Study on Psalm 51

Psalm 51

 

          Every Psalm has history – but in the case of Psalm 51, we know what the history is. 

          We find this history in the Old Testament book of II Samuel, chapters 11 and 12.

          In verse 11 of chapter 12, we read this:

11 In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab with his officers and all Israel with him; they ravaged the Ammonites, and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.

² It happened, late one afternoon, when David rose from his couch and was walking about on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; the woman was very beautiful. ³ David sent someone to inquire about the woman. It was reported, “This is Bathsheba daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite.”

You probably know what happens next – David has a sexual affair with Bathsheba.  She becomes pregnant.  But Uriah, being at war, would know that it is not his child, so he orders Uriah back to Jerusalem for a report from the battle field.  It is the perfect plan.  Uriah would have sex with Bathsheba and would think this is his child.
Verse nine picks up with this:

But Uriah slept at the entrance of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. ¹⁰ When they told David, “Uriah did not go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “You have just come from a journey. Why did you not go down to your house?” ¹¹ Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah remain in booths; and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field; shall I then go to my house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do such a thing.”

Uriah is such a faithful person – he doesn’t have a clue that his wife AND his king are being unfaithful to him.

So David makes arrangements for Uriah to go back to battle and to be killed by friendly fire.  

Bathsheba mourns the death of Uriah, and then after a suitable time has passed, David brings her into his house and the baby boy is born.

And then in verse 27, chapter 11 of II Samuel, we pick up the story:

But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord, 
 12 ¹ and the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him, and said to him, “There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. ² The rich man had very many flocks and herds; ³ but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. He brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children; it used to eat of his meager fare, and drink from his cup, and lie in his bosom, and it was like a daughter to him. ⁴ Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was loath to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him, but he took the poor man’s lamb, and prepared that for the guest who had come to him.” ⁵ Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man. He said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die; ⁶ he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.”

⁷ Nathan said to David, “You are the man!

And continuing in verse 13, after a lengthy sermon by Nathan, we pick up with this:

 ¹³ David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Nathan said to David, “Now the Lord has put away your sin; you shall not die. ¹⁴ Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child that is born to you shall die.” ¹⁵ Then Nathan went to his house.

It is within this context that Psalm 51 was composed.

¹ Have mercy on me, O God,
    according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
    blot out my transgressions.
² Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
    and cleanse me from my sin.

          This is a great prayer of confession.  It opens with three points.

1^st, there is the approach for mercy

2^nd there is a request to blot out the past

3^rd, there is the request for a change in personality.

          First – there is the approach for mercy.  The word for MERCY here in Hebrew is the same as the Hebrew word for womb.  The implication here is that David is appealing to the motherly type of love.  He may be influenced here by the deep grief of Bathsheba in the death of the child.  He is appealing to that feminine side of God that we occasionally, but not frequently see in the Bible.

          Second, there is the request to blot out the past.  He does not want it to be remembered.  

          Isaiah 43:25 says, “I, even I, am he who blots out
    your transgressions, for my own sake,
    and remembers your sins no more.

          Similar verses are in Hebrews 8:12 and 10:17 and elsewhere.

          It is not that God has amnesia, but God so removes it from the ledger that it is as if it never happened.  

          There is the story of a woman who claimed to have dreams at night in which she conversed with Jesus, and she believed that these were real communications with the Lord.  Her priest did not believe her, so he put her to the test, and asked the woman – next time you have that dream, ask Jesus what great sin I committed before becoming a priest.

          The next day she came back to him and said, “I talked to Jesus in my dream and asked him about your sin. And the Lord said, ‘I don’t remember.’”

          Notice that phrase, “according to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions.”  God is not stingy when it comes to mercy.

          Psalm 103:12, “As far as East is from West, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”

          Third, there is the request for a change in personality.  “Wash me thoroughly from my sin and create a clean heart within me.”  David is not asking only for forgiveness.  He is seeking to repent – to turn away from sin and to live a new life.

³ For I know my transgressions,
    and my sin is ever before me.
⁴ Against you, you alone, have I sinned,
    and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are justified in your sentence
    and blameless when you pass judgment.

There is a hymn that I remember singing that is probably the worst hymn ever –

If I have wounded any soul today,
If I have caused one foot to go astray,
If I have walked in my own willful way,
Dear Lord, Forgive.

IF?  No if about it.  We have sinned.

Forgiveness begins by saying, “I have sinned, no ifs ands or buts.”  

David does that, “I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me.”

There is that great verse from John’s epistle, “If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”

⁵ Indeed, I was born guilty,
    a sinner when my mother conceived me.

Sin is not a crime, it is not a single act or a series of acts – it is out nature.  It is in our DNA.

⁶ You desire truth in the inward being;
    therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.

What David is talking about here is a sense of integrity.

          This psalm moves toward those things that help a person truly repent and live a new life.

Verse six has the first step – “Teach me wisdom in my secret heart.”  We need to be able to see reality as it is and to be wise in our actions.  Had David possessed wisdom, he would have looked beyond his sexual passion and foreseen that no good is going to come out of this.  Had he been wise, he would have known that when he commanded a member of his own army killed in battle, that would have eventually have gotten out.

Verse 7 has an interesting element of repentance:

⁷ Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
    wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

What do you know about hyssop?  It is a plant and it recalls the need for a blood sacrifice.

From the Christian point of view, this business of being purged with hyssop is a recollection of the blood of Christ shed for the redemption of our souls.

It comes from Exodus 12

²¹ Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go, select lambs for your families, and slaughter the passover lamb. ²² Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood in the basin. None of you shall go outside the door of your house until morning. ²³ For the Lord will pass through to strike down the Egyptians; when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over that door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you down. ²⁴ You shall observe this rite as a perpetual ordinance for you and your children. ²⁵ When you come to the land that the Lord will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this observance. ²⁶ And when your children ask you, ‘What do you mean by this observance?’ ²⁷ you shall say, ‘It is the passover sacrifice to the Lord, for he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt, when he struck down the Egyptians but spared our houses.’” And the people bowed down and worshiped.
²⁸ The Israelites went and did just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron.

The next element of repentance is joy

⁸ Let me hear joy and gladness;
    let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.

Another element of repentance is to be able to move on and to let go of the past.

⁹ Hide your face from my sins,
    and blot out all my iniquities.

We can’t forget the past, we can’t literally blot it out, but knowing that God does not recall our sins helps us to let go and live.

Verse 10 emphasizes that repentance is not only receiving forgiveness, it is a true act of changing one’s lifestyle.

¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God,
    and put a new and right spirit within me.

In verse 11 we see that repentance is something that is not done apart from God, but in the presence of God.

¹¹ Do not cast me away from your presence,
    and do not take your holy spirit from me.

The more we are aware of God’s presence with us, the less likely we are to fall back into the sins we have committed.  It is when David is not aware of the presence of God that he is able to yield to his passions for Bathsheba and commit adultery.

Another element of repentance is that it should move one away from grief and sadness toward joy. 

¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
    and sustain in me a willing spirit.

How did David respond when the baby he conceived with Bathsheba died?  He got up from his prayers and his grief and got on with life.  His joy returned.

Another element of repentance is that it should result in our calling others to experience what we have experienced.  

¹³ Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
    and sinners will return to you.
¹⁴ Deliver me from bloodshed, O God,
    O God of my salvation,
    and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance.

          Lastly, repentance should involve praise.

¹⁵ O Lord, open my lips,
    and my mouth will declare your praise.