“Let Israel hope in the Lord: for with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption. And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.”
I shall proceed, in the opening of these words, according unto the method already insisted on. First, the meaning of the principal words shall be declared; then, the sense and importance of the whole; thirdly, the relation that they have unto the condition of the soul expressed in the psalm must be manifested; — from all which observations will arise for our instruction and direction in the like cases, wherein we are or may be concerned.
First. Verse 7. “Let Israel hope in the Lord:” יַחֵל יִשְׂרָאֵל אֵל־יְהוָה, “Hope, Israel, in Jehovah,” — “trust,” or “expect;” the same word with that, verse 5, “In his word do I hope;” properly, to expect, to look for, which includes hope, and adds some farther degree of the soul’s acting towards God. It is an earnest looking after the thing hoped for: “Expecta ad Dominum,” — hope in him, and look up to him.
“For with the Lord, — quia, or quoniam, because seeing that with the Lord, — הַחֶסֶד, “mercy.” The verb substantive, as usual, is omitted, which we supply, “There is mercy,” — grace, bounty, goodness, good-will. This word is often joined with another, discovering its importance; and that is אֶמֶת, “truth:” חֶסֶד וֶאֱמֶת, “goodness,” or “mercy and truth.” These are, as it were, constituent parts of God’s promises. It is of goodness, grace, bounty, to promise any undue mercy; and it is of truth or faithfulness to make good what is so promised. The LXX. commonly render this word by ἔλεος, — that is, “pardoning mercy,” as it is everywhere used in the New Testament.
“And with him is plenteous redemption:” עִמּוֹ, “with him,” as before, speaking unto God, verse 4, עִמְּךָ, “with thee there is;” the meaning of which expression hath been opened at large. “Redemption:” פְדוּת, from פָדָה, “to redeem;” the same with פִּדְיוֹן, λύτρωσις, ἀπολύτρωσις, “redemption.” This word is often used for a proper redemption, such as is made by the intervention of a price, and not a mere assertion unto liberty by power, which is sometimes also called redemption. Thus it is said of the money that the first-born of the children of Israel, which were above the number of the Levites, were redeemed with, that Moses took הַפִּדְיוֹם, the “redemption;” that is, the redemption-money, the price of their redemption, Numb. iii. 49, Ps. xlix. 8. The redemption of men’s souls is precious; it cost a great price. The redemption, then, that is with God relates unto a price. Goodness or mercy, with respect unto a price, becomes redemption; that is, actively the cause or means of it. What that price is, see Matt. xx. 28; 1 Pet. i. 18.
“Plenteous redemption:” הַרְבֵּה, “Multa, copiosa,” — much, abundant, plenteous. It is used both for quantity and quality: much in quantity, or plenteous, abundant; and in quality, — that is, precious, excellent. And it is applied in a good and bad sense. So it is said of our sins, Ezra ix. 6, “Our sins,” רָבוּ, “are increased” or “multiplied,” or are “great;” many in number, and heinous in their nature or quality. And in the other sense it is applied unto the mercy of God, whereby they are removed; it is great or plenteous, it is excellent or precious.
Verse 8. “And he,” — that is, the Lord Jehovah, he with whom is plenteous redemption, — יִפְדֶּה, “shall redeem,” or make them partakers of that redemption that is with him. “He shall redeem Israel,” — that is, those who hope and trust in him.
“From all his iniquities:” מִכֹּל עֲוֹנוֹתָיו, “His iniquities; that is, of the elect of Israel, and every individual amongst them. But the word signifies trouble as well as sin, especially that trouble or punishment that is for sin. So Cain expresseth himself upon the denunciation of his sentence: גָדוֹל עֲוֹנִי מִנְּשׂוֹא, “My sin,” — that is, the punishment thou hast denounced against my sin, — “is too great or heavy for me to bear,” Gen. iv. 13. There is a near affinity between sin and trouble: “Noxam pœna sequitur;” — “Punishment is inseparable from iniquity.” עֲוֹן, then, the word here used, signifies either sin with reference unto trouble due to it, or trouble with respect unto sin, whence it proceeds; and both may here be well intended: “God shall redeem Israel from all his sins, and troubles that have ensued thereon.” And this is the signification of the words; which, indeed, are plain and obvious.
And these words close up the psalm. He who began with depths, — his own depths of sin and trouble, — out of which and about which he cried out unto God, is so encouraged by that prospect of grace and forgiveness with God, which by faith he had obtained, as to preach unto others, and to support them in expectation of deliverance from all their sin and trouble also.
And such, for the most part, are all the exercises and trials of the children of God. Their entrance may be a storm, but their close is a calm; their beginning is oftentimes trouble, but their latter end is peace, — peace to themselves, and advantage to the church of God: for men in all ages coming out of great trials of their own have been the most instrumental for the good of others, for God doth not greatly exercise any of his but with some especial end for his own glory.