He that covereth his sins shall not prosper
God may cover a man's sins, and it is an instance of his grace,
and it is the glory of it to do it, but a man may not cover his
own: it is right in one good man to cover the sins of another,
reproving him secretly, and freely forgiving him; but it is wrong
in a man to cover his own: not that any man is bound to accuse
himself before a court of judicature, or ought to expose his sins
to the public, which would be to the hurt of his credit, and to
the scandal of religion; but whenever he is charged with sin, and
reproved for it by his fellow Christian, be should not cover it,
that is, he should own it; for not to own and acknowledge it is
to cover it; he should not deny it, which is to cover it with a
lie, and is adding sin to sin; nor should he justify it, as if he
had done a right thing; nor extenuate or excuse it, or impute it
to others that drew him into it, as Adam, which is called a
covering transgression, as Adam, ( Job 31:33 ) ; for such a
man "shall not prosper"; in soul or body, in things temporal or
spiritual; he shall not have peace of mind and conscience; but,
sooner or later, shall feel the stings it; he shall not succeed
even in those things he has in view by covering his sins; he
shall not be able to cover them long, for there is nothing
covered but what shall be revealed; if not in this life, which
yet often is, however at the day of judgment, when every secret
thing shall be made manifest; nor shall he escape the shame and
punishment he thought to avoid by covering it, as may be observed
in the case of Achan, ( Joshua
7:11-25 ) ; in short, he shall have no mercy shown him by God
or man, as appears by the antithesis in the next clause;
but whoso confesseth and forsaketh [them] shall have
mercy;
who confesses them to men privately and publicly, according to
the nature of the offences, from whom they find mercy; but not to
a priest, in order for absolution, which no man can give; sin is
only in this sense to be confessed to God, against it is
committed, and who only can pardon it; and though it is known
unto him, yet he requires an acknowledgment of it, which should
be done from the heart, with an abhorrence of the sin, and in the
faith of Christ, as a sacrifice for it; and it is not enough to
confess, there must be a forsaking likewise, a parting with sin,
a denying of sinful self, a leaving the former course of sin, and
a quitting the company of wicked men before used to, and an
abstaining from all appearance of evil; as is and will be the
case, where there is a true sight and sense of sin, and the grace
of God takes place: and such find "mercy", pardoning grace and
mercy, or pardon in a way of mercy, and not merit; for though the
sinner confesses and forsakes it, it is not that which merits
pardon and mercy in God, who is rich in it, delights in showing
it, and from whom it may be hoped for and expected by all such
persons; see ( Psalms 32:5 ) (
1 John 1:9 ) .
So the Targum and Syriac version, God will have mercy on him.