Page:04.BCOT.KD.PoeticalBooks.vol.4.Writings.djvu/360

 which proceeds from Him, has its foundation in His compassion and condescension.

Verse 6
The supplicatory reminiscere means, may God never forget to exercise His pity and grace towards him, which are (as the plurals imply) so rich and superabundant. The ground on which the prayer is based is introduced with כּי (nam, or even quoniam). God's compassion and grace are as old in their operation and efficacy as man's feebleness and sin; in their counsels they are eternal, and therefore have also in themselves the pledge of eternal duration (Psa 100:5; Psa 103:17).

Verse 7
May Jahve not remember the faults of his youth (חטּאות), into which lust and thoughtlessness have precipitated him, nor the transgressions (פּשׁעים), by which even in maturer and more thoughtful years he has turned the grace of God into licentiousness and broken off his fellowship with Him (פּשׁע בּ, of defection); but may He, on the contrary, turn His remembrance to him (זכר ל as in Psa 136:23) in accordance with His grace or loving-kindness, which אתּה challenges as being the form of self-attestation most closely corresponding to the nature of God. Memor esto quidem mei, observes Augustine, non secundum iram, qua ego dignus sum, sed secundum misericordiam tuam, quae te digna est. For God is טּוב, which is really equivalent to saying, He is ἀγάπη. The next distich shows that טוּב is intended here of God's goodness, and not, as e.g., in Neh 9:35, of His abundance of possessions.

Verse 8
The בּ with הורה denotes the way, i.e., the right way (Job 31:7), as the sphere and subject of the instruction, as in Psa 32:8, Pro 4:11; Job 27:11. God condescends to sinners in order to teach them the way that leads to life, for He is טוב־וישׂר; well-doing is His delight, and, if His anger be not provoked (Psa 18:27), He has only the sincerest good intention in what He does.

Verse 9
The shortened form of the future stands here, according to Ges. §128, 2, rem., instead of the full form (which, viz., ידרך, is perhaps meant); for the connection which treats of general facts, does not admit of its being taken as optative. The ב (cf. Psa 25:5, Psa 107:7; Psa 119:35) denotes the sphere of the guidance. משׁפּט is the right so far as it is