{"collection":"Bible & Christianity","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/bib/cmt/clarke/psa025.htm","path":"bib/cmt/clarke/psa025.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/bib/cmt/clarke/psa025.htm","text":"Commentary on the Bible, by Adam Clarke, [1831]\nThe psalmist, in great distress, calls upon God frequently, Psa 25:1-5; prays for pardon with the strong confidence of being heard, Psa 25:6-11; shows the blessedness of the righteous, Psa 25:12-14; again earnestly implores the Divine mercy; and prays for the restoration of Israel, Psa 25:15-22.\nThis Psalm seems to refer to the case of the captives in Babylon, who complain of oppression from their enemies, and earnestly beg the help and mercy of God.\nIt is the first of those called acrostic Psalms, i.e., Psalms each line of which begins with a several letter of the Hebrew alphabet in their common order. Of acrostic Psalms there are seven, viz., 25, 34, 37, Psa 111:1-10, Psa 112:1-10, 119, and 145. It is fashionable to be violent in encomiums on the Jews for the very faithful manner in which they have preserved the Hebrew Scriptures; but these encomiums are, in general, ill placed. Even this Psalm is a proof with what carelessness they have watched over the sacred deposit committed to their trust. The letter \u05d5 vau is wanting in the fifth verse, and \u05e7 koph in the eighteenth; the letter \u05e8 resh being twice inserted, once instead of \u05e7 koph, and a whole line added at the end, entirely out of the alphabetical series.\nDo I lift up my soul - His soul was cast down, and by prayer and faith he endeavours to lift it up to God.\nI trust in thee - I depend upon thy infinite goodness and mercy for my support and salvation.\nLet me not be ashamed - Hide my iniquity, and forgive my guilt.\nLet none that wait on thee be ashamed - Though he had burden enough of his own, he felt for others in similar circumstances, and became an intercessor in their behalf.\nTransgress without cause - Perhaps \u05d1\u05d5\u05d2\u05d3\u05d9\u05dd bogedim may here mean idolatrous persons. \"Let not them that wait upon and worship thee be ashamed: but they shall be ashamed who vainly worship, or trust in false gods.\" See Mal 2:11-16. The Chaldeans have evil entreated us, and oppressed us: they trust in their idols, let them see the vanity of their idolatry.\nShow me thy ways - The psalmist wishes to know God's way, to be taught his path, and to be led into his truth. He cannot discern this way unless God show it; he cannot learn the path unless God teach it; and he cannot walk in God's truth unless God lead him: and even then, unless God continue to teach, he shall never fully learn the lessons of his salvation; therefore he adds, \"Lead me in thy truth, and teach me;\" Psa 25:5.\nThat he may get this showing, teaching, and leading, he comes to God, as the \"God of his salvation;\" and that he may not lose his labor, he \"waits on him all the day.\" Many lose the benefit of their earnest prayers, because they do not persevere in them. They pray for a time; get remiss or discouraged; restrain prayer; and thus lose all that was already wrought for and in them.\nOn thee do I wait - This is the line in which \u05d5 vau, the sixth letter in the order of the alphabet, is lost; for the line begins with \u05d0 aleph, \u05d0\u05d5\u05ea\u05da othecha, \"on thee.\" But four of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS. have \u05d5\u05d0\u05d5\u05ea\u05da veothecha, \"And upon thee.\" This restores the lost \u05d5 vau, which signifies \"and.\" The Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate, Arabic, Ethiopic, and Anglo-Saxon, preserve it.\nRemember, O Lord, thy tender mercies, and thy loving-kindness - The word \u05e8\u05d7\u05de\u05d9\u05dd rachamim, means the commiseration that a man feels in his bowels at the sight of distress. The second word, \u05d7\u05e1\u05d3\u05d9\u05dd chasadim, signifies those kindnesses which are the offspring of a profusion of benevolence.\nThey have been ever of old - Thou wert ever wont to display thyself as a ceaseless fountain of good to all thy creatures.\nRemember not the sins of my youth - Those which I have committed through inconsiderateness, and heat of passion.\nAccording to thy mercy - As it is worthy of thy mercy to act according to the measure, the greatness, and general practice of thy mercy; so give me an abundant pardon, a plentiful salvation.\nFor thy goodness' sake - Goodness is the nature of God; mercy flows from that goodness.\nGood and upright is the Lord - He is good in his nature, and righteous in his conduct.\nTherefore 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.\nThe meek will he guide - \u05e2\u05e0\u05d5\u05d9\u05dd anavim, the poor, the distressed; he will lead in judgment - he will direct them in their cause, and bring it to a happy issue, for he will show them the way in which they should go.\nAll the paths of the Lord - \u05d0\u05e8\u05d7\u05d5\u05ea orchoth signifies the tracks or ruts made by the wheels of wagons by often passing over the same ground. Mercy and truth are the paths in which God constantly walks in reference to the children of men; and so frequently does he show them mercy, and so frequently does he fulfill his truth that his paths are earnestly discerned. How frequent, how deeply indented, and how multiplied are those tracks to every family and individual! Wherever we go, we see that God's mercy and truth have been there by the deep tracks they have left behind them. But he is more abundantly merciful to those who keep his covenant and his testimonies; i.e. those who are conformed, not only to the letter, but to the spirit of his pure religion.\nFor thy name's sake, O Lord, pardon - I have sinned; I need mercy; there is no reason why thou shouldst show it, but what thou drawest from the goodness of thy own nature.\nThat feareth the Lord - Who has a proper apprehension of his holiness, justice, and truth; and who, at the same time, sees himself a fallen spirit, and a transgressor of God's holy law, and consequently under the curse. That is the person that truly and reverently fears God.\nHim shall he teach - Such a person has a teachable spirit.\nThe way that he shall choose - The way that in the course of Providence he has chosen, as the way in which he is to gain things honest in the sight of all men; God will bless him in it, and give him as much earthly prosperity as may be useful to his soul in his secular vocation.\nHis soul shall dwell at ease - \u05d1\u05d8\u05d5\u05d1 \u05ea\u05dc\u05d9\u05df betob talin, \"shall lodge in goodness;\" this is the marginal reading in our version; and is preferable to that in the text.\nHis seed shall inherit - His posterity shall be blessed. For them many prayers have been sent up to God by their pious fathers; and God has registered these prayers in their behalf.\nThe secret of the Lord is with them - \u05d8\u05d5\u05d3 sod, the secret assembly of the Lord is with them that fear him; many of them have a Church in their own house.\nHe will show them his covenant - He will let them see how great blessings he has provided for them that love him. Some refer this to the covenant of redemption by Christ Jesus.\nMine eyes are ever toward the Lord - All my expectation is from him alone. If I get at any time entangled, he will pluck my feet out of the net.\nTurn thee unto me - Probably the prayer of the poor captives in Bablyon, which is continued through this and the remaining verses.\nThe troubles of may heart are enlarged - The evils of our captive state, instead of lessening, seem to multiply, and each to be extended.\nLook upon mine affliction - See my distressed condition, and thy eye will affect thy heart.\nForgive all my sins - My sins are the cause of all my sufferings; forgive these.\nThis is the verse which should begin with the letter \u05e7 koph; but, instead of it, we have \u05e8 resh both here, where it should not be, and in the next verse where it should be. Dr. Kennicott reads \u05e7\u05d5\u05de\u05d4 kumah, \"arise,\" and Houbigant, \u05e7\u05e6\u05e8 ketsar, \"cut short.\" The word which began with \u05e7 koph has been long lost out of the verse, as every version seems to have read that which now stands in the Hebrew text.\nConsider mine enemies - Look upon them, and thou wilt see how impossible it is that I should be able to resist and overcome them. They are many, they hate me, and their hatred drives them to acts of cruelty against me.\nO keep my soul - Save me from sin, and keep me alive.\nLet me not be ashamed - He ends as he began; see Psa 25:2 : \"Let me not be confounded, for I put my trust in thee.\"\nLet integrity and uprightness - I wish to have a perfect heart, and an upright life. This seems to be the meaning of these two words.\nRedeems Israel, O God - The people are prayed for in the preceding verses as if one person; now he includes the whole, lest his own personal necessities should narrow his heart. and cause him to forget his fellow sufferers.\nThis verse stands out of the order of the Psalm; and does not appear to have formed a part of the alphabetical arrangement. It is a general prayer for the redemption of Israel from captivity; and may well be applied to those of the true Israel who are seeking for complete redemption from the power, the guilt, and the pollution of sin; and from all the troubles that spring from it. And let it be ever known, that God alone can redeem Israel.","title":"Commentary on the Bible by Adam Clarke: Psalms: Psalms Chapter 25","type":"page"}