Wednesday Bible Study: The Forgiveness Scam

Psalm 32 introduces an idea we haven't really seen explicitly in the Hebrew Bible until now -- or if we have I missed it. That is the idea that we are all sinners but if we confess our sins to God we can be forgiven. ("Maskil" means something like "wise," in other words this is intended to be instructive.) The psalm is important in both Jewish and Christian liturgy. In some Jewish traditions it is recited on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, and verse 8 is recited as part of the Foundation of Repentance on Rosh Hashanah. Paul refers to verses 1 and 2 in Romans 4, in asserting a central doctrine of Christian theology, salvation by faith, and the entire psalm is traditionally recited at Vespers once a month in Catholic monasteries, and at Mattins on Ash Wednesday in the Anglican church.

Personally, as a realist, I am far more interested that people do what's right in the first place, rather than the idea that it's perfectly okay to sin as long as you ask forgiveness. What's the point of distinguishing right from wrong otherwise? 

Psalm 33 has God literally sitting on a throne in the sky, looking down on the earth, which is apparently a flat disk since he can see the whole thing. Verse 12 is often cited as a justification for Christian nationalism.

32 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,
    whose sin is covered.
² Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity,
    and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

³ When I declared not my sin, my body wasted away
    through my groaning all day long.
⁴ For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me;
    my strength was dried up^[a] as by the heat of summer.Selah

⁵ I acknowledged my sin to thee,
    and I did not hide my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my trangressions to the Lord”;
    then thou didst forgive the guilt of my sin.Selah

⁶ Therefore let every one who is godly
    offer prayer to thee;
at a time of distress,^[b] in the rush of great waters,
    they shall not reach him.
⁷ Thou art a hiding place for me,
    thou preservest me from trouble;
    thou dost encompass me with deliverance.^[c]Selah

⁸ I will instruct you and teach you
    the way you should go;
    I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
⁹ Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding,
    which must be curbed with bit and bridle,
    else it will not keep with you.

¹⁰ Many are the pangs of the wicked;
    but steadfast love surrounds him who trusts in the Lord.
¹¹ Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous,
    and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

Footnotes

1. Psalm 32:4 Heb obscure
2. Psalm 32:6 Cn: Heb at a time of finding only
3. Psalm 32:7 Cn: Heb shouts of deliverance

 
 

33 Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous!
    Praise befits the upright.
² Praise the Lord with the lyre,
    make melody to him with the harp of ten strings!
³ Sing to him a new song,
    play skilfully on the strings, with loud shouts.

⁴ For the word of the Lord is upright;
    and all his work is done in faithfulness.
⁵ He loves righteousness and justice;
    the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.

⁶ By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
    and all their host by the breath of his mouth.
⁷ He gathered the waters of the sea as in a bottle;
    he put the deeps in storehouses.

⁸ Let all the earth fear the Lord,
    let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!
⁹ For he spoke, and it came to be;
    he commanded, and it stood forth.

¹⁰ The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nought;
    he frustrates the plans of the peoples.
¹¹ The counsel of the Lord stands for ever,
    the thoughts of his heart to all generations.
¹² Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
    the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!

¹³ The Lord looks down from heaven,
    he sees all the sons of men;
¹⁴ from where he sits enthroned he looks forth
    on all the inhabitants of the earth,
¹⁵ he who fashions the hearts of them all,
    and observes all their deeds.
¹⁶ A king is not saved by his great army;
    a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.
¹⁷ The war horse is a vain hope for victory,
    and by its great might it cannot save.

¹⁸ Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him,
    on those who hope in his steadfast love,
¹⁹ that he may deliver their soul from death,
    and keep them alive in famine.

²⁰ Our soul waits for the Lord;
    he is our help and shield.
²¹ Yea, our heart is glad in him,
    because we trust in his holy name.
²² Let thy steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us,
    even as we hope in thee.