Wherefore I abhor [myself]
Or all my words, as Aben Ezra; all the indecent expressions he had uttered concerning God; he could not bear to think of them; he loathed them, and himself on account of them: sin is abominable in its own nature, and makes men so; it is loathsome to God, and so it is to all good men when they see it in its proper light; am especially when they have a view of the purity and holiness of God, to which that is so very contrary, and also of his grace and goodness in the forgiveness of it; see ( Isaiah 6:3 Isaiah 6:5 ) ( Ezekiel 16:63 ) ( 20:41 ) ;
and repent in dust and ashes;
which was an external ceremony used by mournful and penitent persons; see ( Job 2:8 ) ( Jonah 3:6 ) ; and is expressive of the truth and sincerity of repentance; and never do any more truly mourn for sin and repent of it, are more ashamed of it, or have a more godly sorrow for it, or more ingenuously confess it, and heartily forsake it, than those who with an eye of faith behold God in Christ as a sin forgiving God; or behold their sins through the glass of pardoning grace and mercy; see ( Zechariah 12:10 ) ( Luke 7:37 Luke 7:47 ) ( 1 Timothy 1:13 ) .