INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 51 TO THE CHIEF MUSICIAN, A PSALM OF DAVID, WHEN NATHAN THE PROPHET CAME UNTO HIM, AFTER HE HAD GONE IN TO BATHSHEBA. The occasion of this psalm was the sin of David with Bathsheba, signified by "going in to her"; an euphemism for "lying with her"; which sin was a very aggrava... [ Continue Reading ]
HAVE MERCY UPON ME, O GOD,.... David, under a sense of sin, does not run away from God, but applies unto him, and casts himself at his feet, and upon his mercy; which shows the view he had of his miserable condition, and that he saw there was mercy in God, which gave him hope; and upon his bended kn... [ Continue Reading ]
WASH ME THOROUGHLY FROM MINE INIQUITY,.... Which supposes defilement by sin, and that very great, and such as none can remove but the Lord himself; who, when he takes it in hand, does it effectually and thoroughly; see Ezekiel 36:25. David's sin had long lain upon him, the faith of it had as it were... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR I ACKNOWLEDGE MY TRANSGRESSIONS,.... Before God and man. Acknowledgment of sin is what the Lord requires, and promises forgiveness upon, and therefore is used here as a plea for it; and moreover the psalmist had done so before, and had succeeded in this way, which must encourage him to take the... [ Continue Reading ]
AGAINST THEE, THEE ONLY, HAVE I SINNED,.... All sin, though committed against a fellow creature, being a transgression of the law, is against the lawgiver; and, indeed, begins at the neglect or contempt of his commandment, as David's sin did, 2 Samuel 12:9; and being committed against God, that had... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, I WAS SHAPEN IN INIQUITY,.... This cannot be understood of any personal iniquity of his immediate parents; since this respects his wonderful formation in the womb, in which both he and they were wholly passive, as the word here used is of that form; and is the amazing work of God himself, so... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, THOU DESIREST TRUTH IN THE INWARD PARTS,.... With delight and pleasure, as the word d signifies: meaning either Christ, the truth and the life, formed and dwelling in the hearts of his people; or the Gospel, the word of truth, which has a place there; and particularly that branch of it which... [ Continue Reading ]
PURGE ME WITH HYSSOP,.... Or "thou shalt purge me with hyssop" f; or "expiate me"; which was used in sprinkling the blood of the paschal lamb on the door posts of the Israelites in Egypt, that the destroying angel might pass over them, Exodus 12:22; and in the cleansing of the leper, Leviticus 14:4;... [ Continue Reading ]
MAKE ME TO HEAR JOY AND GLADNESS,.... Which he had not heard for some time; sin had sadly broke in upon and interrupted his spiritual peace and joy; for though the love and favour of God cannot be lost, yet his sensible presence, which puts joy and gladness into the heart, may; and though an interes... [ Continue Reading ]
HIDE THY FACE FROM MY SINS,.... In whose sight they were committed, being now ashamed of them himself, and ashamed that any should see them, and especially his God; and being filthy and nauseous, he knew they must be abominable to him, who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity; and being breaches... [ Continue Reading ]
CREATE IN ME A CLEAN HEART, O GOD,.... Which was now defiled with sin, and of which being convinced, he was led more and more to see the impurity of his heart and nature, from which all his evil actions flowed; and being sensible that he could not make his heart clean himself, and that this was the... [ Continue Reading ]
CAST ME NOT AWAY FROM THY PRESENCE,.... As abominable; as a vessel in which he had no pleasure; with indignation and wrath; as one that is angry with another, cannot bear him in his sight, but bids him be gone from him. Nothing is more desirable to a child of God than the presence of God; and nothin... [ Continue Reading ]
RESTORE UNTO ME THE JOY OF THY SALVATION,.... Not temporal, but spiritual and eternal; and designs either Christ himself, who is God's salvation, of his appointing and providing, in the view of whom, as such, David had much spiritual joy; or the salvation he was to work out, which God the Father had... [ Continue Reading ]
[THEN] WILL I TEACH TRANSGRESSORS THY WAYS,.... David was a prophet as well as a king; see Acts 2:30; and taught men the fear of the Lord, Psalms 34:11, and instructed them in his ways, as he here promises he would; by which are meant, either the ways which God prescribes and directs men to walk in,... [ Continue Reading ]
DELIVER ME FROM BLOOD GUILTINESS,.... Or "from bloods" q; meaning not the corruption of nature; see Ezekiel 16:6; though to be rid of that, and to be free from the guilt and condemnation of it, is very desirable, Romans 7:24; but either from capital punishment in his family, the effusion of blood an... [ Continue Reading ]
O LORD, OPEN THOU MY LIPS,.... The Targum adds, "in the late"; which were shut with a sense of sin, with shame of it, and sorrow for it; and though they were in some measure opened in prayer to God for the forgiveness of it, as appears by various petitions in this psalm, yet he still wanted a free s... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THOU DESIREST NOT SACRIFICE,.... Legal sacrifice; for there was no sacrifice appointed under the law for murder and adultery; ELSE WOULD I GIVE [IT]; he would gladly have offered it up; THOU DELIGHTEST NOT IN BURNT OFFERING; at least such kind of sacrifices, though they were of divine appointm... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SACRIFICES OF GOD [ARE] A BROKEN SPIRIT,.... That is humbled under a sense of sin; has true repentance for it; is smitten, wounded, and broken with it, by the word of God in the hand of the Spirit, which is a hammer to break the rock in pieces; and that not merely in a legal, but in an evangelic... [ Continue Reading ]
DO GOOD IN THY GOOD PLEASURE UNTO ZION,.... This verse, and Psalms 51:19, are thought, by a Spanish Rabbi mentioned by Aben Ezra, to have been added by one of the holy men that lived in the time of the Babylonish captivity; though rather it is thought, by the latter, to be written by David, under a... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN SHALL THOU BE PLEASED WITH THE SACRIFICES OF RIGHTEOUSNESS,.... Which must be different from the legal ones he desired not, and did not delight in, Psalms 51:16; but design sacrifices under the Gospel dispensation, as the word "then" shows, which connects this verse with Psalms 51:18: and in th... [ Continue Reading ]