“He who conceals his sins does
not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy”
(Proverbs 28:12).
Read Psalm 32 –
Pay attention to the "Selahs" and pause there when reading.
While this passage isn’t directly a prayer from
David to God, it shows an “acknowledgement” of the necessity to pray and the
promise to “confess” his sins.
·
This is another penitential Psalm, like Psalm
51.
·
Could this Psalm, aka a Psalm of Instruction, be
the teaching that David promised in 51:13 (“then I will teach transgressors
your ways…”)?
-
Where else do we see this “Blessed”
construction? (Psalm 1:1 and Matthew
5:3-10)
o
Synonymous Parallelism - 3 different Hebrew
words to describe the whole spectrum of sin (though the NIV says
“transgressions” and “sin” in vs. 1 and “sin” in vs. 2.)
§
Transgression – rebellion towards God Himself.
§
Sin – general term designating an offense,
falling short of God’s law
§
Iniquity (sin, NIV) - corrupt, twisted in
relation to ourselves.
o
Synonymous Parallelism - 3 different Hebrew
words for the manner of forgiveness that indicate the completeness of that
forgiveness by God.
§
Forgiven – the sin has been “lifted off,” our
shoulders. I.E. Rockbridge!
·
“as far as the east is from the west, so far has
he removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12).
§
Covered – i.e. the blood of Christ covers us
just as the sprinkled blood covered the mercy seat (covering of the Ark of the
Covenant) on the Day of Atonement.
·
“When God
covers sin, he graciously blots it out (cf. Psalm 85:2); when man covers his
sin, he is sinfully hiding it” (ESV SB, 976).
§
Does not count – a bookkeeping term (Boice, p.
279)
-
What was the problem that we see with David in
vs. 3?
-
What were the consequences to his sin and lack
of confession/repentance in vs. 4?
o
How is this really a mercy of God? His heavy hand upon him actually draws him back to confess his sin.
-
Where do we find the climax of this passage? Vs. 5. – He uses the same 3 words for sin
that he used in vss. 1-2 to show the completeness of his confession.
“Confession
is like opening a floodgate of a dam. When there is no confession, the waters
pile up behind the dam, creating immense pressures on the wall, but as soon as
the floodgate is opened, the waters subside and the pressures diminish” (P.
Craigie, Psalms 1-50, WBC, pg. 267, © 2004).
-
Why is the presence of the word “Selah” (“pause
and take notice”*) at the end of vs. 4 and at the beginning of vs. 6 important
to understanding this passage? *(J.M. Boice, Psalms: Volume 1,
Baker, pg. 280, © 1994).
-
What key word in vs. 6 clues us in that this
application is for “everyone”? “Therefore”
in vs. 6-7 – Boice said this is where David again lives out Psalm 51:13
-
The authorship of the Psalm switches in vs. 8,
how? From David to God.
o
Does God’s response promise total deliverance? Yes and No.
§
Yes – “you
are my hiding place, you will protect me from trouble” (“Rock of Ages, cleft
for me, Let me hide myself in thee” – Boice, pg. 282)
§
No, rather
instruction, teaching and counsel “in the way you should go” (vs. 8, c.f. Psalm
1).
§
Certainly
God is watching “over you” and his “unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts
in him” (vs. 10) b/c He promises to “never leave you nor forsake you”
(Deuteronomy 31:6).
§
“Unfailing
love” is God’s hesed love!!
-
How can David say in vs. 11 that the sinner
should “rejoice” and “be glad” and “sing”?
o
David
knows, as Paul explains in Romans 4:6-9, that we have been saved not by works
of the law or circumcision but by grace by the One who “forgave the guilt of my
sin” (Ps. 32:5).
“Intelligentia prima est ut te
noris peccatorem (the beginning of knowledge is to know oneself to be a
sinner)”
(St. Augustine; quoted by P.
Craigie, Psalms 1-50, WBC, pg. 268, © 2004).
