Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 25:8
Good and upright [is] the LORD: therefore will he teach sinners in the way.
8. Therefore ] He who is at once perfectly loving and perfectly upright must needs guide the erring.
teach ] R.V. instruct: the word from which torah (‘law,’ primarily ‘instruction’) is derived. See on Psa 1:2.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
8 14. The Psalmist’s petitions are grounded upon the revealed character of Jehovah.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
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.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 25:8-9
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 Psalmists 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 Gods 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 Gods. 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 Gods 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 Hugos 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 names 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 mans soul. (Homilist.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 8. 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.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Good, i.e. bountiful and gracious to sinners, ready to do good, and delighting in it.
Upright, or, right, i.e. holy and true, sincere in making promises, and in all his declarations and offers of mercy to sinners, and faithful in fulfilling them. Being such a one, he will not be wanting to such poor sinners as I am, but will guide them by his word, and Spirit, and gracious providence into the way of life and peace. By
sinners he doth not understand all that are so; not such as are obstinate, and proud, and scornful, whom God hath declared that he will not teach nor direct, but will leave them to the errors and lusts of their own hearts, and will blind and harden them to their ruin, as is often expressed in Scripture; but only such as, being truly sensible of their sins, do humbly and earnestly seek God for his grace and mercy, or such as are meek, as the next verse explains it; for these he will not fail to assist and relieve.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
8, 9. uprightacting accordingto His promise.
sinnersthe generalterm, limited by the
meekwho are penitent.
the wayand hiswayGod’s way of providence.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
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, Ps 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 Ps 51:13.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The with denotes the way, i.e., the right way ( Job 31:7), as the sphere and subject of the instruction, as in Psa 32:8, Pro 4:11; Job 27:11. God condescends to sinners in order to teach them the way that leads to life, for He is ; well-doing is His delight, and, if His anger be not provoked ( Psa 18:27), He has only the sincerest good intention in what He does.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Divine Goodness and Mercy. | |
8 Good and upright is the LORD: therefore will he teach sinners in the way. 9 The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way. 10 All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies. 11 For thy name’s sake, O LORD, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great. 12 What man is he that feareth the LORD? him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose. 13 His soul shall dwell at ease; and his seed shall inherit the earth. 14 The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will show them his covenant.
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 v. 7. It is that (v. 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. xliii. 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, Exod. xxxiv. 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 (v. 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 (v. 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 (v. 12 and again v. 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.
II. Upon what these promises are grounded, and what encouragement we have to build upon them. Here are two things which ratify and confirm all the promises:– 1. The perfections of God’s nature. We value the promise by the character of him that makes its. We may therefore depend upon God’s promises; for good and upright is the Lord, and therefore he will be as good as his word. He is so kind that he cannot deceive us, so true that he cannot break his promise. Faithful is he who hath promised, who also will do it. He was good in making the promise, and therefore will be upright in performing it. 2. The agreeableness of all he says and does with the perfections of his nature (v. 10): All the paths of the Lord (that is, all his promises and all his providences) are mercy and truth; they are, like himself, good and upright. All God’s dealings with his people are according to the mercy of his purposes and the truth of his promises; all he does comes from love, covenant-love; and they may see in it his mercy displayed and his word fulfilled. What a rich satisfaction may this be to good people, that, whatever afflictions they are exercised with, All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth, and so it will appear when they come to their journey’s end.
III. What these promises are.
1. That God will instruct and direct them in the way of their duty. This is most insisted upon, because it is an answer to David’s prayers (Psa 25:4; Psa 25:5), Show me thy ways and lead me. We should fix our thoughts, and act our faith, most on those promises which suit our present case. (1.) He will teach sinners in the way, because they are sinners, and therefore need teaching. When they see themselves sinners, and desire teaching, then he will teach them the way of reconciliation to God, the way to a well-grounded peace of conscience, and the way to eternal life. He does, by his gospel, make this way known to all, and, by his Spirit, open the understanding and guide penitent sinners that enquire after it. The devil leads men blindfold to hell, but God enlightens men’s eyes, sets things before them in a true light, and so leads them to heaven. (2.) 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.
2. That God will make them easy (v. 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.
4. That God will admit them into the secret of communion with himself (v. 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, John vii. 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. xviii. 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.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
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.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(8)
With recollections clear, august, sublime,
Of Gods great Truth and Right immutable
She queened it oer her weakness.A. H. CLOUGH.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
God In His Goodness Guides All Who Are Responsive To Him, And Reveals To Them His Goodness In Mercy And Covenant Love, Including Pardoning Their Iniquity ( Psa 25:8-11 ).
Having called on God to guide him and show His covenant mercy towards him, the Psalmist now points out that this is in fact what YHWH, Who is good and upright, does for all sinners who are willing to be responsive to Him. He guides and leads them in His way, and reveals His covenant love (chesed) and faithfulness towards those who keep His covenant and His laws. The main emphasis here is on the activity of YHWH.
Psa 25:8
T ‘Good and upright is YHWH.
Therefore will he instruct sinners in the way.’
Psa 25:9
Y ‘The meek will he guide in justice,
And the meek will he teach his way.’
Because YHWH is good and upright that is why (‘therefore’) He does not just leave sinners to struggle on in ignorance, but instructs them in the right way, and when they are humble and responsive, guides them in what true righteousness involves, and indeed in His own way, the Way of Holiness (Isa 35:8).
‘Instructs’ is from the same root as the word ‘torah’, (God’s instruction). Thus He instructs them in His Law. ‘Meek.’ These are the humble minded who are ‘poor in spirit’ (compare Psa 9:12, and see Mat 5:3; Mat 5:5; 1Pe 5:5). ‘Justice.’ This is referring to the way of righteousness (see Pro 1:3, and compare Mat 21:32).
Psa 25:10
C ‘All the paths of YHWH are lovingkindness and truth.
To such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.’
And to those who are responsive to His covenant and to His instructions He reveals His own ‘covenant love’ (lovingkindness) and genuine faithfulness (compare Exo 34:6). He never fails them but goes with them every step of the way, leading them in His own paths, paths which are paths of lovingkindness and truth.
His covenant, which contained His ‘testimonies’, His commandments (Deu 4:45; Deu 6:17; Deu 6:10), was made with His people at Sinai on the basis of earlier covenants (Exodus 20-23; compare Exo 19:1-6; Gen 17:2 ff). There Israel had committed themselves to the covenant, so the requirement here was that they fulfil their promise. And YHWH would respond with covenant love and true behaviour.
Psa 25:11
L ‘For your name’s sake, O YHWH,
Pardon my iniquity, for it is great.’
The thought of God’s faithfulness to responsive sinners reminds him again of his own sins, and recognising how great his sins are, he again humbly calls on YHWH for pardon ‘for His Name’s sake’.
‘For His Name’s sake.’ In other words because He is the One Who has represented Himself in His Law as the Great Forgiver, He must therefore forgive in order to maintain His honour, and in order that the world might know that He fulfils His promises.
It is significant that he does not speak here of forgiveness being available to those who respond to YHWH, although he is no doubt very much aware that it is. He refers rather to his own need for forgiveness. This was clearly because he had such a deep sense of his own sinfulness that at this stage he was overwhelmed by it. It reveals someone with a true heart, a man after God’s own heart (1Sa 13:14).
‘Iniquity.’ Activity that is crooked or wrong resulting from a heart that is wrong.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Psa 25:8 Good and upright [is] the LORD: therefore will he teach sinners in the way.
Ver. 8. Good and upright is the Lord ] i.e. Gracious and righteous, or faithful; and hence it is that our God is merciful, as Psa 116:5 ; hence it is that we poor creatures are not overwhelmed, aut magnitudine peccatorum, aut mole calamitatum, either with the greatness of our sins, or the multitude of our miseries.
Therefore will he teach sinners in the way
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psalms
GUIDANCE IN JUDGMENT
Psa 25:8 – Psa 25:9
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 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.
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.
‘Can but listen at the gate,
And hear the household jar within.’
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.
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 25:8-11
8Good and upright is the Lord;
Therefore He instructs sinners in the way.
9He leads the humble in justice,
And He teaches the humble His way.
10All the paths of the Lord are lovingkindness and truth
To those who keep His covenant and His testimonies.
11For Your name’s sake, O Lord,
Pardon my iniquity, for it is great.
Psa 25:8-11 Many of the key words and concepts from Psa 25:4-7 are repeated in this strophe. Remember this is an acrostic psalm. All of the psalmist’s poetic license and creativity are being used.
1. Psa 25:8 a extols YHWH’s character, as did Psa 25:6-7
a. good (BDB 373)
b. upright (BDB 449)
2. Psa 25:8-9 again mention YHWH’s teaching and leading, as did Psa 25:4-5
The two added thoughts are the descriptive words about the one taught and led.
1. sinners (BDB 308), Psa 25:8
2. humble (BDB 776), Psa 25:9 (twice)
The paths of YHWH are characterized as
1. lovingkindness (cf. Psa 25:6-7)
2. truth (cf. Psa 25:5, see Special Topic: Amen)
Psa 25:10 paths. . .testimonies See SPECIAL TOPIC: TERMS FOR GOD’S REVELATION .
to those who keep His covenant Notice the emphasis, not just on knowledge (cf. Psa 25:4-5) but obedience (cf. Deu 5:10; Deu 6:5; Deu 7:9; Deu 10:12; Deu 11:1; Deu 11:13; Deu 11:22; Deu 13:3; Deu 19:9; Deu 30:6; Deu 30:16; Deu 30:20; Psa 103:18). Obedience is not the mechanism of acceptance and forgiveness, which is the grace of YHWH, but the result of meeting Him and being obedient to His will. Jesus said it so well in Luk 6:46, also note Eph 2:8-9 and then Psa 1:4; Psa 2:10. Grace is always first! It is received by faith but it is a faith that must be lived out (cf. Jas 2:14-26).
covenant See Special Topic below.
SPECIAL TOPIC: COVENANT ()
Psa 25:11 Any hope of forgiveness is based on the unchanging character of YHWH (cf. Psa 102:26-27; Mal 3:6; Jas 1:17, see Special Topic: CHARACTERISTICS OF ISRAEL’S GOD ) and His Messiah (cf. Heb 13:8). It is because of His name and character (cf. Psa 79:9).
for it is great Once we know the character of God (i.e., holiness, cf. Lev 19:2; Mat 5:48) and the truth of God, our sins and their consequences become more evident to us. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil (cf. Genesis 3) brought a revelation of our rebellion and its consequences!
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
teach = direct. The subject of this member.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 25:8-15
Psa 25:8-15
“Good and upright is Jehovah:
Therefore will he instruct sinners in the way.
The meek will he guide in justice;
And the meek will he teach his way.
All the paths of Jehovah are lovingkindness and truth
Unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.
For thy name’s sake, O Jehovah,
Pardon mine iniquity, for it is great.
What man is he that feareth Jehovah?
Him shall he instruct in the way that he shall choose.
His soul shall dwell at ease;
And his seed shall inherit the land.
The friendship of Jehovah is with them that fear him;
And he will show them his covenant.
Mine eyes are ever toward Jehovah;
For he will pluck my feet out of the net.”
“He will instruct sinners” (Psa 25:8). “The sinners here are not the habitually wicked, but the humble, among whom the psalmist numbers himself. Nevertheless, David most certainly feels an estrangement from God in this passage, as evidenced by his triple plea for pardon in Psa 25:7; Psa 25:11; Psa 25:18. A passage such as this thunders the message that, “God’s true people are not sinless. Yes, forgiveness is available for those who in penitence and meekness seek it, and who do not place themselves in the fatal position of the wicked by refusing to seek it, or to trust the grace and goodness of God to bestow it.
“The meek … such as keep his commandments” (Psa 25:9-10). The kind of sinners who may expect God’s forgiveness appear in this psalm as (1) those who repent, (2) those who seek God’s forgiveness, (3) the meek, or humble, and (4) those who keep the Lord’s commandments.
“Pardon mine iniquity” (Psa 25:11). Another word is here added as an explanation of the grounds upon which David asked God’s pardon, namely, for thy name’s sake. Added to the mercy, lovingkindness, and goodness mentioned in Psa 25:6-7, we have a four fold statement of the grounds upon which the saints of God may request forgiveness of their sins. See our discussion of this phrase in the Shepherd Psalm, above.
“For it is great” (Psa 25:11). Rawlinson identified the “great sin” mentioned by David in this place as that revolving around Bathsheba the wife of Uriah the Hittite in “2Sa 11:4-17.
David’s prayer for pardon was granted. “Psa 25:12-15 indicate that the psalmist’s intimacy with the Lord was developed, and that, successively, the promises are made of forgiveness, guidance, security, friendship and deliverance, arising respectively from an attitude of confession, reverence, and reliance.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 25:8. If sinners do not know better than they are doing it is not through any neglect of God. He is upright and therefore will teach them if they will learn.
Psa 25:9. This gives the key to the reason some are uninformed. If a man is meek or humble he will even seek for information from God.
Psa 25:10. The paths or steps the Lord requires his people to follow are really merciful in their effects. The way of the transgressor is hard when the end thereof is considered. Also the path the Lord advises is truth which means it is according to truth. But in order to profit by this arrangement a person must keep the covenant (agreement) and the testimonies (proven truths) of the Lord.
Psa 25:11. Name’s sake. For explanation of this see my comments at Psa 23:3.
Psa 25:12. To fear the Lord in the favorable sense is to respect him. The man who does so will be taught in the right way, that being the kind of way a God-fearing man would choose.
Psa 25:13. The inner man can be at ease regardles of outward conditions. Such will be the case with a man who fears God. His seed or descendants will not literally possess this globe on which we live, but they will enjoy the blessings of it.
Psa 25:14. Secret is from a word that Strong defines in part as “intimacy.” In other words, those who fear the Lord will be “taken into a sacred nearness with Him.” He will impart his covenant to them.
Psa 25:15. The net refers to the snares that David’s enemies placed in his pathway. They were hidden from human eyes, but the Lord sees them and will snatch his faithful followers from the danger.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Good: Psa 119:68
upright: Psa 92:15, Isa 26:7
teach: Pro 1:20-23, Pro 2:1-6, Pro 9:4-6, Mic 4:2, Mat 9:13, Mat 11:29, Mat 11:30, Luk 11:13, Joh 6:44, Joh 6:45, 2Co 4:6, Eph 1:17, Eph 1:18, Jam 1:5
Reciprocal: 1Ki 8:36 – thou teach 2Ch 6:27 – when thou hast 2Ch 30:18 – The good Psa 25:5 – Lead Psa 51:13 – ways Psa 86:5 – thou Psa 94:10 – teacheth man Psa 119:7 – when Psa 119:26 – teach Psa 125:1 – that trust Psa 139:24 – and lead Psa 143:10 – Teach Psa 145:9 – good Pro 2:9 – General Pro 3:6 – and Pro 15:19 – the way of the righteous Isa 2:3 – he will teach Isa 30:21 – thine ears Isa 35:8 – the wayfaring Isa 48:17 – which teacheth Isa 54:13 – all Isa 61:8 – I will direct Jer 50:5 – ask Lam 3:25 – good Nah 1:7 – Lord Zep 2:3 – all Mat 1:20 – while Mat 13:11 – Because Luk 1:79 – to guide Joh 7:17 – General Joh 8:32 – ye shall Joh 9:37 – Thou Joh 14:26 – he Act 8:31 – How Act 9:6 – and it Act 10:2 – and prayed Act 17:12 – many Act 18:25 – instructed Act 22:10 – What Gal 5:18 – if Phi 3:15 – God
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 25:8-9. Good and upright is the Lord Bountiful and gracious, ready to do good, and delighting in it: and right, or righteous, (as , jashar, here rendered upright, means,) that is, holy and true, sincere in making promises, and in all his declarations and offers of mercy to sinners, and faithful in fulfilling them. Therefore will he teach sinners the way Being such a one, he will not be wanting to such poor sinners as I am, but will guide them by his Word and Spirit, and gracious providence, into the way of life and peace. By sinners he doth not intend all that are so; for such as are obstinate, proud, and scornful, God hath declared he will not teach or direct, but will leave them to the errors and lusts of their own hearts; but only such as, being truly sensible of their sins, do humbly and earnestly seek of God grace and mercy; or such as are meek, as the next verse explains it, that is, humble and gentle, and who meekly submit themselves to Gods hand, and are willing and desirous to be directed and governed by him. These he will guide in judgment That is, in the paths of judgment, in the right way in which they ought to walk; and by the rule of his word, which is often called his judgment: or, with judgment, that is, with a wise and provident care and a due regard to all their circumstances.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
25:8 Good and upright [is] the LORD: therefore will he {f} teach sinners in the way.
(f) That is, call them to repentance.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
2. Repetition of the request 25:8-22
The same petitions for guidance and pardon recur, but this time the basis of David’s request is the character of God. Psa 25:8-10 develop the psalmist’s prayer for instruction and guidance in Psa 25:4-5, and Psa 25:11 develops his prayer for forgiveness in Psa 25:6-7.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
God is good, upright, loving, and faithful. Because He is this way, He teaches sinners and guides the humble, those who sense their need for His help. He does so through His covenant (the Mosaic Law) and testimonies.