God In His Goodness Guides All Who Are Responsive To Him, And Reveals To Them His Goodness In Mercy And Covenant Love, Including Pardoning Their Iniquity (Psalms 25:8-11).
Having called on God to guide him and show His covenant mercy towards him, the Psalmist now points out that this is in fact what YHWH, Who is good and upright, does for all sinners who are willing to be responsive to Him. He guides and leads them in His way, and reveals His covenant love (chesed) and faithfulness towards those who keep His covenant and His laws. The main emphasis here is on the activity of YHWH.
T ‘Good and upright is YHWH.
Therefore will he instruct sinners in the way.'
Y ‘The meek will he guide in justice,
And the meek will he teach his way.'
Because YHWH is good and upright that is why (‘therefore') He does not just leave sinners to struggle on in ignorance, but instructs them in the right way, and when they are humble and responsive, guides them in what true righteousness involves, and indeed in His own way, the Way of Holiness (Isaiah 35:8).
‘Instructs' is from the same root as the word ‘torah', (God's instruction). Thus He instructs them in His Law. ‘Meek.' These are the humble minded who are ‘poor in spirit' (compare Psalms 9:12, and see Matthew 5:3; Matthew 5:5; 1 Peter 5:5). ‘Justice.' This is referring to the way of righteousness (see Proverbs 1:3, and compare Matthew 21:32).
C ‘All the paths of YHWH are lovingkindness and truth.
To such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.'
And to those who are responsive to His covenant and to His instructions He reveals His own ‘covenant love' (lovingkindness) and genuine faithfulness (compare Exodus 34:6). He never fails them but goes with them every step of the way, leading them in His own paths, paths which are paths of lovingkindness and truth.
His covenant, which contained His ‘testimonies', His commandments (Deuteronomy 4:45; Deuteronomy 6:17; Deuteronomy 6:10), was made with His people at Sinai on the basis of earlier covenants (Exodus 20-23; compare Exodus 19:1-6; Genesis 17:2 ff). There Israel had committed themselves to the covenant, so the requirement here was that they fulfil their promise. And YHWH would respond with covenant love and true behaviour.
L ‘For your name's sake, O YHWH,
Pardon my iniquity, for it is great.'
The thought of God's faithfulness to responsive sinners reminds him again of his own sins, and recognising how great his sins are, he again humbly calls on YHWH for pardon ‘for His Name's sake'.
‘For His Name's sake.' In other words because He is the One Who has represented Himself in His Law as the Great Forgiver, He must therefore forgive in order to maintain His honour, and in order that the world might know that He fulfils His promises.
It is significant that he does not speak here of forgiveness being available to those who respond to YHWH, although he is no doubt very much aware that it is. He refers rather to his own need for forgiveness. This was clearly because he had such a deep sense of his own sinfulness that at this stage he was overwhelmed by it. It reveals someone with a true heart, a man after God's own heart (1 Samuel 13:14).
‘Iniquity.' Activity that is crooked or wrong resulting from a heart that is wrong.