Psalm 32 · Passage · Shame and Guilt
Whose Sin Is Covered
Psalm 32 is a Maskil of David in eleven verses, from its two blessings to its call to rejoice.
The Hebrew verb for the sin God covers in Psalm 32:1 is the verb David uses when he says he stopped hiding his iniquity.
Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.
- The passage
- Psalm 32:1 to 11
- Book
- Psalms
- Hold in memory
- Psalm 32:5
Summary
Psalm 32 tells of a man who kept silent about his sin until God's hand lay heavy on him day and night. After its turn the psalm counsels the godly, warns the stubborn and calls the upright to rejoice. It sets out confession as the door from the misery of hidden guilt into the joy of the forgiven.
- The blessed man of Psalm 32:1 to 2 is one whose sin God has forgiven, covered and declined to count against him.
- When David acknowledged his sin, the LORD forgave the guilt of his sin (Psalm 32:5).
- Paul cites the psalm's opening blessing as David's witness to righteousness credited apart from works (Romans 4:6 to 8).
Blessed Is He
The heading names David, and the first two verses pronounce the forgiven blessed.
This study reads Psalm 32 from its first word to its last. It belongs to the trial of shame and guilt because it describes from the inside the weight of a sin kept secret and the relief of confessing it.
The question it answers is what kept David in misery and what brought him out. It gives the psalm's Hebrew words for sin and for its removal, its movement from silence to joy, the counsel and the warning that close it, and two teachers who expounded it. It sets out two questions readers ask of it, who speaks in Psalm 32:8 and whether the psalm belongs to David's sin with Bathsheba.
The psalm's heading ascribes it to David and calls it a Maskil, a title read as marking an instructive psalm.
Blessed is the man whose iniquity the LORD does not count against him, in whose spirit there is no deceit.The second blessing adds that the forgiven man has no deceit in his spirit, the honesty the psalm shows David learning.
The two blessings name sin with three Hebrew words, pesha, which Strong's glosses "a revolt", chata'ah, "an offence", and avon, "perversity". They name its removal with three verbs, nasa, glossed "is forgiven", kasah, "is covered", and chashab, "he reckons".
The study of imputation follows Paul's use of these two verses in Romans 4.
From Silence to Joy
The turn comes at the fifth verse.
Seven rungs carry the psalm from David's silence to the joy of the upright.
| Rung | Verse | The Berean words | What changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Silence | Psalm 32:3 | When I kept silent, my bones became brittle | Sin kept hidden wears down the body. |
| The heavy hand | Psalm 32:4 | Your hand was heavy upon me | David feels the pressure as God's own hand. |
| Confession | Psalm 32:5 | I acknowledged my sin to You | David names his sin to God. |
| Forgiveness | Psalm 32:5 | You forgave the guilt of my sin | God answers in the same verse. |
| The hiding place | Psalm 32:7 | You are my hiding place | The man who hid his sin now hides in God. |
| Instruction | Psalm 32:8 | I will instruct you and teach you | The forgiven man is taught the way to go. |
| Joy | Psalm 32:11 | Be glad in the LORD and rejoice | The upright in heart are called to rejoice. |
Selah stands three times in the psalm, after Psalm 32:4, Psalm 32:5 and Psalm 32:7, at the end of the heavy hand, the forgiveness and the hiding place.
Pray While He May Be Found
After his own story David turns to counsel the godly and to warn the stubborn.
Therefore let all the godly pray to You while You may be found. Surely when great waters rise, they will not come near.David turns from his own story to all the godly, so his forgiveness becomes a call to others to pray in time.
Do not be like the horse or mule, which have no understanding; they must be controlled with bit and bridle to make them come to you.The warning shows what the instruction before it asks for, a will that comes without being forced.
Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but loving devotion surrounds him who trusts in the LORD.It stands at the close because it sets the end of the one who trusts beside the end of the wicked.
Archibald Symson's exposition of 1638 called Psalm 32 "the Third of the Penitentials", one of the seven psalms of repentance.
How the Psalm Has Been Taught
Two bishops of the fourth and fifth centuries taught the psalm's covering of sin and its confession.
died 397 · Ambrose of Milan
Letter 70, To Horontianus
Ambrose taught that sins God remits are taken away so that they are as though they did not exist.
The quotation1 quotation
“For some sins Thou dost wash away in the blood of Thy Son, others Thou dost remit unto us, that by good works and confession we may cover our errors. The expression therefore ‘that pardoneth iniquities’, appertains to remission; because He takes them away altogether, so that the things which He remembers not are as though they did not exist.”
Ambrose of Milan · Letter 70, To Horontianus · on Psalm 32:1Patristic
died 430 · Augustine of Hippo
Exposition on Psalm 32
Augustine taught that David confessed against himself and was forgiven as the word of confession formed in his heart.
The quotation1 quotation
“‘I acknowledged my sin, and my unrighteousness have I not hid:’ that is, my unrighteousness have I not concealed. ‘I said, I will confess against myself my unrighteousness to the Lord:’ I said, I will confess, not against God (as in my ungodly crying, when I kept silence), but against myself, my unrighteousness to the Lord. ‘And Thou forgavest the iniquity of my heart’ [Psalm 32:5]; hearing the word of confession in the heart, before it was uttered with the voice.”
Augustine of Hippo · Exposition on Psalm 32 · on Psalm 32:5Patristic
Where Readers Differ
Readers differ on who speaks in Psalm 32:8 and on the occasion of the psalm, and each reading stands with its holder and the strongest objection to it.
God speaks in Psalm 32:8John Wesley; Adam Clarke
John Wesley, in his Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765), took Psalm 32:8 and Psalm 32:9 to be "the words of God, whom David brings in as returning this answer to his prayers". Adam Clarke, in his Commentary on the Bible (1832), wrote, "These are probably the Lord’s words to David."
The objection is that David has already turned to address "all the godly" in Psalm 32:6, so the teacher of Psalm 32:8 can be David himself.
David speaks in Psalm 32:8Jamieson, Fausset and Brown
The Commentary Critical and Explanatory of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown (1871) took the verse to be, "as most likely, the language of David", and compared Psalm 51:13.
The objection is that the promise to keep watch over the one taught suits God, since Psalm 33:18 says "the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear Him".
The psalm follows David's sin with BathshebaCharles Spurgeon
Charles Spurgeon, in The Treasury of David (1870), wrote of David that "Probably his deep repentance over his great sin was followed by such blissful peace" that he wrote this psalm. He added, "In the order of history it seems to follow the fifty-first."
The objection is that the psalm names no person and no deed, so its confession could belong to any sin David confessed.
The occasion of the psalm is unknownAlbert Barnes
Albert Barnes, in his Notes, Explanatory and Practical (1832 to 1869), wrote that the occasion "is not intimated, nor is there any way now of ascertaining it". He left open whether David meant his conversion, "the matter of Bathsheba and Uriah" or some other time.
The objection is that the confession and pardon of Psalm 32:5 match 2 Samuel 12:13, where David said, "I have sinned against the LORD", and Nathan answered, "The LORD has taken away your sin".
The Way Out of Hiding
Psalm 32 gives the one who hides a sin its own words to pray.
A reader weighed down by guilt he has kept to himself is given David's way out of it, which is to name the sin to the LORD and to trust His loving devotion. Where that weight lasts and darkens the mind, the care of a pastor and of a doctor belongs beside prayer.
Genesis 3 records the first flight from the presence of the LORD after a wrong.
Sources
Scripture is the Berean Standard Bible.
- STEP Bible, the tagged Hebrew Bible (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0.
- STEP Bible brief lexicon of Extended Strongs for Hebrew (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0, with the Strong's glosses.
- Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832 to 1869), the introduction to Psalm 32.
- C. H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, volume 2 (1870), Psalm 32, the title note and the list of works.
- Ambrose of Milan, Letter 70, To Horontianus.
- Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 32 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, first series, volume 8)
- John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765), on Psalm 32:8.
- Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible (1832), on Psalm 32:8.
- Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871), on Psalm 32:8.
Keep Studying
Studies1
In this trial6
People and groups10
Values1
Doctrines1