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Psalm 51
All scripture is from the King James Version unless otherwise noted. Before beginning this study, I suggest you pray and ask God to guide you through this study. I also suggest that you do you own study of this material in order to ensure its accuracy.
(Psa 51:1) {Title} To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. {1} Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.
Remember the story? David, a man after God's own heart, committed a reprehensible act, actually two reprehensible acts. They are both grievous sins: adultery with another man's wife, and then murder of the man himself. Let's read it:
(2 Sam 11:1-4) And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem. {2} And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king's house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon. {3} And David sent and inquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? {4} And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness: and she returned unto her house.
It was the spring of the year and the army was at war, but their Commander in Chief was not with them. Uriah was at war serving his king. Unlike our Presidents, kings led their armies into battle; David should have been with them. We know he was idle because he got out of his bed in the evening.
Before you say it takes two to tango (which is does), try to put yourself in Bathsheba's place. King David was known as a good and righteous God-fearing man. The king, the human leader of all Israel invited Bathsheba to visit. He was the judge. His court was the highest court. She had every reason to trust him. And she also had every reason to awe him. Because of his position (king), it would have been very difficult for Bathsheba to refuse him. I am sure that fear was one of the reasons she lay with him. While Bathsheba was culpable in adultery, David was more to blame than she.
(2 Sam 11:5) And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I am with child.
Uh-oh!
(2 Sam 11:6-9) And David sent to Joab, saying, Send me Uriah the Hittite. And Joab sent Uriah to David. {7} And when Uriah was come unto him, David demanded of him how Joab did, and how the people did, and how the war prospered. {8} And David said to Uriah, Go down to thy house, and wash thy feet. And Uriah departed out of the king's house, and there followed him a mess of meat from the king. {9} But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and went not down to his house.
Instead of owning up, David tried to cover up. Realize that the penalty for adultery was death (Lev. 29:10). It is doubtful that David would have been executed, but Bathsheba might have been. Remember the story of the adulteress in John 8.
Uriah explains why he slept away from home:
(2 Sam 11:10-11) And when they had told David, saying, Uriah went not down unto his house, David said unto Uriah, Camest thou not from thy journey? why then didst thou not go down unto thine house? {11} And Uriah said unto David, The ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in tents; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open fields; shall I then go into mine house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? as thou livest, and as thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing.
David should have been encamped with them.
(2 Sam 11:12-13) And David said to Uriah, Tarry here to day also, and to morrow I will let thee depart. So Uriah abode in Jerusalem that day, and the morrow. {13} And when David had called him, he did eat and drink before him; and he made him drunk: and at even he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but went not down to his house.
Even while intoxicated, Uriah remained true to his post.
(2 Sam 11:14-15) And it came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah. {15} And he wrote in the letter, saying, Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten, and die.
It is bad enough that David took Uriah's wife in adultery. It is bad enough that David had Uriah killed. But it is beyond belief that he would send his own servant, who trusted David with his life, and would have gladly died for his king, to his death with the death warrant unknowingly in his hand.
(2 Sam 11:16-17) And it came to pass, when Joab observed the city, that he assigned Uriah unto a place where he knew that valiant men were. {17} And the men of the city went out, and fought with Joab: and there fell some of the people of the servants of David; and Uriah the Hittite died also.
So, David committed murder in the first degree.
(2 Sam 11:18-25) Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war; {19} And charged the messenger, saying, When thou hast made an end of telling the matters of the war unto the king, {20} And if so be that the king's wrath arise, and he say unto thee, Wherefore approached ye so nigh unto the city when ye did fight? knew ye not that they would shoot from the wall? {21} Who smote Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? did not a woman cast a piece of a millstone upon him from the wall, that he died in Thebez? why went ye nigh the wall? then say thou, Thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also. {22} So the messenger went, and came and showed David all that Joab had sent him for. {23} And the messenger said unto David, Surely the men prevailed against us, and came out unto us into the field, and we were upon them even unto the entering of the gate. {24} And the shooters shot from off the wall upon thy servants; and some of the king's servants be dead, and thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also. {25} Then David said unto the messenger, Thus shalt thou say unto Joab, Let not this thing displease thee, for the sword devoureth one as well as another: make thy battle more strong against the city, and overthrow it: and encourage thou him.
At any other time, Joab would have been reprimanded for getting his troops into such a precarious situation, but this time, because Uriah died, it was all right.
(2 Sam 11:26-27) And when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband. {27} And when the mourning was past, David sent and fetched her to his house, and she became his wife, and bare him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD.
That is because it was a nasty bit of work that David did.
David sowed; let's see what he reaped:
(2 Sam 12:1-7a) And the LORD sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor. {2} The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds: {3} But the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter. {4} And there came a traveller unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him; but took the poor man's lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come to him. {5} And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the LORD liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die: {6} And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity. {7} And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man.
It is amazing that David could not see what he had done until Nathan told him point-blank, "Thou art the man." It is the same for us. Often we don't see our own iniquities.
(2 Sam 12:7b-10) Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul;
{8} And I gave thee thy master's house, and thy master's wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things. {9} Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. {10} Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.David fought wars all his life.
(2 Sam 12:11-12) Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun. {12} For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.
David's own son, Absalom, fulfilled this prophecy (2 Sam 16:21 & 22).
(2 Sam 12:13-14) And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die. {14} Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.
David confessed his sin and repented and was forgiven. But in order to prevent David's subjects from believing they could get away with adultery, God took the child. This brings us back to Psalm 51. David's repentance is seen there.
(Psa 51:1-2) [Title} To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. {1} Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. {2} Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
Because of God's great and abundant mercy or compassion for us, David asks God to erase his sin. Once erased, the sin is gone.
Note: this is my favorite Psalm. When I pray and ask forgiveness, I sometimes read this Psalm to God, placing myself in it, asking forgiveness for my transgressions.
(Psa 51:3-4) For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. {4} Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.
The transgression was against Uriah and Bathsheba; the sin was against God. The transgressions were adultery and murder and defiling Bathsheba. The sin was that he despised God, Yehovah (2 Sam 12:10). He had contempt for God and His laws. That was the sin against God and God only.
Paul says in Romans 3:4, " . . . yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged." This is the Septuagint (LXX) rendering of Psalm 51:4. In other words, God will get the glory even in this sin of David's.
(Psa 51:5) Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
We are born naturally prone to sin. This verse does not mean that David was born out of wedlock, rather that we are all born with a propensity for sin. David was born in accordance with the Law or he would not have been mentioned in his father's genealogy. See Ruth 4:17-22.
(Psa 51:6) Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.
The "inward parts" are literally the kidneys (Hebrew tuwchah, Strong's 2910). Figuratively, it means the inmost thoughts. An English idiom analogy would be "in our heart of hearts." In other words, God wants us to be truthful to ourselves. Don't lie to yourself. You cannot lie to God. He knows our inmost thoughts.
The phrase "and in the hidden part" is better translated "in secret." We receive our wisdom in our minds, which is a hidden or secret part. God makes us to know wisdom. We are not speaking of the world's knowledge. There are many highly educated and knowledgeable men who disdain God. They are knowledgeable, but not wise. Wisdom comes from God.
(Psa 51:7) Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Hyssop is a plant whose stalks bear bunches of small white flowers. These bunches make it suitable for use as a brush. At the first Passover, the people dipped hyssop in the lamb's blood and spread it on their lintels and door posts so that the LORD's destroyer would pass over their house and allow the firstborn of the house to live.
Hyssop was used in the cure of lepers. It was dipped in the blood of a bird and sprinkled on the leper (Lev 14). It was used to sprinkle water to cleanse a person who had come into contact with a dead body (Num 19). In other words, it was used for cleansing and purification. David uses the word here figuratively to cleanse him from his uncleanness. Jesus is our Passover lamb. We are cleansed from our sin by His blood. We are given life by His blood.
Let's take a look at the words "whiter than snow." Isa 1:18, "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Read all of Isaiah chapter 1. If we are obedient, and our hearts are clean, this promise is for us. But, as God says in Jer 17:9, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" If that is so, how can we ever be whiter than snow? 1 John 1:7, "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." Jesus Christ's own blood cleanses us from sin, allowing us to be whiter than snow.
One other thought. Our good works, as human beings, are as filthy rags before God (Isa 64:6). But our works in Christ get us wedding garments that are whiter than snow (Rev 19:8).
(Psa 51:8) Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.
The bones represent the body. The word rendered "broken" also means contrition. David's body was broken in contrition. He remained in that condition until the child of adultery died (2 Sam 12:15 - 23). He asks God to restore his joy and gladness, which He did.
(Psa 51:9) Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.
Again, David asks God to blot out his sin. When God forgives sin, it is blotted out. Nothing remains. God doesn't remember it. (Psa 25:7, 103:12, Jer 31:34)
(Psa 51:10) Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
The spirit here is our own spirit. David asks God to renew an upright spirit in him as opposed to the debased spirit that caused him to commit adultery and murder.
(Psa 51:11) Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.
Will God cast any out of His presence? He will certainly do so after the judgment. He will cast out those who are not His own. Will He take away the Holy Spirit? He has done. Read about King Saul in 1 Samuel 16:14.
(Psa 51:12) Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.
David again asks God to restore his joy. The word free means generous. David is talking about God's generous spirit.
(Psa 51:13) Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.
How can we best teach others God's ways? By living them. David, forgiven for his transgressions, will have a better witness for those around him. David did teach God's ways. He teaches them still. David wrote many psalms, such as this one. They are teachers of God's ways.
(Psa 51:14-15) Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. {15} O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall show forth thy praise.
Uriah's blood was on David's hands. David had blood on his hands for his entire reign. That is why Solomon built the temple at Jerusalem. David was delivered from bloodguiltiness. David did sing aloud of God's righteousness. One way he did was through the Psalms.
(Psa 51:16-17) For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. {17} The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
God doesn't want our sacrifices. God provided a sacrifice of His own. God wants us to be as little children and humble ourselves before him. Blessed are the poor in spirit: [or humble] for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Mat 5:3.
(Psa 51:18-19) Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem. {19} Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.
Because of David's sin, the whole nation was in danger of falling away from God. This would mean the ruin of Jerusalem. So David now asks that God to continue to bless His people and city. If the leadership of a nation is substandard, the nation will be substandard. If the leader has no character, neither will the people. The leadership reflects the people and the people reflect the leadership. (This is true in our nation today). David has gotten right with God and wants the nation of Israel to be right with God.
The next time you are heavy with sin, read this Psalm and let it help you to pray for forgiveness.
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