Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/3_600_e.lzh/3_608.TXT

Text File | 1995-01-30 | 7KB | 132 lines

\*Ver. 12. \\Who can understand [his] errors\\? &c.] Sin
is an error, a wandering out of the way of God, swerving
from the rule of his word; and many mistakes are
made by the people of God themselves; even so many
that they cannot number them; they are more than
the hairs of their head; they cannot understand, find
out and express, neither their number, nor their evil
nature, nor the many aggravating circumstances which
attend them: this the psalmist said, upon a view of
the large extent, glory, and excellency of the word of
God; and upon comparing himself with it, in which,
as in a glass, he saw how far short he came of it, and
what a disagreement and want of conformity there was
in him unto it; see \\#Ps 119:97 Ro 7:14\\; and
he suggests, that though the word he had been describing
was perfect, pure, and clean, he was not;
nor could he expect any reward of debt, but merely
of grace, for his observance of it; and that it was best,
under a sense of sin, to have recourse, not to works of
righteousness done by men; but to the grace and mercy
of God in Christ, as follows:
\*\\cleanse thou me from secret [faults]\\;
by which are meant not such sins as are
done in secret, and are unknown to men; such as
David's sin with Bathsheba, \\#2Sa 12:12\\; nor the
inward motions of sin in the heart, to which none are
privy but God, and a man's own soul; not but that each
of these may be properly enough included in such a
petition; but sins, which are unknown to a man himself
are meant: there are some actions, which, though
known when committed, are not known to be sinful
ones; and there are some sins which are committed
unadvisedly, and through carelessness, and pass unobserved;
not only many vain and sinful thoughts pass to
and fro uncontrolled, without being taken notice of;
but many foolish and idle words are spoken, and many
evil actions, through infirmity and inadvertency, are
done, which, when a good man, at the close of a day,
comes to reflect upon the things that have passed in it,
are quite hidden from him, are unknown to him, being
unobserved by him; wherefore such a petition is highly
proper to be inserted in his address at the throne of
grace: and which also supposes the person sensible of
the defiling nature of sin, and of his own impotency to
cleanse himself from it; and that God only can do it,
who does it by the application of the blood of his
son, which cleanses from all sin; for this respects not
regenerating and sanctifying grace, but pardoning
grace; a manifestation of it, a view of acquittance from
sin by Christ, and of freedom from obligation to punishment for it.

\*Ver. 13. \\Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous
[sins]\\, &c.] Some understand these words of persons:
the Septuagint, and the versions that follow that,
render it %from strangers%: such who are strangers to
God and godliness; that is, keep from all conversation
with them in things sinful, or from others' sins; from
having a fellowship with them, being a partaker of
them, lest their plagues and punishments should be
shared in: others, as the Targum, %from proud men%,
who are haughty, insolent, and conceited of themselves;
lest he should be so corrupted and drawn aside
by them: but rather the words are to be understood
of sins willfully, contumaciously, and presumptuously
committed; and the petition supposes, that these may
be committed by good men, if left to themselves; and
that there is a proneness in them to them; and that
they would rush into them, were they not kept back
and restrained by the powerful and efficacious grace
of God: and it also supposes that the saints cannot
keep themselves; that God only can keep them from
evil; and therefore they pray to him that he would,
who does keep them by his power, at least from a final
and total falling away
\*\\let them not have dominion
over me\\: neither presumptuous sins, nor any other,
\\#Ps 119:133\\; as they shall not, \\#Ro 6:14\\; as sin
has over wicked men; and they yield a ready obedience
to the laws and lusts of it; it reigns over them as a
king and tyrant, even unto death: it is something very
powerful in good men; it prevails over them, and
carries them captive; wherefore they pray it may not
have a continued dominion, as it shall not; because
they are in another kingdom, and under grace as a
governing principle, which reigns through righteousness
unto eternal life;
\*\\then shall I be upright\\; in
heart, and walk uprightly in conversation; being
cleansed from secret faults, and kept from notorious
crimes, and gross enormities; and shall exercise a conscience
void of offence, both to God and man; and be
%perfect%, as the word is sometimes rendered, at least
comparatively; and absolutely so, as washed in Christ's
blood, and justified by his righteousness;
\*\\and I shall
be innocent from the great transgression\\; which some
understand of pride, others of apostacy; perhaps the
sin against the Holy Ghost may be intended; though
the words may be rendered, %from much transgression% {k};
and the sense is, that he should be cleared and acquitted
of a multitude of transgressions he had been guilty of;
or be preserved from much sin, which otherwise he
should have fallen into.

\*Ver. 14. \\Let the words of my mouth\\, &c.] Meaning
either his speech in common conversation, which should
not be filthy and foolish, rotten and corrupt; but such
as ministers grace to the hearer: or else his address to
God, both in prayer and thanksgiving;
\*\\and the meditation of my heart\\; his inward thoughts continually
revolving in his mind; or his meditation on the word
of God and divine things; or mental prayer, which is
not expressed, only conceived in the mind;
\*\\be acceptable in thy sight\\; as words and thoughts are, when
they are according to the word of God; and as the
sacrifices of prayer, whether vocal or mental, and of
praise, are through Jesus Christ our Lord. The
psalmist, in order to strengthen his faith in God, that
he should be heard and answered in the petitions he
put up, makes use of the following epithets:
\*\\O Lord, my strength\\, or %rock% {l},
\*\\and my Redeemer\\; who had
been the strength of his life and of his salvation, the
rock on which he was built and established, and the
Redeemer who had redeemed his life from destruction,
and out of the hands of all his enemies, and from all
his iniquities.


{k} \^br\^ %multa%, Montanus, Rivetus, Gejerus, Cocceius; so Ainsworth.
{l} \^yrwu\^ %rupes mea%, Musculus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius;
%mea petra%, Pagninus, Montanus, Rivetus; so Ainsworth.