The Psalm of Contrition and Hope

This is one of seven penitential psalms (6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, and 143). These Psalms were written to express sorrow, especially godly sorrow over sin. Usually, the author of a penitential Psalm will acknowledge or confess sin and then express his need for God's favor and forgiveness.

This psalm, no doubt written sometime during captivity, does not explicitly express a confession of sin but rather an awareness of a broad iniquity and a need for God's grace. The psalm was written as a national prayer of contrition. 

Repentance Pronounced (1-2)

The psalmist used the depth of water as a metaphor to describe the crisis drowning his emotions in the slow-swamping death of exile (1). The psalmist put his voice to song and cried out to Yahweh for undeserved mercy. 

In asking for mercy, the psalmist was not seeking to make light of the offense but to own the offense and go to the only One who could preserve him and his people from completely drowning (2).

While the sin was not explicitly named, the psalmist no doubt implied the national iniquity of idolatry and unfaithfulness, which had landed them in exile (8).

As the exiles returned home, they would sing this psalm, taking a moment to recount their checkered history as a people becoming unfaithful to Yahweh in their pursuit of idols. 

Remission Anticipated (3-4)

The psalmist then took responsibility for the seriousness of sin, claiming that if sins were catalogued and filed as evidence, no one, not one person, could stand “un-condemned” or innocent. Every soul, including his own, would be found guilty. 

This is the voice of confession in this psalm: “I am as sinful as anyone else. I have no good work to justify my innocence. I too have been unfaithful” (3).

Then the psalmist saw into the great heart of God—He is a forgiver; He expunges sin (Micah 7:18-19), destroys the case file, and withholds condemnation. This is the very reason Yahweh should be revered—He alone holds ultimate power to condemn or forgive (4).

Reprieve Expected (5-6)

As the exiles were making the arduous journey toward Jerusalem and all its unknown prospects, they were singing this psalm. Expectation began to rise in their hearts as they declared they would wait in hope for God to do what God always does: keep His word, specifically His word through the prophets (5).

Like a watchman waiting at night for the sun to rise so he can be “pardoned” from his tour of duty, so the psalmist and the whole nation waited for the dawn of mercy, pardon, and forgiveness. The night watchman’s being pardoned from his duty is nothing to the pardon of the sin of unfaithfulness, so the psalmist said “more” and then repeated himself (6).  

Redemption Certain (7-8)

The hope of redemption is not built on some flimsy, misplaced optimism. The call for Israel to hope is built on two foundations:

1. Yahweh is covenant-rich, and His greatest virtue is a love whose bond no one can break. 

2. Yahweh's redemptive strategy is not without epic and extraordinary virtue and means before which no one can stand nor resist. 

The psalmist here was hinting at Yahweh's extraordinary power in redeeming Israel from Egypt. Yahweh was not only madly in love with His people, but He redeemed them zealously—Pharaoh and his military prowess being no match (7).

The psalmist announced that Yahweh's redemption was so ample and inexhaustible He would forgive everyone of Israel's idol-worshiping sins: love of pleasure, love of self, love of money, love of power. Not only would Yahweh forgive Israel their sin of unfaithfulness, but He would also redeem them from the condemnation of their sins, freeing them to live (8).  

As Jesus would sing this psalm, His heart would open deeply to the heart of God. Redemption or liberating Israel from Babylon or Persia was not nearly as important as redeeming or liberating Israel and those yet to be born from their iniquity, which was the engine of death. This is a powerful psalm as it reveals the ultimate mission of Messiah—not to merely redeem a people from temporal consequences of their sins but also to liberate them from the death of their sins.