Luke 18:13; 2 Samuel 24:10; Job 42:1-6
The publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
And David’s heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the LORD, I have sinned greatly in that I have done: and now, I beseech thee, O LORD, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.
Then Job answered the LORD, and said, I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee. Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.
J. C. RYLE (1816-1900): We never begin to be good till we can feel and say that we are bad…He that has learned to feel his sins has great reason to be thankful. We are never in the way of salvation until we know that we are lost, ruined, guilty, and helpless.
DUTCH PSALTER 140 (Psalm 51): I am evil, born in sin;
Thou desirest truth within.
Thou alone my Saviour art,
Teach Thy wisdom to my heart;
Make me pure, Thy grace bestow,
Wash me whiter that the snow.
CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): Job was high in his own esteem before he saw God; but after he had seen God, his sentiments were wholly changed. Job expressly declares that his repentance was the result of the discovery afforded him.
ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): Nothing can display more fully the state of a true penitent before the LORD. In the expressions Job makes use of, the very inside of his heart seems to be turned out to view. Self loathing, and self-abhorring, are among the highest tokens of the real contrition which passed within.
CHARLES SIMEON: The experience of every Christian accords with this. Nothing shows us the aggravations of our sins so much as a view of Him against whom they have been committed. Our contrition will ever be proportioned to our views of Christ. They will cause us to abhor ourselves in dust and ashes. While we know but little of God, we see but little of our own corruptions; but as we become more enlightened, we learn to loathe and abhor ourselves. Even Job, holy as he was, found this effect from his views of God. Paul also, notwithstanding all his integrity, was brought to this by a sight of Jesus Christ. The same cause will produce the same effect in all.
C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): Like the Apostle Paul, they will count themselves the “chief of sinners.”
MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): The more we see of the glory and majesty of God, and the more we see of the vileness and odiousness of sin, and of ourselves because of sin, the more we shall abase and abhor ourselves for it. Self-loathing is evermore the companion of true repentance. “They shall loathe themselves for the evils which they have committed,” Ezekiel 6:9.
THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): Impressed with a deep sense of his sins, the publican appeared so vile in his own sight, that he would not go up among the people of God, but stood afar off, in the court of the Gentiles, perhaps without the stone wall, called by the apostle the middle wall of partition, which the Gentiles and unclean Israelites were not permitted to pass.
ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): Not because he was a heathen, and dared not approach the holy place—for it is likely he was a Jew—but because he was a true penitent, and felt himself utterly unworthy to appear before God.
THOMAS COKE: With eyes fixed on the ground, smiting on his breast, he by that action made a public acknowledgment of his great transgressions before all who were in sight of him, and, in the bitterness of his soul, earnestly cried for mercy.
J. C. RYLE: It was a humble prayer—a prayer which put self in the right place. The Publican confessed plainly that he was “a sinner.” This is the very A B C of saving Christianity.
C. H. SPURGEON: “The sinner” it should be; it is so emphatically in the Greek…He does not describe himself as a penitent sinner, or as a praying sinner, but simply as a sinner, and as a sinner he goes to God asking for mercy.
J. C. RYLE: It was a prayer in which mercy was the chief thing desired, and faith in God’s covenant mercy, however weak, was displayed. Mercy is the first thing we must ask for in the day we begin to pray. Mercy and grace must be the subject of our daily petitions at the throne of grace till the day we die.
MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679): Thereby instructing us how to make our applications to God, disclaiming any goodness or righteousness in ourselves, and fleeing to the alone merits of Christ, and the free grace of God in and through Him.
DUTCH PSALTER 140 (Psalm 51): God be merciful to me
On Thy grace I rest my plea;
Plenteous in compassion Thou,
Blot out my transgressions now;
Wash me, make me pure within,
Cleanse, O cleanse me from my sin.
JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): The Publican prayed much, though he spoke little.
C. H. SPURGEON: Our English version of the Bible does not give the full meaning of the publican’s prayer; it is, “God be propitious to me,” that is, “be gracious to me through the ordained sacrifice;” and that is one of the points of the prayer that made it so acceptable to God. There is a mention of the atonement in it, there is a pleading of the sacrificial blood. It was a real prayer, and an acceptable prayer.
J. C. RYLE: His prayer was one which came from his heart. He was deeply moved in uttering it.
JOHN TRAPP: “And David’s heart smote him after he had numbered the people.” David’s heart had prompted him to this sin…Now the same heart smote him with a sense of guilt, and a fear of wrath.
MATTHEW POOLE: His conscience discerned his sin, and he was heartily sorry for it.
JOHN TRAPP: A stroke on the heart we know is deadly: so had this been to David, but that he confessed and forsook his sin, and so found mercy. “I have sinned greatly.” He confessed not slightly, but with the greatest aggravation: “For I have done very foolishly.”
JOHN GILL (1697-1771): All sin is folly, and some sins are exceeding foolish, and so this appeared to David; or, “though I have done very foolishly, yet forgive my sin.”
DUTCH PSALTER 140 (Psalm 51): My transgressions I confess,
Grief and guilt my soul oppress;
I have sinned against Thy grace
And provoked Thee to Thy face;
I confess Thy judgment just,
Speechless, I Thy mercy trust.
Broken, humbled to the dust,
By Thy wrath and judgment just,
Let my contrite heart rejoice
And in gladness hear Thy voice;
From my sins O hide Thy face,
Blot them out in boundless grace.
JOHN GILL: “And now I beseech thee, Lord, take away the iniquity of thy servant.” Take away the guilt of it from his conscience, which lay heavy there, and suffer not the punishment it deserves to take place on him, but grant an application of pardon to him.
J. C. RYLE: Such prayers are the prayers which are God’s delight. “A broken and a contrite heart,” He will not despise, Psalm 51:17.
CHARLES SIMEON: Fear not, but that they who trust in God’s mercy shall find mercy at His hands. Let that faithful saying of the Apostle Paul’s sink deep into your hearts, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief,” 1 Timothy 1:15. Look truly to the Saviour—and to every believing penitent Jesus speaks as He did of that repenting Publican: “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified,” Luke 18:14.
