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Tonight, we will be in Psalm 51. But before we get into the passage, we need to get the context around it and the we will need to go to 2 Samuel chapter 11. In this passage, King David was on a roof and saw a woman named Bathsheba bathing and David then inquired about her, and someone said that Bathsheba was already the wife of Uriah who was a soldier in David’s army. But David still sent his messengers to bring her to him and he slept with her and she became pregnant. David then wrote a letter to Joab who was also part of the army, and in the letter, David said to put Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, that he may be struck down, and die. Everything that David commanded in the letter was done and ultimately Uriah died and then Bathsheba bore him a son, and at the end of verse 27 it says “But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord.” David sinned tremendously in the sight of the Lord, he committed adultery and also murdered the woman’s husband. In the next chapter of 2 Samuel, we see Nathan, who was a prophet and also one of David’s closest advisors in his royal court, going to David about his sins. Nathan begins by telling David a story about two men, one being poor and the other being rich. The rich man had many flocks of sheep while the poor man had only one ewe lamb. The rich man then stole the poor man’s lamb in order to prepare for a guest that was coming to his home. David then became angry at the rich man in the story and said the man deserved to die because of it. Nathan then says to David “You are the man!” Like the rich man in the story, David was also rich and well off. The poor man’s lamb in this passage is figuratively referring to Bathsheba. David was caught in his sin and he was punished by the Lord when David’s newborn son died. This context sets us up for the main passage of Psalm 51.
Psalm 51 ESV
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem; then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.
Psalm 51 was written right after Nathan confronted David about his sin. The Psalm is known as a Penitential Psalm, it is a Psalm about repentance. Repentance is a necessary part of the Christian life. The best definition I know of is from the Westminster Confession of Faith and it says this about repentance: a sinner, out of the sight and sense not only of the danger, but also of the filthiness and odiousness of his sins, as contrary to the holy nature, and righteous law of God; and upon the apprehension of His mercy in Christ to such as are penitent, so grieves for, and hates his sins, as to turn from them all unto God, purposing and endeavoring to walk with Him in all the ways of His commandments. Now let’s get into verse 1.
Verse 1 starts with David appealing to God’s mercy and forgiveness, David realizes that he has sinned tremendously against the Lord and he also sees that he does not deserve the Lord’s mercy because by definition mercy is not earned. The basis for David’s appeal for mercy was the steadfast, or unfailing love of God. David then repeats himself in appealing to the Lord’s mercy, which shows his sorrow and sincerity about his cry for forgiveness. He then cries out to the Lord to wash and cleanse him from his sin. Washing and cleansing are important things in the Old Testament, for the people of Israel had to wash and cleanse themselves before going into the presence of the Lord, one example being when the Lord commanded Moses to have all the people wash their garments before He comes to them on Mount Sinai. Verse 2 here tells us what that ceremony was pointing to, mainly the cleaning of their sin. David wants the Lord to cleanse him so that he can restore his fellowship with the Lord. Notice how David is not looking to himself to cleanse him, but instead, he is depending on the Lord to wash him clean. This is a great demonstration of what faith is, faith is depending wholly upon the Lord to forgive us of our sins because we are unable to wash ourselves clean.
In verse 3, David again shows that he understands how bad his sins were when he says he knows his transgressions. For the second part of this verse, we must have some more context: David wrote this Psalm a year after he sinned, which may be a sign that David was trying to rationalize his sin to where he didn’t think he was guilty of anything until Nathan confronted him. Our sinful nature usually wants us to try and rationalize our sins but only by the grace of God can we come to God and cry to him about our sin, recognizing that we are guilty. This is one of the steps in repentance, we must understand our guilt. Verse 4 is David’s confession to whom he sinned against, mainly, the Lord. Confession is another step in repentance, once we acknowledge our sin, we must then confess it to the Lord like David is here. This verse is not saying that David did not hurt others due to his sin, but that God is the one to judge sin. David then tells of God’s justice, saying that God showed his justice when he sinned, God was blameless in judging David’s sin. Verse 5 tells us about the sinfulness of man. David says that he was brought forth in iniquity and this shows us that our nature is depraved and is from conception. This is known as original sin, we can see this in children, you do not need to teach a child to steal from another child, it is within their nature to do it just like it is in all of our human natures. Because of the sin of Adam and Eve, we are all born with a sinful nature and can do no spiritual good unless the Lord saves us by His Grace. David’s specific sins helped him remember his corruption, this should lead us to humility, to know that we are unworthy of anything good from God, and that then should lead us to great gratitude for the grace of God. In verse six, David tells us that God delights in truth and he teaches wisdom. David understands what God has commanded him, to delight in truth and to be wise. He also understands here that he did not meet those commands which is a great sign of a repentant person. Repentance also involves us knowing what God has commanded and also knowing that we did not follow those commands.
Verses 7-12 are mainly David’s petitions to the Lord, mainly for forgiveness and the sanctification of his heart. Verses 7 – 9 are about David pleading for forgiveness. In verse 7, Hyssop was a type of plant that was used in the Old Testament ceremony of sprinkling sacrificial blood on the altar, which represented the removal of sin through the shedding of blood. What David means here is that he wants the Lord to remove his sin. Notice how much David is pleading for forgiveness from the Lord, this shows us how sorry he is for what he did against the Lord. The heart of the repentant should be filled with sorrow for offending the Lord. In verse 8, David petitions for God to allow him to hear joy and gladness. The joy and gladness being talked about is only experienced through a relationship with the Lord. Notice how David does not want to be comforted until he is cleansed, he first wants to be cleansed from his sin as seen in verse 7 and then he wants to be comforted as seen in verse 8. He saw his sin as more important than being personally comforted and we also should. David then says to God to let the bones that he had broken rejoice. The bones here refer to the inner person and what David means by God breaking his bones is the discipline of God. God disciplines those whom he loves and discipline from God is a good thing. David wanted to rejoice again in a restored relationship with God. Verse 9 says “Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities.” When God is being described as hiding his