Psalms 99:8

"You heard them," he says, "O Lord our God: You were forgiving to them, O God" [Psalm 99:8]. God is not said to be forgiving toward anything but sins: when He pardons sins, then He forgives. And what had He in them to punish, so that He was forgiving in pardoning them? He was forgiving in pardoning their sins, He was also forgiving in punishing them. For what follows? "And punished all their own affections." Even in punishing them You were forgiving toward them: for not in remitting, but also in punishing their sins, have You been forgiving. Consider, my brethren, what he has taught us here: attend. God is angry with him whom, when he sins, He scourges not: for unto him to whom He is truly forgiving, He not only remits sins, that they may not injure him in a future life; but also chastens him, that he delight not in continual sin.

3 Let them praise thy great and terrible name; for it is holy. 4 The king's strength also loveth judgment; thou dost establish equity, thou executest judgment and righteousness in Jacob. 5 Exalt ye the L ORD our God, and worship at his footstool; for he is holy.

quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — scripture-overlap:96%@v3-5

Thou answeredst them, O Lord our God,....

The experience of these servants of God is cited for encouragement. among . . . priests, among . . . upon the Lord [and] He spake . . . pillar--may be referred to all three (compare Ex 18:19;

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

Thou answeredst them, 0 Lord our God. A sweet title and a cheering fact. Our covenant God in a very special manner heard his three servants when they pleaded for the people. Thou wast a God that forgavest them, though thou tookest vengeance of their inventions. He forgave the sinners, but he slew their sins. Some apply this verse to Moses, Aaron, and Samuel, and remind us that each of these fell into a fault and received chastisement. Of Samuel they assert that, for having set up his sons as his successors, he was compelled to submit to the anointing of Saul as king, which was a great grief to him: this is to our mind a very doubtful statement, and leads us to abandon the interpretation altogether. We believe that the passage refers to the nation which was spared through the intercession of these three holy men, but yet was severely chastened for its transgressions. In answer to the cry of Moses the tribes lived on, but the then existing generation could not enter Canaan: Aaron's golden calf was broken, though the fire of the Lord did not consume the people; and Israel smarted under the harsh government of Saul, though at Samuel's request its murmurings against the theocratic rule of their fathers' God was not visited with pestilence or famine. So to forgive sin as at the same time to express abhorrence of it, is the peculiar glory of God, and is best seen in the atonement of our Lord Jesus. Reader, are you a believer? Then your sin is forgiven you; but so surely as you are a child of God the rod of paternal discipline will be laid upon you if your walk be not close with God. "You only have I known of all the nations of the earth, therefore I will punish you for your iniquities."