Psalms 19:12

_WHO CAN UNDERSTAND HIS ERRORS? CLEANSE THOU ME FROM SECRET FAULTS._ His errors, х_ SHªGIY'OWT_ (H7691), from _ SHAAGAH_ (H7686), to wander] - all failings and infirmities of the believer. The Hebrew is used in Leviticus 4:2; Leviticus 4:13; Leviticus 4:22; Leviticus 4:27, as to sins of ignorance; not sins in general, or gross sins, but sins which, by their unobserved fineness, escape notice. "Errors" is further explained by the parallel term "secret (faults)." Who can understand them all? None except God. To Him the b

12._Who can understand his errors? _This exclamation shows us what use we should make of the promises of the law, which have a condition annexed to them. It is this: As soon as they come forth, every man should examine his own life, and compare not only his actions, but also his thoughts, with that perfect rule of righteousness which is laid down in the law. Thus it will come to pass, that all, from the least to the greatest, seeing themselves cut off from all hope of reward from the law, will be constrained to flee for refuge to the mercy of God. It is not enough to consider what the doctrine of the law contains; we must also look into ourselves, that we may see how far short we have come in our obedience to the law. Whenever the Papists hear this promise, “He who doeth these things shall live in them,” (Leviticus 18:5,)...

11-14 God's word warns the wicked not to go on in his wicked way, and warns the righteous not to turn from his good way. There is a reward, not only after keeping, but in keeping God's commandments. Religion makes our comforts sweet, and our crosses easy, life truly valuable, and death itself truly desirable. David not only desired to be pardoned and cleansed from the sins he had discovered and confessed, but from those he had forgotten or overlooked. All discoveries of sin made to us by the law, should drive us to the throne of grace, there to pray. His dependence was the same with that of every Christian who says, Surely in the Lord Jesus have I righteousness and strength. No prayer can be acceptable before God which is not offered in the strength of our Redeemer or Divine Kinsman, through Him who took our nature upon him, that he might redeem us unto God, and restore the long-lost in...

Verse Psalms 19:12. _WHO CAN UNDERSTAND_ HIS _ERRORS?_] It is not possible, without much of the Divine light, to understand all our _deviations_ from, not only the _letter_, but the _spirituality_, of the Divine law. Frequent self-examination, and walking in the light, are essentially necessary to the requisite degree of spiritual perfection. _CLEANSE THOU ME FROM SECRET_ FAULTS.] From those which I have committed, and have forgotten; from those for which I have not repented; from those which have been committed in my heart, but have not been brought to act in my life; from those which I have committed without knowing that they were sins, sins of _ignorance_; and from those which I have committed in private, for which I should blush and be confounded were they to be made public....

WHO CAN UNDERSTAND HIS ERRORS? - The word rendered errors is derived from a verb which means to wander, to go astray; then, to do wrong, to transgress. It refers here to wanderings, or departures from the law of God, and the question seems to have been asked in view of the purity, the strictness, and the extent of the law of God. In view of a law so pure, so holy, so strict in its demands, and so extended in its requirements - asserting jurisdiction over the thoughts, the words, and the whole life - who can recall the number of times that he has departed from such a law? A sentiment somewhat similar is found in Psalms 119:96, “I have seen an end of all perfection; thy commandment is exceeding broad.” The language is such as every man who has any just sense of the nature and the requirements of the law, and a just view of his own life, must use in reference to

EXPOSITION THE nineteenth psalm is one of meditative praise. The psalmist, looking abroad over the whole world, finds two main subjects for his eulogy—first, the glorious fabric of the material creation (Psalms 19:1); and, secondly, the Divine Law which God has given to man (Psalms 19:7). Having thus poured out his heart in praise and thanksgiving to God, he turns his eye inward upon himself, and finds many shortcomings (Psalms 19:12). The thought of these leads him to prayer, and so the hymn concludes with a few short petitions (Psalms 19:12). Rhythmically, the divisions correspond to the changes

WHO CAN UNDERSTAND [HIS] ERRORS?.... 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 Psalms 119:97; 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; a...

This Psalm has the same subject as Psalms 119:1. Both of them are full of praise of God's Word. God has written two books for us to read,-the volume of the Creation and the volume of the Sacred Scriptures,-and these two are in complete harmony. Happy are they who can read both these books, and see the same vein of teaching running through every page. Psalms 19:1. _The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork._ The heavens are always declaring God's glory; if we gaze up to them by day or by night, we always read in them the power, the wisdom, the goodness, the greatness, the immutability of God. Psalms 19:2. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night

XIX. A. PSALMS 19:1. THE REVELATION OF GOD IN NATURE. A fragment of a longer poem. Day and night are pictured as living beings who hand on the tradition of God's creative act from age to age (see Job 3:3 *). Psalms 19:3 is a prosaic gloss to guard against any idea that the heavenly bodies speak in the literal sense. Psalms 19:4. for line read voice. IN THEM: _i.e._ in the heavens, but the text is probably corrupt. XIX. B. PSALMS 19:7. AN INDEPENDENT POEM IN PRAISE OF THE LAW. In...

UNDERSTAND. discern. HIS. Not in Hebrew text. ERRORS. wanderings. Like those of the "planets" (= wanderers). CLEANSE. clear, or acquit. Hebrew. _nakah._ SECRET. hidden things; things that are not discerned....