The Bible

 

Psalms 51

Study

   

1 For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David; when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: According to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.

2 Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I know my transgressions; And my sin is ever before me.

4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, And done that which is evil in thy sight; That thou mayest be justified when thou speakest, And be clear when thou judgest.

5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity; And in sin did my mother conceive me.

6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts; And in the hidden part thou wilt make me to know wisdom.

7 Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

8 Make me to hear joy and gladness, That the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.

9 Hide thy face from my sins, And blot out all mine iniquities.

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; And renew a right spirit within me.

11 Cast me not away from thy presence; And take not thy holy Spirit from me.

12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; And uphold me with a willing spirit.

13 Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; And sinners shall be converted unto thee.

14 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.

16 For thou delightest not in sacrifice; else would I give it: Thou hast no pleasure in burnt-offering.

17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: A broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

18 Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: Build thou the walls of Jerusalem.

19 Then will thou delight in the sacrifices of righteousness, In burnt-offering and in whole burnt-offering: Then will they offer bullocks upon thine altar.

   

Commentary

 

Exploring the Meaning of Psalms 51

By Julian Duckworth

Psalm 51 is called "A prayer of repentance".

Its heading says it is a psalm of David from when Nathan the prophet reprimanded him after he had gone in unto Bathsheba. It's a cry of despair, full of deep repentance and the plea to be cleansed from the sins he has committed. The psalm shows a clear pattern through its words; by openly acknowledging the sin the speaker gets more understanding about the way of the Lord and about life. The psalm also shows a growing assurance and trust in the Lord and his acceptance of this cry.

This psalm, at a deeper level, also describes Jesus’ prayer to overcome the sins of his human nature which he took upon himself in becoming human. The Lord, unlike David, didn't give into temptations – John 8:46 has the Lord asking, “Which of you convicts me of sin?” – so His prayer is to have the strength to withstand the tendencies inherent in his human nature. The Lord was severely tempted in his humanity.

For us, this psalm is one we can relate to and feel is our own prayer when we see the ways in which our thoughts rise up out of our self-love or our proprium (our selfhood). True repentance is not remorse for some wrong we have done, although this can be part of our spiritual progress; it has far more to do with us giving our attention to thoughts and moods which suddenly rise up and plague our intention to be true to the Lord. (Divine Providence 121, 122)

This psalm mentions things which have to do with the Lord and things which have to do with us. Words like "mercy, loving kindness, just, judge, washing, presence, and good pleasure" speak about the Lord, while "transgressions, iniquities, evils, and sins" speak about us. The overall idea is that the Lord longs to give to us what is his, so that we know he is there with us and that he completely understands our human frailty. In being what we are like in ourselves, we will keep going astray. We continually need to bring ourselves before the Lord to be restored.

The Lord’s mercy is the His wish to save us and regenerate us, so that we will be drawn - and wish to be drawn - to heaven, which is where the Lord is. Mercy is not instant in its activity, but it is perpetual. (See Heaven and Hell 522)

‘Washing’ is another divine quality, but we need to be careful in understanding it. It is not the Lord washing our wrongs away as if they had never been done. Our wrongs may need to be brought back to us, not to taunt us, but to remind us of our need of the Lord and our wish to do no more wrongdoing. The true idea of washing is for us to ‘wash ourselves’ and to feel we have been washed, so that we can go forward stronger than we were. (See Divine Providence 151 and Apocalypse Explained 475.5)

‘Transgressions’ are evils we might do which come from a perverted understanding. (Arcana Caelestia 9156)

‘Iniquities’ are evils we do intentionally because we have twisted our thinking to justify doing them (Apocalypse Explained 475)

‘Evils’ are what we do because we are born with an imperfect human nature. (See The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine 79 near the end)

‘Sins’ are evils we do intentionally because a love of evil has taken hold of us. (Arcana Caelestia 5726)

The phrase “Purge me with hyssop” means being cleansed by external truths or truths which we see and which confront us, demanding that we correlate our life to them. (Arcana Caelestia 7918)

The phrase “Let the bones which you have broken, rejoice” is describing the appearance to us that during temptation the Lord has broken us, whereas the very opposite is true, that the Lord is defending us and being our bones. So in truth, we may rejoice. ‘Bones’ spiritually mean truths because bones support the body and truths the spirit. (Arcana Caelestia 3812.8)

Overall, this is a psalm which, for us, can help us move on from seeing the number and range of our imperfections through to understanding, appreciating and acting on the truth that the Lord can and will lead us to restoration and wholeness if we go to Him.