Psalm 51 comments

 

Psalm 51:1 ¶  «To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.» Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. 2  Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. 3  For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. 4  Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. 5  Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. 6  Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.

David has been confronted by Nathan and will lose the child of his adultery with Bathsheba. Please see 2Samuel 12 for Nathan’s confronting of David for his sin.

What follows is a plea for forgiveness, an acknowledgement of his transgressions and there were many. It is also an acknowledgement of David’s sinful nature although not using that as an excuse but a lamentation. Solomon noted that there is no one who doesn’t sin and he said it twice for us in the Bible.

1Kings 8:46a  If they sin against thee, (for there is no man that sinneth not,)

Ecclesiastes 7:20  For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.

Then Jeremiah lets us know about our hearts.

Jeremiah 17:9  The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

This passage also implies that God knows our most inward thoughts.

Psalm 94:11  The LORD knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.

We also need to see that our sins are against God first, then the offended party. We would do well to listen to this psalm and make it our prayer knowing we have committed an egregious sin.

David asks that God blot out his transgressions based on God’s tender mercies and to cleanse him from his sin, which is always present in his mind. He can’t escape from it.

Isaiah 1:18  Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

Some commentators and Bible paraphrases say that verse 5 isn’t a condemnation of either the lawful sex act or David’s mother but that it is saying that David states that he was born a sinful man, that’s his legacy from his conception, and we might say that it was passed on from our ancestor, Adam. John Gill who preached in Charles Spurgeon’s church a century before him, states this, that the verse refers to David being a sinner from the beginning.

Isaiah 64:6  But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

God desires truth in our hearts and that is something only He can provide us, through His words.

Psalm 119:11  Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

Psalm 51:7 ¶  Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8  Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. 9  Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. 10  Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. 11  Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. 12  Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. 13  Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.

Hyssop is an evergreen plant, a garden herb of the mint family. It is used to ritually cleanse in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers. It is also mentioned in relation to Christ.

John 19:29  Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth.

Note also a verse in Isaiah that I quoted for the first part of this Psalm.

Isaiah 1:18  Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

Here, David’s sorrow is likened to broken bones and those bones, when healed, rejoicing, so there is no danger our misunderstanding this figure of speech. David seeks to have his sins blotted out as he has already stated in the first part of this Psalm.

For verse 10 see one of the promises we have, written by the apostle, John.

1John 1:9  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Here David pleads also that God not remove His holy spirit, lowercase h and s, the wisdom, guidance, and understanding that God has given Him not a reference to God’s very mind, His Spirit, uppercase S, which came upon a person of the Old Testament rather than indwelling them.

See other times the spirit of God, lowercase s, is used.

Isaiah 11:2  And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;

The best thing I can say is that this is a matter of emphasis and making sure we understand that the very mind of God is not indwelling David but that God has given him wisdom and understanding and that spirit, lowercase s, from God, David pleads not to lose. It is a sweet and fulfilling relationship with his Creator and that connection to God that David does not want to lose. Notice though that for the Christian God’s Spirit, uppercase S, abides with us and inside each of us. Note the uppercase H and S in Luke.

Luke 11:13  If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

And this promise from Christ;

John 14:23  Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

And then these statements from Paul and Peter with the uppercase S for spirit;

Romans 8:9  But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

1Peter 1:11  Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.

So a lowercase spirit from God refers to an attribute, wisdom, knowledge, or understanding sent from God to man while the uppercase S refers directly to the very mind of God 

Here are passages where spirit and mind are linked. The Spirit is the mind and heart of God just as the spirit of man includes the heart, reason, emotions, intellect, and talents. For contexts where the Spirit of God or the spirit of man can be synonymous with mind please see the following;

Romans 8:27  And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

Ephesians 4:23  And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;

Philippians 1:27  Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;

2Timothy 1:7  For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

Salvation in verse 12, like in 99% of the Bible, is not a reference to eternal salvation but to the deliverance that David has experienced as God’s mercy was always so abundantly expressed in relation to David.

He wants to experience that joy again that he experienced when delivered from very bad things. I, too, have known that sense of wonder and gratitude that came from knowing that God’s hand was directly involved in my deliverance, usually from things I deserved. He declares, as we sometimes think, that his deliverance will be a testimony to others and will play a part in turning sinners like himself toward God.

Remember that David has done a very bad thing in committing fornication with Bathsheba and then murdering her husband  at the hands of Israel’s enemy. He is pleading for God’s mercy and restoration from a very bad place, a place that fortunately nearly all of us will never find ourselves.

Yet there are many things that we can relate to in this passage and in this Psalm. We don’t want the light of the Holy Spirit of God quenched within us and we want to experience again the joy we felt when we knew that God has saved us eternally. While, David, as an Old Testament Jew, would have meant one thing by what he has written here we can apply these very words to our present condition in Christ when we realize how badly we have sinned against a righteous and holy God.

Psalm 51:14 ¶  Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. 15  O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise. 16  For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. 17  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. 18  Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem. 19  Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.

David pleads with God to remove the stain of his murder of Uriah the Hittite. Here is a typical Old Testament Israelite making a deal with God. God’s deliverance of David’s guilt will result in David singing God’s praise.

No sacrifice nor offering can remediate David’s sins. He deserves to die. But see here what is called for in such an extreme situation in verse 17. Also see this previous verse;

Psalm 34:18  The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.

Do we mourn for our sin and for the sins of mankind in general? Are we not broken-hearted at our failures and weaknesses? Some commentators interpret the following from the Sermon on the Mount as referring to realizing we are morally and spiritually bankrupt before Christ and being exceeding sorrowful for how sin has separated us from God.

Matthew 5:3 ¶  Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4  Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

What will please God are the sacrifices of righteousness, a humble spirit before Him and doing what is right in all circumstance.

Psalm 4:5  Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the LORD.

Notice also what we are called to as Christians;

Romans 12:1 ¶  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 

If truth be told we are all guilty of David’s egregious sin. It has been said that our sins put Christ on the Cross and that mankind used Roman government agency to murder Him no less than what David did to Uriah the Hittite, one of the Christ figures of the Old Testament. Old Testament sacrifices of animals will not compensate for our sin but only a living sacrifice to God in Christ to live our lives directed by Him.

Romans 10:4  For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.

Philippians 3:9  And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: