Psalm 25:8

Psalm 25 is a personal prayer of David, written as an acrostic in which the verses follow the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, though a few letters are missing in the Hebrew text as we have it. Just before these verses David prays, “Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths” (Psalm 25:4), and “Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day” (Psalm 25:5). He asks the LORD to remember his tender mercies and lovingkindnesses and to forget the sins of his youth (Psalm 25:6–7). Later he asks to be kept from enemies who “hate me with cruel hatred” (Psalm 25:19).

Verses 8 to 10 give the reason David can pray this way, and verse 11 turns that reason straight back into a request. The occasion of the psalm is unstated. Its pleas for pardon fit a time of personal sin, and David’s life had such times, among them his sin with Bathsheba and against Uriah (2 Samuel 11) and the census he took (2 Samuel 24).

“Good and upright is the LORD: therefore will he teach sinners in the way.” The word for good, ṭôwb, covers what is kind, pleasant and beneficial as well as what is morally right. Said of the LORD, it speaks of his kindness and his will for the well-being of all he has made, and every gracious thing he does flows from it. Upright, yâshâr, means straight. The LORD is just and true in all his dealings, with nothing crooked or partial in them, so his directions can be trusted to lead to the right place.

“Therefore”, ʿal-kēn in Hebrew, joins who God is to what he does. He teaches because of his own character, and our merit has nothing to do with it. The goodness that wants sinners restored and the uprightness that knows the right road belong together in him, so the one who teaches is both willing and reliable.

The verb for teach, yârâh, has a wide range: to throw or shoot, to water or rain, and to point out or teach. The word Torah, God’s instruction or law, comes from the same root. What God teaches is “the way”, derek, a road or path, and by a figure Israel used constantly, a person’s whole course of life and conduct. To be taught in the way is to be shown how to live, and Israel received that teaching through the law, the prophets and the wisdom of Scripture.

“The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way.” The word meek, ‘ânâv, describes people brought low, whether in mind, as the gentle and humble, or in circumstances, as the needy and afflicted. Such people know their own limits and depend on God, and they are willing to do his will. The proud and self-sufficient trust their own strength and wisdom, and that pride shuts out his instruction.

Guide is dârak, a verb meaning to tread or walk, and also to lead or guide. It belongs with derek, the road as trodden, so the picture is of God leading the meek along his road. He guides them “in judgment”, mishpat, which is what is just and right. He gives them discernment to decide well and to act justly. He also teaches them “his way”, the course of life that follows his will and reflects his character, so his guidance covers single decisions and the direction of a whole life.

The two lines say much the same thing in different words, as Hebrew poetry often does, and “the meek” stands at the head of both. Humility is where God’s teaching is received. “God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5), and James says the same (James 4:6). “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18). Proverbs promises that those who trust the LORD with all their heart and acknowledge him in all their ways will have their paths directed by him (Proverbs 3:5–6), and Jesus said, “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5). To be meek in this sense is to be teachable, open to correction, and ready to put God’s word above our own wishes.

“All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.” Paths, ʼôrach, means a well-trodden road, a course or way of life, and it comes from a verb meaning to travel. It is another word for a road, alongside derek. Here the paths are the LORD’s own: his ways of acting and all his dealings with his people. “All” takes in every one of them, his discipline and judgment included.

Each of those paths is mercy and truth. Mercy, cheçed, is kindness, the faithful and loyal love God shows and keeps within his covenant. Truth, ʼemeth, means stability, certainty and trustworthiness. God is dependable and true to his word. Together the two describe a love that holds firm. They are the words the LORD used of himself when he proclaimed his name to Moses after the golden calf: “The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth” (Exodus 34:6). Moses later told Israel that the LORD is the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy with those who love him and keep his commandments (Deuteronomy 7:9).

The covenant, bᵉrîyth, is a covenant, alliance or treaty. It framed Israel’s whole relationship with the LORD, made with Abraham (Genesis 15) and with the nation through Moses at Sinai (Exodus 19–24). God gave promises, and Israel bound itself to obey, with blessing set before an obedient people (Deuteronomy 28:1). The testimonies, ʻêdâh, are God’s witness, the laws and decrees by which he made his will known. To keep them, nâtsar, is to guard, maintain and obey them. Keeping his covenant means living within the relationship on its terms, and keeping his testimonies means doing what he has said.

“For thy name’s sake, O LORD, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great.” Having spoken about the LORD, David now speaks to him. He uses the covenant name, Yᵉhôvâh, which comes from the Hebrew verb “to be” and speaks of the God who exists of himself, eternal and faithful to his promises. David calls on the God who has already shown himself merciful to his people.

The ground of his plea is that name. In Israel a name, shem, stood for a person’s whole character, reputation and authority. To ask God to act for his name’s sake is to ask him to act as he has revealed himself to be: merciful, gracious, faithful and holy. David rests the whole request on God’s character and brings no merit, ritual or righteousness of his own.

God does act for his name. Moses pleaded for Israel on that ground after the golden calf (Exodus 32:11–14). Through Isaiah the LORD says, “I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake” (Isaiah 43:25), and “For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted? and I will not give my glory unto another” (Isaiah 48:11). Through Ezekiel he tells Israel, “I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name’s sake” (Ezekiel 36:22–23). When God forgives, his holiness and his mercy are both shown, and his name is honoured.

Pardon, çâlach, is the Hebrew verb for forgiveness whose subject is always God, since he alone can forgive in this way. David asks for the guilt itself to be taken away and the relationship restored. Iniquity, ʻâvôn, carries the sense of perversity and guilt, the crookedness of sin together with the blame it brings. “Mine iniquity” shows that David owns it.

Everything these verses say about the LORD comes to us fully in Jesus. He is the perfect showing of God’s goodness and uprightness, “the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person” (Hebrews 1:3). He came to teach sinners in the way. He ate with them (Mark 2:15–17), forgave them (Luke 7:47–50) and said he had come to call sinners to repentance (Matthew 9:13). He is himself the way David asked to be taught: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).

He is also the meek one of verse 9: “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls” (Matthew 11:29). God has made him our wisdom and righteousness (1 Corinthians 1:30), and the Spirit he sends carries on the guiding of verse 9: “when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth” (John 16:13). Those who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God (Romans 8:14).

The mercy and truth of verse 10 became flesh in him, for the Word dwelt among us “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). The Greek charis, grace, carries much of the weight of cheçed, and alētheia, truth, answers to ʼemeth. In him all God’s promises are yea (2 Corinthians 1:20). His blood established the new covenant (Luke 22:20), under which God writes his laws on his people’s hearts (Hebrews 8:10), so that by his Spirit they keep his covenant and his testimonies from a changed heart.

And the pardon of verse 11 is won by him. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). God “hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). When we ask forgiveness for great iniquity, we come in the name above every other, for “there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

These verses give us a way to pray. We can ask God to teach us because he is good and upright, and his willingness to teach sinners covers every one of us. We can come humbly, ready to be corrected, since the meek are the ones he guides. We can trust that each of his dealings with us is faithful love and truth, even in hard and confusing times, and we can keep his word gladly as the path where that love is known. And when our sin is heavy, we can name it as great and still ask for pardon, resting the request on his name, the same ground David stood on.