PSALM 51

One of the more popular and better known psalms than most of those we've been looking at. It's a penitential psalm, a psalm of repentance. The inscription says David produced this psalm after his affair with Bathsheba and, presumably, after his murder of Uriah.

He begins by calling out to God to have mercy on him. Note, David does not here ask for justice, but mercy. Remember that the next time someone says, “they were under law, but we are under grace.” It was grace from the top all the way down! God is known as having great mercies – plural! He seeks blotting, wiping out, erasing, eradicating his transgression. The OT has several words for sin, and this is one of them, focusing on rebellion against God's rule and His laws.

2 – Wash, cleanse, do the work of a fuller, bleach – from his iniquity, another term for sin. This word means perversity or depravity. David's recognizing his wrongs are not garden variety, but seriously evil. He repeats the request (parallelism) in different words. Cleanse has the sense of purifying and moral cleanness. Sin here is perhaps the most common OT word for sin, sin.

3 – 5 - the next verse again repeats, and used the same word for sin as in the last verse. The “ever before me” carries with it the idea of stretching out into the future. A future of guilt!

6 – Here is a basic theological concept. All sin is a sin against God. I may mistreat you and feel that it's ok, because that's just you. No. Because you are God's child, by creation and maybe by redemption as well, to mistreat you is to mistreat God and sin against Him. Thats what was behind Jesus's statement, “Inasmuch as you have done it to one of the least of these, you have done it unto me.” Evil is a strong word here. Someone has pointed out that man's sin did not bring evil into the world. In Satan evil was already here! David did the work of Satan, in rebelling against what God had said.

The last half of the verse might be paraphrased: That your justice can be seen from your words, and that same justice reflected in your judgments.

7 – Do you believe in original sin? Roman Catholics “baptize” infants believing it cleanses them from original sin. The writer next says he was born in sin and conceived in iniquity. He was a rotter from the get-go! Add to that the Calvinist belief in total depravity, the idea that we have nothing at all to offer God and are evil to the core. Personally, I have a lot of trouble buying into that, partly because after creating humanity, God looked at everything and called it “very good.” I do believe we are conceived and born into a sinful society that has influenced our parents all their lives and will continue to affect us as long as we live. One reason Christ sent the Holy Spirit to indwell us is to counteract those influences and replace them.

8 – In contrast (antithetical parallelism), the Lord seeks truth. Truth here is related to firmness and reliability, something we can build on as a foundation. And that truth must penetrate to the depths of our minds and thoughts. Thus he goes on to ask for wisdom! Replace rebellion with resting on the solid rock.

9 – He seeks cleansing at whatever the cost. Not sure what hyssop was, but it seems to be a medicinal herb. Maybe he's metaphorically saying to give him whatever antibiotic he needs to cure the bugs that are in him? Again a parallel statement – wash me, often with the idea of walking on the wet garments to push the water through them. I think of pictures of Indian women beating out their clothes on the banks of rivers.

10 – he turns more positive, remembering past festivities. He pleads to be restored to the sounds of celebration and gladness. David then makes clear he believes his pain comes from the punishment of God. How can you tell when God is punishing you, when the devil or others are attacking you, when you got into something by your own stupid decision, or it's a random trial that befalls everyone? A well-trained conscience can help you with that. Just remember a conscience is like a thermostat in that it has to be set. Cannibals can feel guilty if they don't eat some of their victim because they insult him as not wanting to take in his strength! One of the things we do in teaching right from wrong is to develop children's consciences. Incidentally, scripture says the Lord punishes those He loves, probably in hopes of producing this kind of repentance.

10 – Create! Yes indeed, this is the same word from Genesis 1:1. Only God creates! This creation transforms a filthy heart into a clean heart with no sin. Can you see the same God here as in John 3? he then uses another word with the same idea of renewing his spirit, his inner mind or inner parts.

11 - He's begging now. I see him on his knees before his master. Don't throw me away! Don't leave me. Probably he is not begging here for the Holy Spirit as we know Him from the NT. More likely “holy” is an adjective modfying “spirit.” remember parallelism? Compare this with not flinging him away. He seeks to regain the sense of the presence of God!

12 - He asks another positive step: the joy of his salvation, which can also mean deliverance, rescue, safety, or welfare? Which would you choose? The parallel here uses “spirit” more generically, one that is inclined to let David put his weight down on him, a support.

14 – David promises the result of his deliverance and restoration will be a steady witness and praise to the goodness of God. Does what God has done for you issue forth in praise and testimony for Him? Ernest Hemingway has a poignant brief story about a soldier in trench warfare begging God to spare him as the shelling moves toward him closer and closer. He promised Jesus many things afterwards if He will just save him. EH ends with a short sentence like this: The shelling passed by and he lived; he never mentioned Jesus again. I hope that wasn't you.

16-17 – Like the prophets, David recognizes that offering sacrifices is not what God wants in his situation. Rather, the Lord demands total repentance, grief, and bowing before him. One who thus approches God in abject humility knows that the Lord will receive him/