Ps. 32.3 (the groaning silence of sin)

. “When I kept silence / my bones / became old –through my groaning / all day long.” From the abstract, proverb-like quality of the opening two verses (it only refers to an abstract man who is blessed), we now encounter the “I” and the psalmist particular situation. The first thing to note here is the fact that this silence was one that occurred over a period of time—“When I kept silence…groaning all day long.” This was not a momentary retreat from Yhwh but an intentional withdrawal and hiding from him. Furthermore, this ‘hiding’ was accomplished not through, Adam-like, a retreat behind foliage, but through silence (this is Adam-like; Yhwh had to ‘call out to him’). Silence has, throughout the psalms, always carried negative connotations, specifically those associated with the silence of Sheol. As a contras to the continuous, abundant praise that occurs in heaven, it would seem as if man was designed and made for music (praise and liturgy). This is important to grasp because, although he says he “kept silence” he then goes on to say he “groaned” all day long. This ‘silence’ then is not, obviously, the lack of vocal noise, but an inner withdrawal and hardening, an encasing within oneself. It is intentional, not something suffered. Whereas Yhwh avoids ‘counting the sin’ after confession, the psalmist, in his sin, avoids acknowledging it. This silence is then not merely a passive activity—it is the active silencing of his interior conscience. He is fighting against himself and the covenant that speaks in him. This battle manifests itself in his bones “becoming old through groaning”.This ‘groaning’ is not in words; it is as if his body is in rebellion against him, as if there is a pent-up pressure creating bursts of vocal pain and anguish. Regardless of this manifest attempts for him to become unified in front of Yhwh, he will not express anything other than these inarticulate groans. There is another contrast to the opening: Yhwh is described entirely as the one who is opens and gives, who acts on behalf of the sinner. Here, the first verb associated with the psalmist is “keeping”. He retains whereas Yhwh moves toward. As to his ‘aging bones’, we have seen in other psalms, particularly as to sickness (but also because of ‘grief’), that one is aware of one’s ‘bones’ in times of distress and alienation for Yhwh’s face. The fact that here they are described as experiencing advanced aging it is perhaps indicative of the ‘weight’ of his transgression: he feels elderly carrying this oppression.