sufficient God; I would not tell thee-That thou
mightest supply my wants. For the world is mine,
&c.—And all those creatures wherewith it is replen-
ished. Will I eat the flesh of bulls?—If I did want
any thing, hast thou such gross aud carnal concep- ||
tions of me as to suppose that I need or delight in
the blood of brute creatures?

and false worshippers.

B. C. 1023.

16 But unto the wicked God saith, A. M. 2981.
What hast thou to do to declare my
statutes, or that thou shouldest take my cove-
nant in thy mouth?

17" Seeing thou hatest instruction, and cast-
est my words behind thee.

cvii. 6, 13, 19, 28;
a Rom. ii. 21, 22.-

give him glory. This is a cheaper, easier, readier
way of seeking his favour than by a peace-offering
or trespass-offering, and yet more acceptable. Ob-
serve also, when in answer to our prayers he de-
livers us, as he has promised to do in such way and
time as he shall think fit, we must glorify him, not
only by a grateful mention of his favours, but by
living to his praise. Thus must we keep up our
communion with God: meeting him with our
prayers when he afflicts us, and with our praises
when he delivers us.

Verse 14. Offer unto God thanksgiving-If thou
wouldest know what sacrifices I prize, and indispen-
sably require, in the first place, it is that of thank-
fulness, proportionable to my great and numberless
favours; which doth not consist barely in verbal
acknowledgments, but proceeds from a heart
deeply affected with God's mercies, and is accom-
panied with such a course of life as is well pleasing
to God. And pay thy vows unto the Most High-Spirit inspiring his prophets with the knowledge of
Not ceremonial, but moral vows seem to be evidently
meant here: the things required in this Psalm being
opposed to sacrifices, and all ceremonial observances
and offerings, and preferred before them. He means
those substantial vows, promises, and covenants,
which were the very soul of their sacrifices, and to
which their sacrifices were but appurtenances and
seals; namely, the vows whereby they did avouch
Jehovah to be their God, and engaged to walk in his
ways, Deut. xxvi. 17; and to love, serve, and obey
him according to that solemn covenant which they
entered into at Sinai, Exod. xxiv. 3-8, and which
they often renewed, and indeed did implicitly repeat
in all their sacrifices, which were appointed for this
very end, to confirm this covenant.

Verse 16. But unto the wicked-The same hypo-
critical professors, whom he called saints, verse 5, in
regard of their profession, and here wicked, in re-
spect of their practice; God saith-By his Holy

Verse 15. And call upon me-Make conscience of that great duty of constant and fervent prayer to me, which is an acknowledgment of thy subjection to me, and of thy trust and dependance upon me, and therefore is pleasing to me; in the day of trouble-When trouble comes, do not endeavour to avoid or extricate thyself from it by sinful shifts and contrivances, nor apply merely or chiefly to creatures for relief, but give glory to me, by applying to me, relying on my promises, and expecting help from me in the way of hearty and unfeigned prayer. will deliver thee-I will support thee under thy troubles, and deliver thee out of them in the time and manner which will be most for my glory and thy good. And thou shalt glorify me-Shalt have occasion, and shalt consider it as thy duty, to praise and glorify me for thy deliverance. Observe well, reader, our troubles, though we see them coming from the hand of God, should drive us to God, and not from him. We must acknowledge him in all our ways, depend upon his wisdom, power, and goodness, and refer ourselves entirely to him, and so

his will, and commissioning them to declare it;
What hast thou to do to declare my statutes?—
Having informed them what he would not reprove
them for, verse 8, and why, verses 9-13, he now tells
them for what he did reprove and condemn them,
even for a vain and false profession of religion. That
thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth--
With what confidence darest thou make mention of
my grace and favour in giving thee such a covenant
and such statutes, pretending to embrace them, and
to give up thyself to the observation of them? This
concerned not only the instructers of the people,
such as the scribes and Pharisees, at whom it pro-
phetically pointed, but the hypocritical and formal
Israelites in general, who professed to know God,
but by works denied him. And it still concerns all
those professors of the true religion, whose practice
contradicts their profession, and in an especial man-
ner those ministers of the gospel who, while they
teach others, neglect to teach themselves. All such,
according to the psalmist here, are guilty of a usurp-
ation, and take unto themselves an honour to which
they have no title, and from which therefore they
shall soon be removed with shame and disgrace as
intruders.

Verse 17. Seeing thou hatest instruction--Seeing
thy practice contradicts thy profession, and makes
thee a notorious and impudent liar. For though with
thy mouth thou showest much love to my statutes
and counsels, yet, in truth, thou hatest them, as they
oppose and hinder the gratification of thy beloved
lusts, and are the instruments of thy just condemna-
tion, and a manifest reproach to thy conduct. Or,
seeing thou hatest reproof, as 1, musar, is often
rendered. And this, above all other parts of God's
word, is most hateful to ungodly men; and, there-
fore, this is fitly alleged as an evidence of their wick-

God's reproof of hypocrites

PSALM L.

and false worshippers. A. M. 2981. 18 When thou sawest a thief, then || such a one as thyself: but I will re- A. M. 2981. thou consentedst with him, and 3 hast prove thee, and set them in order before been partaker with adulterers. thine eyes.

B. C. 1023.

4

e

B. C. 1023,

19 Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and a thy|| 22 Now consider this, ye that forget God, tongue frameth deceit, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.

20 Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother's son. 21 These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether

edness. And castest my words behind thee-As men do things which they abhor and despise.

23 f Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me and to him 5 that ordereth his conversation aright will I show the salvation of God.

fore thou didst grow more audacious and impudent in sin. But I will reprove thee-I will quickly undeceive thee, and convince thee of the contrary, to thy cost; and set them, thy sins, in order before thine eyes-I will bring to thy remembrance, and lay upon thy conscience, all thy sins in full number, and in their order, with all their circumstances of aggravation: and thou shalt then see and know that I particularly observed and hated them all, and that none of them shall go unpunished. Thus the psalm

one that did not hear thy sinful speeches, nor see, or take any notice of thy wicked actions. And thou Verses 18-20. When thou sawest a thief-Instead thoughtest, &c.-Thou didst misconstrue and abuse of reproving him, and witnessing against him, as my patience and long-suffering, as if it had proceedthose should do that declare God's statutes, or that ed from my not noticing, or not regarding thy evil profess his religion; thou consentedst with him-courses, or from my approving of them; and thereDidst approve of his practices, and desire to share in the profits of his iniquitous proceedings. Or, thou didst run with him, as y, tiretz gnimmo, may be rendered. Thou didst readily and eagerly associate thyself with him in his unrighteous actions. Thou didst yield to his motions, and that with great complacency and earnestness. And hast been partaker with adulterers-By joining with them in their lewd and filthy practices. "In this and the two following verses," says Dr. Dodd, "are represented the notorious vices of the synagogue, (theist, as from the mouth of God, foretels the destrucJewish Church,) which was extremely corrupt in the time of Christ." Thou givest thy mouth to evil To sinful or mischievous speeches. Thou hast an unbridled tongue, and castest off all restraints of God's law, and of thy own conscience, and givest thy tongue liberty to speak what thou pleasest, though it be very offensive and dishonourable to God, and injurious to thy neighbour, or to thy own soul. And thy tongue frameth deceit-Uttereth lies or fair words, wherewith to deceive and circumvent those who deal with thee. Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother-Thou sittest in the seat of the scornful to deride and backbite others, even those-Ye hypocritical and ungodly Israelites, who have whom thou oughtest to respect and show kindness to, thy own relations. ty very brother: and this, not through inadvertency, or upon some sudden and great provocation, but it is thy constant and deliberate practice. This, the word an, teesheb, thou sittest, or continuest, implies. And thou art not only guilty of backbiting, or speaking evil of them when they are absent, and making known to others the follies or faults with which they are justly chargeable; but thou accusest them of things of which they are innocent. Thou slanderest even thine own mother's son-And takest away his good name, which is better than all riches, yea, than life itself: and this in opposition to my express and often repeated

commands.

Verse 21. These things hast thou done, and I kept silence-I did not express my displeasure against thee in such grievous judgments as thou didst deserve. Or, I was deaf: I conducted myself like

tion of the impenitent Jews; who, having received the law of God, and the ordinances of his worship and service, and entered into a solemn covenant with him, would not be reformed by the warnings and exhortations of Moses or the prophets, nor by the preaching and miracles of Christ and his apostles; and, therefore, after a long series of lesser judgments and calamities, of which we have a circumstantial account in their history, at last suffered an infliction of wrath and vengeance sufficient to make the ears of every one that heareth it to tingle.

Verse 22. Now consider this, ye that forget God

forgotten (as Moses foretold ye would do, Deut. xxxii. 18) the God that formed you, and made you his people, and have forgotten his mercies and judgments, by which you should have been instructed, and the covenant which you made with him, and by which you stand obliged to obey and serve him. Lest I tear you in pieces-Lest my patience be turned into fury, and I proceed to take vengeance on you; and there be none, or, for there is none to deliver-None that can rescue you from the power mine anger.

of

Verse 23. Whoso offereth praise-Or, thanksgiv ing, as the word 71, todah, is often rendered; glorifieth me-He, and he only, gives me the honour which I prize and require; and not he who loads my altar with a multitude of sacrifices. And to him that ordereth his conversation aright-Hebrew, 117, vesham derech, that disposeth his way, namely, the way, or manner of his life: that is, that lives orderly,

PSALM LI.

and according to rule: for sinners are said to walk || him to see, that is, to enjoy, as that verb is often disorderly, 2 Thess. iii. 6-11, and by chance, as it is in the Hebrew, Lev. xxvi. 21, 23, which is opposed to order; and the Scriptures own no order but what God prescribes and approves; and, therefore, this word, aright, is properly added in our translation: Will I show—Hebrew, 18, arennu, I will make

used; the salvation of God, my salvation, that true and everlasting happiness, which I have prepared for all my true and faithful servants, and for them only: so false is that position of some of the Jewish rabbis, that every Israelite hath a portion in the world to come.

PSALM LI.

Though David composed this Psalm upon a very particular occasion, yet it is of as general use as any of his Psalms. It is the most eminent of the penitential Psalms, and most expressive of the cares and desires of a repenting sinner. It is a pity, indeed, that in our devout addresses to God, we should have any thing else to do but to praise God, for that is the work of heaven; but as we make other work for ourselves by our sins and follies, we must come to the throne of grace in the posture of penitents to confess them, and sue for pardoning and renewing grace. And if, in doing this, we would take with us words, we can nowhere find any more apposite than in this Psalm, which is the record of David's repentance for his sin in the matter of Uriah, which, of all his faults, was the greatest blemish upon his character. Here David prays for pardon, 1, 2. Confesses his sins, 3-5. Prays for renewing grace, 6-14. Promises unfeigned thankfulness, 15–17. Prays for the whole church, 18, 19.

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, ' when || according unto the multitude of thy A. M. 2970. Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had tender mercies a blot out my transgresgone in to Bath-sheba.

B. C. 2034. HAVE mercy upon me, O God, 2 Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, according to thy loving-kindness; and cleanse me from my sin.

I acknowledge my trans- || mightest be justified when thou speak- A. M. 2970. and my sin is ever before est, and be clear when thou judgest.

4 Against thee, thee only, have and done this evil in thy sight:

< Psa. xxxii. 5; xxxviii. 18.v. 19; vi. 2; 2 Sam. xii. 13.

I sinned,

f

that thou

d Gen. xx. 6; xxxix. 9; Lev.
Luke xv. 21. Rom. iii.

B. C. 1034.

this evil in thy sight-With gross contempt of thee, whom I knew to be a spectator of my most secret actions. That thou mightest be justified-This will be the fruit of my sin, that whatsoever severities thou shalt use toward me, it will be no blemish to thy righteousness, but thy justice will be glorified by all men. When thou speakest-Hebrew, in thy words, in all thy threatenings denounced against me. And be clear when thou judgest-When thou dost execute thy sentence upon me.

lute necessity of some other and better means of and against others, yet nothing is more grievous to cleansing him from it, even God's grace and theme than that I have sinned against thee. And done atoning blood of Christ; which as Abraham saw by faith, John viii. 56, so did David, as is sufficiently evident (allowance being made for the darkness of the Old Testament dispensation) from divers passages of his Psalms. Observe, reader, sin defiles us, renders us odious in the sight of the holy God, and uneasy to ourselves; it unfits us for communion with God, in grace or glory. But when God pardons sin, he cleanses us from it, so that we become acceptable to him, easy to ourselves, and have liberty of access to him. Nathan had assured David, upon his first profession of repentance, that his sin was pardoned. The Lord has taken away thy sin, thou shalt not die, 2 Sam. xii. 13: yet he prays, Wash me, cleanse me, blot out my transgressions; for God will be sought unto, even for that which he has promised; and those whose sins are pardoned, must pray that the pardon may be more and more evidenced to them. God had forgiven him, but he could not forgive himself, and therefore he is thus importunate for pardon as one that thought himself unworthy of it.

Verse 5. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity-He brew, 'n, cholaleti, I was born, or brought forth: for it does not appear that the word ever signifies, I was shapen; and then the ensuing words will contain the reason of it; the sense being, because in sin did my mother conceive me, therefore I was brought forth in iniquity; that is, with great propensities and dispositions to sin. This verse is, both by Jewish and Christian, by ancient and later interpreters, generally, and most justly, understood of what we call original sin; which David here mentions, not as an excuse for, but as an aggravation of, his transVerse 3. For I acknowledge my transgressions—gression, inasmuch as the knowledge which he had With grief, and shame, and abhorrence of myself and of my sins, which hitherto I have dissembled and covered. And, being thus truly penitent, I hope and beg that I may find mercy with thee. This David had formerly found to be the only way of obtaining forgiveness and peace of conscience, Psa. xxxii. 4, 5, and he now hoped to find the same blessings in the same way. And my sin is ever before meThat sin, which I had cast behind my back, is now constantly in my view, to humble and mortify, and make me continually to blush and tremble. We see here David's contrition for his sin was not a slight, sudden passion, but an abiding grief. He was put in mind of his crimes on all occasions; they were continually in his thoughts: and he was willing they should be so for his further abasement. Let us learn from hence, that our acts of repentance, for the same sin, ought to be often repeated, and that it is very expedient, and will be of great use for us, to have our sins ever before us, that by the remembrance of those that are past, we may be armed against temptations for the future, and may be kept humble, quickened to duty, and made patient under

the cross.

Verse 4. Against thee, thee only, have I sinnedWhich is not to be understood absolutely, because he had sinned against Bath-sheba and Uriah, and many others; but comparatively. So the sense is, Though I have sinned against my own conscience,

of the total corruption of his nature, and its tendency to evil, ought to have made him more on his guard, and to have watched more carefully over his sensual passions and affections. And the sense of the place is this: Nor is this the only sin which I have reason to acknowledge and bewail before thee; for this filthy stream leads me to a corrupt fountain. And, upon a serious review of my heart and life, I find that I am guilty of innumerable other sins; and that this heinous crime, though drawn forth by external temptations, yet was indeed the proper fruit of my own vile nature, which, without the restraints of thy providence or grace, ever was and still will be inclinable and ready to commit ten thousand sins as occasion offers. Thus, as Dr. Dodd, after Chandler, justly observes, "The psalmist owns himself to be the corrupted, degenerate offspring, of corrupted, degenerate parents, agreeable to what was said long before he was born, Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one, Job xiv. 4. Nor is it unusual with good men, when confessing their own sins before God, to make mention of the sins of their parents, for their greater mortification and humilia

tion."

Verse 6. Behold, thou desirest-Hebrew, nan, chaphatzta, delightest in, willest, or requirest, truth in the inward parts-Uprightness of heart, which seems to be here opposed to that iniquity mentioned in the last verse, in which all men are conceived and

David prays for

PSALM LI.

renewing grace.

A. M. 2970. parts: and in the hidden part thou || the bones which thou hast broken A. M. 2970. shalt make me to know wisdom.

B. C. 1034.

7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean wash me, and I shall be 'whiter than

snow.

:

m

may rejoice.

B. C. 1034.

9 Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.

10 P Create in me a clean heart, O God; and

8 Make me to hear joy and gladness; that renew 3 a right spirit within me.

* Lev. xiv. 4, 6, 49; Num. xix. 18; Heb. ix. 19. Isa. i. 18. m Matt. v. 4.

Jer. xvi. 17.- - Verse 1.—P Acts xv. 9; Eph. ii. 10. 3 Or, a constant spirit.

born; and it may be here added as a proof, or aggra- him; that is," not only remove their guilt, but "make vation, of the sinfulness of original corruption, be- || him as free from those criminal propensities to sin, cause it is contrary to the holy nature and will of and from all the bad effects of his aggravated crimes, God, which requires not only unblameableness in as though he had been purified from a leprosy, by men's actions, but also the universal innocence and the water of cleansing, sprinkled on him by a branch rectitude of their minds and hearts; and as an ag- of hyssop; and that he might be, if possible, clearer gravation of his own actual sin, in which he had from all the defilement and guilt of sin than the new used gross deceit and treachery. And in the hidden fallen snow. I think both these senses are included part, &c.—That is, in the heart, called the hidden in the expiation which the psalmist prays for; as the man of the heart, 1 Pet. iii. 4; and, in the former person whose leprosy was expiated was wholly clause, the reins, or inward parts; thou shalt make cured of his disease, and freed from all the incapame to know wisdom-That is, true piety and integ-cities attending it."-Dodd. rity, called wisdom, Job xxviii. 28; Psa. cxi. 10, and in many other passages; as sin, on the contrary, is commonly called, as it really is, folly. And to know wisdom is here to be understood of knowing it practically and experimentally; so as to approve, and love, and practise it as words of knowledge are most commonly to be understood in Scripture, and in other authors. According to this interpretation the psalmist, in these words, declares his hope that God would pardon and cure the folly which he had discovered, and make him wiser for the future. But, as this does not seem to suit perfectly with the context, which runs in rather another strain, the word y, todigneeni, may, and it seems ought to, be rendered in the past time, thou hast made me to know. And so this is another aggravation of his sin, that it was committed against that knowledge which God had not only revealed to him outwardly by his word, but also inwardly by his Spirit, writing it on his heart, according to his promise, Jer. xxxi. 33. Or, the future verb may be here taken imperatively; and the words may be understood as a prayer, Do thou make me to know, &c., as the following future verbs (verses 7, 8) are translated. Having then now said, Verses 9, 10. Hide thy face from my sins-Do not for the aggravation of his sin, that God required look upon them with an eye of indignation and wrath, truth in the inward parts, he takes occasion to break but forgive and forget them. Create in me a clean forth into prayer, which also he continues in the fol-heart-Seeing I have not only defiled myself by lowing verses. these actual sins, but also have a most unclean heart, Verse 7. Purge me with hyssop-Or, as with hys- corrupt even from my birth, which nothing but thy sop; the note of similitude being frequently under- almighty, new-creating power can purify; I beseech stood. As lepers, and other unclean persons, are by thee to exert that power to produce in me a new and thy appointment purified by the use of hyssop and holy frame of heart, free from those impure inclinaother things, Lev. xiv. 6; Num. xix. 6; so do thou tions and vile affections, the effects of which I have cleanse me, a most leprous and polluted creature, by too fatally felt; a heart in possession, and under the thy grace, and by the virtue of that blood of Christ, influence, of those sacred dispositions of piety and which is signified by those ceremonial usages. The virtue, in which the moral rectitude and purity of word, techatteeni, here rendered purge me, the mind consist. Thus shall both my inward unproperly means, expiate my sin. "The psalmist cleanness be purged away, and I shall be prevented well knew that his sins were too great to be expi- from falling again into such actual and scandalous ated by any legal purifications, and therefore prays sins. And renew a right spirit in me-Hebrew, that God would himself expiate them, and restore, ruach nachon, a firm, constant, or stead

Verse 8. Make me to hear joy and gladness-Send me glad tidings of thy reconciliation to me; and by thy Spirit seal the pardon of my sins on my conscience, which will fill me with joy. That the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice-That my heart, which hath been sorely wounded, and terrified by thy dreadful message sent by Nathan, and by the awful sentence of thy law, denounced against such sinners as I am, may be revived and comforted by the manifestation of thy favour to my soul. For he compares the pains and agonies of his mind, arising from the deep sense he had of the aggravated nature of his sins, and of the displeasure of God against him on account of them, to that exquisite torture he must have felt if all his bones had been crushed: "for the original word, dicchita, signifies more than broken; namely, the being entirely mashed. And he compares the joy that God's declaring himself fully reconciled to him would produce in his mind to that inconceivable pleasure which would have arisen from the instantaneous restoring and healing those bones, after they had been thus broken and crushed to pieces."