Psalms 51:5

_BEHOLD, I WAS SHAPEN IN INIQUITY; AND IN SIN DID MY MOTHER CONCEIVE ME._ Behold, I was shapen - Hebrew _ CHOWLAALªTIY_ (H2342); literally, brought forth amidst labour pains. IN INIQUITY. In Adam the whole human race fell, so that his sin was propagated by generation; for as the punishment affects all his race, even those who have not followed him in actual sin (Romans 5:12), as infants, so must his sin (Job 14:4). This is what is termed original or birth-sin-an hereditary taint, whereby from our birth we are inclined to evil. 'In every person born into this world, it deserveth God's wrath and damnation.' "Iniquity" х_ `AAWOWN_ (H5771)] is always used of imputable guilty." Compare...

5_Behold, I was born in iniquity, _etc He now proceeds further than the mere acknowledgement of one or of many sins, confessing that he brought nothing but sin with him into the world, and that his nature was entirely depraved. He is thus led by the consideration of one offense of peculiar atrocity to the conclusion that he was born in iniquity, and was absolutely destitute of all spiritual good. Indeed, every sin should convince us of the general truth of the corruption of our nature. The Hebrew word יחמתני, _yechemathni, _signifies literally, _hath warmed herself of me, _from יחם, _yacham, _or חמם, _chamam, to warm; _but interpreters have very properly rendered it _hath conceived me. _The expression intimates that we are cherished in sin from the first moment that we are in the womb. David, then, is here brought,

1-6 David, being convinced of his sin, poured out his soul to God in prayer for mercy and grace. Whither should backsliding children return, but to the Lord their God, who alone can heal them? he drew up, by Divine teaching, an account of the workings of his heart toward God. Those that truly repent of their sins, will not be ashamed to own their repentance. Also, he instructs others what to do, and what to say. David had not only done much, but suffered much in the cause of God; yet he flees to God's infinite mercy, and depends upon that alone for pardon and peace. He begs the pardon of sin. The blood of Christ, sprinkled upon the conscience, blots out the transgression, and, having reconciled us to God, reconciles us to ourselves. The believer longs to have the whole debt of his sins blotted out, and every stain cleansed; he would be thoroughly washed from all his sins; but the hypocr...

Verse Psalms 51:5. _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...

BEHOLD, I WAS SHAPEN IN INIQUITY - The object of this important verse is to express the deep sense which David had of his depravity. That sense was derived from the fact that this was not a sudden thought, or a mere outward act, or an offence committed under the influence of strong temptation, but that it was the result of an entire corruption of his nature - of a deep depravity of heart, running back to the very commencement of his being. The idea is, that he could not have committed this offence unless he had been thoroughly corrupt, and always corrupt. The sin was as heinous and aggravated “as if” in his very conception and birth there had been nothing but depravity. He looked at his, sin, and he looked back to his own origin, and he inferred that the one demonstrated that in the other there was no good thing, no tendency to goodness, no germ of goodness, but that there was evil, and...

EXPOSITION THIS is the first of a series of fifteen psalms assigned by their titles to David, and mostly attached to special circumstances in his life, which are said to have furnished the occasions for their composition. The school of writers which brushes aside the "titles" as unauthorized and unhistorical, and so regards itself as wholly free to assign to any psalm any date and any author that it prefers, places this among post-Captivity compositions, especially on account of Psalms 51:18, Psalms 51:19 (so Professor Cheyne, Dr. Robertson Smith, the Four Friends, and others). Those, on the contrary, who consider the "titles" to be_ _entitled to regard and respect, even if not absolutely authoritative,_ _find either nothing in the psalm unsuitable to David's t

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 much admired by the psalmist, Psalms 139:13; and cannot design any sinfulness then infused into him by his Maker, seeing God cannot be the author of sin; but of original sin and corruption, derived to him by natural generation: and the sense is, that as soon as ever the mass of human nature was shaped and quickened, or as soon as soul and body were united together, sin was in him, and he was in sin, or became a sinful creature; AND IN SIN DID MY MOTHER CONCEIVE ME; by whom cannot be meant Eve; for though she is the mother of all living, and so of David, yet cou

This is a portion of Scripture, which can never be read too often. If any among us have never found mercy, let them use this Psalm as their own personal prayer; while those who have found mercy can read between the lines, and read the sweetness of pardon into the bitterness of sorrow for sin. This Psalm was written by David when Nathan came to him after his great sin with Bathsheba. He needed Nathan to come to him to rebuke him. If David had not been in a very sad state of heart, he would not have fallen into the sin; and it was that state of heart which left him so hardened, so obdurate, that he needed Nathan pointedly to say to him, «Thou art the man.» After that, he wrote and prayed this truly penitential Psalm. Psalms 51:1. _Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness_ He used to talk about being God's servant; but he says nothing about that now. He u

Psalms 51 The Confession _ 1. Conviction and prayer for forgiveness (Psalms 51:1)_ 2. Prayer for cleansing and restoration (Psalms 51:9) 3. Blood guiltiness acknowledged (Psalms 51:14) 4. Prayer for Zion (Psalms 51:18) This great penitential Psalm, according to the inscription, was the outburst of confession and repentance of David when Nathan had uncovered his sin. Well has it been said, “So profound a conviction of sin, so deep and unfeigned a penitence, so true a confession, a heart so tender, so contrite, a de

LI. A PENITENTIAL PSALM. Psalms 51:1. Prayer for pardon and inward renewal. Psalms 51:13. A promise to proclaim God's mercy and bring sinners back to Him. Psalms 51:18 f. Prayer for the restoration of Jerusalem, which will make sacrifice possible and popular once more. The Ps. was not written by David, and still less by David after his double sin of murder and adultery. How could David have said, Against thee, thee only, have I sinned? Besides, the Ps. shows the influence of exilic and post-exilic literature. The mention of the Holy Spirit occurs here only and Isaiah 63:10 in the so-called Third Is