Subtotal

For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in lovingkindness to all who call upon You. Psalm 86:5 NASB

Ready to forgive – There’s a lot of action in this verse. It combines words like ṭôb (good), ḥesed (lovingkindness) and sālaḥ (forgive). We’ve looked at ṭôb and spent considerable time with ḥesed, but perhaps we need a refresher course in sālaḥ. The first thing to notice is how exclusive this verb really is.

This verb, together with a few others, such as bāraʾ “to create,” is used in Scripture solely of God. sālaḥ is used of God’s offer of pardon and forgiveness to the sinner. Never does this word in any of its forms refer to people forgiving each other.^[1]

Other terms used for forgiveness stressed the ideas of wiping out or blotting out the memory of the sin (māḥâ), covering or concealing the record of the sin (kāsâ), lifting up and removal of sin (nāśāʾ), passing by of sin (ʿābar), and pardoning on the basis of a substitute (kāpar in the Piel q.v.).^[2]

This verse is the only biblical example of the derivative sallāḥ, that is, the adjectival form translated “ready to forgive,” but this doesn’t diminish at all the emphasis of God’s inherent character. He is a forgiving God not willing that any should perish.

The psalmist is reaching a subtotal in his accounting of God’s relationship with men. He has consistently drawn upon God’s own description in Exodus, and now he summarizes. Before he continues to elaborate the implications, he reminds the reader that it is God, all God, who initiates this kind of forgiveness. It doesn’t depend on us. It isn’t within our purview. God’s goodness means He is always ready to forgive. We can appropriate His benevolence for ourselves, but we didn’t have anything to do with bringing it into being.

Notice the flow of this psalm. We began with a focus on our troubles. We moved to ask God to preserve us, knowing all along that this action was reciprocal. We were just as involved as God in the process. We soon discovered that our appeal reminded us of God’s character, and that reminder produced joyful relief because it confirmed His absolute faithfulness. And now, at the subtotal, we learn this important lesson: we are never permanently removed from the desire of a forgiving God to bring us back to fellowship. Those terrible conditions that initiated our feelings of abandonment are forever overcome. God is ready.

Topical Index: sallāḥ, sālaḥ, forgive, Psalm 86:5, 2 Peter 3:9

^[1] Kaiser, W. C. (1999). 1505 סָלַח. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer, Jr. & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer, Jr. & B. K. Waltke, Ed.) (electronic ed.) (626). Chicago: Moody Press.

^[2] Ibid.