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 this is
not about 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.
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