Psalm 51: A Cry to the Lord
Background
David has been long been known as a man after God’s own heart, yet even he was not perfect. Psalm 51 is David’s cry to the Lord for forgiveness after his affair with Bathsheba in 1 Samuel 11. This response was only after the prophet Nathan had come to David and confronted him of his sin. The following Psalm is the result of David plea to the Lord after he found that it would not be him who died but his son.
David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. 14 Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child who is born to you shall die.” 1 Samuel 12:13–14
Psalm 51
1Have 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!3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
4 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.
5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.
6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
11 Cast me not away from your presence,
and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit.13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will return to you.
14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,
O God of my salvation,
and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
15 O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;
build up the walls of Jerusalem;
19 then will you delight in right sacrifices,
in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.
Exposition
This Psalm is divided into six sections: the appeal (1–2), the confession (3–5), restoration (6–9), inward renewal (10–13), humble worship (14–17), and a peoples prayer (18–19). The appeal opens in verse one with David’s cry to the Lord to have mercy upon him, not on the account of anything that David had done, but because of God’s steadfast love and abundant mercy.
David began his confession by asking God to cleanse him of his sin. In verse four he admits that God is truly the one who he had sinned against. Verse five is not an excuse because David has been born into sin, but rather an acknowledgement of his sinfulness in general.
Verse six begins the restoration section, David acknowledges that God teaches him in his heart then moves to implore the Lord to purge him. And if the Lord would only do this he would be made clean again as “white as snow.”
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit in me” is perhaps the best known statement from this Psalm. This statement begins the inward renewal section of the Psalm. David then asks the Lord to restore unto him the joy of his salvation which can only be found in the Lord. He then declares that if the Lord will do this then he will teach others the ways of the Lord.
The Humble worship section continues to implore the Lord to remove his sins and if the Lord does, he will sing his praise. For the Lord will not be pleased with just a ritual sacrifice, but rather a renewal of the heart because sacrifices can come from a broken spirit rather than a transformed life.
David closes the Psalm in the last section with a prayer for the people that God would build up Jerusalem. If the Lord does this, the people will surely praise him.
Application
As previously stated David is known as the “man after God’s own heart,” however, we see here that no matter where someone is is that they can fall into sin — great sin. But as the apostle John states in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
This is what David is experiencing centuries before the apostle John would write these words.
Use in Corporate Worship
This Psalm can be easily used in corporate worship for churches who have a time of corporate confession. It can be pared with 1 John 1:9 in the previous statement to remind the congregation that if we confess our sins, God willbe faithful to forgive them.
A Musical Setting
One of my personal favorite musical settings of this hymn was written and arranged by Keith Green. This arrangement sets the hymn into a ballad in which the listener can feel the inward emotion of the hymn.
Bibliography
Hossfeld, Frank-Lothar, and Erich Zenger. Psalms 2: A Commentary on Psalms 51–100. Edited by Klaus Baltzer. Translated by Linda M. Maloney. Hermeneia — a Critical and Historical Commentary on the Bible. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2005.
Kidner, Derek. Psalms 1–72: An Introduction and Commentary. Vol. 15. Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1973.
Mays, James Luther. Psalms. Interpretation, a Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching. Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 1994.
