Psalm 51
Notes
Transcript
Psalm 51 English Standard Version
Psalm 51:title
1. To the choirmaster.
2. A Psalm of David,
a. Psalms 51–70, primarily a collection of Davidic psalms.[1]
3. when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
a. A doubled Superscription of this type occurs thirteen times in the Psalter (Psalms 3; 7; 18; 34; 51–52; 54; 56–57; 59–60; 63; and 142).[2]
b. Ps 51:2 refers to 2 Samuel 11–12, the Bathsheba story, utilizing some verbal coincidences between v. 6 and 2 Sam 11:27b and 12:13a.[3]
c. It is as though the warning of judgment in Ps 50 prompts the sincere repentance in Ps 51. Psalm 50:18 denounced adulterers, and the wider context of Ps 50 presents the Lord coming in judgment (cf. 50:1–6). The terrible prospect of judgment crushes David’s rebellion and puts him on his knees in Ps 51, crying out for mercy from the one whose righteousness his sin offended.[4]
i. Psalm 50:1 The Mighty One, God the Lord, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of
ii. Psalm 50:4 He calls to the heavens above and to the earth, that he may judge his people:
iii. Psalm 50:5 “Gather to me my faithful ones, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!”
iv. Psalm 50:6 The heavens declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge! Selah
v. Psalm 50:7 “Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, I will testify against you. I am God, your God.
vi. Psalm 50:18 If you see a thief, you are pleased with him, and you keep company with adulterers.
vii. Psalm 50:21 These things you have done, and I have been silent; you thought that I was one like yourself. But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you.
viii. Psalm 50:22 “Mark [consider]this, then, you who forget God, lest I tear you apart, and there be none to deliver!
ix. Psalm 50:23 The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!”
d. Psalm 51 is the fourth of seven so-called “penitential psalms” in the Psalter (Pss. 6; 32; 38; 51; 102; 130; 143), in which confession and repentance from personal sin is the focus of the composition.[5]
Psalm 51:1
1. Have mercy on me, O God,
a. The confession of guilt of Psalm 51 complements the legal indictment begun in Psalm 50. The sacrifices which do not please God (51:16) are alluded to in 50:9–13.[6]
2. according to your steadfast love;
3. according to your abundant mercy
4. blot out my transgressions.
a. Exodus 34:6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,
b. Exodus 34:7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”
Psalm 51:2
1. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
2. and cleanse me from my sin!
Psalm 51:3
1. For I know my transgressions,
2. and my sin is ever before me.
a. Rather than focus on specific types of sin, the use of all three terms seems intended to be comprehensive, so that the psalmist’s confession is far-reaching and complete. This interpretation is confirmed in verse 3, where he admits his sin by referring only to the first and last categories previously mentioned (pešaʿ and ḥaṭṭaʾt), indicating the whole constellation of sin is intended, not just these two categories.[7]
b. Seeing Bathsheba would be a constant reminder to David of his sin.
Psalm 51:4
1. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight,
a. 2 Samuel 12:13 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.
b. Nathan the prophet told David that by his sin he had despised the word of Yahweh and Yahweh himself (2 Sam 12:9, 10).[8]
i. 2 Samuel 12:9 Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.
ii. 2 Samuel 12:10 Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’
iii. In Gen. 39:9, Joseph says to Potiphar’s wife when she attempts to get him to lie with her: “He (Potiphar) is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except yourself, because you are his wife. How could I do this great evil (rā ʿâ), and sin (from the root ḥāṭāʾ) against God?” When Nathan confronts David with his sin in 2 Samuel 12, David replies in v. 13, “I have sinned (ḥāṭāʾ)against the Lord.”[9]
2. so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.
a. Romans 3:4 By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written, “That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged.”
Psalm 51:5-6
1. (v.5) Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
2. and in sin did my mother conceive me.
a. Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—
3. (v.6) Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
4. and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.
a. The psalmist affirms that appropriate revelation of the inner self requires divine wisdom.[10]
Psalm 51:7
1. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
a. HYSSOP (אֵזוֹב, ezov; ὑσσώπῳ, hyssōpō). A plant used in rituals for ceremonial cleansing and atonement (e.g., Exod 12:22; Lev 14:4, 52; Num 19:6, 18; Heb 9:19).
1. wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
a. If God’s standard cannot be changed, the man who would enjoy God’s holiness must be. This is why David prays as he does in the following verses. David desires more than forgiveness in this psalm. He prays to be transformed into a man who loves holiness and acts on that love.[11]
Psalm 51:8
1. Let me hear joy and gladness;
2. let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
a. Psalm 32:3 For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.
b. Psalm 32:4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah
Psalm 51:9
1. Hide your face from my sins,
2. and blot out all my iniquities.
Psalm 51:10
1. Create in me a clean heart, O God,
2. and renew a right spirit within me.
a. to create v.— to bring into existence.
i. Genesis 1:1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
ii. Genesis 1:2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
b. to renew v.— to reestablish on a new, usually improved, basis or make new or like new.
i. 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
c. right - to be steadfast v. — to be marked by firm determination or resolution; be unshakable.
i. John 14:16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,
Psalm 51:11
1. Cast me not away from your presence,
a. Genesis 3:23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken.
b. Genesis 3:24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.
2. and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
a. 1 Samuel 16:13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.
b. 1 Samuel 16:14 Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the Lord tormented him.
i. In Ps 51:11 (MT 51:13) David asks the Lord not to do to him what he did to Saul: take the Holy Spirit and banish him from his presence. David boldly asks that rather than being removed from his station as the Lord’s anointed, king of Israel, he be allowed to continue in God’s presence, enjoying the Spirit as King.[12]
Psalm 51:12
1. Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
a. Psalm 32:1 Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
b. Psalm 32:2 Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
2. and uphold me
a. Elsewhere “uphold” usually implies that the person is standing and that God ensures that this continues to be the case (cf. 3:5 [6]; 37:17, 24), but the present context implies that the suppliant has fallen over (cf. 145:14?), so that “upholding” could imply lifting up. [13]
i. Psalm 145:14 The Lord upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down.
3. with a willing spirit.
a. NLT and make me willing to obey you. [14]
b. Psalm 51:12 KJV Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; And uphold me with thy free spirit.
c. 2 Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
Psalm 51:13
1. Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
2. and sinners will return to you.
a. to repent ⇔ return v. — to turn away from sin, conceived of as returning to God or returning from a location.
Psalm 51:14-15
1. (v.14) Deliver me from bloodguiltiness,
a. bloodguilt n. — the state of being guilty of bloodshed or murder.
b. 2 Samuel 12:9 Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.
c. Adultery, prohibited by the seventh commandment (Exod. 20:14/Deut. 5:18; also 50:18b), was a moral violation that carried the death penalty for both partners (Deut. 22:22). [15]
2. God, O God of my salvation,
3. and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
4. (v.15) O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.
Psalm 51:16
1. For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
2. you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
a. Psalm 50:8 Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me.
b. Psalm 50:14 Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High,
c. Psalm 50:23 The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!”
Psalm 51:17
1. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
2. a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
Psalm 51:18-19
1. (v.18) Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;
2. build up the walls of Jerusalem;
3. (v.19) then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.
a. David
i. In the OT the first reference to building up Jerusalem’s walls relates to Solomon, who apparently inherited from David a wall that needed completing, a wall with a “breach” (1 Kings 3:1; 9:15; 11:27).[16]
ii. The final statements of Ps 51 communicate the societal ramifications of David’s behavior. If David incurs God’s wrath, that wrath falls on all under David’s reign. But if David experiences God’s favor, all Israel will enjoy the good pleasure of God.[17]
b. Editor
i. After the walls’ destruction in 587, they would need building up again.[18]
ii. This latter section may well have been added to an essentially individual psalm in order to reflect the needs of the exilic community, who had lost Jerusalem and the temple and were struggling to understand what constituted “righteous sacrifice” in their new circumstance scattered among the nations, far from their ancestral home.[19]
iii. The picture presented here—of the broken walls of Jerusalem being rebuilt like the broken and contrite heart of the psalmist—is one that stands contrary to the Davidic context presumed in the heading. The concern expressed for the rebuilding of Jerusalem has the effect of adapting this individual plea for deliverance to the circumstance of the exilic Jewish community, while the mention of Zion links Psalm 51 back to 50:2 and 48:2, 11–12. As the psalmist seeks through confession and contrition to stimulate the restoration of right relationship with God, so the exilic community sought through the words of this psalm to confess their sin and to lay the groundwork for the restoration of the sacrificial system, through which they had known continued forgiveness, renewal, and communion with their covenant God, Yahweh.[20]
iv. Note how these final verses respond to the earlier statements of 51:16–17 by utilizing the same terminology in the context of restoration. In 51:16, Yahweh does “not delight in sacrifice,” nor does he “take pleasure in burnt offerings.” By contrast, however, in 51:18–19 it is Yahweh’s “good pleasure” that will lead to the restoration of Jerusalem and his “delight” in “righteous sacrifices” and “burnt offerings.” In this way the exilic community reaffirms their understanding that it is the inner attitude of sin that invalidated the sacrificial system of Israel and led to the demise of the kingdom in exile. It will be renewal of the inward life of repentance and faith that will restore the covenant community in its relationship with God.[21]
1. Psalm 51:16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
2. Psalm 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
Conclusion
Words for sin come twelve times in vv. 1–9 and twice in vv. 10–19; God is named once in vv. 1–9 and six times in vv. 10–19. Sin gives way to God; with confession, sin gives way to God’s presence. “The poet literally and literarily is emptied of sin and filled with grace.”[22]
Schaefer makes the interesting observation that the word for sin and its cognates occur six times in the first movement and once in the last movement. At the same time, and in reverse proportion, the name God (’elohim) occurs once in the first movement and six times in the remainder of the psalm. Schaefer comments: “Sin disappears in the second half in the same ratio that God appears.”[23]
[1] C. Hassell Bullock, Psalms 1–72, ed. Mark L. Strauss and John H. Walton, vol. 1, Teach the Text Commentary Series (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2015), 389.
[2] Erhard Gerstenberger, Psalms Part 1: With an Introduction to Cultic Poetry, vol. 14, The Forms of the Old Testament Literature (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1988), 212.
[3] Erhard Gerstenberger, Psalms Part 1: With an Introduction to Cultic Poetry, vol. 14, The Forms of the Old Testament Literature (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1988), 212.
[4] James M. Hamilton Jr., Psalms, ed. T. Desmond Alexander, Thomas R. Schreiner, and Andreas J. Köstenberger, vol. 1, Evangelical Biblical Theology Commentary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Academic, 2021), 506.
[5] Gerald H. Wilson, Psalms, vol. 1, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002), 772.
[6] Konrad Schaefer, Psalms, ed. David W. Cotter, Jerome T. Walsh, and Chris Franke, Berit Olam Studies in Hebrew Narrative and Poetry (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 2001), 128.
[7] Gerald H. Wilson, Psalms, vol. 1, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002), 774.
[8] James M. Hamilton Jr., Psalms, ed. T. Desmond Alexander, Thomas R. Schreiner, and Andreas J. Köstenberger, vol. 1, Evangelical Biblical Theology Commentary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Academic, 2021), 508.
[9] Nancy deClaissé-Walford and Beth Tanner, “Book Two of the Psalter: Psalms 42–72,” in The Book of Psalms, ed. E. J. Young, R. K. Harrison, and Robert L. Hubbard Jr., The New International Commentary on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2014), 456.
[10] Gerald H. Wilson, Psalms, vol. 1, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002), 775.
[11] James M. Hamilton Jr., Psalms, ed. T. Desmond Alexander, Thomas R. Schreiner, and Andreas J. Köstenberger, vol. 1, Evangelical Biblical Theology Commentary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Academic, 2021), 509.
MT Masoretic Text
[12] James M. Hamilton Jr., Psalms, ed. T. Desmond Alexander, Thomas R. Schreiner, and Andreas J. Köstenberger, vol. 1, Evangelical Biblical Theology Commentary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Academic, 2021), 510.
[13] John Goldingay, Baker Commentary on the Old Testament: Psalms 42–89, ed. Tremper Longman III, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006), 135.
[14] Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2015), Ps 51:12.
[15] C. Hassell Bullock, Psalms 1–72, ed. Mark L. Strauss and John H. Walton, vol. 1, Teach the Text Commentary Series (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2015), 390.
[16] John Goldingay, Baker Commentary on the Old Testament: Psalms 42–89, ed. Tremper Longman III, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006), 139.
[17] James M. Hamilton Jr., Psalms, ed. T. Desmond Alexander, Thomas R. Schreiner, and Andreas J. Köstenberger, vol. 1, Evangelical Biblical Theology Commentary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Academic, 2021), 511.
[18] John Goldingay, Baker Commentary on the Old Testament: Psalms 42–89, ed. Tremper Longman III, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006), 139.
[19] Gerald H. Wilson, Psalms, vol. 1, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002), 773.
[20] Gerald H. Wilson, Psalms, vol. 1, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002), 777.
[21] Gerald H. Wilson, Psalms, vol. 1, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002), 777–778.
[22] John Goldingay, Baker Commentary on the Old Testament: Psalms 42–89, ed. Tremper Longman III, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006), 140.
[23] C. Hassell Bullock, Psalms 1–72, ed. Mark L. Strauss and John H. Walton, vol. 1, Teach the Text Commentary Series (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2015), 393.