Psalm 32 - The Joy of Confession

TEXT (Hebrew text at end)

1. Of David. A maskil.1

Happy is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

2. Happy is the man to whom the LORD does not attribute iniquity and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

3. As long as I said nothing, my bones wasted away from my roaring all day long.

4. For day and night Your hand was heavy on me; my vigor turned into the 2-dry winds-2 of summer.      Selah.

5. My sin I made known to You; I did not cover up my iniquity; I resolved, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and You forgave my iniquitous sin.      Selah.

6. Therefore let every faithful man pray to You at a time that You may be found; the many rushing waters will not overtake him.

7. You are a shelter for me; You preserve me from trouble; with the joyous songs of deliverance You surround me.      Selah.

8. Let me instruct you and show you which way to go; let me offer counsel; my eye is on you.

9. Be not like a horse, like a senseless mule which is 3-adorned with bit and bridle to keep him from refusing to approach you.-3

10. Many are the woes of the wicked, but he who trusts in the LORD, faithful love surrounds him.

11 Rejoice in the LORD and exult, O you righteous; sing joyfully, all you upright of heart.

Notes

1. Meaning uncertain. Evidently, a type of song.

2. Literally “drynesses.” Term appears only here. Assumed reference to the occasional hot, dehydrating desert winds.

3. Uncertain. Others take the verse to indicate that the animal’s temper must be curbed so that one can approach him.

COMMENTARY

Psalm 32 is starkly clear. Despite a few unresolved passages, the perception of the psalm merits rare unanimity among interpreters. Following an opening encomium to forgiveness from God, the speaker recalls his suffering until such time as he confessed, and then in various ways invites his audience to undertake a similar process. In the Jewish tradition this is the psalm recited on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), and for the early Church, it was considered one of a group of seven Psalms of Atonement.

The only true controversy among modern interpreters is the categorization of the psalm as didactic or liturgical literature, a discussion properly undertaken only after the literary investigations pursued in these essays.

Here I comment on the form of the poem and how that form supports and refines the main contention; on the nature of the suffering; on a number of striking phrases and usages; and on experience as the source of knowledge.

Form - the Division

Although Psalm 32 is divided in four by the (evidently) musical indications “selah,” word and root repetition clearly divide the poem into two parts, which better correspond to meaning. The first section is dominated by terms for sin. “Sin,” “iniquity,” and “transgression” form the framework of the first half, being repeated in verses 1–2 and 5. (These terms do not appear in the second half.) Combined with the once used “deceit,” there are seven references to sin, a “full” biblical number. As Brueggemann points out, there is no reduction here to “guilt feelings”―the sin is palpable, as re-emphasized by the chiastic structure of the terms in verse 5: sin, iniquity, transgression, iniquity, sin. “Day” and “happy” are also repeated and used only in the first half.

 

The second half (from verse 6) is framed by “faithful” (found in verses 6 and 10 and absent from the first half) and includes repetitions of “surround” and “many” and a sound echo (“you preserve me from trouble,” mitsar titsreni, verse 7).

The division is between the introduction-and-experience, first part, and the speaker’s conclusions, second part. As a teacher, the speaker’s method is effective. Opening with a broad contention, he then holds his audience with a personal account, quoting his own statement to the LORD and painting himself in a less than ideal light. He then returns in the second half to more detailed observations and conclusions, metaphoric descriptions, and complex dialogue, all in the context of advice. The two-tiered presentation gains strength as the second half grows both in terms of import to the audience and, in parallel fashion, in its poetic complexity.

The division also creates a two-step progression―experience and prescription. I return to this below.

The Nature of the Suffering

Verses 3 and 4 describe the suffering of the speaker. Some commentators see this as a description of a physical disease. (Dahood writes, “a psalm of thanksgiving for recovery from illness.”) Others differ and have long since warned that “the two verses… do (not) permit the inference that he was bodily affected by a disease” (Buttenwieser), recalling the use of such corporal terms as figures of speech elsewhere. Therefore, many emphasize the spiritual nature of the suffering: “Hardly could the inner misery of a lacerated heart… be described with more inwardness, impressiveness and power than here” (Ewald, cited in A. Cohen). Thus many traditional commentators who ascribe the psalm to David attribute it to the time after his adulterous involvement with Bathsheba.

Although there is no conclusive argument for one type of suffering or the other (I confess my preference for the more spiritual reading), it is worthwhile to recall that even in modernity, medicine at times has difficulty distinguishing between the two and often points to an influence of one on the other. The answer, in short, may be “both.”

Phrases

There are a number of very effective turns of phrase in the poem. I cite a few:

a. “Happy” (verses 1, 2): As I have pointed out previously, this term, ashrei, used often in Psalms, has deeper implication than that usually associated with our “happy.” It implies a completeness and calm, somewhat akin to “blessed.”

b. Verse 3 contains a powerful logical contradiction that makes perfect poetic sense. The speaker says nothing, but what is heard is his anguished roaring! Indeed silence can at times be heard more effectively than any shout.

c. A second strong contrast uses diametrically opposed metaphors to illustrate almost identical situations. When describing himself before confession, he is dried out like (and by) the hot winds of summer (when there are no rains in Israel and occasional dry desert winds are particularly debilitating). When encouraging others to avoid the parallel situation, he urges them to elude the “rushing mighty waters” (6). The extremes serve to reinforce rather than contradict.

d. Is verse 7 the prescribed prayer of verse 6, which the audience is to pray, or is it independently the speaker’s address to God? As so often, we are best served by reading it both ways, assuming the poet understood the two potential readings, thus adding depth of the poem.

e. Verse 8 can be read as God’s direct address to the speaker, a powerful change. However, verse 9 is addressed to "you" in the plural and in any case it would be an inappropriate rebuke from God to the speaker. Furthermore, verses 10 and 11 are clearly the words of the speaker to his audience, so that verse 8 should probably be read that way as well, even though it is addressed to "you" singular. Still, an echo of the first reading of verse 8 as God's word (which better befits “My eye is on you”) remains, a hint that God has responded. (Perhaps that is why it is kept in the singular, to allow for that double interpretation.). I have translated the psalm as if all the words are those of the speaker.

f. There is a subtle framing of the whole psalm in Hebrew, the opening “happy” (ashrei) echoed by the closing “upright” (yishrei). Together they declare the upright to be happy and emphasize the connection between the experience of the first half and the advice of the second.

A Reflection on Experience

It is a commonplace that the most widespread source of knowledge, and one’s basis for advising others, is one’s own experience. Logically, of course, this is a weak argument, as is any anecdotal evidence, but rhetorically and personally it is convincing. Many of us are moved as much by a friend’s testimony as by any “scientific” research, even in such fields as medicine.

In this psalm, the poet uses the grounding in experience, but with a twist. In the second half, through the image of the mule, the speaker implies that one may choose either to go through suffering similar to his own experience or to learn from it and thereby avoid it. This is half advice and half threat. One wonders if the poet implied either a critique or admiration for the speaker in his dependence on his own experience.

The tone of the psalm, then, is, to a degree, quite the opposite of some of the psalms of lament, in which the anchor of belief is a strong faith. Here it is experience. We need not dwell on disagreement between the two approaches, for they are not polar opposites, but we can appreciate through this psalm the variety inherent in Psalms, this collection of poems of the soul.

Psalm 32 testifies not only to the psalmist’s conviction that the reader will consider his claim (otherwise he would not have written it), but also to his understanding that not all will accept it. The reader is left to put him or herself into that continuum.

　

　

The author of these essays is Rabbi Benjamin Segal, former president of the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem and author of The Song of Songs: A Woman in Love (Jerusalem: Gefen, 2009). This material is copyright by the author, and may not be reproduced. If you are interested in using the texts for study groups, please be in direct contact with the author, at

HEBREW TEXT

א  לְדָוִד, מַשְׂכִּיל אַשְׁרֵי נְשׂוּי-פֶּשַׁע כְּסוּי חֲטָאָהב  אַשְׁרֵי אָדָם לֹא יַחְשֹׁב יְהוָה לוֹ עָו‍ֹן וְאֵין בְּרוּחוֹ רְמִיָּה
ג  כִּי-הֶחֱרַשְׁתִּי בָּלוּ עֲצָמָי בְּשַׁאֲגָתִי כָּל-הַיּוֹםד  כִּי יוֹמָם וָלַיְלָה תִּכְבַּד עָלַי יָדֶךָ נֶהְפַּךְ לְשַׁדִּי בְּחַרְבֹנֵי קַיִץ סֶלָהה  חַטָּאתִי אוֹדִיעֲךָ וַעֲו‍ֹנִי לֹא-כִסִּיתִי אָמַרְתִּי אוֹדֶה עֲלֵי פְשָׁעַי לַיהוָה וְאַתָּה נָשָׂאתָ עֲו‍ֹן חַטָּאתִי    סֶלָה.
ו  עַל-זֹאת יִתְפַּלֵּל כָּל-חָסִיד אֵלֶיךָ לְעֵת מְצֹא רַק לְשֵׁטֶף מַיִם רַבִּים אֵלָיו לֹא יַגִּיעוּז  אַתָּה סֵתֶר לִי מִצַּר תִּצְּרֵנִי רָנֵּי פַלֵּט תְּסוֹבְבֵנִי סֶלָהח  אַשְׂכִּילְךָ וְאוֹרְךָ בְּדֶרֶךְ-זוּ תֵלֵךְ אִיעֲצָה עָלֶיךָ עֵינִיט  אַל-תִּהְיוּ כְּסוּס כְּפֶרֶד אֵין הָבִין בְּמֶתֶג-וָרֶסֶן עֶדְיוֹ לִבְלוֹם בַּל קְרֹב אֵלֶיךָי  רַבִּים מַכְאוֹבִים לָרָשָׁע וְהַבּוֹטֵחַ בַּיהוָה חֶסֶד יְסוֹבְבֶנּוּיא  שִׂמְחוּ בַיהוָה וְגִילוּ צַדִּיקִים וְהַרְנִינוּ כָּל-יִשְׁרֵי-לֵב

　

　

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