Chapter Thirty-One

The psalm belongs to David. Its content is the revelation of that satisfied inner state of the author, which resulted from the Lord’s forgiveness of his sin. If we compare this psalm with Psalm 50, in which repentance and prayer for forgiveness are set forth, then the present psalm should be considered as written after Psalm 50, once this forgiveness had been received. The sin to which the historical books point regarding David and similar to the present psalm—Psalm 50—should be considered his sin with Uriah and Bathsheba.

The superscription in the Hebrew Bible “maskil”—can be translated “instruction, teaching,” or as in the Russian Bible—“a psalm of instruction.” This superscription points to the character of the psalm’s content, which presents instruction to a person in true conduct, to which David came through his personal experience and reflection. The psalm, like the sixth, is one of repentance.

Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered (1–2). When I hid my sin, I experienced severe torment (3–4). When I revealed it before the Lord, I felt relief and found in Him protection (5–7). The Lord is merciful to people and commands them not to resist His will and influence, as wild horses resist taming, and then the righteous will be glad before Him, and the wicked will experience many sorrows (8–11).

Psalm 31:1. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered! Psalm 31:2. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit! “To whom transgression is forgiven,” “whose sin is covered,” “imputes no iniquity”—should be understood in the sense of complete moral purification of a person, not merely external or juridical justification, by which a person is recognized merely as not subject to punishment, but free from that moral defect for which he is responsible before God. Complete purification is indicated by the last phrase of the verse—“in whose spirit there is no deceit,” that is, blessed is only he who has purified his spirit, who has undergone a moral rebirth, and is not merely externally justified.

Psalm 31:3. When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long, Psalm 31:4. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as by the heat of summer. “When I kept silent”—David’s repentance for the sin he committed occurred after a year, as can be seen from the comparison of chapters 11 and 12 of 2 Samuel. “My bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.” The voice of conscience tormented David, and he was daily anguished by the consciousness of the transgression he had committed. This anguish of conscience he regarded as “the heaviness of the Lord’s hand,” the consequence of which was David’s physical wasting away—the loss of vigor and vitality.

Psalm 31:5. Then I acknowledged my sin to You and did not hide my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Psalm 31:6. For this let everyone who is godly pray to You at a time when You may be found; surely in the flood of great waters, they will not reach him. To the degree that David felt oppressed by hiding his transgression before God, to that same degree it became easy for him after repentance, for the Lord “forgave the iniquity of my sin.” By the guilt of sin here should be understood not freedom from responsibility, not juridical justification, since David bore punishment in the death of his son born of Bathsheba and subsequently in the revolt of Absalom, but moral and complete purification from the transgression. From the juridical aspect, in David’s marriage to Bathsheba there was even no crime: her husband was killed, she became free, and David could marry her, and if there was no juridical crime, then there could be no juridical justification either; instead there was a complete, actual, and moral purification. “Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to You”—better translated as “therefore let everyone who is godly pray to You.” On the basis of the suffering of conscience experienced by David, he counsels every “righteous man,” one on whom the voice of conscience acts, “at a time when it is proper,” at a time needed for the relief of conscience, that is, at its first call, to repent before God, so that thereby he might achieve both moral peace, and prevent the “flood of great waters,” the force of afflictions with which the Lord will punish him. (“Waters”—in the Bible constantly means numerous and severe afflictions, as in the flood that washed away all the wicked).

Psalm 31:8. “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you. Psalm 31:9. “Do not be like the horse or like the mule, which have no understanding; they must be controlled with bit and bridle, or they will not come to you. God is speaking. The Lord constantly watches over and provides for a person, directing him on the path of truth. One such manifestation of God’s influence upon a person is the voice of conscience, which must be obeyed, and not resisted, like wild horses and mules, whose jaws must be held by bridle to make these animals fit for human service. Such a bridle should be regarded as the afflictions sent by God upon a person for the purpose of instructing him, restraining him, bridling his wild sinful inclinations. God desires and awaits from a person voluntary obedience to Him, sincere repentance before Him.