Psalms 32:9

9._Be not like the horse or mule. _David now briefly explains the amount of the counsel which he formerly said he would give. He exhorts all to learn with quietness, to lay aside stubbornness, and to put on the spirit of meekness. There is much wisdom, too, in the advice which he gives to the godly to correct their hardihood; for if we were as attentive to God’s corrections as we ought, every one would eagerly hasten to seek his favor. Whence is so much slowness to be found in all, but that we are either stupid or refractory? By likening the refractory, therefore, to brute beasts, David puts them to shame, and at the same time declares that it will avail them nothing to “kick against the pricks.” Men, says he, know how to tame the fierceness of horses by bridles and bits; what then do they think God will do when he finds them intractable?...

8-11 God teaches by his word, and guides with the secret intimations of his will. David gives a word of caution to sinners. The reason for this caution is, that the way of sin will certainly end in sorrow. Here is a word of comfort to saints. They may see that a life of communion with God is far the most pleasant and comfortable. Let us rejoice, O Lord Jesus, in thee, and in thy salvation; so shall we rejoice indeed...

Verse Psalms 32:9. _BE YE NOT AS THE HORSE_ OR _AS THE MULE_] They will only act by _force_ and _constraint_; be not like _them_; give a _willing_ _service_ to your Maker. "They have no understanding;" you have a _rational soul_, made to be guided and influenced by _reason_. The service of your God is a _reasonable service_; act, therefore, as a _rational being_. The horse and the mule are turned with difficulty; they must be constrained with _bit_ and _bridle_. Do not _be like them_; do not oblige your Maker to have continual recourse to afflictions, trials, and severe dispensations of providence, to keep you in the way, or to recover you after you have gone out of it....

BE YE NOT AS THE HORSE - The horse as it is by nature - wild, ungoverned, unwilling to be caught and made obedient. The counsel referred to in the previous verse is here given; and it is, that one who wishes to obtain the favor of God should not be as the wild and unbroken horse, an animal that can be subdued only by a curb, but should evince a calm, submissive spirit - a spirit “disposed” to obey and submit. If he becomes a subject of God’s government, he is not to be subdued and held as the horse is - by mere force; there must be the cheerful submission of the will. People are not brought into the service of God by physical power; they are not kept there by an iron “curb.” They come and yield themselves willingly to his law; they “must” come with that spirit if they would find the favor of God. OR AS THE MULE - The mule is distinguished for its obstinacy, and this is evidently the grou...

EXPOSITION THIS psalm has been selected by the Church for one of the "seven penitential psalms." It forms a part of the service of the synagogue on the great Day of Atonement. Yet it is almost as much jubilant as penitent. It opens with two beatitudes. The writer, while very sensible of his sin (Psalms 32:3), is still more sensible of the fact that his sin is pardoned (Psalms 32:1, Psalms 32:2, Psalms 32:7, Psalms 32:10). While his first words breathe content and gratitude, his last are a shout of rejoicing ...

BE YE NOT AS THE HORSE, [OR] AS THE MULE, [WHICH] HAVE NO UNDERSTANDING,.... The design of this exhortation is to direct men how to behave under the instructions given; not as brutes, which have no rational faculties, but as men; that they should not show themselves thoughtless, stupid, and unteachable, as these animals, or worse than they; nor stubborn and obstinate, refractory and untractable, resolving not to be taught, stopping the ear, and pulling away the shoulder; nor ill natured and mischievous; not only hating instruction, casting away the law of the Lord, but kicking and spurning at, and persecuting such who undertake to instruct them; as these creatures sometimes attempt to throw their riders, and, when down, kick at them; WHOSE MOUTH MUST BE HELD IN WITH BIT AND BRIDLE, LEST THEY COME NEAR UNTO THEE; to do mischief, bite or kick; or "because they do not come near to thee" t;...

Psalms 32:1. _Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah. I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah._ Boon over. Once poured into Jehovah's ear out of a contrite heart, and the transgression was gone for ever. May it be so with you, dear hearer. If your sin has never.been forgiven you till to- night, may you this night obtain pardon through confession of sin....

Psalms 32 Fullest Blessing _ 1. The blessedness of righteousness imputed (Psalms 32:1)_ 2. The blessedness of hiding-place (Psalms 32:6) 3. The blessedness of guidance and preservation (Psalms 32:8) Psalms 32:1. This is the first of the 13 Maschil Psalms, the Psalms of special instruction. They tell us of the understanding which the godly in Israel will have in spiritual things (Daniel 12:10). All these Maschil Psalms have reference to the last

XXXII. PARDON OF SIN. Psalms 32:1 f. The joy of Divine pardon. Psalms 32:3. Sin remitted on confession. Psalms 32:6 f. The security of the godly. Read, in time of stress and omit surely. Psalms 32:8_._ Their guidance by God. The general sense is Do not wait till affliction compels recourse to God. Psalms 32:9. Read, Be not like horse and mule which have no understanding, which must be brought to thee by bit and bridle. The rest of the verse is probably a gloss....

HORSE... MULE. Compare Proverbs 26:3. BIT... BRIDLE. See note on "eye", Psalms 32:8. LEST. Otherwise they will not. COME NEAR. draw near: i.e. for help and instruction, so as to understand what they are to do: (1) _to help,_ Hebrew. _karab,_ App-43. (Deuteronomy 4:7. Deu 34:18. Psalms 119:151; Psalms 145:18; Nehemiah 13:4); or (2) _i_. _worship_ ...