Reproof and kindness.
"Let the righteous man treat me with any amount of ignominious reproach for my sins, yet I will prefer him to the ungodly, however prosperous, my prayer being ever that I may be saved from the evil deeds of the latter." Read, "Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: let him reprove me; such oil for my head let not my head refuse." Roberts tells us that in the East "certain oils are said to have a most salutary effect on the head; hence, in fevers, or any other complaints which affect the head, Eastern medical men always recommend oil. I have known people who were deranged cured in a very short time by nothing more than the application of a peculiar oil to the head. Thus the reproofs of the righteous were compared to excellent oil, which produced a most salutary effect on the head." What seems plain, and what gives the best key to the allusions of this difficult psalm, is that the psalmist had done something which was very doubtfully right, perhaps even manifestly wrong. He was not, however, disposed to admit this to himself, though at times he felt painfully uncertain. Other people were in no doubt at all as to the impropriety of his action, and his enemies made it the occasion of bitter scorn, while his friends, in their grave anxiety for him, sought to reprove him, and liberate his conscience so that it might render its free testimony. The psalm may very well be illustrated by the moods of David when he had sinned in the matter of Uriah.
I. SCORN OF A MAN IN SIN DOES BUT HARDEN HIM. Many a man has gone into greater lengths of sin simply because he failed to get sympathy and help in his first stumbling.
II. REPROOF OF A MAN IN SIN MAY BRING HIM TO REPENTANCE. A man in sin must not be left alone. But reproof, to be effective, must have love, as well as righteousness, for inspiration. "Faithful are the wounds of a friend."
III. RESPONSE TO THE REPROOF OF THE GOOD REVEALS A MAN. There is hope if he is receptive to the personal persuasions of those whom he can esteem, and counts reproof a kindness.—R.T.