Psalms 25:8 - Exposition

Good and upright is the Lord . A transition. From prayer the psalmist turns to reflection, and meditates awhile ( Psalms 25:8-10 ) on the character and ways of God. God is, indeed, "good," as he has implied in the preceding verse— i.e; kind, tender, gentle, merciful; hut he is also "upright" ( יָשָׁר )—just, straight, strict, undeviating from the path of right. As Bishop Butler observes, "Divine goodness, with which, if I mistake not, we make very free in our speculations, may not be a bare single disposition to produce happiness, but a disposition to make the good, the faithful, the honest man happy"—s disposition, i.e; to be just as well as merciful to distribute happiness by the canon of right. Therefore will he teach sinners in the way . He will not abandon sinners—this is his "goodness;" but will reclaim them, chasten them, make them to walk in his way—this is his uprightness.