Psa 51:1-12 | Clarke | e4.org | PSALM LI The psalmist, with a deeply penitent heart, prays for remission of sins , 1-4; which he confesses, and deeply deplores , 5-14; states his willingness to offer sacrifice, but is convinced that God prefers a broken heart to all kinds of oblations , 15-17; prays for the restoration of the walls of Jerusalem, and promises that then the Lord's sacrifice shall be properly performed , 18, 19. NOTES ON PSALM LI The title is long: "To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bath-sheba." The propriety of this title has been greatly suspected, says Bishop Horsley : "That this Psalm was not written on the occasion to which the title refers, is evident from the 4th and 18th verses. The 4th verse ill suits the case of David, who laid a successful plot against Uriah's life, after he had defiled his bed: and the 18th verse refers the Psalm to the time of the captivity, when Jerusalem lay in ruins." Dr. Kennicott is of the same mind. He says: "The title is misplaced; that it was written during the captivity , and the cessation of the temple worship; the author under great depression of mind, arising from the guilt of some crime, probably some compliance with heathen idolatry, not murder nor adultery ; is plain from the 4th verse, "Against THEE ONLY have I sinned." The crime mentioned in the title was not only against God, but against the whole order of civil society; against the life of the noble and valiant captain whose wife Bath-sheba was, and against every thing sacred in friendship and hospitality. It was a congeries of sins against God and society. Were it not for the 4th, 18th, and 19th verses, the rest of the Psalm would accord well enough with the title , and the deep penitence it expresses would be suitable enough to David's state. But see on . Verse 1. Have mercy upon me, O God ] Without mercy I am totally, finally ruined and undone. According to thy loving-kindness ] Mark the gradation in the sense of these three words, Have MERCY on me , chonneni; thy LOVING-KINDNESS , chasdecha;-thy TENDER MERCIES , rachameycha , here used to express the Divine compassion. The propriety of the order in which they are placed deserves particular observation. The first , rendered have mercy or pity , denotes that kind of affection which is expressed by moaning over an object we love and pity; that natural affection and tenderness which even the brute creation show to their young by the several noises they respectively make over them. The second , rendered loving-kindness , denotes a strong proneness, a ready, large, and liberal disposition, to goodness and compassion, powerfully prompting to all instances of kindness and bounty; flowing as freely as waters from a perpetual fountain. This denotes a higher degree of goodness than the former. The third , rendered tender mercies , denotes what the Greeks called σπλαγχνιζεσθαι, that most tender pity which we signify by the moving of the heart and bowels, which argues the highest degree of compassion of which nature is susceptible. See Chandler . Blot out my transgressions ] mecheh, wipe out . There is a reference here to an indictment : the psalmist knows what it contains; he pleads guilty, but begs that the writing may be defaced ; that a proper fluid may be applied to the parchment, to discharge the ink , that no record of it may ever appear against him: and this only the mercy, loving-kindness , and tender compassions of the Lord can do.

‏ Psalms 51:1-12

PSALM LI

The psalmist, with a deeply penitent heart, prays for remission of sins, 1-4;

which he confesses, and deeply deplores, 5-14;

states his willingness to offer sacrifice, but is convinced that God prefers a broken heart to all kinds of oblations, 15-17;

prays for the restoration of the walls of Jerusalem, and promises that then the Lord's sacrifice shall be properly performed, 18, 19.

NOTES ON PSALM LI

The title is long: "To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bath-sheba." The propriety of this title has been greatly suspected, says Bishop Horsley: "That this Psalm was not written on the occasion to which the title refers, is evident from the 4th and 18th verses. The 4th verse Ps 51:4 ill suits the case of David, who laid a successful plot against Uriah's life, after he had defiled his bed: and the 18th Ps 51:18 verse refers the Psalm to the time of the captivity, when Jerusalem lay in ruins." Dr. Kennicott is of the same mind. He says: "The title is misplaced; that it was written during the captivity, and the cessation of the temple worship; the author under great depression of mind, arising from the guilt of some crime, probably some compliance with heathen idolatry, not murder nor adultery; is plain from the 4th verse, "Against THEE ONLY have I sinned."

The crime mentioned in the title was not only against God, but against the whole order of civil society; against the life of the noble and valiant captain whose wife Bath-sheba was, and against every thing sacred in friendship and hospitality. It was a congeries of sins against God and society. Were it not for the 4th, 18th, and 19th verses, the rest of the Psalm would accord well enough with the title, and the deep penitence it expresses would be suitable enough to David's state. But see on Ps 51:4, 18, 19.

Verse 1. Have mercy upon me, O God] Without mercy I am totally, finally ruined and undone.

According to thy loving-kindness] Mark the gradation in the sense of these three words, Have MERCY on me, chonneni; thy LOVING-KINDNESS, chasdecha;-thy TENDER MERCIES, rachameycha, here used to express the Divine compassion. The propriety of the order in which they are placed deserves particular observation.

The first, rendered have mercy or pity, denotes that kind of affection which is expressed by moaning over an object we love and pity; that natural affection and tenderness which even the brute creation show to their young by the several noises they respectively make over them.

The second, rendered loving-kindness, denotes a strong proneness, a ready, large, and liberal disposition, to goodness and compassion, powerfully prompting to all instances of kindness and bounty; flowing as freely as waters from a perpetual fountain. This denotes a higher degree of goodness than the former.

The third, rendered tender mercies, denotes what the Greeks called σπλαγχνιζεσθαι, that most tender pity which we signify by the moving of the heart and bowels, which argues the highest degree of compassion of which nature is susceptible. See Chandler.

Blot out my transgressions] mecheh, wipe out. There is a reference here to an indictment: the psalmist knows what it contains; he pleads guilty, but begs that the writing may be defaced; that a proper fluid may be applied to the parchment, to discharge the ink, that no record of it may ever appear against him: and this only the mercy, loving-kindness, and tender compassions of the Lord can do.

Verse 2. Wash me throughly] harbeh cabbeseni, "Wash me again and again,-cause my washings to be multiplied." My stain is deep; ordinary purgation will not be sufficient.

Verse 3. For I acknowledge my transgressions] I know, I feel, I confess that I have sinned.

My sin is ever before me.] A true, deep, and unsophisticated mark of a genuine penitent. Wherever he turns his face, he sees his sin, and through it the eye of an angry God.

Verse 4. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned] This verse is supposed to show the impropriety of affixing the above title to this Psalm. It could not have been composed on account of the matter with Bath-sheba and the murder of Uriah; for, surely, these sins could not be said to have been committed against God ONLY, if we take the words of this verse in their common acceptation. That was a public sin, grievous, and against society at large, as well as against the peace, honour, comfort, and life of an innocent, brave, and patriotic man. This is readily granted: but see below.

That thou mightest be justified when thou speakest] Perhaps, to save the propriety of the title, we might understand the verse thus: David, being king, was not liable to be called to account by any of his subjects; nor was there any authority in the land by which he could be judged and punished. In this respect, God ALONE was greater than the king; and to him ALONE, as king, he was responsible. Nam quando rex deliquit, SOLI DEO reus est; guia hominem non habet qui ejus facta dijudicet, says Cassiodorus. "For when a king transgresses, he is accountable to GOD ONLY; for there is no person who has authority to take cognizance of his conduct." On this very maxim, which is a maxim in all countries, David might say, Against thee only have I sinned. "I cannot be called to the bar of my subjects; but I arraign myself before thy bar. They can neither judge nor condemn me; but thou canst: and such are my crimes that thou wilt be justified in the eyes of all men, and cleared of all severity, shouldst thou inflict upon me the heaviest punishment." This view, of the subject will reconcile the Psalm to the title. As to the eighteenth and nineteenth verses, we shall consider them in their own place; and probably find that the objection taken from them has not much weight.

Verse 5. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity] A genuine penitent will hide nothing of his state; he sees and bewails, not only the acts of sin which he has committed, but the disposition that led to those acts. He deplores, not only the transgression, but the carnal mind, which is enmity against God. The light that shines into his soul shows him the very source whence transgression proceeds; he sees his fallen nature, as well as his sinful life; he asks pardon for his transgressions, and he asks washing and cleansing for his inward defilement. Notwithstanding all that Grotius and others have said to the contrary, I believe David to speak here of what is commonly called original sin; the propensity to evil which every man brings into the world with him, and which is the fruitful source whence all transgression proceeds. The word cholalti, which we translate shapen, means more properly, I was brought forth from the womb; and yechemathni rather signifies made me warm, alluding to the whole process of the formation of the fetus in utero, the formative heat which is necessary to develope the parts of all embryo animals; to incubate the ova in the female, after having been impregnated by the male; and to bring the whole into such a state of maturity and perfection as to render it capable of subsisting and growing up by aliment received from without. "As my parts were developed in the womb, the sinful principle diffused itself through the whole, so that body and mind grew up in a state of corruption and moral imperfection."

Verse 6. Behold, thou desirest truth] I am the very reverse of what I should be. Thou desirest truth in the heart; but in me there is nothing but sin and falsity.

Thou shalt make me to know wisdom.] Thou wilt teach me to restrain every inordinate propensity, and to act according to the dictates of sound wisdom, the rest of my life.

Verse 7. Purge me with hyssop] techatteeni, "thou shalt make a sin-offering for me;" probably alluding to the cleansing of the leper: Le 14:1, &c. The priest took two clean birds, cedar-wood, scarlet, and hyssop; one of the birds was killed; and the living bird, with the scarlet, cedar, and hyssop, dipped in the blood of the bird that had been killed, and then sprinkled over the person who had been infected. But it is worthy of remark that this ceremony was not performed till the plague of the leprosy had been healed in the leper; (Le 14:3;) and the ceremony above mentioned was for the purpose of declaring to the people that the man was healed, that he might be restored to his place in society, having been healed of a disease that the finger of God alone could remove. This David seems to have full in view; hence he requests the Lord to make the sin-offering for him, and to show to the people that he had accepted him, and cleansed him from his sin.

Verse 8. Make me to hear joy] Let me have a full testimony of my reconciliation to thee; that the soul, which is so deeply distressed by a sense of thy displeasure, may be healed by a sense of thy pardoning mercy.

Verse 9. Hide thy face from my sins] The sentiment here is nearly the same as that in Ps 51:3: His sin was ever before his own face; and he knew that the eye of God was constantly upon him, and that his purity and justice must be highly incensed on the account. He therefore, with a just horror of his transgressions, begs God to turn away his face from them, and to blot them out, so that they may never more be seen. See Clarke on Ps 51:1.

Verse 10. Create in me a clean heart] Mending will not avail; my heart is altogether corrupted; it must be new made, made as it was in the beginning. This is exactly the sentiment of St. Paul: Neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation; and the salvation given under the Gospel dispensation is called a being created anew in Christ Jesus.

A right spirit within me.] ruach nachon, a constant, steady, determined spirit; called Ps 51:12, ruach nedibah, a noble spirit, a free, generous, princely spirit; cheerfully giving up itself to thee; no longer bound and degraded by the sinfulness of sin.

Verse 11. Cast me not away from thy presence] Banish me not from thy house and ordinances.

Take not thy Holy Spirit from me.] I know I have sufficiently grieved it to justify its departure for ever, in consequence of which I should be consigned to the blackness of darkness,-either to utter despair, or to a hard heart and seared conscience; and so work iniquity with greediness, till I fell into the pit of perdition. While the Spirit stays, painfully convincing of sin, righteousness, and judgment, there is hope of salvation; when it departs, then the hope of redemption is gone. But while there his any godly sorrow, any feeling of regret for having sinned against God, any desire to seek mercy, then the case is not hopeless; for these things prove that the light of the Spirit is not withdrawn.

Verse 12. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation] This is an awful prayer. And why? Because it shows he once HAD the joy of God's salvation; and had LOST it by sin!

Uphold me with thy free spirit.] Prop me up; support me with a princely spirit, one that will not stoop to a mean or base act. See on Ps 51:10.