God, The Comforter
While the general tone of the Psalms is full of joy and praise, so much so indeed that they are known collectively in Hebrew as “The Praises,” yet through many of them there runs a sadder note. They tell of grief and sin and the misery of life. Seven of them have been specially separated from the others and called the “penitential psalms.” These seven (numbers 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143) are filled with intense remorse for sin. “Have mercy upon me, O Lord; for I am weak,” says the sixth psalm. Then it tells in detail of the agony of penitence. “I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears.”
This is the typical scene of the penitential psalms which Tissot’s picture reproduces. The sinner, broken and weak with shame, crouches on his bed’s edge, while over him bends the loving kindness of his Maker. “The Lord hath heard my supplication,” cries the psalm, “the Lord will receive my prayer.”
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