I said, "Lord, have mercy on me! Heal me, for I have sinned against you."
KJV
I said, LORD, be merciful unto me: heal my soul; for I have sinned against thee.
Commentary
Commentary
I said, Lord, be merciful unto me,.... See Gill on
Psa 40:11
;
heal my soul; not that it was diseased with sin in such sense as the souls of other men are; but it is to be understood as a petition for comfort while bearing the sins of others, and which Christ as man stood in need of when in the garden and on the cross; so healing signifies comfort in trouble, as in
Isa 57:18
;
for I have sinned against thee; or "unto thee", or "before thee", as the Targum; not that any sin was committed by him in his own person, but he having all the sins of his people on him, which he calls his own,
Psa 40:12
; he was treated as a sinner, and as guilty before God,
Isa 53:12
; and so the words may be read, "for I am a sinner unto thee" (u); I am counted as one by thee, having the sins of my people imputed to me; and am bound unto thee, or under obligation to bear the punishment of sin; or thus, "for I have made an offering for sin unto thee" (w), so the word is used,
Lev 6:26
; and so it might be rendered in
Lev 5:7
; and perhaps may be better rendered so in
Lev 4:3
; and be understood, not of the sin of the anointed priest, but of his offering a sacrifice for the soul that sinned through ignorance,
Psa 41:2
, which offering is directed to: and then the sense here is, heal me, acquit me, discharge me, and deliver me out of this poor and low estate in which I am; for I have made my soul an offering for sin, and thereby have made atonement for all the sins of my people laid upon me; and accordingly he was acquitted and justified,
Ti1 3:16
.
(u) "tibi", Pagninus, Montanus, Cocceius. (w) "Obtuli sacrificium pro peccato", Gussetius, Ebr. Comment. p. 249, 923.
Commentary
Commentary