ChristadelphianBooksOnline
George Booker
Psalms Studies - Book 1

Psalm 25

1. Acrostic

Like certain other psalms — 9/10, 34, 37, 111, 112, 119, 145 — and most of Lamentations, this is an acrostic, the verses beginning in turn with each successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet (see Introduction, Chapter 4). But here, verses 1,2 have Aleph/Aleph (see Psa. 119) instead of Aleph/Beth; and verses 18,19 have Resh/Resh instead of Resh/Schin. And Vau (see 119:41) is missing between verses 5 and 6. Instead, an extra letter Pe is inserted at the end (just the same as in Psa. 34). If the first two words of verse 2 are interchanged, the missing Beth is supplied. It has been suggested that a very short Hebrew word like the one for “Look upon” has somehow dropped out from the beginning of verse 18. This would supply the missing Koph (v. 18). (For v. 22, see separate comment in Par. 10.)

Why alphabetical? Try to learn this psalm by heart, and you will see why. How else can one recall the correct sequence of verses?

2. Structure

There are three groups of 7 verses each. The middle section supplies the satisfying answer to the troubles of the other two.

3. Exodus 33 and 34

Contacts with other passages are quite remarkable. Outstanding are the echoes of Exodus 33 and 34.

	Psalm 25	Exodus
3	Ashamed, which transgress without cause	32:1
4	Shew me thy ways	33:13,18
5	On thee do I wait all the day	33:11
6	Thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindnesses	33:19
7	For thy goodness sake, O Lord	33:19
10	Mercy and truth	34:6,7
11	For thy name’s sake, pardon my iniquity	34:5
13	His soul shall dwell at ease	33:14
13	His seed shall inherit the land	32:10
14	The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant	33:18,21,22

4. Romans 5:1-6

Another feature of this sort is the way in which Paul developed many of his fine words and phrases in Romans 5:1-6 from the end of Psalm 25 and the beginning of Psalm 26 (his “daily readings”?). These are only similarities in our version, but they are practically verbatim citations from the LXX.

	Psalms 25, 26		Romans 5
25:20.	ashamed	5.	ashamed
25:20.	put my trust	2.	hope
25:21.	wait	3.	patience
25:22.	troubles	3.	tribulation
26: 1.	trusted	5.	hope
26: 1.	not slide	6.	without strength
26: 2.	examine me	4.	experience
26: 7.	publish with thanksgiving	2.	rejoice
26: 8.	glory	3.	glory
26:12.	standeth	2.	stand

5. Links with preceding psalms

Is it an accident that links can also be found with Psalms 23 and 24?

	Psalm 25		Psalms 23, 24
4.	paths	23:3.	paths of righteousness
5.	lead	23:3.	he leadeth me
11.	thy name’s sake	23:3.	for his name’s sake
10.	mercy and truth	23:6.	goodness and mercy
1.	lift up my soul	24:7.	lift up your heads, O ye gates
5.	God of my salvation	24:5.	the God of his salvation
22.	Israel	24:6.	Jacob

6. Historical setting

When did David write it? The answer must be largely guesswork. Try 2 Samuel 15, considering verses 2, 3, 7, 13, 15, 18, 19, and 22.

7. Repetitions

The psalm is full of striking repetitions:

a.	Key words such as truth, mercy, lovingkindness, which all have a semi-technical reference to the covenants of promise, recur time and again: vv. 5,6,7,10,14. This must be the meaning of God’s “ways” and “paths” (vv. 4,8,9,10,12). So God’s promises, little accounted of these days, are all-important.
b.	Tremendous emphasis on such words as teach, shew, lead, paths, ways. See vv. 4 (twice), 5 (twice), 8, 9 (twice), 10, 12, 14, and 15. How this emphasizes the need to walk in God’s ways and to avoid the ways that are wrong.

8. Themes

Some vitally important themes are woven into the psalm.

1.	I lift up my soul. Here, so as to be saved from shame. In 143:8, so as to be taught the right way. In 86:4, so as to be made to rejoice.
2.	I trust in thee. All the margin references lead to passages with the same idea. Because of faith, therefore man is not ashamed, not confounded: Psa. 13:4,5; 22:4,5; 31:1; 34:5,8; Isa. 28:16; 49:23; Rom. 10:11.
6.	Remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindnesses; for they have been ever of old. God is besought to remember His Covenants of Promise 1,000 (4,000?) years old, but (v. 7): Forget my sins of 40 (4?) years ago! Compare 103:14,18.
14.	The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him — and, by implication, not with them that do not fear him! Compare also vv. 10,12; Psa. 91:1; Isa. 66:2; John 7:17; 15:15; 1 Cor. 2:9,10; Gen. 18:17; Amos 3:7; Deut. 29:29; Dan. 2:22; Prov. 3:32. A lovely theme! (The word “secret” is derived from the Hebrew for “couch”, and thus the confidential talk of those reclining on it.)

9. Messianic application

The plain confession of sin in vv. 7,11,18 creates a problem, which can perhaps be answered in one of three ways:

a.	Just as there are certain phrases which cannot apply with strict literalness to David (e.g. v. 5: “On thee do I wait all the day”; v. 15: “Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord”), but which apply easily to Christ, so also there are verses like these confessions of sin which do not apply literally to Christ, but readily enough to David.
b.	Verses 7,11, and 18 refer not to the personal sins of Jesus (not possible, of course!), but to the burden of human “sin”, i.e. sinful nature, which he bore as a redeeming sacrifice for his brethren. This idea is expressed no less than twelve times in Isaiah 53.
c.	These exceptional verses do not refer to Christ in person, but to those in Christ, who are after all a part of his “body”.

10. Other details

1.	Lift up my soul = Deut. 24:15, mg. An allusion to the heave-offering (Exod. 25:2)? Or is it the lifting up of the “gate” of my soul (as in Psa. 24:7,9)? Furthermore, a contrast with 24:4.
3.	Without cause = literally, empty....but of what? Of reason, or godliness?
4.	Shew me thy ways, teach me thy paths. This is beautifully used in the familiar Isa. 2:3.
6,7.	Psa. 51:1.
8.	Therefore will he teach sinners in the way. God’s goodness and mercy are particularly exhibited in what He does for sinners: Rom. 5:8.
10.	All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth. Rom. 8:28 says the same thing. There: to them that love God. Here: to such as keep his covenant.
11.	Thy name’s sake. All appeals for mercy rest upon faith in the attributes which are involved in the name of Yahweh (Exod. 34:5-7; see Par. 3 above), as of course upon His covenants of promise.
	For it is great. What is? “Thy name”, or “mine iniquity”?
12.	The Hebrew has a nice play on the words fear and teach. Almost the same.
13.	His seed shall inherit the earth anticipates Psa. 37:9,11,22,29,34.
16.	LXX is very much like Matt. 17:15. Did the man with “the lunatick son” consciously refer to Psa. 25?
20.	Repeats v. 2.

Differs from the acrostic pattern described in Par. 1, and is probably an addition made to the psalm in Hezekiah’s day. It serves the purpose of turning a personal plea into a prayer for the whole nation. Compare 14:7. Other possible examples of this: 9:6; 31:21-24; 39:12,13; 51:18,19; 57:7-11.

11. A Prayer based on Psalm 25:4,5

“Show me Thy ways, O Lord; teach me Thy paths. Lead me in Thy truth, and teach me. Make me like Thyself — in any way, at any cost: no matter whether I like it or not. Have Thine own way in me. Not my will, but Thine always. Probably I shall not like the process: it will hurt; I may even feel discouraged, and almost ready to draw back; I may be weary of the conflict, and sigh for rest and cry for deliverance before the work is done. Never mind, dear Lord: finish the work, for Thy name’s sake, and for Thine own glory, and stay not Thy hand until Thou seest, clear and true and perfect, Thine own image and likeness in me. And to Thee, and Thee only, shall be the praise for ever. Amen.”

S.M.J.