Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous [sins]; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.
Ver. 13. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins] Heb. Withdraw, inhibit, for we are naturally prone to the worst of sins, even the best of us, and to lie buried with the world in a bog of wickedness, adding rebellion to sin, and doing wickedly with both hands earnestly, unless God rein us in, and restrain us from such enormities. Pray we therefore as here, Etiam a superbiis contine servum tuum (Midrash Tillin. in Psa 19:13). David's murdering Uriah was a sin of this sort. The Rabbis here observe how the prophet riseth in his request, first for pardon of lesser sins, and then for power against greater; like as a beggar, say they, first craves a little water, and then a morsel of bread. We should do so.
Let them not have dominion over me] Sin will rebel, but it must not reign in our mortal bodies, it must not play King, and bear sway in the soul. Pray hard against that in chief, Ne iniquitas victrix dominetur, that our lusts be not our lords, that vice vanquish us not.
Then shall I be upright] Then, when I have gotten both pardoning and prevailing grace, to be cleansed from infirmities and kept from presumptions and arrogance, which cum temerario ausu et fastu fiunt contumaciter, I shall be upright in God's account and entire in his obedience.
And shall be innocent from the great transgression] That sin unto death, 1 John 5:16; that wickedness with a witness, for which there remaineth no more sacrifice, Hebrews 10:26, and unto which a way is paved by sins of presumption with a high hand committed against knowledge and conscience.