Psalm XXXII
A Psalm of David, Mascliil.
1 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
2 Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no guile.
3 When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day
long.
4 For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me:
My moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.
5 I acknowledge my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord;
And thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.
6 For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou
mayest be found. Surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him.
7 Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preseiwe me from trouble; Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Sciah.
8 I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go. I will guide thee with mine eye.
9 Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: Whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near
unto thee.
10 Many sorrows shall be to the wicked:
But he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about.
11 Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous: And shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.
We cannot but agree with Ewald in thinking that the word in the title, “Maschil,” does not refer to any instrument, nor yet is it used in the sense of “Didactic,” but has reference to something artistic in the melody, something peculiarly calling for the skill of the singer or player on the harp. It is undoubtedly used in some such sense in Psalm xlvii. 8, b’’2WD ‘llDT-* Perhaps a Psalm of pardoning mercy was set to some special music, which it required forgiven ones to appreciate, like some of our hymn tunes.
The mention of “transgression,” “iniquity,” “sin,” recals the name of the Lord proclaimed to Moses in the cleft of the rock, “forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin,” (Exod. xxxiv. 7). The “imputing” and ‘’ non-imputing” was well understood in David’s day; for we read (2 Sam. xix. 1 9), Shemei confessing sin, and yet asking, “Let not my lord impute it.”
We generally take up this Psalm as if it was for the members of Christ alone; but we should not forget that the Head himself traversed the way of forgiveness. He stood for us, in our room, in our very place. He stood as substitute, and all the sins of all “that great multitude which no man can number” were upon him, laid uion him by imputation. So dreadful was his position, so truly awful did it seem to him to be reckoned a sinner, that even this, apart from the wrath and curse, would have been sufficient to make him cry, “O, blessed the man to whom the Lord doth not impute sin.” He was dumb for our sakes; his bones wasted away; he groaned
* See also in the Hebrew 2 Chron. xxx. 22, applied to the Levitical music. If the word meant “A Didactic Poem,” it is strange to find it omitted in the case of such as Psa. cxix. and 1., and inserted in the title to such a poetic ode as P>-a. xlv., wherein there is nothing didactic.
TRAVEESED BY THE RIGHTEOUS. Ill
from day to day, and during the lonesome hours of midnight was kept awake by our woe. His moisture (ver. 4), or vigour of vitaHty, was changed,” through means of (see Hengstenberg) the drought of sumoner, i.e., from the excessive heat of wrath, resembhng the most parching heats of summer’s hottest days, when the sun is fiercely shedding down his intolerable rays on the arid earth. In this state He acknowledged our sin; it was only ours he had to acknowledge; he spread it out before God on the cross; he continued to do so till it was forgiven to him as our substitute.
Our head could use these words only in that one way. But in a personal sense, from personal experience of wrath, from a personal consciousness of our own sin, every member of His cannot but use the Psalm as expressingwhat they have passed through. Yes, they have each felt the silence, the waxing old, the roaring, the drying up of moisture, and the spreading out before the Lord of the whole sin and misery of their case; and each has also found the forgiveness. (Ver. 5.)
“Thou forgavest the iniquity of my s/«.” The plan.
Here is a pause. Here is “Selah.” Stay and ponder.
“071 tJiis accoiinf — (jn{<T bV)^ because Thou forgivest sin, — “On tJiis account shall every godly one pray vnto thee.”
Forgiveness is so great a blessing that all else may follow. If the Lord forgive our sin, what next may we not ask? On this account, then, His people pray. Our Head intercedes, because his offering of himself was accepted; we pray, because through Him we have already got pardon, and may get any other real blessing. Yes, we may get such blessing, that “at the time ^/(7 *”) the floods of great waters,” whensoever that be — whether calamities personal and national, or the waves of the fiery flood, parallel to that of Noah, that shall yet sweep away the ungodly, — even then we shall be altogether safe. The forgiven man is hidden, instructed, taught, guided by God’s tender care. (Ver. 7, 8.) A Selah occurs at verse 7. Solemn truth has been spoken, which the worshipper may muse upon till it
* The b lit’re is like the in P.salm xxix. 10.
1 1 2 PSALM XXXII. — THE WAY OF FORGIVENESS TRAVERSED.
.sink into his heart; and then a voice from heaven tells that His eye is ever on them. — “And (says Home) next to the protecting power of God’s being, is the securing prospect of his eye.” The forgiven man is sanctified, yielding up his own will to the Lord’s, not like the “horse and mule that have no understanding/, whose ornament is hit and bridle, because they will not come near unless by force.” Unhappy they who know not pardon! “Many sorrows” are their portion; while mercy compasses the forgiven, so that “they are glad, they rejoice, they shout for joy f” Already they anticipate the joy of the kingdom, “glad and rejoice;” though it is when the kingdom comes that they shall say emphatically to one another, feeling mercy compassing them about, and no flood, nor drop of flood touching one of them, “Alleluia! the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him!” (Rev. xix. 7.) And even then they may use this song of Zion; for the Head and his members will often review, as is done here, 7he way of forgiveness traversed by the Righteous.