modest and keeps strictly to the analogy of faith.

4. Reason is usefully employed in stopping the mouths of gainsayers, in enlightening their blindness or subduing their contumacy, in confuting heretics by turning their own weapons upon them, and vindicating Divine truth from all those calumnies which are unjustly brought against it. But in the sublime mysteries of our religion reason has no more to do, when it is once satisfied and convinced of the revelation, but to receive from it those truths which by its own natural powers it never had been able to have found out.

II. The qualifications requisite in those that are to receive this great mystery. “Them that fear Him.” The fear of the Lord is the beginning of that wisdom which alone makes wise unto salvation; and that—

1. By a natural efficiency. Whoever loves the precepts of God, and delights to do what He commands, will meet with little difficulty in believing what He reveals. There is a natural and easy passage from loving to believing. True saving faith requires a devout and humble submission of the mind and heart, a complacency and delight and joy in the truths that it receives.

2. Besides this natural tendency, there are through the whole Scripture many signal examples, as well as positive promises, of faith and heavenly knowledge to a due and sincere practice of what we already know. Inferences—

(1) Since pride and self-concept and a too confident relying upon our own reason have been shown to be so dangerous and destructive of our holy faith, let us strive to attain a deep and true humility of spirit, and a just sense of our own natural blindness and infirmity. Let us avoid all curious and nice inquiries into things that are too high for us.

(2) Let us heartily and industriously and zealously set upon this work, the fulfilling the whole will of our Lord. Then there would soon be no remains of infidelity left in us; we should soon, then, to our unspeakable joy and satisfaction, feel, by a sincere and strict observance of the Christian duties, that we should no longer have any doubts or scruples of the Christian faith. (R. Duke.)

God’s secrets

All religions have their areana, or secrets known only to those who are within. The religion of the Bible does not disdain to acknowledge its own secrets, and to drive away from its archives those who come with irreverent curiosity to pry into the contents of revelation. By “secret” we are hero to understand familiar intercourse. The word here rendered “secret” is traced to a word which means couch; the idea is that of two friends seated upon the same couch, holding confidential intercourse. The talk is as between companions, and is conducted in eager whispers. God is represented thus as bringing to a loving heart His own peculiar messages and communications, which he will not publish to the general world. God has so made His universe that its various parts talk to one another. Men hold friendly and confiding intercourse. The sun is full of lessons, so are the flowers, so are all the winds that blow, so are the forests, and so are the oceans. All these may be said to be open secrets; that is to say, men may discover their meanings for themselves—by comparison, by the study of analogy, by the watching of the coming and going phenomena of nature. But beyond this open revelation there is a secret covenant. God calls His children into inner places, and there, in hushed and holy silence, He communicates His thought as His children are able to receive it. “he will show them His covenant”; He will read to them His own decrees; He will be His own interpreter, and make plain to the heart things that are mysterious to the intellect. We are to remember that in holding these secrets we do not hold them originally, or as if by right: we hold them simply as stewards or trustees, and we are not to make them common property. The heart should always know something that the tongue has never told. Deep in our souls there should be a peace created by communion with God which no outward riches can disturb. “The secret of the Lord” may not mean any curious knowledge of mere details, or of future events, or the action and interaction of history; but it may mean, and does mean, a complete and immutable confidence that God reigns over His whole creation, and is doing everything upon a basis and under a principle which must eventuate in final and imperturbable peace. The universe is not governed in any haphazard way. This word “covenant” has been, no doubt, abused, perverted, or misapplied; but its use indicates that the Divine plan is sovereign, settled, unchangeable. The universe is the Word of God, and it cannot fail of its purpose. Revelation is the heart of the Most High, and every jot and tittle of it will be fulfilled. The truly religious life is not a matter of mere intellectual intelligence, or information, or power of argument; it is a profound persuasion clothe heart, a real, simple, solid trust in the righteousness and

goodness of God. How such a trust lifts us above the fret and the anxiety of ever-changing details! This passage is in perfect harmony with many assurances given by Jesus Christ Himself. He promised the Holy Spirit to abide with the Church, to show the Church things to come, and to take of the things of Christ and show them unto the Church. The secret of the Lord is thus an ever-enlarging mystery—an ever-enlarging benefaction. (Joseph Parker, D. D.)

Revelations to those who obey

There are commentators who refer this verse, not to the external orderings of God’s providence, but to the mental assurance which God gives those that fear Him, of the truth of His Word, and the adequacy of the religion it reveals, to satisfy the wants of the soul. This mental assurance, wrought into the soul by God Himself, is thought by some to be the secret of the Lord here intended. The Saviour is believed to refer to this secret assurance in the words, “If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God” (Joh_7:17). The Jews had denied the Divine reality of His miracles, and also that the Messianic prophecies had been verified in Him. “Very well,” answers our Lord, “I propose to you another means of testing My claim to be your Messiah and Saviour. Practise the precepts of the religion I teach you, and you shall soon have revealed to you the secret whether it be of God. Do His will, and you shall know of the doctrine. In obeying the precept, all else shall become plain.” I knew a man who acted upon this saying of the Saviour. He admired, as perfect, the preceptive portions of the Bible, but stumbled at some of its peculiar doctrines. He determined, therefore, to ascertain what effect obeying the precepts would have toward dissipating his difficulties in regard to the doctrines of our religion. He therefore at once endeavoured to live in every respect as he would have lived had he been a Christian: reading, praying, attending public worship, and making the moral code of the Bible his only rule of action. So obeying the precept, in less than a twelvemonth’s time the secret of the Lord was revealed to him, the truth of all the doctrines of God’s covenant of redeeming mercy in Christ was made plain to his understanding and grateful to his heart. Here is a cure for scepticism within the reach of every man. (David Caldwell, M. A.)

Knowledge the reward of obedience

1. There are some parts of the Bible which none but a learned man can understand or explain. There are seeming difficulties and discrepancies in the Bible which may escape the notice of the casual reader, but of which all well-instructed theologians are aware, since they are standing objections in the mouth of the sceptic or the scorner.

2. There are some parts of the Bible which all can understand. No one who reads the New Testament, or who hears it read, can doubt what be ought to do, and what he ought not to do. The Bible is clear about many of its doctrines.

3. There is a middle class of truths that are easy of comprehension to some, and hard to others,—truths which human learning cannot impart, nor the want of learning, as such, exclude from the mind. These are the most solemn and most important teachings of Scripture, which tell us of the intimate relations which exist between man and his God: such as, the doctrines of the corruption of our nature; of the degrading and shameful conduct of sin; of our need of salvation and purification; of our own inability to purify and save ourselves; of the priceless blessings involved in

the atonement of Jesus, and in the gift of the Holy Spirit. Of all these doctrines it may justly be said, they are easy or hard to be understood by different persons, and sometimes even by the same persons at different times. The practical knowledge of these great truths is an effort beyond the power of the intellect, apart from the convictions and aspirations of the soul. The natural man understandeth not the things of the Spirit of God. They are spiritually discerned, and mere learning cannot spiritually discern. “If any man will do God’s will he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God. An obedience springing from true faith is the key by which we are to unlock the hidden and more precious mysteries of the heavenly kingdom. (G. W. Brameld.)

The knowledge of covenant securities

The Rev. F.B. Meyer, when speaking of God’s faithfulness to His covenant promises, used the striking illustration of the deed to a house. The deed may be very old. It may be hard to decipher. The parchment may be stained and cracked. The inmates of the home in their busy life may forget all about it. But the very existence of the home depends upon it, and if it were lost and could not be replaced, sorrow and poverty and wretchedness would be the portion of that household. So our peace of soul, our very spiritual life, depends on the covenant which God the Father made long ago on our behalf with Christ the Son, that for His sake our sins should be forgiven and we should have a right to the many mansions.

GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE, “The Secret of the LordThe secret of the Lord is with them that fear him;

And he will shew them his covenant.—Psa_25:14.

When the Hebrew poet spoke of the secret of the Lord he meant the knowledge of the God of Israel, the unseen and eternal Jehovah. When he thought of them that fear Him, he remembered the stalwart saints who shall ever be the heroic leaders of the faith. He recalled Abraham coming out of Ur of the Chaldees with a wisdom and a knowledge that no Babylonian star-gazer ever divined. He thought of Jacob rising from his midnight dream at Bethel, saying in penitence and awe, “Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not.” He saw Moses at the burning bush, putting off the shoes from his feet, for the place whereon he stood was holy ground. He remembered Samuel coming out of the temple in the morning light, having heard the voice of God, with a message he dared not tell to Eli. Each of these had entered into a solemn experience. Each of them had come forth with a secret. A new and deeper understanding of God’s ways, and thoughts, and purposes had been given them. He marks the law of their experience. It was the law of fear. They had that fear of God which is an awe and a reverence, a passion of desire to know, and a willingness to submit and to obey. Therefore God made known the secret to them.

Thompson dwells on St. Paul’s unspoken message, which, designated by the name of wisdom, he withheld from many of the Corinthians because they were not fit to hear it. He communicated it to the spiritual not to the animal man. Origen says that that which St. Paul would have called wisdom is found in the “Canticle of Canticles.” Thompson dwells further on the hidden meanings of the Pentateuch, believing that there was “an inexhaustible treasure of divine wisdom concealed under the letter of Holy Writ.” Thompson saw wise men whispering, and guessed that there were secrets; their presence

discovered, they were open secrets for such as he. “You have but to direct my sight, and the intentness of my gaze will discover the rest.”1 [Note: E. Meynell, The Life of Francis Thompson (1913), 223.]

There were three courts in the Temple at Jerusalem. There was the outer court, where even the Gentiles who cared nothing for the God of Israel or the faith of the Hebrew people might freely come. There was the holy place with its sacred things, where only the Hebrew worshipper might walk. There was the most holy place, over which the veil of the Temple hung, and into whose unseen and unknown seclusion the high priest entered once every year, alone. There are these three courts in the life of a Christian man. There is the outer court, where a man who is living his life in the world must keep company with all who enter its circle. He must rub shoulders with the crowd, although he never forgets that they cannot enter into his secret. There is the holy place, where fellow-believers may pass, and speech and thought of the things of God have a gracious liberty. But there is the most holy place, and what passes there between God and the soul is to be kept with a guarded reticence until there is need for its being told.2 [Note: W. M. Clow, The Secret of the Lord, 247.]

When the ancient Jew approached his sanctuary, he found an outer court of the Temple full of activity with the coming and going of those who touched the whole natural life and the daily sacrifice on the altar. But behind lay the still silent room where the golden lamp burned and the bread of life was resting on the golden table. And behind again the silence of the Holy of Holies where man and God merge in union. Even so it is not the great activity, touching national issues—it is not even the sacrificial life of Dr. Paton that has most attracted me and, I believe, others. But here was a priest of the Most High God, in the sanctuary of whose heart the light burned and the bread of life was broken. And with reverent awe we knew that behind lay communion with the Inspirer and Hearer of Prayer. So that out of him from the Divine source flow “rivers of living water.” Thus heaven touched earth through our intercourse, and the passion for service of his soul entered ours.3 [Note: J. Marchant, J. B. Paton, 311.]

The secret of the Lord, as the Psalmist conceives it, may be held to include (1) Knowledge; (2) Character; (3) Happiness. Knowledge is the secret of the Teacher, Character is the secret of the Friend, Happiness is the secret of the Lover.

I

Knowledge

1. Every teacher has his secret. He scans his scholars, eager to find a receptive mind to whom he can reveal it. When the responsive glance, the significant word, or the searching question reveals the student’s promise, the teacher has an exquisite joy in revealing his secret.

The great painters of the Middle Ages took pupils into their studios. To every aspirant they gave honest attention. When one came who was swift to understand his master’s conceptions, eager to imitate his strength of line and purity of colour, humbly and patiently reverent in his zeal, the secret was disclosed. In our own day Edward Burne Jones became a disciple of Dante Gabriel Rossetti. He spent still and strenuous hours in copying his master’s works, studying their distinction, and aspiring after their spirit. With a trembling heart young Burne Jones took his drawings to Rossetti to receive his judgment upon them. The honest painter looked at them in silence, and with a word of emotion he said, “You have nothing more to learn from me.” He had entered into the master’s secret. But mark the law. It is not to the carping critic, the scorning and cynical scholar, the contemptuous idler, that the secret is revealed. The secret is “with them that fear.”1 [Note: W. M. Clow, The Secret of the Lord, 4.]

God keeps His holy mysteries

Just on the outside of man’s dream.…

Yet, touching so, they draw above

Our common thoughts to Heaven’s unknown;

Our daily joy and pain advance

To a divine significance.2 [Note: E. B. Browning.]

2. There is a mystery in every Christian life. When the words are said in our hearing, “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him,” they seem to give a momentary glimpse of the truth. There is a secret in such lives, and that secret is God’s. He has to do with them. There is a communication between their souls and Him. He has told them a secret, and they keep it. Others may see that they have a secret; but intermeddle with it they cannot. There is only one way to attain it—by going through the same process as these have gone through. We may not at present think it worth our while to do so, or we may have an undefined dread of the supposed difficulty and irksomeness of that process: but at least let us lay it up well in our hearts that there is such a process, and such an end; that the Christian’s life is a reality, whether we ever attain that life or not; a mystery, whether we be ever initiated into that mystery or not; let us accept and reverence the inspired declaration that “the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him.”

The more of a man a man is, the more secret is the secret of his life, and the more plain and frank are its external workings. A small and shallow man tries to throw a mystery about the mere methods of his life, he tries to make his ways of living seem obscure. Where he goes, how he makes his fortune, whom he talks with, what his words mean, who his friends are—he is very mysterious about all these, and all because the secret of his life is really weak, because he is conscious that there is no really strong purpose of living which he himself understands. It is a shallow pool which muddies its surface to make itself look deep. But a greater man will be perfectly frank and unmysterious about these little things. Anybody may know what he does and where he goes. His acts will be transparent, his words will be intelligible. Yet all the while every one who looks at him will see that there is something behind all, which escapes the closest observation. The very clearness of the surface will show how deep the water is, how far away the bottom lies. There is hardly a better way to tell a great man from a little one.1 [Note: Phillips Brooks, New Starts in Life, 272.]

He always lived with his blinds up, and you saw all the workings of his mind. Had he not been steeped in the spirit of love he could never have survived the self-exposure which was a habit with him. But his very caprices were always unselfish, and he could afford to let his friends look him through and through.2 [Note: Love and Life: The Story of J. Denholm Brash (1913), 163.]

As in some cavern dark and deep,

My soul within me here lies low,

Where, veiled, she dreams in wondrous sleep

Of things I may not know.

And if perchance she wake awhile,

I probe her radiant eyes in vain:

She turns from me with misty smile

And, sighing, sleeps again.1 [Note: Laurence Alma Tadema.]

3. God may be expected to keep some things hidden. In the most intimate and sacred of our friendships it is not for us to say what secrets shall be made known to us, and what secrets shall be guarded from our cognizance. A government reserves to itself the right of saying what information may be imparted to its friends, and what, for sufficient reasons, shall be kept back. A general on the battle-field, whilst putting safe and suitable selections of news at the service of authorized war correspondents, cannot allow them unlimited access to his plans. It is necessary to respect official reserve. And is not the temper which accepts such conditions binding on a true servant of God? Let God Himself choose the things He sees fit to make known to us. If we live in reverent and believing fellowship He will treat us as confidants, and our knowledge of His methods and purposes will surpass that of the world; but at the same time we need to be told once and again that He cannot admit us to equality with Himself by making known the veiled things we petulantly demand. It ought to satisfy us if His heart trusts us, and He comes to us in forms of revelation withheld from the world. He who is thus initiated into His deep counsels and led to know His will makes few mistakes in his prayers, and the faith he cherishes does not suffer the bitterness of disappointment or betrayal.

I have heard Sir Clifford Allbutt and Signor agree that the necessity or, perhaps better, the love of the mysterious, was an essential and valuable part of the human mind; far from being all disadvantageous or an impediment to progress, it had been in the main a stimulus towards something transcending man’s best efforts. Signor said: “It is in fact the poetic element; and what in the superstitious mind is mere dread, in Browning and Tennyson is aspiration. You cannot take away the mysterious from man, he cannot do without it.”2 [Note: M. S. Watts, George Frederic Watts, ii. 177.]

One of the most beautiful of the Bishop’s sonnets was composed at Trondhjem on August 12, 1888. It runs thus:—

And was it there—the splendour I behold?

This great fjord with its silver grace outspread

And thousand-creeked and thousand-islanded?

Those far-off hills, grape-purple, fold on fold?

For yesterday, when all day long there rolled

The blinding drift, methinks, had some one said

“The scene is fair,” I scarce had credited;

Yet fairer ‘tis than any tongue hath told.

And it was there! Ah, yes! And on my way

More bravely I will go, though storm-clouds lour

And all my sky be only cold and grey;

For I have learnt the teaching of this hour:

And when God’s breath blows all these mists afar,

I know that I shall see the things that are.1 [Note: F. D. How, Bishop Walsham How, 399.]

4. Knowledge comes by obedience. It would be hopeless to try to tell the secret, even for the sake of inducing others to treasure it for themselves. The fact is that the secret might be told, and told in the best of words, without its ceasing to be a secret to those who heard. Words are necessary in religious as in other matters; but there is no fear of their

telling anything which ought not to be told: first, because the secret is designed for all, and revealed to all who will listen to it; and next, because it lies deeper far than the understanding, and never becomes the possession of any man till he takes it into his heart. For the obedience by which comes knowledge is the obedience of the heart. Obedience to law, and acts of worship arising out of fear of penalty, are merely hiding from God among the trees of the garden. Even obedience from duty can never be a satisfactory or final state; it is merely educational, to make manifest defect of life. “I was alive without the law once; but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.” When the glory of the Lord has filled all the ‘courts of His temple, man’s outward nature becomes reconstituted, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless or indissoluble life. The tree of knowledge becomes one with the tree of life which is in the midst of the city, and on both sides of the river of life, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb.

I have known more than one Highland saint who never had any intellectual training. They had had little schooling, they never were at college, and their libraries were of the scantiest kind. Yet in every true sense of the word they were men of culture; their language was choice and their thoughts large and just; and they had singular power in complicated questions of seizing on the things that really mattered. What was the secret of that mental clarity?—“If any man willeth to do his will.” To God they had prayed—in Christ’s name they had wrestled—they had clung to the right and beaten down the wrong; until at last that life of deep obedience—that faithfulness to God in what was least—all unexpectedly had reached their intellect, and made it a sphere of mastery and joy.1 [Note: G. H. Morrison, The Wings of the Morning, 19.]

Just to ask Him what to do

All the day,

And to make you quick and true

To obey.

Just to know the needed grace

He bestoweth,

Every bar of time and place

Overfloweth.

Just to take thy orders straight

From the Master’s own command.

Blessed day! when thus we wait

Always at our Sovereign’s hand.2 [Note: F. R. Havergal.]

5. Obedience is rendered easy by sympathy and an open mind. The man who is full of himself, bent on his own will, seeking his own ends, is not in a frame of mind to have the secret of the Lord revealed to him: probably he does not want it, or wish to have it revealed to him. It is a check upon him. He does not want the key to the Kingdom of Heaven, because he has no wish whatever to enter into it. To enter into the Kingdom of God is to do the, will of God, and to try to love it, and the will of God is human duty—what is due from us to God as poor, weak, ignorant creatures at the best; coming we know not whence, going we know not whither; seeing but a little way into things; living by faith, by trust in the power over us, trust in the good about us, trust in the good in other people; and what is due from us to others, for we are related to each other as

brethren, because we are all related to God as the Father over all.

“See how that noble fellow Collingwood leads the fleet into action!” exclaimed Nelson at the battle of Trafalgar, as he looked on the ship of his second bearing down upon the French line under a press of sail. “Ah! what would Nelson give to be here!” exclaimed Admiral Collingwood at the same moment. It seemed as if the two heroic men were animated by one spirit; as if by completeness of sympathy they knew each other’s thoughts. And have we not all seen something like this in our own experience? Have we not known persons so congenial in thought and feeling that scenes in nature lighted up their faces with the same delight, or cast over them the shadows of thoughtfulness and awe; sights of distress and tales of sorrow drew forth from them kindred tears of compassion; a noble poem or an eloquent oration awakened in their bosoms the same pure and generous emotions? And such, too, is the power of sympathy between man and God. Just as a man tells his secret only to his friends, knowing that it would often be unsafe, and at other times impossible, to tell it to others; and just as they, knowing his great aim and motive, can make more of a nod or look or word than others can of a lengthened statement; so God reveals, as He did to Abraham His friend in the matter of Sodom’s destruction, the depth of His mind and will to them who fear Him, and who by fearing Him have been made like Him; and they, loving in general as God loves, and hating in general as God hates, enter as others cannot into the meaning and spirit of God’s declarations.1 [Note: J. B. Johnston, The Ministry of Reconciliation, 335.]

II

Character

1. God unveils His character by entering into friendly relations with man. It is always a sign of deepening friendship when people begin to open their inner rooms to us. To be made the depositary of a rare secret is to be sealed as a friend. When any one tells us a secret joy, it is a mark of intimacy; when any one unveils to us a secret grief, it is a proof of the closest fellowship. When we are taken from the suburbs of a man’s being to the centre, it is a proof of an enriching communion. “No longer do I call you servants; but I have called you friends; for all things that I heard from my Father I have made known unto you.” Is there not something tenderly suggestive in the word which tells us that “when they were alone, he expounded unto them”? When He had His familiar friends to Himself, He told them His secrets and showed them His covenant.

Are these the tracks of some unearthly Friend,

His foot-prints, and his vesture-skirts of light,

Who, as I talk with men, conforms aright

Their sympathetic words, or deeds that blend

With my hid thought;—or stoops him to attend

My doubtful-pleading grief;—or blunts the might

Of ill I see not;—or in dreams of night

Figures the scope, in which what is will end?

Were I Christ’s own, then fitly might I call

That vision real; for to the thoughtful mind

That walks with Him, He half unveils His face;

But when on earth-stain’d souls such tokens fall,

These dare not claim as theirs what there they find,

Yet, not all hopeless, eye His boundless grace.1 [Note: J. H. Newman.]

2. Fellowship with God is the secret of the highest character in man. If a man admires, reveres and attaches himself to any one, he is naturally led to imitate him; and the tendency of all worship is to make a man like his God. The deities of heathendom are the product of the vain imaginations, unholy passions and guilty fears of their votaries, and the contemplation of them continues to quicken the foul source whence they have issued. The sins as well as the sorrows of those who follow after other gods are multiplied. And the worshippers of the true God are, in accordance with this principle of our nature, brought to godliness, induced and taught to love and hate, to approve and condemn, according to the perfect model. In every one that fears God, there is a real and growing assimilation.

Some words of Kingsley’s written in 1872, in which he defines a “noble fear” as one of the elements of that lofty and spiritual love which ruled his own daily life, may explain why he speaks of entering the married state with “solemn awe and self-humiliation,” and why he looked upon such married Love as the noblest education a man’s character can have: “Can there be true love without wholesome fear? And does not the old Elizabethan ‘My dear dread’ express the noblest voluntary relation in which two human souls can stand to each other? Perfect love casteth out fear. Yes; but where is love perfect among imperfect beings, save a mother’s for her child? For all the rest, it is through fear that love is made perfect; fear which bridles and guides the lover with awe—even though misplaced—of the beloved one’s perfections; with dread—never misplaced—of the beloved one’s contempt. And therefore it is that souls who have the germ of nobleness within, are drawn to souls more noble than themselves, just because, needing guidance, they cling to one before whom they dare not say, or do, or even think an ignoble thing. And if these higher souls are—as they usually are—not merely formidable, but tender likewise, and true, then the influence which they may gain is unbounded—both to themselves, and to those that worship them.”1 [Note: Charles Kingsley, i. 154.]

3. To enjoy this fellowship we must “fear” the Lord. In order to read any one’s secret we must respect him. You cannot show the real secret of your life, the spring and power of your living, to any man who does not respect you. Not merely you will not, but you cannot. Is it not so? A man comes with impertinent curiosity and looks in at your door, and you shut it in his face indignantly. A friend comes strolling by and gazes in with easy carelessness, not making much of what you may be doing, not thinking it of much importance, and before him you cover up instinctively the work which was serious to you, and make believe that you were only playing games. So it is when men try to get hold of the secret of your life. No friendship, no kindliness, can make you show it to them unless they evidently really feel as you feel, that it is a serious and sacred thing. There must be something like reverence or awe about the way that they approach you. It is the way in which children shut themselves up before their elders because they know their elders have no such sense as they have of the importance of their childish thoughts and feelings.

You must believe that there is something deep in nature or you will find nothing there. You must have an awe of the mystery and sacredness in your fellow-man, or his mystery and sacredness will escape you. And this sense of mystery and sacredness is what we gather into that word “fear.” It is the feeling with which you step across the threshold of a great deserted temple or into some vast dark mysterious cavern. It is not terror. That would make one turn and run away. Terror is a blinding and deafening emotion. Terror shuts up the apprehension. You do not get at the secret of anything which frightens you,

but fear, as we use the word now, is quite a different emotion. It is a large, deep sense of the majesty and importance of anything, a reverence and respect for it. Without that no man can understand another. And so “the secret of a man is with them that fear him.”1 [Note: Phillips Brooks, New Starts in Life, 275.]

We have listened to some sweet melody, and we cannot escape from its gracious thraldom. It pervades the entire day. It interweaves itself with all our changing affairs. We hear it in our work and in our leisure; when we retire to rest and when we awake. It haunts us. The analogy may help us to some apprehension of what is meant by the fear of God. The man who fears God is haunted by God’s presence. God is an abiding consciousness. God is “continually before him.” Everything is seen in relationship to God. The Divine presence pervades the mind and shapes and colours the judgment. Here are two descriptions from the Word of God, in the contrast of which the meaning will be made quite clear. “God is not in all his thoughts.” The Eternal does not haunt his mind. Everything is secularized, and nothing is referred to the arbitrament of the Divine Will. He is not God-possessed. “Pray without ceasing.” Here is the contrasted mind, from which the sense of God is never absent. Like an air of penetrating music the Divine presence pervades the exercise of all his powers. He is God-haunted, and in the consciousness of that presence he lives and moves and has his being. He fears God.2 [Note: J. H. Jowett, Brooks by the Traveller’s Way, 173.]

III

Happiness

1. The secret of happiness is love. The people of God love Him, and He loves them; their habitual feeling is that their affection and gratitude bear no proportion to the greatness of His claims. Like the penitent disciple who had had much forgiven, they can solemnly appeal to His omniscience and say, “Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee.” And He loves them with a love which has a height and depth, and length and breadth passing knowledge—a love which has thrown open to them the book of Nature that their eyes might be filled with its beauty and their souls with its truth—a love which sings sweet songs in the carol of the bird, in the murmur of the brook, in the whispering of the breeze, and in the joyous music of the domestic hearth—a love which covers the earth with golden grain, and casts abundance into the lap of life—a love which has toiled, and bled, and died that the soul of man might be taken from the spoiler who has held it under his cruel and polluting sway, and be brought under the dominion of its rightful Lord and made fully happy, and that for ever, in His fellowship.

He looked out on the world through the eyes of Love, and that is why it was to him ever beautiful in its infinite variety, and in its amazing friendliness. He lived to be seventy-one as the world counts years, but even then he was Youth and Joy—in the best sense of the word he refused to grow up.1 [Note: Love and Life: The Story of J. Denholm Brash (1913), 8.]

Though Mr. Paynter was a deeply spiritual man, there was nothing in his life or speech to suggest gloom; certainly there was not in his looks. Many a laugh have we had together, over some amusing incident or story, in the lighter interludes of life; and though he himself rarely told a story, yet sometimes he would make a “dry” remark, which showed that the sense of humour was not absent. He was a happy man—happy in all the domesticities of his home and family life—happy among his flowers—happy in his work—happy always in doing good to others, and all because he was happy in God, and had learned what St. Paul meant when he said, “All things are yours.”2 [Note: S. M. Nugent, Life Radiant: Memorials of the Rev. F. Paynter, 228.]

Just to recollect His love,

Always true;

Always shining from above,

Always new.

Just to recognize its light

All-enfolding;

Just to claim its present might,

All-upholding.

Just to know it as thine own,

That no power can take away.

Is not this enough alone

For the gladness of the day?3 [Note: F. R. Havergal.]

2. We learn the secret of happiness as we try to express our love in noble character and unselfish conduct. Men are so constituted that obedience is its own reward. There is no delight so deep and true as the delight of doing the will of Him whom we love. There is no blessedness like that of the increasing communion with God and of the clearer perception of His will and mind which follow obedience as surely as the shadow follows the sunshine. There is no blessedness like the glow of approving conscience, the reflection of the smile on Christ’s face.

To have the heart in close communion with the very Fountain of all good, and the will in harmony with the will of the best Beloved; to hear the Voice that is dearest of all ever saying, “This is the way, walk ye in it”; to feel “a spirit in my feet” impelling me upon that road; to know that all my petty deeds are made great, and my stained offerings hallowed by the altar on which they are honoured to lie; and to be conscious of fellowship with the Friend of my soul increased by obedience—this is to taste the keenest joy and good of life, and he who is thus “blessed in his deed” need never fear that that blessedness will be taken away, or sorrow though other joys be few and griefs be many.

To Florence Nightingale, communion with the Unseen meant something deeper, richer, fuller, more positive than the fear of God. The fear of God is the beginning, but not the end, of wisdom, for perfect love casteth out fear. It was for the love of God as an active principle in her mind, constraining all her deeds, that she strove.1 [Note: Sir Edward Cook, The Life of Florence Nightingale, i. 50.]

The income from his books and other sources, which might have been spent in a life of luxury and selfishness, he distributed lavishly where he saw it was needed, and in order to do this he always lived in the most simple way. To make others happy was the Golden Rule of his life. On August 31 he wrote, in a letter to a friend, Miss Mary Brown: “And now what am I to tell you about myself? To say I am quite well ‘goes without saying’ with me. In fact, my life is so strangely free from all trial and trouble that I cannot doubt my own happiness is one of the talents entrusted to me to ‘occupy’ with, till the Master shall return, by doing something to make other lives happy.”2 [Note: S. D. Collingwood, The Life and Letters of Lewis Carroll, 325.]

3. And thus we are brought round again to knowledge. For the final verdict upon the realities of religion rests not with the highest intellect, but with the purest heart. Humboldt tells that the Arab guide employed in one of his desert journeys had such a keen and highly trained power of vision that he could see the moons of Jupiter without a

telescope, and that he gave the date when one of those moons was eclipsed, a date afterwards verified by the traveller on his return to Europe. The watchmaker, the line-engraver, the microscopist, who for years have been poring over minute objects a few inches from the face, could not emulate the feat of the Arab whose eye had been trained for a lifetime by use in the desert, and might possibly doubt the fact. In that respect the man of science himself, with his wide knowledge, exact observation, many accomplishments, was inferior to his unlettered guide. A devout soul seeks wistfully after God, accustoms its faculties to discern and interpret His signs, and acquires a vision penetrative beyond that of his neighbour.

In one of his saddest poems—in the series entitled “Men and Women”—Browning tells the story of Andrea del Sarto, who was called the faultless painter of Florence. In his youth he had loved and married a woman of rare and radiant beauty. He rendered to her an almost worshipping homage. He longed to lift her to the high plane of thought and desire and holy ambition on which he moved. But she was a shallow, thin-natured, mean-souled woman. She was the woman who smeared with a careless fling of her skirt the picture he had painted in hours of spiritual ecstasy. She was the woman who craved him for his hard-earned money that she might spend it at the gaming-table with her dissolute companions. Browning sets down the tragedy of their years with his usual unerring insight. It was not that she disappointed him, robbed his hand of its power, dulled his mind, shadowed his heart, and, as he foresaw, would sully his fame. It was this more piteous thing, that he could not disclose himself to her. She was not able to see and to understand him at his highest and noblest. She never discerned the moral majesty of his mind or the spiritual hunger of his heart. The poet sets the sorrow of it all in a sigh, which is the climax of his story.

But had you—oh, with the same perfect brow,

And perfect eyes, and more than perfect mouth,

And the low voice my soul hears, as a bird

The fowler’s pipe, and follows to the snare—

Had you, with these the same, but brought a mind!

Lover he was, with the lover’s secret, but she brought no mind, and the lover’s secret she never knew. For the lover’s secret is only with them that fear.1 [Note: W. M. Clow, The Secret of the Lord, 10.]

4. The nearer we live to Christ, the further shall we see into the Unseen and discern the secret of God. The vision of the godly man, like that of the prophet at Bethel, pierces into the unseen, and he is sensible of things to which others are blind. If he cannot envisage horses and chariots of fire, the vindicating ministries of the covenant, he can read the terms of the covenant in letters clear as the stars, and these revelations are enough, and assure as perfectly as glimpses of the hosts God leads. Doubts and misgivings are dispelled by spiritual insight. In the things which, to a worldly mind, suggest the anger of Heaven, he is made to see occasions which discipline the character into higher fitness for receiving the awaiting blessings of an immutable covenant.

For many years a lady made her livelihood by taking Greenwich time round to the jewellers’ shops in the small towns to the west of London. She was the daughter of a watchmaker, and possessed an excellent chronometer which had been bequeathed by her father. When necessary, the authorities of the Observatory kindly regulated it. Every Friday she went to Greenwich, got the standard time, and carried it to her clients, who paid a small fee for the service rendered. She belonged to the old dispensation, and may stand for one of its types. Many provincial towns, and even private firms of watchmakers,

are now in direct electric connexion with Greenwich, and get the standard time every day.… In the United States of America, every post office is linked with the Observatory at Washington. Under the earlier Covenant, men who wished to learn of the things of God had to avail themselves of the ministries of the prophets, or sit at the feet of scholars, whose office it was to interpret the books of the law. But under the New Covenant the regenerate soul is brought into direct contact with God, and acquires Divine wisdom, not by listening to a neighbour, but by heeding swift inward impressions wrought by the wonderful Spirit of God.2 [Note: T. G. Selby, The Divine Craftsman, 175.]

Love touch’d my eyes—these eyes which once were blind,

And, lo! a glorious world reveal’d to view,

A world I ne’er had dream’d so fair to find.

I sang for gladness—all things were made new.

’Twas Love unstopp’d my ears, and every sound

Borne through the silence seem’d a psalm of praise:

Bird-song, child-laughter—yet o’er all I found

Thy voice the music of my happy days.

Love chang’d life’s draught and made the water wine,

And through my languid senses seem’d to flow

Some pow’r enkindled by the fire divine,

Some inspiration I can ne’er forego.

Love rais’d the dead to life—and never more

Can many waters quench th’ eternal flame.

Love open’d wide the everlasting door,

And bade us enter, called by His name.1 [Note: Una, In Life’s Garden, 6.]

E-SWORD, ““The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him.” Some read it “the friendship:” it signifies familiar intercourse, confidential intimacy, and select fellowship. This is a great secret. Carnal minds cannot guess what is intended by it, and even believers cannot explain it in words, for it must be felt to be known. The higher spiritual life is necessarily a path which the eagle's eye hath not known, and which the lion's whelp has not travelled; neither natural wisdom nor strength can force a door into this inner chamber. Saints have the key of heaven's hieroglyphics; they can unriddle celestial enigmas. They are initiated into the fellowship of the skies; they have heard words which it is not possible for them to repeat to their fellows. “And he will shew them his covenant.” Its antiquity, security, righteousness, fulness, graciousness and excellence shall be revealed to their hearts and understandings, and above all, their own part in it shall be sealed to their souls by the witness of the Holy Spirit. The designs of love which the Lord has to his people in the covenant of grace, he has been pleased to show to believers in the Book of Inspiration, and by his Spirit he leads us into the mystery, even the hidden mystery of redemption. He who does not know the meaning of this verse, will

never learn it from a commentary; let him look to the cross for the secret lies there.

CHARLES SIMEON, “THE SECRETS OF THE LORD

Psa_25:14. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.

OF the condescension of God, mankind in general form very inadequate conceptions. His greatness

is supposed to be such as not to admit of an attention to the trifling concerns of men: and because

we stand at an infinite distance from him, the idea of familiar approximation to him is contemplated

only as a fanatical and wild conceit. But God represents himself to us as a Father: and our blessed

Lord says, “Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth: but I

have called you friends [Note: Joh_15:15.].” Now the Lord Jesus Christ was from eternity “in the

bosom of the Father [Note: Joh_1:18.],” and knoweth the Father as intimately and completely as the

Father knoweth him [Note: Joh_10:15. Mat_11:27.]: and all the Father’s secrets he has made

known to us [Note: Joh_15:15. before cited.]: so that we are treated by him, not with the reserve that

is shewn to strangers, but with the confidence that is due to persons who are bound to him in the

ties of the most endeared friendship. Under the Mosaic dispensation this holy familiarity INDEED

was but little known. The whole economy was of a servile nature; none except the high priest having

any immediate access to God; nor he, except on one day in the year; and then not without the blood

of sacrifices. Yet, even under that dispensation, some were more highly favoured with divine

communications; insomuch that Solomon could say, “The secret of the Lord is with the righteous

[Note: Pro_3:32.].” Under the government of the Lord Jesus Christ, the legal distinctions are

removed; and all true Christians possess the same privileges as the most favoured of God’s

servants: so that now it may be said, in reference to them all, without exception, “The secret of the

Lord is with them that fear him, and he will shew them his covenant.”

In confirmation of this truth, I will endeavour to point out,

I. Some of those secrets which God reveals to his faithful people—

The whole of the divine life is a secret, from the beginning to the end; and “the joys” arising from it

are such as “the stranger intermeddleth not with.” But, to descend to particulars,

1. God gives them an insight into the great mystery of redemption—

[This was “a mystery hid from ages and generations,” yea, “hid in God from the foundation of the

world [Note: Rom_16:25. Eph_3:5.]:” but at last it was made known to the Church by Christ and his

holy Apostles, that all God’s saints might become acquainted with it [Note: Eph_3:9. Col_1:26-27.].

St. Paul, speaking of the great truths of the Gospel, says, “It is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear

heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that

love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit [Note:1Co_2:9-10.].” We must not,

however, imagine, that because this mystery is revealed to the Church in the written word, we need

no further revelation of it to our souls: for “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of

God; for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually

discerned.” Notwithstanding, therefore, the Gospel revelation is so clear in itself, we still must

“receive, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we may know the things that

are freely given to us of God [Note: 1Co_2:12;1Co_2:14.].” A speculative knowledge of the Gospel

may, indeed, be acquired by human instruction: but a spiritual and experimental acquaintance with

it, as “the wisdom of God and the power of God,” can be attained only through the teaching of God’s

Spirit: “flesh and blood cannot reveal it unto us:” it can be made known only by inspiration from the

Father [Note:Mat_16:17.]. And that inspiration, blessed be his name! is given to many. Through his

tender mercy, it may be said of many, “Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all

things [Note: 1Jn_2:20; 1Jn_2:27.].” Whilst to some, who hear the Gospel, “it is spoken, as it were,

only in parables;” so that, in relation to the plainest truths of the Gospel, they are ready to exclaim,

as Ezekiel’s hearers did in reference to him, “Ah, Lord God! doth he not speak parables

[Note: Eze_20:49.]?” to others “it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven

[Note: Mar_4:11.];” and by the opening of their eyes “they are brought out of darkness into

marvellous light.”]

2. He makes them to know their own personal interest in it—

[We are struck with the confidence with which the inspired writers speak, in reference to their own

state and the state of their brethren in the faith: “Now are we the sons of God:” “we know that we

have passed from death unto life:” “we know that God abideth in us, by the Spirit which he has

given us:” “we know that we are of God; and the whole world lieth in wickedness

[Note:1Jn_3:2; 1Jn_3:14; 1Jn_3:24; 1Jn_5:19.].” Now this assurance is no other than what our

blessed Lord promised to his believing people: “In that day ye shall know that the Father is in me,

and I in you, and you in me [Note: Joh_14:20.].” That the believer may, by fair and rational

deduction, ascertain much of his state before God, there can be no doubt: but that

internal MANIFESTATIONS are, in many cases, vouchsafed to the soul, is also certain: for our

Lord has promised, that “he will manifest himself unto us, as he does not unto the world:” and this

promise he has explained, by saying, that “he and his Father will love us, and come unto us, and

make their abode with us [Note: Joh_14:21-23.].” Accordingly we find, that to many is given “the

Holy Spirit,” as a witness, to “bear witness with their spirit that they are the children of God,” and, as

“a Spirit of adoption, enabling them, with holy confidence, to cry, Abba, Father [Note:Rom_8:15-

16.].” They have prayed to him, like the Psalmist, “Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation

[Note: Psa_35:3.]:” and God has answered them in the desire of their hearts, and enabled them to

say, in reference to him, “O God, thou art my God [Note: Psa_63:1.];” and, in reference to the Lord

Jesus Christ, “My Beloved is mine, and I am his [Note: Son_2:16.].”]

3. He shews them that every occurrence, of whatever kind, is in some way or other working for

the ultimate salvation of their souls—

[They may not always see this at first: but, when more fully instructed, they learn to trust in God,

assured, that though “CLOUDS and darkness are round about him, righteousness and judgment

are the basis of his throne.” See a remarkable instance of this in the Apostle Paul. He was shut up

for two full years in prison, and was thus deprived of exercising his apostolic office in his

accustomed way. Such an event as this would be contemplated, by the Church at large, as a

subject of unmixed sorrow: but St. Paul himself had far different views of it: he said, “I know that this

shall turn to ray salvation:” nor was he less confident that good would accrue from it, also, to the

Church of God: yea, he saw, even whilst in bonds, the beneficial results of his imprisonment; and

declared, that, instead of obstructing the progress of the Gospel, it had “tended rather to the

furtherance of the Gospel,” since many had been emboldened by it to preach the word with greater

courage and fidelity [Note: Php_1:12-14; Php_1:19.]. Thus does God compose the minds of all his

faithful people. They may indeed, for a season, be ready to complain with Jacob, “All these things

are against me;” but he whispers in their ears, that “All things are working together for their good

[Note: Rom_8:28.];” and that, eventually, they shall have as much reason to bless him for the

darkest dispensations as for those which were more gratifying to flesh and blood.]

Passing by many other secrets, I will proceed to set before you,

II. That more particular view of his covenant which is the crown and summit of them all—

From all eternity did God enter into covenant with his Son; as it is said, “The counsel of peace was

between them both [Note: Zec_6:13.].” And to this covenant God leads the minds of his people,

1. As the source of all their blessings—

[Certain it is, that, whatever grace has been bestowed upon us, it has been conferred, “not on

account of any works of righteousness which we have done, but ACCORDING to God’s purpose

and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began [Note: 2Ti_1:9.].” But this is a

great secret; a secret utterly unknown to the world at large: and one which not all, even of righteous

persons, are able to receive. There is, in the minds of many, a prejudice against it, as though such

an idea would necessarily puff up the mind with pride and conceit: whereas, there is nothing in the

world that so much tends to humble and abase the soul as this: for it takes from man all ground of

self-preference, and leads him to give all the honour of his salvation to God alone. Believer, how

wonderful is the thought, that God, from all eternity, set his heart on thee; ordained thee to be born

in a country where the light of Revelation shone, and where the means and opportunities of

conversion should be afforded thee! How wonderful, too, that this grace, which so many receive in

vain, should be made effectual for thee; and that, by the operation of God’s mighty power on thy

soul, thou shouldst be “turned from darkness unto light, and from the power of Satan unto God!” Art

thou not amazed, that thou shouldst be “taken, when so many are left;” and that the Saviour, who to

so many millions is only “a stumbling-block and rock of offence, should be to thee a sanctuary,”

where thou hast found rest to thy soul? Truly, it is a great matter if God has taught thee, that “thou

hast not chosen him, but he thee [Note: Joh_15:16.];” that thou hast not loved him, or apprehended

him, but hast been loved and apprehended by him [Note: 1Jn_4:10. Gal_4:9. Php_3:12.]; that “He

hath loved thee with an everlasting love; and therefore with loving-kindness hath he drawn thee

[Note: Jer_31:3.]!” Does not the thought of this overwhelm thy soul with gratitude? and art thou not

altogether lost in wonder, love, and praise?]

2. As the security for the everlasting CONTINUANCE of them—

[This is another part of the same stupendous mystery: and blessed, indeed, are the ears that have

heard this secret from the Lord, and the eyes that can discern the truth of it! Believer, when God

entered into covenant with his Son, he left it not uncertain whether any benefit should accrue from

his mediation, but engaged, that “when he should make his soul an offering for sin, he should see a

seed who should prolong their days, and the pleasure of the Lord should prosper in his hand.” Then

he gave thee to his Son, that in thee “he might see of the travail of his soul, and be satisfied.” Thou

wast then ordained to be a jewel in his crown: and the Father engaged, when he put thee into the

hands of his Son, that “none should ever pluck thee from them [Note:Joh_10:28-29.].” Times without

number does the Lord Jesus speak of his people in this light, as “given him from eternity by the

Father [Note: Joh_17:2; Joh_17:6; Joh_17:9; Joh_17:11-12;Joh_17:24.]:” and “of those who were

so given him, he will lose none [Note: Joh_17:12.].” What a consolation is this to thee, under all thy

difficulties and all thy conflicts, to know that “God hath made with thee an everlasting covenant,

ordered in all things and sure [Note: 2Sa_23:5.]!” God himself tells us, that “he confirmed his

covenant with an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we

might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us

[Note: Heb_6:17-18.].” Rejoice, then, in this thought. Bless God for making it known to thee. See

how safe thou art in the hands of an unchanging God. See to what it is owing that thou hast not

been consumed already [Note: Mal_3:6.]; and what is thy security, against all the wiles of Satan,

and all the infirmities of flesh and blood. “Know, then, in whom thou hast believed; and that, as he is

able to keep that which thou hast committed to him [Note: 2Ti_1:12.],” so “he will preserve thee unto

his heavenly kingdom [Note: 2Ti_4:18.].”]

To improve this subject, I would further say,

1. Cultivate increasing friendship with God—

[It is not to all, but to his friends only, that God imparts these heart-reviving secrets, even to them

who truly “fear him.” Nor is it amidst the noise and bustle of the world that he will communicate

them, but in seasons of retirement, and in the stillness of the night. It is by a still small voice that he

imparts them to the sold. O let your fellowship with him be sweet and frequent! Go to him on all

occasions: consult him in every emergency: listen to his voice, whether he speak by the written

word, or by his Holy Spirit. Say to him at all times, “Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.” So “will he

draw nigh to you, when you draw nigh to him:” and when you spread before him your inmost wants,

“he will guide you by his counsel:” he will “lead you into all truth;” he will make known to you “the

deep things of God [Note: 1Co_2:10.];” and by communications of every kind will “perfect that which

concerneth you [Note: Psa_138:8.];” enabling you to “comprehend, in a measure, what none can

fully comprehend, the height and depth and length and breadth of the love of Christ, and thereby

filling you with all the fulness of God [Note:Eph_3:18-19.].”]

2. Make a due improvement of the secrets he has already imparted to you—

[Treasure them up in your minds, for your SUPPORT and comfort under all the trials of life. They

will prove a healing balm to every wound; and, like an anchor of the soul, they will keep you

steadfast amidst all the storms that you may encounter in this tempestuous world [Note: Heb_6:19.].

But, keep them not altogether in your own bosoms. God may make use of you for the imparting of

them to others, and for the sustaining and strengthening of your weaker brethren. Yet, care is

necessary, that you do not, by an indiscreet disclosure of them to those whose minds are not

prepared to receive them, lay a stumbling-block before the very persons whom you wish to edify.

Our Lord cautions us “not to cast our pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet,

and turn again and rend us [Note: Mat_7:6.].” We must administer “milk to babes, and strong meat

to those only who are able to digest it [Note: 1Co_3:1-2. Heb_5:12-14.].” But to those who have

ears to hear, it is well to speak of these things, as our Lord and his Apostles conversed of them in

the way to Emmaus. Then will your hearts often burn within you; and your own souls, as well as

those of your Brethren, be edified in faith and love.]

15 My eyes are ever on the Lord,

for only he will release my feet from the snare.

BAR�ES, "Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord - This is an indication of the habitual state of mind of the psalmist. He had said that God would lead and guide those who were meek, gentle, teachable, humble; and he now says that this was his habitual state of mind. He constantly looked to God. He sought His direction. In perplexity, in doubt, in difficulty, in danger, in view of death and the future world, he looked to God as his guide. In other words, in reference to himself, he carried out the principles which he had stated as constituting true religion. It was a religion of dependence on God, for man’s only hope is in him.For he shall pluck my feet out of the net - Margin, “bring forth.” Compare

Psa_9:15-16, note; Psa_10:9, note. The “net” here is that which had been laid for him by the wicked. He trusted in God alone to deliver him from it.

CLARKE, "Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord - All my expectation is from him alone. If I get at any time entangled, he will pluck my feet out of the net.

GILL, "Mine eyes are ever towards the Lord,.... Not only as the God of nature and providence, for his daily support and supply, in which sense the eyes of all creatures wait upon him; but as his covenant God and Father, having the eyes of his understanding opened to see and know him as such, and the eye of his faith directed to him, to believe in him, and make him his hope and trust; and his eye was single to him; it was to him, and him only, that he looked; and it was constant, it was ever to him, he set the Lord always before him; and such a look was well pleasing to God: it may also respect the lifting up of his eyes to God in prayer for all mercies temporal and spiritual, and his prayer was the prayer of faith; as follows:

for he shall pluck my feet out of the net; of the corruption of nature, and the lusts of it, as Aben Ezra interprets it; by which the saints are sometimes ensnared and taken captive, and out of which they cannot make their escape of themselves; but there is a deliverance from it by Jesus Christ their Lord: or out of the temptations of Satan, called his devices, and wiles, and the snares of the devil; and as the Lord knows how to deliver his out of temptations, he does deliver them in his own time; or rather out of the nets and snares laid for him by wicked men; as by his son Absalom, Ahithophel, and others, in which his feet were as a bird in the snare of the fowler; but he believed the net, or snare, would be broken, and he should escape, as he did.

HE�RY, "David, encouraged by the promises he had been meditating upon, here renews his addresses to God, and concludes the psalm, as he began, with professions of dependence upon God and desire towards him.

I. He lays open before God the calamitous condition he was in. His feet were in the net, held fast and entangled, so that he could not extricate himself out of his difficulties, Psa_25:15. He was desolate and afflicted, Psa_25:16. It is common for those that are afflicted to be desolate; their friends desert them then, and they are themselves disposed to sit alone and keep silence, Lam_3:28. David calls himself desolate and solitary because he depended not upon his servants and soldiers, but relied as entirely upon God

as if he had no prospect at all of help and succour from any creature. Being in distress, in many distresses, the troubles of his heart were enlarged (Psa_25:17), he grew more and more melancholy and troubled in mind. Sense of sin afflicted him more than any thing else: this it was that broke and wounded his spirit, and made his outward troubles lie heavily upon him. He was in affliction and pain, Psa_25:18. His enemies that persecuted him were many and malicious (they hated him), and very barbarous; it was with a cruel hatred that they hated him, Psa_25:19. Such were Christ's enemies and the persecutors of his church.

He expresses the dependence he had upon God in these distresses (Psa_25:15): My eyes are ever towards the Lord. Idolaters were for gods that they could see with their bodily eyes, and they had their eyes ever towards their idols, Isa_17:7, Isa_17:8. But it is an eye of faith that we must have towards God, who is a Spirit, Zec_9:1. Our meditation of him must be sweet, and we must always set him before us: in all our ways we must acknowledge him and do all to his glory. Thus we must live a life of communion with God, not only in ordinances, but in providences, not only in acts of devotion, but in the whole course of our conversation. David had the comfort of this in his affliction; for, because his eyes were ever towards the Lord, he doubted not but he would pluck his feet out of the net, that he would deliver him from the corruptions of his own heart (so some), from the designs of his enemies against him, so others. Those that have their eye ever towards God shall not have their feet long in the net. He repeats his profession of dependence upon God (Psa_25:20) - Let me not be ashamed, for I put my trust in thee; and of expectation from him - I wait on thee, Psa_25:21. It is good thus to hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.

JAMISO�, "His trust in God is fixed.net — is frequently used as a figure for dangers by enemies (Psa_9:15; Psa_10:9).

E-SWORD, ““Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord.” The writer claims to be fixed in his trust, and constant in his expectation; he looks in confidence and waits in hope. We may add to this look of faith and hope the obedient look of service, the humble look of reverence, the admiring look of wonder, the studious look of meditation and the tender look of affection. Happy are those whose eyes are never removed from their God. “The eye,” says Solomon, “is never satisfied with seeing,” but this sight is the most satisfying in the world. “For he shall pluck my feet out of the net.” Observe the conflicting condition in which a gracious soul may be placed, his eyes are in heaven and yet his feet are sometimes in a net; his nobler nature ceases not to behold the glories of God, while his baser parts are enduring the miseries of the world. A net is the common metaphor for temptation. The Lord often keeps his people from falling into it, and if they have fallen he rescues them. The word “pluck” is a rough word, and saints who have fallen into sin find that the means of their restoration are not always easy to the flesh; the Lord plucks at us sharply to let us feel that sin is an exceeding bitter thing. But what a mercy is here! Believer, be very grateful for it. The Lord will deliver us from the cunning devices of our cruel enemy, and even if through infirmity we have fallen into sin, he will not leave us to be utterly destroyed but will pluck us out of our dangerous state; though our feet are in the net, if our eyes are up unto God, mercy certainly will interpose.

CALVI�, "15.Mine eyes are CONTINUALLY towards Jehovah. David here speaks of his own

faith, and of its perseverance, not in the way of boasting, but to encourage himself in the hope of

obtaining his requests, so that he might give himself the more readily and cheerfully to prayer. As the promise is made to all who trust in God, that they shall not be disappointed of their hope, and that they shall never be put to shame, the saints often make this their shield of defense. Meanwhile, David shows to others, by his own example, the right manner of prayer, telling them that they should endeavor to keep their thoughts fixed upon God. As the sense of sight is very quick, and exercises an entire influence over the whole frame, it is no uncommon thing to find all the affections denoted by the term eyes. The reason which immediately follows shows still more plainly, that in the mind of David hope was associated with desire; as if he had said, That in resting his confidence in the help of God, he did so, not in doubt or uncertainty, but because he was persuaded that he would be his deliverer. The pronoun He, it ought to be observed, is also emphatic. It shows that David did not gaze around him in every direction, after the manner of those who, being in uncertainty, devise for themselves various methods of deliverance and salvation, but that he was contented with God alone.

SPURGEO�, "Verse 15. Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord. The writer claims to

be fixed in his trust, and constant in his expectation; he looks in confidence, and

waits in hope. We may add to this look of faith and hope the obedient look of

service, the humble look of reverence, the admiring look of wonder, the studious

look of meditation, and the tender look of affection. Happy are those whose eyes are

never removed from their God. "The eye, "says Solomon, "is never satisfied with

seeing, "but this sight is the most satisfying in the world. For he shall pluck my feet

out of the net. Observe the conflicting condition in which a gracious soul may be

placed, his eyes are in heaven and yet his feet are sometimes in a net; his nobler

nature ceases not to behold the glories of God, while his baser parts are enduring

the miseries of the world. A net is the common metaphor for temptation. The Lord

often keeps his people from falling into it, and if they have fallen he rescues them.

The word "pluck" is a rough word, and saints who have fallen into sin find that the

means of their restoration are not always easy to the flesh; the Lord plucks at us

sharply to let us feel that sin is an exceeding bitter thing. But what a mercy is here:

Believer, be very grateful for it. The Lord will deliver us from the cunning devices of

our cruel enemy, and even if through infirmity we have fallen into sin, he will not

leave us to be utterly destroyed but will pluck us out of our dangerous state; though

our feet are in the net, if our eyes are up unto God, mercy certainly will interpose.

Verse 15. Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord. Though we cannot see him by reason

of our present distance and darkness, yet we must look towards him, towards the

place where his honour dwells, as those that desire the knowledge of him and his

will, and direct all to his honour as the mark we aim at, labouring in this, that

"whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him." Matthew Henry.

Verse 15. Mine eyes. As the sense of sight is very quick, and exercises an entire

influence over the whole frame, it is no uncommon thing to find all the affections

denoted by the term "eyes." John Calvin.

Verse 15. He shall pluck my feet out of the net. An unfortunate dove, whose feet are

taken in the snare of the fowler, is a fine emblem of the soul, entangled in the cares

or pleasures of the world; from which she desires, through the power of grace, to fly

away, and to be at rest, with her glorified Redeemer. George Horne.

16 Turn to me and be gracious to me,

for I am lonely and afflicted.

BAR�ES, "Turn thee unto me - Rather, the Hebrew means: “look upon me.” The idea, however, is that the face of God was, as it were, turned in another direction, or that He was not attentive to him; and he prays that He would turn and behold him; that He would see him in his trouble.And have mercy upon me - The psalmist seems to have felt that if God would look

upon him he would pity him. He would see his case to be so sad that He would show him compassion - as, when we see an object of distress, “the eye affects the heart.”

For I am desolate - The word here rendered “desolate” - יחיד yâchı&yd - means properly “one alone, only;” and then, one who “is alone,” or who is solitary, forsaken, wretched. There is no deeper sadness that ever comes over the mind than the idea that we are alone in the world; that we do not have a friend; that no one cares for us; that no one is concerned about anything that might happen to us; that no one would care if we were to die; that no one would shed a tear over our grave.

And afflicted - In what way we do not know. David, however, was very often in circumstances when he could use this language. The other parts of the psalm show that the “affliction” to which he here refers was that which arose from the recollection of the sins of his early life, and from the designs and purposes of his enemies.

CLARKE, "Turn thee unto me - Probably the prayer of the poor captives in Bablyon, which is continued through this and the remaining verses.

GILL, "Turn thee unto me, and have mercy upon me,.... Or "look unto me", or "upon me" (f); which suggests that the Lord had turned himself, and hid his face from him; and expresses a desire that he would look upon him with a look of love and mercy, and arise to help and deliver him out of the hands of his enemies; he pleads no merits nor works of righteousness of his, but casts himself upon the mercy of God;

for I am desolate and afflicted; or "alone and poor" (g); not that he was quite alone, and had none with him; for though he was obliged to quit his palace, and the city of Jerusalem, yet he was accompanied by his servants, and a large number of his people; and could not be poor, in a literal sense, being king of Israel; yet he put no trust in men, nor in riches, but wholly depended on the Lord, as if he had none with him, nor anything to subsist with: and his case was indeed very deplorable, and called for pity and assistance; his own son was risen up against him, and the hearts of the men of Israel went after him; and he was obliged to flee from the city, and leave his house and family.

JAMISO�, "A series of earnest appeals for aid because God had seemed to desert him (compare Psa_13:1; Psa_17:13, etc.), his sins oppressed him, his enemies had enlarged his troubles and were multiplied, increasing in hate and violence (Psa_9:8; Psa_18:48).

BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR, “Turn Thee unto me, and have mercy upon me; for I am desolate and afflicted.A sufferer’s prayer

How tender is this language, and how instructive too. David was a sufferer as well as a king. But he is a petitioner also, He prays for—

I. Deliverance.

II. A kind look from God is desirable at any time, but in affliction and pain it is like life from the dead. Therefore he says, “Look upon mine affliction and pain.”

III. Pardon. “Forgive all my sins.” This was his meaning; let it be ours. (W. Jay.)

The cry of the afflicted

Look at Loch Lomond. A hundred feet of water, deep and dark and deadly; the waves that slumber yonder at the foot of the Ben will drown you. Yes, but when God sent out His frost, when from the caves of the north there crept the congealing influence, lo! the waves slumbered and slept, and you walked and skimmed on your ringing steels across the congealed billows. The same lake, but so transformed that you could skim across its surface. Some of you know what it is to be almost overwhelmed with the billows of trouble. They roll over you again and again, and recede but to Come on with redoubled power, until at last you cry out, “Lord, save me, or I perish.” Then there comes a great calm, and you just skim across the billows of your daily toil, because Christ your Saviour has told the troubles and difficulties and monotony to sleep. Oh, what a glorious thing the grace of Christ is! (John Robertson.)

David’s prayer

I wonder if they are able to say of us in the time of sorrow and bereavement and trouble, “Behold, he prayeth.” Those travellers, as they pass, are suddenly arrested by a sound that is strange to them, and they ask what it is. It is David at his prayers. Ah, he is all right! Pray on, David; do not be ashamed of your voice—let it sound out. It is nobler thus to pray, than with loud, uplifted voice to give the command to thine armies to fall in to the front: and David’s voice had done that for many a day. A ringing, clarion peal the warrior had given in his time: “Fall in to the front. They loved to ear it in Israel. When the king spake, it reminded them of the old days when the right arm of the young warrior did valiant things for Jehovah; and they liked to hear his voice rise above the din of battle: but it is nobler, kinglier, and far more grand to hear the old king with his quavering voice lifted up in prayer.

A godly man’s appeal

I. On behalf of self.

1. For deliverance from suffering (Psa_25:16). “The road to heaven,” says an old

writer, “is soaked with the tears and blood of the saints.”

2. For forgiveness (Psa_25:18). He traced his sufferings to his sins. Sin is the gall in the cup of life; the root of the pestiferous tree of all natural evil. From suffering we infer sin. He believed that his sins had to do with God. Wrong in any form or department of life is sin against Him. “Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned.” He knew that Gods forgiveness was necessary to his deliverance.

3. For preservation of life, of confidence, of character (Psa_25:21).

II. On behalf of society (Psa_25:22). There is nothing selfish in genuine piety. The man who prays and struggles only for his own salvation is utterly destitute of genuine religion. His creed may be correct, and all his religious observances, but he has not the root of the matter in him. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

E-SWORD, “His own eyes were fixed upon God, but he feared that the Lord had averted his face from him in anger. Oftentimes unbelief suggests that God has turned his back upon us. If we know that we turn to God we need not fear that he will turn from us, but may boldly cry, “Turn thee unto me.” The ground of quarrel is always in ourselves, and when that is removed there is nothing to prevent our full enjoyment of communion with God. “Have mercy upon me.” Saints still must stand upon the footing of mercy; notwithstanding all their experience they cannot get beyond the publican's prayer, “Have mercy upon me.” “For I am desolate and afflicted.” He was lonely and bowed down. Jesus was in the days of his flesh in just such a condition; none could enter into the secret depths of his sorrows, he trod the winepress alone, and hence he is able to succour in the fullest sense those who tread the solitary path.

“Christ leads me through no darker roomsThan he went through before;He that into God's kingdom comes,Must enter by this door.”

CALVI�, "16.Have respect unto me. As the flesh is ever ready to suggest to our minds that God

has forgotten us, when he ceases to manifest his power in aiding us, David here follows the order which nature dictates, in asking God to have respect unto him, as if he had altogether neglected him before. Now, it appears to me that the words might be explained thus: Have respect unto me, in order to pity me. He accounts it at once the cause and the source of his salvation to be regarded of God; and then he adds the effect of it: for as soon as God, of his own good pleasure, shall vouchsafe to regard us, his hand also will be ready to help us. Again, in order to excite the compassion of God, he sets forth his own misery, expressly stating that he is alone, that is to

say,solitary; (564) and then he describes himself as poor. There can be no doubt that, in speaking

thus, he alludes to the promises in which God declares that he will be always present with the afflicted and oppressed, to aid and help them.

(564) The Hebrew word here used is יחיד, yachid, unus, one, which is not infrequently put, as in this

place, for a solitary and desolate person. David was now deserted, desolate, and destitute of all help. The word is used in the same sense in Psa_22:20, and Psa_35:17

SPURGEO�, "Verse 16. His own eyes were fixed upon God, but he feared that the

Lord had averted his face from him in anger. Oftentimes unbelief suggests that God

has turned his back upon us. If we know that we turn to God we need not fear that

he will turn from us, but may boldly cry, Turn thee unto me. The ground of quarrel

is always in ourselves, and when that is removed there is nothing to prevent our full

enjoyment of communion with God. Have mercy upon me. Saints still must stand

upon the footing of mercy; notwithstanding all their experience they cannot get

beyond the publican's prayer, "Have mercy upon me." For I am desolate and

afflicted. He was lonely and bowed down. Jesus was in the days of his flesh in just

such a condition; none could enter into the secret depths of his sorrows, he trod the

winepress alone, and hence he is able to succour in the fullest sense those who tread

the solitary path.

"Christ leads me through no darker rooms

Than he went through before; He that into God's kingdom comes,

Must enter by this door."

17 Relieve the troubles of my heart

and FREE me from my anguish.

BAR�ES, "The troubles of my heart - The sorrows which spring upon the heart - particularly from the recollections of sin.Are enlarged - Have become great. They increased the more he reflected on the sins

of his life.

O bring thou me out of my distresses - Alike from my sins, and from the dangers which surround me. These two things, external trouble and the inward consciousness of guilt, are not infrequently combined. Outward trouble has a tendency to bring up the remembrance of past transgressions, and to suggest the inquiry whether the affliction is not a divine visitation for sin. Any one source of sorrow may draw along numerous others in its train. The laws of association are such that when the mind rests on one source of joy, and is made cheerful by that, numerous other blessings will be suggested to increase the joy; and when one great sorrow has taken possession of the soul, all the lesser sorrows of the past life cluster around it, so that we seem to ourselves to be wholly abandoned by God and by man.

CLARKE, "The troubles of may heart are enlarged - The evils of our captive state, instead of lessening, seem to multiply, and each to be extended.

GILL, "The troubles of my heart are enlarged,.... His enemies being increased, which troubled him; the floods of ungodly men made him afraid; the waters of affliction were come into his soul, and spread themselves, and threatened to overwhelm him: or it may be rendered, as by some, "troubles have enlarged my heart" (h); made him wiser,

increased his knowledge and experience; see Psa_119:67; but the former seems better to agree with what follows;

O bring thou me out of my distresses; or "straits" (i); for the enlargement of his troubles was the straitening of his heart; and therefore he applies to the Lord to bring him out of his afflicted circumstances, in which he was penned up, as in a strait place, on every side, and which were such that he could not free himself from; but he knew that God could deliver him.

E-SWORD, ““The troubles of my heart are enlarged.” When trouble penetrates the heart it is trouble indeed. In the case before us, the heart was swollen with grief like a lake surcharged with water by enormous floods; this is used as an argument for deliverance, and it is a potent one. When the darkest hour of the night arrives we may expect the dawn; when the sea is at its lowest ebb the tide must surely turn; and when our troubles are enlarged to the greatest degree, then may we hopefully pray, “O bring thou me out of my distresses.”

CALVI�, "17.The troubles of my heart are enlarged. In this verse he acknowledges not only that

he had to contend outwardly with his enemies and the troubles which they occasioned him, but that he was also afflicted inwardly with sorrow and anguish of heart. It is also necessary to observe the manner of expression which he here employs, and by which he intimates that the weight and number of his trials had accumulated to such an extent that they filled his whole heart, even as a flood of waters bursting every barrier, and extending far and wide, covers a whole country. Now, when we see that the heart of David had sometimes been wholly filled with anguish, we need no longer wonder if at times the violence of temptation overwhelm us; but let us ask with David, that even whilst we are as it were at the point of despair, God would succor us.

SPURGEO�, "Verse 17. The troubles of my heart are enlarged. When trouble

penetrates the heart it is trouble indeed. In the case before us, the heart was swollen

with grief like a lake surcharged with water by enormous floods; this is used as an

argument for deliverance, and it is a potent one. When the darkest hour of the night

arrives we may expect the dawn; when the sea is at its lowest ebb the tide must

surely turn; and when our troubles are enlarged to the greatest degree, then we may

hopefully pray, O bring thou me out of my distresses.

Verse 17. The troubles of my heart are enlarged. Let no good man be surprised that

his affliction is great, and to him of an unaccountable character. It has always been

so with God's people. The road to heaven is soaked with the tears and blood of the

saints. William S. Plumer.

Verse 17. O bring thou me out of my distresses. We may not complain of God, but

we may complain to God. With submission to his holy will we may earnestly cry for

help and deliverance. William S. Plumer.

Verse 17. Special seasons of trouble and special resort to prayer for special

deliverance.

18 Look on my affliction and my distress

and take away all my sins.

BAR�ES, "Look upon mine affliction and my pain - See Psa_25:16. This is a repetition of earnest pleading - as if God still turned away from him, and did not deign to regard him. In trouble and distress piety thus pleads with God, and repeats the earnest supplication for His help. Though God seems not to regard the prayer, faith does not fail, but renews the supplication, confident that He will still hear and save.And forgive all my sins - The mind, as above remarked, connects trouble and sin

together. When we are afflicted, we naturally inquire whether the affliction is not on account of some particular transgressions of which we have been guilty; and even when we cannot trace any direct connection with sin, affliction suggests the general fact that we are sinners, and that all our troubles are originated by that fact. One of the benefits of affliction, therefore, is to call to our remembrance our sins, and to keep before the mind the fact that we are violators of the law of God. This connection between suffering and sin, in the sense that the one naturally suggests the other, was more than once illustrated in the miracles performed by the Saviour. See Mat_9:2.

CLARKE, "Look upon mine affliction - See my distressed condition, and thy eye will affect thy heart.Forgive all my sins - My sins are the cause of all my sufferings; forgive these.

This is the verse which should begin with the letter �ק koph; but, instead of it, we have ר�

resh both here, where it should not be, and in the next verse where it should be. Dr.

Kennicott reads �קומה kumah, “arise,” and Houbigant, קצר ketsar, “cut short.” The word

which began with ק koph has been long lost out of the verse, as every version seems to have read that which now stands in the Hebrew text.

GILL, "Look upon mine affliction and my pain,.... The "affliction" was the rebellion of his subjects against him, at the head of which was his own son; and the "pain" was the uneasiness of mind it gave him; or the "labour" (k), as the word may be rendered; the toil and fatigue of body he was exercised with, he flying from place to place; and he desires that God would look upon all this with an eye of pity and compassion to him, and arise to his help and deliverance; as he looked upon the affliction of the children of Israel in Egypt, and delivered them, Exo_3:7;

and forgive all my sins; or "lift up", "bear", or "take away" (l), as the word signifies; sins are burdens, and they lay heavy at this time on David's conscience, being brought to mind by the affliction he laboured under, not only his sin with Bathsheba, but all others; and these were on him as a heavy burden, too heavy to bear; wherefore he entreats that the Lord would lift them off, and take them away from him, by the fresh discoveries of pardoning grace to him. The sins of God's people are removed from them to Christ, by

his Father, on whom they have been laid by his act of imputation; and he has bore them, and all the punishment due unto them, and, has taken them away, and made an end of them; and through the application of his blood, righteousness, and sacrifice, they are caused to pass from the consciences of the saints, and are removed as far from them as the east is from the west; and this is what the psalmist here desires, and this he requests with respect to all his sins, knowing well that, if one was left upon him, it would be an insupportable burden to him.

HE�RY, "(1.) See how he begs, [1.] For the remission of sin (Psa_25:18): Forgive all my sins. Those were his heaviest burdens, and which brought upon him all other burdens. He had begged (Psa_25:7) for the pardon of the sins of his youth, and (Psa_25:11) for the pardon of some one particular iniquity that was remarkably great, which some think, was his sin in the matter of Uriah. But her he prays, Lord, forgive all, take away all iniquity. It is observable that, as to his affliction, he asks for no more than God's regard to it: “Look upon my affliction and my pain, and do with it as thou pleasest.” But, as to his sin, he asks for no less than a full pardon: Forgive all my sins. When at any time we are in trouble we should be more concerned about our sins, to get them pardoned, than about our afflictions, to get them removed. Yet he prays, [2.] For the redress of his grievances. His mind was troubled for God's withdrawings from him and under the sense he had of his displeasure against him for his sins; and therefore he prays (Psa_25:16), Turn thou unto me. And, if God turn to us, no matter who turns from us. His condition was troubled, and, in reference to that, he prays, “O bring thou me out of my distresses. I see no way of deliverance open; but thou canst either find one or make one.” His enemies were spiteful; and in reference to that, he prays, “O keep my soul from falling into their hands, or else deliver me out of their hands.”(2.) Four things he mentions by way of plea to enforce these petitions, and refers

himself and them to God's consideration: - [1.] He pleads God's mercy: Have mercy upon me. Men of the greatest merits would be undone if they had not to do with a God of infinite mercies. [2.] He pleads his own misery, the distress he was in, his affliction and pain, especially the troubles of his heart, all which made him the proper object of divine mercy. [3.] He pleads the iniquity of his enemies: “Lord, consider them, how cruel they are, and deliver me out of their hands.” [4.] He pleads his own integrity, Psa_25:12. Though he had owned himself guilty before God, and had confessed his sins against him, yet, as to his enemies, he had the testimony of his conscience that he had done them no wrong, which was his comfort when they hated him with cruel hatred; and he prays that this might preserve him, This intimates that he did not expect to be safe any longer than he continued in his integrity and uprightness, and that, while he did continue in it, he did not doubt of being safe. Sincerity will be our best security in the worst of times. Integrity and uprightness will be a man's preservation more than the wealth and honour of the world can be. These will preserve us to the heavenly kingdom. We should therefore pray to God to preserve us in our integrity and then be assured that that will preserve us.

E-SWORD, "“Look upon mine affliction and my pain.” Note the many trials of the saints; here we have no less than six words all descriptive of woe. “Desolate, and afflicted, troubles enlarged, distresses, affliction, and pain.” But note yet more the submissive and believing spirit of a true saint; all he asks for is, “Lord, look upon my evil plight;” he does not dictate or even express a complaint; a look from God will content him, and that being granted he asks no more. Even more noteworthy is the way in which the believer under affliction discovers the true source of all the mischief, and lays the axe at the root of it. “Forgive all my sins,” is the cry of a soul that is more sick of sin than of pain, and would sooner be forgiven than healed. Blessed is the man to whom sin is more

unbearable than disease, he shall not be long before the Lord shall both forgive his iniquity and heal his diseases. Men are slow to see the intimate connection between sin and sorrow, a grace-taught heart alone feels it.

CALVI�, "18.Look upon mine affliction. By repeating these complaints so frequently, he plainly

shows that the calamities with which he was assailed were not some slight and trivial evils. And this ought to be carefully marked by us, so that when trials and afflictions shall have been measured out to us after the same manner, we may be enabled to lift up our souls to God in prayer; for the Holy Spirit has set before our view this representation, that our minds may not fail us under the multitude or weight of afflictions. But in order to obtain an alleviation of these miseries, David again prays that his sins may be pardoned, recalling to his recollection what he had already stated, that he could not expect to enjoy the divine favor, unless he were first reconciled to God by receiving a free pardon. And, indeed, they are very insensible who, contented with deliverance from bodily affliction, do not search out the evils of their own hearts, that is to say, their sins, but as much as in them lies rather desire to have them buried in oblivion. To find a remedy, therefore, to his cares and sorrows, David begins by imploring the remission of his sins, because, so long as God is angry with us, it must necessarily follow, that all our affairs shall come to an unhappy termination; and he has always just

ground of displeasure against us so long as our sins CONTINUE , that is to say, until he pardons

them. (565) And although the Lord has various ends in view in bringing his people under the cross,

yet we ought to hold fast the principle, that as often as God afflicts us, we are called to examine our own hearts, and humbly to seek reconciliation with him.

SPURGEO�, "Verse 18. Look upon mine affliction and my pain. �ote the many

trials of the saints; here we have no less than six words all descriptive of woe.

"Desolate, and afflicted, troubles enlarged, distresses, affliction, and pain." But note

yet more the submissive and believing spirit of a true saint; all he asks for is, "Lord,

look upon my evil plight; "he does not dictate, or even express a complaint; a look

from God will content him, and that being granted he asks no more. Even more

noteworthy is the way in which the believer under affliction discovers the true

source of all the mischief, and lays the axe at the root of it. Forgive all my sins, is the

cry of a soul that is more sick of sin than of pain, and would sooner be forgiven than

healed. Blessed is the man to whom sin is more unbearable than disease, he shall not

be long before the Lord shall both forgive his iniquity and heal his diseases. Men are

SLOW to see the intimate connection between sin and sorrow, a grace taught heart

alone feels it.

Verse 18. Look upon mine affliction and my pain; and forgive all my sins. We may

observe here, that sickness and weakness of the body come from sin, and is a fruit of

sin. Some are weak, and some are sick, "for this cause." I shall not need to be long

in the proof of that, which you have whole chapters for, as De 28:27, seq; and many

Psalms, 107, and others. It is for the sickness of the soul that God visits with the

sickness of the body. He aims at the cure of the soul in the touch of the body. And

therefore in this case, when God visits with sickness, we should think our work is

more in heaven with God than with men or physic. Begin first with the soul. So

David Ps 32:5, till he dealt roundly with God, without all kind of guile, and

confessed his sins, he roared; his moisture was turned into the drought of summer.

But when he dealt directly and plainly with God, and confessed his sins, then God

forgave him them, and healed his body too. And therefore the best method, when

God visits us in this kind, is to think that we are to deal with God. Begin the cure

there with the soul. When he visits the body, it is for the soul's sake: "Many are

weak and sickly among you." Richard Sibbes.

Verse 18. Look upon mine affliction and my pain. In sickness of body trust to Jesus,

he is as powerful and as willing to help us now as he was to help others in the days of

his flesh. All things are possible to us if we believe. It is but a word from him to

rebuke all storms and tempests whatsoever. Let us not do like Asa, trust only in the

physician, or in subordinate means, but know that all physic is but dead means

without him. 2Ch 16:12. Therefore, with the means, run to Christ, that he may work

with them, and know that virtue and strength comes form him to bless or curse all

sorts of means. Richard Sibbes.

EBC 18-22. “The third heptad of verses returns to simple petition, and that, with one exception (Psa_25:18 b), for deliverance from enemies. This recurrence, in increased intensity, of the consciousness of hostility is not usual, for the psalms which begin with it generally pray themselves out of it. "The peace which passeth understanding," which is the best answer to prayer, has not fully settled on the heaving sea. A heavy ground swell runs in these last short petitions, which all mean substantially the same thing. But there is a beginning of calm; and the renewed petitions are a pattern of that continual knocking of which such great things are said and recorded in Scripture. The section begins with a declaration of patient expectance: "Mine eyes are ever towards Jehovah," with wistful fixedness which does not doubt though it has long to look. Nets are wrapped round his feet, inextricably but for one hand. We can bear to feel our limbs entangled and fettered, if our eyes are free to gaze, and fixed in gazing, upwards. The desired deliverance is thrice presented (Psa_25:16, "turn unto"; Psa_25:18, "look upon"; Psa_25:19, "consider," lit. look upon) as the result of Jehovah’s face being directed towards the psalmist.When Jehovah turns to a man, the light streaming from His face makes darkness day. The pains on which He "looks" are soothed; the enemies whom He beholds shrivel beneath His eye. The psalmist believes that God’s presence, in the deeper sense of that phrase, as manifested partly through delivering acts and partly through inward consciousness, is his one need, in which all deliverances and gladnesses are enwrapped. He plaintively pleads, "For I am alone and afflicted." The soul that has awakened to the sense of the awful solitude of personal being, and stretched out yearning desires to the only God, and felt that with Him it would know no pain in loneliness, will not cry in vain. In Psa_25:17 a slight alteration in the text, the transference of the final Vav of one word to the beginning of the next, gets rid of the incongruous phrase "are enlarged" as applied to troubles (lit. straits), and gives a prayer which is in keeping with the familiar use of the verb in reference to afflictions: "The troubles of my heart do Thou enlarge, (cf. Psa_18:36) and from my distresses," etc. Psa_25:18 should begin with Qoph, but has Resh, which is repeated in the following verse, to which it rightly belongs. It is at least noteworthy that the anomaly makes the petition for Jehovah’s "look" more emphatic, and brings into prominence the twofold direction of it. The "look" on the psalmist’s affliction and pain will be tender and sympathetic, as a mother eagle’s on her sick eaglet; that on his foes will be stern and destructive, many though they be. In Psa_25:11 the prayer for pardon was sustained by the plea that the sin was "great"; in Psa_25:19 that for deliverance from foes rests on the fact that "they are many," for which the verb cognate with the adjective of Psa_25:11 is used. Thus both dangers without and evils within are regarded as crying out by their multitude, for God’s intervention. The wreath is twined so that its end is brought round to its beginning. "Let me not be ashamed, for I trust in Thee," is the second petition of the first part repeated; and "I wait on Thee,"

which is the last word of the psalm, omitting the superfluous verse, echoes the clause which it is proposed to transfer to Psa_25:1. Thus the two final verses correspond to the two initial, the last but one to the first but one, and the last to the first. The final prayer is that "integrity (probably complete devotion of heart to God) and uprightness" (in relation to men) may preserve him, as guardian angels; but this does not assert the possession of these, but is a petition for the gift of them quite as much as for their preserving action. The implication of that petition is that no harm can imperil or destroy him whom these characteristics guard. That is true in the whole sweep of human life, however often contradicted in the judgment of sense.

Like Psa_34:1-22, this concludes with a supplementary verse beginning with Pe, a letter already represented in the acrostic scheme. This may be a later addition for liturgical purposes.

19 See how numerous are my enemies

and how fiercely they hate me!

BAR�ES, "Consider mine enemies - See Psa_25:2. It is evident that one source of the trouble referred to in the psalm was the fact that he had cruel foes, and that he was apprehensive of their designs. The train of thought seems to be, in accordance with the remarks above, that enemies actually surrounded him, and threatened him, and that this fact suggested the inquiry whether this was not permitted on account of his sins. this had led him to think of the sins of his past life, going back as far as his youth Psa_25:7, as if these calamities, even in advanced life, were on account of those early offences.For they are many - Who and what they were, we have now no means of

ascertaining. See the notes at Psa_25:16.

And they hate me with cruel hatred - Margin, as in Hebrew: “hatred of violence.” It was such hatred as tended to violence; such that they could not restrain it. It sought his destruction, and was ready to break out at any moment.

CLARKE, "Consider mine enemies - Look upon them, and thou wilt see how impossible it is that I should be able to resist and overcome them. They are many, they hate me, and their hatred drives them to acts of cruelty against me.

GILL, "Consider mine enemies,.... Or "look" (m) upon them; but with another kind of look; so as he looked through the pillar of fire upon the Egyptians, and troubled them, Exo_14:24; with a look of wrath and vengeance. The arguments he uses are taken both from the quantity and quality of his enemies, their number and their nature;

for they are many; the hearts of the people of Israel, in general, being after Absalom, 2Sa_15:12; and so the spiritual enemies of the Lord's people are many; their sins and corruptions, Satan, and his principalities and powers, and the men of this world;

and they hate me with cruel hatred; like that of Simeon and Levi, Gen_49:7; their hatred broke out in a cruel manner, in acts of force and cruelty; and it was the more cruel, inasmuch as it was without cause: and such is the hatred of Satan and his emissaries against the faithful followers of Christ; who breathe out cruelty, thirst after their blood, and make themselves drunk with it; even their tender mercies are cruel, and much more their hatred.

E-SWORD, ““Consider mine enemies.” Watch them, weigh them, check them, defeat them. “For they are many.” They need the eyes of Argus to watch them, and the arms of Hercules to match them, but the Lord is more than sufficient to defeat them. The devils of hell and the evils of earth are all vanquished when the Lord makes bare his arm. “They hate me with cruel hatred.” It is the breath of the serpent's seed to hate; their progenitor was a hater, and they themselves must needs imitate him. No hate so cruel as that which is unreasonable and unjust. A man can forgive one who has injured him, but one whom he has injured he hates implacably. “Behold I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves,” is still our Master's word to us.

CALVI�, "19.Behold mine enemies. In this verse David complains of the number and cruelty of

his enemies, because the more the people of God are oppressed, the more is he inclined to aid them; and in proportion to the magnitude of the danger by which they are surrounded, he assists

them the more powerfully. The words, hatred of violence, (566) are here to be understood of a cruel

and sanguinary hatred. Now, as the rage of David’ enemies was so great, that nothing short of his death would satisfy them, he calls upon God to become the guardian and protector of his life; and from this it may be inferred, as I have already said, that he was now placed in extreme danger. The clause which immediately follows, That I may not be ashamed, may be understood in two ways. Some retain the future tense, I shall not be ashamed, as if David felt assured that he was already heard by God, and as the reward of his hope promised himself a gracious answer to his prayers. I am rather inclined to the opposite opinion — to consider these words as still forming a part of his prayer. The amount of what is stated therefore is, that as he trusts in God, he prays that the hope of salvation which he had formed might not be disappointed. There is nothing better fitted to impart a holy ardor to our prayers, than when we are able to testify with sincerity of heart that we confide in God. And, therefore, it behoves us to ask with so much the greater care, that he would increase our hope when it is small, awaken it when it is dormant, confirm it when it is wavering, strengthen it when it is weak, and that he would even raise it up when it is overthrown.

(566) The Hebrew words literally rendered are, “ hatred of violence.”

SPURGEO�, "Verse 19. Consider mine enemies. Watch them, weigh them,

CHECK them, defeat them. For they are many. They need the eyes of Argus to

watch them, and the arms of Hercules to match them, but the Lord is more than

sufficient to defeat them. The devils of hell and the evils of earth are all vanquished

when the Lord makes bare his arm. They hate me with cruel hatred. It is the breath

of the serpent's seed to hate; their progenitor was a hater, and they themselves must

needs imitate him. �o hate so cruel as that which is unreasonable and unjust. A man

can forgive one who had injured him, but one whom he has injured he hates

implacably. "Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves, "is still our

Master's word to us.

Verse 19. Consider mine enemies, etc. Or look upon them; but with another kind of

look; so as he looked through the pillar of fire upon the Egyptians, and troubled

them Ex 14:24, with a look of wrath and vengeance. The arguments he uses are

taken both from the quantity and quality of his enemies, their number and their

nature, For they are many; the hearts of the people of Israel, in general, being after

Absalom 2Sa 15:12-13; and so the spiritual enemies of the Lord's people are many;

their sins and CORRUPTIO�S, Satan, and his principalities and powers, and the

men of this world. And they hate me with cruel hatred; like that of Simeon and Levi

Ge 44:7; their hatred broke out in a cruel manner, in acts of force and cruelty; and

it was the more cruel, inasmuch as it was without cause; and such is the hatred of

Satan and his emissaries against the followers of Christ; who breathe out cruelty,

thirst after their blood, and make themselves drunk with it; even their tender

mercies are cruel, and much more their hatred. John Gill.

Verse 19. Consider mine enemies. God needeth not hound out many creatures to

punish man, he doeth that on himself. There is no kind of creature so hurtful to

itself as he. Some hurt other kinds and spare their own, but mankind in all sorts of

injuries destroyeth itself. Man to man is more crafty than a fox, more cruel than the

tiger, and more fierce than a lion, and in a word, if he be left to himself man unto

man is a devil. William Struther's "Christian Observations, "1629.

Verses 19-20.—Consider mine enemies...O keep my soul and deliver me. We may

say of original concupiscence, strengthened and heightened by customary

transgressions, its name is legion, for it is many. Hydra like, it is a body with many

heads; and when we cut off one head, one enormous impiety, there presently sprouts

up another of like monstrous nature, like venomous guilt. From the womb then it is

of original sin and sinful custom, as from the belly of the Trojan horse, there does

issue forth a whole army of unclean lusts, to surround the soul in all its faculties,

and the body too in all its members. Robert Mossom.

Verses 19-20.—Consider mine enemies...O keep my soul and deliver me. See Psalms

on "Ps 25:19" for further information.

20 Guard my life and rescue me;

do not let me be put to shame,

for I take refuge in you.

BAR�ES, "O keep my soul - “My life;” or, keep “me.” The allusion is to all the perils which encompassed him, whether arising from his foes or his sins; and the prayer is, that the divine protection might be commensurate with the danger; that is, that he might not

be destroyed, either by his enemies or by the sins which he had committed.And deliver me - Save me; rescue me.

Let me not be ashamed - See Psa_25:2.

For I put my trust in thee - This is urged as a reason why he should be delivered and saved. The idea seems to be, that the honor of God would be concerned in protecting one who fled to Him; who confided in Him; who relied on Him. Thus, when the helpless and the oppressed have so much confidence in our character and our ability as to fly to us in the time of trouble, it is a proper reason for them to ask our protection that they do confide in us. Our character becomes involved in the matter, and they may safely trust that we shall feel ourselves under obligations to act in conformity with the confidence reposed in us. It is thus that the poor and the oppressed confide in the good; thus that a sinner confides in God.

CLARKE, "O keep my soul - Save me from sin, and keep me alive.Let me not be ashamed - He ends as he began; see Psa_25:2 : “Let me not be

confounded, for I put my trust in thee.”

GILL, "O keep my soul,.... Or "life" (n), which was in danger, his enemies seeking for it; wherefore he applies to God that gave it, and who had hitherto held him in it, to preserve it. God is the keeper of has people in a spiritual sense; they cannot keep themselves from sin, Satan, and the world; but he is able to keep them from falling, and therefore they pray to him that he would keep them; and they have reason to believe they shall be kept by his power, through faith, unto salvation;

and deliver me; as out of the hands of his present enemies, so from all evil, from the evils of the world, from the evil one, Satan, from the evil of sin, and out of all affliction and troubles;

let me not be ashamed; for I put my trust in thee; See Gill on Psa_25:2.

JAMISO�, "keep my soul — (Psa_16:1).put my trust — flee for refuge (Psa_2:12).

E-SWORD, ““O keep my soul” out of evil, “and deliver me” when I fall into it. This is another version of the prayer, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

“Let me not be ashamed.” This is the one fear which like a ghost haunted the Psalmist's mind. He trembled lest his faith should become the subject of ridicule through the extremity of his affliction. Noble hearts can brook anything but shame. David was of such a chivalrous spirit, that he could endure any torment rather than to be put to dishonour. “For I put my trust in thee.” And therefore the name of God would be compromised if his servants were deserted; this the believing heart can by no means endure.

SPURGEO�, "Verse 20. O keep my soul out of evil, and deliver me when I fall into

it. This is another version of the prayer, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us

from evil." Let me not be ashamed. This is the one fear which like a ghost haunted

the psalmist's mind. He trembled lest his faith should become the subject of ridicule

through the extremity of his affliction. �oble hearts can brook anything but shame.

David was of such a chivalrous spirit, that he could endure any torment rather than

be put to dishonour. For I put my trust in thee. And therefore the name of God

would be compromised if his servants were deserted; this the believing heart can by

no means endure.

Verse 20. Let me not be ashamed; for I put my trust in thee. When David reaches

verse 20, we are reminded of Coriolanus betaking himself to the hall of Attius

Tullus, and sitting as a helpless stranger there, claiming the king's hospitality,

though aware of his having deserved to die at his hands. The psalmist throws

himself on the compassion of an injured God with similar feelings; "I trust in thee!"

Andrew A. Bonar.

21 May integrity and uprightness protect me,

because my hope, Lord,[c] is in you.

BAR�ES, "Let integrity and uprightness preserve me - The word here rendered “integrity” means properly “perfection.” See it explained in the notes at Job_1:1. The language here may refer either:(a) to God - as denoting His perfection and uprightness, and then the psalmist’s prayer

would be that He, a righteous God, would keep him; or

(b) to his own integrity and uprightness of character, and then the prayer would be that that might be the means of keeping him, as the ground of his safety, under the government of a righteous God; or,

(c) which I think the more probable meaning, it may be the utterance of a prayer that God would show Himself upright and perfect in protecting one who put his trust in Him; one who was wronged and injured by his fellow-men; one who fled to God for refuge in time of persecution and trouble.

It was not exactly the divine perfections, as such, on which he relied; nor was it the integrity and purity of his own life; but it was the government of God, considered as just and equal, as bearing on himself and those who had wronged him.

For I wait on thee - That is, I depend on thee, or I rely on thee. This is a reason why he pleaded that God would preserve him. See the notes at Psa_25:20.

CLARKE, "Let integrity and uprightness - I wish to have a perfect heart, and an upright life. This seems to be the meaning of these two words.

GILL, "Let integrity and uprightness preserve me,.... Meaning either his own, as in Psa_7:8; and then the sense is, either that God would preserve him, seeing he had acted the faithful and upright part in the government of the people of Israel, and they had rebelled against him without a cause; see Psa_78:72; or that those might be continued with him, that he might not be led aside by the corruptions of his heart, and the temptations of Satan, and by the provocations of his rebellious subjects, to act a part disagreeable to his character, as a man of integrity and uprightness; but that these remaining with him, might be a means of keeping him in the ways of God, Pro_13:6; or else the integrity and uprightness of God are designed, which are no other than his goodness and grace to his people, and his faithfulness in his covenant and promises, or his lovingkindness and his truth; see Psa_40:11;

for I wait on thee: in the use of means for deliverance and safety; the Targum is, "for I trust in thy word".

JAMISO�, "In conscious innocence of the faults charged by his enemies, he confidently commits his cause to God. Some refer - integrity, etc. — to God, meaning His covenant faithfulness. This sense, though

good, is an unusual application of the terms.

BIBLICAL ILLUSTRASTOR, “Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait on Thee.Resolutions made and strength invoked for a year of duty

What should our memories do for us? If we are really humbled and grateful for the past, what should we resolve on now? We should strive to “grow in grace,” that “love may abound more and more.” How may we realise this desire, for we have many enemies?

1. The first disposition essentially requisite to our success is said to be “integrity and uprightness.” The petition implies that he would be sincere and upright towards God. If we are to be sincere we must correct our own faults. We must cherish those dispositions which God approves. We must try to fulfil our duty better. And we must do all the good we can. We have instances in Scripture of resolutions that were very fruitless. Israel said at Sinai, “All that the Lord hath spoken we will do.” And yet in less than six weeks they were dancing before the Golden Calf. Surely the wreck of many a fair hope in past years may tell us it is not wise to depend on ourselves. The Psalmist says, “For I wait on Thee”—“I look to Thee to sustain that integrity, I look to Thee to bless it, without Thee I can neither continue upright nor secure a blessing from uprightness.” The grace of God alone can enable us to profit by any external advantages. It is God who must help us to conquer even the least fault. It is God alone can help us to walk with any measure of steadfastness in the path of obedience. (Baptist W. Noel, M. A.)

Justice, honesty, truth, and sincerity

Integrity and uprightness are terms of like import, and signify a virtue that is essential to all true religion and morality.

I. The nature of integrity or uprightness in our dealings with men.

1. With respect to our actions; and so it may be taken for justice and honesty, in opposition to injuring and cheating. It is very dishonest to borrow money or goods, or to trade upon credit, without upright designs and fair prospects of paying everyone his own.

2. With respect to our words. This may be taken as truth, in opposition to lying. But to understand a lie there are moral distinctions that must be attended to. The wrong of falsehood consists in knowing or thinking one thing and saying another with an intent to deceive. There are lies which men call ludicrous, but they had better be avoided. Others, called, officious, which are told to hide a fault, or to prevent some mischief. The worst of all is the injurious lie.

II. Recommend this integrity.

1. In its native beauty.

2. For the reality and honour of religion. All religion is mockery, and vain pretence without it.

3. The safety and happiness of all society depend upon it. There is no living with a man of a false heart and tongue.

4. Integrity is of high advantage to ourselves. It prevents abundance of guilt, and many a throbbing wound in the conscience which a contrary temper and behaviour would subject us to. It screens us from the reproach and vengeance of wicked men. This should excite a religious care, upon Christian principles, to exceed the brightest of the heathen in our moral conduct. Let us see that our hearts be made upright by the renewing of our minds. (J. Guise, D. D.)

Integrity

Truthfulness, integrity, and goodness—qualities that hang not on any man’s breath—form the essence of manly character, or, as one of our old writers has it, “that inbred loyalty unto virtue which can serve her without a livery.” He who possesses these qualities, united with strength of purpose, carries with him a power which is irresistible. He is strong to do good, strong to resist evil, and strong to bear up under difficulty and misfortune. When Stephen of Colonna fell into the hands of his base assailants, and they asked him in derision, “Where is now your fortress?” “Here,” was his bold reply, placing his hand upon his heart. It is in misfortune that the character of the upright man shines forth with the greatest lustre; and when all else fails, he takes his stand upon his integrity and his courage. (Christian Weekly.)

E-SWORD, ““Let integrity and uprightness preserve me.” What better practical safeguards can a man require? If we do not prosper with these as our guides, it is better for us to suffer adversity. Even the ungodly world admits that “honesty is the best policy.” The heir of heaven makes assurance doubly sure, for apart from the rectitude of his public life, he enlists the guardian care of heaven in secret prayer: “for I wait on thee.” To pretend to wait on God without holiness of life is religious hypocrisy, and to trust to our own integrity without calling upon God is presumptuous atheism. Perhaps the integrity and uprightness referred to are those righteous attributes of God, which faith rests upon as a guarantee that the Lord will not forfeit his word.

CALVI�, "21.Let integrity and uprightness preserve me. Some are of opinion, that in these

words David simply prays that he may be preserved from all mischief, on the ground that he had conducted himself inoffensively towards others, and had abstained from all deceit and violence. Others make the words to contain a twofold subject of prayer, and understand them as including at the same time a desire that God would bestow upon him a sincere and upright purpose of heart; and all this lest he should break forth into revenge, and other unlawful means of preserving his life. Thus the meaning would be: Lord, although my flesh may urge me to seek relief from whatever quarter it may appear, and mine enemies also may constrain me to it by their importunity, yet do thou subdue within me every sinful passion, and every perverse desire, so that I may always exercise over my mind a pure and entire control; and let integrity and uprightness suffice as two powerful means of preserving me. We prefer the first interpretation, because he immediately subjoins a proof of his integrity. Whosoever waits upon God with a meek and quiet spirit, will rather suffer any thing which men can inflict, than allow himself to contend unrighteously with his enemies. In my opinion, therefore, David protests that such was the rectitude of his behavior amongst men, that the persecution of his enemies was wholly unmerited and unjust; and being conscious of having given no offense to any, he calls upon God as the protector of his innocence. But as he has already, in three different places, acknowledged that he was justly visited with affliction, it may seem strange that he should now glory in his integrity. This apparent inconsistency has already been explained in another place, where we have shown that the saints, in respect of themselves, always come into the presence of God with humility, imploring his forgiveness: and yet this does not prevent them from setting forth before him the goodness of their cause, and the justice of their claims. At the same time, in saying that he trusted in God, he only states what indeed is essentially necessary; for, in undertaking our defense, it is not enough that we have justice on our side, unless depending upon his promises, we rely with confidence upon his protection. It often happens, that men of firmness and prudence, even when their cause is good, do not always succeed in its defense, because they confide in their own understanding, or rely upon fortune. In order, therefore, that God may become the protector and defender of our innocence, let us first conduct ourselves uprightly and innocently towards our enemies, and then commit ourselves entirely to his protection.

SPURGEO�, "Verse 21. Let integrity and uprightness preserve me. What better

practical safeguards can a man require? If we do not prosper with these as our

guides, it is better for us to suffer adversity. Even the ungodly world admits that

"honesty is the best policy." The heir of heaven makes assurance doubly sure, for

apart from the rectitude of his public life, he enlists the guardian care of heaven in

secret prayer: for I wait on thee. To pretend to wait on God without holiness of life

is religious hypocrisy, and to trust to out own integrity without calling upon God is

presumptuous atheism. Perhaps the integrity and uprightness referred to are those

righteous attributes of God, which faith rests upon as a guarantee that the Lord will

not forfeit his word.

Verse 21. "For I trust in, or wait on thee." As preservation is a

CO�TI�UEDcreation, so is waiting a CO�TI�UED trusting; for, what trust

believes by faith, it waits for by hope; and thus is trust a compound of both. Robert

Mossom.

22 Deliver Israel, O God,

from all their troubles!

BAR�ES, "Redeem Israel - Redeem or save thy people - the word “Israel” here being used, as elsewhere, to denote the people of God.Out of all his troubles - Save thy people from persecution, and from trial of all

kinds. The prayer of the psalmist had, before this, related mainly to himself. He had made mention of his own troubles and sorrows, and had earnestly sought relief. The psalm, however, closes appropriately with a reference to others; to all the people of God who might be in similar circumstances. Religion is not selfish. The mind under the influence of true piety, however intensely it may feel its own trouble, and however earnestly it may pray for deliverance, is not forgetful of the troubles of others; and prayers for their comfort and deliverance are freely mingled with those which the afflicted children of God offer for themselves. This verse may be, therefore, taken as an illustration of the nature of true piety: piety that seeks the welfare of all; piety that does not terminate in itself alone; piety that desires the happiness of all people, especially the deliverance of the suffering and the sad. It should, however, be added that this verse is no part of the alphabetical series in the psalm - that having been ended, in Psa_25:21, with the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet. This verse commences with the Hebrew letter pe (p). Some have supposed that it was added to the psalm when it was prepared for public use, in order to make what was at first applicable to an individual appropriate as a part of public worship - or because the sentiments in the psalm, originally having reference to one individual, were as applicable to the people of God generally as to the author of the psalm. There is some plausibility in this conjecture.

CLARKE, "Redeems Israel, O God - The people are prayed for in the preceding verses as if one person; now he includes the whole, lest his own personal necessities should narrow his heart. and cause him to forget his fellow sufferers.This verse stands out of the order of the Psalm; and does not appear to have formed a

part of the alphabetical arrangement. It is a general prayer for the redemption of Israel from captivity; and may well be applied to those of the true Israel who are seeking for complete redemption from the power, the guilt, and the pollution of sin; and from all the troubles that spring from it. And let it be ever known, that God alone can redeem Israel.

GILL, "Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles. David was not only concerned for himself, but for the whole nation of Israel, which was involved in trouble through this unnatural rebellion of his son, and many of his subjects; and no doubt he may have a further view to the redemption of the church of God, the spiritual Israel, by the Messiah; and his sense may be, that God would send the promised Redeemer and Saviour, to redeem his people from all their iniquities; from the law, its curses and condemnation; to ransom them out of the hands of Satan, that is stronger than they; and to deliver them from all their enemies, and from death itself, the last enemy, which will put an end to all their troubles, Isa_35:10.

HE�RY, " For the church of God (Psa_25:22): Redeem Israel, O God! out of all his troubles. David was now in trouble himself, but he thinks it not strange, since trouble is

the lot of all God's Israel. Why should any one member fare better than the whole body? David's troubles were enlarged, and very earnest he was with God to deliver him, yet he forgets not the distresses of God's church; for, when we have ever so much business of our own at the throne of grace, we must still remember to pray for the public. Good men have little comfort in their own safety while the church is in distress and danger. This prayer is a prophecy that God would, at length, give David rest, and therewith give Israel rest from all their enemies round about. It is a prophecy of the sending of the Messiah in due time to redeem Israel from his iniquities (Psa_130:8) and so to redeem them from their troubles. It refers also to the happiness of the future state. In heaven, and in heaven only, will God's Israel be perfectly redeemed from all troubles.

JAMISO�, "Extend these blessings to all Thy people in all their distresses.

HAWKER, “READER, let us never lose sight of Christ, as Jesus, the Christ of God and our appointed High Priest; in all the fervent prayers we meet with in the written word: for as we cannot pray profitably without his Spirit helping us, so neither can our prayers ever come up before God and our Father unless presented with an eye to Jesus, and his finished salvation, and by him as our great Intercessor.But, blessed Jesus! who is it that thus addresses the Father but thee? Who is enabled to lift his heart to God but thee? Thou thyself hast graciously taught us, that without thee we can do nothing. Do thou, therefore, gracious Lord, both teach us how to pray, how to appear before thee in the way that thou shalt choose, and how to lift up our whole heart’s affections and desires after thee; for thou art the Lord our righteousness. And as God our Father pardoned all the sins of thy redeemed, though they were heavy, great, and grievous, because thou didst bear them all, and take them as thine own; so, Lord, for thy great name’s sake, pardon ours, notwithstanding their heavy nature, and the many provocations with which they have been marked. Precious Jesus! may our souls find confidence in the blessed hope that, as thou wert made sin for us, when thou knewest no sin, so thou hast redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in thee: and art made of God to us, wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, that he that glorieth may glory in the Lord.

E-SWORD, ““Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles.” This is a very comprehensive prayer, including all the faithful and all their trials. Sorrow had taught the Psalmist sympathy, and given him communion with the tried people of God; he therefore remembers them in his prayers. Israel, the tried, the wrestling, the conquering hero, fit representative of all the saints. Israel in Egypt, in the wilderness, in wars with Canaanites, in captivity, fit type of the church militant on earth. Jesus is the Redeemer from trouble as well as sin, he is a complete Redeemer, and from every evil he will rescue every saint. Redemption by blood is finished: O God, send us redemption by power. Amen and Amen.

CALVI�, "22.Do thou, O God! redeem Israel. By this conclusion David shows of what character

the enemies were of whom he complained. From this it would appear that they were domestic enemies, who, like some disease raging within the bowels, were now the cause of trouble and vexation to the people of God. By the word redeem, which he here employs, we may infer that the Church was at that time oppressed with hard bondage; and, therefore, I have no doubt that in this psalm he alludes to Saul and others who reigned with him in a tyrannical manner. At the same time, he shows that he has respect not merely to his own benefit, but that he comprehends in his prayer

the state of the whole realm, just as the mutual communion and connection which subsist among the saints require that every individual, deeply affected by a sense of the public calamities which befall the Church at large, should unite with all the others in lamentation before God. This contributed in no small degree to confirm the faith of David, when, regarding himself as in all things connected with the whole body of the faithful, he considered that all the afflictions and wrongs which he endured were common to himself with them. And we ought to regard it as of the greatest importance, that in accordance with this rule, every one of us, in bewailing his private miseries and trials, should extend his desires and prayers to the whole Church.

SPURGEO�, "Verse 22. Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles. This is a very

comprehensive prayer, including all the faithful and all their trials. Sorrow had

taught the psalmist sympathy, and given him communion with the tried people of

God; he therefore remembers them in his prayers. Israel, the tried, the wrestling,

the conquering hero, fit representative of all the saints. Israel in Egypt, in the

wilderness, in wars with Canaanites, in captivity, fit type of the church militant on

earth. Jesus is the Redeemer from trouble as well as sin, he is a complete Redeemer,

and from every evil he will rescue every saint. Redemption by blood is finished: O

God, send us redemption by power. Amen and Amen.

Verse 22. Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles. If thou wilt not pity and help

me, yet spare thy people, who suffer for my sake, and in my sufferings. Matthew

Poole.

Verse 22. Redeem Israel, etc. In vita vel post mortem meam, (Rabbi David), either

whiles I live, or after my death. This is every good man's care and prayer. �one is in

case to pray for the church, that hath not first made his own peace with God. John

Trapp.

Verse 22. This most beautiful of "Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs" closes

with a sweet petition—such an one, as every one of the true Israel of God would

wish to depart with on his lips. "Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles." It

breathes the same holy aspiration as the aged Simeon's "Lord! now lettest thy

servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation." Barton Bouchier.

Footnotes:

Psalm 25:1 This psalm is an acrostic poem, the verses of which BEGIN with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet.Psalm 25:12 Or ways he choosesPsalm 25:21 Septuagint; Hebrew does not have Lord.New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.