Deut. 10. 14. 1 Cor. 10. 28. Deut. 32. 37, 38. Eccles. 5. 5, 6. Job 22. 27. Matt. 23. 2, &c. Rom. 2. 21, &c. John 3. 20. Rom. 1. 32. Jer. 9. 5. Matt. 10. 21. Eccles. 8. 11. 12 If I be hungry, I will not tell thee, for the whole world is mine, and all that is therein. 13 Thinkest thou, that I will eat bulls' flesh, and drink the blood of goats? 14 Offer unto God thanksgiving, and pay thy vows unto the most Highest, 15 And call upon me in the time of trouble; so will I hear [deliver] thee, and thou shalt praise me. 16 But, unto the ungodly said God, Why dost thou preach [declare] my laws, and takest my covenant in thy mouth? 17 Whereas thou hatest to be reformed, and hast cast my words behind thee: 18 When thou sawest a thief, thou consentedst unto [with] him; and hast been partaker with the adulterers: 19 Thou hast let thy mouth speak wickedness, and with thy tongue thou hast set forth deceit : 20 Thou satest, and spakest against thy brother; yea, and hast slandered thine own mother's son. 21 These things hast thou done, and I held 13 Thinkest thou, &c. Do these sacrifices, which thou offerest day by day, spring from any notion of their being required by me for nourishment, because I have appointed them? To thee alone are they beneficial, but no otherwise, than as they proceed from a devout and thankful heart, from a grateful desire to fulfil thy vows, and from an earnest wish to propitiate my favor. 14 The most Highest, &c. See on Psalm ix. 2. 15 And thou, &c. The deliverance, which I will then vouchsafe to thee, shall furnish thee with ample cause to praise and glorify my holy name. 16 The ungodly. The hypocrite, "who talked of God each day," and who presumed to teach, what he had not himself learnt. 18 Thou consentedst, &c. Like an accomplice, thou didst help him to carry off his booty, and to make his escape. Prov. xxix. 24.And hast been, &c. And thou hast imitated the abominable conduct of the adulterers. 20 Thou satest, &c. In the assemblies of thy companions (Psalm Lxix. 12.) thou hast taken an unnatural pleasure in defaming and slandering thy brother, even the son of thine own mother. From the existence of polygamy among the Israelites, no relationship was valued by them more highly, than that, which subsisted between such individuals as had the same mother, as well as the same father; consequently, the offence just mentioned, was the greatest violation, that could occur, of the law of love. Gen. xLiii. 29. Deut. xiii. 6. Judg. viii. 19. my tongue; and thou thoughtest wickedly, Rom. 2. 4. 22 O consider this, ye that forget God; lest Ps. 9. 17. I pluck you away, and there be none to deliver Rev. 6. 15, &c. you. con Gal. 6. 15, 16. 23 Whoso offereth me thanks and praise, he Rom. 12. 1. honoreth me; and to him, that ordereth his versation right [disposeth his way right], will I shew the salvation of God. PSALM LI. AMONGST the Psalms, which are styled penitential, this occupies a conspicuous place. It proceeded from David, after Nathan had convinced him of the greatness of his guilt, in the affair of Bathsheba and Uriah. 2 Sam. xii. 13. The royal penitent humbly beseeches God for pardon: he confesses the depravity of his nature, and the heinous crimes, into which it had led him: he heartily entreats to be cleansed from his iniquity; at the same time supplicating for the assistance of God's renewing grace, and for such a restoration to peace and comfort, as might enable him to instruct and convert other sinners: he then concludes with a fervent prayer for the prosperity of Jerusalem. HA AVE mercy upon me, O God, after thy Isai. 44. 22. great goodness; according to the multitude Col. 2. 14. of thy mercies, do away [blot out] mine offences: 2 Wash me throughly from my wickedness, 1 John 1. 7. and cleanse me from my sin. Rev. 1. 5. 21 I will reprove thee, &c. That thou mayst perceive my intimate acquaintance with thy misdeeds, and be, at length, compelled to acknowledge how utterly unlike we are. 22 Consider this. "Be ye sure," that I will bring you to an account for your sins, though, at first sight, I seem to have passed them by unnoticed.- -Lest I pluck, &c. As a wild beast, when seizing his prey. 23. His conversation. See on Psalm xxxvii. 14.- -The salvation of God. Deliverance and safety, such as a divine Being only can effect. This last verse sums up, what are the two principal points of the Psalm. 1 Do away, &c. This is an appeal to God, either to erase the record of his wickedness from that book, which was supposed to be kept by him, as a register of human transactions (Exod. xxxii. 32, 33: see on Psalm Lvi. 8); or, to entirely remove the stain of them from his own soul, according to the tenor of the second and seventh verses, and in allusion to the many washings for purification, which existed under the Mosaic law. Mark vii. 4. Heb. ix. 10. Lev. 26. 40, &c. Luke 15, 18, &c. Gen. 39. 9. Job 14. 4. Matt. 5. 48. Jsai. 1. 18. 3 For I acknowledge my faults, and my sin is ever before me. 4 4 Against thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight; that thou mightest be justified in thy saying [when thou speakest], and clear, when thou art judged. 5 Behold, I was shapen in wickedness, and in sin hath my mother conceived me. 6 But, lo, thou requirest truth in the inward parts, and shalt make me to understand wisdom secretly: 7 Thou shalt purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: thou shalt wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 4 Against thee only, &c. David's high station exempted him from the jurisdiction of men, and, consequently, from human punishment; but he still considered himself amenable to Jehovah, whose sacred laws and express commandments he had just broken. He may, on the other hand, refer to the secrecy, as respects man, with which his crime was perpetrated. 2 Sam. xii. 12.- -That thou mightest, &c. So that, how grievous soever may be the sentence, which thou shalt pronounce against me, thou canst not appear unjust.—And clear, &c. God is sometimes described in scripture, as having 66 a controversy with his people" (Mic. vi. 2): moreover, he plainly invites his creatures to pass judgment on his own proceedings (Isai. v. 3); he becomes, therefore, as it were, a party in a suit, and when his justice is recognised, and a right decision formed respecting his dispensations, he may be said to be cleared, or acquitted of the charge of undue severity. Job XL. 8. 5 Behold, &c. Original corruption, and an innate proneness to evil, were the causes of my transgression. 6 And shalt make me, &c. Thou wilt also oblige me, if I desire thy favor, to bring my will, my affections, and my most secret thoughts, into complete subjection to all thy precepts. But it would be better, perhaps, to understand the sentence in this manner:-Thou wilt, therefore, cause me, by the secret influences of thy Holy Spirit, unless I wickedly refuse to obey them, to have a thorough and intimate knowledge of every religious duty. Thus David will proclaim, not only here, but in the two succeeding verses, his strong confidence in the divine willingness to answer the petitions of a repentant sinner, and to assist his endeavors. 7 Thou shalt purge me, &c. A person, who had been infected with the plague of leprosy, or had touched a dead body, could only be purified from either uncleanness, by being sprinkled with a bunch of hyssop-twigs and cedar, tied round with scarlet wool, and dipped in water or the blood of victims. Lev. xiv. 6, 7. Num. xix. 16, &c. The Psalmist well knew, that his sins were too great to be expiated by any legal purification, wherefore he asserts, that God alone, by the purifying influence of his "free Spirit,” could restore and cleanse him. 8 Thou shalt make me hear of [hear] joy and gladness, that the bones, which thou hast broken, may rejoice. 9 Turn thy face from my sins, and put [blot] out all my misdeeds. 10 Make me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy holy Spirit from me. 12 O give me the comfort of thy help [salvation] again, and stablish me with thy free Spirit. 13 Then shall I teach thy ways unto the wicked, and sinners shall be converted unto thee. 14 Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, thou that art the God of my health [salvation], and my tongue shall sing of thy righteousness. 15 Thou shalt open my lips, O Lord, and my mouth shall shew thy praise. 16 For thou desirest no sacrifice, else would Isai. 1. 11, &c. I give it thee; but thou delightest not in burnt-Amos 5. 21, &c. offerings. 17 The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit: a Isai. 57. 15. broken and contrite heart, O God, shalt thou Mark 12. 33. not despise. 8 Hear of, &c. See on Psalm xxxviii. 12. Tidings of pardon and reconciliation would, indeed, cause David's heart to leap for joy. 12 Thy free Spirit. That the third person of the Trinity was well known to the Israelites, seems evident from this passage. See on Psalm cxxxix. 6. He is here styled "free," because, when unresisted, he so effectually works upon our hearts, that thenceforth we do not serve sin. Rom. vi. 6. 13 Thy ways. Thy merciful disposition and considerate conduct towards mankind, which I shall have myself experienced. Psalm CXXX. 4, 7. 14 Thou that art, &c. Thou, who art accustomed to deliver me from all my trouble. See on Psalm iii. 3, for the word "health." 15 Thou shalt open, &c. By pardoning my sin, and thus furnishing me with new motives for gratitude and joy. A sense of shame, arising from the consciousness of guilt, had hitherto prevented him from singing God's praises. Ezek. iii. 27. 16 For thou desirest, &c. There were no sacrifices of atonement, appointed by the law, for murder and adultery, inasmuch as the punishment annexed to these crimes was death. Lev. xx. 10. Num. xxxv. 31. Thus, David says, that, in his case, they are not required, and that, even if he were to offer them, as a propitiation for his sins, they would not be accepted. Devout supplication, then, and a deep feeling of contrition, constituted his only resource. G Isai. 62. 1, 7. Mal. 3. 3. 1 John 4. 9, 19, 18 O be favorable and gracious unto Sion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem. 19 Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifice of righteousness, with the burnt-offerings and oblations [whole burnt-offerings]: then shall they offer young bullocks upon thine altar. PSALM LII. THE occasion of this Psalm may be found, 1 Sam. xxii. 9, &c, where we read, that Doeg, wishing to ingratiate himself with Saul, disclosed to him the names of those, who had assisted David, particularly of Ahimelech, whom, together with the other priests of the Lord, he afterwards murdered, in obedience to the king's command. David addresses an animated expostulation to this cruel persecutor, and prophesies his destruction: he proclaims the great joy, which the righteous would then experience; and adds an announcement of his own approaching prosperity, and a declaration of his own faith in God. Mic. 7. 3, 4. 2 Pet. 2. 1. Matt. 2. 13, 20. John 8. 44. WHY boastest thou thyself, thou tyrant chief? [O mighty man], that thou canst do mis 2 Whereas the goodness of God endureth yet daily. 3 Thy tongue imagineth wickedness; and with lies thou cuttest like a sharp razor. 18 O be favorable, &c. The same mercy, which I desire for myself, I entreat, in like manner, for all thy people: let not my wickedness be the occasion of bringing any calamity upon them, but rather let them reap the full benefits of thy loving-kindness, by the permanent establishment and prosperity of their city Jerusalem. Psalm cxxii. 6, &c. Many learned men have conjectured, that the last two verses of this Psalm, which appear to have no immediate relation to what has preceded them, were added by some pious Jew during the Babylonish captivity, in order to accommodate the sorrowful expressions of David to the then wretched state of his brethren. 19 The sacrifice of righteousness. A sacrifice offered by me, in conjunction with my subjects, under the impulse of a devout spirit and a grateful heart. Psalm iv. 5. Ecclus. xxxv. 12. 2 Whereas, &c. In vain did Doeg boast of the crime, which he had already committed, by massacreing the innocent priests, with their families: in vain, also, did he anticipate success in his wicked designs against David; since "the goodness of God," which was never for an instant withdrawn from his chosen servant, had decreed his preservation and his future exaltation to the throne. 3 Thy tongue, &c. As the tongue is the interpreter of the mind, and makes known its thoughts, it is here said to contrive (see on Psalm iii. 3.) evil designs. Psalm cxix. 82. Prov. xviii. 21.—And with lies, &c. The injury done to thy countrymen by the lies, which thou |