Psalms · Chapter 51

Verse 1. Have mercy upon me, O God] Without mercy I am totally, finally ruined and undone.

According to thy loving-kindness] Mark the gradation in the sense of these three words, Have MERCY on me, ynnj chonneni; thy LOVING-KINDNESS, Ëdsj chasdecha;—thy TENDER MERCIES, Ëymjr rachameycha, here used to express the Divine compassion. The propriety of the order in which they are placed deserves particular observation. The first, rendered have mercy or pity, denotes that kind of affection which is expressed by moaning over an object we love and pity; that natural affection and tenderness which even the brute creation show to their young by the several noises they respectively make over them. The second, rendered loving-kindness, denotes a strong proneness, a ready, large, and liberal disposition, to goodness and compassion, powerfully prompting to all instances of kindness and bounty; flowing as freely as waters from a perpetual fountain. This denotes a higher degree of goodness than the former.

The third, rendered tender mercies, denotes what the Greeks called splagcnizesqai, that most tender pity which we signify by the moving of the heart and bowels, which argues the highest degree of compassion of which nature is susceptible. See Chandler.

Blot out my transgressions] hjm mecheh, wipe out. There is a reference here to an indictment: the psalmist knows what it contains; he pleads guilty, but begs that the writing may be defaced; that a proper fluid may be applied to the parchment, to discharge the ink, that no record of it may ever appear against him: and this only the mercy, loving-kindness, and tender compassions of the Lord can do.

Verse 1. Have mercy upon me, O God — O thou, who art the supreme Lawgiver, Governor, and Judge of the world, whom I have most highly offended many ways, and, therefore, may most justly be condemned to suffer the effects of thy severest displeasure; I cast myself down before thee, and humbly supplicate for mercy. O pity, help, and answer me in the desires I am now about to spread before thee; according to thy loving-kindness — Thy known clemency and infinite compassions. For I pretend to no merit: I know my desert is everlasting destruction of body and soul; but I humbly implore the interposition of thy free grace and unmerited goodness. According to the multitude of thy tender mercies — Hebrew, Ëymjr, rachameicha, thy bowels of mercies, yearning over thy fallen, sinful, and miserable creatures. Thy mercies are infinite, and, therefore, sufficient for my relief: and such mercies, indeed, do I now need. “How reviving,” says Chandler, “is the belief and consideration of these abundant and tender compassions of God, to one in David’s circumstances; whose mind laboured under the burden of the most heinous, complicated guilt, and the fear of the divine displeasure and vengeance!” Blot out — hjm, mechee, deleto, absterge, destroy, wipe away, my transgressions — That is, entirely and absolutely forgive them; so that no part of the guilt I have contracted may remain, and the punishment of it may be wholly remitted. The word properly signifies to wipe out, or to wipe any thing absolutely clean, as a person wipes a dish: see 2 Kings 21:13. Blot out my transgressions — As a debt is blotted or crossed out of the book, when either the debtor has paid it, or the creditor has remitted it; wipe them out — That they may not appear to demand judgment against me, nor stare me in the face to my confusion and terror. Give me peace with thee, by turning away thine anger from me, and taking me again into thy favour; and give me peace in my own conscience, by assuring me thou hast done so.

1. Have mercy upon me—Verses 1, 2, are a simple, earnest plea for mercy. In the greatness of David’s guilt the compassion of God afforded the only ray of hope. According to thy lovingkindness—The infinite “kindness” of God could alone supply a rule of measurement for that grace which the enormity of his offences called for. (Compare “according to the riches of his glory,” Ephesians 3:16.) This quality and fulness of grace are twice urged by the particle “according.” Multitude of thy tender mercies—The greatness and manifoldness of grace are still kept in view.

Verse 2. Wash me throughly] ynsbk hbrh harbeh cabbeseni, “Wash me again and again,—cause my washings to be multiplied.” My stain is deep; ordinary purgation will not be sufficient.

Verse 2. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, &c. — “I have made myself exceeding loathsome by my repeated and heinous acts of wickedness, which, like a stain that hath long stuck to a garment, is not easily purged away; but do not, therefore, I beseech thee, abhor me, but rather magnify thy mercy in purifying me perfectly, and cleansing me so thoroughly, that there may be no spot remaining in me.” — Bishop Patrick. Hebrew, ynsbk hbrh, harbeh chabbeseeni, is literally, multiplica, lava me, multiply, wash me: that is, Wash me very much. By which phrase he implies the greatness of his guilt, the insufficiency of all legal washing, and the absolute necessity of some other and better means of cleansing him from it, even God’s grace and the atoning blood of Christ; which as Abraham saw by faith, John 8:56, so did David, as is sufficiently evident (allowance being made for the darkness of the Old Testament dispensation) from divers passages of his Psalms. Observe, reader, sin defiles us, renders us odious in the sight of the holy God, and uneasy to ourselves; it unfits us for communion with God, in grace or glory. But when God pardons sin, he cleanses us from it, so that we become acceptable to him, easy to ourselves, and have liberty of access to him. Nathan had assured David, upon his first profession of repentance, that his sin was pardoned. The Lord has taken away thy sin, thou shalt not die, 2 Samuel 12:13: yet he prays, Wash me, cleanse me, blot out my transgressions; for God will be sought unto, even for that which he has promised; and those whose sins are pardoned, must pray that the pardon may be more and more evidenced to them. God had forgiven him, but he could not forgive himself, and therefore he is thus importunate for pardon as one that thought himself unworthy of it.

2. Wash me thoroughly—Literally, multiply to wash, or wash me much, or many times. The word belongs to the fuller’s art of cleansing by treading with the feet, or scouring, and is intensive of thorough work, because of the difficulty of cleansing on account of deep stains.

Verse 3. For I acknowledge my transgressions] I know, I feel, I confess that I have sinned.

My sin is ever before me.] A true, deep, and unsophisticated mark of a genuine penitent. Wherever he turns his face, he sees his sin, and through it the eye of an angry God.

Verse 3. For I acknowledge my transgressions — With grief, and shame, and abhorrence of myself and of my sins, which hitherto I have dissembled and covered. And, being thus truly penitent, I hope and beg that I may find mercy with thee. This David had formerly found to be the only way of obtaining forgiveness and peace of conscience, Psalm 32:4, 5, and he now hoped to find the same blessings in the same way. And my sin is ever before me — That sin, which I had cast behind my back, is now constantly in my view, to humble and mortify, and make me continually to blush and tremble. We see here David’s contrition for his sin was not a slight, sudden passion, but all abiding grief. He was put in mind of his crimes on all occasions; they were continually in his thoughts: and he was willing they should be so for his further abasement. Let us learn from hence, that our acts of repentance, for the same sin, ought to be often repeated, and that it is very expedient, and will be of great use for us, to have our sins ever before us, that by the remembrance of those that are past, we may be armed against temptations for the future, and may be kept humble, quickened to duty, and made patient under the cross.

Verse 3. I acknowledge my transgression, which, alas, I had concealed, and covered with crimes worse than the sin itself.

3. In verses 3-5 are brought out more distinctly the psalmist’s clear sense of guilt, and his free confessions. I acknowledge—Literally, I will know. The word is expressive of clear internal perception of sin. The willingness to know sin is the first step towards repentance, and the open expression of this knowledge is the exact idea of acknowledge, confess. Transgressions—He uses the plural here as in verse 1. He had caused the death of Uriah, used deceit, covered his sin, hardened his heart, dishonoured his family, and weakened his kingdom, added to the breach of the seventh commandment. Thus one sin never stands alone, but, as Perowne says, “each single transgression is the mother of many.” Each sin has a malignant and multiform embryonic vitality.

V. 4. Thee only-Which is not to be, understood absolutely, because he had sinned against Bathsheba and Uriah, and many others; but comparatively. So the sense is, though I have sinned against my own conscience, and against others; yet nothing is more grievous to me, than that I have sinned against thee. Thy sight-With gross contempt of thee, whom I knew to be a spectator of my most secret actions. Justified-This will be the fruit of my sin, that whatsoever severities thou shalt use towards me, it will be no blemish to thy righteousness, but thy justice will be glorified by all men. Speakest-Heb. in thy words, in all thy threatenings denounced against me. Judgest-When thou dost execute thy sentence upon me.

Verse 4. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned] This verse is supposed to show the impropriety of affixing the above title to this Psalm. It could not have been composed on account of the matter with Bath-sheba and the murder of Uriah; for, surely, these sins could not be said to have been committed against God ONLY, if we take the words of this verse in their common acceptation. That was a public sin, grievous, and against society at large, as well as against the peace, honour, comfort, and life of an innocent, brave, and patriotic man. This is readily granted: but see below. That thou mightest be justified when thou speakest] Perhaps, to save the propriety of the title, we might understand the verse thus: David, being king, was not liable to be called to account by any of his subjects; nor was there any authority in the land by which he could be judged and punished. In this respect, God ALONE was greater than the king; and to him ALONE, as king, he was responsible. Nam quando rex deliquit, SOLI DEO reus est; guia hominem non habet qui ejus facta dijudicet, says Cassiodorus. “For when a king transgresses, he is accountable to GOD ONLY; for there is no person who has authority to take cognizance of his conduct.” On this very maxim, which is a maxim in all countries, David might say, Against thee only have I sinned. “I cannot be called to the bar of my subjects; but I arraign myself before thy bar. They can neither judge nor condemn me; but thou canst: and such are my crimes that thou wilt be justified in the eyes of all men, and cleared of all severity, shouldst thou inflict upon me the heaviest punishment.” This view, of the subject will reconcile the Psalm to the title. As to the eighteenth and nineteenth verses, we shall consider them in their own place; and probably find that the objection taken from them has not much weight.

Verse 4. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned — Which is not to be understood absolutely, because he had sinned against Bath-sheba and Uriah, and many others; but comparatively. So the sense is, Though I have sinned against my own conscience, and against others, yet nothing is more grievous to me than that I have sinned against thee. And done this evil in thy sight — With gross contempt of thee, whom I knew to be a spectator of my most secret actions. That thou mightest be justified — This will be the fruit of my sin, that whatsoever severities thou shalt use toward me, it will be no blemish to thy righteousness, but thy justice will be glorified by all men. When thou speakest — Hebrew, in thy words, in all thy threatenings denounced against me. And be clear when thou judgest — When thou dost execute thy sentence upon me.

Ver. 4. Against thee, thee only have I sinned. David, as king, was not accountable to man. His subjects had no authority to judge and punish his crimes; but he feared the judgment of God; and as He alone had power to punish, he regarded him as the only offended party. In this case the claims of others centered in the great Judge of all.

4. Against thee, thee only—The particle rendered “only,” should here take its radical signification of separately, apart, as it often does elsewhere. The sense is, “against thee, against thee” apart, or separately, from all human relations of my offense, have I sinned. His sin against humanity was great, but he now sees more clearly than ever that each sin against humanity is a sin against God, and it was the divine law, the relations of his soul to God, which gave sin its peculiar turpitude. That… mightest be justified—The telic use of “that” appears strongly here, and the doctrine stands thus: From the relation of all souls to God every sin against man lies primarily against God, to the end, or final consequence, that God, who is the supreme and ultimate judge of all human conduct, may be justified in his sentence upon the wicked.

V. 5. Behold-Nor is this the only sin which I have reason to bewail before thee; for this filthy stream leads me to a corrupt fountain: and upon a review of my heart, I find, that this heinous crime, was the proper fruit of my vile nature, which, ever was, and still is ready to commit ten thousand sins, as occasion offers.

Verse 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. The word ytllwj cholalti, which we translate shapen, means more properly, I was brought forth from the womb; and yntmjy yechemathni rather signifies made me warm, alluding to the whole process of the formation of the fetus in utero, the formative heat which is necessary to develope the parts of all embryo animals; to incubate the ova in the female, after having been impregnated by the male; and to bring the whole into such a state of maturity and perfection as to render it capable of subsisting and growing up by aliment received from without. “As my parts were developed in the womb, the sinful principle diffused itself through the whole, so that body and mind grew up in a state of corruption and moral imperfection.”

Verse 5. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity — Hebrew, ytllwj, cholaleti, I was born, or brought forth: for it does not appear that the word ever signifies, I was shapen; and then the ensuing words will contain the reason of it; the sense being, because in sin did my mother conceive me, therefore I was brought forth in iniquity; that is, with great propensities and dispositions to sin. This verse is, both by Jewish and Christian, by ancient and later interpreters generally, and most justly, understood of what we call original sin; which David here mentions, not as an excuse for, but as an aggravation of, his transgression, inasmuch as the knowledge which he had of the total corruption of his nature, and its tendency to evil, ought to have made him more on his guard, and to have watched more carefully over his sensual passions and affections. And the sense of the place is this: Nor is this the only sin which I have reason to acknowledge and bewail before thee; for this filthy stream leads me to a corrupt fountain. And, upon a serious review of my heart and life, I find that I am guilty of innumerable other sins; and that this heinous crime, though drawn forth by external temptations, yet was indeed the proper fruit of my own vile nature, which, without the restraints of thy providence or grace, ever was and still will be inclinable and ready to commit ten thousand sins as occasion offers. Thus, as Dr. Dodd, after Chandler, justly observes, “The psalmist owns himself to be the corrupted, degenerate offspring, of corrupted, degenerate parents, agreeable to what was said long before he was born, Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one, Job 14:4. Nor is it unusual with good men, when confessing their own sins before God, to make mention of the sins of their parents, for their greater mortification and humiliation.”

5. I was shapen in iniquity;… in sin… conceive me—The verb rendered “shapen” simply denotes the being born. The words “in sin,” etc., do not imply any thing sinful in the means leading to that birth, but merely the being born with a sinful nature. The text is of like import with Ephesians 2:3, “And were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.” This confession of natural depravity was not made in abatement of actual transgression, but to show that David not only abandons every plea of self-justification, but also of self-restorative power.

V. 6. Truth-Uprightness of heart; and this may be added; as an aggravation of the sinfulness of original corruption, because it is contrary to the holy nature and will of God, which requires rectitude of heart: and, as an aggravation of his actual sin, that it was committed against that knowledge, which God had wrote in his heart.

Verse 6. Behold, thou desirest truth] I am the very reverse of what I should be. Thou desirest truth in the heart; but in me there is nothing but sin and falsity.

Thou shalt make me to know wisdom.] Thou wilt teach me to restrain every inordinate propensity, and to act according to the dictates of sound wisdom, the rest of my life.

Verse 6. Behold, thou desirest — Hebrew, txpj, chaphatzta, delightest in, willest, or requirest, truth in the inward parts — Uprightness of heart, which seems to be here opposed to that iniquity mentioned in the last verse, in which all men are conceived and born; and it may be here added as a proof, or aggravation, of the sinfulness of original corruption, because it is contrary to the holy nature and will of God, which requires not only unblameableness in men’s actions, but also the universal innocence and rectitude of their minds and hearts; and as an aggravation of his own actual sin, in which he had used gross deceit and treachery. And in the hidden part, &c. — That is, in the heart, called the hidden man of the heart, 1 Peter 3:4; and, in the former clause, the reins, or inward parts; thou shalt make me to know wisdom — That is, true piety and integrity, called wisdom, Job 28:28; Psalm 111:10, and in many other passages; as sin, on the contrary, is commonly called, as it really is, folly. And to know wisdom is here to be understood of knowing it practically and experimentally; so as to approve, and love, and practise it: as words of knowledge are most commonly to be understood in Scripture, and in other authors. According to this interpretation the psalmist, in these words, declares his hope that God would pardon and cure the folly which he had discovered, and make him wiser for the future. But, as this does not seem to suit perfectly with the context, which runs in rather another strain, the word yn[ydwt, todigneeni, may, and it seems ought to, be rendered in the past time, thou hast made me to know. And so this is another aggravation of his sin, that it was committed against that knowledge which God had not only revealed to him outwardly by his word, but also inwardly by his Spirit, writing it on his heart, according to his promise, Jeremiah 31:33. Or, the future verb may be here taken imperatively; and the words may be understood as a prayer, Do thou make me to know, &c., as the following future verbs (verses 7, 8) are translated. Having then now said, for the aggravation of his sin, that God required truth in the inward parts, he takes occasion to break forth into prayer, which also he continues in the following verses.

6. In the inward parts:… the hidden part—Literally, the reins and the covered parts, two synonymous words which, in Hebrew psychology, correspond to the New Testament phrase, “inner man,” or “inward part,” Luke 11:39; Romans 7:22; 2 Chronicles 4:16; Ephesians 3:16; and must here be understood generically of the entire spiritual and psychical nature of man. In Job 38:36, the connexion, and the parallel word rendered heart, require us to understand the mind, intellect. See also Psalm 16:7. David assigns inward part as the seat of truth and wisdom, which determines it to be the seat of thought and purpose as well as feeling. The Hebrews had no metaphysical system of thought, but located the mind or sensibilities phenomenally; that is, according to their sensible effect on the nerves. Truth here takes the sense of integrity, uprightness, and wisdom that of the knowledge of God.

V. 7. Hyssop-As lepers, are by thy appointment purified by the use of hyssop and other things, so do thou cleanse me a leprous and polluted creature, by thy grace, and by that blood of Christ, which is signified by those ceremonial usages.

Verse 7. Purge me with hyssop] ynacjt techatteeni, “thou shalt make a sin-offering for me;” probably alluding to the cleansing of the leper: Leviticus 14:1, &c. The priest took two clean birds, cedar-wood, scarlet, and hyssop; one of the birds was killed; and the living bird, with the scarlet, cedar, and hyssop, dipped in the blood of the bird that had been killed, and then sprinkled over the person who had been infected. But it is worthy of remark that this ceremony was not performed till the plague of the leprosy had been healed in the leper; (Leviticus 14:3;) and the ceremony above mentioned was for the purpose of declaring to the people that the man was healed, that he might be restored to his place in society, having been healed of a disease that the finger of God alone could remove. This David seems to have full in view; hence he requests the Lord to make the sin-offering for him, and to show to the people that he had accepted him, and cleansed him from his sin.

Verse 7. Purge me with hyssop — Or, as with hyssop; the note of similitude being frequently understood. As lepers, and other unclean persons, are by thy appointment purified by the use of hyssop and other things, Leviticus 14:6; Numbers 19:6; so do thou cleanse me, a most leprous and polluted creature, by thy grace, and by the virtue of that blood of Christ, which is signified by those ceremonial usages. The word ynacjt, techatteeni, here rendered purge me, properly means, expiate my sin. “The psalmist well knew that his sins were too great to be expiated by any legal purifications, and therefore prays that God would himself expiate them, and restore him; that is,” not only remove their guilt, but “make him as free from those criminal propensities to sin, and from all the bad effects of his aggravated crimes, as though he had been purified from a leprosy, by the water of cleansing, sprinkled on him by a branch of hyssop; and that he might be, if possible, clearer from all the defilement and guilt of sin than the new fallen snow. I think both these senses are included in the expiation which the psalmist prays for; as the person whose leprosy was expiated was wholly cured of his disease, and freed from all the incapacities attending it.” — Dodd.

Ver. 7. Purge me with hyssop. A bunch of hyssop dipped in sacrificial blood was usually employed in sprinkling the unclean, and almost all things under the law were thus purified with blood. Leviticus 14:6. Numbers 19:18. The leaves of hyssop and other bitter herbs were also eaten with the paschal lamb, to indicate the bitterness of sin and its punishment. Thus David prays to be cleansed by the blood of sprinkling, and like the leper to be washed in the laver of renewing and regenerating grace.

7. Purge me with hyssop—The allusion is to the purification from death-corruption, as recorded Numbers 19; 31:19, the substance and ritualistic form of which were the strongest and most imposing known to the Mosaic law. Both the sprinkling and washing are referred to: “Sprinkle me with hyssop; wash me,” etc. See Numbers 19:19. The pollution by the touch of a dead body was considered as the infection of death, and the purifying element, which must be correspondingly strong, was the essence of the blood and flesh of the “red heifer,” with the alkali from the ashes of the “cedar wood” mixed with living water, partaking at once of the nature of a sin offering and a holocaust, or burnt offering; that is, of an expiation, and a complete surrender to God. The idea of purification from the corruption of in-reigning death as the penalty of sin, was fundamental to the institution. Whiter than snow—Compare Isaiah 1:18.

V. 8. Joy-By thy spirit, seal the pardon of my sins on my conscience, which will fill me with joy. Rejoice-That my heart which hath been sorely wounded may be comforted.

Verse 8. Make me to hear joy] Let me have a full testimony of my reconciliation to thee; that the soul, which is so deeply distressed by a sense of thy displeasure, may be healed by a sense of thy pardoning mercy.

Verse 8. Make me to hear joy and gladness — Send me glad tidings of thy reconciliation to me; and by thy Spirit seal the pardon of my sins on my conscience, which will fill me with joy. That the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice — That my heart, which hath been sorely wounded, and terrified by thy dreadful message sent by Nathan, and by the awful sentence of thy law, denounced against such sinners as I am, may be revived and comforted by the manifestation of thy favour to my soul. For he compares the pains and agonies of his mind, arising from the deep sense he had of the aggravated nature of his sins, and of the displeasure of God against him on account of them, to that exquisite torture he must have felt if all his bones had been crushed: “for the original word tykd, dicchita, signifies more than broken; namely, the being entirely mashed. And he compares the joy that God’s declaring himself fully reconciled to him would produce in his mind to that inconceivable pleasure which would have arisen from the instantaneous restoring and healing those bones, after they had been thus broken and crushed to pieces.”

8. Bones which thou hast broken—The crushing of the bones, says Perowne, constituting, as they do, the strength and framework of the body, is a very strong figure, denoting the most complete prostration, mental and bodily. Psalm 6:2.

Verse 9. Hide thy face from my sins] The sentiment here is nearly the same as that in Psalm 51:3: His sin was ever before his own face; and he knew that the eye of God was constantly upon him, and that his purity and justice must be highly incensed on the account. He therefore, with a just horror of his transgressions, begs God to turn away his face from them, and to blot them out, so that they may never more be seen. See Clarke’s note on “Psalm 51:1”.

Verses 9, 10. Hide thy face from my sins — Do not look upon them with an eye of indignation and wrath, but forgive and forget them. Create in me a clean heart — Seeing I have not only defiled myself by these actual sins, but also have a most unclean heart, corrupt even from my birth, which nothing but thy almighty, new-creating power can purify; I beseech thee to exert that power to produce in me a new and holy frame of heart, free from those impure inclinations and vile affections, the effects of which I have too fatally felt; a heart in possession, and under the influence, of those sacred dispositions of piety and virtue, in which the moral rectitude and purity of the mind consist. Thus shall both my inward uncleanness be purged away, and I shall be prevented from falling again into such actual and scandalous sins. And renew a right spirit in me — Hebrew, ˆwkn jwr, ruach nachon, a firm, constant, or steadfast disposition or temper of soul, that I may not be shaken and cast down by temptation, as I have been, but that my resolution may be fixed and immoveable. He says, vdj, chaddesh, renew, because he had had this good temper, in a great measure, before his late apostacy, and here prays that it might be restored to him with increase. Within me — Hebrew, ybrqb, bekirbi, in my inward parts. Thus he wisely strikes at the root and cause of all sinful actions.

V. 10. Create-Work in me an holy frame of heart, whereby my inward filth may be purged away. Right-Heb. firm or constant, that my resolution may be fixed and unmoveable. Spirit-Temper or disposition of soul.

Verse 10. Create in me a clean heart] Mending will not avail; my heart is altogether corrupted; it must be new made, made as it was in the beginning. This is exactly the sentiment of St. Paul: Neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation; and the salvation given under the Gospel dispensation is called a being created anew in Christ Jesus.

A right spirit within me.] נכון רוח ruach nachon, a constant, steady, determined spirit; called Psalm 51:12, hbydn jwr ruach nedibah, a noble spirit, a free, generous, princely spirit; cheerfully giving up itself to thee; no longer bound and degraded by the sinfulness of sin.

Verses 9, 10. Hide thy face from my sins — Do not look upon them with an eye of indignation and wrath, but forgive and forget them. Create in me a clean heart — Seeing I have not only defiled myself by these actual sins, but also have a most unclean heart, corrupt even from my birth, which nothing but thy almighty, new-creating power can purify; I beseech thee to exert that power to produce in me a new and holy frame of heart, free from those impure inclinations and vile affections, the effects of which I have too fatally felt; a heart in possession, and under the influence, of those sacred dispositions of piety and virtue, in which the moral rectitude and purity of the mind consist. Thus shall both my inward uncleanness be purged away, and I shall be prevented from falling again into such actual and scandalous sins. And renew a right spirit in me — Hebrew, ˆwkn jwr, ruach nachon, a firm, constant, or steadfast disposition or temper of soul, that I may not be shaken and cast down by temptation, as I have been, but that my resolution may be fixed and immoveable. He says, vdj, chaddesh, renew, because he had had this good temper, in a great measure, before his late apostacy, and here prays that it might be restored to him with increase. Within me — Hebrew, ybrqb, bekirbi, in my inward parts. Thus he wisely strikes at the root and cause of all sinful actions.

10. Create in me a clean heart—The spiritual work, heart renewal, is constantly before the royal penitent, and this is nothing less than a new creation. The word create is the strongest known in the Hebrew for bringing into being that which did not before exist, as Genesis 1:1. Comp. Ephesians 2:10; 4:24; and “new creation,” 2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15. The renewal of the heart by creative energy is a purely evangelical idea. Right spirit—The word means a steadfast, established mind; one that could stand firm and resist temptation. See Psalm 78:37.

Verse 11. Cast me not away from thy presence] Banish me not from thy house and ordinances.

Take not thy Holy Spirit from me.] I know I have sufficiently grieved it to justify its departure for ever, in consequence of which I should be consigned to the blackness of darkness,—either to utter despair, or to a hard heart and seared conscience; and so work iniquity with greediness, till I fell into the pit of perdition. While the Spirit stays, painfully convincing of sin, righteousness, and judgment, there is hope of salvation; when it departs, then the hope of redemption is gone. But while there his any godly sorrow, any feeling of regret for having sinned against God, any desire to seek mercy, then the case is not hopeless; for these things prove that the light of the Spirit is not withdrawn.

Verses 11, 12. Cast me not away from thy presence — That is, from thy favour and care. Take not thy Holy Spirit from me — Thy sanctifying Spirit, by which alone I can have acquaintance and fellowship with thee. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation — The comfortable sense of thy saving grace, promised and vouchsafed to me, both for my present and everlasting salvation. And uphold me — A weak and frail creature, not able to stand against temptation and the corruption of my nature, without thy powerful and gracious succours; with thy free Spirit — Or ingenuous, liberal, or princely, which he seems to oppose to this own base, illiberal, disingenuous, and servile spirit, which he had discovered in his wicked and unworthy practices. And he now desires a better spirit of God, which might free him from the bondage of sin, and incline and enable him freely, cheerfully, and constantly to run the way of God’s precepts.

11. Take not thy Holy Spirit from me—That Spirit which came upon David at his anointing as king, (1 Samuel 16:13,) and by which he had achieved all his victories, he had now forfeited, and he deprecates the justice which would take back the forfeiture. With the divine rejection, as with Saul, would follow that by the people of Israel. 1 Samuel 16:14; 2 Kings 24:24. The order follows in moral sequence no less than in judicial judgment—loss of the favour of God, loss of providential rank and honour, loss of the soul. “They that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.” 1 Samuel 2:30.

V. 12. The joy-The comfortable sense of thy saving grace, promised and vouchsafed to me, both for my present and everlasting salvation. Free-Or, ingenuous, or liberal, or princely. Which he seems to oppose to his own base and illiberal and disingenuous and servile spirit, which he had discovered in his wicked practices: a spirit, which may free me from the bondage of sin, and enable me chearfully to run the way of God’s precepts.

Verse 12. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation] This is an awful prayer. And why? Because it shows he once HAD the joy of God’s salvation; and had LOST it by sin!

Uphold me with thy free spirit.] Prop me up; support me with a princely spirit, one that will not stoop to a mean or base act. See on Psalm 51:10.

Verses 11, 12. Cast me not away from thy presence — That is, from thy favour and care. Take not thy Holy Spirit from me — Thy sanctifying Spirit, by which alone I can have acquaintance and fellowship with thee. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation — The comfortable sense of thy saving grace, promised and vouchsafed to me, both for my present and everlasting salvation. And uphold me — A weak and frail creature, not able to stand against temptation and the corruption of my nature, without thy powerful and gracious succours; with thy free Spirit — Or ingenuous, liberal, or princely, which he seems to oppose to this own base, illiberal, disingenuous, and servile spirit, which he had discovered in his wicked and unworthy practices. And he now desires a better spirit of God, which might free him from the bondage of sin, and incline and enable him freely, cheerfully, and constantly to run the way of God’s precepts.

12. Uphold me with thy free Spirit—The idea of “uphold,” here, is to confirm, render permanent. David desires that the restored state be sustained and abiding. This is the point of the petition. But he has not in himself the elements of this stability. God only can “restore the joys of salvation,” and he alone can cause him to stand firm in this restored life. The word “free,” in the Hebrew, is often used as a substantive to denote a prince, noble, grandee; and thus the Septuagint and Jerome understood it. This gives the sense of a governing, or princely Spirit, with the idea of liberality implied, (see Isaiah 32:6, 8,) and this meets the point of the request: By thy governing Spirit establish me. If we understand by “free spirit,” “not the Holy Spirit, but the human spirit made free from the dominion of sin by the Holy Spirit,” (Delitzsch,) still the doctrinal recognition of the Holy Spirit’s influence upon the heart is the same. But the sense we have given more naturally connects with verse 11 and the parallelism, and is sustained by usage.

Verse 13. Then will I teach transgressors] I will show myself to be grateful; I will testify of thy loving-kindness; I will call on transgressors to consider the error of their ways; and shall set before them so forcibly thy justice and mercy, that sinners shall be converted unto thee. With a little change I can adopt the language of Dr. Delaney on this place: “Who can confide in his own strength, when he sees David fall? Who can despair of Divine mercy when he sees him forgiven? Sad triumph of sin over all that is great or excellent in man! Glorious triumph of grace over all that is shameful and dreadful in sin!”

Verse 13. Then will I teach transgressors thy way — Thy will and their duty, and the way to eternal happiness; or, rather, the manner of thy dealing with sinners, whom thou dost so severely chastise for their sins, and yet so graciously receive to mercy upon their repentance. Both which I will show them in my own example, for I will make known unto them my fall and recovery, through thy grace, although I shall thereby publish, not only thy goodness, but my own shame, which I shall most willingly bear, that I may, in some measure, repair the injury which I have done to thy cause and to my fellow-creatures, by my public and scandalous crimes. And sinners shall be converted unto thee — I persuade myself that my endeavours shall not want success; and that either thy justice and severity on the one hand, or thy goodness and clemency on the other, will bring some sinners to repentance. Certainly, as Dr. Delaney observes in this verse, this instance of David’s miserable fall and happy restoration is well “fitted to mortify the vanity and merit of human virtue, and to raise the power and price of humble penitence, to abate the pride of self-sufficiency, and support the hope of frailty! Who can confide in his own strength when he sees a David fall? Who can despair of divine mercy when he sees him forgiven? Sad triumph of sin over all that is great and excellent in man! Glorious triumph of repentance over all that is shameful and dreadful in sin!” Book 4. chap. 24.

13. Will I teach transgressors—Thus the psalmist would show forth his gratitude for that renewal and establishment in righteousness for which he agonizes. And for this he would be prepared only when he himself should be fully reinstated in the divine favour. How he fulfilled this promise is shown in some of his subsequent psalms, as Psalm 32, 40, and 103, which should be read in this connexion. Thy ways—The way of thy commandments. Shall be converted—Shall turn to thee. The verb is active, and is broadly significant of entire and hearty repentance. The example of his forgiveness should encourage others to repent.

V. 14. Thy righteousness-Thy clemency and goodness.

Verse 14. Deliver me from blood-guiltiness] This is one of the expressions that gives most colour to the propriety of the title affixed to this Psalm. Here he may have in view the death of Uriah, and consider that his blood cries for vengeance against him; and nothing but the mere mercy of God can wipe this blood from his conscience. The prayer here is earnest and energetic: O God! thou God of my salvation! deliver me! The Chaldee reads, “Deliver me (lwcq מדינ middin ketol) from the judgment of slaughter.”

My tongue shall sing aloud] My tongue shall praise thy righteousness. I shall testify to all that thou hast the highest displeasure against sin, and wilt excuse it in no person; and that so merciful art thou, that if a sinner turn to thee with a deeply penitent and broken heart, thou wilt forgive his iniquities. None, from my case, can ever presume; none, from my case, need ever despair.

Verses 14, 15. Deliver me from blood-guiltiness — Hebrew, µymdm, middamim, from bloods, because he had been the cause of the death, not only of Uriah, but of others of the Lord’s people with him, 2 Samuel 11:17. My tongue shall sing of thy righteousness, of thy faithfulness in making good thy promises; or, rather, of thy clemency and goodness, as the word righteousness often signifies. Open thou my lips — Which are shut with shame, and grief, and horror. Restore unto me the opportunity, ability, and liberty which I formerly had of speaking to thee in prayer and praise, and to my fellow-creatures, by way of instruction, reproof, or exhortation, with freedom and boldness. And my mouth shall show forth thy praise — In thy mercy and thy faithfulness remember thy gracious promises, and accomplish them, notwithstanding my unworthiness, and, as I shall be furnished with new motives and occasions for gratitude and thankfulness, my mouth shall everywhere declare thy goodness, to thy perpetual praise and glory.

Ver. 14. Deliver me from blood-guiltiness. Countless murders having of late years been committed in Ireland, we may note that the salvation of a murderer has great difficulties. The papist priest, who talks of absolution for this crime is a blasphemer, a destroyer of men’s souls. The pardons that men bestow are ecclesiastical only, and avail no farther than to restore a penitent to the peace of the church. At the same time no one should despair of final mercy. Though the assassin had no mercy on his victim; though he allowed him no time for repentance; though he cannot ask his pardon now, yet who would limit the Holy One? David had a troubled conscience for Uriah’s blood to the end of life. According to Josephus, he thought the bloody ghost of this valiant officer attended him. Herod felt the same, when he said, on hearing of Jesus, This is John the Baptist, whom I beheaded: he is risen from the dead.

14. Bloodguiltiness—A direct allusion to 2 Samuel 11:14-17. He covers nothing of his sin, but openly calls things by their right names. The word rendered “bloodguiltiness” is in the Hebrew simply bloods, (plural.) In the singular it is often used for wilful blood shedding, the taking of human life by violence; in the plural, as here, uniformly so. Sing aloud of thy righteousness—Thus, after forgiveness, according to the law of Moses, comes the offering of praise and thanksgiving. See on verse 19, and Psalm 107:22.

V. 15. My lips-Which are shut with shame and grief.

Verse 15. O Lord, open thou my lips] My heart is believing unto righteousness; give me thy peace, that my tongue may make confession unto salvation. He could not praise God for pardon till he felt that God had pardoned him; then his lips would be opened, and his tongue would show forth the praise of his Redeemer.

Verses 14, 15. Deliver me from blood-guiltiness — Hebrew, µymdm, middamim, from bloods, because he had been the cause of the death, not only of Uriah, but of others of the Lord’s people with him, 2 Samuel 11:17. My tongue shall sing of thy righteousness, of thy faithfulness in making good thy promises; or, rather, of thy clemency and goodness, as the word righteousness often signifies. Open thou my lips — Which are shut with shame, and grief, and horror. Restore unto me the opportunity, ability, and liberty which I formerly had of speaking to thee in prayer and praise, and to my fellow-creatures, by way of instruction, reproof, or exhortation, with freedom and boldness. And my mouth shall show forth thy praise — In thy mercy and thy faithfulness remember thy gracious promises, and accomplish them, notwithstanding my unworthiness, and, as I shall be furnished with new motives and occasions for gratitude and thankfulness, my mouth shall everywhere declare thy goodness, to thy perpetual praise and glory.

15. Open thou my lips—His lips were closed as to praise and thanksgiving. How can a guilty soul speak the praises of God? He longs for the return of the spirit and freedom of praise. See Psalm 40:3, which was written after his recovery.

V. 16. Not sacrifice-This is not to be understood absolutely, with respect to David’s crimes, which were not to be expiated by any sacrifice.

Verse 16. For thou desirest not sacrifice] This is the same sentiment which he delivers in Psalm 40:6, &c., where see the notes. There may be here, however, a farther meaning: Crimes, like mine, are not to be expiated by any sacrifices that the law requires; nor hast thou appointed in the law any sacrifices to atone for deliberate murder and adultery: if thou hadst, I would cheerfully have given them to thee. The matter is before thee as Judge.

Verses 16, 17. For thou desirest not sacrifice — Which is not to be understood absolutely and universally, as appears from verse 19, but comparatively, (see on Psalm 40:6,) and with particular respect to David’s crimes of murder and adultery, which were not to be expiated by any sacrifice, but, according to the law of God, were to be punished with death. Thou requirest more and better sacrifices, namely, such as are mentioned verse 17. Else would I give it — I should have spared no cost of that kind. The sacrifices of God — Which God, in such cases as mine, requires, and will accept; are a broken spirit, &c. — A heart deeply afflicted and grieved for sin, humbled under a sense of God’s displeasure, and earnestly seeking, and willing to accept of, reconciliation with God upon any terms: see Isaiah 57:15, and 61:2, and 66:2; Matthew 11:28. This is opposed to that hard or stony heart, of which we read so often, which implies an insensibility of the burden of sin, a spirit stubborn and rebellious against God, impenitent and incorrigible. O God, thou wilt not despise — This is such an acceptable sacrifice that thou canst not possibly reject it.

16. Thou desirest not sacrifice—The word jbz, (zebahh,) sacrifice, is the generic term for bloody offerings, but more especially for sin and trespass offerings. The law of Moses made no provision for the forgiveness or expiation of such sins as David had committed. See Numbers 15:30,

31. He felt that he had passed the ordinary limits of expiable sins. Forms and types now availed nothing. But if the letter and the form were impotent, he would still appeal to the spirit of the sacrificial system. If the blood of a bullock or of a lamb could avail nothing now, and the death penalty still hung darkly over him, yet God would not overlook the true spirit of contrition, and a heart bleeding and broken by penitential sorrow. This is another instance of his profoundly evangelical views of the expiatory system of Moses, as pointing to an expiation and a pardoning power beyond the letter of the law. Afterwards he referred back to this crisis of his agony, where he felt the conscious insufficiency of the bloody sacrifices under the law, and it became the occasion of a glorious Messianic prophecy. See on Psalm 40:6-8, and compare Hebrews 10:5-10, and the notes there.

V. 17. A broken spirit-This is of more value than many sacrifices.

Verse 17. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit] As my crimes are such as admit of no legal atonement, so thou hast reserved them to be punished by exemplary acts of justice, or to be pardoned by a sovereign act of mercy: but in order to find this mercy, thou requirest that the heart and soul should deeply feel the transgression, and turn to thee with the fullest compunction and remorse. This thou hast enabled me to do. I have the broken spirit, hrbvn jwr ruach nishbarah; and the broken and contrite heart, hkdnw rbvn bl leb nishbar venidkeh. These words are very expressive. rbv shabar signifies exactly the same as our word shiver, to break into pieces, to reduce into splinters; and hkd dakah, signifies to beat out thin,—to beat out masses of metal, &c., into laminæ or thin plates. The spirit broken all to pieces, and the heart broken all to pieces, stamped and beaten out, are the sacrifices which, in such cases, thou requirest; and these “thou wilt not despise.” We may now suppose that God had shone upon his soul, healed his broken spirit, and renewed and removed his broken and distracted heart; and that he had now received the answer to the preceding prayers. And here the Psalm properly ends; as, in the two following verses, there is nothing similar to what we find in the rest of this very nervous and most important composition.

Verses 16, 17. For thou desirest not sacrifice — Which is not to be understood absolutely and universally, as appears from verse 19, but comparatively, (see on Psalm 40:6,) and with particular respect to David’s crimes of murder and adultery, which were not to be expiated by any sacrifice, but, according to the law of God, were to be punished with death. Thou requirest more and better sacrifices, namely, such as are mentioned verse 17. Else would I give it — I should have spared no cost of that kind. The sacrifices of God — Which God, in such cases as mine, requires, and will accept; are a broken spirit, &c. — A heart deeply afflicted and grieved for sin, humbled under a sense of God’s displeasure, and earnestly seeking, and willing to accept of, reconciliation with God upon any terms: see Isaiah 57:15, and 61:2, and 66:2; Matthew 11:28. This is opposed to that hard or stony heart, of which we read so often, which implies an insensibility of the burden of sin, a spirit stubborn and rebellious against God, impenitent and incorrigible. O God, thou wilt not despise — This is such an acceptable sacrifice that thou canst not possibly reject it.

V. 18. Good pleasure-Thy free and rich mercy. Build-Perfect the walls and buildings of that city, and especially let the temple be built, notwithstanding my sins.

Verse 18. Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion] This and the following verse most evidently refer to the time of the captivity, when the walls of Jerusalem were broken down, and the temple service entirely discontinued; and, consequently, are long posterior to the times of David. Hence it has been concluded that the Psalm was not composed by David, nor in his time and that the title must be that of some other Psalm inadvertently affixed to this. The fourth verse has also been considered as decisive against this title: but the note on that verse has considerably weakened, if not destroyed, that objection. I have been long of opinion that, whether the title be properly or improperly affixed to this Psalm, these two verses make no part of it: the subject is totally dissimilar; and there is no rule of analogy by which it can be interpreted as belonging to the Psalm, to the subject, or to the person. I think they originally made a Psalm of themselves, a kind of ejaculatory prayer for the redemption of the captives from Babylon, the rebuilding of Jerusalem, and the restoration of the temple worship. And, taken in this light, they are very proper and very expressive.

The 117th Psalm contains only two verses; and is an ejaculation of praise from the captives who had just then returned from Babylon. And it is a fact that this Psalm is written as a part of the cxvith in no less than thirty-two of Kennicott’s and Deuteronomy Rossi’s MSS.; and in some early editions. Again, because of its smallness, it has been absorbed by the cxviiith, of which it makes the commencement, in twenty-eight of Kennicott’s and Deuteronomy Rossi’s MSS. In a similar way I suppose the two last verses of this Psalm to have been absorbed by the preceding, which originally made a complete Psalm of themselves; and this absorption was the more easy, because, like the cxviith it has no title. I cannot allege a similar evidence relative to these two verses, as ever having made a distinct Psalm; but of the fact I can have no doubt, for the reasons assigned above. And I still think that Psalm is too dignified, too energetic, and too elegant, to have been the composition of any but David. It was not Asaph; it was not any of the sons of Korah; it was not Heman or Jeduthun: the hand and mind of a greater master are here.

Verse 18. Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion — Hebrew, Ënwxrb, birtzonecha, for, or according to, thy grace, favour, or pleasure — That is, thy free and rich mercy, and thy gracious purpose and promise, made to and concerning thy church and people, here termed Zion. Build the walls of Jerusalem — Perfect the walls and buildings of that city, and especially let the temple be built and established in it, notwithstanding my great sins whereby I have polluted it, which I pray thee to purge away. But he may also be understood as speaking figuratively in these words, and praying for the enlargement and establishment of God’s church, often meant by Jerusalem.

Ver. 18. Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion, where the ark of God now lodged. Build thou the walls of Jerusalem, where David was carrying on great works of enlargement, and raising fortifications.

18. Do good… unto Zion—As a king he feels he has exposed his people and kingdom, no less than himself, to judgments, and these public calamities had been sternly foretold by Nathan. 2 Samuel 12:10-12. They must suffer with him; yea through their suffering the king more profoundly suffers. Build… the walls of Jerusalem—A figurative expression for the prosperity and strength of the nation, and as a proof or symbol of the divine protection. See Psalm 69:35. Or, it may be an allusion to the unfinished walls and fortifications in David’s time, which were completed in Solomon’s reign. 1 Kings 3:1; 9:15, 19. It is not necessary to suppose these last two verses of the psalm to have been added by the returned exiles, much less that they are proof that the entire psalm was written at that date and by another hand than David’s. The word rendered “build” is never, in our version, translated rebuild, and seldom bears that sense. Hitherto David’s wars had been carried on in the enemy’s country, and it would be but natural that he should anticipate the possibility of a recoil of his foreign victories by an invasion that would test the strength of the fortifications of his capital. Having finished his penitential prayer for himself, and with his eye on the fiery denunciation of the prophet above alluded to, “the sword shall never depart from thy house,” his kingly heart turns to his people in prayer for their safety and the stability of his kingdom.

Verse 19. Then — When thou hast granted my humble requests, expressed in the former verses; when thou hast renewed, and pardoned, and comforted me, and restored thy favour unto thy people and this city; shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness — Which I and my people, being justified and reconciled to thee, shall offer with sincere and penitent hearts. These are opposed to the sacrifices of the wicked, which God abhors, Proverbs 15:8; Isaiah 1:11; and, withal, by thus speaking, he intimates that God, for their sins, might justly now reject their sacrifices as not being, properly speaking, sacrifices of righteousness, because they who offered them were not righteous. Then shall they, &c. — That is, they who, by thy appointment, are to do that work, namely, the priests in the name and on the behalf of thy people. Offer bullocks upon thine altar — The best and most costly sacrifices, and that in great numbers, in testimony of their gratitude for thy great favour, in pardoning mine and their sins, and preventing that total ruin which we had reason to expect and fear upon that account.

19. Sacrifices of righteousness—The construct or genitive relation of the nouns yields the sense of sacrifice in order to justification—expiatory sacrifices. So the word denotes verse 16. In perfect analogy with this construction, the phrase sacrifices of thanksgiving, the exact opposite, occurs; that is, sacrifices for, or to express, thanksgiving for justifying favour received. See Psalm 107:22; 116:17. Burnt offering and whole burnt offering—Two synonymous words, the latter in apposition to the former, and added for emphasis, as in 1 Samuel 7:9. The order of sacrifices here observed is to be noticed. The “sacrifices of righteousness” were for expiation, or atonement; the “burnt offering” “was the sacrifice of entire, full, unconditional surrender to Jehovah.” The former for justification, the latter expressive of complete self-consecration. Bullocks—Young “bullocks,” as being fat, vigorous, and full of life. The description gives the climax of acceptable worship and of national prosperity.