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诗篇注释 51 / Psalm 51

加尔文 / John Calvin

We learn the cause which led to the composition of this psalm from the title appended to it, and which will immediately come under our consideration. For a long period after his melancholy fall, David would seem to have sunk into a spiritual lethargy; but when roused from it by the expostulation of Nathan, he was filled with self-loathing and humiliation in the sight of God, and was anxious both to testify his repentance to all around him, and leave some lasting proof of it to posterity. In the commencement of the psalm, having his eyes directed to the heinousness of his guilt, he encourages himself to hope for pardon by considering the infinite mercy of God. This he extols in high terms, and with a variety of expressions, as one who felt that he deserved multiplied condemnation. In the after part of the psalm, he prays for restoration to the favor of God, being conscious that he deserved to have been cast off for ever, and deprived of all the gifts of the Holy Spirit. He promises, should forgiveness be bestowed upon him, to retain a deep and grateful sense of it. Towards the conclusion, he declares it to be for the good of the Church that God should grant his request; and, indeed, when the peculiar manner in which God had deposited his covenant of grace with David is considered, it could not but be felt that the common hope of the salvation of all must have been shaken on the supposition of his final rejection. To the chief musician. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he

我们从附于本诗的题记中得知了促使它写成的缘由，我们马上就要来研究这题记。大卫在那次令人痛心的堕落之后，似乎在相当长的时间内陷入了属灵的沉睡；然而当他被拿单的责问从中唤醒，便在上帝面前充满了自我厌恶与卑微，迫切希望向周围所有的人表明他的悔改，并为后代留下持久的证明。在本诗的开头，他将目光对准自己罪咎的严重性，以上帝无限的怜悯为依靠，鼓励自己存盼得赦免的望。他以高度的赞美与多样的措辞颂扬这怜悯，作为一个深感自己应受加倍定罪的人。在本诗的后半部分，他为恢复上帝的恩宠而祷告，因为他深知自己当永远被抛弃，并被剥夺圣灵的一切恩赐。他应许，倘若蒙赦，他必对此存深刻而感恩的记念。近结尾处，他宣告上帝允准他所求乃是对教会有益的；诚然，当考虑到上帝将恩典之约以特别的方式托付于大卫这一事实，人们不能不感到：若大卫最终被弃绝，众人救恩的共同盼望便会动摇。献给诗班长。大卫的诗，是他与拔示巴

had gone in to Bathsheba.

同寝以后，先知拿单来见他时所作。

When Nathan the prophet came to him Express mention is made of the prophet having come before the psalm was written, proving, as it does, the deep lethargy into which David must have fallen. It was a wonderful circumstance that so great a man, and one so eminently gifted with the Spirit, should have continued in this dangerous state for upwards of a year. Nothing but satanic influence can account for that stupor of conscience which could lead him to despise or slight the divine judgment, which he had incurred. It serves additionally to mark the supineness into which he had fallen, that he seems to have had no compunction for his sin till the prophet came to him. We have here a striking illustration, at the same time, of the mercy of God in sending the prophet to reclaim him when he had wandered. In this view, there is an antithesis in the repetition of the word came. It was when David came in to Bathsheba that Nathan came to him. By that sinful step he had placed himself at a distance from God; and the Divine goodness was signally displayed in contemplating his restoration. We do not imagine that David, during this interval, was so wholly deprived of the sense of religion as no longer to acknowledge the supremacy of the Divine Being. In all probability he continued to pray daily, engaged in the acts of Divine worship, and aimed at conforming his life to the law of God. There is no reason to think that grace was wholly extinct in his heart; but only that he was possessed by a spirit of infatuation upon one particular point, and labored under a fatal insensibility as to his present exposure to Divine wrath. Grace, whatever sparks it might emit in other directions, was smothered, so to speak, in this. Well may we tremble to contemplate the fact, that so holy a prophet, and so excellent a king, should have sunk into such a condition! That the sense of religion was not altogether extinguished in his mind, is proved by the manner in which he was affected immediately upon receiving the prophet’s reproof. Had such been the case, he could not have cried out as he did, “I have sinned against the Lord,” (2 Samuel 12:13;) nor would he have so readily submitted himself, in the spirit of meekness, to admonition and correction. In this respect, he has set an example to all such as may have sinned against God, teaching them the duty of humbly complying with the calls to repentance, which may be addressed to them by his servants, instead of remaining under sin till they be surprised by the final vengeance of Heaven.

当先知拿单来见他时。特别提到先知曾来见他，才写成这篇诗，证明了大卫必已陷入何等深的迷睡。如此伟大、如此蒙灵充足的人，竟在这危险的状态中沉溺一年有余，实在令人惊异。除了撒旦的影响，没有任何东西能解释那良心的麻木——那种麻木能使他藐视或轻视他所招致的神圣审判。他在拿单来见他之前似乎毫无悔改之情，更加彰显了他所陷入的懈怠。同时，这里也是上帝怜悯的一幅动人图景，祂差遣先知在他游荡之时前来召回他。从这个角度看，”来”字的重复使用含有一种对比的意义：大卫”来到”拔示巴那里，于是拿单”来到”他那里。那罪恶的一步使他远离了上帝；而神圣的良善在谋划他的恢复上得以显著彰显。我们不以为大卫在这期间已完全丧失了宗教的感觉，以至于不再承认神圣存在的最高权威。很可能他每日仍在祷告，参与神圣的敬拜，并努力使自己的生活符合上帝的律法。没有理由认为恩典在他心中已完全熄灭，只是他在某一特定点上被一种迷惑之灵所附，并在自己目前暴露于神圣震怒这一点上受到一种致命的麻木。恩典，无论在其他方面还能发出何等的火花，在这方面可谓被窒息熄灭了。我们一想到如此圣洁的先知、如此卓越的君王竟然陷入这样的景况，当惊惧颤抖！他的心中宗教感并未完全熄灭，可从他一受先知责备便立即被深深触动这一事实得到证明。若果是那样，他便不能像他所做的那样呼喊：”我得罪了耶和华”（撒下十二13）；他也不会如此甘心以温柔的心志顺服于劝诫与管教。在这一点上，他为所有曾得罪上帝的人树立了榜样，教导他们的本分是谦卑顺从仆人向他们发出的悔改呼召，而非在罪中停留，直到被天上的最后报应所袭击。

51:1-2

1. Have mercy upon me, O God: according to thy lovingkindness; according to the multitude of thy compassions, blot out my transgressions. 2. Multiply to wash me from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

1上帝啊，求你按你的慈爱怜恤我！按你丰盛的怜悯涂抹我的过犯。2求你将我的罪孽洗除净尽，并洁除我的罪。

1. Have mercy upon me. David begins, as I have already remarked, by praying for pardon; and his sin having been of an aggravated description, he prays with unwonted earnestness. He does not satisfy himself with one petition. Having mentioned the loving-kindness of the Lord, he adds the multitude of his compassions, to intimate that mercy of an ordinary kind would not suffice for so great a sinner. Had he prayed God to be favorable, simply according to his clemency or goodness, even that would have amounted to a confession that his case was a bad one; but when he speaks of his sin as remissible, only through the countless multitude of the compassions of God, he represents it as peculiarly atrocious. There is an implied antithesis between the greatness of the mercies sought for, and the greatness of the transgression which required them. Still more emphatical is the expression which follows, multiply to wash me Some take , 258 herebeh, for a noun, but this is too great a departure from the idiom of the language. The sense, on that supposition, would indeed remain the same, That God would wash him abundantly, and with multiplied washing; but I prefer that form of expression which agrees best with the Hebrew idiom. This, at least, is certain from the expression which he employs, that he felt the stain of his sin to be deep, and to require multiplied washings. Not as if God could experience any difficulty in cleansing the worst sinner, but the more aggravated a man’s sin is, the more earnest naturally are his desires to be delivered from the terrors of conscience. The figure itself, as all are aware, is one of frequent occurrence in Scripture. Sin resembles filth or uncleanness, as it pollutes us, and makes us loathsome in the sight of God, and the remission of it is therefore aptly compared to washing This is a truth which should both commend the grace of God to us, and fill us with detestation of sin. Insensible, indeed, must that heart be which is not affected by it!

1．求你怜恤我。大卫如我已指出的，以祈求赦免为起头；由于他的罪咎性质严重，他以不寻常的热切祈求。他并不满足于一个祈求。提到主的慈爱之后，他又加上祂丰盛的怜悯，表明对于如此大的罪人，普通程度的怜悯是不够的。若他单单求上帝按祂的仁慈或良善施恩，那已经等于承认他的处境是坏的；但当他将自己的罪描述为只有藉上帝无数怜悯方能被赦免，便将其描绘为尤其凶恶。所寻求之怜悯的广大，与需要这怜悯的罪过的广大之间，有一种含蓄的对比。紧随其后的”将我的罪孽洗除净尽”更为有力。有人将 herebeh 视为名词，但这与语言习惯相差太远。即便如此，含义仍然相同——上帝会充分地、以繁多的洗涤洗净他；但我倾向于最符合希伯来语惯用法的那种表达形式。无论如何，从他所用的表达可以确定：他感到自己罪咎的污斑极深，需要繁多的洗涤。并非上帝在洁净最大的罪人时会遇到任何困难，而是一个人的罪愈加严重，他从良心的惊恐中获释的愿望自然愈加迫切。这个比喻本身，众所周知，在圣经中频繁出现。罪如同污秽或不洁，因为它污染我们，使我们在上帝眼中令人厌恶；因此，罪的赦免被恰当地比作洗涤。这是一个既应将上帝的恩典引荐给我们、又应使我们对罪充满憎恶的真理。确实，不被其所触动的心是何等麻木！

51:3-6

3. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is continually before me. 4. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done evil in thy sight; that thou mayest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. 5. Behold, I was born in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. 6. Behold, thou hast desired truth in the inward parts, and hast shown me wisdom in secret.

3我知道我的过犯；我的罪常在我面前。4我向你犯罪，惟独得罪了你，在你眼前行了这恶，以致你责备我的时候显为公义，判断我的时候显为清正。5我是在罪孽里生的，在我母亲怀胎的时候就有了罪。6你所喜爱的是内里诚实；你在我隐密处，必使我得智慧。

1. For If know my sins 259 He now discovers his reason for imploring pardon with so much vehemency, and this was the painful disquietude which his sins caused him, and which could only be relieved by his obtaining reconciliation with God. This proves that his prayer did not proceed from dissimulation, as many will be found commending the grace of God in high terms, although, in reality, they care little about it, having never felt the bitterness of being exposed to his displeasure. David, on the contrary, declares that he is subjected by his sin to constant anguish of mind, and that it is this which imparts such an earnestness to his supplications. From his example we may learn who they are that can alone be said to seek reconciliation with God in a proper manner. They are such as have had their consciences wounded with a sense of sin, and who can find no rest until they have obtained assurance of his mercy. We will never seriously apply to God for pardon, until we have obtained such a view of our sins as inspires us with fear. The more easily satisfied we are under our sins, the more do we provoke God to punish them with severity, and if we really desire absolution from his hand, we must do more than confess our guilt in words; we must institute a rigid and formidable scrutiny into the character of our transgressions. David does not simply say that he will confess his sins to man, but declares that he has a deep inward feeling of them, such a feeling of them as filled him with the keenest anguish. His was a very different spirit from that of the hypocrite, who displays a complete indifference upon this subject, or when it intrudes upon him, endeavors to bury the recollection of it. He speaks of his sins in the plural number. His transgression, although it sprung from one root, was complicated, including, besides adultery, treachery and cruelty; nor was it one man only whom he had betrayed, but the whole army which had been summoned to the field in defense of the Church of God. He accordingly recognises many particular sins as wrapt up in it. 4. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned 260 It is the opinion of some that he here adverts to the circumstance of his sin, although it was committed against man, being concealed from every eye but that of God. None was aware of the double wrong which he had inflicted upon Uriah, nor of the wanton manner in which he had exposed his army to danger; and his crime being thus unknown to men, might be said to have been committed exclusively against God. According to others, David here intimates, that however deeply he was conscious of having injured men, he was chiefly distressed for having violated the law of God. But I conceive his meaning to be, that though all the world should pardon him, he felt that God was the Judge with whom he had to do, that conscience hailed him to his bar, and that the voice of man could administer no relief to him, however much he might be disposed to forgive, or to excuse, or to flatter. His eyes and his whole soul were directed to God, regardless of what man might think or say concerning him. To one who is thus overwhelmed with a sense of the dreadfulness of being obnoxious to the sentence of God, there needs no other accuser. God is to him instead of a thousand. There is every reason to believe that David, in order to prevent his mind from being soothed into a false peace by the flatteries of his court, realised the judgment of God upon his offense, and felt that this was in itself an intolerable burden, even supposing that he should escape all trouble from the hands of his fellow-creatures. This will be the exercise of every true penitent. It matters little to obtain our acquittal at the bar of human judgment, or to escape punishment through the connivance of others, provided we suffer from an accusing conscience and an offended God. And there is, perhaps, no better remedy against deception in the matter of our sins than to turn our thoughts inward upon ourselves, to concentrate them upon God, and lose every self-complacent imagination in a sharp sense of his displeasure. By a violent process of interpretation, some would have us read the second clause of this verse, That thou mayest be justified when thou speakest, in connection with the first verse of the psalm, and consider that it cannot be referred to the sentence immediately preceding. 261 But not to say that this breaks in upon the order of the verses, what sense could any attach to the prayer as it would then run, have mercy upon me, that thou mayest be clear when thou judgest? etc. Any doubt upon the meaning of the words, however, is completely removed by the connection in which they are cited in Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, “For what if some did not believe? Shall God be unjust? God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mayest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.” — Romans 3:3, 4 Here the words before us are quoted in proof of the doctrine that God’s righteousness is apparent even in the sins of men, and his truth in their falsehood. To have a clear apprehension of their meaning, it is necessary that we reflect upon the covenant which God had made with David. The salvation of the whole world having been in a certain sense deposited with him by this covenant, the enemies of religion might take occasion to exclaim upon his fall, “Here is the pillar of the Church gone, and what is now to become of the miserable remnant whose hopes rested upon his holiness? Once nothing could be more conspicuous than the glory by which he was distinguished, but mark the depth of disgrace to which he has been reduced! Who, after so gross a fall, would look for salvation from his seed?” Aware that such attempts might be made to impugn the righteousness of God, David takes this opportunity of justifying it, and charging himself with the whole guilt of the transaction. He declares that God was justified when he spoke — not when he spoke the promises of the covenant, although some have so understood the words, but justified should he have spoken the sentence of condemnation against him for his sin, as he might have done but for his gratuitous mercy. Two forms of expression are here employed which have the same meaning, that thou mayest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest As Paul, in the quotation already referred to, has altered the latter clause, and may even seem to have given a new turn to the sentiment contained in the verse, I shall briefly show how the words were applicable to the purpose for which they were cited by him. He adduces them to prove that God’s faithfulness remained unaffected by the fact that the Jews had broken his covenant, and fallen from the grace which he had promised. Now, at first sight it may not appear how they contain the proof alleged. But their appositeness will at once be seen if we reflect upon the circumstance to which I have already adverted. Upon the fall of one who was so great a pillar in the Church, so illustrious both as a prophet and a king, as David, we cannot but believe that many were shaken and staggered in the faith of the promises. Many must have been disposed to conclude, considering the close connection into which God had adopted David, that he was implicated in some measure in his fall. David, however, repels an insinuation so injurious to the divine honor, and declares, that although God should cast him headlong into everlasting destruction, his mouth would be shut, or opened only to acknowledge his unimpeachable justice. The sole departure which the apostle has made from the passage in his quotation consists in his using the verb to judge in a passive sense, and reading, that thou mightest overcome, instead of, that thou mightest be clear. In this he follows the Septuagint, 262 and it is well known that the apostles do not study verbal exactness in their quotations from the Old Testament. It is enough for us to be satisfied, that the passage answers the purpose for which it was adduced by the apostle. The general doctrine which we are taught from the passage is, that whatever sins men may commit are chargeable entirely upon themselves, and never can implicate the righteousness of God. Men are ever ready to arraign his administration, when it does not correspond with the judgment of sense and human reason. But should God at any time raise persons from the depth of obscurity to the highest distinction, or, on the other hand, allow persons who occupied a most conspicuous station to be suddenly precipitated from it, we should learn from the example which is here set before us to judge of the divine procedure with sobriety, modesty, and reverence and to rest satisfied that it is holy, and that the works of God, as well as his words, are characterised by unerring rectitude. The conjunction in the verse, that-that thou mayest be justified, denotes not so much cause as consequence. It was not the fall of David, properly speaking, which caused the glory of God’s righteousness to appear. And yet, although men when they sin seem to obscure his righteousness, it emerges from the foul attempt only more bright than ever, it being the peculiar work of God to bring light out of darkness. 5 Behold, I was born in iniquity, etc He now proceeds further than the mere acknowledgement of one or of many sins, confessing that he brought nothing but sin with him into the world, and that his nature was entirely depraved. He is thus led by the consideration of one offense of peculiar atrocity to the conclusion that he was born in iniquity, and was absolutely destitute of all spiritual good. Indeed, every sin should convince us of the general truth of the corruption of our nature. The Hebrew word , yechemathni, signifies literally, hath warmed herself of me, from , yacham, or , chamam, to warm; but interpreters have very properly rendered it hath conceived me. The expression intimates that we are cherished in sin from the first moment that we are in the womb. David, then, is here brought, by reflecting on one particular transgression, to east a retrospective glance upon his whole past life, and to discover nothing but sin in it. And let us not imagine that he speaks of the corruption of his nature, merely as hypocrites will occasionally do, to excuse their faults, saying, “I have sinned it may be, but what could I do? We are men, and prone by nature to everything which is evil.” David has recourse to no such stratagems for evading the sentence of God, and refers to original sin with the view of aggravating his guilt, acknowledging that he had not contracted this or that sin for the first time lately, but had been born into the world with the seed of every iniquity. The passage affords a striking testimony in proof of original sin entailed by Adam upon the whole human family. It not only teaches the doctrine, but may assist us in forming a correct idea of it. The Pelagians, to avoid what they considered the absurdity of holding that all were ruined through one man’s transgression, maintained of old, that sin descended from Adam only through force of imitation. But the Bible, both in this and other places, clearly asserts that we are born in sin, and that it exists within us as a disease fixed in our nature. David does not charge it upon his parents, nor trace his crime to them, but sists himself before the Divine tribunal, confesses that he was formed in sin, and that he was a transgressor ere he saw the light of this world. It was therefore a gross error in Pelagius to deny that sin was hereditary, descending in the human family by contagion. The Papists, in our own day, grant that the nature of man has become depraved, but they extenuate original sin as much as possible, and represent it as consisting merely in an inclination to that which is evil. They restrict its seat besides to the inferior part of the soul and the gross appetites; and while nothing is more evident from experience than that corruption adheres to men through life, they deny that it remains in them subsequently to baptism. We have no adequate idea of the dominion of sin, unless we conceive of it as extending to every part of the soul, and acknowledge that both the mind and heart of man have become utterly corrupt. The language of David sounds very differently from that of the Papists, I was formed in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me He says nothing of his grosser appetites, but asserts that sin cleaved by nature to every part of him without exception. Here the question has been started, How sin is transmitted from the parents to the children? And this question has led to another regarding the transmission of the soul, many denying that corruption can be derived from the parent to the child, except on the supposition of one soul being begotten of the substance of another. Without entering upon such mysterious discussions, it is enough that we hold, that Adam, upon his fall, was despoiled of his original righteousness, his reason darkened, his will perverted, and that, being reduced to this state of corruption, he brought children into the world resembling himself in character. Should any object that generation is confined to bodies, and that souls can never derive anything in common from one another, I would reply, that Adam, when he was endued at his creation with the gifts of the Spirit, did not sustain a private character, but represented all mankind, who may be considered as having been endued with these gifts in his person; and from this view it necessarily follows that when he fell, we all forfeited along with him our original integrity. 263 6. Behold, thou hast desired truth, etc. This verse confirms the remark which we already made, that David was far from seeking to invent an apology for his sin, when he traced it back to the period of his conception, and rather intended by this to acknowledge that from his very infancy he was an heir of eternal death. He thus represents his whole life to have been obnoxious to condemnation. So far is he from imitating those who arraign God as the author of sin, and impiously suggest that he might have given man a better nature, that in the verse now before us he opposes God’s judgment to our corruption, insinuating, that every time we appear before him, we are certain of being condemned, inasmuch as we are born in sin, while he delights in holiness and uprightness. He goes further, and asserts, that in order to meet the approval of God, it is not enough that our lives be conformed to the letter of his law, unless our heart be clean and purified from all guile. He tells us that God desires truth in the inward parts, 264 intimating to us, that secret as well as outward and gross sins excite his displeasure. In the second clause of the verse, he aggravates his offense by confessing that he could not plead the excuse of ignorance. He had been sufficiently instructed by God in his duty. Some interpret , besathum, as if he here declared that God had discovered secret mysteries to him, or things hidden from the human understanding. He seems rather to mean that wisdom had been discovered to his mind in a secret and intimate manner. 265 The one member of the verse responds to the other. He acknowledges that it was not a mere superficial acquaintance with divine truth which he had enjoyed, but that it had been closely brought home to his heart. This rendered his offense the more inexcusable. Though privileged so highly with the saving knowledge of the truth, he had plunged into the commission of brutish sin, and by various acts of iniquity had almost ruined his soul. We have thus set before us the exercise of the Psalmist at this time. First, we have seen that he is brought to a confession of the greatness of his offense: this leads him to a sense of the complete depravity of his nature: to deepen his convictions, he then directs his thoughts to the strict judgment of God, who looks not to the outward appearance but the heart; and, lastly, he adverts to the peculiarity of his case, as one who had enjoyed no ordinary measure of the gifts of the Spirit, and deserved on that account the severer punishment. The exercise is such as we should all strive to imitate. Are we conscious of having committed any one sin, let it be the means of recalling others to our recollection, until we are brought to prostrate ourselves before God in deep self-abasement. And if it has been our privilege to enjoy the special teaching of the Spirit of God, we ought to feel that our guilt is additionally heavy, having sinned in this case against light, and having trampled under foot the precious gifts with which we were intrusted.

3．因为我知道我的过犯。他现在揭示他如此热切求赦的原因，就是他的罪咎所造成的痛苦不安，而这不安只有在获得与上帝的和好之后才能消除。这证明他的祷告并非出于虚伪，因为许多人会大肆颂扬上帝的恩典，尽管实际上他们对此毫不在意，因为他们从未感受过暴露在祂不悦之下的苦涩。大卫则相反，宣告他因自己的罪而不断处于心灵的痛苦之中，正是这使他的祈求如此迫切。从他的榜样我们可以学到：谁才能被说成是以正当方式寻求与上帝和好的人。他们是那些良心因对罪的认识而受伤、直到获得祂怜悯的确据才能安息的人。若我们没有对自己的罪有一种使我们充满惧怕的认识，便决不会认真地向上帝求赦免。我们越是容易满足于自己的罪，便越是激起上帝以严厉惩罚它们；若我们真心渴望从祂手中得赦，我们必须不止于口头上承认自己的罪，更必须对自己过犯的性质作出严格可怕的省察。大卫不是简单地说他会向人认罪，而是宣告他对罪有一种深刻内在的感受，那感受充满了他最为尖锐的痛苦。他的心志与假冒为善者大相径庭——那些人对这个主题表现出完全的漠然，或当它扰入脑海时，便努力将其记忆埋葬。他以复数提到自己的罪。他的过犯，虽出于一个根源，却是错综复杂的，除了淫乱之外，还包括背叛与残忍；而且他所出卖的也不只是一个人，而是整支为捍卫上帝教会而被征召出征的军队。因此，他认识到其中包裹着许多具体的罪。4．我向你犯罪，惟独得罪了你。有些人认为他在此提到的是：他的罪虽然对人所行，却只被上帝的眼睛看见，没有被任何人察觉。他对乌利亚所犯的双重罪行，以及他任意使军队陷于危险的方式，无人知晓；他的罪因此对人隐而未现，故可说是唯独对上帝所犯的。另有人认为大卫在此表达：虽然他深知自己已伤害了人，他最感痛苦的是违背了上帝的律法。但我以为他的意思是：尽管全世界都可能赦免他，他感到上帝是他所面对的那位审判者，良心把他传到祂的审判台前，无论人多么愿意宽恕、原谅或奉承，人的声音都无法给他任何安慰。他的眼睛与整个灵魂都指向上帝，不顾人如何论说。对于一个如此被暴露在上帝判决之可怕性之下的人，不需要任何其他的控告者——上帝对他抵得上千万。极有理由相信大卫是为了防止自己因宫廷的奉承而被哄入一种虚假的平安，于是以自己对罪的上帝审判为实，感到仅这一点本身便是难以承受的担负，即便他能逃脱同类的一切麻烦。这将是每一个真正悔改者的操练。在人的审判台前得到开释，或通过他人的包庇逃脱惩罚，若我们仍然受到一个控告我们的良心和一位被冒犯的上帝的折磨，这些都无关紧要。也许防止在罪的问题上被欺骗的最好良方，莫过于将思想转向我们自己的内心，把思想集中在上帝身上，在对祂不悦之锐利感受中丧失一切自我满足的幻想。有人以极为牵强的解释方式，要我们将本节的第二句”以致你责备我的时候显为公义”与本诗第一节相连，以为它不能指紧接其前的句子。但且不说这打乱了经文的顺序，无论如何，将这祷告按照那种解法来理解，又有何意义——”怜恤我，以致你判断时显为清正”？等等。然而，这些话含义上的任何疑惑，都因保罗在罗马书中引用它们的上下文而完全消除：”若上帝不公义，我们可以怎么说呢？……只是上帝是真实的，人都是虚谎的；就如经上所记：’你责备人的时候，显为公义；被人议论的时候，可以得胜’“（罗三3-4）。这里引用我们面前的这些话，是为了证明上帝的公义甚至在人的罪中也是彰显的，祂的真实在他们的虚假中彰显。要清楚理解这些话的含义，必须反思上帝与大卫所立的约。全世界的救恩藉这约在某种意义上托付于他，宗教的仇敌可能趁他的堕落大肆喊叫：”教会的柱石倒了，那以他的圣洁为盼望的可怜余民，现在会怎样？他曾经以荣耀如此著名，现在看他已堕落到何等的羞辱之深！经历如此严重的堕落之后，谁还会从他的后裔中寻求救恩？”大卫察觉到可能有人企图以此指责上帝的公义，便抓住这个机会为其辩护，把全部罪咎归于自己。他宣告上帝在祂发言时显为公义——不是在祂说出约的应许时显为公义（虽然有人如此理解），而是倘若祂针对他的罪说出定罪的判决，祂是显为公义的——若非祂白白的怜悯，祂本可以这样做。本节使用了两种表达形式，含义相同：”你责备我的时候显为公义”与”判断我的时候显为清正”。既然保罗在上面已提到的引用中改变了后半句，甚至似乎给本节所含的情感赋予了新的转向，我将简短说明这些话如何适用于他引用它们的目的。他引用它们是为了证明：以色列人破坏了上帝的约、从祂所应许的恩典堕落这一事实，并未影响祂的信实。乍看之下，这些话如何能提供所声称的证明，可能并不明显。但若我们反思我已提到的情况，其适切性便立刻可见。在大卫——一个在教会中如此伟大的柱石，作为先知和君王如此著名——堕落之时，我们不得不相信，许多人在对应许的信心上动摇摇晃。许多人必然倾向于推断，考虑到上帝将大卫如此紧密地接纳入祂里面，祂在某种程度上也牵连于他的堕落。然而大卫驳斥这种有损于神圣荣耀的暗示，宣告：即便上帝将他打入永恒的毁灭，他的口也将闭上，或唯独张口承认祂无可指摘的公义。使徒在引用时唯一的出入，在于他以被动语态使用”判断”一词，读作”得胜”而非”显为清正”。在这一点上他依照七十士译本，众所周知，使徒在引用旧约时并不讲究文字上的精确。对我们来说，确信这段话服务于使徒所引用它的目的，就已足够。我们从这段话所得的总体教义是：无论人所犯的任何罪，皆完全归咎于他们自身，决不能牵连上帝的公义。人们在上帝的管理不符合感觉与人类理性的判断时，总是准备好指责祂的管理。但倘若上帝在某时将人从最深的卑微提升至最高的显贵，或另一方面允许占据最显要地位的人突然从中倾覆坠落，我们当从这里摆在我们面前的榜样学会：以冷静、谦逊与敬畏判断神圣的作为，并满足于相信它是圣洁的，上帝的工作以及祂的言语，同样具有无误的正直。本节中的连词”以致”，表示的与其说是原因，不如说是结果。严格来说，并非大卫的堕落导致了上帝公义的荣耀得以显现。然而，尽管人在犯罪时似乎遮掩了祂的公义，它却从那次卑劣的企图中浮现出来，比以前更为光辉，因为从黑暗中带出光明是上帝独特的工作。5．我是在罪孽里生的，等等。他现在比单单承认一罪或多罪走得更远，承认他带着不过是罪来到这世界，他的本性是完全败坏的。他被一件尤其严重罪行的思想引领，得出结论说自己生于罪孽中，完全没有任何属灵的善。的确，每一件罪都应使我们确信本性败坏这一普遍真理。希伯来词 yechemathni 字面意思是”在我里面取暖”，来自 yacham 或 chamam（取暖）；但注释家们完全正确地将其译作”怀了我”。这表达暗示：从我们在子宫中的最初一刻起，我们就被培养在罪中。因此，大卫在此被对一件具体罪行的反思引领，回望他整个过去的生命，发现其中无一不是罪。我们不要以为他谈到本性的败坏，只是像假冒为善者有时会做的那样，以此为借口，说：”我或许犯了罪，但我能怎样呢？我们是人，本性就倾向于一切邪恶的事。”大卫没有诉诸任何这类逃脱上帝判决的手段，提到原罪是为了加重他的罪咎，承认他不是最近才初次犯下这罪或那罪，而是带着每一种罪孽的种子生来就来到这世界。这段话作为亚当遗传于全人类的原罪教义的有力证词。它不仅传授这一教义，也可帮助我们形成对它的正确认识。伯拉纠主义者为避免他们所认为的荒谬——即众人皆因一人的罪过而败坏——曾在古时坚持认为，罪从亚当那里仅仅藉模仿的力量传递下来。但圣经，无论在此处还是其他地方，都清楚地断言我们生于罪中，它作为一种固着于我们本性的疾病存在于我们里面。大卫没有将它归咎于他的父母，也没有将他的罪追溯到他们，而是在神圣的审判台前站立，承认他是在罪中被造的，在他见到这世界的光之前他已经是一个罪犯了。因此，伯拉纠否认罪是遗传的、在人类家族中藉传染而传递下来，这是严重的错误。当今的教皇徒承认人的本性已变得败坏，但他们尽量淡化原罪，将其描述为仅仅在于对恶的倾向。他们还将其座位限于灵魂的低等部分和粗俗的欲望；尽管没有什么比经验更清楚地表明败坏终其一生地依附于人，他们却否认在洗礼之后它仍留存于人里面。除非我们将罪的主权构想为延伸到灵魂的每一部分，并承认人的心思和心灵都已彻底败坏，否则我们对罪的主权便没有充分的认识。大卫的话听起来与教皇徒大相径庭：”我是在罪孽里生的，在我母亲怀胎的时候就有了罪。”他没有提到他的粗俗欲望，而是断言罪无一例外地从本性上依附于他的每一部分。这里有人提出这样的问题：罪如何从父母传给子女？这个问题又引出另一个关于灵魂传递的问题，许多人否认败坏能从父母传给子女，除非假设一个灵魂生自另一个灵魂的实质。无需进入这类神秘的探讨，只需持守这一点便足够了：亚当堕落之时，被剥夺了他原有的公义，理性被遮暗，意志被扭曲，被归结为这种败坏的状态，他生下的孩子性格与他相似。若有人反对说：生育限于身体，灵魂彼此之间永不能有任何共通的东西；我的回答是：亚当在受造时被赋予圣灵的恩赐，他所扮演的不是私人的角色，而是代表全人类——全人类可以被认为是在他的身上被赋予了这些恩赐；由此必然可得出这样的结论：当他堕落时，我们与他一同丧失了我们原有的完全。6．你所喜爱的是内里诚实，等等。这节经文证实了我们已经提出的意见：大卫在将罪追溯到怀孕之时，绝非寻找借口为自己的罪辩解，而是以此承认他从幼年起便是永死的继承人。他如此将自己整个生命描述为应受定罪的。他远未效法那些指控上帝为罪之作者、并不敬地暗示上帝本可给人更好的本性的人；在我们面前的这节经文中，他将上帝的审判与我们的败坏对立，暗示：每当我们出现在祂面前，必然遭到定罪，因为我们生于罪中，而祂喜悦圣洁与正直。他走得更远，断言：仅仅使我们的生命与律法的字句相符，还不足以获得上帝的认可，除非我们的心清洁、从一切诡诈中得洁净。他告诉我们上帝喜爱”内里诚实”，向我们表明，隐秘的罪与外表明显的罪一样，都激起祂的不悦。在本节第二句中，他通过承认自己不能以无知为借口来加重自己的罪咎。他已被上帝充分地教导了自己的本分。有些人将 besathum 解作他在此宣告上帝向他揭示了隐秘的奥秘，或隐藏于人类理解力之外的事物。他似乎更是指智慧被以隐秘而亲密的方式揭示于他的心灵。本节的两个部分相互对应。他承认他所享有的并非对神圣真理的表面认识，而是真理被密切地带入了他的心。这使他的过失更难以推卸。尽管在拯救性的真理知识上享有如此高的特权，他却纵身于兽性罪行的犯下，以种种罪恶的行为几乎毁了他的灵魂。这样，我们就看到了诗人在这段时间中的操练。首先，我们看到他被带到承认罪过的严重性；这引导他认识自己本性完全败坏的事实；为了加深他的确信，他随后将思想导向上帝严格的审判——祂看的不是外表而是内心；最后，他提到自己处境的特殊性，作为一个曾蒙圣灵恩赐在寻常程度之上的人，因此理应受更严厉的惩罚。这样的操练是我们都当努力效仿的。若我们意识到犯了某一罪，让它成为唤起其他罪的手段，直到我们在深深的自我卑微中俯伏在上帝面前。若我们有幸曾享有圣灵的特别教导，我们应当感到我们的罪咎格外沉重——在此情况下，我们是在明知故犯，是在践踏托付给我们的珍贵恩赐。

51:7-9

7. Thou shalt purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; thou shalt wash me, and I shall be whiter than the snow. 8. Make me to hear joy and gladness; and the bones which thou hast broken shall rejoice. 9. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.

7你要用牛膝草洁净我，我就干净；你要洗涤我，我就比雪更白。8你要使我听见欢喜快乐的声音，使你所压伤的骨头可以踊跃。9求你掩面不看我的罪，涂抹我一切的罪孽。

1. Thou shalt purge me with hyssop He still follows out the same strain of supplication; and the repetition of his requests for pardon proves how earnestly he desired it. He speaks of hyssop 266 , in allusion to the ceremonies of the law; and though he was far from putting his trust in the mere outward symbol of purification, he knew that, like every other legal rite, it was instituted for an important end. The sacrifices were seals of the grace of God. In them, therefore, he was anxious to find assurance of his reconciliation; and it is highly proper that, when our faith is disposed at any time to waver, we should confirm it by improving such means of divine support. All which David here prays for is, that God would effectually accomplish, in his experience, what he had signified to his Church and people by these outward rites; and in this he has set us a good example for our imitation. It is no doubt to the blood of Christ alone that we must look for the atonement of our sins; but we are creatures of sense, who must see with our eyes, and handle with our hands; and it is only by improving the outward symbols of propitiation that we can arrive at a full and assured persuasion of it. What we have said of the hyssop applies also to the washings 267 referred to in this verse, and which were commonly practiced under the Law. They figuratively represented our being purged from all iniquity, in order to our reception into the divine favor. I need not say that it is the peculiar work of the Holy Spirit to sprinkle our consciences inwardly with the blood of Christ, and, by removing the sense of guilt, to secure our access into the presence of God. In the two verses which follow, the Psalmist prays that God would be pacified towards him. Those put too confined a meaning upon the words who have suggested that, in praying to hear the voice of joy and gladness, he requests some prophet to be sent, who might assure him of pardon. He prays, in general, for testimonies of the divine favor. When he speaks of his bones as having been broken, he alludes to the extreme grief and overwhelming distress to which he had been reduced. The joy of the Lord would reanimate his soul; and this joy he describes as to be obtained by hearing; for it is the word of God alone which can first and effectually cheer the heart of any sinner. There is no true or solid peace to be enjoyed in the world except in the way of reposing upon the promises of God. Those who do not resort to them may succeed for a time in hushing or evading the terrors of conscience, but they must ever be strangers to true inward comfort. And, granting that they may attain to the peace of insensibility, this is not a state which could satisfy any man who has seriously felt the fear of the Lord. The joy which he desires is that which flows from hearing the word of God, in which he promises to pardon our guilt, and readmit us into his favor. It is this alone which supports the believer amidst all the fears, dangers, and distresses of his earthly pilgrimage; for the joy of the Spirit is inseparable from faith. When God is said, in the 9th verse, to hide his face from our sins, this signifies his pardoning them, as is explained in the clause immediately annexed — Blot out all my sins. This represents our justification as consisting in a voluntary act of God, by which he condescends to forget all our iniquities; and it represents our cleansing to consist in the reception of a gratuitous pardon. We repeat the remark which has been already made, that David, in thus reiterating his one request for the mercy of God, evinces the depth of that anxiety which he felt for a favor which his conduct had rendered difficult of attainment. The man who prays for pardon in a mere formal manner, is proved to be a stranger to the dreadful desert of sin. “Happy is the man,” said Solomon, “that feareth alway,” (Proverbs 28:14.) But here it may be asked why David needed to pray so earnestly for the joy of remission, when he had already received assurance from the lips of Nathan that his sin was pardoned? (2 Samuel 12:13.) Why did he not embrace this absolution? and was he not chargeable with dishonoring God by disbelieving the word of his prophet? We cannot expect that God will send us angels in order to announce the pardon which we require. Was it not said by Christ, that whatever his disciples remitted on earth would be remitted in heaven? (John 20:23.) And does not the apostle declare that ministers of the gospel are ambassadors to reconcile men to God? (2 Corinthians 5:20.) From this it might appear to have argued unbelief in David, that, notwithstanding the announcement of Nathan, he should evince a remaining perplexity or uncertainty regarding his forgiveness. There is a twofold explanation which may be given of the difficulty. We may hold that Nathan did not immediately

7．你要用牛膝草洁净我。他仍延续着同一祈求的格调；他反复求赦的请愿，证明他是多么切切地渴慕它。他提到牛膝草，是在暗指律法的礼仪；尽管他远非将信任放在单纯外在的洁净象征上，他知道它与每一项律法礼仪一样，是出于重要的目的而设立的。祭物是上帝恩典的印证，因此，他殷切地盼望从中找到与上帝和好的确据；当我们的信心任何时候倾向于动摇，藉助这些神圣扶持的手段来坚固它，是极为合宜的。大卫在此所祈求的一切，不过是上帝将祂藉这些外在礼仪向祂的教会与子民所表达的事，在他身上有效地成就；在这一点上，他为我们树立了效仿的好榜样。毫无疑问，我们必须唯独仰望基督的宝血来赎罪；但我们是有感官的受造物，必须眼见、手摸；只有藉助赎罪的外在象征，我们才能达到对它充分而确定的信心。我们关于牛膝草所说的，也适用于本节所提到的洗涤——这在律法之下是常见的操练。它们以比喻的方式表示我们被洗净一切罪孽，以使我们得蒙接纳于神圣的恩宠之中。我不需要说，以基督的宝血在内心洒于我们的良心上，并藉着除去罪咎之感而保证我们在上帝面前的蒙悦纳，这是圣灵独特的工作。在随后两节中，诗人祈求上帝向他息怒。那些将”听见欢喜快乐的声音”限制性地理解为：他请求差遣一位先知向他宣告赦免——的人，对这话附加了太窄的含义。他总体上是在祈求神圣恩宠的见证。当他提到他的骨头”被压伤”，是在暗指他所陷入的极度悲伤与压倒性的痛苦。主的喜乐将重新振作他的灵魂；这喜乐他描述为藉”听见”而得；因为唯独上帝的话语才能首先有效地使任何罪人的心得到喜乐。这世界上没有真实坚固的平安可享，除非通过倚靠上帝的应许。那些不诉诸它们的人或许能暂时压制或回避良心的惊恐，却必永远与真实的内心安慰无缘。即便他们能达到麻木不仁的平静，这也不是任何认真感受过对主之惧怕的人所能满足的状态。他所渴望的喜乐，是那从听见上帝话语而来的——那话语应许赦免我们的罪咎，重新接纳我们归入祂的恩宠。唯有这一点，才能在信徒地上旅程的一切惧怕、危险与苦难中支撑他；因为灵的喜乐与信心是密不可分的。当第九节说上帝”掩面不看我们的罪”，这意味着赦免它们，正如紧随其后所说”涂抹我一切的罪孽”所解释的。这将我们的称义描述为上帝一个自愿的行为，祂屈尊忘记我们一切的罪孽；它将我们的洁净描述为接受一个白白的赦免。我们重申已经提出的意见：大卫如此反复地再三求一个恩惠——上帝的怜悯——证明了他对一个因自己的行为而难以获得的恩惠所感到的那种焦虑之深。那以纯粹形式的方式求赦的人，被证明是不认识罪可怕之刑罚的人。”常存敬畏的，便为有福”，所罗门说（箴二十八14）。然而在此可以问：既然大卫已从拿单口中得到他的罪已蒙赦的确据（撒下十二13），为何他还需要如此热切地祈求赦免的喜乐？他为何不接受这赦免？他如此不信先知的话，是否也在得罪上帝？我们不能期望上帝将差遣天使向我们宣告我们所需要的赦免。基督不是说过，凡祂的门徒在地上赦免的，在天上也要赦免吗（约二十23）？使徒不是宣告福音的仆人是劝人与上帝和好的使者吗（林后五20）？从这里看来，大卫尽管有拿单的宣告，却仍表现出对他赦免的困惑或不确定，这似乎证明他是在不信。这困难可以有双重的解释。我们可以持守这一看法：拿单并不是立即

propriety: the one to signify that kind of washing which pervades the substance of the thing washed, and cleanses it thoroughly; and the other to express that kind of washing which only cleanses the surface of a substance, which the water cannot penetrate. The former is applied to the washing of clothes; the latter is used for washing some part of the body. By a beautiful and strong metaphor, David uses the former word in this and the second verse: ‘Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.’ ‘Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.’ So in Jeremiah 4:14, the same word is applied to the heart. There is a similar distinction in the Greek language, which the LXX. constantly observe in their rendering of the Hebrew words above alluded to.”

那些表达方式中有一种区别是恰当的：一种用于表示那种渗透被洗之物的实质、将其彻底洁净的洗涤；另一种用于表示只洁净物质表面、水无法深入的洗涤。前者用于洗衣物；后者用于洗身体的某部分。大卫以一种美丽有力的比喻，在本节和第二节使用了前一个词：”将我的罪孽洗除净尽，并洁除我的罪。”“洗涤我，我就比雪更白。”同样，在耶利米书四章14节，同一个词被用于洗心。希腊文中有类似的区别，七十士译本在翻译上面提到的希伯来词时始终如一地遵守了这一区别。”

make him aware of the fact that God was willing to be reconciled to him. In Scripture, it is well known, things are not always stated according to the strict order of time in which they occurred. It is quite conceivable that, having thrown him into this situation of distress, God might keep him in it for a considerable interval, for his deeper humiliation; and that David expresses in these verses the dreadful anguish which he endured when challenged with his crime, and not yet informed of the divine determination to pardon it. Let us take the other supposition, however, and it by no means follows that a person may not be assured of the favor of God, and yet show great earnestness and importunity in praying for pardon. David might be much relieved by the announcement of the prophet, and yet be visited occasionally with fresh convictions, influencing him to have recourse to the throne of grace. However rich and liberal the offers of mercy may be which God extends to us, it is highly proper on our part that we should reflect upon the grievous dishonor which we have done to his name, and be filled with due sorrow on account of it. Then our faith is weak, and we cannot at once apprehend the full extent of the divine mercy; so that there is no reason to be surprised that David should have once and again renewed his prayers for pardon, the more to confirm his belief in it. The truth is, that we cannot properly pray for the pardon of sin until we have come to a persuasion that God will be reconciled to us. Who can venture to open his mouth in God’s presence unless he be assured of his fatherly favor? And pardon being the first thing we should pray for, it is plain that there is no inconsistency in having a persuasion of the grace of God, and yet proceeding to supplicate his forgiveness. In proof of this, I might refer to the Lord’s Prayer, in which we are taught to begin by addressing God as our Father, and yet afterwards to pray for the remission of our sins. God’s pardon is full and complete; but our faith cannot take in his overflowing goodness, and it is necessary that it should distil to us drop by drop. It is owing to this infirmity of our faith, that we are often found repeating and repeating again the same petition, not with the view surely of gradually softening the heart of God to compassion, but because we advance by slow and difficult steps to the requisite fullness of assurance. The mention which is here made of purging with hyssop, and of washing or sprinkling, teaches us, in all our prayers for the pardon of sin, to have our thoughts directed to the great sacrifice by which Christ has reconciled us to God. “Without shedding of blood,” says Paul, “is no remissions” (Hebrews 9:22;) and this, which was intimated by God to the ancient Church under figures, has been fully made known by the coming of Christ. The sinner, if he would find mercy, must look to the sacrifice of Christ, which expiated the sins of the world, glancing, at the same time, for the confirmation of his faith, to Baptism and the Lord’s Supper; for it were vain to imagine that God, the Judge of the world, would receive us again into his favor in any other way than through a satisfaction made to his justice.

使他知道上帝愿意与他和好。在圣经中，众所周知，事情并非总是按照发生的严格时间顺序陈述的。完全可以想象，上帝在将他置于这种苦难处境之后，可能将他保持在其中相当长的一段时间，以便对他更深的谦卑；大卫在这些诗节中所表达的，乃是他被指出所犯之罪时所经历的可怕痛苦，此时还未被告知上帝决定赦免他的旨意。然而让我们采用另一种假设——即便如此，一个人被确知上帝的恩惠，也完全可能在祈求赦免时表现出极大的热切与迫切。大卫或许因先知的宣告而得到很大的宽慰，却仍时时经历新的确信，促使他再次来到恩典的宝座前。无论上帝向我们延伸的怜悯应许多么丰富慷慨，我们也当反思我们给祂名声带来的严重羞辱，因此充满应有的悲伤。此外，我们的信心软弱，不能立即领会神圣怜悯的完全广度；因此，没有理由为大卫一再更新他对赦免的祈求而感到惊讶——更新这些祈求只是为了更加坚固他对赦免的信心。事实是：除非我们已达到上帝将与我们和好的信念，我们便无法正当地祈求罪的赦免。谁能斗胆在上帝面前开口，除非他确知上帝父亲般的恩惠？既然赦免是我们首先当祈求的事，很明显：对上帝恩典的信念，与继续祈求祂的赦免之间，并无矛盾。为此，我可以援引主祷文为例——其中我们被教导先称上帝为我们的父，然后才祈求赦免我们的罪。上帝的赦免是完全彻底的；但我们的信心不能接纳祂那满溢的良善，必须让它一滴一滴地滴落我们身上。正是由于这种信心的软弱，我们往往发现自己一遍又一遍地重复同一祈求，当然不是为了逐渐软化上帝的心，使之生出怜悯，而是因为我们以缓慢而艰难的步骤迈向所需的完全确据。这里提到的用牛膝草洁净和洗涤，教导我们在一切祈求罪的赦免时，将思想导向基督那使我们与上帝和好的那一伟大的祭。保罗说：”若不流血，罪就不得赦免”（来九22）；这一点由上帝在古时藉影像向古代教会所暗示，已藉基督的降临得到充分的彰显。若罪人要寻得怜悯，必须仰望基督的祭——那祭赎了世界的罪——同时为了坚固信心，也要仰望洗礼与主餐；因为若想象上帝——世界的审判者——会以任何其他方式而非藉着向祂的公义所作的满足，将我们重新接纳入祂的恩惠，那将是徒然的。

51:10-12

10. Create in me a clean heart, O God! and renew a right spirit 268 in my inward parts. 11. Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not the Spirit of thy holiness from me. 12. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with a free spirit.

10上帝啊，求你为我造清洁的心，使我里面重新有正直的灵。11不要丢弃我，使我离开你的面；不要从我收回你的圣灵。12求你使我仍得救恩之乐，赐我乐意的灵扶持我。

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God! In the previous part of the psalm David has been praying for pardon. He now requests that the grace of the Spirit, which he had forfeited, or deserved to have forfeited, might be restored to him. The two requests are quite distinct, though sometimes confounded together, even by men of learning. He passes from the subject of the gratuitous remission of sin to that of sanctification. And to this he was naturally led with earnest anxiety, by the consciousness of his having merited the loss of all the gifts of the Spirit, and of his having actually, in a great measure, lost them. By employing the term create, he expresses his persuasion that nothing less than a miracle could effect his reformation, and emphatically declares that repentance is the gift of God. The Sophists grant the necessity of the aids of the Spirit, and allow that assisting grace must both go before and come after; but by assigning a middle place to the free will of man, they rob God of a great part of his glory. David, by the word which he here uses, describes the work of God in renewing the heart in a manner suitable to its extraordinary nature, representing it as the formation of a new creature. As he had already been endued with the Spirit, he prays in the latter part of the verse that God would renew a right spirit within him But by the term create, which he had previously employed, he acknowledges that we are indebted entirely to the grace of God, both for our first regeneration, and, in the event of our falling, for subsequent restoration. He does not merely assert that his heart and spirit were weak, requiring divine assistance, but that they must remain destitute of all purity and rectitude till these be communicated from above. By this it appears that our nature is entirely corrupt: for were it possessed of any rectitude or purity, David would not, as in this verse, have called the one a gift of the Spirit, and the other a creation. In the verse which follows, he presents the same petition, in language which implies the connection of pardon with the enjoyment of the leading of the Holy Spirit. If God reconcile us gratuitously to himself, it follows that he will guide us by the Spirit of adoption. It is only such as he loves, and has numbered among his own children, that he blesses with a share of his Spirit; and David shows that he was sensible of this when he prays for the continuance of the grace of adoption as indispensable to the continued possession of the Spirit. The words of this verse imply that the Spirit had not altogether been taken away from him, however much his gifts had been temporarily obscured. Indeed, it is evident that he could not be altogether divested of his former excellencies, for he seems to have discharged his duties as a king with credit, to have conscientiously observed the ordinances of religion, and to have regulated his conduct by the divine law. Upon one point he had fallen into a deadly lethargy, but he was not given over to a reprobate mind;” and it is scarcely conceivable that the rebuke of Nathan the prophet should have operated so easily and so suddenly in arousing him, had there been no latent spark of godliness still remaining in his soul. He prays, it is true, that his spirit may be renewed, but this must be understood with a limitation. The truth on which we are now insisting is an important one, as many learned men have been inconsiderately drawn into the opinion that the elect, by falling into mortal sin, may lose the Spirit altogether, and be alienated from God. The contrary is clearly declared by Peter, who tells us that the word by which we are born again is an incorruptible seed, (1 Peter 1:23;) and John is equally explicit in informing us that the elect are preserved from falling away altogether, (1 John 3:9.) However much they may appear for a time to have been cast off by God, it is afterwards seen that grace must have been alive in their breast, even during that interval when it seemed to be extinct. Nor is there any force in the objection that David speaks as if he feared that he might be deprived of the Spirit. It is natural that the saints, when they have fallen into sin, and have thus done what they could to expel the grace of God, should feel an anxiety upon this point; but it is their duty to hold fast the truth that grace is the incorruptible seed of God, which never can perish in any heart where it has been deposited. This is the spirit displayed by David. Reflecting upon his offense, he is agitated with fears, and yet rests in the persuasion that, being a child of God, he would not be deprived of what indeed he had justly forfeited. 12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation He cannot dismiss his grief of mind until he have obtained peace with God. This he declares once and again, for David had no sympathy with those who can indulge themselves in ease when they are lying under the divine displeasure. In the latter clause of the verse, he prays as in the verses preceding, that the Holy Spirit might not be taken away from him. There is a slight ambiguity in the words. Some take , thismecheni, to be the third person of the verb, because , ruach, is feminine, and translate, let the Spirit uphold me. The difference is immaterial, and does not affect the meaning of the passage. There is more difficulty in fixing the sense of the epithet , nedibah, which I have translated free As the verb , nadab, signifies to deal liberally, princes are in the Hebrew called, by way of eminence, , nedibim, which has led several learned men to think that David speaks here of a princely or royal spirit; and the translators of the Septuagint rendered it accordingly ἡγεμονικον. The prayer, in this sense, would no doubt be a suitable one for David, who was a king, and required a heroical courage for the execution of his office. But it seems better to adopt the more extensive meaning, and to suppose that David, under a painful consciousness of the bondage to which he had been reduced by a sense of guilt, prays for a free and cheerful spirit. 269 This invaluable attainment, he was sensible, could only be recovered through divine grace.

10．上帝啊，求你为我造清洁的心！在本诗前面的部分，大卫一直在祈求赦免。现在他请求他所丧失、或当丧失的圣灵的恩典得以恢复。这两个祈求是完全不同的，尽管有时甚至有学问的人也将二者混淆。他从白白赦免罪这一主题转向成圣的主题。这一点是他在热切的焦虑中自然而然被引到的，因为他意识到自己已当受失去圣灵一切恩赐的惩罚，且实际上在很大程度上已失去了它们。他用”造”这个词，表达他相信：不亚于一个神迹才能实现他的更新，并有力地宣告悔改是上帝的恩赐。诡辩家们承认圣灵帮助的必要性，并允许协助性的恩典必须既先行又跟随；但通过在中间指定人的自由意志一个位置，他们剥夺了上帝祂荣耀的很大一部分。大卫用他在此所用的这个词，以一种与其非凡性质相称的方式描述上帝在更新心灵中的工作，将其描绘为一个新受造物的形成。既然他先前已被赋予圣灵，他在本节的后半部分祈求上帝在他里面更新一个正直的灵。但他先前所用的”造”这个词，使他承认：无论是我们最初的重生，还是在我们堕落时的后续恢复，都完全依赖于上帝的恩典。他不仅断言他的心和灵是软弱的，需要神圣的帮助，而是断言它们必须始终缺乏一切纯洁与正直，直到这些从上面赐下。由此可见我们本性是完全败坏的：因为若它拥有任何正直或纯洁，大卫就不会如本节那样，将其一称为圣灵的恩赐，另一称为一种创造。在随后的诗节中，他以暗示赦免与享有圣灵引领相联系的语言，提出同样的祈求。若上帝白白地使我们与祂自己和好，则祂也将以收纳的灵引导我们——这是随之而来的结果。只有祂所爱的、已将其列在自己儿女中的人，才蒙福有分于祂的灵；大卫显示他对此有所感受，当他祈求收纳的恩典得以持续，以此作为持续持有圣灵的不可或缺的前提。这节经文的话暗示：尽管圣灵的恩赐暂时被遮蔽，祂并未全然从他那里被收取。事实上，很明显，他不可能完全被剥夺先前的卓越，因为他似乎履行了他作为君王的职责，有口皆碑，认真遵守宗教礼仪，并以神圣律法规范自己的行为。在一个要点上，他陷入了致命的迷睡，但他并没有被”交给昏昧的心”；而且几乎难以想象，若他的灵魂中没有一丝虔诚的余火，先知拿单的责备能如此容易、如此迅速地将他唤醒。诚然，他祈求他的灵得以更新，但这必须有所限定来理解。我们现在所坚持的真理是重要的，因为许多有学问的人轻率地被引入这种意见：被拣选者可能藉着堕入死罪而完全失去圣灵，与上帝完全疏远。彼得清楚地宣告了与此相反的真理，他告诉我们，我们藉以重生的道是不朽的种子（彼前一23）；约翰也同样明确地告诉我们，被拣选者被保守，不至于完全堕落（约一三9）。无论他们有时看起来多么像已被上帝所弃绝，事后可见恩典必定在其心中活着，甚至在看似已熄灭的那段时间也是如此。大卫的话也并无力量，说他似乎害怕被夺去圣灵。圣徒在堕入罪中、做了他们所能做的以逐出上帝恩典的事之后，自然会在这一点上感到不安；但他们的本分是持守这真理：恩典是上帝不朽的种子，在任何曾被安置的心中决不能灭亡。大卫所表现的正是这种心志。反思自己的过犯，他被惧怕所搅动，却仍安息于这确信：作为上帝的儿子，他不会被剥夺他确实已理当丧失的东西。12．求你使我仍得救恩之乐。在与上帝和好之前，他不能消除心中的悲伤。他一再如此宣告，因为大卫不同情那些在处于神圣的不悦之下仍能自我放纵、安于现状的人。在本节的后半部分，他如前几节那样祈求圣灵不要从他那里被收取。这些话略有歧义。有些人以 thismecheni 为动词第三人称，因为 ruach 是阴性，译作”愿灵扶持我”。区别不大，不影响这段话的含义。更难确定的是形容词 nedibah 的含义，我译作”乐意的”。由于动词 nadab 意思是”慷慨行事”，君王在希伯来文中被称为 nedibim，这使数位有学问的人认为大卫在此所说的是一种王者或王室的灵；七十士译本的译者相应地将其译作 hegemonikon。从这个意义上理解，这祷告无疑对大卫是合宜的，他是一位君王，需要一种英雄的勇气来执行他的职分。但采用更广泛的含义似乎更好——假设大卫在痛苦地意识到被罪咎之感所造成的束缚下，祈求一种自由而喜乐的灵。他深知，这宝贵的得着，只能藉神圣恩典而恢复。

51:13-15

13. I will teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto thee. 14. Deliver me from bloods, O God! thou God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud with joy of thy righteousness. 15. O Lord! open thou my lips, and my mouth shall show forth thy praise.

13我要把你的道指教有过犯的人，罪人必归顺你。14上帝啊，你是拯救我的上帝，求你救我脱离流人血的罪；我的舌头就高声歌唱你的公义。15主啊，求你使我嘴唇张开，我的口便传扬赞美你的话。

13 I will teach transgressors thy ways Here he speaks of the gratitude which he would feel should God answer his prayer, and engages to show it by exerting himself in effecting the conversion of others by his example. Those who have been mercifully recovered from their falls will feel inflamed by the common law of charity to extend a helping hand to their brethren; and in general, such as are partakers of the grace of God are constrained by religious principle, and regard for the divine glory, to desire that others should be brought into the participation of it. The sanguine manner in which he expresses his expectation of converting others is not unworthy of our notice. We are too apt to conclude that our attempts at reclaiming the ungodly are vain and ineffectual, and forget that God is able to crown them with success. 14 Deliver me from bloods His recurring so often to petitions for pardon, proves how far David was from flattering himself with unfounded hopes, and what a severe struggle he sustained with inward terrors. According to some, he prays in this verse to be delivered from the guilt of the blood of Uriah, and, in general, of the whole army. 270 But the term bloods in Hebrew may denote any capital crime, and, in my opinion, he is here to be considered as alluding to the sentence of death, to which he felt himself to be obnoxious, and from which he requests deliverance. By the righteousness of God, which he engages to celebrate, we are to understand his goodness; for this attribute, as usually ascribed to God in the Scriptures, does not so much denote the strictness with which he exacts vengeance, as his faithfulness in fulfilling the promises and extending help to all who seek him in the hour of need. There is much emphasis and vehemency in the mode of his address, O God! the God of my salvation, intimating at once how tremblingly he was alive to the danger of his situation, and how strongly his faith terminated upon God as the ground of his hope. Similar is the strain of the verse which follows. He prays that his lips may be opened; in other words, that God would afford him matter of praise. The meaning usually attached to the expression is, that God would so direct his tongue by the Spirit as to fit him for singing his praises. But though it is true that God must supply us with words, and that if he do not, we cannot fail to be silent in his praise, David seems rather to intimate that his mouth must be shut until God called him to the exercise of thanksgiving by extending pardon. In another place we find him declaring that a new song had been put in his mouth, (Psalm 40:3,)and it seems to be in this sense that he here desires his lips to be opened. He again signifies the gratitude which he would feel, and which he would express, intimating, that he sought the mercy of God with no other view than that he might become the herald of it to others. My mouth, he says emphatically, shall show forth thy praise.

13．我要把你的道指教有过犯的人。他在此谈到，若上帝垂允他的祷告，他将充满感恩，并以藉自己的榜样效力于他人的归信来表达这感恩。那些仁慈地被从跌倒中恢复的人，将因爱的共同法则而被点燃，向弟兄伸出帮助之手；总体而言，那些分享了上帝恩典的人，被宗教的原则与对神圣荣耀的顾念所约束，渴望他人也进入对其的参与。他以乐观的方式表达他对使他人归信的期望，这是值得我们注意的。我们太容易断定我们拯救不虔者的尝试是徒然无效的，忘记了上帝有能力使之得以成就。14．求你救我脱离流人血的罪。他如此频繁地回到祈求赦免的请愿，证明大卫远非以无根据的盼望奉承自己，并且他与内心的惊恐经历了何等严峻的挣扎。据某些人的看法，他在这节中祈求从乌利亚之血的罪咎，以及整个军队之血的罪咎中得脱。但希伯来文”流血”一词可以指任何死罪，依我之见，他在此当被理解为在暗指死亡的判决——他感到自己当受的，请求从中得脱。他所承诺要颂扬的上帝的公义，当理解为祂的良善；因为这一属性，在圣经中通常归于上帝，所指的与其说是祂执行报应的严格，不如说是祂在信守应许、向一切在需要时刻寻求祂的人施援方面的信实。他称呼的方式——”上帝啊，你是拯救我的上帝”——具有极大的力量与热切，同时表达了他对自己处境危险的战兢活感，以及他的信心如何强烈地以上帝为盼望的根基。随后的诗节语气与此相似。他祈求嘴唇被开；换言之，上帝会给他赞美的题材。通常附加于这表达的含义是：上帝会藉圣灵如此引导他的舌头，使他合适于歌唱祂的赞美。但尽管上帝必须供给我们言词，若祂不这样做，我们必然在赞美祂时无言以对，大卫似乎更是要表达：在上帝藉赐予赦免呼召他从事感恩之前，他的口必须是封住的。在另一处，我们发现他宣告一首新歌被放在他口中（诗四十3），似乎正是在这个意义上，他在此渴望他的嘴唇被开。他再次表达他将感受的感恩，以及他将表达它的意愿，暗示他寻求上帝怜悯的唯一目的，是使自己成为向他人宣扬它的先驱。他强调地说：”我的口便传扬赞美你的话。”

51:16-19

16. For thou wilt not accept a sacrifice; though I should give 271 a burnt offering, it would not please thee. 17. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God! thou wilt not despise. 18. Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion; build thou the walls of Jerusalem. 19. Thou shalt then accept the sacrifices of righteousness, even the burnt-offering and whole oblation; then shall calves come upon thine altar.

16你本不喜爱祭物，若喜爱，我就献上；燔祭，你也不喜悦。17上帝所要的祭就是忧伤的灵；上帝啊，忧伤痛悔的心，你必不轻看。18求你随你的美意善待锡安，建造耶路撒冷的城墙。19那时，你必喜爱公义的祭和燔祭，并全烧的祭；那时，人必将公牛献在你的坛上。

1. For thou wilt not accept a sacrifice By this language he expresses his confidence of obtaining pardon, although he brought nothing to God in the shape of compensation, but relied entirely upon the riches of Divine mercy. He confesses that he comes to God both poor and needy; but is persuaded that this will not prevent the success of his suit, because God attaches no importance to sacrifices. In this he indirectly reproves the Jews for an error which prevailed amongst them in all ages. In proclaiming that the sacrifices made expiation for sin, the Law had designed to withdraw them from all trust in their own works to the one satisfaction of Christ; but they presumed to bring their sacrifices to the altar as a price by which they hoped to procure their own redemption. In opposition to this proud and preposterous notion, David declares that God had no delight in sacrifices, 272 and that he had nothing to present which could purchase his favor. God had enjoined the observance of sacrifice, and David was far from neglecting it. He is not to be understood as asserting that the rite might warrantably be omitted, or that God would absolutely reject the sacrifices of his own institution, which, along with the other ceremonies of the Law, proved important helps, as we have already observed, both to David and the whole Church of God. He speaks of them as observed by the proud and the ignorant, under an impression of meriting the divine favor. Diligent as he was, therefore, in the practice of sacrifice, resting his whole dependence upon the satisfaction of Christ, who atoned for the sins of the world, he could yet honestly declare that he brought nothing to God in the shape of compensation, and that he trusted entirely to a gratuitous reconciliation. The Jews, when they presented their sacrifices, could not be said to bring anything of their own to the Lord, but must rather be viewed as borrowing from Christ the necessary purchase-money of redemption. They were passive, not active, in this divine service. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. He had shown that sacrifices have no such efficacy in procuring the Divine favor as the Jews imagined; and now he declares that he needed to bring nothing whatever to God but a contrite and humbled heart. Nothing more is necessary, on the part of the sinner, than to prostrate himself in supplication for Divine mercy. The plural number is used

16．你本不喜爱祭物。藉这些话，他表达了自己对得着赦免的信心，尽管他没有带任何赔偿之物来到上帝面前，乃是完全倚靠神圣怜悯的丰富。他承认他是既穷又乏地来到上帝面前；但他确信这不会妨碍他所求之事的成功，因为上帝并不看重祭物。在此，他隐约责备犹太人历代盛行于他们中间的一个错误。律法在宣告祭物赎罪时，本意是要将他们从对自己行为的一切信赖，引向基督这唯一的满足；但他们擅自将祭物带到坛上，作为他们希望以此购买自己救赎的代价。与这骄傲乖谬的念头相反，大卫宣告上帝不喜悦祭物，他没有任何东西可以买得上帝的恩惠。上帝已吩咐遵守祭祀，大卫决没有忽视它的意思。不能理解他是在断言可以正当地省略这礼仪，或上帝会绝对地拒绝祂自己所设立的祭物——这些祭物连同律法的其他礼仪，正如我们已经指出的，对大卫和上帝整个教会都是重要的帮助。他是就那些骄傲无知的人所遵守的祭祀发言——他们存着可以赢得神圣恩惠的印象。因此，虽然他勤于祭祀的操练，却将他全部的倚赖放在基督的满足上——那满足赎了世界的罪——他可以诚实地宣告：他没有带任何赔偿之物来到上帝面前，乃是完全信靠一个白白的和好。犹太人在献上祭物时，不能被说成是将任何属于自己的东西带给主，而应被视为从基督那里借用赎回所必需的赎价。在这神圣的事奉中，他们是被动的，不是主动的。17．上帝所要的祭就是忧伤的灵。他已指出祭物并不像犹太人所想象的那样具有获得神圣恩惠的能力；如今他宣告他只需向上帝带去一颗痛悔谦卑的心。罪人一方面所必要的，不过是俯伏在神圣怜悯面前恳求。复数

‘For thou desirest no sacrifice or gift,

“因为你不喜爱祭物，

[In] a burnt-offering thou hast no delight.’”

若喜爱，我就献上；燔祭，你也不喜悦。”

Book of Psalms in Hebrew, volume 2, p. 208.

希伯来文诗篇第二卷，第208页。

in the verse to express more forcibly the truth, that the sacrifice of repentance is enough in itself without any other. Had he said no more than that this kind of sacrifice was peculiarly acceptable to God, the Jews might easily have evaded his argument by alleging that this might be true, and yet other sacrifices be equally agreeable in his sight; just as the Papists in our own day mix up the grace of God with their own works, rather than submit to receive a gratuitous pardon for their sins. In order to exclude every idea of a pretended satisfaction, David represents contrition of heart as comprehending in itself the whole sum of acceptable sacrifices. And in using the term sacrifices of God, he conveys a tacit reproof to the proud hypocrite, who sets a high value upon such sacrifices as are of his own unauthorised fancy, when he imagines that by means of them he can propitiate God. But here a difficulty may be started. “If the contrite heart,” it may be said, “hold a higher place in the estimation of God than all sacrifices, does it not follow that we acquire pardon by our penitence, and that thus it ceases to be gratuitous?” In reply to this, I might observe, that David is not speaking at this time of the meritorious condition by which pardon is procured, but, on the contrary, asserting our absolute destitution of merit by enjoining humiliation and contrition of spirit, in opposition to everything like an attempt to render a compensation to God. The man of broken spirit is one who has been emptied of all vain-glorious confidence, and brought to acknowledge that he is nothing. The contrite heart abjures the idea of merit, and has no dealings with God upon the principle of exchange. Is it objected, that faith is a more excellent sacrifice that that which is here commended by the Psalmist, and of greater efficacy in procuring the Divine favor, as it presents to the view of God that Savior who is the true and only propitiation? I would observe, that faith cannot be separated from the humility of which David speaks. This is such a humility as is altogether unknown to the wicked. They may tremble in the presence of God, and the obstinacy and rebellion of their hearts may be partially restrained, but they still retain some remainders of inward pride. Where the spirit has been broken, on the other hand, and the heart has become contrite, through a felt sense of the anger of the Lord, a man is brought to genuine fear and self-loathing, with a deep conviction that of himself he can do or deserve nothing, and must be indebted unconditionally for salvation to Divine mercy. That this should be represented by David as constituting all which God desires in the shape of sacrifice, need not excite our surprise. He does not exclude faith, he does not condescend upon any nice division of true penitence into its several parts, but asserts in general, that the only way of obtaining the favor of God is by prostrating ourselves with a wounded heart at the feet of his Divine mercy, and supplicating his grace with ingenuous confessions of our own helplessness. 18 Do good to Zion in thy good pleasure: build thou the walls of Jerusalem 273 From prayer in his own behalf he now proceeds to offer up supplications for the collective Church of God, a duty which he may have felt to be the more incumbent upon him from the circumstance of his having done what he could by his fall to ruin it, Raised to the throne, and originally anointed to be king for the very purpose of fostering the Church of God, he had by his disgraceful conduct nearly accomplished its destruction. Although chargeable with this guilt, he now prays that God would restore it in the exercise of his free mercy. He makes no mention of the righteousness of others, but rests his plea entirely upon the good pleasure of God, intimating that the Church, when at any period it has been brought low, must be indebted for its restoration solely to Divine grace. Jerusalem was already built, but David prays that God would build it still farther for he knew that it fell far short of being complete, so long as it wanted the temple, where he had promised to establish the Ark of his Covenant, and also the royal palace. We learn from the passage, that it is God’s own work to build the Church. “His foundation,” says the Psalmist elsewhere, “is in the holy mountains,” (Psalm 87:1.) We are not to imagine that David refers simply to the Church as a material structure, but must consider him as having his eye fixed upon the spiritual temple, which cannot be raised by human skill or industry. It is true, indeed, that men will not make progress even in the building of material walls, unless their labor be blessed from above; but the Church is in a peculiar sense the erection of God, who has founded it upon the earth in the exercise of his mighty power, and who will exalt it higher than the heavens. In this prayer David does not contemplate the welfare of the Church for a short period merely, but prays that God would preserve and advance it till the coming of Christ. And here, may it not justly excite our surprise, to find one who, in the preceding part of the psalm, had employed the language of distress and almost of despair, now inspired with the confidence necessary for commending the whole Church to the care of God? How comes it about, may we not ask, that one who so narrowly escaped destruction himself, should now appear as a guide to conduct others to salvation? In this we have a striking proof, that, provided we obtain reconciliation with God, we may not only expect to be inspired with confidence in praying for our own salvation, but may hope to be admitted as intercessors in behalf of others, and even to be advanced to the higher honor still, of commending into the hands of God the glory of the Redeemer’s kingdom. 19 Then shalt thou accept sacrifices of righteousness In these words there is an apparent, but only an apparent, inconsistency with others which he had used in the preceding context. He had declared sacrifices to be of no value when considered in themselves, but now he acknowledges them to be acceptable to God when viewed as expressions or symbols of faith, penitence, and thanksgiving. He calls them distinctly sacrifices of righteousness, right, warrantable, and such as are offered in strict accordance with the commandment of God. The expression is the same employed in Psalm 4:5, where David uses it with a tacit condemnation of those who gloried in the mere outward form of ceremonies. We find him again exciting himself and others by his example to the exercise of gratitude, and to the expression of it openly in the solemn assembly. Besides sacrifices in general, two particular kinds of sacrifice are specified. Although some consider , calil, and , olah, to be both of one signification, others maintain with more correctness, that the first is to be understood as meaning the priest’s sacrifice, because in it the offering was consumed or burnt

被用于本节，是为了更有力地表达这一真理：悔改的祭本身已经足够，无需其他任何祭。若他所说的不过是这种祭祀对上帝尤为蒙悦纳，犹太人便可容易地以这样的论点回避：这或许是真的，然而其他的祭祀在祂眼中同样是悦纳的；正如当今的教皇徒将上帝的恩典与自己的行为混合，而不愿意领受白白赦免他们罪的赦免。为了排除一切假冒补偿的念头，大卫将心的痛悔描述为在自身中涵盖了可悦纳之祭的全部总和。在使用”上帝的祭”这个表达时，他对那骄傲的假冒为善者发出了一种隐含的责备——那人对他自己未经授权的随意设想出的祭物给予极高的评价，以为藉此可以讨好上帝。然而在此或许会引出一个困难：”若痛悔的心在上帝的估量中居于高于一切祭物的地位，这难道不意味着我们藉我们的悔改赢得了赦免，赦免因此不再是白白的吗？”对此我可以回答：大卫此时所讲的不是赦免赖以获得的功劳条件，反而是藉着吩咐心灵的谦卑与痛悔，以与任何向上帝作出赔偿的尝试相对立，宣告我们完全缺乏功德。那灵被压伤的人，是被清空了一切骄傲自信、被带到承认自己是无有的人。痛悔的心放弃功劳的念头，与上帝没有任何以交换为原则的往来。若有人反驳：信心是比诗人在此所称颂的更为卓越的祭物，在获得神圣恩惠方面更为有效，因为它将那真实且唯一的挽回祭的救主呈现于上帝面前——我会指出：信心不能与大卫所说的谦卑分离。这种谦卑是恶人完全不认识的。他们或许在上帝面前战兢，他们内心的顽梗与反叛或许被部分压制，但他们仍保有一些内心骄傲的余留。另一方面，在哪里灵被压伤，心被刺透，藉着感受主的愤怒而生出痛悔，一个人便被带到真正的惧怕与自我厌恶，以深刻的确信认识到：靠自己他什么也做不了、什么也不值得，必须无条件地归功于神圣怜悯的救恩。诗人将这描述为上帝在祭物形式上所渴望的一切，这并不应引起我们的惊讶。他没有排除信心，他没有屈尊于将真实悔改细分为其各个组成部分，而是总括地断言：获得上帝恩惠的唯一方式，是带着一颗受伤的心俯伏在祂神圣怜悯的脚前，以率真承认自己的无助来恳求祂的恩典。18．求你随你的美意善待锡安，建造耶路撒冷的城墙。他从为自己祈求，进到为上帝的全体教会献上祈求，这是他因自己的堕落尽他所能地毁坏了它而愈发感到是他当尽之责的。他被立为君王，起初受膏为王，恰恰是为了培育上帝的教会；他以可耻的行为几乎使其毁灭。尽管担有这罪咎，他如今祈求上帝在祂自由怜悯的施行中恢复它。他没有提到他人的公义，而是完全将他的陈情建立在上帝的美意上，暗示：教会在任何时候被降卑，都必须唯独仰赖神圣恩典才能得以恢复。耶路撒冷已经建立，但大卫祈求上帝更进一步建造它，因为他知道它远未完全，只要它还缺少圣殿——上帝已应许在那里建立祂约柜的居所——以及王宫。我们从这段话学到：建立教会是上帝自己的工作。诗人在另处说：”他的基础在圣山上”（诗八十七1）。我们不应以为大卫所指的仅仅是作为物质建筑的教会，而必须认为他的目光固定在那属灵的殿上，那殿不能藉人的技巧或勤劳来建立。诚然，人们即使在建造物质城墙方面也不能有所进展，除非他们的劳力从上蒙福；但教会以特别的意义是上帝的建造，祂以祂大能的力量在地上建立了它，祂将使其高升超乎诸天之上。在这祷告中，大卫所思虑的不仅是教会短期内的福祉，而是祈求上帝保守并推进它，直到基督的降临。而在此，我们岂不有理由惊讶：发现一个在本诗前面部分使用了痛苦甚至近乎绝望的语言的人，如今竟被激发出将整个教会托付于上帝看顾所需的信心？我们岂不可以问：一个如此险些自我毁灭的人，如今怎么会以向导的身份引领他人到救恩？在此我们有一个动人的证明：只要我们获得与上帝的和好，我们不仅可以期望被激发出为自己救恩祷告的信心，更可以盼望被接纳为他人的代祷者，甚至被提升到更高的荣耀——将救赎主国度的荣耀托付在上帝的手中。19．那时你必喜爱公义的祭。在这些话中，与他在前面上下文所用的其他话之间，有一种表面上的，但只是表面上的矛盾。他曾宣告祭物本身毫无价值，但如今他承认，当祭物被视为信心、悔改与感恩的表达或象征时，是蒙上帝悦纳的。他明确地称其为”公义的祭”——正当的、合理的，并完全依照上帝命令所献上的。这是诗篇四章5节所用的同一表达，大卫在那里以这话对那些以礼仪单纯外在形式自夸的人发出隐含的谴责。我们再次看到他以自己的榜样激励自己与他人从事感恩的操练，并在庄严的会众中公开表达它。除了祭物一般之外，还指定了两种特别的祭物。尽管有些人认为 calil 和 olah 同义，另有一些人更为正确地坚持认为前者当理解为祭司的祭，因为在那祭中，祭物在

might easily suggest to him that his crimes might prevent the building of the temple which God had promised should be erected, (2 Samuel 7:13.) “The king forgets not,” observes Bishop Horne, “to ask mercy for his people, as well as for himself; that so neither his own nor their sins might prevent either the building and flourishing of the earthly Jerusalem, or, what was of infinitely greater importance, the promised blessing of Messiah, who was to descend from him, and to rear the walls of the New Jerusalem.”

有可能容易地使他想到，他的罪行可能阻止上帝所应许的当建造的圣殿（撒下七13）。”君王不忘为他的民以及为自己求怜悯，”霍恩主教指出，”以免他自己或他们的罪阻止地上耶路撒冷的建造与兴旺，或者，更为无限重要的是，阻止弥赛亚应许的赐福——那弥赛亚要从他那里降生，建立新耶路撒冷的城墙。”

with fire. 274 In the enumeration which he makes, David designs to teach us that none of all the legal rites can find acceptance with God, unless they be used with a reference to the proper end of their institution. The whole of this verse has been figuratively applied by some to the kingdom of Christ, but the interpretation is unnatural and too refined. Thanksgivings are indeed called by Hosea “the calves of the lips,” (Hosea 14:2;) but it seems evident that in the passage before us there are conjoined along with the frame or disposition of the heart those solemn ceremonies which constituted part of the ancient worship.

火中被焚烧。大卫在他所作的枚举中，意在教导我们：在一切律法礼仪中，除非与其被设立的适当目的相连，否则没有一种能蒙上帝悦纳。有些人将本节全部比喻性地应用于基督的国度，但这种解释是不自然的且过于深刻。何西阿确实将感恩称为”嘴唇的祭”（何十四2）；但在我们面前的这段话中，似乎很明显，那些构成古代敬拜一部分的庄严礼仪与内心的架构或性情是结合在一起的。

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发布于 2026年4月28日 00:00