Psalms 32:1 «[A Psalm] of David, Maschil. » Blessed [is he whose] transgression [is] forgiven, [whose] sin [is] covered.
A Psalm of David, Maschil] i.e. Giving instruction, or making prudent; for David here, out of his own experience, turneth teacher, Psalms 32:7, and the lesson that he layeth before his disciples is the doctrine of justification by faith, that ground of true blessedness, Romans 4:6,7. Docet igitur hic Psalmus vere preciosus praecipuum et proprium fidei Christianae caput, saith Beza, This most precious psalm instructeth us in the chief and principal point of Christian religion; and it differeth herein from the first psalm, that there are set forth the effects of blessedness; but here the cause: Quomodo etiam est Paulus cum Iacobo conciliandus, saith he.
Ver. 1. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven] The heavy burden of whose trespasses is taken off, as the word importeth, and he is loosed, eased, and lightened. Sin is an intolerable burden, Isaiah 1:3, such as presseth down, Hebrews 12:1; a burden it is to God, Amos 2:13; to Christ it was, when it made him sweat water and blood; to the angels, when it brake their backs, and sunk them into hell; to men, under whom the very earth groaneth, its axle tree is even ready to crack, &c.; it could not bear Korah and his company; it spewed out the Canaaanites, &c. Oh, then, the heaped-up happiness of a justified person, disburdened of his transgressions! The word here rendered transgression signifieth treachery, and wickedness with a witness. Aben Ezra saith, David hereby intends his sin with Bathsheba; and surely this psalm and the one and fiftieth may seem to have been made upon the same occasion, they are tuned so near together.
Whose sin is covered] As excrements and ordure are covered, that they may not be an eyesore or annoyance to any. Sin is an odious thing, the devil's drivel or vomit, the corruption of a dead soul, the filthiness of flesh and spirit. Get a cover for it, therefore (sc. Christ's righteousness, called a propitiation, or coverture, and raiment, Rev 3:18), Ut sic veletur, ne in iudicio reveletur, that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear.